Human Rights Club hosted a talk with Unbound Now at the SLU Madrid campus bringing awareness about human trafficking and how to spot it.
Unbound Now, a non-profit organization based out of Texas, works to bring awareness about human trafficking and assistance to victims of trafficking. The Human Rights Club invited Susan Peters, the founder, to inform SLU Madrid students about what human trafficking is and what to do if students witness it occurring. Peters brought three other members of the Unbound Now team from other countries as well as two professors from Baylor University.
Introducing the talk, Peters discussed how she personally witnessed human trafficking when traveling internationally. In response, she founded Unbound Now. Coming from the United States, Peters shared that she originally thought human trafficking was a more international issue but then realized it is just as much of a problem in the US.
Peters’ goal with her presentation was to inform students about human trafficking as, “awareness saves lives,” said Peters. According to Peters, only 1% of human trafficking victims are ever identified making awareness essential.
Peters emphasized that the three main tasks of Unbound Now are youth prevention, survivor services, and outreach and training.
The youth prevention aspect of the NGO is to educate and empower the youth in knowledge about human trafficking. The survivor service they offer is a 24/7 crisis response for both victims and survivors. Finally, the outreach and trainings they offer serve to train and equip people to use certain skills to identify and respond to victims of human trafficking.
Towards the end of the talk, Peters opened the floor for questions. After a ten minute Q&A, the talk came to an end. Following the conclusion of the talk, Unbound Now team members stuck around to have one-on-one conversations with students.
