Watch VideoHuman rights group organizing help for local human trafficking victims
Story By: James Jarman
Source: KOAA
Published Tue Dec 04, 2007, 03:06 PM MST
Updated Fri Dec 14, 2007, 12:25 PM MST
A local human rights group is trying to gather support to help human trafficking victims in Southern Colorado.The Zonta Club of the Pikes Peak Area watched our recent News First Investigation and hopes the community is now ready to take action.
The group's local director, Betty Edwads, says what we uncovered is a dangerous problem that international Zonta groups been fighting for years. After watching our reports on prostitution and human trafficking happening in her own county, Edwards started making calls to non-profits and agencies that are trying to fight the human trafficking problem around the world. "I was cautioned that this is dangerous business," she said, "the people behind it are not it just for fun, it's for money."
But that didn't frighten the retired executive. She and her group say it's time to sound the alarm and get as many people as possible to help the victims and send a message. "So that the people who are doing it, the traffickers, are not going to want to come here -- that it's not going to te profitable for them," she said.
The Zonta Club is now trying to organize non-profits and other local agencies to combat the problem. "We've got to have help, we've got to all mobilize, we've got to do it together, it's got to be the whole community, it's got to be the people who are interested in making sure that we don't have this here," she said.
