It’s time for a coffee break at the First Regional Convention of North East Legal Fraternity (NELF) in Guwahati, a city in Assam in Northeast India. Young lawyers and law students wear the colorful dress of their tribe for this formal occasion. They rush to me with their cell phones: “Please, m’om, a selfie!”  I'm a celebrity in Assam, where the Jesuits have asked me to speak about my area of legal expertise — human trafficking.

It is rare for a Westerner and judge to come to speak about the law. “Don't tell my husband you are doting on me,” I joke, standing out like the foreigner I am. It is hot in Guwahati, and even the class is tired, so one young lawyer stands in front of the group announcing, “Up on your feet, let’s sing.”  Everyone joins in a song about turning oneself to the Lord with true faith. We clearly are not in the United States, where separation of church and state would prevent such a display. But here in Assam, Catholics are the minority. Every greeting, discussion, and departure is marked by lawyers exchanging statements of faith.

Most Indians who live in Northeast India have never left, and those who live elsewhere rarely come. It is isolated, poor, lacking in education, and directly in the path of large human trafficking networks. Nepalese women separated from their families after the earthquake are sold into sex slavery, children are purposely maimed on the street to beg for organized traffickers or stolen from their families to work in traveling circuses, and individuals are drugged so their organs can be sold. It is located amidst places I have written and spoken about in treatises on the massive human rights violations plaguing the international community. Now, I am surrounded by young Indian lawyers and students who want to learn about human trafficking and help eradicate it.

Read more at Midwest Jesuits