By Kimberly McMillian
Correspondent
DAYTON, Tenn. — In seven minutes, a loved one can be coerced or forced into human trafficking, said the speaker at Friday night’s “The Victim Matters” workshop at Bryan College.
“Anyone want to be trafficked?” Detective Sgt. Roddy Llewellyn, with New Scotland Yard in London, England, asked the 100 or more students and guests in Rudd Auditorium. The workshop was part of Bryan’s annual International Human Rights Symposium, which concludes today.
After a negative response, Llewellyn gave an illustration, using two students from the audience to show how easily young women can be forced into the sex trade.
It starts when women are lured into leaving home with promises of a high-paying job and a better life.
When the promised job fails to materialize, the traffickers say the women owe them money and pressure them to turn to the sex trade.
One of the students played a girl who acquiesced, agreeing to go to “dance clubs” to work. The other started to refuse, only to have her family threatened.
In minutes, out of fear and isolation, the trafficker claimed another victim.
After Llewellyn spoke, Detective Inspector Steve Wilkinson, also of New Scotland Yard, joined him on the stage to answer questions.
Detective Wilkinson explained that the blue open-heart pin on his lapel represented “The Blue Heart Campaign,” which seeks to encourage involvement in the fight against human trafficking.
Another student asked how the officers try to inform people about the severity of this crime.
Llewellyn said that posters are distributed with the quote, “If it sounds too good to be true …”
Alan Brown, a politics and government major, asked about the difficulty in proving rape among trafficked victims.
Llewellyn said that only 5 percent of those accused of rape are convicted. “It’s very difficult to prove.”
J. Daryl Charles, director and senior fellow of the Bryan Institute for Critical Thought & Practice, told students that it was easy to feel “frustrated and overwhelmed” about the injustice and indignity of human trafficking.
“Help us to serve civil society,” Charles prayed, and encouraged students to not feel paralyzed in learning how to fight this crime.
After the workshop, audience members were invited to a screening of the 2009 human-trafficking movie “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson.
Kimberly McMillian is based in Rhea County. Contact her at kdj424@bellsouth.net.