AU hosting Community Partner Panel Discussion on human trafficking
AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- Tuesday morning, Augusta University will host a panel discussion about human trafficking. This is all part of the university’s ‘Community Partner Panel Discussion’ series.
It’s the second time AU is hosting a panel discussion highlighting topics that impact the community.
Tuesday, they will discuss human trafficking in the CSRA.
Panelists include District Attorney Jared Williams, Investigators from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and GBI and Kari Viola-Brooke from Child Enrichment.
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Dr. Melissa Bemiller is the panel moderator and associate professor at AU. She said it’s important to be informed about the different types of human trafficking.
“No area in our country is immune to human trafficking. Even rural areas out in the middle of our country can see human trafficking. So human trafficking is a broad term. There’s sex trafficking and there is the labor trafficking and there’s also organ trafficking. Pretty much what we see more often than not is sex trafficking and labor trafficking,” she explained.
Dr. Bemiller adds that talking about human trafficking and learning the red flags is important.
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“It’s a hard topic. It’s not easy to think of children or women or men or anybody being abused or taken advantage of or being coerced into sexual servitude or labor. It’s not an easy topic, I know that. But if we keep our silence, if we avoid the uncomfortable, we just get more uncomfortable.”
The panel discussion will take place Tuesday, April 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Coffeehouse room of the Jaguar Student Activities Center (JSAC.)
It’s open to the public in person and virtually. You can join virtually by scanning the QR code below.
Photojournalist: Dania Alawir.
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