Former Ghanaian Child Slave to Speak in Madison

James Kofi Annan, enslaved in the fishing industry in Ghana from age 6 to 12, will speak in Madison on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 4:00 pm. The event will take place at 

Friends House

1704 Roberts Court (behind the Monroe Street Associated Bank) Google Map  

Madison, WI 53711

Mr. Kofi Annan, no relation to the former UN Secretary General, has a remarkable life story. Enslaved and abused in the dangerous fishing industry for six years, he freed and educated himself -- only learning to read and write at age 13 -- and now devotes his life to an organization he founded called Challenging Heights. Challenging Heights seeks not only to rescue, restore and educate child slaves, but to prevent further enslavement through education around the issue.   His work was honored by Free the Slaves at their 2008 Freedom Awards and by Grinnell College in the fall of 2011.  

Mr. Kofi Annan is in Madison through the Hovde Foundation, which supports his work. This presentation is coordinated by Slave Free Madison.  For further information, Contact SlaveFree Madsion

Looking at Human Trafficking Through a Public Health Lens

SlaveFree Madison welcomes Dr. Araceli Alonso for our April educational program on

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Covenant Presbyterian Church (map)

326 South Segoe Road

Madison, WI 53705

The public is invited to attend. The program is free of charge and no registration is required.

Dr. Alonso will speak on “Looking at Human Trafficking Through a Public Health Lens”. She often summarizes this approach with a story.

Near a village, people are frequently being washed over a waterfall and perish if not rescued quickly. Villagers spend hours every day puling people who have gone over the waterfall out of the river before they drown. One day, a wise women, stopped pulling people out and walked up stream, above the waterfall. Here, she started pulling people out of the river before they went over the waterfall – intervening before they were in mortal danger.

This woman’s approach, says Dr. Alonso, is the concept of public health – intervention before health or safety is compromised. She has used this approach successfully in her teaching, research and grant acquisition addressing women’s and human rights issues, including human trafficking.

Dr. Alonso, a native of Madrid, Spain, worked as a RN in Spain for twelve years while pursuing a BA in Philosophy and History at the University of Madrid. She came to the United States to further her graduate studies in Anthropology. Currently she holds a Master’s of Science in Physical Anthropology from the University of Minnesota, and a Master’s of Arts and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from UW-Madison. She is a Faculty Associate in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and in the School of Medicine and Public Health at UW-Madison.

Dr. Alanso has conducted extensive international research on women's issues especially on those that imply the violation of women's human rights including sex trafficking. Dr. Alonso developed the first class taught at UW-Madison on human trafficking and human rights. She works with three international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop programs for women's empowerment in the United States, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Cuba.

SlaveFree Madison to host discussion of 2011 COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN: Dane County Needs Assessment

The Dane County Coordinated Community Response to the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CCR-CSEC) was co-founded in 2010 by Project Respect, SlaveFree Madison, and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault to improve and build services for sexually exploited children in the Dane County community.

The report of this assessment will be released shortly. The report's two authors will discuss their findings during the February SlaveFree Madison meeting
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Covenant Presbyterian Church (map)
326 South Segoe Road
Madison, WI

All those interested in the issue of the commercial sexual exploitation of children are invited to participate. No prior registration is necessary.  A SlaveFree Madison business meeting follows from 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm. Guests are welcome to sit in.

Background of the Study

In 2011, the CCR-CSEC undertook a community needs assessment funded by the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance, Violence Against Women Program. The objective of the study is to strengthen the existing service delivery system for commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) by developing appropriate services that addresses this particular kind of sexual trauma. This baseline study focused on interviewing agencies that may currently encounter victims of CSEC; collecting existing data on the identification, availability of services and training; and, collecting anonymous case studies that identify victim needs.

The numbers of CSEC victims in Dane County are hard to quantify. This study is a first attempt to measure the extent of the problem in our community. Since none of the agencies surveyed are required to identify and collect data on CSEC within their systems, there is no reliable number to report.

