Human Trafficking News and Updates Feed

Police Break Up Group Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Europe

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:16:00 GMT

Police in Italy and across Europe have arrested a group of mainly Nigerian citizens accused of trafficking women for sex, European police agency Europol said.

Europol said it and the Italian 'carabinieri' paramilitary police had arrested 34 suspects in Italy as well as in France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and San Marino. Members of the criminal group had also worked with two Italian doctors to organise forced abortions, the Hague-based agency said.

Europol said investigations had focused on groups located in the coastal Marche region of Italy, where victims were held in criminal cells led by 'madames' and had to hand over all their earnings to pay off debt incurred for their journey to Italy. "The victims were subject to continued intimidation and violence, aimed at guaranteeing a daily income and to ensure their compliance," Europol said in a statement.

After providing victims with counterfeit documents, some were trafficked through the Netherlands and France where they were met and accompanied to Italy by members of the criminal group, while others came by sea or through Turkey and Greece.

The arrests follow a police bust of a drug trafficking network in April, in which drugs were smuggled from Madrid in Spain to the Italian regions of Piedmont and Marche by using drug 'mules', who were often the women forced into prostitution.

Adapted from: "Police bust sex trafficking group in Europe," Reuters, 24 June 2009.

Barbados Dismisses Human Trafficking Allegations

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:24:00 GMT

Barbados is the latest Caribbean country to defend itself against allegations that it isn't doing enough to prevent human trafficking.

The country's Minister of Youth, Family and Sports, Dr Esther Byer Suckoo is insisting that the government has been working assiduously to ensure that the relevant systems are put in place to deal with the scourge. Barbados was placed in the Tier Two of "countries considered to be making minimal efforts to satisfy the United Nations' anti-trafficking in persons' requirement", in the United States 2009 Report on Trafficking in Persons.

Dr Byer Suckoo countered the allegation in the document released by the US State Department, saying that "government has privately and publicly expressed its abhorrence of this heinous crime".

"The gravity and inhumane nature of this practice demands that we attack it on all fronts. We have to remain ahead of those unprincipled persons, so as to prevent human trafficking from occurring here, but if it does, we have to ensure mechanisms are in place to assist those victims," she said.

"The Bureau of Gender Affairs will be meeting with four major sectors that impact on human trafficking to finalise the protocol, before submission to the Ministry of Family for ratification. They will meet with officials in the areas of law enforcement and social services, non-governmental organisations and other government departments to analyse their responsibilities under the draft protocol and determine whether they have any challenges in meeting the stated commitments," the Minister added.

According to her, the exercise "aims to ensure that victims of human trafficking are not denied humanitarian support".

"Barbados is prepared to cooperate with countries and enter into arrangements to protect the welfare of victims, punish traffickers, and preserve its reputation as a promoter of human rights," Dr Byer Suckoo added.

Barbados has signed but not ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This protocol supplements the United Nations Convention against Trans-national Organised Crime.

St Vincent and the Grenadines and Guyana have already reacted angrily to being placed in the Tier Two Watchlist, saying the report is not a reflection of the reality in the ground.

Adapted from: "Barbados dismisses human trafficking allegations," Caribbean360.com, 24 June 2009.

Safe House to be Established for Victims of Human Trafficking in Sabah, Malaysia

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:29:00 GMT

Sabah will set up a safe house for foreign women who are victims human trafficking and domestic abuse.

The safe house will be set up at an undisclosed location and will start operating later this year, said Assistant Community Development and Consumer Affair Minister Datuk Herbert Timbon Lagadan.

He said the facility would be able to accommodate at least 20 women.

“It would be operated by the Community Development Ministry,” he said after opening a workshop to set up an anti-human trafficking monitoring committee jointly organised by the Archdiocesan Human Development Committee of Sabah and the International Catholic Migration Commission of Indonesia here. He said abused women were now sent to the peninsula to be put under a protective programme.

However, Herbert claimed that the problem of human trafficking or abuse in the state was not serious. Last year, the state recorded only three such cases.

Meanwhile, National Anti-Human Trafficking Council secretary Ahmad Ismail said it was unfair of western countries to accuse Malaysia of being a transit point foreign citizens like those from Pakistan, Iraq and India.

“They cannot say that we are not doing anything to tackle this matter. Actually, the foreign citizens come into the country using valid social visit passes, but they leave using unofficial channels,” he added. “We need the cooperation of non-governmental organisations and the public to check this problem,” he said.

Adapted from: "Sabah safe house for victims of human trafficking, abuse," The Star, 24 June 2009.

Rhode Island, USA Senate to Vote on Bills Banning Prostitution and Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:36:00 GMT

The Senate [in Providence, Rhode Island] is expected to vote this week on two bills designed to strengthen the laws against prostitution and sex-trafficking.

A measure (S-596) introduced by Sen. Paul V. Jabour, D-Providence, to make indoor prostitution a crime “will come up for a vote this session,” Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed pledged.

Rhode Island is the only place in the country, other than certain counties in Nevada, where indoor prostitution is not a crime. “I believe that law enforcement sees this as a loophole and we’re addressing this,” Paiva Weed said. Jabour’s bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A separate bill, introduced in the House by Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, passed the Senate in May by a vote of 62 to 8. Meanwhile, the Senate also is expected to take up legislation as early as Wednesday to strengthen the laws against sex-trafficking in minors.

That measure (S-605 Sub A), introduced by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, had been scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor Tuesday but was postponed to give senators a chance to review some last-minute changes.

Efforts to amend the 2007 human trafficking law initially drew broad support among a diverse coalition that included law enforcement, advocates for victims and church groups. But in recent weeks, some of the legislation’s supporters — among them the Rhode Island State Police — have raised concerns about the language in the Senate version of the bill.

The state police superintendent, Col. Brendan P. Doherty, said the original Senate bill included requirements for training that would be time-consuming and expensive. But the new version introduced Tuesday stipulates only that it is up to law enforcement to ensure necessary training.

One of the House bill’s vocal supporters, University of Rhode Island Prof. Donna Hughes, e-mailed a letter to senators last Monday urging them to reject the Senate bill. “Of course, I am opposed to sex trafficking,” she said in the e-mail, “but this bill comes loaded with loopholes and complex provisions that will create more problems than it solves.” Hughes wrote that the bill “creates a loophole for buyers of sex, if they are under 21. ”The amended Senate bill states: “Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as preventing the prosecution of ‘victims’ or ‘customers’ that are personally involved in the management, organization or proprietary ownership of an enterprise ...”

Kimberly Harris, cochairwoman of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking, said she was “optimistic that both the House and Senate will agree on the most comprehensive victim-centered bill.”

Harris said the coalition had hoped the bill would also cover trafficking for forced labor, but that provision was removed from the Senate version. A separate sex-trafficking bill (H-5661) introduced by Representative Giannini, which included a provision to cover forced labor, also is pending before the House but no vote has been scheduled.

Adapted from: Lynn Arditi, "Senate to vote on bills against prostitution, sex-trafficking," The Providence Journal, 24 June 2009.

Enforcement Agencies in Malaysia Combating Human Trafficking

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:07:00 GMT

Malaysian enforcement agencies are committed in addressing human trafficking by tightening surveillance and checks on travellers, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

"We have solved many human trafficking cases, made arrests and charged those responsible. These prove our seriousness in eliminating trafficking in persons," he told reporters at the police family day at Titiwangsa Lake Garden.

Malaysia has been downgraded to Tier 3 from Tier 2 in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2009 released by US Department of State for allegedly not doing enough to combat human trafficking.

Musa said the Malaysian police would compare notes with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian police on human trafficking.

On a defamation suit filed against the government and the police by textile shop owner and his brother-in-law for wrongful arrest and trespass, Musa said it was their rights and the police were prepared to face it. He said the duo, who were suspects in the Nurin Jazlin Jazimin's abduction and murder two years ago, were picked up based on information received. Musa said the police had not closed the case and were still gathering evidence.

Trader Mohamad Zamri Ibrahim, 35, and former engineer Mohd Suhaimi Yusoff, 30, claimed that they want to clear their names which were tarnished due to the arrest and detention. The two plaintiffs yesterday named investigating officer ASP Loh Pei Pei, Musa and the Government as defendants.

Eight-year-old Nurin went missing on 20 August 2007 after going to a night market alone near her home in Wangsa Maju. Her naked body was found stuffed in a sports bag and left outside a shop in Petaling Utama on Sept 17 2007.

Adapted from: Enforcement Agencies Serious In Combating Human Trafficking - Musa, Bernama.com, 20 June 2009.

Police in Malaysia: "We Are Doing All We Can on Human Trafficking"

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:51:00 GMT

The deputy inspector-general of police rejected allegations that the force was not doing enough to investigate human trafficking cases.

Tan Sri Ismail Omar said the proof that police were giving attention to such cases lay in their records.

He said the United States State Department had no basis to put Malaysia in Tier 3 of its Trafficking in Persons blacklist or to make allegations that the force had not done its best to counter the problem.

Ismail said the force will continue to do so until the issue was resolved.

"Although there are many challenges and factors in curbing the problem, we have managed to take appropriate action based on the power given to us and the laws of the country."

Ismail said policemen had been stationed at border areas and other "hot" spots for those attempting to smuggle illegals into the country, adding that the force also worked closely with other enforcement agencies in the country such as Customs, Immigration and the Anti-Smuggling Unit.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia was waiting for a written reply from the United States embassy on its government's list of top trafficking offenders. He said he was told the report would be submitted soon.

"I want to know which aspects they are referring to. They have to be more specific and should not make accusations without backing their claims," he said. He said the government would take all steps under its jurisdiction to overcome the problem if it was within its control. "The issues regarding human trafficking cannot be overcome overnight. We need to get an accurate account from the embassy."

He said Malaysia was blacklisted in 2001 but its ranking improved to Tier 2 in the subsequent years until 2007, when it was relegated to Tier 3. Last year, after the enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007, Malaysia was again elevated to Tier 2.

Malaysia is listed with 16 other countries in Tier 3 this year, including six newly-added African nations.

Adapted from: Fadhal A. Ghani and Sajahan Abdul Waheed, "Police: We're doing all we can on human trafficking," New Straits Times, 20 June 2009.

Chinese Police Rescue Trafficked Children

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:51:00 GMT

Police across China have rescued 23 children in a nationwide crackdown on child trafficking from poor provinces, state media said.

The Wuhan Rail Bureau in central China has also netted 18 suspects in an 8-day campaign targeting trains pulling in from the city of Kunming, the capital of impoverished Yunnan province in southeast China, the Xinhua news agency said.

Other children, ranging in age from 100 days to 8 years, from the poor, coal-mining province of Shanxi, have been found in Shandong province on the prosperous coast. They were taken hundreds of miles in buses by smuggling rings that used poor migrants to accompany the children.

Many are now in orphanages, since their parents have not been found, Central China Television said in a report on the campaign. Chinese babies, especially boys, from poor and remote areas may be sold to more prosperous people in far-away provinces. Some older children are also sold to gangs who train them to beg in bigger, richer cities.

A child may be sold for anywhere from 7,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan ($1,000-$5,850), depending on the age and sex, the Xinhua report said. Police in Shanxi said parents struggling to make ends meet might sell their newborns. Chinese parents also face fines if they have more than the number of children allowed under China's population controls.

Women traveling with a small child and lots of milk powder but little in the way of children's clothing or other items are potential traffickers, the report said. The cheap and crowded train system allows them to bring the children long distances without being noticed.

Women and girls from the poor countryside are also potential victims of kidnapping and trafficking.

They are sold to poor men who can't get wives in equally remote villages in other parts of China, where differences in language make it difficult for them to escape.

($1=6.836 Yuan)

Adapted from: Lucy Hornby and Alex Richardson, "China police rescue trafficked children," The Washington Post, 21 June 2009.

Africa Union To Launch Initiative Against Human Trafficking

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:55:00 GMT

The African Union Commission announced that it will launch an initiative against trafficking in human beings, AU.COMMIT Campaign, among African population within the continent and in the Diaspora.

According to the AU Commission’s statement the launching ceremony of the initiative is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 16 June 2009, at 09:30 am, at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa.

The statement indicated that the theme of the initiative is “Let’s prevent trafficking, protect victims of trafficking and prosecute those involved in trafficking”.

The AU.COMMIT Campaign which coincides with the Day of African Child (DAC) observed every 16 June all over the continent and will feature with the public address by key personalities and a presentation of the AU.COMMIT Campaign Strategy, by Mehari Taddele Maru, Programme Coordinator for Migration, Department of Social Affairs, AU Commission, the statement said.

It also said that AU.COMMIT Campaign strengthens the framework of the Plan of Action on Africa Fit for Children and the Call for Accelerated Action on the implementation of the Plan of Action towards Africa Fit for Children.

The launch of AU.COMMIT Campaign is aimed at setting the pace for the fight against trafficking in human beings as a priority on the agenda of the continent.

Adated from: "Ethiopia: AU Commission to launch initiative against human trafficking," Ethiopian Review, 19 June 2009.

Nigeria Shows Political Will to Investigate, Prosecute, and Convict Human Trafficking Cases

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:23:00 GMT

It's not every day that the US government gives Nigeria a shout-out for a job well done. After all, the State Department labels this African nation's human rights record "poor" and its 2007 presidential election "seriously flawed."

But this week, the State Department praised Africa's most populous country for its progress in prosecuting human traffickers and helping their victims. "I can't talk about Nigeria enough," said Ambassador Luis Cde-Baca, who leads the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

In only five years, Nigeria has advanced from the State Department's human-trafficking "watch list" to its top tier of countries fully complying with standards to eliminate servitude.

That stands as proof that other countries and the world as a whole can do something about this scourge flourishing in the shadows. An estimated 12 million adults and children have been induced by force, fraud, or coercion to become prostitutes, miners, farmhands, domestics, sweatshop workers – mostly in the developing world.

In its ninth annual report on human trafficking, the State Department said this week that the economic crisis has made people more vulnerable to the false promises and trickery that can lead to enslavement. Of the 175 countries and territories it rated, the 2008 report put 52 of them on its watch list, up from 40 the year before – a 30 percent increase.

And yet, since 2000, more than half of all countries have enacted laws that ban human trafficking. Nongovernmental organizations are working more closely with law enforcement and that's leading to thousands of prosecutions. Last year, nearly 3,000 traffickers were convicted.

It's the law enforcement follow-through that counts most, and that's one reason why Nigeria moved into the top-tier rank. Over the last year, it investigated 209 trafficking cases resulting in 23 convictions – more than double the convictions from the year before.

That number is small considering that 150 million people live in this West African country. Nigeria is a source and a destination for coerced labor. Boys are forced to work as street vendors and beggars, in stone quarries and as domestics. Women and girls are trafficked mostly for the commercial sex trade and as servants.

But Nigeria's anti-trafficking trajectory is moving in the right direction. The government is making a concerted effort to train law enforcement and cooperate internationally. Last year it helped in the arrest of 60 Nigerian trafficking suspects in Europe. It has increased funding for its anti-trafficking program and is assisting victims by working with NGOs to provide shelter, counseling, and vocational training.

Nigeria's efforts are even more remarkable given what happened elsewhere on the continent. Of the seven countries demoted to the report's worst-performing category, six were from Africa (the seventh was Malaysia, where traffickers are exploiting migrants from Burma, or Myanmar).

Mr. CdeBaca said several of these countries had stalled in their commitment to curb "hereditary slavery," in which a slave caste serves the same families, sometimes going back hundreds of years. He singled out the West African countries of Chad, Mauritania, and Niger.

Human trafficking occurs in every country, including the United States – which for the first time will be rated in next year's report. No doubt, it, too, can do more to stop this serious crime.

At the end of the day, it's not enough to pass laws banning human trafficking. Cases must be investigated, suspects prosecuted, and traffickers convicted. Nigeria has shown the political will to follow through. Other countries can, too.

Adapted from: Monitor's Editorial Board, "A stop sign for human trafficking," The Christian Science Monitor, 19 June 2009.

Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in New York

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:35:00 GMT

Joseph Yannai’s neighbors expressed shock last month when a young Hungarian woman told Westchester County police the 65-year-old man had forced her into sexual slavery. Yannai maintained his innocence, yet police had long wondered about the succession of foreign-born women living in his house.

“You’d think a warning bell would go off in a neighbor’s mind,” said Ron Soodalter, author of the new book “The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today.” Yannai, police said, hired the women as au pairs, though he has no children.

The State Department estimates 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. and enslaved each year as housekeepers, farm hands, factory workers and prostitutes. But that’s a guess, because less than 1 percent of cases get prosecuted.

“It’s the invisible crime,” said Nassau County Detective John Birbiglia. He thinks the number of enslaved people is much higher, though he’s only solved three cases over four years running the Long Island Anti-Human Trafficking Task Forces. His most notorious case involved a couple who held two Indonesian women as captive domestic workers.

These days Birbiglia’s focused on massage parlors. “We used to arrest these women,” he said. “Now we know they’re victims.”

Safe Horizon’s Jennifer Dreher says her group has seen 350 cases since 2001. Sixty percent involved forced labor, and most were women from Latin America. “It’s very real,” she said.

Adapted from: N.Y.’s hidden trafficking, Metro, 21 June 2009.

Program to Prevent Youth Trafficking in Kanasas, USA

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:38:00 GMT

Wichita, Kansas law enforcement and Via Christi Health Care workers unite through Healthcare Haven, a program designed to help victimized youth.

Within 48 hours of running away from home, statistics show one in three youth are lured into prostitution. Statistics also show the average age of entry into prostitution is 12. The statistics are startling, yet they apply to Wichita.

"In the Midwest, this is a big problem," said Kathy Gill-Hopple, Director of Healthcare Haven. "This is the third most profitable crime behind drug trafficking and arms trafficking."

The extent of the problem in Wichita was kept under the radar until about three years ago. Now, law enforcement and health care workers are working together to shed light on the problem and bring help to those effected.

"We realized nobody is providing the health care service to these kids," said Gill-Hopple. "So there was a real gap in what was available, and we thought helping these youth really fit with Via Christie's mission."

Project Healthcare Haven reaches out to young people victimized by trafficking and prostitution by offering free services. Services include: free pap smears, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and provide resources for other health problems, including teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, depression, and thoughts of suicide.

"It's very difficult to access these people. It's a population that is very non-trusting," said Gill-Hopple. "They have been groomed into thinking no one will help them," she said.

In the past year Healthcare Haven has treated 6 victimized youth from the streets. Gill-Hopple said it is a small number, but the effect they have had is remarkable. She looks forward to working with law enforcement and helping more youth as the years continue.

Adapted from: Abby Barnett, "Program to Prevent Youth Trafficking," KAKE.com, 22 June 2009.

Two Indicted in Hawaii on a Trafficking Case

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:44:00 GMT

A federal grand jury has indicted a Honolulu man and woman on charges they operated a sex-trafficking operation that involved women and children and advertised their services on the Craigslist Web site.

Rodney D. King, 43, was charged with five counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Sharon-Mae Nishimura, 30, is accused of assisting King and was indicted on similar charges.

King, also known as "Shadow" and "Special K," is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court here on June 29. A warrant has been issued for Nishimura's arrest.

The grand jury indicted the two on May 20, but the indictment was kept under seal until yesterday. If convicted, each faces a prison term of 15 years to life.

Prosecutors allege that King was a pimp who ran a sex-trafficking operation in Honolulu from April 2006 to June 2007. The indictment accuses King of using force, fraud and coercion to engage three women and two girls in his commercial sex operation.

King directed Nishimura to place ads for prostitution involving one of the women and the two girls on Craigslist, using a computer at King's home, the indictment said. King would then arrange for transportation for the females to meet the customers, according to the court document, and directed Nishimura, also known as "Sassy," to collect the fees.

King also is accused of providing a 16-year-old girl with crystal methamphetamine "in order to induce continued compliance" by her with his sex-for-hire operation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching, one of the prosecutors in the case, would not comment on specifics, but said his office will prosecute cases such as this to the fullest. "The U.S. Attorney's office prosecutes sex-trafficking offenses to disrupt these activities and to deter the predatory actions of those who exploit minors and women," Ching said.

In 1999, King pleaded guilty in federal court to arranging for the transportation of a minor to a Waikiki hotel for prostitution. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Last month, he was sentenced to two years in federal prison for violating terms of his supervised release, according to court documents.

Adapted from: Curtis Lum, "2 are indicted in sex-trafficking case," Honolulu Advertiser, 19 June 2009.

Malaysia outcry at US trafficking blacklisting

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:24:00 GMT

Malaysia has accused the United States of unfair treatment over its decision to re-list the country on a human trafficking blacklist.

Washington's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" says Malaysia is failing to comply with minimum standards to eliminate trafficking and "is not making significant efforts to do so".

Last year the report elevated Malaysia to a "watch list" from the 2007 blacklist after finding that it was "making significant efforts" to comply with standards.

"It is unfair to put us back on the list as we are doing our best," Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop told reporters. "We will have to consider our next action in opposing the re-listing of our country on the blacklist," he added.

Abu Seman said the Malaysian government did not condone human trafficking and had taken stern action to deal with the problem, including enacting an anti-human trafficking law in 2007 and setting up a special task force.

The report said that while the Malaysian government took early steps to fight sex trafficking, it has yet to fully tackle labour trafficking. It said there were "credible allegations", including those in a US Senate report this year, that some immigration officials took part in trafficking and extorting refugees from Myanmar.

Malaysia, which is listed with 16 other countries, including six newly-added African nations, could face sanctions such as the withholding of non-humanitarian, non-trade related US aid. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said recently his country was being used as a transit point for illegal immigrants.

Recent incidents include the arrests of 17 Iraqis and seven Indonesians over the weekend after authorities intercepted a boat that was trying to smuggle some of them to Australia via Indonesia. Authorities have said 12 suspected illegal immigrants were drowned off Malaysia's southern coast in the last two months when they tried to sneak out of the country.

Adapted from: Malaysia outcry at US trafficking blacklisting, Google News, 17 June 2009.

A Legislative Move to Decriminalize Teen Prostitution in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:09:00 GMT

Arrested teenage prostitutes are often sent back to the streets and the pimps who control them because juvenile lockups are filled with more serious offenders, a police officer who specializes in such cases told state legislators.

Atlanta police Sgt. Ernest Britton and others asked members of the House Non-Civil Judicial Committee to support a bill that would decriminalize prostitution for those 17 and younger. Britton said that would help the legal system find help and treatment for teenager prostitutes, who are usually victims of exploitation.

A crowd of about 40 from a coalition of religious and political groups in metro Atlanta that formed to fight sex trafficking turned out for the hearing — a large turnout for a summertime legislative committee hearing. It pushed legislation this year that created better reporting of the crime.

Teenage prostitutes need help, not jail time, said coalition member Colleen Rouse of Norcross.

But Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), a member of the committee, opposes the bill. “It will encourage child prostitution, because it will no longer be a crime,” he said.

Atlanta is a U.S. center for the child sex-trafficking trade, the FBI has said. The nonprofit Juvenile Justice Funds estimates that 200 to 300 adolescents and teenagers are prostituted in Atlanta every month. Committee members discussed concerns about wholesale decriminalization as opposed to finding better ways to allow police officers to get help for teenagers.

Cheryl DeLuca-Johnson of Gwinnett County, a coalition leader, said that the packed committee meeting was just a warmup for when the Legislature opens in January. “Our plan is to have hundreds here, then thousands,” DeLuca-Johnson said.

Adapted from: Christopher Quinn, "Supporters push teen prostitution legislation," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 17 June 2009.

New Laws to Protect Victims of Human Trafficking in Australia

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:14:00 GMT

The Australian government has announced significant changes to its scheme for protecting victims of people trafficking, which has protected 131 people since 2004, but which, advocates say, could have done a lot more for many of those subjected to one of the world's worst trades. Victims will no longer be forced to become police informants in order to get government help and an Australian visa to allow them to stay in the country.

Presenter: Linda Mottram, Canberra correspondent
Speaker: Associate professor Jennifer Burn, law faculty, University of Technology, Sydney, and head of the Anti-Slavery Project; Tanya Pliberseck, Australian minister for the status of women, Canberra

MOTTRAM: Non-government groups have lobbied hard for changes to Australia's support arrangements for victims of trafficking, many of whom have been trafficked for sex. And the lobby groups can't speak highly enough of the Rudd government's response. Associate Professor Jennifer Burn from the Law Faculty at the University of Technology Sydney runs the Anti-Slavery Project.

BURN: This is going to transform lives. It's a very sound response.

