Special to the Register
RICHMOND —
Eight Eastern Kentucky University students and two faculty members will make a joint presentation on human trafficking at the United Nations Youth Global Village this summer in Mexico.
The group, representing EKU’s Women and Gender Studies Program, will present its research and prevention campaign during the international event in Leon on Aug. 24-27.
“Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world,” said Marta Miranda, director of EKU’s Women and Gender Studies Program, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work and a licensed clinical social worker. “In Kentucky, men, women and children are being recruited and placed in unlawful and abusive sexual and labor practices. We want to be part of the effort to eradicate current-day slave trade. Our goal is to create an education and prevention campaign to increase awareness and prevent the use of human beings as labor and sexual products.”
Participating students are: Sarah McVey, Richmond; Ethan Connelly, Berea; John Bentley, Littcarr; Jeremy (Adam) Denney, Monticello; Laura Becerra, Bogota, Columbia; Adrienne Harper, Columbus, Ind.; Eden Kebede, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and Courtney Kinter, Cincinnati. They will be joined by faculty members Miranda and Maria Almario, both of whom have received statewide awards for their work on behalf of women who are victims of sexual violence.
The EKU group is working with volunteers of Colectivo de Mujeres Jovenes in Bogota, Columbia, Almario’s hometown, to develop the campaign, which will tackle issues of women’s empowerment and look at areas in which women are still vulnerable to exploitation in hopes of reducing incidents of human trafficking.
“We wanted to work with an activist group from another country, so she (Almario) connected us to Colectivo de Mujeres Jovenes, who are also presenting,” Miranda said. “So we now have an opportunity for our students to collaborate with another youth group and present together.
“Maria and I are bilingual, and we work as interpreters and translators as well as teachers,” Miranda added. “There are several Spanish majors and they will have the opportunity to apply their language skills.”
The group’s work will also be showcased at the EKU Global Perspectives Colloquium on Human Trafficking on Nov. 3 on the Richmond campus.
