FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2010


April 23 seminar focuses on "human trafficking"

Aim is to increase public awareness in Missouri about the buying, smuggling and coercion of people into forced labor; Missouri cases will be discussed

On Friday, April 23, the Missouri Department of Public Safety's Crime Victim Services Unit will co-sponsor a seminar and panel discussion to educate and increase public awareness in Missouri about the problem of human trafficking.  There will be a discussion of cases in Missouri.
Human trafficking victims are most often lured away from their families and their home countries by a promise of a better life and then coerced to work as domestic servants, manual laborers or sex workers.  According to the U.S. State Department, up to 2 million people are trafficked around the world each year, with an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 victims trafficked into and within the United States.  
The Human Trafficking Rescue Project of the Western District of Missouri, an initiative launched by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District, reports that since November 2006, it has rescued more than 100 victims in the Western Judicial District of Missouri.  The district includes central Missouri.
The seminar is part of Missouri's observance of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, which is April 18-24.  State government employees and the public are invited to attend.  Feel free to bring a bag lunch.

Friday, April 23
WHO:                         Missouri Department of Public Safety—Crime Victim Services Unit Central Missouri STOP Human Trafficking Coalition Columbia Police Department Cole County Prosecuting Attorney's Office Human Trafficking Rescue Project of the Western District of Missouri
WHAT:                       Human Trafficking Identification and Intervention Seminar and Panel Discussion
WHERE:                     Room 400 Harry S. Truman Building 301 W. High Street Jefferson City, Missouri
WHEN:                       11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Friday, April 23

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For more information, call 573-751-5432 or e-mail mike.oconnell@dps.mo.gov