MOTTRAM: Professor Burn has been a member of a government-convened round table on the issue of support for victims of trafficking, formed year ago. Advocacy groups had sought changes to the support scheme for years but it was the round table process under a new government that opened up the possibility of change to what the groups saw as a system that didn't support victims well, and left them uncertain about their future under a complex, drawn out, and conditional visa process. Jennifer Burn again.

BURN: One of the major criticisms of the previous regime was that victim support and visa support was linked to a person's willingness to engage in law enforcement. So, unless they were willing and able to assist police, and willing and able to assist in a commonwealth prosecution, there was no recognition of their status as a victim of crime and there was no visa support. So, this left out in the cold people who undoubtedly were trafficked to Australia, people who on any assessment of their evidence, and indeed in the assessment of the AFP (Australian Federal Police), were trafficked to Australia, but for various reasons couldn't participate, couldn't take part in a police investigation and prosecution. A person like that was in the cold.

MOTTRAM: The government's changes to the scheme give victims support regardless of visa status. Access to permanent residency will be more certain in what's intended to be a shorter period of time. The system still offers a criminal justice visa for those who are assisting police. But Jennifer Burn says there will be far less uncertainty about it that in the past.

BURN: There will be a point at which a decision will be made while a person holds that criminal justice visa about their entitlement for Australian permanent residence.

MOTTRAM: So, it removes a huge amount of uncertainty that was lasting a very long time for people?

BURN: Look, previously people held that criminal justice visa for four, five, or even more years. It caused so much stress so much anxiety.

MOTTRAM: Professor Burn says there'll also be positive results for the criminal justice system in Australia, with victims of trafficking more likely to be willing to assist if they're secure in their protected status.

Australia's minister for the status of women, Tanya Pliberseck, says she and her colleagues, the ministers for home affairs and immigration considered the changes to be essential.

PLIBERSEK: We want to make it a little bit easier for people who have been traumatised over and over again through the process of their trafficking to be able to recover. If they're able to help police, that's terrific, but we're not tying their visa status to the information they give to police.

MOTTRAM: And what about protection for families, who may be outside of Australia, is there any change there?

PLIBERSEK: Yes, indeed, the change enables immediate family members who are outside Australia to be included in an application for a witness protection trafficking visa and that's particularly important for women who may be supporting children overseas.

MOTTRAM: You appear to have moved very quickly on this, it was only a year ago that the round table discussing this issue was established, how urgent did you feel it was?

PLIBERSEK: Australia's very fortunate that we don't have a large number of people who are trafficked into Australia when you compare us with many other countries. But for every individual who has been trafficked, we're talking about the most enormously traumatic, often dangerous, often physically abusive experience and we as a government saw it as critical to moving as quickly as possible to improve the areas where we believed improvement needed to be made.

MOTTRAM: There is though a remaining matter of education. Sex industry representatives report numbers of cases, where women from countries where prostitution is highly criminalised, like South Korea, refuse to seek help from authorities in Australia. Despite being enslaved, they assume that they would face the same penalties in Australia as they do in their home countries.

Adapted from: "New laws to protect victims of people trafficking in Australia," Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio Australia, 17 June 2009.

Partnering Against Trafficking

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:17:00 GMT

Twenty-year-old Oxana Rantchev left her home in Russia in 2001 for what she believed was a job as a translator in Cyprus. A few days later, she was found dead after attempting to escape the traffickers who tried to force her into prostitution.

Oxana's story is the story of modern slavery. Around the world, millions of people are living in bondage. They labor in fields and factories under threat of violence if they try to escape. They work in homes for families that keep them virtually imprisoned. They are forced to work as prostitutes or to beg in the streets. Women, men and children of all ages are often held far from home with no money, no connections and no way to ask for help. They discover too late that they've entered a trap of forced labor, sexual exploitation and brutal violence. The United Nations estimates that at least 12 million people worldwide are victims of trafficking. Because they often live and work out of sight, that number is almost certainly too low. More than half of all victims of forced labor are women and girls, compelled into servitude as domestics or sweatshop workers or, like Oxana, forced into prostitution. They face not only the loss of their freedom but also sexual assaults and physical abuses.

To some, human trafficking may seem like a problem limited to other parts of the world. In fact, it occurs in every country, including the United States, and we have a responsibility to fight it just as others do. The destructive effects of trafficking have an impact on all of us. Trafficking weakens legitimate economies, breaks up families, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. It undermines our long-term efforts to promote peace and prosperity worldwide. And it is an affront to our values and our commitment to human rights.

The Obama administration views the fight against human trafficking, at home and abroad, as an important priority on our foreign policy agenda. The United States funds 140 anti-trafficking programs in nearly 70 countries, as well as 42 domestic task forces that bring state and local authorities together with nongovernmental organizations to combat trafficking. But there is so much more to do.

The problem is particularly urgent now, as local economies around the world reel from the global financial crisis. People are increasingly desperate for the chance to support their families, making them more susceptible to the tricks of ruthless criminals. Economic pressure means more incentive for unscrupulous bosses to squeeze everything they can from vulnerable workers and fewer resources for the organizations and governments trying to stop them.

The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, released this week, documents the scope of this challenge in every country. The report underscores the need to address the root causes of human trafficking -- including poverty, lax law enforcement and the exploitation of women -- and their devastating effects on its victims and their families.

Since 2000, more than half of all countries have enacted laws prohibiting all forms of human trafficking. New partnerships between law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations, including women's shelters and immigrants' rights groups, have led to thousands of prosecutions, as well as assistance for many victims.

The 2009 report highlights progress that several countries have made to intensify the fight against human trafficking. In Cyprus, where Oxana Rantchev was trafficked and killed, the government has taken new steps to protect victims. Another example is Costa Rica, long a hub for commercial sex trafficking. This year, it passed an anti-trafficking law; trained nearly 1,000 police, immigration agents and health workers to respond to trafficking; launched a national awareness campaign; and improved efforts to identify and care for victims. This progress is encouraging. Much of it is the result of the hard work of local activists such as Mariliana Morales Berrios, who founded the Rahab Foundation in Costa Rica in 1997 and has helped thousands of trafficking survivors rebuild their lives. Advocates such as Mariliana help spur change from the bottom up that encourages governments to make needed reforms from the top down.

We must build on this work. When I began advocating against trafficking in the 1990s, I saw firsthand what happens to its victims. In Thailand, I held 12-year-olds who had been trafficked and were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I shared the tears of women who wondered whether they'd ever see their relatives again. The challenge of trafficking demands a comprehensive approach that both brings down criminals and cares for victims. To our strategy of prosecution, protection and prevention, it's time to add a fourth P: partnerships.

The criminal networks that enslave millions of people cross borders and span continents. Our response must do the same. The United States is committed to building partnerships with governments and organizations around the world, to finding new and more effective ways to take on the scourge of human trafficking. We want to support our partners in their efforts and find ways to improve our own.

Human trafficking flourishes in the shadows and demands attention, commitment and passion from all of us. We are determined to build on our past success and advance progress in the weeks, months and years ahead. Together, we must hold a light to every corner of the globe and help build a world in which no one is enslaved.

Adapted from: Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Partnering Against Trafficking," The Washington Post, 17 June 2009.

Taiwan Forms Anti-human Trafficking Group

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:22:00 GMT

An international alliance of Filipino migrant organizations hailed the decision of the Taiwan government to form a group to look into cases of human trafficking and take legal action against employers found guilty of the transnational crime.

Migrante International said the anti-trafficking group would help ensure that Filipinos are hired only by legitimate recruiters and are assured of legal work when they arrive in Taiwan.

The special body will be composed of the National Immigration Agency, court police, foreign police, and the National Police Agency. Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs will take care of providing the workers NT$10,000 as allowance and working permits as they are allowed to work in any job category while the case is being heard.

Garry Martinez, Migrante chairperson, said the formation of the body was a “positive development” that stemmed from the complaint filed by 10 overseas Filipino workers at the National Immigration Agency, assisted by the New Immigrants Labor Rights Association, a non-government organization.

The 10 OFWs in Jia Chiarng Company recently lodged a complaint against underpayment of their salary and the confiscation of their passports by their brokers. The National Immigration Agency of Taiwan has concluded that Jia Chiarng Company and its broker are guilty of Labor Trafficking due to slave-like wages and confiscation of passports of its migrant workers.

In a statement, Martinez lamented the lack of action of Philippine officials on the case. “How ironic that a foreign government has shown more concern in taking legal actions against employers found guilty of trafficking Filipinos while the Philippine government officials remain inutile in going after abusive employers,” he said.

Adapted from: Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, "Taiwan forms anti-human trafficking group," Global Nation Inquirer, 15 June 2009.

U.S. Department of State Releases 9th Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:48:00 GMT

The 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report is the most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. Its findings will raise global awareness and spur countries to take effective actions to counter trafficking in persons.

The annual Trafficking in Persons Report serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages partnership and increased determination in the fight against forced labor, sexual exploitation, and modern-day slavery.

The Tier Rankings for countries of interest to http://HumanTrafficking.org are:

» Australia: Tier 1
» Burma: Tier 3
» Cambodia: Tier 2 Watch List (downgraded from Tier 2 in 2008)
» China: Tier 2 Watch List
» Hong Kong SAR: Tier 2 (downgraded from Tier 1 in 2008)
» Indonesia: Tier 2
» Japan: Tier 2
» Lao PDR: Tier 2
» Malaysia: Tier 3 (downgraded from Tier 2 Watch List in 2008)
» Mongolia: Tier 2
» New Zealand: Tier 1
» Philippines: Tier 2 Watch List (downgraded from Tier 2 in 2008)
» Singapore: Tier 2
» South Korea: Tier 1
» Taiwan: Tier 2
» Thailand: Tier 2
» Vietnam: Tier 2

To download the full Trafficking in Persons Report, visit:
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/index.htm

"The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking. This year, there is new urgency in this call. As the ongoing financial crisis takes an increasing toll on many of the world’s migrants – who often risk everything for the slim hope of a better future for their families – too often they are ensnared by traffickers who exploit their desperation. We recognize their immense suffering, and we commit to aiding their rescue and recovery."

Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton

Cambodia's Thriving Child Prostitution Industry

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:47:00 GMT

Al Jazeera's investigation found underage girls working in brothel's around Phnom Penh.

Girls as young as 14 work in brothels' around Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, and while the industry is often shown as serving predatory foreign tourists, local men have been found to be the mainstay of clients.
Thousands of children are bought and sold for sex every day in Cambodia an investigation by Al Jazeera found.

Al Jazeera filmed secretly at several brothels, and in each case found much the same thing - rooms full of young women in their early twenties, as well as teenagers. "For my virginity they gave me $200," Ya Da, a 16-year-old former prostitute, said.

Ya Da worked in a brothel for two years before she ran away. Now, she lives in a safe house with other former prostitutes and abused children. "There were just a few foreign customers [at the brothel]," she said. "I never slept with any, I slept only with Cambodian men."

'Local customers'
Mu Sochua, a politician with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and a former minister for women's affairs, told Al Jazeera that most of Cambodia's sex industry was supported "by local customers".

"And some of these local customers are high-ranking officials. You have the military, the police and civil servants. you have rich businessmen who have lots of money," she said. The involvement of high-ranking officials has been one reasons, NGOs say, that the sex industry has thrived in Cambodia.

"Very often these brothels and criminal networks are being supported and protected by high ranking officials," Mark Capaldi, from Ecpat International, an orgnaisation working to eliminate child prostitution, said. "The problem is not just as abusers but also the impunity and lack of law enforcement in closing down these brothels and karaoke bars."

Daniela Reale, an advisor from Save the Children, told Al Jazeera: "The reality is that we do know local demand is the force driving this abuse. "We also know it is around 70 per cent of local demand rather than sex tourism."

But General Bith Kim Hong, from the Cambodian national police force, rejected allegations that the officials focused their efforts to curb prostitution almost exclusively on foreigners. "The national police are concerned about anyone who commits a crime, who has sex with children, whether they are foreigners or Cambodian," he told Al Jazeera.

"We have a very high commitment to prevent child prostitution."

Few arrests
Last year, the Cambodian police arrested only 21 people for committing sex crimes with children - eight of those arrested were foreigners and 13 were Cambodians. The police also admit that the brothels they shut down in high-profile raids often reopen a few weeks later.

In 2002, Gary Glitter, the British pop star, was expelled from Cambodia amid child-sex allegations.
But while the arrest and conviction of foreigners make the headlines, most child sex trafficking supplies local demand, Mu Sochua said.

"It is easier to catch a foreigner and also the government wants to have showcases to make itself look good - that Cambodia is actually taking care of this problem of human trafficking, which is really not the truth," she told Al Jazeera.

Reale said that governments need to combat the worldwide problem: "They need to address their legal system and their law enforcement." To tackle the poverty that forces girls into prostitution, Reale said that governments must provide support systems to help families match their needs.

She said that the 3rd World Conference on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Rio de Janeiro next month will be as a big opportunity to make real and genuine committments.

Adapted from: "Cambodia - Child Sex Trade Soars in Cambodia." Al Jazeera. 21 October 2008.

VIDEO Direct Link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/10/20081021560267677.html

Human Trafficking Expert Warns of Risks to Children in Disaster Zones

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:40:00 GMT

Natural disasters such as the cyclone in Myanmar can put children at risk for abuse and exploitation, a human trafficking expert.

Eva Biaudet, of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said she had no specific information about the situation of children in Myanmar, but noted that similar disasters, as well as conflicts, have put minors at risk of being taken advantage of and abused.

"When there are these kind of catastrophes — when the state fails, when there are no systems — children are extremely at risk for not only of course being just abandoned ... but also for abuse and exploitation," Biaudet told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day OSCE human trafficking conference that began Monday.

"It is a very good place for traffickers to be when the state sort of fails," Biaudet said, adding that children in conflict zones were also at the risk of falling prey to such criminals.

Last week, UNICEF said it believed the number of children left without guardians in Myanmar because of the cyclone is more than 600 and could rise.

Adapted from: "Human trafficking expert warns of risks to children in disaster zones." The Associated Press. 26 May 2008.

Immigration Operatives on Guard for Human Trafficking in the Philippines

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:43:00 GMT

Immigration operatives are on guard at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) following attempts by international syndicates to use Manila and Kuala Lumpur as transit point for human smuggling.

Immigration chief Marcelino C. Libanan ordered the NAIA-BI operatives to be vigilant after five passengers from Malaysia bound for Vancouver and Amsterdam were found to be carrying fake travel documents in a span of three weeks.

Libanan said "there is a pattern in the syndicate's movements and the frequency is rising that it would not escape notice."

"We are sending advisories to our Malaysian counterparts on this string of arrests of passengers that slipped their area," he said, adding that international cooperation is essential to combating human trafficking.

On Saturday, NAIA-BI personnel intercepted three Sri Lankans with bogus Malaysian and Singaporean passports as they were about to board a Royal Dutch Airlines flight for Amsterdam hours after they arrived as transit passengers from Kuala Lumpur.

One of the passengers, identified as Vengtespura Rao Appalanaidu, managed to escape while his passport and those of his companions were being examined at the airline counter. But airport authorities found Vengtespura Monday still inside NAIA. Vengtespura and the three Sri Lankans were sent back to Malaysia.

Last Friday, a Botswanian woman was nabbed at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Angeles City for attempting to leave for Vancouver, Canada with a tampered passport.

The passenger, Tshekiso Boitumelo, had also arrived from Kuala Lumpur and was later sent back to her port of origin.

Adapted from: Tetch Torres, "Immigration operatives on guard for human trafficking." Global Nation. 27 May 2008.

U.S. Department of State Releases 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:52:00 GMT

The 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report on 170 countries is the most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. Its findings will raise global awareness and spur countries to take effective actions to counter trafficking in persons.

The annual Trafficking in Persons Report serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages partnership and increased determination in the fight against forced labor, sexual exploitation, and modern-day slavery.

The Tier Rankings for countries of interest to http://HumanTrafficking.org are:

» Australia: Tier 1
» Burma: Tier 3
» Cambodia: Tier 2
» China: Tier 2 Watch List
» Hong Kong SAR: Tier 1
» Indonesia: Tier 2
» Japan: Tier 2
» Lao PDR: Tier 2
» Malaysia: Tier 2 Watch List
» Mongolia: Tier 2
» New Zealand: Tier 1
» Philippines: Tier 2
» Singapore: Tier 2
» South Korea: Tier 1
» Taiwan: Tier 2
» Thailand: Tier 2
» Vietnam: Tier 2

To download the full Trafficking in Persons Report, visit: http://www.state.gov/g/tip

"We are pleased that in the seven years since the creation of the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the United States and our friends and allies have made important strides in confronting the reality that human beings continue to be bought and sold in the twenty-first century. It has been gratifying to witness the determined governments, human rights and women’s groups, faith-based organizations, and many brave individuals who are dedicated to advancing human dignity worldwide. Trafficking and exploitation plague all nations, and no country, even ours, is immune."
--Secretary Rice, June 4, 2008

Trafficking of Filipinas in Singapore

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:53:00 GMT

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore reports on unabated trafficking of Filipinas to Singapore.

The Philippine embassy said the trafficking of Filipinas in Singapore "continues unabated."

The embassy’s admission came six month after INQUIRER.net first reported the sharp increase in the incident of the transnational crime in the island-state.

In the report it submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) dated April 28, the Philippine embassy in Singapore reiterated its warning about the dangers of human trafficking.

The warning came in the wake of meetings between the Philippine embassy, Ambassador Steven Steiner of the United States Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and officials from the Philippine Presidential Task Force on Human Trafficking, who went to Singapore to assess the situation there.

In November 2007, INQUIRER.net posted a special report on the growing number of young Filipino women being lured to Singapore on the false promise of a high-paying job only to end up in prostitution.

The increased incidence of trafficking of Asian women, including Filipinas, to Singapore prompted the United States State Department to downgrade the city-state's rating from Tier 1 in 2006 to Tier 2 this year.

Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Belen Fule-Anota said Filipinas who want to work overseas must scrutinize their recruiters in the Philippines well and ensure they have valid contracts before leaving the country.

She also advised jobseekers to have their contracts duly verified by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) "before packing their bags for Singapore."

"They should not allow themselves to be deceived by the sweet tongue and false promises made by sex and labor traffickers because once they reach Singapore, they become more vulnerable to intimidation, deception, and exploitation," added the ambassador, who has served in the city-state for four years.

Steiner, who visited the Philippine embassy on the sidelines of a meeting in Singapore, acknowledged the ongoing bilateral cooperation between the two countries and the progress being made by the Philippines in fighting trafficking in persons.

He exchanged notes with embassy officials and discussed possible areas for strengthening bilateral cooperation.

In a separate meeting with the two-person team of the Presidential Task Force, the embassy proposed the improvement of inter-agency cooperation, particularly in the areas of rehabilitation, re-integration, and witness protection for the victims, and the prosecution of traffickers.

In a report submitted to the DFA early this year, the embassy in Singapore noted "an alarming increase" of 70 percent in human trafficking cases from 125 in 2006 to 212 in 2007. There were only 59 recorded cases in 2005.

Of the 212 human trafficking victims in 2007, a total of 57, or 27 percent, admitted to either having engaged in prostitution or being coerced by their Filipino and Singaporean handlers to prostitute themselves. Of the 57 victims, 39 were pub workers, 15 worked in escort service, while three were pick-up girls.

The embassy culled data from individual interviews, recorded statements, and affidavits of victims who reported to the embassy in 2007. The number is believed understated.

The Philippines considers trafficking in persons a serious transnational crime and human security issue requiring close international cooperation, particularly between the source and destination countries.

"Victims are considered as trafficked if they have been deceived, coerced or subjected to conditions of exploitation as defined by Republic Act 9208, a Philippine law otherwise known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003," the embassy said in a statement.

It said the Philippine definition of trafficking in persons is consistent with the definition in the United Nations Convention Against Organized Transnational Crime and its two protocols, all of which had been signed and ratified by the Philippines.

Adapted from: Veronica Uy, "Trafficking of Filipinas in Singapore."
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080428-133194/Trafficking-of-Filipinas-in-Singapore-unabated--embassy
globalnation.inquirer.net 22 April 2008

Europe Reconsiders Prostitution as Sex Trafficking Booms

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:03:00 GMT

Trafficking and forced prostitution are on the rise, and the EU countries' complicated prostitution laws make prosecution difficult.

An aid organization has opened its 12th office in Germany to advise women in need. Some 700,000 women are trafficked to western Europe every year, said lawyer Birgit Thoma, who works for Solwodi, or Solidarity with Women in Distress.

Affordable transport and instant communication have led to an increase in trafficking over past 10 years, with the trade now worth an estimated $30 billion (18.8 billion euros) globally, according to a United Nations report.

For many years the focus was on human trafficking from eastern Europe, but when the EU expanded -- mainly to the east and south -- in 2004, the legal status of women in the new member states changed. That's led Solwodi to shift its focuses to African women who are forced into prostitution in Europe.

Thoma said foreigners make up some 70 percent of people in Germany's sex trade. While exact figures aren't available, she estimated that about 100,000 women from Nigeria alone have been trafficked to western Europe.

Women Victimize Women
Unlike tactics used in eastern Europe, African women are often lured with marriage deals. The traffickers don't belong to large mafia gangs, but are organized in smaller, inconspicuous networks.

"Often the criminals are women," said Thoma. "These are the so-called 'mesdames,' most of whom used to be victims themselves." Voodoo rituals are often used to scare and psychologically intimidate the women, she added.

"Priests force them not to say where they're going and what happens to them," Thoma said. "Otherwise something will happen not only to their families, but sickness, death or curses will come over them too."

In 1985, the Catholic nun Lea Ackermann founded Solwodi in Kenya to assist women whose financial desperation had led to a life of prostitution. Three years later, the first Solwodi branch was founded in Germany as a refuge for foreign women who had become victims of forced prostitution or trafficking.

Europe Revises Legal Framework
Prostitution is legal in Germany, which creates obstacles to uncovering and prosecuting cases of trafficking. Since around 30 percent of trafficked women were aware beforehand that they would end up working in the sex trade, it is difficult to collect evidence proving they were forced into prostitution, Thoma said.

However, forced prostitution was redefined in 2005 when EU standards were applied to German law. As a result, human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is no longer a sex crime but a "crime against physical integrity and against freedom," Thoma explained.

She added that the law's inclusion of robbing people of their freedom was a better description of forced prostitution than labeling it a sex crime. Germany is not alone in rethinking its laws surrounding prostitution. Sweden was the first in Europe to outlaw paying for sex in 1999. Last week, Norway's government proposed to fine or jail clients of prostitutes for up to six months in an effort to counteract trafficking and lower demand.

In Britain, where paid sex is legal but prostitutes aren't allowed to solicit in public, a group of Labour MPs have advocated for replacing criminal penalties for street prostitutes with mandatory counseling programs to get them out of the business.

"We don't criminalize people who sell kidneys, we criminalize the buyer," Labour MP Fiona MacTaggart told Reuters news agency.

Address the Problem at its Roots
The justice system also makes it difficult prosecute traffickers who force women into marriage. Victims of this crime have to prove that they suffered threats or abuse -- not only that they forced to marry against their will. These women also risk penalties if they are shown to have married only to acquire a residence permit.

For those without residence permits, a new law in Germany aims to encourage them to testify against their traffickers. After the initial three-month tourist visa, trafficking victims are granted an additional six months to consider whether to press charges.

"If they don't testify, they're deported," said Thoma. "But if they testify, they get a residence permit for the duration of the criminal proceedings." But ultimately, trafficking needs to be addressed from the bottom up, said the lawyer. That means pulling the women out of poverty and offering them a chance to improve their lives. "We have to create more possibilities for education there and improve the overall living situation for the women," she said.

Adapted from: Sabine Ripperger, "Europe Reconsiders Prostitution as Sex Trafficking Booms." Deutsche Welle 28 April 2008.

Child Trafficking in Senegal

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:07:00 GMT

Child trafficking found at the complicated intersection of greed and tradition.

On the day he decided to run away, 9-year-old Coli awoke on a filthy mat, curled against the cold, pressed between dozens of other children sleeping head-to-toe on the concrete floor.

It was still dark as he set out for the mouth of a freeway with the other boys, a tribe of 7-, 8- and 9-year-old beggars. Coli went between the stopped cars, holding up an empty tomato paste can as his begging bowl.

There are 1.2 million children like Coli in the world, trafficked to work for the benefit of others. Those who lure them into servitude make $15 billion annually, according to the International Labor Organization.

