More than a century after slavery’s abolishment, some University students are saying they want to bring freedom to modern-day slaves by informing the campus and community about human trafficking.

Members of a campus group called Libertas, a Latin word which means “freedom,” started planning their group last spring but officially organized as a Registered Student Organization this fall. Members dedicate themselves to raising awareness of human trafficking.

“People are shocked when they find out that slaves have been found in the U.S.,” said Kelsey Buchanan, senior in LAS and president of Libertas.

Human trafficking exists in over 90 cities in the United States. According to the Department of Justice Web site, U.S. law enforcement has documented cases of Latvian girls trafficked into sexual slavery in Chicago.

Gannon Sims, spokesman for the U.S. Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said most victims of human trafficking in the United States are women and children, but men are also targets. He also said most are forced into prostitution. Sims said as many as 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States every year.

“It’s very difficult to really know the overall numbers because victims aren’t exactly lining up to be counted,” Sims said.

Although the State Department focuses on international human trafficking, Sims said the problems with trafficking in the United States are something that people should stand up and fight against.

“Once (we) know about the problem, we can all be awareness raisers,” Sims said.

“There’s no one to directly protest against this because the people that are doing this are ‘underground’ and almost like mobsters,” said Ashley Moore, junior in LAS and events coordinator of Libertas.

Buchanan first became interested in human trafficking in the United States while researching information for her honors speech course. She said she became concerned when she read a Newsweek article about human trafficking.

“I got even more frustrated with the fact that it was happening here and nobody really knew about it here,” she said.

With more investigation, Buchanan found out there are thousands of sex and commercial slaves in the United States.

She said people ignore such issues because they do not want to admit that even children are used for sex in the United States.

“A lot of people don’t want to hear about it because it’s so disturbing, but that’s not a good enough excuse for me,” she said.

Last Thursday, Libertas showed a documentary called “Slavery: A Global Investigation.” Free The Slaves, a non-profit organization working to end slavery worldwide, supplied Libertas with the film.

Libertas plans to have a fundraiser in February that will help raise money for World Vision, an international relief and development organization. They say that by raising $35 per child, they will help rescue children whose lives are endangered by disasters or conflict.

Buchanan feels Libertas will bring about change and hopes her participation in the club this year will help lay the foundation for upcoming years.

“If any change is going to happen, people first have to know what’s going on,” she said.

Laura Deffley, senior in LAS, saw the film Libertas screened. One of the surprising things she learned from the film is that 90 percent of the cocoa beans that come from Africa’s Ivory Coast are produced by slaves. ÿ

“The movie made (modern-day slavery) more real as opposed to it being an abstract concept,” Deffley said.

Deffley said that Libertas can help bring about change to modern-day slavery just by informing the public about the issue. She thinks awareness will encourage people to speak up and write to government representatives about the problem.