Human Trafficking Awareness Day: Searching for Innovative Solutions
In recognizing January 11th as Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Race-Talk has invited three experts on trafficking in persons to share their thoughts. They have chosen to address a little-examined and nuanced, but crucial, aspect of the trafficking discussion, with a focus on innovative solutions. They propose relying on empowering workers rather than focusing on the criminal justice system. A key part of paying respect to those who have experienced this severe human rights abuse includes thinking about the most effective path forward to prevent others from being trafficked, and our experts do so here.
These writers include some of the leading voices, thinkers, and practitioners on the issue of trafficking in persons. They are lawyers and a social worker who work with and represent trafficked persons on a daily basis, as well as advocates who have pushed forward innovative policies over the last decade and more.
We hope you find their commentary interesting and thought-provoking—Best—Juhu Thukral
ARTICLES:
Juhu Thukral is the Director of Law and Advocacy at The Opportunity Agenda. She has been an advocate for the rights of low-income and immigrant women in the areas of sexual health and rights, gender-based violence, economic security, and criminal justice for 20 years. Prior to joining The Opportunity Agenda, Ms. Thukral was the founder and Director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, where she envisioned and developed legal and programmatic initiatives around sex work and human rights, trafficking in persons, and economic security. She is also a founding Steering Committee member of the NY Anti-Trafficking Network. She has served as an expert source for a wide range of media outlets, including the Washington Post, Boston Globe, New York Times, Women’s eNews, NPR, Democracy Now, Good Morning America, NY1, Village Voice, RH Reality Check, AlterNet and numerous other venues. Before her work with the Sex Workers Project, Ms. Thukral was a Staff Attorney in the Urban Justice Center’s Family Violence Project, where she engaged in legal advocacy for battered women who were dealing with the criminal justice and child welfare systems. In addition, Ms. Thukral has been a Blackmun Fellowship Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, and a Ruth Chance Law Fellow at Equal Rights Advocates in San Francisco. Ms. Thukral obtained her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she was awarded the Elaine Osborne Jacobson Award for Women in Health Care Law, and her B.A. from Rice University.
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