Dr. Dana Hunter Appointed as Office of Human Trafficking Prevention to Advocate for the Voiceless

Baton Rouge Native Dr. Dana Hunter was appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards as executive director of the newly created Office of Human Trafficking Prevention (Senate Bill 170) that was signed into law during the 2021 Legislative Session. She is also the Executive Director of the Children’s Cabinet, which is responsible for coordinating funding and programmatic services at the state and local levels.

The purpose of the Commission is to assist both state and local leaders in developing and coordinating human trafficking prevention programs. It also was created to identify gaps in prevention and intervention services, to conduct a continuing comprehensive review of all existing public and private human trafficking programs, to increase coordination among public and private programs to strengthen prevention and intervention services, and ultimately, to make recommendations concerning human trafficking prevention and intervention.

Human trafficking is a serious issue in Louisiana. The Department of Children and Family Services provides an annual report on Human Trafficking, Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, and Commercial Sexual Exploitation. According to the January 2021 report, there were 759 confirmed and prospective victims of human trafficking. Of those numbers reported, 712 (94%) were sexual trafficking victims; 7 (<1%) were labor trafficking victims; 9 (1%) were victims of both sexual and labor trafficking; there were 31 additional trafficking victims for whom the type of trafficking was not reported. Of all reported victims, 530 (70%) were identified as juveniles. The age range of Sexual Trafficking victims was from 2 years old to 59. There were 93 sexual and/or labor trafficking victims aged 12 and under. 

In a statement from Governor Edwards from the 2021 Regular Legislative Session, he said,” Ending human trafficking is an issue that both my wife Donna and I are very passionate about. And I want to take just a moment to thank you, Donna, for all the work you have done on this critical issue for our state. We have certainly made progress when it comes to identifying trafficking cases and supporting survivors. But creating a designated office will allow us to place an even more concentrated effort on ending these horrific crimes that are tantamount to a modern-day slavery.”