Shut Out Trafficking – NCAS and Human Trafficking on College campuses

Our Shut Out Trafficking Program starts our 4^th campus at Brown (Providence, RI)  tonight with our 4^th week of programming.  The week’s activities on human trafficking show why it is imperative to fight human trafficking.
Human Trafficking continues to grow and evolve, currently the world’s second most profitable organized criminal enterprise following drug trade.  This week we kicked off Shut Out Human Trafficking at St. John’s University where 650 people attended the opening ceremonies as I co-keynoted with my daughter Emily. Some other important events that occurred this week regarding human trafficking include:

• Delta Air Lines was the first and only U.S. airline to commit to combating human trafficking by training their staff to identify and report possible cases.
• Northwestern University conducted a study that indicates most human trafficking victims enter the U.S. with a legal work visa. Their papers end up being stolen by traffickers thus resulting in their indentured servitude.
• Pimps and traffickers study the law and try to find as many loopholes as possible to get away with human trafficking.
• The SAVE Act, which would require websites such as craigslist to verify both the identity of those posting the advertisements and the age of those who appear in them has been increasingly supported.
• A new app in Texas called ‘Redlight Traffic’ has been created to allow local residents to step in and anonymously submit information and photos of any suspicious behavior related to potential human trafficking cases.
• The Urban Institute and Northeastern examined how trafficking occurs and found that perpetrators are able to commit these crimes because embassies fail to identify red flags when victims obtain visas. It is particularly hard because traffickers often coach the victims about what to say in their interviews and encourage them to misrepresent their reasons for entering the U.S.

Shut Out Trafficking Schedule

October 6-10, 2014         LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA
October 20-25, 2014       St. John’s University, New York, NY
October 27-31, 2014       Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
November 3-7, 2014        Brown University, Providence, RI
November 10-14, 2014    University of Central Florida, Orlando FL

Spring 2015 (dates TBD)

University of California, Los Angeles
University of Denver (CO)
University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
University of Nebraska (Lincoln)
Chicago State University (IL)
Shut Out Trafficking aims to educate and enable college students to get active against human trafficking.