Some of you may remember our two-part series last fall on sex trafficking in The Nation (for those who aren’t, I highly recommend reading it, even if you can’t make it to the event). In it, Noy Thrupkaew explored how the Gates Foundation’s war on the sex trade and child prostitution may be doing more harm than good. Thrupkaew will discuss her work at a free panel discussion on June 16, called Hidden in Plain Sight: The News Media’s Role in Exposing Human Trafficking. Her fellow panelists will be the UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa; documentary filmmaker and global award-winning activist against the sexual exploitation of children, Guy Jacobson; Pulitzer prize-winning reporter and co-author of Human Trafficking in America, Mike McGraw; and Schuster Institute Senior Fellow and author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery, E. Benjamin Skinner. Opening remarks will be made by Ambassador Rick Barton, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council, and Florence George Graves, Founding Director, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Brandeis University. The keynote speech will be given by Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 from 1:15 to 2:45 p.m.
WHERE: ECOSOC Chamber, UN Headquarters, New York
PRESENTED BY: The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, in concert with The United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN) and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
RSVP: If you do not have a UN pass, RSVP to meyersm@state.gov for directions and UN clearance instructions.