OLIVIA GORDON, Reveille Radio News Reporter:
On Wednesday night, the Baton Rouge Metro Council unanimously approved a bill to strengthen penalties on prostitutes and the so called “johns” who pick them up. The same day, Governor Bobby Jindal told the Louisiana Sherriff’s Association sixty cases of human trafficking had been reported in Louisiana in the past two years.
For nearly the past two years one of the founders of the Tigers Against Trafficking student organization, LSU law student Natalie Laborde has tried to teach the concept of human trafficking to the campus and ultimately the community.
NATALIE LABORDE (Tigers Against Trafficking Founder): “Tigers Against Trafficking became a student organization with the purpose of raising awareness within the community and within the student body and then partnering with organizations that are addressing it on the grounds, so whether its overseas, globally, we partner in fundraising, and then we partner locally by just channeling students into different volunteer opportunities.”
GORDON: While Laborde believes teaching the world about the problem of human trafficking and forced prostitution will help, she knows eventually she must target a specific audience.
LABORDE: “The real issue of trafficking is addressing the demand side, you know it’s kind of like the laws of economics…Addressing the potential buyers.”
GORDON: Metro Council Woman Tara Wicker proposed the stricter punishments on prostitution Wednesday. One of the proposed penalties on johns caught picking up prostitutes was a day spent in a so called “john school,” learning about the effects of supporting prostitution. Laborde has heard of similar campaigns working wonders to slow sex slavery.
LABORDE: “Sweden is a great model. When they really implemented national anti-trafficking measures they implemented a huge marketing campaign…I think the slogan was ‘real men don’t pay for sex,’ so it’s kind of the same concept here.”
GORDON: But knows that starting a student organization, or voting on new punishments are not the only ways to help the cause.
LABORDE: “Everybody has a community of influence, you know, so if you really care about human trafficking or if it is something you are passionate about, tell that community.”
GORDON: Olivia Gordon, Reveille Radio News.