Prevent Human Trafficking presents

A presentation by Ben Skinner, journalist and Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and author of the acclaimed book "A Crime so Monstrous: Face to Face with Modern-Day Slavery".

The basis for a Nightline special report and the inspiration for an episode of Law and Order, Skinner’s A Crime So Monstrous takes readers to the outer edges of civilization, revealing the true faces of slavery today. Join our mailing list and RSVP by email: preventhumantrafficking@gmail.com

Date:       24 April 2009

Time:       1.30pm - 3.30pm

Venue:    American University

               Mary Graydon Center 247

               4400 Massachusetts Ave NW. Washington DC, 20016

Event Brief:

Opening remarks by Christina Arnold - Founder of Prevent Human Trafficking

Ben Skinner takes audiences on his journey on the trail of modern day slavery. He brings us around the world and through the White House, ultimately revealingthe heart of his story: the slaves themselves. Despite being abandoned by the international community, despite suffering a crime so monstrous as to strip their awareness of their own humanity, somehow, some enslaved men regain their dignity, some enslaved women learn to trust men, and some enslaved children manage to be kids. By narrating their stories—and those of their captors and liberators—Skinner bears witness for them, and for the millions who are held in the shadows.

Skinner will be available for Q&A after the presentation – and to discuss his experiences with Modern-Day Slavery, the current debates (in the US and abroad) in addition to the most common misconceptions.

Refreshments Provided

About Ben Skinner:

The first person in history to witness negotiations for the sale of human beings on four continents, E. Benjamin Skinner is single handedly raising awareness of modern day slavery. In his shocking and brutally honest book, A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern Day Slavery, Skinner tells the story of individuals who live in slavery, those who have escaped from bondage, those who own or traffic in slaves, and the mixed political motives of those who seek to combat the crime. Elie Weisel has praised the book as a “Powerful indictment of contemporary slavery (which) must arouse outrage for perpetrators and compassion for their victims."

In 2003, as a writer on assignment in the frontlines of the north-south Sudanese civil war for Newsweek International, Skinner met his first survivor of slavery, Muong Nyong. Like Skinner, Nyong was 27 at the time, and pondering what to do with the rest of his life. Unlike Skinner, he had spent the first part of that life in bondage. After meeting Nyong, Skinner traveled the globe to find others like him. Though there are more slaves today than ever before, finding them would prove the most daunting challenge of Skinner’s professional life.

 

Prevent Human Trafficking’s summer study program, running since 1999, offers unique access to some of Southeast Asia’s pre-eminent scholars, activists, organizers and government officials working at the forefront of the global anti-trafficking movement.

Participants gain vital first hand knowledge of anti-trafficking strategy and unwritten “best practices” and a deeper understanding of systemic causes of trafficking along with an appreciation of challenges in the anti-trafficking movement. Special lectures by local academics, government officials, business leaders, NGO activists, and other guest speakers will provide fresh perspectives on the real reasons there are serious threats to human security, and why men, women and children are trafficked internally in Thailand or to other countries.

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PHTs Annual Spring Lecture Series is a great opportunity to learn from leading innovators, scholars and the practitioners making a difference in the fight against human trafficking. All events are free and open to the public.

April 2008 details and events:

Preview the documentary film: "Mekong Butterflies"

Calendar

• April 4, 2pm: American University
  (Weschler Theater, SOC, Mary Graydon bldg Rm 314)
• April 5, 11pm: Busboys and Poets (Washington, DC - Langston Room)
• April 7, 7pm: Northwestern University
• April 11, 5pm: Columbia University (International Affairs Bldg Rm 411)
• April 14, 6pm: Harvard University (Mather House Senior Common Room)
• April 15, 6:10pm: Yale Law School (Sterling Law Building Rm 129)
• April 17, 3pm: SUNY/Buffalo

2008 co-sponsors

The Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights

Yale American Constitution Society

Yale Law Women

Yale Law Students for Reproductive Justice

Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association

Harvard - Mather House Senior Common Room & Race Relations Program

Columbia - Asia-Pacific Affairs Council (APAC)

Columbia - SIPA's Economic and Political Development concentration (EPD)

Columbia - South East Asian Students Initiative (SEASI)

Northwestern University - One Voice 2008 & kNOw Trafficking

 

Please join us for an event this April and find out how YOU can be a part of the solution!

 

As founder of Prevent Human Trafficking, Christina Arnold has direct field experience that trumps theory and political posturing. Recently, Britt Bravo conducted an interview of Christina. If you'd like to learn more about the issue of human trafficking, start by listening to the audio version at Big Vision Podcast or by reading Britt Bravo's text version.

 

Dramatic police raids, questionable statistics and opportunistic politics weave a tale of anti-trafficking that just doesn't add up. In fact, anti-trafficking has fueled an industry of politicians and organizations that have done more harm than good. This is in part because they have twisted the facts, but even worse, they have chosen to ignore the reality of the victims of human trafficking. It's a complex issue, but one that we've worked hard to unravel and understand over the last eight years.  To learn more, start with our recommended reading.

In the meantime, be sure to read Brendan O'Neill's excellent article from Spiked-Online. O'Neill delves into the issue with a rare capactity for balanced and truthful reporting. Ultimately, he shows that the handing of anti-trafficking programs by the various agencies is not only flawed in tactics, but also lacking a sound strategic basis.

There was only one problem with this story: it was as fictional as the original Dickensian tale of artful dodgers. The Roma children were not child slaves; of the 10 kids ‘rescued’ in Slough on Friday (one of whom was less than a year old: hardly pickpocketing material) all but one were reunited with their natural parents or guardians the following day. No evidence has been discovered to show that the Roma adults in Slough were involved in a ‘criminal gang’ or a ‘child slave ring’ or any other form of serious criminality.

 

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The Pattaya Home for Street Children is the only center of its kind in Thailand. Every day, Khun Ja rescues children and youth from abusive situations (including trafficking, pedophilia, and parental neglect) and offers them shelter, food, education, and protection. He dreams of helping many more children with the development of a new center that can accommodate many more than the 30 children he cares for at capacity in his current drop in center.

Please contact us to learn about supporting his efforts. For $200,000 Khun Ja can purchase the land he has picked out, build the center of his dreams, and furnish it to accommodate more than one hundred children.

I'm off to the State Dept for the NGO briefing on the release of this year's trafficking in persons report (released yesterday!)

See: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/

Secretary Rice's and GTIP Ambassador Lagon's comments: http://video.state.gov/

Leave a comment to let us know your thoughts on this year's report!

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 You are invited to click this link to view http://sexworkerspresent.blip.tv/file/181155/

Taking the Pledge is a 13-minute film featuring sex workers from Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Mali, Thailand and more! They describe the problems created by the 'anti-prostitution pledge' required to receive USAID and PEPFAR funds.
In English, Khmer, Thai, French, Portuguese and Bengali, with English subtitles. Watch in full-screen mode to read the subtitles.
Produced by the Network of Sex Work Projects.