Today on forum Scott Shafer talked with Betty Ann Boeving, event chair for the Freedom Summit and director of the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition, which is holding a two-day conference on preventing human trafficking, starting tomorrow at Harbor Light Church in Fremont. (The show will be archived here later today.)
From the Oakland Tribune, Jan 9:
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will deliver the keynote address later this month at a conference seeking to fight human trafficking in Bay Area neighborhoods.
More than 30 local and international organizations fighting human trafficking will attend Freedom Summit 2011 on Jan. 21 and 22 at Harbor Light Church.
"Our aim is to equip every concerned individual "... in a way that empowers communities to be traffic-free," Chairwoman Betty Ann Boeving said in a statement.
The State Department estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are illegally moved across international borders every year.
California, with its major ports and large population, is a hub for both international and domestic traffickers. Sex slaves often are forced into massage parlors, underground brothels or even vans, whose whereabouts are advertised online, according to the Fremont-based nonprofit group California Against Slavery. Full article
Here's the promotional video for the conference:
And here's a post we did last month on Youth Radio's report on child sex trafficking in Oakland.