California State University, Long Beach is hosting a discussion-based event about human sex trafficking on Wednesday in an effort to spread awareness and take the initial steps towards preventative action.
Havoscope estimated that in the United States, there were more than one million human sex trafficking victims and over 20 million worldwide as of 2013.
“This is an opportunity for the campus community to better understand some of the basic facts and information about what human sex trafficking is,” said Dr. Shira Tarrant, an associate professor in the women’s gender and sexuality studies department and the emcee for the event.
CSULB Women’s Resource Center will work in conjunction with the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and Political Science departments to host the panel discussion and Q&A session, called “Human Sex Trafficking: What Should We Know?”
The event will feature a panel of three people who are involved in preventative services aimed at helping those who suffer from the effects of sex trafficking.
“The people on the panel come from different professional experiences with the issue a psychologist, a survivor and also as a vice investigations cop,” Tarrant said. “So they are all also going to be bringing their expertise to the table.”
One of the panelists, Dr. Barbara Hernandez, is the vice president of Community Services for Crittenton Services for Children and Family, as well as a licensed marriage and family therapist and psychologist. Hernandez specializes in information about the sex trafficking of minors within the U.S. and has worked with minors in the child welfare system for over 18 years.
The second panelist will be Lt. Dan Pratt from the Long Beach Police Department Vice Investigations Unit.
The third panelist, Rachel Thomas, is the co-founder of the Sowers Education Group, which works to provide various resources for victims and survivors of human trafficking as well as volunteers who wish to help their cause. Thomas, a survivor of human sex trafficking, said she uses her experiences and writing skills to lead volunteers in “sowing seeds of human trafficking awareness and survivor empowerment.”
“The panel is being done so that we can present an important and relevant topic to the students about violence prevention,” Pam Rayburn, the coordinator at the Women’s Resource Center said. “[This will] in turn spread awareness on the issue at hand.”
The panel event and Q&A session will take place in the University Student Union Beach Auditorium on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m .