It's big business in Senegal. In the capital of Dakar, at least 7,600 child beggars work the streets, according to a study released in February by the ILO, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Bank. The children collect an average of 300 African francs a day, just 72 cents, reaping their keepers $2 million a year.

Ninety percent of the boys are sent to beg under the cover of Islam, placing the problem at the complicated intersection of greed and tradition. Coli was brought to Dakar with his family's blessing to learn Islam's holy book.

In the name of religion, Coli spent two hours a day memorizing verses from the Quran and over nine hours begging to pad the pockets of the man he called his teacher.

Not all Quranic boarding schools force their students to beg. But for the most part, what was once an esteemed form of education has degenerated into child trafficking. Nowadays, Quranic instructors net as many children as they can to increase their daily take.

"If you do the math, you'll find that these people are earning more than a government functionary," said Souleymane Bachir Diagne, an Islamic scholar at Columbia University. "It's why the phenomenon is so hard to eradicate."

Adapted from: Rukmini Callimachi, "SENEGAL CHILD TRAFFICKING." The Associated Press. 27 April 2008.

Trafficking of Sri Lankan Children to Singapore

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:10:00 GMT

A racket involving the smuggling of more than 20 Sri Lankan children to Singapore has been busted and four suspects arrested, the National Child Protection Authority disclosed. The NCPA Chairman Jagath Wellawattha said that in the latest case, three children who were found deserted at the Singapore airport were flown back to Sri Lanka at NCPA expense.

He said four suspect racketeers were arrested and the parents who were alleged to have sold their children for Rs.1.8 million each were taken in for questioning. Mr. Wellawattha said the racket had been going on for some time and more than 20 children had allegedly been sold by the racketeers.

In February this year the media spotlighted a prostitution ring operated by Sri Lankan pimps in on of Singapore’s noted red light area where scores of Sri Lankan women were involved. The matter was exposed in a video aired by the Singapore Home Ministry and its anti vice squad.

The secretly shot video showed a group of Sri Lankan women soliciting customers under the watchful eyes of Sri Lankan pimps at Lorang 15 in the Geylang district. At the time the media reported that most of the women were stranded in Singapore and were scared or ill informed on how to seek assistance from the Sri Lankan mission in the country.

Adapted from: "Child trafficking racket busted." Daily Mirror. 28 April 2008.

Church of Scotland Report Highlights the Link between Prostitution and Trafficking

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:19:00 GMT

In a hard-hitting report to the General Assembly in May 2008, the Church of Scotland Guild will highlight some of the work it has done in the past year investigating methods of alerting potential brothel clients to the evils of human trafficking.

The General Assembly will hear that, both within the church and in the general population, there has undoubtedly been an increased level of awareness of trafficking. Press coverage has been considerable, due to the uncovering of trafficking rings through the Pentameter 2 initiative and the work of the UK Anti-trafficking centre, set up to coincide with the government’s signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking of Human Beings.

The Assembly will be told that grassroots Guild members were part of the wave of revulsion that led to the emergence of the significant ‘Extra Mile’ initiative held during Guild Week in November. That provided an opportunity for Guild members to raise issues with MSPs, including the provision of safe accommodation in Scotland for the period of recovery and the preparation of adequate measures to combat trafficking in the context of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The Guild will ask for the Assembly’s encouragement to continue pressing for meaningful debate on the connection between prostitution and the trafficking of people for the sex industry.

The Guild will go on to remind the Assembly that the amendment to the law on street prostitution in Scotland and the intention to introduce similar legislation in Westminster have led to renewed public debate about the relationship between the demand for street prostitutes and the trafficking of women for the sex industry.

Many believe that there is no connection at all and that prostitution - as the oldest profession - will always be in society. The Assembly will hear that the Guild has a different view and asks what kind of profession "ruins health, routinely risks danger and erodes human dignity".

Other priorities are highlighted through the Guild’s projects scheme. The General Assembly will hear that the Guild’s support for the six projects in the Let’s Live series has now passed the halfway point of the three year partnership. These include advice services for homeless Scots in London and help for families suffering the effects of post natal depression.

Other projects in the current scheme support initiatives to tackle poverty caused by disease, injustice and climate change in the developing world. The generous financial support and commitment of guilds have enabled their partner organisations to develop their work substantially.

The report concludes with a commitment to remain a movement driven by a purpose, one that is resistant to becoming consumer driven and fosters a sense of belonging to a community, united in its aim to offer members opportunities to express their Christian faith in worship, prayer and action.

Adapted from: "Kirk Guild report highlights link between prostitution and trafficking."
Christian Today. 22 April 2008.

Protecting Victims of Human Trafficking in Southern Africa

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:23:00 GMT

Policy makers and senior government officials from Southern Africa meet on 22 April 2008 in Durban to address the urgent need to set up adequate protection mechanisms for victims of trafficking in Southern Africa.

The three-day meeting, part of the Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA), is hosted by IOM and the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP). It represents the first regional effort to specifically address the unique needs of victims of trafficking and identify programmes, policies and legal frameworks to be put in place to ensure their protection.

“Because of the clandestine nature of human trafficking and because many countries in the region have not yet put in place comprehensive counter trafficking programmes and legislations, many victims continue to fall through the cracks, with little or no attention paid to their protection needs and overall wellbeing,” says Hans Petter Boe, Regional Representative for IOM in Southern Africa. “This meeting aims to raise awareness among key government officials and identify concrete recommendations to be adopted at a regional level to ensure the better protection of victims of trafficking.”

There are currently few national and regional mechanisms that address the specific needs of human trafficking victims in Southern Africa. Trafficked persons often find themselves enslaved in situations where their documents are confiscated, where they are held against their will, where they often suffer violent abuse, where their families are threatened with harm, and where they are bonded by a debt that they have little or no chance of ever repaying.

Because of their irregular status, they are usually afraid to seek help from law enforcement officials, who treat them as irregular migrants rather than victims of trafficking. The clandestine and often syndicated criminal nature of human trafficking also poses a threat to victims’ lives, even after they have been rescued.

Earlier this month, Mozambique became the first and only country to pass anti-trafficking legislation in a region that is experiencing both strong internal and cross-border trafficking. Through its Southern African Counter-Trafficking Assistance Programme (SACTAP), IOM has over the past four years provided comprehensive assistance to 238 victims of human trafficking in Southern Africa.

Adapted from: "SOUTH AFRICA-Protecting Victims of Human Trafficking in Southern Africa." African Press Organization. 22 April 2008.

Human Trafficking Has Potential to Be Big Problem in Guam

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:04:00 GMT

Withholding food, passports and any financial means of escape. Beating, kicking and dragging a woman through broken glass, forcing them to have sex with men against their will or face physical punishment.

Those are just a few of the things the U.S. Attorney's Office alleges In Han Cha, Song Ja Cha, the owners of the Blues House Lounge in Upper Tumon, and their two employees, Freda Eseun and Saknin Weria did to the Chuukese women they brought to Guam.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there's an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children being trafficked internationally each year. The USDOJ also said the problem is one that's growing.

While the statistics are high around the world, Guam hasn't had a problem until recently, according to U.S. Attorney Lenny Rapadas. Rapadas said this was the first case of human trafficking since he took his position and can't recall any other cases before that.

Rapadas said it's hard to say if the problem is growing, but there is potential for it. "From zero to one that's pretty significant," Rapadas said. "With the military build up and the possible federalization of the (Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas), Guam is in a position right now where it can become a problem."

Rapadas said he thinks if human trafficking continues to be a problem in the region, it could have a detrimental effect on Guam.

"The effect that it could have on a community, I would think, would be devastating that you have these people having human beings demeaned in this way and for their own profit and their own gain. I would think that it would lower the society," Rapadas said.

While this is the first case of its kind in recent memory on Guam, the CNMI has seen a few. Rapadas said there were two trials connected to human trafficking in the CNMI over the past year and he was traveling to Saipan to get the word out and, hopefully, make the community more aware.

"We should care even if one person is trafficked. It's one human being dominating another human being to do something they don't want to do," he said. "It strips the human dignity of person and demeans them beyond belief."

Rapadas is hoping to curb the problem before it gets out of hand on Guam.

"With the indictment and getting this case out there more people will become aware and maybe spark more investigations," the U.S. Attorney said. "We need the community to be involved the law enforcement can't do everything." Rapadas encouraged anyone with information on possible human trafficking to contact law enforcement.

A training was held recently for law enforcement officers and non-government organzations. The training included topics such as identification of human trafficking victims and interviewing techniques in a culturally appropriate manner. Participants also talked about the formation of a human trafficking task force for Guam.

Regretful
Former Chuuk State Gov. Ansito Walter said he was very regretful the situation occurred not only because of the Chuukese victims, but for the two women indicted. "I regret that it happens. I believe, as a former leader of Chuuk, they should be responsible for what they do," Walter said. "As a leader I would like to apologize to the people (of Guam)."

Walter said he hopes that residents do not view all Chuukese nationals through the actions of a few. "I know this will be making a negative impact on the Chuukese. But they are also businessmen and teaching and working in the community," Walter said.

The former governor hoped residents would also support the victims in this trying time.

"I don't believe that's why they came from the islands. We have dreams for our daughters and sons. We dream they'll come to America for a better life," Walter said. "I hope we can help them so they can get the skills and education to do great things for the island of Guam."

How to cope
Walter hopes the victims will be able to move on, and the Attorney General's Office has the same hope. Assistant Attorney General Basil O'Mallan, of the office's Family Violence and Sex Crimes Unit, works often with victims of sexual assault and sees what they go through.

O'Mallan described what it's like for victims of sex trafficking because they have an extra layer of fear because they are in an unfamiliar place.

"What happens is they get here and they don't have family here and they don't have friends. The only people they know is the person who brought them here under false pretenses, their coworkers and customers. None of those three groups are there to help them so they're trapped," O'Mallan said. "They don't understand the American legal system and they're usually intimidated with law enforcement so they don't trust law enforcement."

O'Mallan said victims of sexual assault often have to repeat their story often, but the AG's Office has victim advocates by their side every step of the way. O'Mallan said it's just one of the services they provide to help victims through a difficult time.

"We provide services for them to make sure they have a place to stay that's safe, they're kept safe, there's food to eat, and we provide whatever other services they need, especially counseling," O'Mallan said.

Adapted from: Stephanie Godlewski, "Human trafficking has potential to be big problem," Pacific Daily News. 22 March 2008.

Children Lured into Sex Trafficking in Florida

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:08:00 GMT

"Tonya," not her real name, says she was lured into selling herself for sex as a child. "When I turned 12 years old, I started street prostitution," the woman says. "I had a pimp."

"Tonya" is one victim cited in a startling new study, which finds that children are being bought and sold for sex in the U.S. on a regular basis. The non-profit group "Shared Hope International" studied minors involved in sex trafficking in ten locations nationwide, with Clearwater being one of them.

ABC Action News investigative reporter Matthew Schwartz first reported last year on human trafficking in Clearwater, which is a form of modern-day slavery.

"Shared Hope International released undercover video taken in an undisclosed location (outside the bay area), in which one of its investigators poses as a buyer talking to a pimp, to show how easy it is to buy sex with a minor.

The pimp says to the investigator, "If you pay the price you can get what you want, and I can get it for ya." "Really?," the investigator replies. The pimp then says, "Now, if you want something really young, that's $200."

The results of the group's nationwide study have been announced, and among the key findings:

between one-hundred thousand and three-hundred thousand children in the u-s are at risk for sex trafficking each year.
as many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.
12 to 14 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution.

One young victim explained how a pimp lured her into prostitution.

"The things that he said were things I've never felt before. I actually felt like I was loved by somebody for the first time." The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Adapted from: "Investigators: Children lured into sex trafficking." abcactionnews.com.
26 March 2008.

Anti-trafficking Agreement Signed between Vietnam and Thailand

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:12:00 GMT

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej opened a three-day visit to Vietnam Monday with the signing of an agreement between the two countries on combating human trafficking.

Thailand and Vietnam "have the same development situation," Samak told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. He said he looked forward to improving cooperation and trade relations.

The two leaders witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on combating human trafficking by Thai Social Development and Human Security Minister Sutha Chansaeng and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem.

The agreement is part of a joint anti-trafficking initiative launched in 2004 between the six countries in the Mekong subregion, which also includes Myanmar, China, Cambodia, and Laos.

Thailand is a relatively minor destination for Vietnamese trafficking victims, usually women, who are more often smuggled to Cambodia or China and forced into sex work, according to officials at anti-trafficking programs in Vietnam.

"I believe there are a number of Vietnamese working (in the Thai sex industry)," said Hoang Thi To Linh, an official at the International Organization for Migration's anti-trafficking programme in Hanoi.

Thailand does sometimes serve as a transit point for Vietnamese being smuggled on to Malaysia, Russia or Western European countries, according to officials at the UN Inter-Agency Programme on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

The agreement signed Monday is a move towards adopting a standard operating procedure for victim identification and repatriation, which includes the adoption by all regional legal systems of the UN's definition of trafficked persons.

Adapted from: "Anti-trafficking agreement signed with Vietnam." bangkokpost.com.

Modern Global Slaves

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:15:00 GMT

During the four years that Benjamin Skinner researched modern-day slavery for his new book, "A Crime So Monstrous," he posed as a buyer at illegal brothels on several continents, interviewed convicted human traffickers in a Romanian prison and endured giardia, malaria, dengue and a bad motorcycle accident.

But Skinner, an investigative journalist, is most haunted by his experience in a seedy brothel in Bucharest, Romania, where he was offered a young woman with Down syndrome in exchange for a used car.

"There are more slaves today than at any point in human history," writes Skinner, citing a recent estimate that there are currently 27 million worldwide. One hundred and forty-three years after the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in 1865 and 60 years after the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights banned the slave trade worldwide, slavery -- or, as it is euphemistically called, human trafficking -- is actually thriving. It is, as Hillary Clinton has said, "the dark underbelly of globalization."

That slavery in its many forms -- debt bondage, forced domestic servitude and forced prostitution -- still exists is, indeed, shocking, mostly because it is invisible to those of us who don't know where to look for it. Skinner's great achievement is that he shines a light on the international slave trade, exposing the horrors of bondage not only through assiduous reporting and interviews with modern-day abolitionists and government officials, but by sharing the stories of several survivors. These poignant tales -- of people like Muong, a 12-year-old Dinka boy from southern Sudan, who is abducted (with his brother and mother) by an Arab slave driver; Tatiana, an Eastern European woman who is tricked into slavery when her boyfriend of six months finds her an "au pair" job in Amsterdam; and Gonoo, an Indian man in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh who inherits a debt from his father and spends his days working it off at a stone quarry -- illustrate the harsh realities of slavery while also offering some hope that former slaves can rebuild their lives.

Salon sat down with Skinner to talk about modern-day abolitionists, what's wrong with redemptions (also called "buy backs"), and why he's optimistic that slavery can be eradicated.

Salon: You infiltrated many dangerous underworlds to get these stories, often putting your life at risk by chatting up child slave brokers and negotiating to buy young women from a Russian mobster in Istanbul who'd just been released from prison. Which situation, in retrospect, was the most harrowing?

Skinner: There were definitely some moments where I felt I'd made a mistake in terms of personal safety. At this point, though, I have to say that the people who are most in danger in these situations are the slaves themselves. My greatest concern going in was not "Am I going to come out whole?" but "Is there going to be some retaliation against the slaves if my cover is blown?" I had a principle that I would not pay for a human life. You buy a human being and you can't just set them free and dump them on the economy with no resources, no support system, no rehabilitation.

When I was offered this young woman in trade for a used car at the Romani brothel in Bucharest, I could have done one of a few things: I could've paid to redeem her. I was with a couple of guys and I could've fought physically with the traffickers to get her out. Or I could've gone to the police the next day to tell them, which is what I did.

Very unsatisfying, that. You want to rip this guy's head off, right? I was shown this woman who had scars all over her arm -- she was clearly trying to kill herself to escape daily rape, and she had Down syndrome. I was so in shock. I was undercover and I had this moment where I thought, "What would my character be doing in this situation?" So I tried to smile. And I physically couldn't. I was so horrified. I looked at my translator, who had not done this kind of work before, and there was just sheer horror on his face as well. To see somebody who is in such a condition. They had put makeup on her and her makeup was running because she was crying so much.

Salon: Did the police do anything?

Skinner: The response from the police was, "These are the Roma, they have their laws, they have their blood." The Roma are this incredibly oppressed and marginalized community within Romania -- and have been for centuries. That's why, I think, the major human traffickers in Romania over the past several years have been Roma.

I kept thinking of Samantha Power's book as I was reading this because you describe the reluctance of government officials to use the term "slavery" to describe what is obviously exactly that. (Power describes the same studied avoidance of the word "genocide" in "A Problem From Hell.") Colin Powell didn't use "slavery" in 2001 when he released the first Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. Even the major piece of U.S. anti-slavery legislation, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, doesn't use the word "slavery."

There are over a dozen universal conventions and over 300 international treaties that have been signed banning slavery and the slave trade. We've all agreed that this is a crime of universal concern and it requires a robust response to stop it.

The U.S. has actually gotten better at using the term "slavery" when it's appropriate. One group that has not gotten better in this regard -- they've taken baby steps -- has been the U.N. They are so tepid and afraid of offending member states. Even in a case like Sudan, which was as egregious a form of slavery and slave raiding as you've had in the late 20th century. In 1999, at the height of slave raiding, the U.N. Human Rights Commission said, "OK, we will no longer refer to slavery, we will refer to intertribal abductions." And if you talk to U.N. officials behind the scenes, they'll say that the logic behind this is that in order to move the issue forward, we had to be diplomatic and reach this middle ground. The problem with that logic is that you lose all leverage. Abduction is not a crime against humanity -- slavery is. If it's a crime against humanity, you get hit pretty hard.

Salon: How would you get hit very hard?

Skinner: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 4, says slavery and the slave trade are banned worldwide. But actually, you're bringing up a good point. In terms of enforcement, the U.N. doesn't have the kind of systems built into it which can really deal with this, and that's a problem.

The U.N., which has, as part of its original mandate, the eradication of slavery and the slave trade, finds itself now at a stage where there are more slaves today than at any point in human history. And it really makes you question the viability of the model and the strength of the system.

There are philosophical differences about how to combat slavery. Some people, such as Michael Horowitz (the neocon abolitionist), have focused exclusively on sex trafficking, hoping there will be a "ripple effect" with other forms of slavery such as debt bondage and forced domestic servitude.

Nonsense.

Salon: But how do you explain this myopia? You cite so much research that shows that the other forms of slavery are even more prevalent -- in the U.S., you say, less than half of American slaves are forced prostitutes.

Skinner: I don't think enough reports have come out and the ones that have come out haven't been in the right places. I think when you start getting the 700 Club talking about how the slavery of a young man in a quarry in India -- or in a brick kiln or on a farm -- is equivalent to the slavery of the Israelites and you start quoting Bible verses, then maybe we'll be getting somewhere.

Salon: Another philosophical divide among modern-day abolitionists has to do with the role of poverty. The late Senator Wellstone, who co-sponsored the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, was adamant that poverty was a central factor but Horowitz disagreed, vehemently. Why do you think that is? It seems so obvious that poverty is the very reason so many people are forced and hoodwinked into slavery.

Skinner: Paul Wellstone's view of this was basically that you can't address slavery without having targeted anti-poverty programs. When I presented this to Horowitz, he slammed his desk and said something to the effect of "The Paul Krugmans of the world would love for this to be a means for me redistributing my income to Sri Lanka." And I'll give him this: I understand his point that the end of slavery cannot wait for the end of poverty. That's not what I'm calling for and I don't think that's what Senator Wellstone was calling for.

But if you don't recognize that the primary driver of slavery today is the nexus between withering poverty of extreme marginalized communities with unscrupulous criminals, and you don't address both sides of it -- the criminal side and the socioeconomic side -- you're not going to solve this problem. As long as there's a ready source of people who are so desperate for survival that they will sell their children into slavery, as long as you don't address that, you will always have slavery. And I fundamentally feel that slavery can be ended.

Salon: Do you think the TVPA's three-tiered anti-slavery system, which evaluates countries' efforts to eradicate slavery and imposes non-trade sanctions on those who don't do anything to abolish it, works?

Skinner: I think it's a good thing, but I honesty feel it has outlived its usefulness. You can only slap a country lightly on its wrists so many times and have them notice. After a while it totally loses its effectiveness.

Let's talk about the practice of Redemptions. Are these still going on and is it a viable way to chip away at slavery, buying a slave's freedom one at a time?

There's a long history of it, and not all of it is bad. I find it a very imperfect and unjust way of freeing people. You are essentially acknowledging the right of property in man, by buying them. In recent history, I can't think of any instances where it has worked and been unproblematic.

Salon: It's mostly happening in Sudan, right?

Skinner: New York Times columnist Nick Kristof did it, of course, in Cambodia where he went in and bought two girls in a brothel. And he went back a year later and found that one of the girls was back in the brothel and hooked on methamphetamines.

To take our own history, Lincoln had contemplated buying all slaves from their masters and then setting them free in either Haiti or Liberia. But I think at a certain point -- and I defer to civil war scholars on this -- he realized that this was very much an imperfect justice and what needed to happen was the remaking, through force, of a society that would acknowledge that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, which was the initial promise, of course, of the Declaration of Independence.

What you have in Sudan are these evangelicals coming over with tons of hard currency in the middle of a war zone, going to one of the combatants -- in particular, one small faction of the combatants -- and saying, "OK, here's a ton of money, now go get us some slaves."

Salon: Basically funding the militia.

Skinner: Exactly. And even if every one of those people was a slave and everything was on the up and up ... the devil is in the details.

You'd think that the hardest part would be freeing slaves. But once they're free, their lives are never easy. At one point in the Sudan section you say "free, but free to starve." What seems to you the best solution for helping former slaves deal with their new-found freedom?

Giving them some access to credit, healthcare, property rights and education. And psychological help.

In many of these far-off places where I was, the arbiters of law -- the people who set the rules -- are people who are benefiting from a slave economy. As long as that's the situation, you need to break the grip of those people over the system.

Salon: In your epilogue, you say, "George W. Bush did more to free modern-day slaves than any other president." However, you also criticize the Bush administration for focusing on sex trafficking to the exclusion of other forms of bondage.

SKinner: The bar isn't very high. Only at the end of the Clinton years was there a recognition on the part of the executive branch that this was really an issue. But Bush deserves credit. He did more to free slaves than any president in modern history. But history doesn't grade on a curve on the subject of abolition. And he could have and should have done much more -- there's no question. The fact that there was such a narrow focus really hamstrung his efficacy on this.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has called trafficking "the dark underbelly of globalization."

Salon: Which presidential candidate -- Clinton, Obama or McCain -- do you think is most passionate about abolishing modern-day slavery?

Skinner: Listen, I'm not going to give Obama a pass on this. It's not clear to me that he cares about modern-day slavery -- he hasn't said a word about it. And Hillary has, certainly in the last couple of years. Though not on the trail.

But I think it is a mistake to make this a campaign issue. I think it has to be a big piece of our American foreign policy platform. It needs to be fundamentally a central piece of any meaningful new American foreign policy.

Salon: And what about John McCain?

Skinner: Well, he blurbed my book. John McCain is very close with John Miller, the former head of the TIP office, which is a good sign. But no, he hasn't been a leader on this.

Salon: One of the things I found hopeful about the book is that while it's important to make policy changes and create tough anti-slavery laws, NGOs and individuals clearly play a vital role in exposing slavery. People like Rampal in India (the activist who runs Sankalp) and the Amsterdam taxi driver who helps Kayta, a sex slave, buy her freedom. So the role of the individual is important.

Skinner: It is, it's extremely important. If there's a critical thing from that U.S. chapter that I was trying to get across, it's that this doesn't have to be some kind of neo-McCarthyism where you are spying on your neighbors, but just be aware of what's going on in your community.

I talk about three things that individuals can and should do. The first is becoming conscious of the reality of slavery -- becoming more attuned to the signs of what may be a trafficking or slavery situation. A key part of that is getting educated about slavery. The second thing is pressing elected officials and candidates for office on what they're going to do about it -- what creative approaches they have for combatting modern-day slavery and ending it within a generation. The third things is supporting groups like Free the Slaves (Kevin Bales' group) and Anti-Slavery International.

Salon: Abolishing slavery is clearly an all-consuming issue, something that often drives people who are involved with it to burn out or go crazy or both. How have you kept your sanity during the four years of researching this book?

