Beaver

Human slavery and trafficking are topics of upcoming speaker

E. Benjamin Skinner will present a program on human slavery and trafficking at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 27, in the auditorium of the Penn State Beaver Student Union Building. The program is free and open to the public.

Skinner, the author of "A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern Day Slavery," has gone undercover to infiltrate trafficking networks, slave quarries, urban child markets and illegal brothels. In the process, he became the first person in history to observe the sales of human beings on four continents.

The book, which won the 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction and a citation from the Overseas Press Club, tells the story of individuals who live in slavery, those who have escaped bondage, those who own or traffic in slaves, and the mixed political motives of those who seek to combat the crime. It has been widely praised for its unflinching reporting and insight by a wide range of individuals, including Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Senator John McCain, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Skinner recently made his first visit to Afghanistan as an official election observer with Democracy International. He is a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University and has reported on diverse topics from five continents for numerous publications, including Time, Newsweek International, and Travel and Leisure.

For information about the program, contact the Beaver campus Student Activities Office at ras62@psu.edu or 724-773-3947.

Last Updated October 25, 2010

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