Tracking down human trafficking
Led by Dr McGahan (in blue shirt), the group visited the United Nations Inter Agency Project on Human Trafficking to learn about the agency's role and projects in addressing human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Photo: Jasnea Sarma)
Singaporean and foreign undergraduates taking an NUS FASStrack Asia Summer School course in human trafficking returned from a field trip to Cambodia and Thailand with fresh insight and a deeper understanding of the complex issue.
Led by Dr Kevin McGahan from the NUS Department of Political Science, the 11-day field trip involved meetings with government officials, representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and victims in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia, as well as Bangkok and Mahachai in Thailand. The trip allowed the students to see theories put into action, and offered them hands-on research and interviewing experience.
"PS3880E: Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia is a summer programme conducted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and taught by Dr McGahan. It offers five-week modules from the Faculty's Asian Studies and Social Sciences Divisions, with courses focusing on Asia. As the highly popular course is also open to undergraduates from other universities, it has attracted students from as far afield as Canada, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands.
A representative from Friends-International speaking about their ChildSafe Business Network, which trains business and community members to espouse a work policy free of all forms of exploitation towards children (Photo: Jasnea Sarma)
Vaishnavi D/O Vasudevan, a Year 3 FASS student, cited the field trip and seminar-style classes as reasons for taking the module. "All in all, it seemed like a great learning experience, she said. The field trip opened her eyes to aspects of human trafficking which she had previously been unaware. "What struck me most about the NGOs that I visited in Cambodia - namely Sala Ba and Friends-International was that education alone for young survivors of human trafficking serves little purpose there has to be an end goal in mind and that is employment. Successful NGOs usually had long-term plans, she added.
Another participant, FASS Year 2 student Gary Chia explained that he was interested in working with civil society upon graduation. The course had sensitised him to the myriad of issues surrounding human trafficking and the role of different participants, such as the human trafficker. "How can people consciously profit over someone's living hell or even actively and knowingly participate in it? And what can we do to discourage people from becoming traffickers in the first place? Gary wondered. He said that he used to be cynical about NGO work, specifically in the area of advocacy. "Now I think they play a vital part, he said emphatically.
Dr McGahan, who started teaching this increasingly popular module in 2012, has been transformed by the course as well. "I have been greatly humbled by the people and organisations who are willing to share their time and experiences ' often very personal experiences ' with me and my students, he said.
The course goes beyond fulfilling the students' credit quota. In an effort to give back and make a difference, Dr McGahan would share the research projects and policy recommendations with the people and organisations whom they met with during their field trip.