Skinner: The question is really how these people that operate at the pointed end of the spear keep their sanity. And the people who run trafficking shelters in Romania -- who have weekly or monthly threats from traffickers -- how they keep their sanity. For me it was much easier. You go into these situations and certainly it stays with you. When you meet somebody like this young woman in the Bucharest brothel or Gonoo or the trafficker in Haiti who offered to sell me a child for $50.

Salon: What drove you to take on this project?

You could say that abolition is in my blood. My great-great-grandfather fought with the Union Army in the Siege of Petersburg [Va.]. His uncle was a rabble-rousing abolitionist in Connecticut. And I was raised Quaker. The Quakers were the heart of the abolitionist movement in the late 18th century, early 19th century.

Fast-forward to 1999. I read Kevin Bales' "Disposable People," which is an incredibly good, earnest take on modern-day slavery worldwide. Bales' estimate of total number of slaves was 27 million -- a staggering number. The one thing that I wanted to do was to put a human face on that: to tell the stories of the slaves, the slave masters and the slave traders. And to tell the stories of those who try to free them.

Adapted from: Hannah Wallace, "Modern slaves."salon.com 27 March 2008.

Efforts vs Exploitation in the Philippines

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:35:00 GMT

Efforts to put a stop to the trafficking and exploitation of children and women spreading in Negros Oriental have been stepped up by local government and non-government organizations.

The Provincial Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Persons (PIACAT), a committee formed by the provincial government in response to the growing cases of trafficking in persons here, recently lobbied with the mayors of the ten identified trafficking hotspots in the province to crack down on trafficking and exploitation activities in their areas.

This was disclosed by Marlene Pepino, a PIACAT member and provincial coordinator of Visayan Forum Foundation, during the Kapihan forum held by the Philippine Information Agency on March 18. Pepino said PIACAT is currently assisting the said towns in creating their Municipal Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking in Persons (MIACAT).

MIACAT will serve as PIACAT's arm in the localities to make sure that anti-trafficking and anti-exploitation measures are in place. Pepino said the Visayan Forum Foundation has earlier identified three cities and seven towns here as hotspots or areas with the most number of probable victims of trafficking.

The said areas are Bayawan City, Sta. Catalina, Siaton, Zamboanguita, Sibulan, San Jose, Amlan, Mabinay, Guihulngan City and Dumaguete City, said Pepino. The local law enforcement has already intercepted several trafficking victims in various transit points in the province.

SPO2 Josefa Lacandula of the Women's and Children's Concern Desk at the City Police Office in the same forum revealed that her office has rescued around 22 victims - aged 14 to 17 years old - from trafficking. Lacandula said most of the victims were rescued from the house of recruiters while others from the Ceres bus terminal.

She said that the perpetrators have learned new tricks of the trade by letting the victims travel on their own instead of being accompanied by the recruiter. "Ang mga bata ra ilang pabiyahe-on," said Lacandula, adding that the recruiter gives the instructions to the victims thru text.

Another new trick was exposed when the city police force together with the the local Department of Social Welfare and Development intercepted at the Ceres bus terminal a group of trafficked victims who were on their way to Bacolod City. The victims were recruited from Mabinay to be brought to Manila to work, but instead of traveling on the boat that leaves Dumaguete to Manila, the victims were instructed to travel to Bacolod first where they will then board a ship going to Manila.

The perpetrators are now resorting to making their victims take circuitous routes as transit points in the province are now under the tight watch of the police, said Lacandula. Traffickers lure victims into their net by promising them easy work and expensive cellphones. "Gihaylo ang mga bata nga sayon ra ang trabaho, ug maka-cellphone dayon sila," she disclosed.

Trafficking of young children and cybersex trafficking are now some of the problems here in the province, said Bridget Frederix, paralegal officer of Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE) during the same forum. GWAVE is a non-government organization that has been extending free legal services to trafficking victims rescued by the police.

Adapted from: Rachelle Nessia, "Efforts vs exploitation, trafficking in persons upped." Phillipine Information Agency. 27 March 2008.

Three Malaysians Jailed in Singapore for Child Trafficking

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:38:00 GMT

Three Malaysians were setenced to between four and 15 months in prison for child trafficking after they were caught trying to smuggle Sri Lankan children to London via Paris, news reports said on Saturday. The Malaysians were caught at Changi Airport on February 7 with the three children, aged 11, 14 and 15.

Shangar Shanmugam, 39, was sentenced on Friday to 15 months in jail while his sister, Patmavthi Shanmugam, 31, was jailed for 10 months, The Straits Times reported. Their friend, Vigiletchimi Suparayan, 61, was sentenced to four months in prison.

Shangar was promised 1,000 US dollars by a woman known to him as Naga to deliver the children to London, the court heard. Naga made three Malaysian passports with false names for the children at a Malaysian immigration office.

Shangar gave a cut of the money to his sister and asked her to pose as the mother of one of the children, the report said. He drove into Singapore via the Woodlands Checkpoint with the two women and three children and went to the airport.

The three Malaysians could have been jailed for up to four years each for the offence.

Adapted from: "Three Malaysians jailed in Singapore for child trafficking." The Earth Times. 12 April 2008.

Human Trafficking Has Potential to Be Big Problem in Guam

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:26:00 GMT

Withholding food, passports and any financial means of escape. Beating, kicking and dragging a woman through broken glass. Forcing women to have sex with men against their will or face physical punishment.

Rapadas said it's hard to say if the problem is growing, but there is potential for it.

"From zero to one that's pretty significant," Rapadas said. "With the military build up and the possible federalization of the (Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas), Guam is in a position right now where it can become a problem."

Rapadas said he thinks if human trafficking continues to be a problem in the region, it could have a detrimental effect on Guam.

Rapadas is hoping to curb the problem before it gets out of hand on Guam.

Rapadas encouraged anyone with information on possible human trafficking to contact law enforcement.

Walter said he hopes that residents do not view all Chuukese nationals through the actions of a few.

"I know this will be making a negative impact on the Chuukese. But they are also businessmen and teaching and working in the community," Walter said. The former governor hoped residents would also support the victims in this trying time.

O'Mallan described what it's like for victims of sex trafficking because they have an extra layer of fear because they are in an unfamiliar place.

Adapted from: Stephanie Godlewski, "Human trafficking has potential to be big problem." Pacific Daily News. 22 March 2008.

Children Lured into Sex Trafficking in Tampa Bay, Florida

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:31:00 GMT

"Tonya," not her real name, says she was lured into selling herself for sex as a child.

"When I turned 12 years old, I started street prostitution," the woman says. "I had a pimp."

ABC Action News investigative reporter Matthew Schwartz first reported last year on human trafficking in Clearwater, which is a form of modern-day slavery.

The results of the group's nationwide study have been announced, and among the key findings:

Between 100,000 and 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk for sex trafficking each year.
As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.
12 to 14 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution.

One young victim explained how a pimp lured her into prostitution.

"The things that he said were things I've never felt before. I actually felt like i was loved by somebody for the first time." The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Adapted from: "Investigators: Children lured into sex trafficking." abcactionnews.com. 26 March 2008.

U.S. Children are Victims of Sex Trafficking

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:37:00 GMT

Assessments of Service Delivery and Provision Reveal Gaps and Challenges.

Shared Hope International (SHI) has identified a startling trend: American children are victims of the sex trade and they are being trafficked within the United States. SHI research reveals that Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) is a critical problem in many locations across the U.S.

Human rights investigations by SHI have verified that disturbing numbers of American children are lured and forced into prostitution. These innocent victims are supplying a demand for paid sex, a human commodity that SHI investigators find horrifyingly easy to buy.

"If you pay the price you can get what you want, and I can get it for you. Now if you want something really young, that $200, it's just going to cost you a little bit more than that," a trafficker says to an undercover SHI investigator.

American children are prostituted by pimps on the streets, sold over the Internet, and exploited through pornography and strip dancing. The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act provides that any minor exploited in the commercial sex market is a trafficking victim... yet SHI has identified trafficked children incarcerated across the country for prostitution and related charges.

"I always felt like a criminal. I never felt like a victim at all," says "Tonya," a teenage trafficking victim who was lured into prostitution by a pimp at age 12. "Victims don't do time in jail, they work on the healing process. I was a criminal because I spent time in jail."

SHI has found that these children are often labeled as "child prostitutes." In the few instances they are properly identified as victims there are no protective shelter options and they are often placed in detention facilities with children who have committed serious offenses.

"At an average age of 12 these children are lured and snatched by traffickers. It is a severe injustice when American girls are held in physical and mental slavery and then punished for the crime that is committed against them," said SHI President and Founder U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith (1994-1998).

SHI was awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (DOJ/BJA) to conduct field assessments in 10 U.S. locations examining two critical issues: the identification of DMST victims and the service delivery to these victims. The assessments will be released starting the last week of March 2008. The locations include: Las Vegas, NV; Clearwater, FL; New Orleans/Baton Rouge, LA; Dallas, TX; Independence, MO; Ft Worth, TX; the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; San Antonio, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; and Buffalo, NY.

Adapted from: "U.S. Children are Victims of Sex Trafficking." prnewswire.com. 24 March 2008.

Influx of Workers and Prostitutes for London Olympics Raises Sexual Health Fears

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:43:00 GMT

The imminent arrival of thousands of construction workers for the 2012 Olympics could cause a surge in prostitution and the spread of sexually transmitted infections, health experts say.

Olympics chiefs are being urged to address the impact of the predominantly male construction workforce, which is likely to total more than 100,000 over the next four years.

More than 1,000 people are already working on preparing the site, with a further 2,000 scheduled to begin arriving within weeks as work starts on the stadium. Health organisations are warning that thousands of prostitutes, including trafficked women, are likely to arrive in the run-up to 2012.

They are calling for extra staff in sexual health clinics to address a predicted rise in sexually transmitted infections and for preventive measures, such as sex leaflets in various languages and condom distribution. The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), the HIV and sexual health charity, is calling for an urgent meeting with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games.

Clinicians assessing the impact of the Sydney 2000 Games found a big increase in demand for sexual health services and a corresponding increase in sexually related diseases, mainly among casual workers, the trust said.

Lisa Power, policy director for the trust, said: “There will be increased sexual activity at the Olympics and in the run-up. There will be migrant workers, mostly men, separated from their families. Many of them will have unprotected sex. They will go out for casual sex or with sex workers. There is a big potential for increase in poor sexual health, including HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhoea. This an issue where everybody gets embarrassed and they don’t want to talk about it.”

Sara Walker, of the English Collective of Prostitutes, said: “Of course, where men gather with time and money then prostitutes will go there. We are more concerned about the police coming in and targeting prostitutes who are not illegal immigrants.”

Grahame Maxwell, spokesman on human-trafficking at the Association of Chief Police Officers, said that the Metropolitan Police were liaising closely with the Human Trafficking Centre and Maxim, another unit dealing with immigration and smuggling, to detect any increase in trafficking related to the Games. A spokesman for the ODA said that no plans had been made to address sexual health specifically, although an occupational health centre would be set up for workers.

With up to 25,000 workers on site during the peak of construction work in 2009-10, there are concerns about accommodation. Unions are worried that landlords will increase rents and provide poor, cramped accommodation. At least 50 per cent of the labourers are expected to be migrant.

Protection zone

— 100,000 construction workers are expected on or near the Olympic site in the next four years

— An estimated 10,000 sex workers were operating at the Sydney 2000 Olympics

— In Sydney 70,000 condoms for athletes went so fast that 20,000 more were ordered. Even these ran out before the Games ended

— Athletes at the Manchester Commonwealth Games were handed condoms wrapped in little gold medals

— The Home Office claims to have no estimate of the number of prostitutes operating in London

Adapted from: Jill Sherman, "Influx of workers and prostitutes for Olympics raises sexual health fears." The Times Online. 17 March 2008.

New York Man Convicted in Human Trafficking Ring

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:41:00 GMT

A New York man pleaded guilty in New Haven, Connecticut federal court for his role in a human trafficking ring that forced adolescent and teenage girls to work as prostitutes and dancers.

Corey "Magnificent" Davis, 36, of Queens, pleaded admitted to one count of sex trafficking of a minor before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall. Davis was arrested in December 2006 on several charges including sex trafficking, forced labor and transportation of a minor for immoral purposes.

His trial was scheduled to begin on Monday. He has been detained since his arrest.

As a result of the guilty plea, Davis agreed to a prison term of 23 years when he is sentenced on June 2. Federal prosecutors said a victims' fund also has been created from profits of the criminal enterprise.

U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said the plea deal lets the victims avoid testifying in court. "There are few crimes more heinous than sex trafficking of minors," O'Connor said.

Authorities said Davis forced a 12-year-old girl to be a sex slave in 2005, confining her to a house in New York and transporting her to Connecticut to work up to 12 hours a day as a prostitute. He also was accused of recruiting a 17-year-old girl in 2006 with the promise of a cheap apartment, but when she arrived, investigators say Davis took away her cell phone and locked her in an apartment.

They say Davis controlled all aspects of the girls' lives, including regulating their food intake and confiscating their identification documents.

The girls were slapped and beaten, threatened and confined to a house in Queens, authorities said. The 17-year-old worked at "Pleasant Moments" club in Bridgeport and in underground clubs, according to court documents. She was flown to Dallas, Texas, to engage in prostitution after she turned 18, authorities said.

One of the victims later called a Stratford police officer, who notified federal authorities. The operation allegedly allowed Davis to lead a life of luxury. Authorities seized $29,000 in cash, two Mercedes Benz cars, a two-family house in Queens, and jewelry worth $110,000, from Davis.

Adapted from: "NY man convicted in human trafficking ring." Newsday.com. 14 March 2008.

TV Series Raises Awareness on Trafficking in Women in Argentina

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:55:00 GMT

The soap opera has proved itself an effective medium for portraying social problems in Latin America, and now a popular one in Argentina is addressing an issue on which the news broadcasts have remained silent: the disappearance of women for commercial sexual exploitation.

"Vidas Robadas" (Stolen Lives), shown daily from this month on the Telefé TV channel, stars Facundo Arana and veteran actress Soledad Silveyra, and was watched by an estimated two million viewers every night during the first week.

The idea of a fictional plot based on a real-life story had already been used successfully in "Montecristo", a 2006 soap opera that told the story of a young woman whose parents were "disappeared" during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, and whose true identity was kept secret from her by the couple who stole her as a baby and raised her as their own.

"Montecristo" had the highest ratings of any soap opera on Argentine television to date, and was later sold to stations in Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Uruguay.

Stolen Lives begins with the kidnap of a young girl from a low-income family, who falls into the hands of a human trafficking network which forces her into prostitution. The villain of the piece is the head of the trafficking ring, and the complicity between state and society in covering up the crime is shown.

After the first episode of the serial, the station broadcast "Humanos en el camino", a programme on real-life cases of women who had fallen victim to networks trafficking in persons in Argentina. Audience monitoring indicated that most viewers stayed with the channel and did not switch programmes.

Silveyra, who plays the mother of the kidnapped girl, met several times with Susana Trimarco, the mother of Marita Verón, a young woman abducted in 2002 in the province of Tucumán in the northwest of the country, and who is presumed to have been sold to a brothel.

Verón is still missing, but her mother’s search has led to the discovery and freeing of hundreds of women, many of them foreigners.

Human trafficking has already been the subject of popular serials in Brazil and Colombia. However, the real stories of the girls kidnapped in Argentina are much stranger than fiction.

In 2004, 26-year-old Andrea López disappeared. The father of one of her three children was her partner Víctor Purreta, the owner of two brothels in the province of Buenos Aires. Purreta was sentenced to prison for forcing López to work as a prostitute, but when he was released he denied any knowledge of her whereabouts.

López’s mother, Julia Ferreira, told IPS that she agonises over the soap opera, but at the same time she believes that discussing the problem publicly may help people "to become aware of what is happening, to have compassion for us and to come forward with information that can help us find the girls."

"Because of shame or ignorance, I never asked for help, but now I think that if I had done so when my daughter was beaten by her husband, perhaps she would not have disappeared," she said. Now she only has vague clues suggesting her daughter might once have been in a brothel in the province of Córdoba, but no solid evidence.

The only witness who said he had seen the girl in one of Purreta’s brothels was found hanged with a gag in his mouth, "a mafia killing, for which no one was ever charged," Ferreira said.

Ferreira lives in the central province of La Pampa, and is raising her grandson, now seven years old. She has to put up with Purreta’s visitation rights.

"As the justice system maintains that my daughter abandoned her marital home, it gives him the right -- he, who forced my daughter into prostitution -- to take the child away with him on the weekend," she complained.

Ferreira is convinced that Purreta knows what happened, but won’t say. "He said he woke up and she wasn’t there, but he only told me 20 days later. I wonder: if he knew that every time he beat my daughter, she came to my house, why didn’t he phone me that time to ask whether she was with me?"

Although there are no official statistics, women’s organisations report that there are about 500 young women who are missing, and who could be in the hands of these networks. Some have been kidnapped, while others have been lured by tempting offers of supposedly well-paid jobs in other provinces or countries.

Activists have not managed to get a law passed against this crime, which would also provide support and assistance to the victims. They blame a lack of political will. "The state does not show much interest in dedicating resources to this issue," lawyer Marta Fontenla, of the Women’s Association for Work and Studies (ATEM), told IPS.

"The soap opera is very important because it creates awareness and raises the profile of the problem. My only concern is that it might get stuck on the cases of kidnapped girls, when in fact those who weren’t forced to the same degree are also victims if they fall into the hands of a network," she said.

Fontenla said Argentina needs a law against trafficking that does not oblige women over 18 to prove that their captors used trickery or violence to force them into prostitution, as is stipulated in a draft law that was considered by Congress in 2007, but failed to make it through both chambers.

Sara Torres, the coordinator of the Red No a la Trata de Mujeres (No to Trafficking of Women Network), said that it was necessary to go beyond the fictional story. "The soap opera is good because it makes the problem visible, but this must not end there," she told IPS.

"The issue is gaining visibility in Argentina, because although pimping is against the law, new brothels are being opened every day," she said. (END/2008)

Adapted from: Marcela Valente, "ARGENTINA: TV Serial Raises Awareness on Trafficking in Women." ipsnews.net 14 March 2008.

US Says Trafficking is Still a Problem in Taiwan

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:34:00 GMT

The State Department's `Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007' said that rape and domestic violence also remained serious concerns.

The US Department of State has ranked Taiwan's human rights situation last year as "commendable," with the exception of continued problems in specific areas, including official corruption and human trafficking.

"Taiwan generally respected human rights of its citizens; however, there continued to be problems reported in the following areas: corruption by officials, violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in persons and abuses of foreign workers," the department said in its annual rights report, 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

There were also allegations of official corruption during the year even as authorities continued to take action to fight corruption, the report said. Allegations of vote buying persisted, but all political parties were publicly committed to ending the practice.

As of last June, prosecutors had indicted 970 individuals on corruption charges and had convicted 477 people, it said. The accused included 70 high-ranking government officials, 152 mid-level, 201 low-level and 23 elected officials, it said.

In terms of women's rights, the report said violence against women, including rape and domestic violence, remained a serious problem, with the Ministry of the Interior estimating the total number of sexual assaults being 10 times the number reported to the police.

As of last October, a total of 60,326 cases of domestic violence had been reported, marking a 2 percent increase over the previous year, the report said.

On human trafficking, Taiwan was primarily a destination for Southeast Asian and Chinese nationals trafficked into forced labor or sexual exploitation, the report said. There were numerous reports of women -- mainly from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand -- being forced or coerced into the commercial sex trade after receiving fraudulent offers of employment or marriage from dishonest labor or marriage brokers, the report said.

There were also reports of women being trafficked from Taiwan for sexual exploitation purposes to Canada, Japan, the UK, the US and other countries, the report said.

Last year, 423 persons were indicted for trafficking related offenses, an increase of 62 percent over the previous year, with some 350 cases still pending at year's end, the report said.

On abuse of foreign workers, brokers and employers regularly impose high brokerage fees and other charges on foreign workers, frequently using the debt as a tool for involuntary servitude, the report said.

The report also said that civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of security forces last year.

Adapted from: "Human trafficking still a problem in Taiwan: US." Taipei Times. 13 March 2008.

NBI Rescues 40 from Trafficking Ring in Manila, Philippines

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:36:00 GMT

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents rescued at least 40 girls from a human trafficking syndicate in a raid on two apartments in Metro Manila.

Radio dzBB reported that as of 10 p.m., NBI's anti-human trafficking division was transporting the 40 "rescued" girls to NBI main headquarters in Manila.

As of posting time, it was not clear whether arrests were made during the raid and where it was conducted.

According to the report, the raid stemmed from a complaint by five victims who managed to escape from their “captors" a few days ago.

Adapted from: "NBI rescues 40 from trafficking ring in Metro Manila." gmanews.tv 13 March 2008.

Arab Schools Urged to Teach Ills of Human Trafficking

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:29:00 GMT

Qatar proposed that Arab countries introduce material on the fight against human trafficking into their school curriculums in order to raise awareness of the scourge.

"The issue of human trafficking must figure in modern curriculums in order to raise awareness and ensure a secure future for our societies," the secretary general of Qatar's Higher Family Council, Abdullah bin Nasser al-Khalifa, told the opening session of a conference on human trafficking.

Mariam al-Maliki, who coordinates the drive to combat human trafficking in the gas-rich Gulf state, said the campaign had been made more pressing by "the big economic and social changes experienced by Gulf societies," in particular population growth and the growing need for expatriate labour.

The two-day conference is organised by Qatar and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, with the participation of representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund.

The United States and international human rights groups have highlighted the problem of human trafficking in the oil-rich Gulf states, home to more than 13 million expatriates, many of them unskilled and low-paid Asian workers vulnerable to abuse.

The US State Department human trafficking report in 2006 upgraded the United Arab Emirates from the "Tier 3" of worst offenders to "Tier 2 Watch List" comprising countries which are making "significant" efforts to deal with the problem.

The UAE maintained its rank in the 2007 edition of the report, but other Gulf countries -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar -- were downgraded to Tier 3, joining Saudi Arabia.

According to UN estimates, around 2.5 million people -- 80 percent of them women and children -- are being trafficked around the world at any given time for purposes such as forced labour, sexual exploitation, the removal of organs and body parts, forced marriages, child adoption and begging.

Global annual profits from the exploitation of trafficked forced labour are estimated at 31.6 billion dollars.

Adapted from: "Arab schools urged to teach ills of human trafficking." AFP. 12 March 2008.

Human Trafficking Steps from the Shadows

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:30:00 GMT

On the eve of International Women’s Day, attention turns to the largely invisible issue of modern-day slavery

Bay Area residents were shocked when, in 2000, Berkeley landlord and restaurateur Lakireddy Bali Reddy was charged with smuggling minors into the United States and keeping them as sex slaves. (He was later sentenced to more than eight years in prison and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution.) Were it not for the accidental death of a 17-year-old girl brought here from India with her younger sister — the result of a malfunctioning heater in their small Bancroft Way apartment — that case, which involved at least 25 girls over a period of 15 years, might never have come to light.

On any given day, according to a 2005 report by the campus Human Rights Center, more than 10,000 men, women, and children in the United States are being forced to work as prostitutes, agricultural and sweatshop laborers, or restaurant and domestic workers. The center identified 57 forced-labor operations based in major urban areas in California alone, San Francisco among them. Traffickers, the report said, routinely subject their victims — often immigrants too terrified to reveal their plight — to beatings, threats, and other forms of abuse, both physical and psychological.

Obscure and widely misunderstood, the issue of human trafficking took a small step out of the shadows last Thursday — two days before International Women’s Day — at a panel discussion in Dwinelle Hall hosted by Stop the Traffick, a student group. Panelists included the head of the California Commission on the Status of Women, an attorney with Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, a representative of Soroptimist International, and an Oakland police officer specializing in cases involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

The discussion touched on questions ranging from the need for tougher anti-trafficking legislation to the lack of state funds to assist victims. But what made the evening especially memorable was the keynote speaker, the author of a self-published book, The Sacred Bath: An American Teen’s Story of Modern Day Slavery.
Theresa Flores, author of The Sacred Bath: An American Teen’s Story of Modern Day Slavery.

“Slavery and human trafficking look like me, too,” declared Theresa Flores, a white, blonde, 43-year-old resident of Columbus, Ohio, who has spent the past year traveling the country to recount her story at similar events. Describing herself as “a nice Catholic girl who lived in a large, suburban house” near Detroit during her teenage years, she said she was targeted by traffickers, drugged, and date-raped at the age of 15 — “I was just a kid,” she said — and then blackmailed and forced to work as a prostitute “for two long years.”

