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UF Law will host Human Trafficking Symposium on Jan. 28

To commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect in January 1863, President Barack Obama recently signed a proclamation declaring January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

It is estimated that one million people, mostly women and children, are trafficked around the world each year, lured into involuntary servitude and sexual slavery. According to the Somaly Mam Foundation, a non-profit public charity committed to ending modern slavery around the world, global slave trade generates $12 billion annually.

In an effort to bring these issues to light, the University of Florida Levin College of Law will hold a Human Trafficking Symposium on Jan. 28 from 4:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. in UF Law’s Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom (room 180). Co-sponsors of the event include UF’s Immigration Law Association, Lexis/Nexis, CaribLaw, Asian/Pacific American Law Association, and the Hispanic and Latino/a Law Student Association. The event is free and open to UF students.

Presentation Schedule:
4 p.m. – 5 p.m. - Local and Florida Immigrant Advocate Center attorneys will conduct a discussion panel on human trafficking in Florida.

5 p.m. – 6 p.m. - Luz Estella Nagle, a professor of law at Stetson University College of Law and expert on human trafficking, will speak about the impact of globalization on human trafficking.

6 p.m. – 7 p.m. - The Human Trafficking Project, a New York-based non-profit organization that utilizes art and technology to raise awareness of modern day slavery, connect those working to combat the issue and support trafficking survivors, will present a film about international child trafficking titled, "Holly." This film addresses child sex slavery in Cambodia. For more information on the film and The Human Trafficking Project, visit http://traffickingproject.blogspot.com/2007/12/human-trafficking-film-holly.html.

For more information regarding the symposium, contact Justin Bleak, president of UF Law’s Immigration Law Society, at justbleak@gmail.comor call 352-262-1300.

**For more upcoming conferences and symposiums visit http://www.law.ufl.edu/news/events/.