MHR Student Works to Prevent Local Labor Trafficking

Hannah Shireman is a second year Master of Human Rights student. This past summer, Hannah worked as a Research, Education, and Advocacy Intern at The Advocates for Human Rights, a nonprofit organization that works to change systems and conditions that cause human rights abusesaround the world. Hannah recently reflected on her summer experience in the short write-up below.

I interned with the Research, Education, and Advocacy team at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis last summer. During my time as an intern, I worked with the Advocates’ Senior Researcher to develop recommendations for the City of Minneapolis on what the city can do to address and prevent labor trafficking. I have worked on issues related to labor trafficking and labor rights in the past so I was really excited for this opportunity. I researched what other cities around the United States are doing to address human trafficking to get a better understanding of what city departments were involved in anti-trafficking responses, how policies were written and enforced, and how plans were implemented. I then outlined current Minneapolis departments and initiatives that may intersect with labor issues and combined this information into recommendations for what Minneapolis can do and how they can incorporate this work into their existing work.  

I really enjoyed learning more about municipal level responses to an issue that I care about. I was drawn to this internship because of the issue area focus (labor trafficking) but I ended up learning a lot about the various City of Minneapolis departments and how local government works. There is so much critical work being done at the local level! This seems obvious but I think it is often overlooked, particularly in the midst of what feels like constant threats to human rights at the federal level.