“They said they would kill me and my family and my dog if I didn’t do what they said,” reported Flores, adding that she was “beaten into silence every night” by her captors. Throughout her ordeal, she said, she was permitted to live at home, sneaking out every night to turn tricks, and then returning home and going to school the next day. Once, she said, she was kidnapped, taken to inner-city Detroit, and “tortured for hours and hours and left for dead” before being returned to her emotionally absent parents by an unsympathetic police officer. Only when her father moved the family to another city after a job transfer, she said, did she finally break with her captors.

“This is a human-rights issue, and it is happening right here in the United States,” said Flores, now a social worker and mother of three. “Why isn’t this on the nightly news?”

It fell to the panelists to address that question, among others. Mary Wiberg, of the Commission on the Status of Women, and Erin Gangitano, of Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, noted the difficulty of identifying victims of modern-day slavery, whose relative invisibility has slowed the passage of legislation to prosecute trafficking rings. As a member of the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery task force, Wiberg took part in an 18-month examination of the problem, helping to produce a report in November titled “Human Trafficking in California.” Among its recommendations were stiffer sentences for traffickers, more funding for NGOs providing services to victims — such as shelter, health care, and legal support — and better data collection on the nature and extent of trafficking in California.

Gangitano, whose clients include domestic servants and restaurant workers brought here from developing countries, told of an all-too-typical case in which a woman’s passport was withheld by her traffickers on the pretext that she owed $10,000 for being brought to the U.S. Such victims often are unable to speak or understand English, and are unfamiliar with their rights under U.S. law. In many cases, she said, their consulates are “in denial” about trafficking in their countries, and thus unwilling to help.

Trafficking victims, said Gangitano, are apt to be found working in restaurants — often doing multiple shifts with minimal time off — or even as babysitters. “Keep your eyes open,” she advised the largely student audience.

The U.S. State Department estimates that human trafficking claims as many as 800,000 victims worldwide every year, and that up to 17,500 — chiefly from Asia and Central and South America — end up in the U.S. According to the Human Rights Center’s research, more than 500 people from 18 countries were ensnared in forced-labor operations in California between 1998 and 2003, nearly half of them in prostitution. The largest number of foreign victims, 136, came from Thailand, the center reported, followed by Mexico and Russia.

“These cases of forced labor represent only the publicized incidents,” the report’s authors cautioned. “We suspect the actual number is considerably higher.”

California, a major destination for traffickers, enacted two new laws in 2006 aimed at combating the problem: the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which made human trafficking a felony and provides for restitution to its victims; and the Human Trafficking Collaboration and Training Act, which requires law-enforcement officers to be trained in responding to human trafficking. The bills also established the statewide task force, the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery (CA ACTS), that produced the 2007 report.

But much more needs to be done, said Carol Dippel, the president of the El Cerrito chapter of Soroptimist International, a volunteer organization of business and professional women that launched its Soroptimists STOP Trafficking project on Jan. 11, which the U.S. Senate last year designated as the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness. Professionals, she said, especially need to be trained in recognizing the signs of human trafficking.

Jim Saleda, an officer with the Oakland Police Department’s vice crimes and child-exploitation unit, described his city’s efforts at charging human traffickers as traffickers, rather than simply as pimps. “We always use human trafficking as the first charge,” he said, if only to provide more accurate statistics on the crime.

He also said his own unit had grown in its understanding of the problem. “When we first started,” he said, the attitude toward prostitutes was “clear the streets.”

“Now,” he said, “we treat them as victims.”

Moderated by Stop the Traffick co-director Tonia Bui, the event was co-sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California, the Gender Equity Resource Center, LunaFest, the Gender and Women’s Studies Department, and the Prytanean Women’s Honor Society.

Adapted from: Barry Bergman, "Human trafficking steps from the shadows." UC Berkeley News. 12 March 2008.

New Mexico Attorney General Believes Trafficking Should Be Addressed at State Level

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:04:00 GMT

It’s a worldwide problem that officials in New Mexico think is now becoming a problem in this state — human trafficking.

Some 30 members of the Gallup Soroptimist Club attended a 2 1/2 hour program on the subject with Maria Sanchez Gagne, an assistant attorney general for the state and head of the Border Violence program, speaking on the subject.

Each year, an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 men and women — mostly, women — are forced to become slaves either for sex purposes or for labor in a movement that nets those involved billions of dollars. As many as half of those number may be under 18 years of age.

Because of the magnitude of the problem, 30 states have passed laws making human trafficking a state crime — it already is a federal one — and Gagne said efforts are now under way to get a similar bill before the state Legislature in this session.

One person in the audience, who works for the juvenile probation office, asked why the state needs to enact law and go through the expense of prosecuting these crimes when there are already laws on the books that would require the federal government to do the prosecution. The federal government, Gagne explain, “would rather see the state handle these cases.”

“First of all,” she said, “the federal government doesn’t have the resources to handle these cases and have been asking the states for assistance. The state is also in a better position to enforce the law since local law enforcement agencies are more likely to see indicators that human trafficking is occurring.”

Which brings up the question — just how much of a problem is human trafficking in New Mexico and the Southwest? Gagne said that’s hard to answer because local law enforcement officials don’t have the ability to investigate cases where women have been brought over to this country from Mexico, Russia, China, or other countries and forced to become prostitutes or to work as nannies or as field workers for little pay.

And while there have been cases prosecuted by the federal government in other states, there has not been one in New Mexico “for quite a while.”

Despite this, Gagne feels that there is a need for state laws because a recent survey of law enforcement officers in the state have said there have been indications in their investigations of various crimes that human trafficking may be a problem in the southern part of the state. Gagne also said there are indicators there are problems in the northern portion of the state as well.

It’s known, according to printed material on the human trafficking problem, that many of the victims of human trafficking are being smuggled across the border into Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. And while many of these victims find themselves in the big cities — Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago — working in brothels or for escort services, Gagne said some find themselves living and working in New Mexico.

In Gallup, arrests for prostitution are very rare, and when they occur, it’s usually connected with activities at one of the truck stops.

Gagne said one of the major problems in detecting whether human trafficking is occurring is that the victims are afraid to come forward, either because they come from a country where law enforcement officers cannot be trusted or because they are afraid that if they come forward, they will be deported and will have to go back to their home country with the stigma of being a prostitute on their reputation.

One of the things the state law will do, she said, is provide some help to the victims, including a guarantee that they would be allowed to stay in this country while the case is pending. She said that it’s also possible that the victim would be allowed to stay in this country after the trial as well.

The state attorney general’s office is asking for money to be appropriated to be used to house the victims and provide them with funds for food and basic needs during the time the case is being adjudicated.

Adapted from: Bill Donovan, "Expert: Human trafficking, prostitution a universal problem." gallupindependent.com. 12-13 January 2008.

Guinea's Children Face Threat of Abandonment, Trafficking

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Authorities and aid workers in Guinea say children in impoverished areas are increasingly being abandoned by their families, leaving them on their own, exploited as workers, or at the mercy of traffickers.

VOA's Nico Colombant reports from the capital Conakry, as well as Forecariah, near the border with Sierra Leone.

Eleven children recently rescued from suspected traffickers play in a courtyard under the supervision of aid workers from a non-profit group called Foyer de l'Esperance in Forecariah. One seven-year-old girl in the group, Fatimata Soumah, nervously plays with a Barbie doll next to an aid worker who translates from the local language Susu into French.

Fatimata explains she likes this center, because she is able to play games, and learn to read and count. She says there are mean adults outside the center, who steal children and even want to kill them.

Authorities say Fatimata was rescued from the clutches of her cousin, who is accused of trying to traffic the child to Sierra Leone after her boyfriend told her it would be a good way to make money. Authorities say they located Fatimata's parents, who signed a letter asking the center to keep her.

But another young girl here, Kadiatou Conte, who does not know her age, says if she had to choose between the center and her mother, she would choose her mother. The problem is her mother is in jail in Conakry with three other women suspected of trying to sell her, her brother, and eight other children, all of them now here.

The trial has yet to begin, meaning the 10 children are in limbo. They pass time playing with toy cell phones. Some adults came by the center, claiming to be their relatives or parents, but a judge has ordered DNA tests before any of the children are handed over.

The administrator of this center, Raphael Cekui Tea, a former priest, says families get very desperate for money, but that it is a shame this is taking place in Africa. He says people usually live in tight communities, and that neighbors or relatives should help.

The top administrative official in Forecariah, Marie Guilavogui, initially took care of the 10 children, after she was called by police who had apprehended the women and children at a border crossing inside a van in the middle of the night.

Guilavogui says the government is trying to decentralize efforts to combat child trafficking, by placing experts in each region. She says Forecariah is one of the worst affected areas, but that children face dire conditions across Guinea.

On the streets of the capital, residents say more children are living on the streets each night, like this boy, Mohamed Camara. He says he begs from what he calls patrons, meaning bosses, who walk by, to have enough money to eat. Asked how old he is, he says he is 12, but his body is very small. He taps on his only possession, a cardboard box of old dates, he says he keeps in case he gets really hungry at night. He says his parents are in a faraway village, but that he was taken away by an aunt. Mohamed says she asked him to beg for her, but he ran away preferring to beg for himself.

He says he has heard stories of men coming at night, putting money on the ground, and that when a child bends down to pick up the money, he or she, he says, is transformed, in other words, disappears. A roving band of street kids passes by, banging on boxes and buckets, singing the praise of the national soccer team which just beat Sudan in a friendly match. One boy in the group explains it is a good way to get money. He says you have to be creative when you beg.

An official who coordinates activities between Guinea's government and the United Nations children's body, UNICEF, Manimam Conde, explains many of these children end up being coerced into becoming domestic workers, working in plantations or given platters to put on their heads and sell food in markets.

But there is much worse.

Conde says children are also victims of organ trafficking. He says they are dismembered and their body parts sold for medical purposes. He says during traditional ceremonies, trafficked children are also sacrificed, killed in front of crowds.

Adapted from: Nico Colombant, " Guinea's Children Face Threat of Abandonment, Trafficking." voanews.com. 13 January 2008.

Prostitution Ban Huge Success in Sweden

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:41:00 GMT

Sweden has drastically reduced human trafficking and prostitution by imposing a ban on the purchase of sexual services, the first of its kind worldwide.

But many sex workers argue the ban robs them of their livelihood and makes them more vulnerable to violence. It's 9 p.m. in Stockholm and Malmskillnadsgatan Street is dead. The road, infamous for being one of the city's main drags for street prostitution, used to be packed with women, but tonight only three women are working the street.

For a long while, nothing happens, but then an older man with alcohol on his breath comes up the escalator from the Högtorget subway station. He pauses briefly in front of one of the women. Then she walks about 10 meters away and signals to him to follow her to a more discreet spot. In Sweden's sex trade these days, caution is a good policy: The john could face up to six months in prison if the police caught the two in the act.

Sweden has now introduced the first law of its kind worldwide. The purchase and brokering of sexual services have been criminalized, although the selling of sexual services remains legal. The law provides for up to six years in prison for pimps and up to 10 years for traffickers of prostitutes. "The goal is to criminalize the demand side of the equation, the johns, rather than putting emotionally and physically imperiled women behind bars," says Jonas Trolle, an inspector with the Stockholm police who belongs to a police unit dedicated to combating the sex trade.

The ban is hardly controversial in Sweden these days. According to opinion polls, 80 percent of the population agrees with Trolle. When a majority consisting of social democrats, greens and leftists ratified the ban on purchasing sexual services in the Swedish parliament in 1999, conservatives were the legislation's main opponents. They argued that the ban would drive prostitution underground and make life more difficult for the women.

Fewer Prostitutes

But it's easy to see the results. "We have significantly less prostitution than our neighboring countries, even if we take into account the fact that some of it happens underground," says Trolle. "We only have between 105 and 130 women -- both on the Internet and on the street -- active (in prostitution) in Stockholm today. In Oslo, it's 5,000."

Another benefit of the ban is that hardly any country in the European Union has fewer problems with human trafficking. According to the Swedish police, 400 to 600 foreign women are brought to Sweden each year to be prostitutes. In Finland, which is only half the size of Sweden, that number is between 10,000 and 15,000 women. Illegal trafficking is facilitated in Finland by the country's proximity to Russia and the Baltic states, but now Helsinki is also considering introducing a law based on the Swedish model. In Norway, the ruling Labor Party hopes to use similar legislation to fight human trafficking, especially of women from Nigeria.

Despite the prostitution ban, the number of convictions in Sweden is surprisingly low. Although a handful of pimps are sentenced to several years in prison each year, customers have so far managed to get away with fines and having their names entered in police registers. "The purchase of sex is difficult to prove," says Trolle. "Johns have to be caught in the act." Besides, he adds, it has taken time for members of the police force to accept the law. "But most officers have now realized that prostitution is not a normal business." The number of convicted johns has climbed from 11 in 1999 to 108 in 2006.

The ban on the purchase of sexual services is also intended to bring about a fundamental change in societal attitudes. Nowadays every schoolchild learns that purchasing sex for money is illegal. "The next generation in Sweden will consider this to be much less ordinary than we do today," says Trolle.

'I Need the Money'

Prostitutes themselves are, for the most part, opposed to the criminalization of their customers. They feel that they are being pushed into the role of victim and that the ban robs them of their livelihood. Take Johanna,* for example. She is 35 and one of the women who offers her services on Malmskillnadsgatan Street, usually at the end of the month. She is a heroin addict, and heroin is expensive. She charges the equivalent of €55 for having sex in a car. The fact that there are fewer customers narrows her choices. "When things are slow, the way they are tonight, I'm also willing to go with guys who want to get a little rough with me and don't want to use a condom," she says. "I need the money."

Lisa,* a woman in the southern Swedish city of Malmö, agrees. "The business has become tougher and more dangerous. There's more competition and more violence," says the 38-year-old, who has worked the streets for 12 years and sometimes stays at "Minnesota," a Malmö drug treatment facility.

She has been around long enough to remember the days before the ban on purchasing sex was introduced. "The nice customers are afraid of being caught," she says. "All that's left are the more troubled ones, those with whom you have to drive far out of the city so that they'll feel safe from the police. It puts you at their mercy."

Health care professionals have mixed feelings about the ban. "Cases of abuse and rape have increased considerably. The rate of sexually transmitted diseases has also gone up among streetwalkers because the lack of johns forces them to have sex without a condom," says Helena Cewers, a nurse who has been working for more than 15 years in an admission clinic for drug-addicted women in Malmö and knows almost every hooker in the city.

Only a few years ago, Cewers was vehemently opposed to the criminalization of johns. At the beginning, she says, the law did nothing but target johns, while doing nothing to help hookers deal with the significant changes in their situation. "All they talked about was bans and penalties, but not about the effects on the girls," says Cewers. "But now they're finally doing more for the girls. There are more social services that actively help prostitutes get themselves out of their dilemma." Withdrawal programs with the heroin substitute methadone and other treatments have also been made more available to prostitutes, says Cewers.

In fact, Cewers has actually become somewhat of a supporter of the ban, although she continues to believe that prostitution should be abolished altogether. "It's true: There are no happy whores. Most of the ones I've met here over the years were sexually abused by relatives when they were young and have serious emotional problems," she says. "Not much of this is about choice."

Those who have been doing it for a while, says Cewers, take drugs or sedatives. "This is not a normal profession," she says. "I wish all of them could get out of it."

* Editor's note: To protect the identity of those interviewed, some names have been changed.

Adapted from: André Anwar, "Prostitution Ban Huge Success in Sweden." www.spiegel.de. 8 November 2007.

Soroptimist International Initiates Project to Prevent Sexual Exploitation

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:03:00 GMT

On Sunday December 2, 2007, the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, the Soroptimist International launched a project to create awareness about the heinous practice of Sexual Trafficking of Women and Girls.

That program will launch in the United States on Friday, January 11, 2008, the first National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness.

What is trafficking?

A $32 billion annual industry, trafficking is a type of slavery that involves the transport or trade of people for the purpose of work. According to the U.N., about 2.5 million people around the world are ensnared in the web of human trafficking at any given time.

Trafficking impacts people of all backgrounds, and people are trafficked for a variety of purposes. Men are often trafficked into hard labor jobs, while children are trafficked into labor positions in textile, agriculture and fishing industries. Women and girls are typically trafficked into the commercial sex industry, i.e. prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation.

Some sex trafficking is highly visible, such as street prostitution. But many trafficking victims remain unseen, operating out of unmarked brothels in unsuspecting—and sometimes suburban—neighborhoods. Sex traffickers may also operate out of a variety of public and private locations, such as massage parlors, spas and strip clubs.

What is Soroptimist doing to stop trafficking?

As an organization of business and professional women working to improve the lives of women and girls and local communities throughout the world, Soroptimist undertakes a number of projects that directly and indirectly help potential trafficking victims. In late 2007, the organization launched a major campaign aimed at raising awareness about the devastating practice of sexual trafficking.

Soroptimist undertakes a number of other projects that directly and indirectly help victims and potential victims. These projects provide direct aid to women and girls—giving women economic tools and skills to achieve financial empowerment and independence:

The Women's Opportunity Awards program—Soroptimist's major project—provides women who are heads of households with the resources they need to improve their education, skills and employment prospects. By helping women to receive skill and resource training, Soroptimist provides trafficking and potential trafficking victims with economic options.

The Soroptimist Club Grants for Women and Girls program provides Soroptimist clubs with cash grants for innovative projects benefiting women and girls. Many clubs undertake projects that directly and indirectly benefit trafficking victims: a Soroptimist club in the Philippines supports a shelter for abused women and girls escaping from sexual trafficking; a club in California held a conference in support of the Western Regional Task Force on Human Trafficking; and a club in Chicago has held several educational events related to trafficking.

The Making a Difference for Women Award program honors women who work to improve the lives of women and girls. Kathryn Xian is a recent recipient. In 2004, she led a grassroots campaign against a local tour company offering Asian sex tours. She also testified at a Hawaii State House of Representatives hearing on trafficking. The hearings resulted in the passage of Act 82, which makes “promoting travel for prostitution” a Class C felony violation. Act 82 now serves as model legislation for other states.

Soroptimist's Disaster Relief Fund provides financial assistance to regions affected by natural disasters or acts of war, with special attention paid to services benefiting women and girls. Women and girls affected by disasters are often vulnerable to traffickers.

Stopping Sexual Trafficking–What You Can Do

Around the world, individuals and organizations are raising awareness about trafficking and slavery, and working to end it forever. Below are some ideas for ensuring that women and girls live free from violence and slavery.

Find out about sexual trafficking in your community and country. Search local newspapers, magazines and the Internet for articles about trafficking and slavery in your area. Use keywords like trafficking, prostitution, pornography, slavery, sex worker or pimp. Talk with university professors specializing in relevant fields, such as women's studies or criminal justice. Finally, talk with police officers and social service providers to learn what they are doing to end slavery.

Educate Others

Learn as much as you can and share that information with your friends and family.

Reach out. Write articles, editorials and letters to the editor and send them to local newspapers and magazines.

Contact the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The UNODC launched a global human trafficking awareness campaign and has joined forces with partners in more 40 countries to produce customized versions of video spots. Find out about showing them in your community and connecting with local partners.
Support Groups Working to End Sexual Slavery

Contact Soroptimist. Find out more about what Soroptimist clubs in your local area are doing to end sexual slavery.

Target law enforcement. Police officers are often the first involved when a woman is rescued. Contact your local law enforcement to find out what the protocol is for dealing with victims of slavery.

Donate. For more information about what you can do to end the sexual trafficking of women and girls, please contact program@soroptimist.org

How Women and Girls Are Trafficked

Some women are lured into trafficking with the offers of legitimate and legal work as shop assistants or waitresses, for example. Others are lured with promises of marriage, educational opportunities and a better life. Some are sold into trafficking by boyfriends, friends, neighbors or even parents.

Women and girls are abducted or recruited in a country of origin, transported through transit countries and then forced into exploitative labor or sex work in destination countries. Trafficking victims often pass among multiple traffickers, moving further and further from their countries of origin. In many cases, traffickers and victims share the same nationality. A trafficker in the Ukraine, for example, may traffic her neighbor to Turkey. Once there, she may sell her victim to a Turkish trafficker, who will take the woman to Thailand, her final destination.

While transnational human trafficking has received more attention then intra-state trafficking, the reality is “that much of the worldwide trafficking and exploitation of persons occurs within communities and countries, if even only initially.” There is minimally reported evidence in the area of intra-state trafficking leaving institutions like the UNODC, who recognize the graveness of the problem, without the tools to eradicate it.

Both men and women participate in the trafficking of women and girls into sexual slavery. Men generally control a trafficking ring, but women are instrumental in effectively managing the trafficking victims. Female traffickers gain the trust of their victims in order to better psychologically manipulate them.

Typically, once in the custody of traffickers, a victim’s passport and official papers are confiscated and held. Victims are told that they are in the destination country illegally, which increases victims’ dependence on their traffickers, and are often kept in captivity. Victims are also trapped into debt bondage, whereby they are obliged to pay back large recruitment and transportation fees before being released from their traffickers. Many victims report being charged additional fines or fees while under bondage, requiring them to work longer to pay off their debts.

The High Cost of Human Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking of women and girls has astronomical costs, both to the women and girls who are its primary victims, and to society as a whole. Trafficking is an abuse of physical and mental integrity, security of the person, freedom of movement, and privacy. Trafficking “violates the universal human right to life, liberty and freedom from slavery.”

Sex trafficking also has widespread negative consequences for individuals and societies:

Sex trafficking helps to promote societal breakdown by removing women and girls from their families and communities. If and when victims are able to return to their communities, they often find themselves doubly victimized by social stigmatization, discrimination and rejection.
Sex trafficking fuels organized crime groups that usually participate in many other illegal activities, including drug and weapons trafficking and money laundering.
Sex trafficking negatively impacts local and national labor markets, due to the loss of human resources. The effects of trafficking on economies include “depressed wages, fewer individuals left to care for elderly persons, and an undereducated generation. These effects leads to the loss of future productivity and earning power,” especially in child trafficking victims.
Sex trafficking burdens public health systems. Trafficking victims often suffer from myriad physical and psychological traumas, including sexually transmitted diseases, anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Victims also often suffer physical complications from unsanitary living situations and poor nutrition.
Sex trafficking erodes government authority, encourages widespread corruption, and threatens the security of vulnerable populations.

For more information about Soroptimist and what you can do to end the sexual trafficking of women and girls, please contact Gail Rocco-Mack, President of the Soroptimist International of Santa Clarita Valley at 661-263-2528

Adapted from: "Program Creates Sexual Trafficking Awareness: Soroptimist International initiates project to prevent sexual exploitation." 09 January 2008.

UN Preventing Human Trafficking

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:20:00 GMT

Boi Ngoc is a young woman living in a remote farming village in South East Asia.

She has a child, but lives in a hostile family environment, with little means of securing any income. Desperate to support her child independently, she contacts a woman recommended by a relative, who says she can arrange a job as a waitress in a neighbouring country.

Burim is a young Eastern European boy staying in an asylum seekers' camp in a foreign country. He and his brother have been separated from their family for several years. As asylum seekers, they have no right to work in their host country but need money for clothing and other essential items. Their status and prospects are likely to remain uncertain for many years. A man approaches Burim and offers him and his brother the chance to start a new life.

People like Boi Ngoc and Burim are seeking better lives and are therefore vulnerable to manipulation by traffickers. UNODC's research shows that victims are often duped by a recruiter who is a relative, a supposed friend or seems like someone they can trust. Traffickers and victims often share the same nationality. In some parts of the world, female traffickers are selected to recruit women.

UNODC helps to make people like Boi Ngoc and Burim aware of the risks by making video and radio spots (public service announcements), which are broadcast in numerous languages throughout the world. UNODC also runs campaigns with NGOs, distributing written information and contacting actual and potential victims.

In December 2006, UNODC Colombia received a UN21 Commendation award for its anti-human trafficking activities, which included helping Colombian television to produce a prime-time television soap opera about human trafficking. Aired nightly to millions of viewers, the series exposed common traffickers' ruses, such as Internet scams, and explained where victims could seek help.

Vulnerable communities
Community-led activities are an important prevention tool. The porous border between India and Nepal, for example, is an area of heavy cross-border human trafficking. In 2006-07, UNODC supported NGO initiatives such as the Community Vigilance project, led by local leaders and women's groups, which has mobilized thousands of villagers to detect and prevent trafficking.

