Press club brings experts together for human trafficking panel

 Nola Theiss is especially fond of an African proverb she overheard recently at a conference on human trafficking.

The proverb promises that when spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. Ms. Theiss’ position as the executive director of the Human Trafficking Awareness Partnership allows her to empower the spiders.

“My favorite part of this work is watching communities go through this process and be successful and get over obstacles and keep going,” she says.

Ms. Theiss will be part of a panel discussion on human trafficking at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the auditorium of Edison State College in East Naples. Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala will moderate the discussion. The event is hosted by the Naples Press Club, and there is $5 general admission fee. Entry is free to students with identification.

Ms. Theiss will be joined on the panel by Penny Rambacher, founder of Miracles in Action, a non-profit Collier County organization serving indigenous communities in Guatemala; and Janine Zeitlin, an award-winning South Florida reporter who covers welfare, social services and immigration for The News-Press. Also on the panel will be Christine Buckley, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, Paris based freelance journalist and author of “Slave Hunter,” a non-fiction account of human trafficking.

 Ms. Buckley, who has family in Naples, lived in Vietnam from 2003 to 2006 and served as an editor for the daily English

language newspaper Vietnam News.

During that time, she learned about the country’s many street children and the problems they faced, including slavery.

In early 2007, she met American human rights activist Aaron Cohen at an anti-slavery conference in Florida. His often controversial efforts to combat human trafficking became the subject of her book.

Ms. Buckley believes it wasn’t enough to write a book that simply described a problem. “Slave Hunter” concludes with ways that readers can support antitrafficking efforts.

“Once person does make a difference, and can make a difference, and here’s how,” she says.

Part of that begins with recognizing the role developed countries unwittingly play in cultivating conditions that are right for slavery to flourish. “We’re a big part of the problem,” she says. “If we stop consuming the products and services that slaves make, we can actually put a dent in the problem.”

It’s estimated that 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. Victims end up working in agriculture, sweatshops, domestic service, the hospitality industry and prostitution. The Web site www.HumanTrafficking.org reports that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked annually to the United States.

Combating the problem requires education and vigilance, Ms. Theiss says, adding the public needs to recognize the hallmark signs of evidence of physical or psychological control, the inability to leave a job, and fear or depression.

Too often, she says, those who suspect something decide not to contact law enforcement. “They need to know it’s OK to call.”

A recent Florida State University report suggests that trafficking within the hospitality and resort community is on the rise. So, too, is domestic minor sex trafficking, meaning that the victims are born within the United States.

Ms. Theiss’ organization is a finalist for a national grant to create a prevention program that will help Americanborn girls learn about trafficking from Guatemalan women who are former victims. The hope is that the girls will learn to avoid being victims of domestic trafficking, and that they will also become anti-trafficking spokespersons.

For more information about the event or the Naples Press Club, visit www. naplespressclub.org. For more information about Ms. Theiss’ organization, visit www.humantraffickingawareness.com.

For more information about Ms. Rambacher’s organization, visit www.miraclesinaction. org. 

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