Debbie Kelsey, an International Ministries missionary, will present "A European Country's Human Trafficking Problem and Solutions" from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, at Ohio Northern University's Dicke Forum Room, located in the James Dicke Hall. 

The presentation will be followed with a question and answer period.  This presentation is open to the public and is free, according to Jack Duffy, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ada.

Kelsey has spent the last 10 years in Belgium and Italy, as well as the last seven years  directly involved with fighting human trafficking and working with women in prostitution in Western Europe.

In the last five years, she has worked with Nigerian victims in Italy caught in human trafficking and will share the problems as well as the solutions. She serves as Regional Missionary with the European Baptist Federation and is a member of the Federation’s Anti-Trafficking Workgroup who focus on prevention of trafficking, recovery of victims and fighting the demand that drives the sex industry.

She assists the Italian Baptist Union (Unione Cristiana Evangelica Battista d'Italia--UCEBI) in ministry to women in prostitution. She facilitates the networks of evangelicals in Italy who address the issue of trafficking, and she leads seminars and consults on specific cases.

Human trafficking involves recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving individuals for the purpose of exploiting them. This is done through the use of force, coercion or duplicity such as a false promise of a better life in another country.

The United Nations crime-fighting office announced that 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time. While some become domestic laborers, 80% of trafficked persons are exploited as sexual slaves. They are trapped in lives of misery and cruelty.