In 2006-07, UNODC provided funding for NGOs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to run trafficking prevention campaigns among asylum-seekers, a particularly vulnerable group. Counselling was provided to young people like Burim to make them aware of the risks and where they can seek help.

Conflict zones
Sometimes the threat of trafficking can emerge very suddenly. In mid-2006, during the armed conflict in Lebanon, UNODC became aware that traffickers were targeting some of the 300,000 domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and the Philippines who were left behind when their foreign employers were evacuated. Having abruptly lost their livelihoods and official resident status, the workers quickly became vulnerable. As embassies struggled to assist their nationals, trafficking gangs offered alternative options.

UNODC put an emergency information campaign in place within days: it produced 12,000 pages of information in various languages, including the number of a telephone hotline run by the NGO Caritas Migrant for assistance and support. The materials were distributed in shelters, embassies, churches, shops and markets.

Research
UNODC's prevention work includes raising awareness among policy-makers, law enforcement bodies and civil society. In April 2006, UNODC published the report Trafficking In Persons: Global Patterns identifying 127 countries of origin, 98 transit countries and 137 destination countries. The sensitive nature of the issue and the lack of systematic action on trafficking worldwide make information collection a challenge, reflecting the unwillingness of some countries to acknowledge that the problem affected them. The absence of reliable global data, in turn, makes it more difficult for governments and international organizations to fight trafficking effectively. This UNODC report was a first attempt to get a clearer picture of the problem. It highlighted the complex nature of trafficking, such as women committing trafficking atrocities against other women, and identified national and regional characteristics of offenders, victims and exploitation. The Report listed states on a scale from "very low" to "very high" as countries of origin, transit and destination.

The report continues to have key relevance in initiating and informing discussions on trafficking in persons. In 2007, to date, the report has been downloaded 260,000 times, making it the most frequently used UNODC report after the World Drug Report.

Adapted from: "Preventing Human Trafficking."

Children Go Home as China Cracks Trafficking Ring

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:44:00 GMT

Nine kidnapped children were returned to their parents in central China on Thursday in a rare success story in a nation where population controls have led to rampant child-trafficking, state media reported.

Police detained 10 suspects after the abduction of nine children in Henan province early last month.

The gang was led by Ye Zengxi, his son, daughter-in-law, and his brother. The gang used Ye's 12-year-old nephew to lure the nine boys, aged between two and eight, away from their parents' view with toys or food, and then whisked them away by motorbike, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Child-trafficking is rampant in China, where population control policies have bolstered a traditional bias for male offspring, seen as the mainstay for elderly parents and heir to the family name, and have resulted in abortions, killings or abandonment of girls.

About 119 boys are born for every 100 girls, an imbalance that has grown since China introduced the one-child policy more than 25 years ago.

The imbalance has created criminal demand for abducted or bought baby boys, but also for baby girls destined to be future brides attracting rich dowries.

Ma Xuemin, director of the Nanyang Bureau of Public Security and commander-in-chief of the abduction case, told Xinhua that none of the boys had been mistreated. "Each kid was sold for 20,000 yuan (1,400 pounds)," Xinhua quoted Sun Zhouli, a police officer on the case, as saying.

Per capita income in China's urban areas is roughly $1,900 a year, and about $600 a year in rural areas.

When Lu Fujin, a father of two of the abducted children, finally held his two-year-old in his arms, "the boy tried to keep at arm's length, seeming a bit aloof after being away for nearly one month", the agency added.

The Ministry of Public Security recorded 2,500 cases of trafficking in China in 2006, but that figure only includes resolved cases, rather than those reported, and fails to make clear whether "cases" involve individuals or rings.

Adapted from: "Children go home as China cracks trafficking ring." Reuters-Africa. 3 January 2008.

UN and East Timor Police Arrest 28 Over Possible Human Trafficking Situation

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:47:00 GMT

UN and East Timorese police have arrested 28 foreign nationals as part of investigations into illegal immigration and possible human trafficking, the UN mission here said.

Officers raided two bars in the East Timorese capital Dili, the mission said in a statement.

At one bar, eight females suspected of involvement in sex work were arrested "for identification purposes, in connection with investigations into illegal immigration and possible human trafficking," it said.

At a second bar, 13 women and seven men, all foreign nationals, were arrested "for identification purposes related to investigations into the trafficking of women."

A UN official said the mission was not at liberty to say where the 28 were from as police were still trying to confirm all of their identities. A US State Department 2007 report said that the half-island nation was a destination country for women trafficked from China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

East Timor is one of the world's poorest nations. International peacekeepers are on patrol here following unrest triggered by factional fighting among security forces in 2006. UN police are also assisting in providing security.

Adapted from: "UN, ETimor police arrest 28 over possible human trafficking." afp.google.com. 3 January 2008.

Strategies to Improve Response to Trafficking in Persons Developed in the Philippines

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:50:00 GMT

As part of the efforts to strengthen the enabling environment to improve response to cases of anti-trafficking of persons and related casesin Eastern Visayas, an anti-trafficking in persons local technical working group/ local project consultation meeting will be conducted on January 7, 2008 at 9:00 o'clock in the morning at the Leyte Park Resort Hotel in Tacloban City.

The consultations meeting is being conducted by the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center) and its various partners under the STEER project under the funding from a grant provided by the US Department of State.

In Eastern Visayas, the Project will build on earlier local and national initiatives in the fight against trafficking by strengthening the enabling environment and improving the implementation of the country's anti-trafficking legislation.

Mr. Cedric R. Bagtas, project consultant and coordinator, said that the project hopes to improve the capacity of government, NGOs and community-support groups at the national and local levels to generate reliable, on-the-ground information and maintain a centralized database on trafficking and related cases including their status.

The project will also strengthen the cooperation among government entities, trade unions and other NGOs in destination and sources communities in monitoring trafficking in persons complaints and cases, documentation and case build-up, and take action including rescue, repatriation and rehabilitation of trafficking victims.

Mr. Bagtas added that proposed project interventions are particularly focused in the fourteen source and receiving communities which include National Capital Region, Laguna, Cavite, Bataan, Subic, Surigao, Leyte/Samar, Cebu, Davao, General Santos city Cagayan de Oro City, cotabato City, Negros and Bohol and selected destination countries.

The consultation meeting, Mr. Bagtas revealed, aims to view the accomplishments of USAID/Solidarity Center Anti-Trafficking Project 2 and to present and discuss the terms and reference of the STEER Project.

Furthermore, the meeting aims to share developments in agencies' current anti-trafficking interventions, programs and activities; explore further areas of cooperation among participating groups and government agencies in implementing the series of activities; and to validate directions and develop the network's plans vis-a-vis project indicators.

Through this follow up, Mr. Bagtas said that the Project wish to renew earlier partnership and explore possible ways on how the coordinating groups could work together towards the effective implementation of Anti-Trafficking Law and regulations in the Region.

Adapted from: "Consultations in Region 8 tackle strategies to improve response to trafficking in persons." Information Agency. 6 January 2008.

Tri-border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay Sees a Rise in Human Trafficking

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:03:00 GMT

The central business district of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, a border city, is lined with stalls selling counterfeit goods.

Shopping centers offer seemingly everything and at the right price to a constant stream of shoppers from Brazil and Argentina and tourists on their way to the magnificent nearby Iguazu Falls.

One dollar buys a bus ticket from Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, through Foz da Iguazu in Brazil, and into Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.

After leaving Argentina there are no further customs or passport checks. From the center of Ciudad del Este, a rickety bus--boarded at every stop by children selling bananas, socks or tissues--takes you to a wealthier part of town, marked by a McDonald's restaurant and security guards with huge guns outside half-constructed houses.

At the end of an unevenly cobbled street, facing a deserted park, is a small outfit with a long name: the Office of the Center for Awareness, Prevention and Companionship for Children and Adolescents in Situations of Commercial Sexual Exploitation.

Seventy percent of the cases that the children's charity, set up in 2003, assists are trafficking victims. Seventy percent of those have been trafficked internationally. All the children there are female.

Inside the building--which serves as an office as well as a temporary home for survivors with nowhere else to go--female teens take turns washing one another's hair. Two have young children crawling on the floor; a third is heavily pregnant. A volunteer is teaching them the basics of working in a beauty salon.

An important part of the charity's work is teaching skills to replace prostitution, says Celina Figueredo, director of the charity.

Ciudad del Este's surrounding Tri Border Area--where Paraguay meets Brazil and Argentina--has over the past five years attracted notoriety as a major hub in international people-trafficking.

Eighty-five percent of trafficking in Paraguay is for sexual exploitation, the International Organization of Migration estimates.

"Women are the victims," says Martha, who doesn't want her name mentioned. She says she has received anonymous death-threats for her anti-trafficking work in Paraguay and the wider region. "More than 90 percent of the victims are women, and more than 90 percent of the exploiters are men."

Martha says that after women are sexually exploited some are used to carry drugs "until they are caught or killed or whatever."

The region attracts women from the outlying countryside, mostly from Paraguay where almost half of the population scrape out a subsistence living from agriculture. Over a third of the population earns less than $1 a day each.

False Promises, Financial Desperation
Some of the young women who wind up being trafficked have come to the region following promises of work as domestic employees. Some are from local families desperate for any form of income.

In Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, Marcelina Antunez, a program coordinator with the anti-trafficking organization Light of Infancy, pulls out some examples from a thick file of case studies and press clippings about who gets trafficked.

Most are between 10 and 20 and were offered work in restaurants, as salespeople or in domestic service. Initially, many cooperate with traffickers and accept false documents to cross borders or lie to their parents about the work they are expected to do.

In some cases, the captive girls and young women choose to stay so they can earn small amounts of money and send it back to their families. But many are subject to isolation, starvation and violence. Many are introduced to drugs and alcohol--especially cheap cocaine derivatives similar to crack--and forced to work in prostitution.

"With birth control proscribed by the Catholic Church, it is common to find families of eight children all under 18, exacerbated by teenage pregnancies at the age of 13 or 14," says Figueredo. "Many of the families make the problem worse by making the children responsible for providing for the family. They have to go out onto the street and bring back money; it doesn't matter how. Often they get exploited so they can bring back money, or sometimes in exchange for goods, clothes, fruit or vegetables."

Grimly Realistic
Figueredo is grimly realistic about what her group can hope to achieve. "It's not a question of getting back to normal, which is impossible, but to regain some self-esteem and to find a way to live," she says.

Aside from the barely controlled movement of people over borders in the region, another growth factor in prostitution and trafficking hub is the recent influx of sex tourists drawn to the hotels and commercial districts around the monumental Iguazu.

"Brazil is taking steps to shore up the border," says Martha. "But their interest is mainly economic and doesn't take the social aspect into consideration. The truth is that for the traffickers the borders don't really exist. No one will ask who the child traveling with you is."

But while the border is porous for traffickers advocates says it's tough for anti-trafficking efforts because the area requires triple-nation cooperation.

"There are so many different officials to deal with on three levels--the local, regional and national--in three countries and in three different languages," says Martha. In addition to Spanish and Portuguese, advocates also need to understand Jopara, the mixture of Spanish and the indigenous language, Guarani, used in Paraguay. "If the area was one country it would be possible to control it much more easily, but we are trying to get the different authorities to work with each other when they don't even speak the same language."

Nonetheless, there are signs of progress.

In September the International Office of Migration--an intergovernmental agency of 122 countries, established in 1951--opened an office in Asuncion, Paraguay's capital, to focus, among other issues, on the outflow of its citizenry.

There is also a widespread publicity campaign--now on radio, on posters and on bus tickets--about the dangers of trafficking.

"The problem is that we're working like tortoises and there's an enormous network out there," says Figueredo. "Some of the people involved are very high up and untouchable. It's on a very big scale."

Adapted from: Andy Footner," Paraguay's Traffic Hub Imperils Female Teens."
womennews.org. 8 January 2008.

Advocates Unite for Implementation of Anti-trafficking Law in Eastern Visayas, the Philippines

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:10:00 GMT

The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Local Technical Group and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity under the Strengthening the Enabling Environment to Improve Response to Trafficking in Persons and Related Cases (STEER) conducted a consultation meeting at Hotel Alejandro in Tacloban City, on Monday, January 7, 2008 and resolved to improve the coordination among the various stakeholders in government and in the private sector in the Region in order to effectively implement the Anti-Trafficking Law in the Region.

The participants from the 6 provinces of Eastern Visayas agreed that there is a need to improve the database maintenance and operations through expanded submission of Trafficking in Persons data and information for the database. The target is for the submission and encoding of at least 200 trafficking complaint standard reporting form. It was observed that very few of the actual cases of trafficking in persons are reported.

The STEER project also aims to encourage the local government units with the most number of persons being trafficked to have trained local persons in charge of databanking, start local databases,and allocate budget for the database IECs. The project also identified law schools and possible private law groups and practitioners who will commit volunteer services for TIP victims in terms of legal assistance and counselling.

In order to address the problem on the transportation of the victim in going home, the group identified possible partnerships and signing of memorandum of agreement with various transport industries in the region including bus companies and shipping companies plying in the region. Aside from monitoring the major ports in the Region, it was suggested that the monitoring agencies must also look into the minor ports which the traffickers are now using.

Through the STEER project, tarpaulins informing the victims the agencies and non-government organizations which could be of assistance to them. These tarpaulins will be posted in ports, terminals and places which are accessible and visible so that the victims will know that there are organizations they can call in times of distress.

Statistics show that in 2002, about 7.58 million Filipinos lived and worked in foreign countries. About 1.6 million of them were irregular migrants and are believed to have been victims of Trafficking in Persons. About 1,006 cases on trafficking in persons have been recorded from 1993 to 2001. It is believe that there are more actual cases and that a more systematic reporting and recording of data is needed.

Around 53% of the victims are women and 25% of these women victims were forced to land in prostitution.

Adapted from: "Advocates unite for effective implementation of anti-trafficking law in Eastern Visayas." Phillipine Information Agency. 8 January 2008.

Burma Arrests Two over Human Trafficking

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:13:00 GMT

Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar, listed by Washington as among the world's worst human trafficking offenders, arrested a couple trying to smuggle four women to China, state media said.

In a rare acknowledgement of the problem, the Myanmar-language Mirror paper said the two were held as they tried to bring four women to board a train in the commercial hub Yangon to the border town of Muse. From there they would have been smuggled into China to work as maids, the newspaper quoted police as saying, and identified the couple.

The government admits women from Myanmar have been lured to China with the promise of good jobs but were instead sold and forced to marry older men. Myanmar made human trafficking illegal in September 2005, but in an annual report last year the United States accused the government of complicity in the smuggling of people to Bangladesh, China, Malaysia and Thailand.

Among the reasons were sexual exploitation, domestic service and forced labour. Myanmar sentenced 33 human traffickers to life in prison in February last year, while in 2006, Chinese and Myanmar police arrested 64 people for human trafficking.

Adapted from: "Myanmar arrests two over human trafficking: state media." AFP. 9 January 2008.

'One Voice' Raises Awareness of Human Trafficking

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:16:00 GMT

"Human trafficking is modern-day slavery."

This harrowing phrase begins the description of the kNOw Trafficking Campaign Launch on Facebook. One Voice, which is sponsoring the campaign, is a student group coalition that aims to raise awareness about human trafficking, claiming that it will be the largest criminal industry in the world within three years.

Our primary focus is to let people know slavery was not gone with Lincoln, not even in the United States," said Weinberg sophomore and One Voice Education Chairperson Jennifer Yoo . "As students we can't do much, but we all have a lot of potential, and one day if students step into opportunities regarding human trafficking, they will have been enlightened enough to actually do something."

One Voice is a collaboration of 14 student groups that tackle human rights issues and hope to effect change by raising both awareness and funds for their causes. Last year, under the name Voice for Asia, members of One Voice focused on Asian orphans and took the message out of Evanston by hosting an awareness event in Millennium Park .

This year, co-chairwomen and Weinberg sophomores Francesca Chia and Christine Wang selected the group's issue. "I'm from Malaysia, where there are so many cases (of human trafficking) that are rarely spoken about," Chia said. "Everyone in the country knows it's happening and nothing is taking place to address it."

Tonight marks the first of several awareness-raising events culminating in a benefit concert in May, also to be hosted by One Voice. Social Policy Analyst Daria Mueller and Weinberg senior Ryan Pederson , who participated in the Global Engagement Summit, will speak to students in McCormick Auditorium .

All donations collected by One Life will be distributed between its two beneficiaries, Project Polaris and the Prevent Human Trafficking Institute, both of which are based in Washington, D.C., and focus on counteracting human trafficking. "We plan to have a lot of events throughout the year," Wang said. "We're raising money and picking beneficiaries that go into countries to educate young girls because human trafficking is a result of coercion."

Though the group hopes to make a difference through monetary contributions, awareness remains the main focus. "One Voice strives hard to ensure that this campaign unites the campus. We see it as an opportunity for everyone to take a stand together," Chia said. "We plan to execute a campaign that is as inclusive and appealing to the general mass as (much as) possible and make sure that our outreach is as big as possible."

Many students visiting One Voice's booth in Norris University Center supported the cause by signing a petition to raise prevention efforts.

"I think it's a good idea to get information on human trafficking out there," said second-year Kellogg student Faisal Khalid. "I'd heard of human trafficking, but I didn't know it was a $10 billion industry, I didn't have an idea of the quantum of it. Hard facts and information make an impact."

Adapted from: Kayleigh Roberts, "'One Voice' raises awareness of human trafficking." The Daily Northwestern. 11 January 2008.

Report Says California is Prime Target for Human Trafficking

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:22:00 GMT

Outreach efforts to victims of human trafficking were given new impetus by a recent California task force report that said the state is a prime target for trade in human beings.

Irina Goldenshteyn, a case manager for Refugee and Immigrant Services of the San Francisco Archdiocese's Catholic Charities program, said many people don't even realize they are victims. "They think it's supposed to be like that," she told Catholic San Francisco, newspaper of the archdiocese. "They don't know there's any other way."

A report released Dec. 4 by the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery said the state's international border, numerous ports and airports, soaring immigrant population and growing economy all contribute to California being a prime target for human trafficking. It said that, beyond the sex trade, labor trafficking includes farming, construction, clothing manufacturing, domestic work, restaurants and the motel/hotel industry.

It cited a study by the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, which reported that 57 forced labor operations were uncovered between 1998 and 2003 in a dozen California cities, involving more than 500 people from 18 countries. In San Francisco, local advocates fear widespread abuse among domestic workers and farmworkers. They said undocumented workers are particularly at risk from employers who take advantage of their lack of education and sense of powerlessness.

Goldenshteyn said she hopes to recruit priests and nuns to reach out to victims and to provide other assistance. For instance, parishes are being asked to have emergency housing available on short notice, the first component in protecting victims and starting legal action against traffickers.

She explained that a place of long-term refuge can be crucial in labor trafficking cases, which are harder to prove than sex trafficking cases. This is partly due to victims' economic dependence on their abusers. Goldenshteyn said neighbors and fellow parishioners also could play a role in combating trafficking. Often trafficking is happening in plain sight, but can be difficult to detect, she said.

She said she recently interviewed a young Central American woman who was referred to Catholic Charities by a federal agency as a potential victim of trafficking or domestic violence. It was difficult to separate the two. "The look in her eyes ... it was nothing specific," Goldenshteyn said. "She spoke in Spanish and was very positive, but the look in her eyes ... (showed she was) looking for protection."

The experience convinced Goldenshteyn that more should be done to reach out to labor trafficking victims. "I was scared that millions of people would be exploited the same way and wouldn't be able to have help, or would be deported, or wouldn't have the guts to tell it," she said.

Kay Buck, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, said Asians are the most numerous labor trafficking victims, followed by people from Latin America. Mexico and Guatemala are notorious sources of victims, who are typically domestic or sweatshop workers. Buck said she suspects there is much underreported trafficking in the agriculture industry. "In general this crime is underreported for reasons of fear," she said. "Traffickers not only threaten the victims but also their families back home. They'll threaten to kill the children. We haven't had cases where they'll murder their kids but we have had cases where they'll burn their houses down and intimidate the families."

With the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, Congress adopted measures to hold foreign governments accountable and doubled the prison sentence for federal trafficking. It also created a new type of visa for victims who cooperate with law enforcement and face peril if forced to return home.

But recently, lawmakers have been hearing advocates' pleas that more be done to provide legal protection and social services to the estimated 17,500 victims trafficked into the United States each year. In September, Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, then-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration, lamented the lack of public education on the problem.

"Humane responses have remained slow," he said in a statement. "The global community, including the United States, is only beginning to comprehend the scope and impact of selling human persons in the world."

Adapted from: Rick DelVecchio, "Report says California is prime target for human trafficking." Tidings Online. 11 January 2008.

Thai Men and Women Warned about Exploitive Jobs in Bahrain and Turkey

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:54:00 GMT

Labour authorities in Nakhon Ratchasima province have warned job seekers to be careful if they intend to work in Bahrain or Turkey. The warning came after a worker sought help from the Thai embassy in Bahrain's capital Manama.

The man was first told he would be paid 20,000 baht a month, and later made to pay 58,000 baht for return air tickets to Bahrain, said provincial labour office chief Saeng-ngern Khaolikhit.

When he started work he was paid only about 12,500 baht a month and the employer kept his passport, crane driver's licence and air ticket, Mr
Saeng-ngern said. Eight other men subsequently reported similar problems.

He said the embassy was arranging for the men's return to Thailand.

He also warned women who plan to work as masseuses in Turkey that they could be forced into prostitution. His office had received several complaints from Thai women working there.

Brokers charged each woman a job placement fee of 43,000 baht.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday warned workers overstaying visas in Bahrain to contact the embassy in Manama quickly, as the deadline for amnesty was only days away. The Bahrain government has said foreigners overstaying visas can return home without facing fines and jail terms if they contact their embassies by the end of the month.

Adapted from: "Jobs in Bahrain 'could be risky'." Bangkok Post, 27 December 2007.

Cambodia Approves Law on Anti-Human Trafficking

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:57:00 GMT

The Cambodian National Assembly unanimously approved the law on anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

"This law is one of the first steps of reforming the judicial and court system of the country", Ang Vong Vattana, Cambodian Minister of Justice, told the National Assembly after it approved the law. It also helped to strengthen the rule of law and reduce poverty in the kingdom, he said, adding that the law will be exercised strictly.

Cambodia passed its old law on anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation with 10 articles in 1996. The new law has 52 articles and contains more details than the previous one. According to the new law, relevant criminals could be sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined up to 2,500 U.S. dollars.

Cambodians used to be trafficked to Thailand, China's Taiwan and Macao, Malaysia, South Korea, Nigeria and Somali for labor, sex and forced marriage.

Adapted from: "Cambodia Approves Law on Anti-Human Trafficking." www.chinaview.cn, 20
December 2007.

Human Trafficking Crackdown in Vietnam

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:59:00 GMT

Local authorities will intensify their operations in 2008 to stop the trafficking of women and children across the Chinese/Cambodian
border.

Ministry of Public Security Vice Director of Social Order and Crime Investigations, Colonel Dang Quoc Nhat, said, women and children smuggling in Vietnam is very serious and complicated, requiring increasingly cunning methods.

As many as 900 human trafficking cases involving 1,600 traffickers and 2,200 smuggled women and children were detected from 2005-2007.

Police and border guards have also uncovered several rings that trafficked women and children from Vietnam via Laos to Thailand, Africa or Europe to be sex workers. Economic difficulties, unemployment and poor education, especially in mountainous and remote areas, were the major factors in the trafficking increase.

Adapted from: "Human Trafficking Crackdown." Thanh Nien News, 26 December 2007.

China Improves Efforts to Combat Trafficking through Regional Mechanism

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:06:00 GMT

According to the press conference held by the Ministry of Public Security, ministers from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam signed the COMMIT Joint Declaration on 14 December 2007. Mr Zhang Xinfeng, the Deputy Minister of MPS said that China does not have a safety net against trafficking in women and children. However, China solved more than 2,500 trafficking cases in 2006, representing up to 80-90% of total trafficking cases. Mr Zhang also expressed:

· anti-trafficking efforts have received support from the highest levels of the government

· no law enforcement personnel were involved in trafficking cases

· more than 2500 trafficking cases were solved in 2006

· China has shifted from “combating trafficking” to “anti-trafficking”

· China will establish a database on trafficking

Adapted from: "There Is No Any Safety Umbrella for Traffickers in China." Beijing Youth Daily, 15 December 2007.

