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Invisible Shackles: Domestic Workers, Glocalization and the Matrix of

Exploitation



Human trafficking affects every country in the world. Right now, almost 30 million
people around the world are enslaved. Lured through desperation, with promises of
good jobs, and trapped under the threat of violence, they are forced to work without
pay in factories, mines, fields, brick kilns, restaurants, construction, fishing industries
and in private homes under deplorable conditions. Economic liberalization has paved
the way and spurred an international market for the trade in human beings based on
high profits and demand for cheap labor and commercial sex.
The Ninth Annual Symposium on Human Traffickingco-organized this year by the
Womens Studies Committee of South Texas College, Fuerza del Valle Workers
Center and the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Universidad Autnoma de
Nuevo Len will focus on the plight of domestic workers and the factors that make
such work akin to modern day slavery.
The conference covers all aspects of global trafficking with special emphasis on
domestic workers. Domestic workers the vast majority of whom are women and
girlscontribute substantially to the global economy. Yet, despite their important
contributions, domestic workers have suffered from routine exclusion from labor
protections that have left them at risk of many abuses including excessive work hours,
non-payment of wages, forced confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labor,
and trafficking. Children, who make up nearly 30 percent of domestic workers and
migrant domestic workers, are often the most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Our goals for the conference are to raise community awareness about the
pervasiveness of the labor and sex trafficking trades, both around the world and in our
own neighborhoods, to provide a forum for networking and training opportunities for
professionals and practitioners within related fields, and ultimately to take part in the
larger international conversation about how to stop this insidious crime. We hope to
address these questions and to consider forms of resistance to this deplorable
exploitation of millions, which undermines basic respect for human rights and dignity.


Main Location:

Cooper Center, Pecan Campus
South Texas College
3200 W. Pecan Blvd
McAllen, Texas





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Tuesday, April 22

LOCATION: Cooper Center, Pecan Campus; South Texas College (STC)


8:30 9:00 am Registration and Continental Breakfast


9:00 10:00 a.m. KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Domestic Workers: A Global Overview
Nancy Donaldson, J.D.
Director, International Labor Organization (ILO) United States


10:00 10:50 am Human Trafficking and the Case of Domestic Workers in Cyprus
Juliette Dickstein, Ph.D.
Bicommunal Coordinator, U.S. Embassy, Nicosia, Cyprus


10:50 11:00 am Break


11:00 12:00 pm Understanding Servitude: Case Studies
Marisa Ugarte
Executive Director, Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition


12:00 1:00 pm Lunch


1:00 1:45 pm Dilemmas in Womens Labor Migration: The Case of Latina
Migrants.
Fernando Mao
Executive Director, RATT International

1: 45 2:30 pm U-Visas: An Overview
M. Esther Del Toro Oliver
Southwest Regional U Visa Coordinator
U.S. Department of Labor/Wage & Hour Division
Eden Ramirez
McAllen District Director, U.S. Department of Labor

2:30 3:00 pm Enforcing Domestic Workers Rights
Kathryn Youker, J.D.
Group Coordinator, Employment Group, Texas Rio Grande Legal
Aid (TRLA)

3:00 3:10 pm Break

3.10 3:40 pm Problems Facing Women in Guatemala Today
Jennifer Harbury, J.D.
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3:40 4:10 pm Drawing from the Wellspring of Advocacy: Illuminating the
Dimensions of Research-Informed Advocacy Practice with and for
Women who are Victims of Exploitation
Chie Noyori-Cobett, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work
University of Oklahoma, Norman
David P. Moxley, Ph.D.
Professor, Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work
University of Oklahoma, Norman

4:10 5:30 Panel: Global Perspective on Human Trafficking and Labor
Exploitation

Domestic Workers in Nigeria
Ayodeji Ogundele, Ph.D.
Political Science Department, South Texas College

"Human Trafficking in Iran: As a departing country and a
destination"
Roksana Alavi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor College of Liberal Arts
University of Oklahoma, Norman

Nannies and Diplomats: Devyani Khobragade, the Tip of the
Iceberg
Pooja Rishi, Ph.D.
Political Science Department, South Texas College

Assessing the Effectiveness of the New Anti-Trafficking Legislation
in Mexico
Arun Kumar Acharya, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales
Universidad Autnoma de Nuevo Len
Armando Moctezuma
Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales
Universidad Autnoma de Nuevo Len


Moderator: Wallace Johnson



Wednesday, April 23

LOCATION: Cooper Center, Pecan Campus; South Texas College (STC)


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8:00 8:30 am Registration & Continental Breakfast


8:30 9:15 am Domestic Workers Rising: The Fight for A New Economy"
Alicia Garza
Special Projects Director
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)


9:15 11:00 am Trafficking in Persons under 18
Geoff Barr, J.D.
Assistant Attorney General

11:00 11:10 am Break


11:10 11.30 pm Addressing Human Trafficking and Domestic Worker Labor
Exploitation in the United States

Hon. Alba Dalila Cceres Lpez
Guatemala Consul, McAllen, Texas


11:30 12.30 pm Combating Human Trafficking in Texas: Reports from the Joint
Legislative Committee on Human Trafficking and the Human
Trafficking Taskforce

Hon. Juan Hinojosa
Senate Member, Joint Committee on Human Trafficking
Hon. Naomi Gonzalez
House Member, Joint Committee on Human Trafficking
Hon. Allen Fletcher
House Member, Joint Committee on Human Trafficking
Wende Hilsonrod,
Human Trafficking Task Force Member


12:30 -1:30 pm Lunch

1:30 -2:00 pm Legal Remedies for Victims of Trafficking
Claire Antonelli J.D
Immigration Attorney, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA), TX


2:00 2:30 pm Esclavas de la Limpieza
Slaves to Domestic Work: A Survivors Story
Araceli Herrera, Former Victim of Domestic Labor Trafficking



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2:30 3:20 pm Grass roots Panel: Organizaciones Comunitaris y la Lucha
por la Justicia Laboral en el Hogar
Community Organizations and the Struggle for Labor Justice
at Home

Teresa Barajas
Domesticas Unidas, San Antonio
Alejandra Oliva
Domesticas Unidas, San Antonio
Marlene Chavez
Fuerza del Valle, San Juan
Rosa Sanluis Reyes
Fuerza del Valle Workers Center
Representative TBA,
Colmena, Fe y Justicia Center, Houston
Representative TBA
M.I.S.M.A, Austin

Moderator: Guadalupe Correa Cabrera

3:20 3:30 pm Break

3:30 4:00 pm Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons along Mexicos
Eastern Migration Routes: Informal Labor Markets and
Transnational Organized Crime
Guadalupe Correa Cabrera, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at
Brownsville
Jenny Bryson Clark
Associate Professor of Political Science, South Texas College

4:00 4:30 Human Trafficking and Victims with Disabilities
Rebecca Pfeffer, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Houston

4:30 5:30 pm Identifying Victims of Trafficking: The Role of Law Enforcement
Juan Gonzalez
Chief of Police, San Juan, TX.

5:30 6:30 pm Closing Reception: Human Rights Art Exhibit