<img width="300" height="310" alt="MatthewSaju300px" src="/site/files/oldnewsfiles/MatthewSaju300px.png" class="FloatRight">Shocking truths about the prevalence of modern-day slavery abroad will be presented in an upcoming free public program organized by Widener Law students that features an international human rights advocate.<br><br>The school will welcome Saju Mathew, Esq., for the event, “Modern-Day Slavery: Human Trafficking and Bonded Labor,” to be held Monday, Oct. 3 in the Ruby R. Vale Moot Courtroom on the school’s Delaware campus at 4601 Concord Pike. A reception will run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the program will run from 6:45 to 8 p.m.<br><br>The program is presented by the school’s South Asian Law Student Association, or SALSA, in partnership with the International Justice Mission and the South Asian Bar Association of Delaware. <br><br>Mathew is based in Washington, D.C. as the director of operations, south Asia, for the human-rights agency International Justice Mission. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials in 18 offices around the world to ensure victim rescue and rehabilitation, prosecute perpetrators, and build capacity within broken public justice systems so the poor are protected. He previously served in an India field office where he led IJM’s anti-slavery efforts. Mathew has been widely quoted in media accounts of human trafficking, including this <a title="CNN" href="http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/29/more-than-500-slaves-rescued-from-brick-kilns/">CNN story</a>. He also has 14 years of litigation experience in U.S. courts through prior work in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. He holds a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law.<br><br>Statistics about human trafficking are startling. Mathew’s organization reports that more people are currently held in slavery than over the course of the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade, with millions toiling in bondage as their work and their bodies are the property of an owner. Human trafficking generates more than $32 million annually for those who, by force and deception, sell human lives into slavery and sexual bondage.<br><br>Attorneys who attend will be eligible for 1.5 continuing legal education credits in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and through self-reporting in New Jersey. . Those who plan to attend for credits are asked to RSVP in advance at <a href="mailto:collinsc@ballardspahr.com">collinsc@ballardspahr.com</a> or 302.252.4442.