Welcome Remarks at the Second Inter-Ministerial Meeting of the COMMIT Process by Mr. Khalid Malik, United Nations Resident Coordinator

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:49:00 GMT

On 14 December 2007, the United Nations Resident Coordinator spoke to the second Inter-Ministerial Meeting of the COMMIT process.

December 14, 2007

Excellencies, Distinguished Government Delegates, Colleagues from the UN system, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning. It is my great honour this morning to welcome you to this second Inter-Ministerial Meeting of the COMMIT process on behalf of the United Nations system.

Tackling human trafficking is a challenge which cuts across both national borders, and across different sectors of Government. As you will know better than most, preventing the illegal movement of such exploited people across the countries of the region is an important and legitimate national and regional public security concern.

It is also, of course, a development concern. Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of trafficking. The poorest people – women and children in particular – can be amongst the most vulnerable to the traffickers. Once people become trafficking victims, they are placed in situations where their basic rights are denied. Those trafficked into the sex industry are often not provided with condoms and are thus vulnerable to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Those living and working in the most exploitative conditions in factories face great risks of contracting other contagious diseases. And their access to basic health and education, and to other vital social services, is minimal or non-existent.

As human trafficking is such a multi-sectoral challenge, it is entirely appropriate that the United Nations is so strongly engaged with the COMMIT process. It is hard to think of another field which better illustrates the way in which the three pillars of the UN’s work – peace and security, development, and human rights – are inextricably interlinked. I am therefore pleased to pledge the ongoing strong support of the United Nations in each of the six countries to the COMMIT process and the broader fight against trafficking.

But while the UN can support, advise and facilitate the process, it is Governments who must take the lead, in partnership with other national stakeholders. Looking back at the last three years since the last meeting in Yangon, it gives me great pleasure to see that this is exactly what has happened. In the COMMIT process, we have an all too rare example of a cross-border Government-led process delivering results according to international standards. I congratulate all of you who have been involved in putting this partnership together and bringing it to where it is now.

Of course, this is a fairly new partnership, tackling a large and complex problem, and there is a lot of work ahead. But we should take a moment to reflect on some of the practical outcomes that the process has already helped to deliver. In the area of victim protection, for example, I know that all six countries have already shared their experiences, and have together developed new guidelines which are now in the process of being adopted and implemented in each country. I also know that the new forum for exchanging urgent counter-trafficking information has already been put to good use. Grassroots NGOs are now starting to be able to share the information they have with the authorities, and this is delivering real impacts in terms of local law enforcement against the criminals involved in trafficking.

So, what must we do to ensure such early progress is maintained and built upon?
First, I hope all of us here today can recommit to this important work, and to take further practical actions to combat trafficking, protect its victims and prosecute its perpetrators;
Second, I hope that all of us working in this field across the six countries can also commit to ensure that all our work is consolidated and harmonized within the COMMIT process, so that we maximize our synergies and eliminate duplications;
Third, I would encourage you all to share the results of your work through regional and international fora you attend, in order that others can learn from your rich experiences. Human trafficking is, after all, hardly a problem found only in this part of the world.

In closing, I would like to thank all of you here today, from Government, civil society, and the international community, for your commitment to this vital work. I thank the Government of China, and Minister Meng Jianzhu in particular, for their leadership and for their kind hosting of this meeting. I thank all the senior officials who have worked so hard over the last two days to prepare us for today. And lastly, I should thank the staff of the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, UNIAP, for all their work in preparing and organizing this meeting.

Excellencies, Distinguished Government Delegates, Colleagues from the UN system, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope that in our discussions today we will reaffirm the importance of our work – on behalf of the most vulnerable – to take on the criminal elements that perpetuate human trafficking, and to eventually make human trafficking a thing of the past. It is a difficult task, but it can be done.

Thank you.

Source: UNIAP China

Sex slaves, human trafficking... in America?

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:08:00 GMT

In spring of 2004, Katya (not her real name), like thousands of other foreign exchange university students, was looking forward to the summer job placement that she and a friend had received in Virginia Beach, Virginia. When she and her friend Lena arrived at Dulles Airport after a long flight from Ukraine, they were relieved to be met by fellow countrymen who spoke Russian.

The two men, Alex Maksimenko and Michael Aronov, were holding signs with the girls’ names and greeted them by taking their bags and luggage. Charming and reassuring, Aronov informed the girls that they had been reassigned to a job in Detroit where they would waitress and perfect their English language skills.

The men drove Katya and Lena to the Greyhound bus station and gave them tickets to Detroit. Confused and exhausted, the girls had no reason to question the change of plans.

“When we got to the hotel in Detroit, everything changed,” says Katya. “They closed the door and sat us down on the couch, took our passports and papers and said, you owe us big money for bringing you here. They gave us strip clothes and told us that we were going to be working at a strip club called ‘Cheetahs.’”

Shocked and scared, the two women were subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse over the next year as they were forced to work 12-hour shifts stripping for local Detroit men’s clubs. According to immigration customs agent Angus Lowe, the men controlled the women through intimidation with guns and threats to hurt family members back home.

Katya and her friend are two of the estimated 17,000 young women and girls annually who are forced to work in the sex industry in the U.S. by organized criminals. “Chicago, Houston, St. Paul, Minnesota, these crimes are happening in every community in America big and small,” says Marcie Forman, Director of Investigations for ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement.) “We’re talking about money here. Millions of dollars and these people don’t think about these women as human beings. They think of them as dollars and cents,” Forman says.

In February 2005, after months of planning and finally confiding in a customer from the strip club, the two girls escaped and were brought to the FBI and ICE. Their escape resulted in the arrest of Alex Maksimenko and Michael Aronov, both of whom pleaded guilty and are serving time in federal prison for their crimes.

Even though her captors are in prison, Katya says she will never live without fear. Maksimenko’s father — who was also convicted of forced labor and illegal trafficking — continues to live openly in Ukraine as a fugitive from authorities.

Adapted from: Grace Kahng, "Sex slaves, human trafficking... in America?" msnbc.com. 3 December 2007.

Two Filipinas Tried for Trafficking in Hong Kong

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:52:00 GMT

The trial of two Filipino women in what government officials said was a “landmark” human trafficking case began here on Monday.

Jennifer B. Nicdao, 27, and Angelita D. Amparado, 39 were charged at the District Court with trafficking in persons and aiding and abetting the breach of condition of stay after they allegedly brought to Hong Kong, last July, five Filipinas who ended up working as prostitutes in the city’s red light district in Wan Chai.

Government prosecutor Edward Le Breton Laskey said the two women were the first Filipino women charged with human trafficking outside the Philippines. However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and their trial is expected to last until Thursday.

“I am told that officials in the Philippines, including an adviser to the President, are very interested in this case,” he added.

“This is a landmark case because, if the authorities before charged only the trafficked women they arrested, this time, they’re going after the traffickers themselves,” said Vice-Consul Val Roque, head of the Assistance of Nationals section of the Philippine Consulate.

According to Laskey, a certain Loida approached the first two victims in June and offered them work in Hong Kong.

According to one of the victims, the “loan” of P60,000 had to be repaid within three months after they arrived in Hong Kong.

There was supposed to be a written contract and Amparado allegedly even threatened one of the victims that she could end up in jail if she failed to pay up. “(Amparado) told her that she could earn money by drinking with customers but if she wanted to earn more money and repay the loan quickly, then she should have sex with customers,” Laskey said.

The women earned their keep by getting commissions from the drinks their customers bought at the bar or by walking the streets to look for customers who would pay for sex. The first two victims arrived in Hong Kong on July 26, 2007, and Amaparado and Nicdao allegedly brought them to a flat in Wan Chai.

“(Amparado) had asked (one of the victims) to have sex with customers so as to repay the loan to her. (Amparado) had also reminded her to have sex with customers every day,” Laskey said. “On one occasion, Amparado took her to a club and asked her to approach the customers for sex. (She) refused. (Amparado) got angry and said (she) must have sex with customers on the next occasion,” he added.

“(The victims) subsequently felt that they had been exploited by (the accused) and went to seek assistance from the Philippine Consulate General on August 2, 2007,” Laskey said.

Nicdao was arrested in the morning of August 4 and she denied the accusation while Amparado was arrested on the same day. She refused to answer any question during the police investigation.

Adapted from: Philip Tubeza,"2 Filipinas tried for trafficking compatriots in Hong Kong."
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=104606
Global Nation. 3 December 2007

Police Uncover Human Trafficking in Great Britain

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:55:00 GMT

A ROMANIAN woman who was raped and forced to work as a prostitute is among 20 victims of human trafficking identified by police in the central belt in the past eight weeks.

The alarming results from the first few weeks of the UK's biggest-ever operation to tackle human trafficking in the sex industry can be revealed by The Scotsman. Seven women have been identified as trafficking victims in Edinburgh since police began Pentameter 2 in October.

Most of the women are from the Far East - mainly Thailand and Malaysia - with many thought to have travelled to Britain to pay off a family debt, ending up in Edinburgh's sex industry after becoming "debt-bonded" to a relative living in the UK.

In one case, a Romanian woman who arrived in London on the promise of work found herself repeatedly raped by her traffickers, who seized her passport. She was found working in a brothel in Edinburgh. Four raids were carried out on brothels operating out of flats in the city, leading to three arrests.

In Strathclyde, 13 suspected trafficked women have been identified following seven raids. Three people have been reported to the procurator-fiscal. Police are now extending Pentameter 2 into the New Year.

Detective Chief Inspector David Bullen, who is in charge of Pentameter 2 for Lothian and Borders Police, said: "Like the rest of the UK, we have a human trafficking problem. The problem we are encountering is getting them to speak to us. Many are so mistrustful of the police, and damaged, that they find it extremely hard to open up. "But they have undoubtedly been trafficked here against their will, often forced into prostitution to pay off family debts."

A spokesman for Grampian Police said they were "actively investigating a number of lines of inquiry". Amnesty International and Lothian and Borders Police have joined forces to mount a campaign raising awareness about the trafficking of human beings.

A display describing the lives of those who have been trafficked has been placed at Edinburgh Airport, as transport hubs have been identified as key areas in the human trafficking process. Amnesty International campaigner Naomi McAuliffe said: "It is vitally important that we raise awareness of this trade, we have come across stories of women being bought and sold in the cafés of airport lounges."

It has been estimated that as many as 700 foreign women have been trafficked into Scotland's sex industry. Anne Hamilton, from Glasgow-based Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance - which will today host a conference on the problem - said it was currently supporting 17 trafficking victims in the city.

Throughout the UK, the first Pentameter operation resulted in 88 victims of trafficking being rescued from 22 countries. There were a total of 232 arrests, which led to 134 people being charged with a variety of offences.

NATASHA'S ORDEAL
WHEN Natasha, not her real name, was 18 she wanted to leave Latvia and come to the UK to study. But her family in a rural part of the country could not afford that, so she found a job in a local café. One day one of her mother's friends told her that she knew people who were living in London and needed someone to help with their first baby.

Natasha was very interested - this was a way she could practice her English, live in the UK and send money home to provide medical care for her grandmother. Natasha spoke to the family in London on the telephone and they arranged for her flights and to collect her at the airport.

When she arrived at the airport, Natasha was collected by a man called Alex and taken to a flat somewhere in London. There was a heavily pregnant woman there, but as soon as Natasha arrived she disappeared. At this point Natasha began to feel uneasy. Alex raped Natasha and told her she was now a prostitute. He threatened to tell her grandmother that she was a prostitute.

After three months Alex sold her to a man called Dimitri for £3,000. He told her that she was now his girlfriend and he respected her. They then drove to Glasgow where he had some friends. Dimitri said she needed to remain as a prostitute so they could get a place of their own and save up for their future together. Devoid of hope, she agreed.

Dimitri would drop her off and collect her from brothels in Glasgow. She was not allowed to socialise on her own, and would be beaten when she did. Once he beat her so badly she couldn't leave the house for weeks. An end to her tragedy only came after police raided a brothel while she was there.

Adapted from: Michael Howie, "Police uncover human trafficking misery." news.scotsman.com. 5 December 2007.

China Claims that Trafficking in Women and Children Is on the Rise

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:08:00 GMT

Trafficking in women and children is on the rise in China, authorities as they announced a five-year plan to combat the problem. The nationwide campaign, to begin next year, will seek to step up monitoring of the problem from the grass-roots level, as well as help victims, according to a circular posted on the central government's websites.

"There are new trends... in crimes that involve women and children trafficking, the situation is not optimistic. Organized criminal activities and cross-border cases are on the increase," the circular said. "[We] must minimize the physical and psychological harm suffered by women and children who have been kidnapped and sold."

Under the plan, local government departments will be required to clamp down on illegal job markets by closing unlicensed job and marriage agencies, which often lure women and children into the sex trade and forced labor. Transport departments must also step up monitoring at railway and bus stations, ferry docks, airports and entertainment venues to prevent women and children from being kidnapped.

Governments at all levels should also provide counselling for women and children who have been kidnapped to re-integrate into society. Around 3,000 cases of women and children being abducted are reported to police each year, according to official statistics, although the true number of victims is widely believed to be far higher as many cases go unreported.

Adapted from: "China says trafficking in women, children on the rise."
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=108207 21 December 2007.

Prosecuting Men who Pay for Sex Might Reduce the Trafficking of Girls'

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:11:00 GMT

Men will be prosecuted for paying women for sex under plans backed by ministers, which are to go before the Commons soon.

A former Labour minister today calls on “laddish male” ministers to help prevent Britain becoming the “sex slave” capital of Europe and stop women being exploited. Under proposed legislation tabled by Denis MacShane, the former minister for Europe, and two other former ministers, councils and police chiefs will be given powers to put men before the courts if they pay women for sex.

The idea is to extend successful action against kerb crawlers to brothels and massage parlours where the majority of trafficked sex slaves in Britain are forced to operate. The MPs’ campaign was boosted yesterday when Harriet Harman, the women’s minister, said that such a move was necessary to stem the flood of sex workers being trafficked into Britain. It was time to consider such moves as governments tried to tackle international human trafficking.

Ms Harman, Labour’s deputy leader and the Leader of the Commons, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think we do need to have a debate and unless you tackle the demand side of human trafficking, which is fuelling this trade, we will not be able to protect women from it. My own personal view is that’s what we need to do as a next step.”

She added: “Do we think it’s right in the 21st century that women should be in a sex trade or do we think it’s exploitation and should be banned? “Just because something has always gone on, it doesn’t mean you just wring your hands and say there’s nothing we can do about it.”

The Government is also studying the law in Sweden, where paying for sex has already been made illegal. “The time has come to tackle the demand side of the ever-increasing exploitation of women and that means making men accept that they have responsibility for the sex-slave industry,” Mr MacShane said.

He and Fiona MacTaggart and Barry Gardiner have tabled amendments calling for local authorities and the police to be given powers to identify zones in town areas where men caught paying for sex may be charged and put before the courts.

Mr MacShane led the campaign to get the British government to sign the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention. Tony Blair rejected Home Office objections that helping women trafficked as sex slaves would encourage more migration to the UK and signed the convention last year.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has now pledged to ratify the convention, which gives support to girls trafficked as sex slaves if they escape their pimps and helps the police to identify traffickers. Britain has an estimated 25,000 women – some under the age of 16 and many under 21 – who have been trafficked into the UK to work in brothels and massage parlours.

Mr MacShane said: “These are ruthlessly exploited girls and women who are not willing sex workers but who are beaten, raped and held as prisoners to satisfy the demand of British men for paid-for sex. Most of the women working in brothels are there in connection with drugs or debt.

“This is seedy, international crime and the men who pay for it should be made to accept their responsibility just as laws to stop kerb-crawling have seen an average 900 convictions a year since 2001 and helped reduce that part of the sex trade.”

“There are still some laddish male ministers who do not see this in terms of supporting women against men using money-power to exploit defenceless trafficked girls,” Mr MacShane said. “In 2007, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of abolishing the slave trade so I hope William Hague, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will make 2008 the year when we got serious about the sex-slave trade,” he added.

“This is an empowering amendment which leaves the decision [to prosecute] in the hands of local councillors, local communities and local police. “It is not Government deciding to abolish prostitution from on high. This is about local communities deciding if they want to slow down and reduce the sex slave business.”

The recently created All-Party Group on Trafficking is expected to generate cross-party support on the issue. The tabling of the amendments follows talks with newspapers to stop the publication of small advertisements offering services at brothels believed to be linked to human trafficking.

The Home Office is not seeking to deport foreign criminals given a jail term of less than 12 months unless the court recommends removal or proceedings are already under way. Prison governors have been told that the Border and Immigration Agency as a rule has “no interest” in pursuing such offenders.

The disclosure comes after the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in July: “I want a message to go out. If you come here, you work and you learn our language. If you commit a crime, you will be deported from our country.”

Since the 2006 scandal when it was found that foreign national prisoners were being released from jail without being considered for deportation, ministers have given the impression that foreign criminals will be removed.

Adapted from: Philip Webster, "Prosecuting men who pay for sex ‘will reduce the trafficking of girls’." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3080509.ece 21 December 2007.

Cambodia Approves Law on Anti-human Trafficking

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:04:00 GMT

The Cambodian National Assembly unanimously approved the law on anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

"This law is one of the first steps of reforming the judicial and court system of the country," Ang Vong Vattana, Cambodian Minister of Justice, told the National Assembly after it approved the law.

It also helped to strengthen the rule of law and reduce poverty in the kingdom, he said, adding that the law will be exercised strictly. Cambodia passed its old law on anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation with 10 articles in 1996. The new law has 52 articles and contains more details than the previous one.

According to the new law, relevant criminals could be sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined up to 2,500 U.S. dollars.

Cambodians used to be trafficked to Thailand, China's Taiwan and Macao, Malaysia, South Korea, Nigeria and Somali for labor, sex and forced marriage.

Adapted from: "Cambodia approves law on anti-human trafficking."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/20/content_7285713.htm 20 December 2007.

Oman will soon enact law to check human trafficking

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:46:00 GMT

The Sultanate has lent its full support to international efforts to check trafficking in humans with an announcement here that it will soon enact legislation to check the phenomenon. The Gulf state also said it would set up a 'National Committee for Prevention of Human Trafficking' (NCPHT).

The new moves were revealed by a senior official on the opening day of a workshop on combating human trafficking at the Diplomatic Institute here on Sunday. Nayef Obeid Al Salami, Head of the institute's International Affairs Department, said Oman would shortly pass "a special national legislation to deal with human trafficking and form a national committee in this regard."

He pointed that the government had given top priority to cooperation with the international community to curb the menace and further "consolidate Oman's commitments through international charters and by joining regulated international agreements and conventions such as the UN pact on fighting cross-border organised crimes and its protocols."

Attorney-General Hussain bin Ali Al Hilali, who inaugurated the seminar, said the Sultanate had managed to realise high rates in economic and social growth that resulted in making it a destination for skilled and unskilled expatriate workers. "Despite the development witnessed by the Sultanate in the last four decades, crime rates of all types are extremely low as compared to other countries," he added.

“Some people might think that our crime statistics were not referring to this kind of offence — human trafficking — because of legislation deficiency in this field. But we confirm that is not the case because we have provisions issued in 1974 that criminate and punish people found guilty of this crime," Hilali said, adding: "However, we affirm a special law will be enacted in the foreseeable future and through joint efforts we will portray our true image through the international community so as to realise the principles of human freedom which all people aspire for."

Executive Director of Protection Against Human Trafficking Project Professor Mohammed Mattar said he was delighted that the GCC countries were aware of the problem of trafficking and are trying to take necessary steps to combat the problem. He noted that in October, the Arab League held a session and called upon all Arab countries to pass laws on human trafficking.

Criminalisation, he stressed, was not enough. "We need to advance to protection and prevention as required by the UN protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking especially women and children." Several international experts and specialists from various government departments are taking part in the workshop which aims to raise awareness about the issue and how to combat it at the international level.

Adapted from: "Oman will soon enact law to check human trafficking."
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/December/middleeast_December273.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
18 December 2007.

Cambodian National Assembly Debates Anti-Trafficking Law

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:55:00 GMT

The Cambodian National Assembly here on Tuesday started to debate the law on anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

"We are trying to pass it soon to combat modern intelligent criminals and perpetrators who exploit children's rights, conduct sex trade pornographic video production, and carry out labor exploitation and human trafficking," said Ky Lim Orng, chairwoman of the assembly committee of telecommunication, energy, mines and transportation.

"All these criminal acts are against our beautiful tradition and the dignity of human beings," she told Xinhua. "This law will be practiced strictly," she said.

Hy Sopheap, secretary of state at the Justice Ministry, said that the law is discussed against the background that current criminals have updated techniques for human trafficking and sex exploitation and the government has to adopt modern solution and law to cope with them.

"Criminals move quickly and sometimes we have difficulties to arrest them and find proof," he said.

Cambodia passed its old law on anti-human trafficking and sexual exploitation with 10 articles in 1996. The new law has 52 articles and contains more details than the previous one.

According to the new law, relevant criminals could be sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined up to 2,500 U.S. dollars.

Cambodians used to be trafficked to Thailand, Taiwan and Macao of China, Malaysia, South Korea, Nigeria and Somali for labor, sex and forced marriage.

Adapted from: Du Guodong, "Cambodian National Assembly debates law on anti-human trafficking, sexual exploitation." www.chinaview.cn 18 December 2007.

Research on Trafficking of Men for Labour Exploitation in Africa

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:58:00 GMT

New research to be carried out by IOM in Africa will shed some light on the trafficking of men for labour exploitation, an area long overlooked and consequently, little known about.

To date, counter-trafficking research and interventions have largely focused on the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation across the world. However, there is growing evidence of the trafficking of men globally for labour, including in Africa. With little to no research available on this phenomenon, relevant stakeholders have found it difficult to design or implement counter-trafficking interventions targeting men.

The new IOM research, the first to comprehensively address the trafficking of men in Africa in general, and in Eastern and Southern Africa in particular, will establish the extent to which human trafficking is occurring between the East and Horn of Africa to the continent’s main economic hub, South Africa; information on how the men are trafficked and what their and their traffickers profiles are; what kind of abuses they suffer and what are the specific characteristics and vulnerabilities of source communities.

The study, funded by the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP) and which kicks off in January 2008, will focus on significant male migration flows between these regions. According to early reports from Kenyan and Tanzanian authorities, much of this movement may be irregular and facilitated by agents operating illicitly across several land borders.

A 2003 IOM report found links between the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation and the smuggling of men in Southern Africa, with both activities facilitated by the same criminal networks along common migration corridors. Little, however, is known about male trafficking in Southern Africa and, to the extent it exists, the exploitative purposes for which its victims are trafficked.

The research will cover key transit points along the routes that include Mozambique and Tanzania as well as destination and exploitation sites. Qualitative information identifying cases of male human trafficking will also be gathered.

Some anecdotal evidence already exists. IOM in Ethiopia, for example, is increasingly aware of stories of men who are promised lucrative contracts in the construction industry in South Africa as the country prepares for the football World Cup in 2010. In Tanzania, IOM has indentified individual cases where men have been trafficked from the East African country to South Africa and forced into criminal activity. In Kenya, a 2006 report by The CRADLE-Children’s Foundation on human trafficking found that 43 per cent of the trafficking victims it interviewed for the report were men.

South Africa, meanwhile, has a lengthy history as a destination for economic migrants. The Department of Home Affairs estimated in 2006 that there were more than seven million undocumented migrants in South Africa. Preparations for 2010 World Cup have contributed to an even greater migration pull into the country.

The project, which will also update IOM data on human smuggling and trafficking between these two regions, is expected to culminate in September 2008 with the publication of a report.

Adapted from: "SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA - Research On Trafficking of Men For Labour Exploitation."
http://appablog.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/southern-and-eastern-africa-research-on-trafficking-of-men-for-labour-exploitation/ 18 December 2007.

Two Filipinas Tried for Human Trafficking in Hong Kong

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:57:00 GMT

First Filipina women to be charged with human trafficking outside of the Philippines.

“This is the first case that Filipinas were prosecuted outside the Philippines in relation to trafficking of people. This has not happened in Singapore or the Middle East,” said Laskey during a break in Monday’s hearing. “I am told that officials in the Philippines, including an adviser to the President, are very interested in this case,” he added.

