October 10, 2012

Opportunities to Combat Sex Trafficking

The Chicago Bar Association President is working to raise awareness of Sex Trafficking in Chicago.  Please see her Announcement below for more information on her efforts and see the included at the bottom to become involved locally.
As President of the Chicago Bar Association this year, I am committed to raising awareness and support among the Chicago legal community about human trafficking.  This modern-day slavery is occurring in our own communities, and is most often going undetected.  There are many ways our legal community can make a difference in this tragic arena.
I have three human trafficking initiatives for this bar year: (1) build awareness of human trafficking among Chicago attorneys; (2) assist with efforts to increase awareness and reporting of trafficking in Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Cook County; and (3) support legal services for trafficking victims.
It is in relation to our second goal that I am reaching out to you.  We have joined with the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA) to raise awareness about the realities of human trafficking in Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the Chicago area.  IOFA has created The Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP).  The goal of the project is to increase identification of, and services to, Asian and Pacific Islander victims of human trafficking in Cook County.  A fuller description of the project is attached, and you can get more information at www.aatopchicago.blogspot.com/p/welcome_31.html .
Our role at the CBA is to recruit attorneys with linguistic and cultural competency who can be of assistance to this project.  These attorneys would need to be able to speak an Asian or Pacific Islander language, and be familiar with cultural and ethnic community issues.  The recruited attorneys would attend an introductory forum on October 24, along with other professionals and community organizations committing to help AATOP's outreach efforts.  The attorneys would then receive IOFA AATOP training on human trafficking and the issues specific to the communities in which they would get involved, alongside IOFA staff and AATOP partners. 
If you are interested in getting involved with AATOP or learning more about its plans for building awareness of trafficking in Asian-American communities, please contact Linda Rio Reichmann at lindarr [at] comcast.net.   If the project seems like a good fit, you will be given information on how to register for the October 24 opening forum.
We hope you will join our efforts this year to raise awareness of the horrible crime of human trafficking.
Sincerely,
Aurora Abella Austriaco
CBA President

AATOP_Informtion_Poster.pdf Download this file



AATOP_Informtion_Poster.pdf Download this file