By January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Globally, 20.9 million individuals are trafficked, and in the United States, it is estimated 100,000 children are trafficked.
So, MuslimGirl.net is proudly presenting a much needed discussion on the topic to anyone interested. Join us, and several prominent speakers, in an important online panel to take up the issue of human trafficking and how it affects the Muslim American community.
Direct service providers, researchers, and advocates will discuss cases, current definitions, taboos, and barriers that survivors of trafficking in the Muslim American community face. You don’t want to miss this!
Here’s a brief presentation of our brilliant panelists:
Darakshan Raja (Moderator)
Darakshan currently works as the Program Manager at the Washington Peace Center. Previously she worked at the Urban Institute and evaluated the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act’s (TVPRA) impact on investigations and prosecutions for human trafficking cases.
Ilana Alazzeh (Panelist)
Illana works as a Producer, video-editor and writer for the Service Employees International Union. She is a radical interfaith feminist multiracial Muslim involved with Occupy, founder of Muslims Against Homophobia and LGBT Hate, Immigrant Stories and Ask An American Muslim.
Maryam Al-Zoubi (Panelist)
Maryam has been working on issues surrounding human trafficking, gender based violence, and Muslim communities for many years. She holds a Masters degree from the University of Chicago in Social Service Administration where she completed fieldwork at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and at Apna Ghar Inc (a domestic violence agency geared towards working with immigrant women). Her research involves Muslim communities’ reactions to gender based violence and solutions moving forward. She is currently pursuing a law degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Chancellor’s Scholar.
Fahmida Azad (Panelist)
Fahmida worked with Polaris Project on their national human trafficking hotline, and worked on cases of trafficking.She served as a bilingual national crisis hotline call specialist connecting potential victims of sex trafficking or labor trafficking with appropriate resources in addition to providing crisis assistance. She provided assessments and engaging with the general public, service providers and with law enforcement officials to answer questions, take tips on suspicious situations indicating a potential human trafficking situation and providing safety planning information.
Theordora Ranelli (Panelist)
Theordora is a Peer Interpersonal Violence Advocate with Project Hajra, partnered with CONNECT-NYC. Project Hajra is a grassroots initiative working to end violence through community-based methods in NYC Muslim communities. Theodora is a graduate of the Evergreen State College, focusing in Comparative Religion and Psychology.
RSVP to our event on Facebook, tune in on Google Talk, and get ready for a great discussion!