Genevieve Rohan, SI Coronado President, (center short sleeves) poses with State Department international delegates from 10 nations visiting the U.S. to work with federal officials on ways to combat human trafficking in the United States and around the world. She was joined by both SI Coronado and San Diego chapter members for a dinner reception at the San Diego Diplomacy Center with a buffet prepared by SI member, Wendy McGuire, owner of Ganosh Gourmet (front row right).
CORONADO, CA….Soroptimist International (SI) Coronado members recently hosted 10 delegates from the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program who were visiting from countries around the world to address cooperative strategies and policies designed to combat human trafficking for both the sex trade and slave labor in the U.S.
During their two-week stay in the U.S., the 10 individuals whose professions are involved with combating and preventing trafficking in their own countries, work closely with officials in Washington D.C. and the State Department to explore worldwide policy initiatives to help prevent trafficking and to examine how best to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate victims of trafficking. In addition, they study and share the best practices and efforts needed by law enforcement and prosecution, and how countries can work collaboratively in creating the policies and practices needed to address this wide-spread global issue.
“The Soroptimist organization is dedicated to improving the lives of women and children locally and around the world,” explained Meridith Metzger, public awareness chair for SI Coronado . “Human trafficking is a modern day form of slavery and it has become a serious problem both in the United States and around the world, so our club was delighted to meet these delegates who are also involved in preventing trafficking in their own countries” she added. Trafficking.org estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 people are brought into the U.S. annually for trafficking purposes. Women and children are said to comprise about three quarters of trafficking captives and are used in the sex industry, to harvest crops, to work in garment sweatshops, or to serve as domestic workers and common laborers.
SI Coronado hosted the visiting delegates to a dinner buffet at the San Diego Diplomacy Council in San Diego, an organization that works with visiting professionals from around the world who are participating in U.S. federal programs to study our rule of law, women’s leadership, drug enforcement, education, tourism, counterterrorism, arts and culture, human trafficking, and public health issues.
SI Coronado President, Genevieve Rohan, welcomed the delegates, sharing information on SI’s STOP Trafficking global efforts. The State Department guests included the Project Coordinator for Dhaka Ahsania Mission in Bangladesh who spearheads the USAID-funded anti-trafficking project; the Captain of the Baghdad Police Headquarters in Iraq; a Judge for the Criminal Division of the Ministry of Justice in Jordan, as well as the Chief for the Criminal Investigation and Detection Department also in Jordan; the General Secretary of the Kuwait Trade Union Federation in Kuwait; Assistant Controller for the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Maldives; the Director of Human Rights Office in Qatar; Inspector of Police in Sri Lanka; a Human Rights Monitor in Sudan; and the Program Director for Impulse NGO Network in Northeast India.
January was declared National Human Trafficking Awareness month by President Obama. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, trafficking of humans has become the second fasting growing criminal industry, just behind drug trafficking. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource, industrialized nations account for half of the estimated $32 billion industry.
Soroptimist International is an organization of approximately 95,000 business and professional women in 120 chapters around the world. For more information, contact http://www.soroptimist.org. or http://www.soroptimistinternational.org.
# # # #
For further information contact:
Meridith Metzger, Public Awareness
Coronado Chapter of Soroptimist International
619-850-8285
