Luis CdeBaca, U.S. ambassador-at-Large of the U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, has been prosecuting civil rights offenses for nearly 20 years.
But he told The Jacksonville Bar Association Friday that the most disturbing case he has ever known happened in Jacksonville recently.
“The allegations against the mother from Jacksonville Beach arrested for prostituting her 6-year-old daughter.”
“In all of the years that I have worked on this issue, I can’t think of a worse allegation,” he said.
CdeBaca was the guest speaker at The JBA’s monthly luncheon at the Hyatt and talked about the global fight against slavery.
CdeBaca also offered his condolences to those affected by the shooting deaths Tuesday at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville.
“I realize I am arriving in Jacksonville at a time of shock and sadness for the community,” said CdeBaca.
“I think the events at the Episcopal School this week shake to the foundation all the notions we have about where we are safe, where our children can be safe,” he said.
CdeBaca talked about another issue of child safety in Jacksonville.
“The safety of our children affects the entire community, not just the families involved,” said CdeBaca.
He recognized the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in the battle to end all forms of slavery on its 150th anniversary in 2012.
“The 13th Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation, while critically important, not just as laws, but as markers of our values as Americans, do not abolish slavery, do not relegate it to history. Slavery lives on and it needs to be guarded against,” said CdeBaca.
He provided some examples of modern-day slavery.
“It’s women who are drawn away from their homes with the promises of a better life only to find themselves forced to work locked in a home as a domestic servant,” said CdeBaca.
“It’s men who sign up to work on a fishing boat, but once they are onboard they are not paid what they are told they would be, they are not allowed to leave, they are forced to work 18-20 hours a day and beaten or raped if they fail to make their quota or ask for a little bit of chicken in their rice,” said CdeBaca.
“It’s children pulled out of school and sent into cotton fields to pick the harvest,” said CdeBaca.
One of the problems that allow human trafficking to continue is that people are shocked by the cases that are described by the media, but they fail to personalize it, said CdeBaca.
By visiting www.slaveryfootprint.com, people can take a survey that will describe their lifestyle and explain how many people working forced labor it takes to maintain that
lifestyle.
“If people don’t personalize it, they will never make that change,” said CdeBaca.
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