Lecturer talks about human-rights issues

Jayne Huckerby, the inaugural director of a new Duke Law School clinic, spoke to the University Scholars Program Monday about human trafficking and the challenges of combating misconceptions regarding the subject.

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Huckerby has been an advocate for human rights for more than 10 years, dealing with topics such as gender in human rights and post-Arab Spring issues. Huckerby has also worked with the United Nations and the New York University law center.

During her speech, Huckerby emphasized the challenges advocates can face when dealing with human trafficking. For example, she attempted to convince the audience that human trafficking is a human rights violation. Because these issues often get treated as criminal issues, the victims themselves can be criminalized rather than helped.

According to Huckerby, in many countries, victims are asked to cooperate with law enforcement before they receive assistance. Besides not allowing the victim to get healthy and mentally stable before being subjected to such pressures, Huckerby said the victims could become fearful of law enforcement. Rather than receiving help from the police, these victims are frequently arrested for charges like prostitution.

Undocumented individuals could be afraid to come forth because they fear punishment, and that is not helping someone who has undergone a major human violation, Huckerby said.

Huckerby said theres a divide in advocates between abolitionists and non-abolitionists that causes issues. Though some of them think that certain acts should be criminalized in order to prevent human trafficking from occurring, others argue that this only leads to the victims getting punished more than helped, she said.

Another issue Huckerby addressed was the frequent assumption that trafficking doesnt occur in Western nations.

According to Huckerby, during the summer of 2013, North Carolina passed a new law that reworked its previous trafficking legislation. The law instituted a program called Safe Harbor, which grants minors immunity from being charged with prostitution after being victims of trafficking.

Though Huckerby said she was glad steps were being taken to reduce human trafficking, she said she worries that these types of laws, which strictly emphasize sex trafficking, give the false impression that labor trafficking is not an issue in N.C. when a 2012 federal report found that the percentage of labor trafficking is nearly equal to that of sex trafficking.

Huckerby said its hard to decide whether its best to support the progress and the new law or to push for there to be even more changes in the legislation.

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Lecturer talks about human-rights issues