If you attend John Cabot University in Rome, you are choosing an education that will broaden your perspective and career prospects while making you a better global citizen. JCU's Guarini Institute for Public Affairs is dedicated to the discussion of key issues in the world today through lectures and seminars. This month, the Guarini Institute, together with Rome’s Festival of Diplomacy, is launching the Second Diplomacy BarCamp to discuss the international issue of human trafficking.
John Cabot University is certainly no stranger to hosting distinguished international events and guests. Earlier this year, for example, Ukrainian Ambassador to the Holy See Tetiana Izhevska gave a lecture on “Women of Power in New Democracies,” and just prior to that Ryan Anderson of the World Food Program (WFP) and Sharon Ketchum of the United States Mission to the United Nations spoke at the Guarini Institute about ending world hunger.
What is the Diplomacy BarCamp?
During your study abroad in Italy, you will have opportunities to widen your knowledge of diplomatic issues in the world. Participants sometimes cross the globe to attend a BarCamp for the important information and ideas that are discussed at these gatherings. The BarCamp concept began as an open participatory workshop event between small groups of people, and has grown to become a basis for international network conferences taking place all around the world. BarCamp is not a spectator event, and requires all attendees to bring a demo, session or otherwise contribute to the event - content at these conferences is provided by those who attend. Notes and audio/video resources from these sessions are made available on a public wiki, which can then be blogged and shared by attendees for the purpose of spreading ideas.
Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling
In the area of international affairs, human trafficking is considered a violation of human rights and an issue facing almost every country in the world. Common purposes of human trafficking include sex slavery, forced labor, organ extraction, or forced marriage. Humans may be victim to trafficking due to debt bondage, in which they must provide unregulated labor in order to pay back a debt. Children and women are especially vulnerable to human trafficking; children for the purpose of free child labor, slavery, or recruitment as child soldiers. Women are unfortunately often coerced into working in brothels as a form of debt bondage. The repercussions of migrant smuggling even affect the U.S., which as of today is estimated to have over 11.5 million illegal immigrants. For the millions living in the U.S. now, there are millions of others who died at sea, in cargo containers, and were exploited by their smugglers, who profit from this illegal and dangerous trade.
John Cabot Students Getting Involved
The goal of the Diplomacy BarCamp is to find solutions to the issue of human trafficking. Students in groups of up to three are invited to submit projects before October 13th to be considered as presenters at the October 31st BarCamp. Students at our American university in Italy are encouraged to use their knowledge of world history, international affairs, and political science to develop ideas and submit them for this event. Students can respond with ideas on either human trafficking for sexual exploitation, labor, and other forms of exploitation, or on the topic of smuggling migrants.
