In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, attention has been drawn to another appalling consequence of the tragedy – the growing opportunities for human trafficking.
The work of the Solidarity Center in combating the growing problem of human trafficking was this week raised at the inaugural meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Luis CdeBaca, the Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, drew attention to the Solidarity Center’s projects in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, addressing exploitation in farming and the sex industry.
As the center notes, its anti-trafficking initiatives include:
- Educating would-be migrant workers about labor laws and workplace rights in their own and foreign countries
- Helping to draft and pass improved anti-trafficking and safe migration legislation
- Training teachers to run school-based awareness programs
- Promoting union-run legal aid, counseling, and information centers
- Researching local, regional, and national trafficking trends and demographics
- Supporting common counter-trafficking initiatives between stakeholders
in sending and receiving countries - Creating standardized reporting forms for use in police stations
The Solidarity Center is one of the core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy and the NED has funded the center’s work on human trafficking.
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