HSP Seminar no.130 Human Trafficking in the Great Mekong Sub-region: Modern Day Slavery Revealed

Each day, countless men, women and children around the world suffer in horrific slave-like conditions. Whether it be a teenage boy forced to work 19 hour shifts on a fishing boat in foreign seas, a woman forced to have sex with up to ten strangers every night, or a child sold into a sweat shop to make electronic components for an unscrupulous sub-contractor, each day these real-life dramas play out in all our countries. Globally, it is estimated that there are over 27 million enslaved persons, with about half in Asia alone.

Matthew Friedman, a United Nations international expert in human trafficking, will provide a comprehensive overview of the human trafficking problem throughout Asia. What it is, how it works and what is being done to address it. His presentation will focus on what governments and civil society are doing and how effective this work has been up until now and challenges forwards.

Mr. Friedman is an international human trafficking expert with over 20 years of experience as an activist, program designer, evaluator and manager. He is currently the Regional Project Manager of the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) in Bangkok, Thailand. UNIAP is managed by a headquarters in Bangkok, with country project offices in the capitals of Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. It represents one of the world’s largest inter-agency coordinating body on human trafficking linking the United Nations system with governments, civil society and private groups in the region and beyond.

• Date : December 13 (Tue.), 2011, 10:40-12:10
• Venue : Room 531, 3F of Bldg.5, Komaba Campus, University of Tokyo (map)
• Lecturer : Matthew Friedman (Regional Project Manager of the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) in Bangkok, Thailand)
• Mediator : Miwa Yamada (Institute of Developing Economies (IDE))
• Commentator : Marip Seng Bu (Secretary-General of Refugee Coordination Committee of Japan (RCCJ))
• Language : English
• Materials : UNIAP website
• Organizers :
  Graduate Program on Human Security, University of Tokyo (HSP)
  Center for Documentation of Refugees and Migrants (CDR), University of Tokyo