Grisanti to host human trafficking awareness event

Buffalo legislator and SUNY Buffalo Domestic Violence Taskforce raise awareness: January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month

New York State Sen. Mark Grisanti and the SUNY Buffalo Domestic Violence Taskforce invite readers to join an afternoon of remembrance on International Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Saturday, Jan. 11, starting at 2 p.m.

The 90-minute ceremony will be held at the Newman Center located at 495 Skinnersville Road, right by the University at Buffalo North Campus. The ceremony will include remarks from Grisanti, members of the law enforcement community and the other community stakeholders.

Grisanti and others would like to honor survivors of human trafficking as they seek to remember and pay respect to the young children, women and men who have lost their lives while serving as forced labor. 

"My office is dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking in the interest of ensuring the safety of Western New York," Grisanti said. "Over the summer, I co-sponsored a human trafficking roundtable, where lawmakers, advocates, victims and law enforcement officials all participated to discuss this important issue and possible solutions to the problem."

The senator's camp said human trafficking is a crime of a profit that has irrevocable consequences for victims. According to the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, for every 800 people who were trafficked in 2006, only one person was convicted of committing a crime.

Human trafficking has been estimated to generate $9.2 billion a year. Local nonprofit organizations dedicated to resolving the issues have identified 16 different countries of origin for victims of human trafficking, including Mexico, China, Thailand, Kenya and Peru.

Human trafficking occurs prevalently among disenfranchised communities. Grisanti's team said homeless individuals who have been abused in the past and or economically disadvantaged fall prey to human traffickers.

For more information about the schedule of events on Jan. 11, call Grisanti's district office at 716-854-8705 or email [email protected].