St. Thomas Law LL.M. Alumnus Working to Advance Anti-Trafficking Efforts in Colombia

Sergio A. Marin, a graduate of St.Thomas Law's  LL.M./J.S.D. in Intercultural Human Rights program, played a major role in the drafting process of a decree for the creation and regulation of the Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons for the City of Floridablanca, second most populated city in the Department of Santander, Colombia.

Under the auspices of the Mayor of Floridablanca, the Secretary of the Government of Santander, and the local branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the document (Decree No. 0227/2017) is a major stepping stone toward reducing and preventing the crime of trafficking in persons in Santander.

Sergio A. Marin, LL.M. IHR’15, and Marcela Loaiza, survivor of human trafficking; Rocío Uron, UNODC Project Leader, Ricardo Sorzano, Secretary of the Government of Santander, and Héctor Mantilla, Mayor of Floridablanca

For Sergio, the opportunity to work on the creation of the committee was a humbling experience and a great achievement. Sergio is currently working with the Internal Oversight Office in the City of Bucaramanga, Santander’s capital city. His next task entails the drafting of a new bill to help address the problem of child abduction in his region and he intends to add components of human trafficking to the bill.

Sergio, who earned his LL.M degree in Intercultural Human Rights and graduated with honors in 2015, expressed his deepest appreciation to the program for its academic quality and practical usefulness, which has been invaluable in his efforts to create positive change in his community.