What:
Thai Community Development Center (CDC) will hold a press conference to highlight the persistent problem of human trafficking in the Thai community. This press conference is part of a month-long Human Trafficking Awareness campaign, launched by the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST).
Thai CDC will also introduce an “Adopt a Quilt” project and announce plans for the 15th commemoration of the first modern-day slavery case involving 72 Thai nationals. A dozen quilts made by human trafficking survivors will be displayed. The quilt project will help fund Thai CDC’s human trafficking program and the world premiere production of “Fabric” by Henry Ong. Thai CDC will partner with Company of Angels, Los Angeles’ oldest not-for-profit theater company, to produce “Fabric,” the only known stage dramatization of the El Monte case.
When:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
12:30 p.m.
Where:
Wat Thai of Los Angeles (Thai Temple)
8225 Coldwater Canyon Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91605
Who:
Speakers will include:
Councilman Tony Cardenas, 6th Council District
Chanchanit Martorell, Thai CDC Executive Director
Henry Ong, Playwright
Panida Rzonca, Thai CDC Project Coordinator
Kay Buck, CAST Executive Director
Anna Park, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Regional Attorney
Kim Chi Bui, Department of Labor District Director
Rojana Cheunchujit Sussman, El Monte Case Survivor
Background:
Thai nationals continue to represent a disproportionate number of victims trafficked into the United States as modern-day slaves. Thai CDC has, for the past 15 years, worked relentlessly to combat this travesty. Known for its prominent role in the famed El Monte Garment Workers Slavery Case (the first case of modern-day slavery), Thai CDC continues to work on, and monitor, persistent violations. Since El Monte, Thai CDC has worked on six more cases, involving more than 400 Thai victims.
