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The Carolina Women’s Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in partnership with other campus and local organizations, will host its biennial conference on sex trafficking April 3-4 at the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education. “Combating Sex Trafficking: Prevention and Intervention in North Carolina and Worldwide” is designed to inspire action, culminating in the creation of a working plan for North Carolinians to help survivors, raise awareness and put a stop to trafficking.

“Each year approximately 800,000 individuals are trafficked worldwide across international borders and victimized through forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation,” said Pamella Lach, conference coordinator and professor in the College of Arts and Science’s history department. “Nearly 20,000 of these victims enter the United States; almost a quarter arrive in the Southeast.”

Conference sessions will provide training to first responders, educators, health professionals and the legal community and will explore these topics:

  • How to sensitively advocate for survivors of various ages, races, and ethnicities.
  • How to shut down the demand for commercial sexual exploitation.
  • The role the travel and tourism industries play.
  • The impact the legal and law enforcement community can make.
  • The importance of local prevention models and efforts.
  • The media’s responsibility in educating the public.
  • How the corporate, private, non-profit and faith-based sectors are addressing this global problem. 

Experts participating in the conference include the leaders of the Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services; ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes); the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International (CATW); and the Global Fund for Children.  Representatives from the International Organization for Migration, state, and federal agencies will be on hand.  Actor Sharon Lawrence, a North Carolina native and UNC alumna, will talk about the intersections of drama and activism.

To register for the conference, visit http://womenscenter.unc.edu/08conference/ through March 24. Registration for April 3 is $25 ($10 for students) and includes breakfast, lunch, reception, and dinner; registration for April 4 is $25 ($10 for students) and includes breakfast and boxed lunch; and registration for both days is $45 ($15 for students) and includes all meals. Student scholarships are available through the Carolina Women’s Center.

The Carolina Women’s Center was created in 1997 to support women on the Carolina  campus and continues to serve today as both a motivator and a resource for women in the University community.

Conference Web site: http://womenscenter.unc.edu/08conference/

Carolina Women’s Center contact: Pam Lach, (919) 962-8305, plach@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu

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