UNL is sponsoring the Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, Oct. 28 to 31. The conference theme is “What We Know and What We Need to Know in Human Trafficking.”

The keynote speaker is Kevin Bales, who will open the conference at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 in the Nebraska Union Centennial Room. The speech is free and open to the public.

Bales is author of the award-winning book “Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy,” and professor of sociology at Roehampton University in London. Bales’ book was inspired by a conversation he had with a 15-year-old prostitute held captive in a walled brothel in Thailand. Bales, who was traveling with a professor from Thailand at the time, was unable to save the girl.

Other speakers at the conference include: Laura Lederer, founder of the Protection Project at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and now vice president for policy and planning for Global Centurion; Leslie Wolfe, president of the Center for Women Policy Studies; and Amy O’Neill Richard, senior adviser to the director in the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Human trafficking is a global problem that is under reported.

In 2008, the very first conviction for human trafficking occurred in Iowa in a case that involved two Nebraska girls forced into prostitution.

In Nebraska alone, it is estimated that there are between 1,000 and 1,500 humans are trafficked every year. The stereotypical thought is most of those are involved in the illicit sex trade, the reality is that about two-thirds are men enslaved in factory and agricultural labor.

Registration for the conference closes Oct. 23. Cost is $350. For more information go to http://go.unl.edu/ptm.

Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking

Oct. 28 to 31

Keynote by Kevin Bales, professor or sociology at Roehampton University and author, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 28, Nebraska Union Centennial Room.

For more information, go to http://go.unl.edu/ptm or send e-mail to rhampton1@unl.edu or dball1@unl.edu.