UWI students urge Government to tackle human trafficking

A group of law students of the University of the West Indies is urging local authorities to give more attention to human trafficking in Jamaica.

David Brown, chairman of logistics for the human-trafficking committee at the institution, said the issue of human trafficking is not given the attention it deserves and more should be done to address the issue.

As a result, well over 100 students from the faculty took to the street yesterday, armed with placards and banners, sending messages that persons should discontinue the act.

The students who marched under the theme 'Human Trafficking in Jamaica: the Voice of the Unheard Cries' journeyed from the Mona campus to Hope Road in St Andrew and back before concluding the day's activities with a panel discussion on the issue.

"It is the start of many things to come. Today is just to get the public to be aware of the issue and from there we will move on to other areas to ensure that we follow up on this," Brown argued. "So it is not just a march and a panel discussion, it is a movement to eradicate some of these atrocities in Jamaica."

He added: "It is an issue that needs attention because children are at risk, women are at risk, thousands of lives are affected daily by human trafficking. We want to shed some light on the issue because it is one of those issues we believe is affecting our society just like cancer."