Internship Opens Up Awareness of Indian Human Trafficking

Robert Vogan, a senior at UCF majoring in International and Global Studies with a minor in Spanish, spent his summer as an intern in Washington, D.C. There, he contributed to efforts to fight human trafficking in India. We asked Robert to share his internship experience.

During the summer of 2016, I spent ten weeks in Washington, D.C. interning for Justice Ventures International (JVI). This anti-human-trafficking organization does legal work to free victims and prosecute traffickers in India. Much of the organization’s work focuses on victims of bonded labor. JVI fights to ensure that the victims, once freed, receive all reparations to which they are entitled, and that the perpetrators are held accountable.

In my time at the organization, I researched corporate social responsibility in India, study­ing the ways different companies’ policies addressed human rights. This is an important step to understanding how to solve the plight of forced labor that exists in many domestic industries in India.

After my time with JVI, I find myself much more aware of the reality of human trafficking. I have witnessed some of its effects, as well as the work being done to stop it. It is hard to say that I have been encouraged, but I have. This is because I know that more people, like myself, are being exposed to the reality of human traf­ficking. With the power of awareness, together we can force the awful cruelty of modern slav­ery out of existence.