“Human trafficking has no place in america or Colorado. I am grateful for the regulation enforcement officers, prosecutors, and native leaders who’re working collectively to boost consciousness of this problem and shield individuals from this unimaginable horror,” mentioned Bennet.
Hosted at The Penrose Home Convention Middle, the occasion, “United Towards Human Trafficking: Strengthening Colorado’s Response via Collaboration and Innovation,” centered on the “3 P’s” of the Trafficking Victims Safety Act – Prevention, Prosecution, and Safety. Attendees mentioned figuring out gaps in present methods and the efficient approaches every group has present in combating human trafficking in Colorado.
Specialists, policymakers and regulation enforcement attended the occasion, together with representatives from the places of work of each Sen. Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo); Invoice Woolf, recipient of the Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts to Fight Trafficking in Individuals and the previous Performing Director for the U.S. Workplace for Victims of Crime; Danielle Summerville, the Cultural and Group Outreach Packages Supervisor on the Colorado Springs Mayor’s Workplace; Lt. Mark Chacon of the Colorado Springs Police Division; and, Marisol Tischman, Forensic Interview Specialist at Homeland Safety Investigations.
A number of anti-trafficking leaders from throughout Colorado introduced crucial views and expertise to the roundtable, together with Maria Trujillo, the Human Trafficking Program Supervisor on the Colorado Division of Public Security; Dr. AnnJanette Alejano-Steele (AJ), the Co-founder and Analysis Director on the Laboratory to Fight Human Trafficking; JoAnn O’Neil, Chairman of the Board of Administrators for the Human Trafficking Process Power of Southern Colorado; Sues Hess, the Govt Director for Reclaiming Hope; Bailey Thiry, the Human Trafficking Program Supervisor for TESSA; Donna D’Amico, board member of the HT Process Power of Southern Colorado; and, Sara Potter with Peak Vista Group Well being Facilities.
Moreover, there have been three important digital attendees representing the Western Slope, Pueblo and Denver. Laura Parker, the CEO and Co-founder of The Exodus Highway, was joined by a number of crew members from the nonprofit to facilitate the occasion and supply extra expertise.
Amongst a number of factors, the roundtable dialogue emphasised the need for coaching and training to fight human trafficking from regulation enforcement’s investigation of labor-trafficking crimes to digital security and prevention for youths, dad and mom and faculties. For example, The Exodus Highway’s INFLUENCED program was highlighted.
The nonprofit just lately launched INFLUENCED – a prevention training curriculum to assist dad and mom and youths determine and keep away from on-line exploitation. In 2022, greater than 76% of The Exodus Highway’s efficiently closed investigations worldwide concerned proof of exploitation on digital platforms, particularly social media. Defending kids on this digital age requires an elevated understanding by dad and mom, academics, public officers, and different neighborhood leaders concerning the ways and mechanisms traffickers use to focus on and groom children on-line.
“Human trafficking is a prolific human rights disaster that’s underreported in most communities and have to be addressed proper right here in Colorado,” Parker mentioned. “We’re so grateful for Senator Bennet’s and Senator Hickenlooper’s dedication to fight human trafficking in our state and for his or her efforts in creating this collective of anti-trafficking advocates. Our capability to eradicate human trafficking is exponentially higher in collaboration.”
After the occasion, the taking part anti-trafficking leaders throughout the state are invited to proceed collaborating via workshop teams diving deeper into the problems mentioned. Key workshop subjects embody Sufferer-Witness help, Coverage Assist for Survivors, and Authorized Framework and Challenges within the Prosecution of Traffickers.
About Senator Michael Bennet
Michael Bennet has represented Colorado in america Senate since 2009. Widely known as a practical and impartial thinker, he’s pushed by a deep-seated obligation to create extra alternative for the subsequent technology. Michael has constructed a status of taking up Washington dysfunction and dealing with Republicans and Democrats to handle our nation’s biggest challenges – together with training, local weather change, immigration, well being care, and nationwide safety.
About The Exodus Highway
The Exodus Highway is a world nonprofit disrupting the darkness of modern-day slavery by partnering with regulation enforcement to battle human-trafficking crime, equipping communities to guard the weak and empowering survivors as they stroll into freedom. Working side-by-side with native workers, NGO companions and regulation enforcement all over the world, The Exodus Highway fights to liberate trafficked people, arrest traffickers and supply restorative take care of survivors. Since its founding in 2012, the group has assisted police within the rescue of two,400 survivors and the arrests of greater than 1,200 offenders, numbers that develop nearly day by day. The Exodus Highway’s strategy to freedom incorporates intervention, coaching and training, and aftercare efforts.
In coaching and training, The Exodus Highway provides a set of on-line and in-person curriculums together with: TraffickWatch: Brazil, an internet coaching curriculum particularly designed for regulation enforcement companions; INFLUENCED, a curriculum equipping United States dad and mom and youths to take part within the on-line world whereas avoiding the risks of exploitation; and Equip and Empower, a human trafficking prevention training curriculum for at-risk youth in Thailand. Cumulatively, the group has educated greater than 27,000 officers and residents via their academic curriculums.
The Exodus Highway combats human trafficking within the U.S., Thailand, the Philippines, India, Brazil and in one other undisclosed, Latin American nation. The nonprofit was based in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2012, and nonetheless calls the town residence for the U.S. workplace.
For added info or to make a donation to assist cease human trafficking, please go to The Exodus Highway’s web site at https://theexodusroad.com/, and test them out on Fb, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Mackenzie Spillane
The Exodus Highway
+ +1 7196484291
e-mail us right here
Go to us on social media:
Fb
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
