Walk the Talk – Stop Trafficking Women and Girls

WALK THE TALK – STOP TRAFFICKING WOMEN & GIRLS

25 November 2017

Soroptimist International Region of Malaysia (SIROM) will be organising a Public Forum and Movie screening on Human Trafficking on 25 Nov 2017 in conjunction with the United Nation’s 16 days of activism to eliminate violence against women. The theme for this whole day event is “Walk the Talk – Stop Trafficking Women and Girls”. This is the sixth year that SIROM will be holding the “Walk the Talk” event since it was launched in 2012 and this year our partner will be the Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. The Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (MAPO) under the Ministry of Home Affairs will partly sponsor the event and we will also be supported by the Royal Malaysian Police and Tenaganita, an NGO that supports the rights of migrants and victims of trafficking in Malaysia.

We are also delighted and honoured to confirm that Datuk Nur Jazlan Bin Mohamad, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs will be our Guest of Honour and will launch the events of the day at 9.00am.

SIROM’s purpose in organising the Public Forum on Human Trafficking is to raise awareness about this problem and also to educate the public especially University and college students on what roles they can play to stop this problem.

As future leaders, we believe they can advocate for changes in policies and laws.

SIROM views this problem very seriously and we would especially like to highlight the plight of women and child victims. As a responsible NGO, we would like to play our part in helping to eradicate this problem and we hope to work with other NGOs, academic institutions and Government agencies to achieve this.

Students from the University will also be involved in several activities on that day including a symbolic walk around the campus followed by a flash mob, a photography competition on the theme of human trafficking and a Cambodian dance. In addition they will act as guides and ushers.

The Keynote speaker will be Mr Sebastian Boll, Regional Research Specialist with UN-ACT in Bangkok.  The panel will be moderated by Dr Theresa Devasahayam from SI Singapore, and will include eminent speakers from various backgrounds including MAPO, Tenaganita, the Police force and a lawyer from the Malaysian Bar Council.

In the afternoon of the same day, we plan to have a special private screening of a film called “Talking to the Trees”. This movie tells the story of a 10-year-old Cambodian child who is the victim of a sex trafficking ring. It has won many awards in the international arena. We also plan to bring the young child star, Moniroth, and her chaperone to meet with the audience before the screening.

In addition, we hope to raise funds through the film screening and public forum to build a classroom for Moniroth’s school in Cambodia.

Dr Saradha Narayanan
President
SIROM