Wendi Adelson has set up a blog to raise awareness about human trafficking.
A Gates alumna has set up a blog on human trafficking to raise awareness about the problem.
Wendi Adelson [2002], who studied for an MPhil in International Relations at Cambridge in 2002 with the support of a Gates scholarship, set up the blog around two months ago.
She is currently a visiting clinical professor at Florida State University College of Law and currently works as an attorney with the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University specialising in humanitarian issues around immigration, including domestic violence, unaccompanied immigrant children and trafficking. However, she says even some law students are not particularly educated about human trafficking.
“It’s such an underground crime,” she says, “that it is hard to know the true numbers and impact. There are lots of mixed messages around, for instance, about the difference between smuggling and trafficking and the fine line between exploitation and criminality. We need a lot more awareness of the issues. Some people think immigrants bring a lot of this on themselves or do not consider them as equals. More education is needed.”
Wendi says there are general immigration blogs and blogs about trafficking which take a particular stance, be that religious or political, but her blog is unique in that it is “relatively unbiased” and aims to just disseminate information.
Wendi updates the blog daily on any news about human trafficking, including new documentaries. She has had good feedback and her readership is international.
