Using Technology to Thwart Human Traffickers
Traffickers use technology every day to outsmart law enforcement, non-profit organizations, government agencies and concerned citizens around the world. Human trafficking is a highly lucrative business - the third largest organized crime following drug and arms trafficking. It is time that we take a collective stand against this horrendous crime against humanity. If traffickers can use technology to run their illegal business, why can't we use it for good - to thwart them and prevent human trafficking? We just have to be as creative, relentless and savvy as these criminals.
Enter Rapid Report and Response or R3, which uses cell phone and SMS technology ubiquitous throughout the world. We want to make it easy for everyday citizens to join the movement to report and prevent human trafficking using a device with which they are totally comfortable.
In near real time, we will map human trafficking incidences and follow their progress over time as SMS reports pinpoint suspected or actual trafficking situations. This will be the first time technology will be used in such an aggressive way to stop this heinous crime.
Presenters
Driven by her upbringing in South and Southeast Asia where she encountered exploited children daily, Christina Arnold has worked passionately for human rights since she moved to the U.S. at age 21. Christina founded Prevent Human Trafficking - PHT (previously known as Project Hope International) in 1999, as a vehicle to support a handful of innovative human rights organizations working in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia using video and other technology tools to document and promote their work.
Since then, she has represented its grantees in many contexts and evaluated more than one hundred organizations and projects in the region to determine impact and sustainability, focusing on reliable, well-managed programs with committed, results-oriented leadership. Her expertise has contributed to policy and legislative change, such as the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.
Christina is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Jack Kent Cooke Scholar. She holds her B.A. in political science with honors from American University where she also completed a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) with a focus on non-profit management and technology for social change - while she was a Presidential Scholar-in-Residence. Christina is thrilled to build on this foundation as an NYU Reynolds 2010 Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship and Interactive Telecommunications at NYU. She lives and works between Washington, DC and New York with her daughter.
Sunday, March 11