Utilizing methodology developed by Shared Hope International, during the summer of 2011, interviews were conducted with representatives from fourteen Dane County agencies and organizations that were likely to have contact with CSEC victims. By state and federal law, CSEC victims are victims of child sex trafficking.

Report Authors

Shira Rosenthal Phelps is the Project Coordinator at Project Respect. Project Respect works with survivors of prostitution, sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Shira also works for the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Violence Prevention Specialist, focusing on sexual assault and dating/domestic violence on campus. Shira has worked to end violence against women for over 10 years and is a UW Law School alum. Currently, Shira serves on the board of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health and sits of the Dane County Commission on Sensitive Crimes.

Jan Miyasaki serves as the Director of Project Respect, a program that works with survivors of prostitution, sexual exploitation and sex trafficking.  She provides leadership to the Dane County Commercially Sexually Exploited Children committee. Additionally, Jan serves on the State of Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance Human Trafficking Committee, the Dane County Coordinated Community Response-Sexual Assault team and lectures in the UW-Madison Ethnic Studies Department. Jan holds a law degree from Marquette University.

2nd Annual SlaveFree Madison Film Festival

Make plans to attend the 2nd Annual SlaveFree Madison Film Festival. This FREE movie screening event, promoting Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month, is co-sponsored by SlaveFree Madison and The Crossing.

Saturday, January 28, 2012
12:00 Noon - 6:30 PM Doors open at 11:30 AM
The Crossing
1127 University Ave, Madison WI Google Map
(Corner of University Ave and Charter St - next to the Chemistry building)

With a theme of Slavery & Abolition, Old and New - Historical and Modern Slavery: Together We Can Eliminate Slavery, three films have been selected to provoke discussion on the topic of human trafficking.

12:00 Noon - Amazing Grace

A 2006 movie about William Wilberforce and the English abolition movement. Film website

2:45 PM - The Dark Side of Chocolate

A 2010 documentary on child slave labor in Ivory Coast cocoa production. Film website

4:30 PM - Call + Response

A 2008 rock concert / documentary featuring popular musicians and speakers on the state of human trafficking around the world. Film website

A discussion will follow each film.

2012 SlaveFree Madison Film Festival Flyer

For more information Contact Us

Urge President Obama to Help End Slavery

SlaveFree Madison urges consideration of the International Justice Mission’s  (IJM) campaign calling on President Obama to become a leader in ending human trafficking. The IJM is asking President Obama to challenge the United Nations to collectively work to abolish human trafficking in his 2012 address to the United Nations General Assembly. 

The online letter to the President states:

Dear President Obama:

Next year, our country will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Although slavery is illegal almost everywhere in the world today, it endures at home and abroad. We respectfully call upon you to make the United States a leader in the fight to end slavery - again.

Americans want to end slavery once and for all. The U.S. government can play a powerful role in fighting this crime by supporting robust law enforcement and victim relief at home and abroad.

This year, we urge you to make our country a leader in the fight to end modern-day slavery by:

1. Taking a stand: In your 2012 Address to the U.N. General Assembly, charge the nations gathered to abolish modern-day slavery.
2. Getting slavery out of U.S. supply chains: When you authorize trade preference programs and free trade agreements, require that our partners take steps to ensure their supply chains are slavery-free, and insist that all U.S. government contracts include supply chain transparency requirements, so that we can ensure our tax dollars are never spent on slave-made goods.
3. Providing diplomatic support: Call on U.S. diplomats to work with foreign governments on high-level strategies to rescue victims of slavery and trafficking, apprehend perpetrators and eradicate the crime.
4. Funding the fight: Develop a Presidential Fund to Eradicate Slavery through the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons that will provide resources to help 15 "Focus Countries" end trafficking, and develop a Global Fund to Eradicate Slavery with other donor countries and private sources this year to announce at the 2013 meeting of the G-8.

It is time to take a stand so we can bring an end to slavery in our lifetime.

If you wish to support this effort, please click on the following  link to sign the letter online: http://www.ijm.org/content/state-of-the-union