Stop Human Trafficking
On Thursday, March 7—the evening before International Women’s Day!—Hao Nguyen, a national award-winning speaker and advocate against human trafficking, lectured before a standing-room-only crowd of over 100 people gathered in the Wiegand Room in Vari Hall. The event was sponsored by STOP-HT, along with the support of SCU’s Department of Religious Studies. Ms. Nguyen is the Anti-Trafficking Coordinator and a senior human trafficking victim advocate at API Chaya, a grassroots organization that provides culturally and linguistically relevant services to victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. She is also the sister of Religous Studies Department faculty member Thao Nguyen, S.J.
Ms. Nguyen spoke eloquently about both labor and sex trafficking, and how human trafficking manifests nationally as well as in her work in Seattle. The large crowd—spilling out into the foyer!—was comprised of students, faculty, staff, and community members, including several representatives from the Diocese of San Jose as well as labor justice advocates in the region. STOP-HT will sponsor more events on human trafficking in the future, bringing Jesuit-based commitments of justice and compassion to this pressing issue in our community, nation, and world.