The Student Union Performance Hall was packed for a town hall meeting concerning human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
Citizens from across Ohio gathered to learn more about these issues and to discuss their concerns with policy-makers and experts.
The overall message was that human trafficking is a real problem and can happen anywhere, even in central Ohio. Awareness and stronger legislation are needed to combat this growing problem.
“We still don’t have a stand-alone felony charge, where we can go after the criminal act, not just the criminal,” said Sen. Teresa Fedor, who has been a repeated sponsor of anti-trafficking legislation.
Holly Burkhalter of International Justice Mission, a U.S.-based human rights organization, echoed the senator’s comments.
“The absence of strong legislation is literally a pull factor that brings in the traffickers,” she said.
Congressman Patrick Tiberi gave a keynote address in which he talked about how the issue was brought to his attention by a high school girl, emphasizing the importance of communicating with your government representatives.
Later in the evening, a panel of policy-makers and experts took questions from the audience. The panel included Sen. Fedor and Burkhalter, as well as Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Paul Herbert, special advisor to the attorney general Todd Dieffenderfer, and Theresa Flores, a survivor of domestic sex trafficking.
One question posed to the panelists was what the biggest obstacle to ending human trafficking was.
Judge Herbert said he thought it was “the culture that refused to act.”
Dieffenderfer said “building awareness would be the biggest help.”
Flores named the demand as the biggest problem. “We are not arresting the buyer,” he said.
Burkhalter said it was the state of despair people reached because they were not sure how to counteract the problem.
The last to respond was Sen. Fedor, who agreed with Herbert that the biggest obstacle was a culture that is misinformed about the issue.
Burkhalter captured the spirit of the evening and won the approval of the crowd.
“There are more stops on the underground railroad in Ohio than any other state. Slavery stopped for thousands of people here in Ohio. Let’s make Ohio the example today in ending modern-day slavery,” she said.
