Excited to Spread the Word

Hi! I am Yolanda Fair. I am very excited to be a WomenNC CSW Fellow and wanted to take a little space to introduce myself and the motivation for my paper topic. 

To start, I am from Durham, grew up partiality in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and also have some roots in Virginia. As a North Carolinian, I am very excited to present and discuss some of the amazing work of initiatives and organizations here in this state. I am also a proud a unicorn and graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics before heading to Boston for college. For college, I went to Tufts University where I studied International Relations.  Currently, I am a third year law student at UNC-Chapel Hill. 

It was at Tufts that I had my first encounter with information related to human trafficking. During my sophomore year of college, I took course entitled After Violence: Children and Youth in War Zones. It was a course that surveyed the use of children in global and domestic conflicts. It was my first exposure to use of children as soldiers. Moreover, it was the first time that I really understood that individuals were being forced to work in this modern age. For the course, I wrote a paper about women and girls in the Nepalese Civil War. My research uncovered various ways women and girls were affected by forced work or modern day slavery. What I found both opened my eyes to human trafficking and created my desire to educate others about these horrendous practices. I learned about domestic servitude, sex trafficking, forced labor, and various ways individuals are impacted by modern day slavery.

Since my time at Tufts, I’ve been involved in various anti-trafficking efforts including UNC campus groups, summer internships, and my own academic study.  My ultimate goal is to talk to anyone who is willing to listen. I really and truly believe that human trafficking, modern day slavery, can be eradicated in this day and age. As a law student, I often gravitate to the law as a vehicle for change. I look to our legislation and policies to deter traffickers and to help victims. Furthermore, I realize that effective legislation serves as a strong tool for our legal system. My desire to educate others about human trafficking combined with my belief that policy can be used to help eradicate slavery motivated my paper topic. I’m very excited to present, explore, and research human trafficking policy and legislation in North Carolina, nationally, and globally. Moreover, I am very excited to present some of the great things organizations in this state are doing to strengthen our legislation.