Nov 26 2008
GTT Takes on Human Trafficking Wed., Dec. 3rd at 5 pm
GTT is proud to take on the heart-wrenching issue of trafficking. Living in a border town, some of our members have been assessing regional needs and discovered AT LAST (Anti Trafficking Litigation Assistance Support Team), which is launching a free online resource for advocates representing trafficking victims through the legal system.
To follow up and finish what we started on August 20th, we are meeting at the law firm of Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins at 655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, 92101, in downtown San Diego at 5 pm. We will provide pizza and beverages at 5 pm then we’ll start hand redacting at 6 pm (no computers this time). No special legal skills are necessary to participate; we will just be removing victims’ names from documents to maintain their confidentiality. For more information, check out AT LAST at http://atlasteam.org/index.html.
Click on this link to download Civil litigation on behalf of victims of human trafficking, an introductory guide to trafficking civil litigation, complements of AT LAST. Also check out Rachel Shigekane’s article Rehabilitation and Community Integration of Trafficking Survivors in the United States, which appeared in the Human Rights Quarterly. Also check out this short Lotus Outreach video on trafficking in southeast asia.
Back to the topTags: Immigration and Refugee Issues, Trafficking, Immigration and Refugee Issues
The Anti-Trafficking Litigation Assistance Support Team (“ATLAST”) advocates for the civil rights of human trafficking victims through litigation, technical assistance, and research. Our technical assistance, training and educational materials equip attorneys with the tools to provide trafficked persons with remedies for the civil rights violations they suffer in the workplace. Under state and federal fair employment laws, workers – including trafficked persons — have a right to be paid, a right to a safe and healthy work environment and a right to be free from abuse and harassment in the workplace. Tort laws provide trafficking victims with claims for the egregious abuses inflicted upon them such as assault, battery, and false imprisonment. Finally, the trafficking private right of action amended to the TVPA through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 and other civil rights and labor statutes empower trafficking victims to hold their traffickers directly accountable for the crime of modern-day slavery.
A trafficked individual’s pursuit of civil relief and compensation is a fundamental component of remedying serious human rights violations. Securing monetary relief against traffickers not only provides the trafficked person with an element of justice, but also deters trafficking by shining a bright light on the punitive financial consequences of exploiting labor. Moreover, obtaining a civil judgment allows the trafficked person to make a significant step toward economic stability and self-sufficiency.
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ATLAST Web Portal
This web portal provides information, resources and technical assistance to attorneys and advocates representing human trafficking victims pursuing civil remedies. We are currently under construction. In the near future, this web portal will contain a password protected: database of civil trafficking cases to date; sample complaints, motions, briefs, and other pleadings; and supplemental resources and information on litigation strategy. This website will also serve to create a virtual community of anti-trafficking attorneys and advocates to communicate and share information with each other as they advance the civil rights of trafficked persons.
ATLAST was created by Kathleen Kim and Dan Werner co-authors of Civil Litigation on Behalf of Human Trafficking Victims, in response to a growing need for ongoing education and technical assistance to attorneys and advocates assisting trafficked individuals in civil litigation.
Kathleen Kim, ATLAST co-director and co-founder
Kathleen Kim is Associate Professor of Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles (link to http://www.lls.edu). Before joining Loyola, Kathleen founded and directed the Human Trafficking Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco with a Skadden Fellowship. The project was the first of its kind to focus on the civil needs of trafficked persons through litigation, policy advocacy and outreach. In 2005, Kathleen became the inaugural Immigrants’ Rights Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School where she taught and supervised law students in the representation of indigent immigrants in deportation proceedings and other immigration matters. Kathleen is a member of the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery coordinated by the California Attorney General’s office. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Dan Werner, ATLAST co-director and co-founder
Dan Werner is the Legal Director of Workers Rights Law Center of New York (link to url: http://workersrightsny.org), which he co-founded after six years as an attorney with Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Inc. Before he began representing farmworkers in New York, Dan received a NAPIL (now called Equal Justice Works) Equal Justice Fellowship to represent citrus harvest workers in Florida. In total, Dan has been a farmworker advocate in six states, including with the United Farm Workers in California. He is a 1996 graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Law.
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