Lyna Mohamad & Fadley Faisal
Human trafficking is a shared problem that affects the Sultanate, the United States (US) and the rest of the world.
Traffickers prey on people of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, exploiting them for their own profit while compromising national and economic security, undermining the rule of law, and harming the well-being of individuals and communities everywhere.
This was said by US Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Caryn McClelland yesterday.
The US Embassy in Brunei Darussalam in collaboration with Youth Against Slavery (YAS) Brunei, hosted a public lecture titled ‘How We Can All Work Together to Stop Human Trafficking’ at Radisson Hotel.
Assistant Sheriff with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Nevada in the US Sasha Larkin delivered the lecture. Her expertise includes investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking cases, and community outreach in raising awareness of trafficking in persons (TIP).
Following the lecture, local academician Dr Mu’izz Liew A Khalid moderated an audience discussion on prevention, protection and prosecution of trafficking in persons.
Up to 50 members of the public comprising business leaders, non-governmental organisation members and students.
Earlier, a two-day workshop on TIP, organised by the US Embassy in Brunei Darussalam, provided a platform for law enforcers and the media to understand each other’s role in addressing the issue.
Among topics of discussion were ‘Why cops and reporters need each other’, ‘Best practices for letting the public know about TIP’ and ‘Developing strong media-law enforcement relationships’.
Larkin facilitated the workshop.
She believed that the workshop attendees were dedicated to finding a way to “interrupt the cycle of human trafficking and to really put victims first as well as willingness to collaborate with each other to bring successful outcomes”.
