Human Rights Scholars from Andover and Exeter assembled at Andover on Sunday to present research and raise awareness about human exploitation in the United States. Both student groups presented as part of the Eight Schools Students Leadership Conference.
In the conference, Andover scholars presented on the trafficking of human beings before their peers from Exeter presented on the trading of human organs.
This is the second annual Human Rights conference of a three-year pilot program initiated by Christopher Shaw, Chair and Instructor in History.
Kai Kornegay ’14, Djavaneh Bierwirth ’14 and Tyler Olkowski ’13 were selected to be Andover’s Human Rights Fellows from an applicant pool of 20 students.
Elizabeth Stockton PEA ’12, Sumun Kheptal PEA ’13, Anna Luy Tan PEA ’13, Angela Lei PEA ’13 and Robert Conner PEA ’15 presented on behalf of Exeter.
As part of the Human Rights event, Andover also screened the documentary “SOLD: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade” on Saturday and hosted the documentary’s producer, Jody Hasset Sanchez.
The Andover Human Rights Fellows chose to research human trafficking because they were shocked that modern-day slavery could be occurring in a democratic, industrialized country like the United States, according to Kornegay. The Andover fellows focused specifically on human trafficking in relation to domestic workers, sex trafficking and the agriculture industry.
Every year, 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States, according to the presenters.
“I really wanted to do something so I could explore it and find ways to make people care about the issue,” Kornegay said.
To begin, Kornegay examined several cases studies that have been tried in American courts.
One of the cases Kornegay presented was that of a woman named Shanti, who was brought over to America by a family in New York and promised wages and a better life. Instead, she was forced into domestic servitude and worked 16 hour days with little to no pay. With the help of a non-governmental organization, she finally escaped.
According to Kornegay, most of the agriculture slaves in the United States are from Central and South America, while those enslaved for sexual reasons are mostly from Asia.
Olkowski presented a video of Andover students responding to the question, “What is slavery?”. He spoke about and juxtaposed the history of human trafficking with the state of human exploitation today.
Bierwirth presented ways to counteract human trafficking and potential solutions to address the issue, including raising awareness through social media.
She also suggested volunteering at organizations that work to address similar issues, such as Stop the Traffick, an initiative created to address human trafficking.
To publicize human trafficking, Olkowski, Bierwirth and Kornegay have created a Facebook group and a Twitter account to reach out to Andover students
The five Exeter fellows examined organ trafficking. According to their presentation, the commercial exploit originated in countries including the Philippines, China, India, Israel and Pakistan.
The Exeter students focused on organ trafficking because they were interested in the moral dilemmas it entails. While organs can help to save lives, the harvesting of organs can also violate the rights of donors.
The Exeter students told the story of a young female American student who died while on a trip to India. Once dead, she was cut apart and her organs were harvested. They suggested solutions similar to those that the Andover students presented, including increasing awareness and transparency through social media to help address the problem.
Following the presentations, the presenters split audience members into small question-based discussion groups.
The documentary “SOLD” preceded the scholars’ presentations and featured a question and answer session with Sanchez.
“SOLD” tells the stories of three individuals, from India, Pakistan and Togo. Although of very different backgrounds, they all risked their lives to end slavery in the 21st century.
In Togo, child slavery is a prevalent problem. Very young children are sold and forced to perform demanding tasks, such as hauling heavy loads in the marketplace, that can cause them to injure themselves and eventually starve, according to Sanchez.
Similar problems arise in India, as young women and girls are frequently sold into sexual slavery. They are left in horrible living conditions, often subject to abuse and given no food or water for many days at a time, according to Sanchez.
Child slavery is also an issue in Pakistan, specifically involving the selling of young boys to become child camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Some of these boys, often no older than three years old, are forced into tasks that leave many of them disfigured or badly injured with no support.
“I wanted [the people of those countries] to tell you what happened to them. What I found was that I didn’t have the footage of the child camel jockeys, and people didn’t get it. They had never heard of it. It was really tricky to get that dramatic footage,” Sanchez said.
Often times in these cases of slavery, families of the exploited children are tricked slave traders. At times, families are even deceived by acquaintances who are forced into assisting the slave dealers. These dealers falsely promise families that their children will receive a better life with an education and a basic job, a promise that is regularly broken.
“Jody’s answer and question session was very inspiring. It was especially inspiring that a person like her, having grown up in the [United States], has been able to work on making this documentary and making such an impact and motivating people to do something for change,” said Beirwirth.
Kornegay said, “I thought it was really interesting that she mentioned the religious and spiritual motivations that people have to stop trafficking, as opposed to purely economic reasons. I also loved how she focused on people who were trying to stop human trafficking instead of just focusing on it [human trafficking]. It inspired me more because I saw people who were doing what I really wanted to be doing later in life.”
