Human trafficking is a modern global problem that has been difficult for law enforcement agencies throughout the world to combat. Whether people are being sold into slavery for forced labor, sex or some other purpose, the monetary benefit for the perpetrators is still at the heart of the problem. Although the marketing aspect of human trafficking is just one part of the problem, Dr. Dwayne Ball, Associate Professor of Marketing at UNL, has been at the forefront of the University’s recent efforts to create positive change in the area of human slavery.
Ball will once again help host the 3rd Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking held in Lincoln from September 29 - October 1, 2011. One of the unique qualities of the conference is that it involves people from so many different disciplines and has sparked interest from individuals throughout the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“Ron Hampton (Associate Professor of Marketing Emeritus at UNL) and I did some work in the Ukraine estimating the extent of human trafficking using survey research methods,” said Ball. “As we began to get into this work we began to hear of other people here on campus who had an interest in human trafficking. There were people from the Law College, Arts and Sciences, the Libraries, the Journalism College, and the College of Education and Human Sciences -- so there was a fairly broad range of people interested in different aspects in terms of legal, operational, public relations, rehabilitation, and so on.
“Ron Hampton was really the leader in terms of seeing what we could do to combat this problem by combining our efforts. Not only is there a great need for knowledge in this area but there is also a great need for the dissemination of that knowledge.”
To help facilitate that dissemination of knowledge the 2011 conference will include longer times for speakers and discussion, as well as provide for special student session presentations. The conference will also create clearer division of sessions based on knowledge type to help provide better focus for participants and get them to the information most useful to their discipline.
The conference keynote speaker this year will be Siddharth Kara, who is author of the book “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery.” Kara works for the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Originally an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, Kara first encountered the horrors of slavery in a Bosnian refugee camp in 1995. Subsequently, he has interviewed over a thousand former and current slaves from countries across six continents.
Other conference speakers will be announced later this summer and updated on the conference web site which Ball also helps manage. Conference registration is now open and a discounted rate is available for attendees who sign up prior to August 31.
“We intend to help establish the University of Nebraska as a central place where knowledge about human trafficking is coming together and being disseminated,” said Ball. “We’re hoping that it will help us in our efforts to get research funded that will help to eventually bring human trafficking down.”
Published: May 26, 2011