The University of North Carolina at Pembroke will host the third annual Human Trafficking Conference on March 20.

The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the University Center Annex. The event is free and open to the public.

This year’s conference will focus on how the use of technology, such as social media, have facilitated the growth of trafficking. The keynote speaker is Bill Woolf Jr., former director of the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force and Gang Investigation Unit.

Guest speakers will include Congressman Robert Pittenger (via video presentation); James Estes, representative for Sen. Thom Tillis; Andy Delarocha, senior supervisory resident agent with the FBI; Kiricka Yarbough Smith, chair of the N.C. Coalition Against Human Trafficking; Shana Roark, a UNCP student and Native Hope volunteer; Susan Romano, a UNCP alumnus and works for the N.C. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Unit; and Diana Paparozzi, project manager for Rapidcuts and Quicksilver.

The event is hosted by UNCP’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice.