SUU Human Rights Advocates Club presents Anti-Human Trafficking Summit
By Ksenya Plumb
The Human Rights Advocates Club at Southern Utah University will put on an Anti-Human Trafficking Summit Jan. 24 from 5–8 p.m. in the SUU Sterling Church Auditorium and Starlight Room. Everyone in the Cedar City and St. George communities is invited to attend.
January is Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month, and we are passionate about raising awareness about extreme human rights violations such as human trafficking — the total loss of freedom and total control of an individual by another.
We want to emphasize that human trafficking does happen in almost every country, state, and city in the world.
Human trafficking is a prevalent issue in our state as well, and it does affect Utah citizens as Emily Havens’ recent front page article in The Spectrum & Daily News points out.
There will be representatives at our summit from the Attorney General’s Office, the Refugee and Immigrant Center-Asian Association of Utah, the Canyon Creek Women’s Crisis Center, and possibly the St. George DOVE Center.
From 5 to 6 p.m., we will be in the SUU Sterling Church Auditorium listening to our keynote speaker, Russell Smith, the Utah Assistant Attorney General and representative from the Utah Trafficking in Persons Taskforce.
From 6 to 7 p.m., we will move upstairs to the SUU Starlight Room for a dinner panel discussion where guests can ask questions of our presenters and additional experts. The planned panel includes the following:
—Assistant Attorney General, UTIP Representative Russell Smith.
—Education and outreach specialist at the Refugee and Immigrant Center-Asian Association of Utah Allison M. Smith.
—Canyon Creek Women’s Crisis Center (in Cedar City) Kaitlin Sorensen, M.P.A., former awareness and prevention director.
—And, possibly, a representative from the DOVE Center in St George.
We are also hoping for a law enforcement official, but none is confirmed at this point.
From 7 to 8 p.m., we will hear from our second and final speaker, Allison M. Smith, education and outreach specialist of the Refugee and Immigrant Center-Asian Association of Utah.
We hope to have a great turnout at this event and that it will open the eyes of the members of our community.
Ksenya Plumb is president of the Human Rights Advocates Club at Southern Utah University.
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