Ohio Northern University will present a panel discussion on human trafficking in the McIntosh Ballroom on Wednesday, April 1, at 6:30 p.m.

The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the ONU Department of History, Politics and Justice; the ONU Department of Psychology, Sociology and Criminal Justice; the ONU Getty College of Arts & Sciences, the ONU Office of the President; the ONU Office of Academic Affairs; Lexis Nexis; and the ONU Student Senate.

A six-member panel will discuss the issue of human trafficking, exploring the criminal aspects of the trade in human beings and the impact of trafficking on victims. Barbara Amaya, a survivor of human trafficking, will be on the panel to share her personal experiences.

Amaya, a training consultant with the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center, is an internationally recognized and award-winning advocate speaker, trainer, consultant, author and survivor leader in the movement to end modern-day slavery. Her first published book, an educational graphic novel, “The Destiny of Zoe Carpenter,” includes a curriculum aimed at educating middle-school students and her expert testimony of escaping a life of growing up from the age of 12 on the streets of New York City while a victim of sex trafficking. She is an active member of the National Survivor Network and a member of both the U.S. State Department Human Trafficking Task Force and the Virginia Task Force. In 2014, she received the James B. Hunter Human Rights Advocacy Award for her work in promoting human rights and diversity in Arlington, Va.

In addition to Amaya, the panel will be comprised of Sgt. David Gillespie of the Lima Police Department; Amy Grady, an attorney with the Ohio Attorney General’s Commission on human trafficking; Ashley Wickersham, a member of the Institute of Social Justice, Terry Kohlrieser, a prosecutor with the Allen County office; and Lauryn Dant, a representative from the Ohio Trauma Center.

Link: https://www.onu.edu/node/64749

Ohio Northern University’s quality, student-centered education distinctively combines nationally ranked sciences, arts and professional programs for more than 3,600 students in its five colleges: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, Pharmacy and Law.