College Hosts Presentation on Human Trafficking

WINTERVILLE�Though it is difficult to imagine, 27 million people around the world are enslaved at this very moment as a result of human trafficking.

For Pam Strickland, making sure that message is heard loud and clear has become her calling. It is her hope that increased awareness of modern-day slavery will one day put an end to it.

Strickland, co-founder of Eastern North Carolina Stop Human Trafficking Now, spoke to students and employees at Pitt Community College Tuesday as part of the school�s International Education Week observance.

During her presentation, she shed light on the growing practice of human trafficking, which has become the world�s second-largest (behind illegal drugs) criminal enterprise.

Around the globe�particularly in impoverished nations�Strickland says people are being forced, tricked, kidnapped and/or coerced into prostitution. Others are being made to work as maids and nannies and to labor in sweatshops, construction sites and farms, she said.

The reason for trafficking is simple: money. Or, as Strickland says, �Trafficking is all about economics.�

Modern-day human traffickers, Strickland says, prey upon the downtrodden, in particular, and hold them captive by promising to give them better lives or good jobs or by threatening to physically harm them and/or their families.

In some instances, Strickland said, poverty-stricken parents will sell a child into the sex trade in order to support the remaining members of their families.

In North Carolina just this month, Antoinette Nicole Davis was arrested on accusations she prostituted her 5-year-old daughter, Shaniya. After days of searching for the little girl, authorities found her body 30 miles from her hometown of Fayetteville. Mario Andrette McNeill has also been arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping in connection with the case.

Each year, as many as 20,000 individuals are trafficked into the United States from places like Russia, Moldova, China, Albania and Thailand, Strickland said, adding that 25 percent of human trafficking in America occurs in the Southeast.

Strickland said North Carolina is a prime location for human trafficking because it is a coastal state with a large military presence, numerous farms, and the nation�s fifth-largest immigrant population. Interstates 95 and 85 also contribute to the presence of human trafficking in the Tar Heel State, she said, adding that Pitt County has not been immune to the practice.

In recent years, Strickland said, federal and state laws have been established to prosecute human traffickers, and millions of dollars have been spent to combat the activity. Locally, she said, individuals can help stop the global slave trade by educating themselves and others on the subject.

People can also look for fair trade certification on the products they purchase to ensure the goods have been produced legally, and they can sign up for her organization�s e-newsletter for up-to-date information, Strickland said.

For more information on human trafficking, Strickland may be contacted by e-mail at encstophumantrafficking@gmail.com.

11/19/2009