Graduate student alumni discuss human trafficking, exploitation
Ruby ShaoHuman trafficking survivors have been instrumental leaders of movements to reduce economic exploitation and labor exploitation, journalism visiting professor Noy Thrupkaew said at a panel she moderated on Friday. Elaine Pearson GS ’13, the Australia director of Human Rights Watch, defined trafficking as the movement of a person through deceptive or coercive means into a situation of exploitation. “What makes it a situation of trafficking is that it’s a situation where people can’t just freely get up and leave,” Pearson said, noting that today’s compulsion often involves psychological rather than physical constraints and can happen through both legal and illegal channels. Pearson distinguished trafficking from smuggling, which she described as the illegal movement of someone across a border for a fee.