By Hannah McIntyre, graduate student of Catholic University’s M.A. in Human Rights.

On Friday, November 12, the MA in Human Rights cohort visited the Rayburn House Office Building to meet with a group of Congressional Staff who focus on human rights and trafficking issues. Among this group were Piero Tozzi, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Counsel, Jung Ahn Jane Kim, Congressional Fellow focusing on Korean trafficking issues, and Mary Vigil, Senior Policy Advisor focusing on domestic trafficking laws. All three individuals support the work of New Jersey Representative Christopher H Smith who has worked on a great deal of trafficking legislation including the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.

The group participated in an informal seminar, discussing various topics including China’s relationship with the Canadian government, surrogacy laws, career possibilities, the false logic behind prostitution decriminalization efforts, the “Nordic model” approach to sex trafficking, global supply chains, and Coleridge’s poetry and political theory.