(Posted April 6, 2009)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar industry that affects every country in the world. Keveney Stroup, who works as a pro bono attorney in immigration and human rights issues for the YMCA of Greater Houston, International Services and in family law for Lone Star Legal Aid, will give a talk on "Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery in the U.S. and Abroad" at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 14, in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Stroup, a former Huntingdon resident, will share her experiences representing survivors of human trafficking in Houston, Texas, one of the primary hubs for human trafficking, which is the recruitment or importation of human beings for slavery, forced labor, servitude or prostitution.

The lecture will focus on how trafficking cases are investigated and prosecuted. She also will address the need for interagency cooperation and increased public awareness for an issue that is the second-largest criminal industry in the world.

The lecture is sponsored by the Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies. Stroup earned a bachelor's degree in peace and conflict studies in 2004 from Juniata. She went on to earn a law degree in 2007 at the Roger Williams University School of Law . During her time in law school, she completed the Oxford University Program in Human Rights Law and studied European law and legal issues at the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon.

She currently is a pro bono researcher at Children At Risk, a nonprofit agency in Houston. Prior to that, she was an equal employment opportunity consultant for Bashen Corp., an equal employment opportunity case management firm in Houston.

She also amassed extensive experience locally, working as a summer associate in 2006 for Andrews and Beard Law Offices in Altoona, Pa., and as a summer legal assistant for Bierbach, McDowell and Zanic Attorneys at Law in Huntingdon from 2000 to 2004. During her law school experience, she also worked as an intern at the Defense Institute of International Legal Services and as a judicial clerk at Harrow Crown Court in London, England.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.