The Georgia State College of Law hosted its 25th Annual Law Review Symposium, “Prioritizing Trafficking Prevention: Research, Innovation, and Advocacy,” on October 23.
The virtual symposium brought together many of the country’s leading authorities on human trafficking. The speakers, which included experts in the legal, medical, social science, technological and private sector aspects of the topic, aimed to identify strategies to prevent the harm from human trafficking.
Susan Coppedge, keynote speaker and former Ambassador for Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, opened the symposium by emphasizing that prosecuting perpetrators and protecting survivors should be the top priority of prevention.
“We recognize that it is better to prevent this crime altogether, and more efforts must be made to address the root causes of trafficking and the security breaches,” she said. “These vulnerabilities can be economic instability, housing and food insecurity, lack of legal status in the country, inequality between gender and ethnic groups, lack of educational opportunities and sexual orientation, to name a few.”
After the keynote address, the first panel focused on advocacy and underlined the importance of connecting research and advocacy. Panellists included DeKalb County Juvenile Justice Judge Fatima El-Amin, Dorsey Jones of YouthSpark and Meg Taylor, attorney for Delta Airlines. Moderated by Cheryl Naja of the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network, the panel provided key insights from both public and private sector stakeholders while emphasizing the importance of survivors’ perspectives.
Professor Jonathan Todres
The second panel of the symposium looked at the importance of evidence-based research in developing responses to human trafficking. Professor Kathleen Kim of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles identified critical structural problems that have been overlooked to the detriment of advances in human trafficking. Hannah Britton, professor at the University of Kansas highlighted the essential role of social sciences in developing policy responses, and Samuel Jones, professor at UIC John Marshall Law School in Chicago, highlighted how research can help underserved populations like Boys to see.
The closing panel of the symposium consisted of Professor Janie Chuang of the American University’s Washington College of Law, Dr. Kimberly Chang of Asian Health Services in Oakland, California, Dr. Kirsten Foot from the University of Washington and Dr. Jennifer Musto from Wellesley College. Panelists examined innovative strategies in international law, health care, journalism and technology, and emphasized the need to focus vulnerable populations, use traumatized practices and ensure that interventions do no harm.
Jonathan Todres, Professor at Georgia State Law Distinguished University and Professor of Law, moderated the second and third panels and gave the closing remarks of the symposium.
“The symposium provided a rare opportunity to bring together thought leaders from a wide range of disciplines to develop strategies on how we can actually prevent the harm from human trafficking,” said Todres. “The ideas and insights shared by today’s speakers have the potential to have a really significant impact on anti-trafficking efforts.”
The symposium, postponed due to COVID-19, was approved by both the editors of last year’s Law Review Symposium, Michael Foo and Taylor Lin, and the current editors of the Law Review Symposium, Rebecca Hu and Ellen Min , organized with the support of Todres.
“We are both incredibly pleased with how the symposium went, especially because individuals from across the nation were able to attend a virtual event,” said Hu and Min. “We thank all of our speakers and everyone who helped us make the virtual symposium a reality to be let. “
Read the Symposium Edition of the Georgia State Law Review to learn more.