Jan. 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day as part of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Jonathan Todres, professor of law at Georgia State University's College of Law, is a leading expert on human trafficking. Based on his extensive research, he offers several key insights:
• Despite growing awareness of the problem, many popular misconceptions about human trafficking persist, and these misunderstandings can result in overlooking many victims. Learn more here. • We cannot prosecute our way out of this problem. Law enforcement is essential, but it’ll take a multi-sector response to reduce the prevalence of human trafficking.
• Prevention must be a higher priority. We need to address the root causes of why certain individuals are vulnerable to exploitation. That requires collaboration across many sectors, including education, health care, social services, and more.
• A public health approach offers valuable tools to address human trafficking, given its emphasis on prevention, evidence-based research, and addressing harmful attitudes and behaviors.
• The private sector has a pivotal role to play. It can ensure that trafficking does not occur in its own supply chains and require of its business partners that they do the same.
• We must remember that we are all implicated by human trafficking: If you got dressed or ate today, you may have used/consumed products produced by exploited labor.
Jonathan Todres is a Professor of Law at the Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta. To reach Todres, email him at [email protected] (or contact him on twitter: @jtodres). For links to his publications on human trafficking, visit: http://jonathantodres.com/human-trafficking/.
Need other faculty expertise? Visit the Georgia State University News Hub at http://news.gsu.edu/experts.
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