Laskey said that he had handled cases of Thai or Chinese traffickers bringing into Hong Kong women for prostitution but this was the first time that he encountered the case of Filipino women being charged for the crime. “This is a landmark case because, if the authorities before charged only the trafficked women they arrested, this time, they’re going after the traffickers themselves,” said Vice-Consul Val Roque, head of the Assistance of Nationals section of the Philippine Consulate.

The five complainants in the case initially sought the help of the Philippine Consulate before going to the police. The police then raided several bars in Wan Chai on August 4 and invited for questioning at least 35 Filipino women, including Nicdao and Amparado. According to Laskey, a certain Loida approached the first two victims in June and offered them work in Hong Kong.

Loida then introduced the women to Amparado, who allegedly told them that they would work as entertainers in a club, and this could include providing sexual services to customers, so that they could later pay the P60,000 for their plane ticket and their hotel accommodation. According to one of the victims, the “loan” of P60,000 had to be repaid within three months after they arrived in Hong Kong.

The two other complainants, who were allegedly also introduced by Loida to Amparado, said Amparado told them that customers would usually pay around HK$2,000 (P10,840) for sex so they had “to bargain” to “fix the price at HK$2,500 (P13,550).” “(The victims) subsequently felt that they had been exploited by (the accused) and went to seek assistance from the Philippine Consulate General on August 2, 2007,” Laskey said.

Nicdao was arrested in the morning of August 4 and she denied the accusation while Amparado was arrested on the same day. She refused to answer any question during the police investigation.

Adapted from: Philip Tubeza,"2 Filipinas tried for trafficking compatriots in Hong Kong." Global Nation. 3 December 2007.

Greek Police Break Up International Sex Trafficking Ring

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:59:00 GMT

Police raids in Greece's two largest cities on Thursday shut down a network trafficking in women for the sex trade in Greece and several other countries.

About 200 police officers raided houses and businesses in Athens and Thessaloniki in an operation overseen by the international police organizations Europol and Interpol. Thirty suspects were arrested — nine gang members and 21 associates, police said.

Thousands of women from Eastern Europe and the Balkans are forced into prostitution each year in Greece and other European countries under the pretext of helping them find jobs in the West. Police said in a statement that the police action had "broken up one of the biggest criminal gangs active in the sexual exploitation of immigrant women in our country."

Three victims of the ring — two Russians and a Romanian woman — were released in the operation. The gang operated in at least four European Union countries as well as several nations outside the EU.

The raid, which had been planned for a year, targeted 15 apartments, offices and other properties in the two cities. Police confiscated five cars used for transporting women along with mobile telephones, cash and around two dozen passports.

Police are seeking another 23 suspects, among them Greeks, Russians, Germans and a Turk.

Adapted from: "Greek police break up international sex trafficking ring." The Associated Press. 29 November 2007.

Chinese Police Detain Two Suspects over Trafficking Vietnamese Babies

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:02:00 GMT

Chinese police have detained a Vietnamese woman and a Chinese man who allegedly smuggled four babies from Vietnam into China.

The woman was caught holding two babies in arms on the China-Vietnam border in Dongxing City of southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Tuesday night, when she illegally entered Chinese territory across a river. The woman seemed not to be the mother judging from her appearance, a spokesman with the Dongxing police said.

Police questioned the 53-year-old woman surnamed Pham from Mong Cai City of northeast Vietnam's Quang Ninh Province, and she confessed that she had planned to sell the two babies aged below two months to a man surnamed Ruan from south China's Guangdong Province, the spokesman said.

Pham also confessed that she has smuggled four babies on three separate occasions into China this month. Ruan was later captured in a makeshift shed in Dongxing, which neighbors Mong Cai.

The two babies are now being attended by the Dongxing Municipal Obstetric and Gynaecology Hospital, the spokesman said. The case is being further investigated, he added.

Adapted from: "Chinese police detain two suspects over trafficking Vietnamese babies." China View. 29 November 2007.

Combating Human Trafficking in Israel

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:06:00 GMT

The Israeli government is expected to approve a plan to combat human trafficking.

The goal: Assist victimized, often abused migrant workers.

The government on Sunday is expected to approve a national plan to combat human trafficking. The plan will be presented by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel and Justice Ministry Director Geberal Moshe Shilo who heads the Directors General Trafficking Committee.

The plan calls for providing housing solutions to victims; establishment of a rehab facility for victims who suffer psychosocial and medical problems; employment services and translation services. Medical services will be provided by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Ministry of Social Services. The Social Services. Ministry will allocate NIS 4.2 million ($1.1 million) to fund the plan.

The project's initiators said that the motivation is strictly humanitarian: "the victims of human trafficking, slavery or prostitution in Israel deserve protection and care."

Currently the victims are housed in various temporary facilities, homes of human rights activists and volunteers or various ad hoc institutions. "These are inappropriate solutions that do not provide structured support services."

Adapted from: Tova Ztimuki, "Combating human trafficking." ynetnews.com 30 November 2007.

Israeli Knesset Releases Report: Women trafficking to Israel Drops Sharply

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:09:00 GMT

Report compiled by Knesset division reveals no women smuggled into Israel caught since beginning of 2007, but infiltration of asylum seekers grows dramatically.

The smuggling of women for prostitution and of drugs from Egypt into Israel has dramatically declined since the IDF has taken over the border nine months ago. However, the infiltration rate of asylum seekers through the southern border has significantly increased over the same period, a new report compiled by the Knesset's Research and Information Center revealed Sunday.

The report was drafted ahead of a joint discussion of the Committee on Drug Abuse and the Subcommittee on the Trafficking of Women set to take place Monday. According to the report, since the beginning of 2007, 898 people were smuggled through the border from Sudan, 430 were smuggled from Eritrea, and about 40 of the infiltrators caught were from Georgia, Romania and Turkey.

The report stated that no women were caught being smuggled into Israel to serve as prostitutes in the last nine months, but head of the shelter for victims of women trafficking in Israel Ruth Davidovich claimed that some 30 women were currently staying at the shelter, and that most of them were smuggled through the Egyptian border.

The committee members are scheduled to discuss the urgent need for a fence to be constructed along the border to stop the infiltrations and smuggling. Other topics on the agenda would be the frequent violent clashes between Israeli security forces and the smugglers, and the need to boost forces on the Jordanian border, which is also exposed to smuggling.

The report stressed that despite Israel's substantial efforts, the border remained volatile, with smugglers becoming more sophisticated and using more technologically advanced methods.

Adapted from: Yael Branovsky, "Women trafficking to Israel drops sharply." Israel News. 11 November 2007.

Human Trafficking Not Uncommon on Long Island, New York

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:11:00 GMT

There are hundreds of homes on Long Island where immigrants, especially women, are held in conditions that approach slavery, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said Friday.

And many of those who end up working long hours for little or no pay, or who are forced into sex slavery, are lured to the United States by unscrupulous people who promise safe, well-paid jobs, Spota said.

But, he added, "We all know, of course, that there is no nanny position and there is no modeling" job for them once they arrive, he said. Spota spoke Friday morning at a conference on human trafficking held at Touro Law Center in Central Islip. Speakers at the conference defined human trafficking as the illegal control of a person through fraud, force and coercion.

Spota described how law enforcement officials found several Mexican women held against their will in a Plainfield, N.J., house, and said he is "convinced that there are hundreds of similar homes in our communities." On Long Island, most of the victims of human trafficking come from Mexico or Eastern Europe, Spota said. They come for a better life, but find slavery, he said.

The Touro conference was titled, "Modern-Day Slavery on Long Island: identifying victims of human trafficking." At the conference, several law enforcement and civic organizations said Friday that they plan to work together to crack down on human trafficking in the region, armed with recent state and federal laws that include tougher penalties.

Adapted from: Joseph Mallia and Laura Albanese, " Spota: Human trafficking not uncommon on LI." Newsday. 30 November 2007.

Sex slaves, human trafficking... in America?

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:13:00 GMT

Some foreign exchange students are tricked and exploited in the United States.

The men drove Katya and Lena to the Greyhound bus station and gave them tickets to Detroit. Confused and exhausted, the girls had no reason to question the change of plans.

Adapted from: Grace Kahng, "Sex slaves, human trafficking... in America?." msnbc.com. 3 December 2007.

Putting a Stop to Human Trafficking in the United States

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:16:00 GMT

Human traffickers force victims into hard labor or sell them for sex. Worldwide, millions of women and children are part of this modern day slave trade. In this country, the border is of special concern, and that’s where authorities are working to build awareness. It’s a heartbreaking crime that crisscrosses the border.

“We may have an individual who’s in the United States illegally,” Diana Kirk with the El Paso Police Department said. “They’re being trafficked; they may be forced into prostitution.” Or sold into the sex trade back home in Mexico.

The El Paso Human Trafficking Task Force brought together a diverse group of partners: prosecutors, police, community and victim’s assistance groups to learn more, including warning signs. “They won’t have any ID with them,” social worker Theresa Flores said. “They might not speak the language. They might be a child that’s out very, very late at night.”

The first time Flores attended a conference like this one, the Ohio social worker came to a painful realization about her sexual abuse as a teen. Now the survivor from a middle class family is speaking out and dispelling myths.

“I was targeted by traffickers and was threatened and coerced and forced into sexual slavery for 2 years,” she said. Experts call it a crime that hides in plain sight.

The community is the first line of defense: a simple tip from a neighbor, teachers or anyone who suspects something can lead authorities to traffickers and their captives — captives from across the border or across the street

Adapted from: Angela Kocherga, "Putting a stop to human trafficking." Khou.com. 3 December 2007.

Prostitution Fueling Exploitation of Women

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:19:00 GMT

The evil of human trafficking is receiving attention in many countries around the world...The illegal trade is carried out either to provide cheap labor or for the sex industry, although it is the latter that is receiving more attention.

The BBC on Nov. 6 noted that the United Nations in 2006 had named Israel one of the main destinations in the world for trafficked women. According to the report, during the 1990s and the first years of the current decade, up to 3,000 women a year were lured to Israel by false promises of jobs, only to find themselves forced to be prostitutes. Prostitution in Israel is legal, but pimping and maintaining a brothel are not, according to the BBC.

Japan is another country with significant numbers of women forced into being sex slaves, the South China Morning Post reported Oct. 27. Every year, 50,000 women enter Japan on entertainer visas, but sources cited by the newspaper maintained there are never that many working as dancers or singers.

Japan is one of the largest destinations for international trafficking of women and children for sex and forced labor, according to the South China Morning Post. Due to international pressure the Japanese police set up a department to combat the problem. In 2005 the new unit made 81 arrests, but only five cases have reached the prosecution stage in the courts, all ending with suspended sentences.

In England, an Oct. 22 article in the Independent newspaper reported the arrest of a gang of Lithuanian and Chinese criminals who made up to 5,000 pounds ($10,281) a day by forcing young women to engage in prostitution.

New form of slavery
"What these gangs do is modern-day slavery," detective inspector Gary Young of Scotland Yard's clubs and vice unit told the paper. The growing industry is being fueled by the expansion and sophistication of the Internet, he said.

According to the Independent, one estimate is that at any one time, up to 4,000 women are being compelled to work as prostitutes in Britain by criminal gangs.

The problem was also recently the subject of a study published in Ireland, the Irish Examiner reported Oct. 19. Eilis Ward of National University of Ireland, and Gillian Wylie of Trinity College Dublin, found 76 women from 20 countries had been trafficked into Ireland to work in brothels and lap dancing clubs. They said that the total number could be far greater.

A major front-page article in the Sept. 23 edition of the Washington Post examined efforts by the United States to stamp out human trafficking. The U.S. government has spent more than half a billion dollars fighting trafficking around the world since 2000. The State Department has an office in charge of investigating the problem, which publishes an annual Trafficking in Persons report. According to the Washington Post, estimating the number of women trafficked into the United States is problematic. Estimates vary widely, but one recent calculation put it at 14,500 to 17,500 each year.

The most recent edition of the report by the State Department came out in June. It estimated that in 2006, approximately 800,000 people were trafficked across national borders. This does not include, the report added, millions more who were trafficked within their own countries.

Trafficking and the sex industry play a major role in spreading HIV/AIDS, the report noted. In addition, violence and abuse "are at the core of trafficking for prostitution."

A seminar on how to fight against trafficking was recently held in Rome. The session was a joint effort between the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See and the Italian Union of Major Superiors (USMI). "Human trafficking is a critical (issue) for the Holy See," said Monsignor Pietro Parolin, the Pope's undersecretary of state, in an address to the seminar.

According to a press release dated Oct. 19, one of the fruits of the seminar was the creation of the International Network of Religious Against Trafficking in Persons (INRATIP). The new organization issued a statement in which it called upon governments "to address the issues of economic inequality, poverty and corruption which lead to the destruction of so many lives."

"We urge all people of good will to open your hearts to the victims and to act to change the root causes of human trafficking -- poverty, gender inequality, discrimination, greed and corruption," the statement declared. "Our hope rests in a vision of humanity which honors the principle that no woman, child or man is a commodity for sale."

Fallacy of legalization
To combat trafficking and other abuses against women in the sex trade, some argue in favor of legalizing prostitution. This is a serious mistake, according to the conclusions of a recently published study of how legalized prostitution operates in the U.S. state of Nevada.

In "Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections," Melissa Farley argues that legalization has not improved conditions for women, but has worked in favor of pimps and brothel owners. The boom in the sex trade in Nevada has also made the state one of the main destinations for victims of human trafficking, observed U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney in the book's foreword.

In fact, after a two-year study of how prostitution functions in Nevada, one of the book's conclusions is that prostitution and sex trafficking are linked in the state as in other localities. "Sex trafficking happens when and where there is a demand for prostitution and a context of impunity for its customers," Farley stated.

Moreover, the legalization of prostitution has created a culture that promotes the sex trade, and far from eliminating illegal activities, both legal and illegal venues flourish. Farley calculated that Nevada's illegal prostitution industry is nine times greater than the state's legal brothels.

This is similar to what has happened in other places that have legalized prostitution, such as the Netherlands and the Australian state of Victoria, she added. In the former, legalized prostitution has made the country one of the major destinations for trafficked women, said Farley, citing several studies and declarations made by local authorities.

By contrast, places that have taken serious steps to stamp out prostitution, such as Sweden, have also seen a decrease in sex trafficking, Farley argued.

Promoting discrimination
We live in a world saturated with pornography and where prostitution is increasingly presented as a mainstream activity, she observed. It's a world where only too often girls and women are presented as sexual objects for men's gratification, and where sexual assaults against children are at ever-higher levels.

Prostitution, Farley argued, is a business rooted in inequality: between men and women, rich and poor, ethnic majorities and minorities. "Legal prostitution has set the stage for discrimination against women, especially those who are most vulnerable: poor and ethnically marginalized women," she concluded.

Legalization also increases sex trafficking because it expands the market. "It's actually deceptive to make a distinction between trafficking and prostitution because the implication is that it is the distance she is moved in order to be sold for sex that matters rather than being sold, used and prostituted per se," Farley expounded.

"What's relevant is what is done to her in prostitution, the sale of and sexual use of a human being," she continued. The degradation of persons, whether in trafficking or prostitution, stand out as one of the major challenges to a culture that too often ignores the weak.

Adapted from: Father John Flynn, LC. "Trafficking in Lives. Prostitution Fueling Exploitation of Women." Zenith News Agency. 3 December 2007.

Police Uncover Human Trafficking Misery in the UK

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:32:00 GMT

A Romanian woman who was raped and forced to work as a prostitute is among 20 victims of human trafficking identified by police in the central belt in the past eight weeks.

"But they have undoubtedly been trafficked here against their will, often forced into prostitution to pay off family debts." A spokesman for Grampian Police said they were "actively investigating a number of lines of inquiry".

Amnesty International and Lothian and Borders Police have joined forces to mount a campaign raising awareness about the trafficking of human beings. A display describing the lives of those who have been trafficked has been placed at Edinburgh Airport, as transport hubs have been identified as key areas in the human trafficking process.

Amnesty International campaigner Naomi McAuliffe said: "It is vitally important that we raise awareness of this trade, we have come across stories of women being bought and sold in the cafés of airport lounges." It has been estimated that as many as 700 foreign women have been trafficked into Scotland's sex industry.

Anne Hamilton, from Glasgow-based Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance - which will host a conference on the problem - said it was currently supporting 17 trafficking victims in the city.

Natasha's Ordeal
WHEN Natasha, not her real name, was 18 she wanted to leave Latvia and come to the UK to study. But her family in a rural part of the country could not afford that, so she found a job in a local café. One day one of her mother's friends told her that she knew people who were living in London and needed someone to help with their first baby.

Adapted from: Michael Howie, "Police uncover human trafficking misery." news.scotsman.com. 5 December 2007.

NGO in Nigeria Says Child Abandonment Promotes Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:39:00 GMT

An Non-government organsiation Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) has linked the high rate of child trafficking in Akwa Ibom State to frequent cases of abandoned children.

Mr. Sam Itauma, the CRARN President, said in Eket that 70 percent of cases of trafficking in the state involved stigmatised and abandoned children, wrongly labeled as witches. Itauma spoke to newsmen at a symposium on “Preventing Abandonment of child Trafficking Today (PACT)”.

He identified Esit Eket, oron, Eket and Mobo local governments as areas with the highst number of cases of child abandonment. Itauma said that the children were abounded based on the belief that they possessed spiritual powers.

According to him, such innocent children were tortured in some churches and forced to make confessions so that prayers of deliverance would be said for them. He expressed regret at the involvement of so called men of God in the social ill.

“Recently, the Police in Owerri arrested a woman who was in possession of children of Akwa Ibom origin and who claimed that the children were brought for deliverance from witchcraft. Itauma called on the Akwa Ibom State Government, Christian Association of Nigeria and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria to team up and regulate the activities of churches.

Also peaking, Mr. Gary Foxcroft, Executive Director, Stepping Stones Nigeria, called for close collaboration with national Agency for the Prevention of Trafficking in persons (NAPTIP) to check child taffficking. He also called on Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to pass the child rights act to provide a legal framework for the protection of the rights of children.

Foxcroft said that if stigmatized and abandoned children were not transformed they would grow up to become miscreants.

Adapted from: "NGO says child abandonment promotes trafficking." The Tide Online. 4 December 2007.

Winning War Against Women Trafficking in Nigeria

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:43:00 GMT

The trafficking in women and children in the society has become a major source of worry to many concerned individuals, governments, non-governmental organisations and civil societies.

Nigeria has been ascribed to have the highest number of children and women traffickers in Africa. The rate at which the trade occurs has made some persons to describe it as an endemic disease, which the government must be relentless in combating.

Women and child trafficking can be defined as the transportation of children and women (young ladies and adults) from one place to another either as child labour, sexual commodities or professional prostitutes who have their bodies for money or engage in other menial jobs for which there is neither future nor special skills.

Trafficking as it were, occurs in two ways, which are internal and external trafficking.

Internal trafficking occurs when the victims, especially young boys and girls, are moved from rural areas or communities to urban area to become house helps, hotel attendants, and nannies. The girls usually end up as satisfiers of the sexual urge of their masters, if they are in families or customers of the hotel or beer palours where their services are used.

External trafficking involves transporting victims from 10 years and above from their country for the aim of prostitution and child labour. Ironically, while some victims of trafficking persons are unassuming and innocent individuals, others especially the ladies allow themselves to be trafficked all for the purpose of monetary gains. One of the countries for this ugly trend is Italy.

While civil societies and non-governmental organisations have carried out several campaigns against trafficking in persons, the Nigeria government had made notable efforts towards the deportation and rehabilitation of the women in the past few years.

Aside ladies who get involved willingly in women trafficking, parents especially mothers have aided in the trade. Parents give out their girl-children or encourage them as a result of economic hardship and the level of ostentatious living that most of other girls on return from their trip display.

Most parents are unaware that some women solicit for their daughters’ involvement in the batch of young girls to be sent out of the country for prostitution or slavery. They arrange for payment by the traffics while the innocent girls suffer. In most cases the girls are made to take an oath to behave and do anything she was asked to do by her slave master or mistress and also warned not to attempt an escape.

At the end, most of these girls die in the process, those who do not die contact dreadful diseases like the HIV/AIDS or are rendered useless for life.

Some other children who are not involved in the sexual escapades are subjected to child abuse. They are made to engage in tasks that are too difficult for them – fetching of water with pots that are too heavy for their age, hawking in the streets. In some cases, these children become victims to kidnappers for ritual purposes. They are not sent to school, and when they grow up, become social miscreants and haters of the society in which they live. Some, at the end turn out to be armed robbers, molesting the society.

Organisations like Women Political Action Committee (WPAC) on women trafficking, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the UNICEF have been in the forefront of fighting this social plague. Their efforts have been on not only discouraging girls and mothers from such acts and emphasising the danger but also suggesting ways they could be useful to themselves and make money the proper way.

In Rivers State, the wife of the former Governor of the state, Justice Mary Odili had through The Adolescent Project (TAP) re-focused the minds of young and susceptible children to the acquisition of skills that would make them responsible in life. Many young boys and girls have been trained in skills ranging from tie and die, sewing, hairdressing, paint making and others. This gesture had in no small way redirected these youths from engaging in acts that would be inimical to their lives, their families and those of the society.

Thousands of these adolescent were graduated, equipped to be independent during the eight years of Dr. Peter Odili’s administration through the wife.

An NGO in Calabar, known as Girls Power Initiative (GPI) has been fighting against sexual exploitation of teenage girls in Cross River State. The founder of the NGO, Prof. Bene Madunagu, to empower the girls in the area opened a vocational training centre. She saw the idea of the centre came with the realization that girls from the poor homes were more vulnerable to sexual exploitation than those from well-to-do families.

Economic empowerment of the girl-child is the surest way to make her independent and protect her from sexual exploitation and prostitution. This programme is all about self-employment on adulthood, she had said. The essence, she explained further, is to make girls realize their God-given talents which can tomorrow become their source of livelihood.

At the international level, the United Nations (UN) and UNICEF have urged eastern and southern African nations, where it says more than eight million children live in dire poverty, to halt the boom in child trafficking. Per Engebak, UNICEF’s regional director for eastern and southern Africa warned that unless swift action was taken, the region was poised to become a major supplier of trafficked children often subjected to sexual and physical abuse.

Traffickers are exploiting the aspirations of those living in dreadful conditions with virtually no risk of prosecution. “In many countries, the absence of a specific law on child trafficking is a serious loophole that undermines the global effort to stop child trafficking” he said.

UNICEF acknowledged that existing laws often address certain aspects of trafficking, such as kidnapping, rape or sexual exploitation, but fall short of punishing perpetrators for the crime itself. “Only Mozambique and South Africa have made progress in enacting domestic legislation against child trafficking” UNICEF said, urging other countries to follow suit.

The UN agency on its part warned that global human trafficking, which spawns an estimated seven to 10 billion dollars annually is expanding to regions. Though child-women trafficking seem to be an African affair, there is need for countries and individuals to help the government in its prevention and stoppage.

Adapted from: "Winning war against women trafficking." The Tide Online. 21 June 2007.

California Top Spot for Human Trafficking in U.S.

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:44:00 GMT

California is the top destination in the United States for human traffickers who force women and girls into hard labor and sex trade, local TV channel ABC 7 reported.

A new report released by the state's anti-human trafficking task force shed light on how bad the problem is in California, and the team wants police and prosecutors to have more power to fight these crimes. Though exact numbers don't exist, thousands are somehow brought in across the borders and coerced into the sex trade or hard labor, officials and activists said.

Researchers at U.C. Berkeley found 57 forced labor operations over a five year period in about a dozen California cities, involving more than 500 people from 18 countries. A Mexican woman named "Esperanza" was lured by human traffickers to California from her destitute hometown five years ago with the promise of a good job making good money, but it turned out to be grueling work in a Los Angeles sweatshop.

"I had to live and sleep in the shop. I had to work 17 hours a day, sometimes more," Esperanza told a press conference Tuesday at Sacramento, the state capital. When Esperanza asked to leave, her employers threatened her family members and close ones. "She said someone who I love would pay the consequences," said Esperanza.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who is on the task force to help state leaders find solutions for the problem, said that about 80 percent of the victims of human trafficking are women and girls, and up to 50 percent of them are minors.

Esperanza spent 40 days in the Los Angeles sweatshop before she pretended to go to church and escaped, and now she has become a victims' advocate. "I want to tell victims that there is hope, there is help," she said. To raise public awareness about the human trafficking problem, a new resolution is expected to take effect next month declaring every January 11 in California as "National Human Trafficking Day."

Adapted from: Yan Liang, "California top spot for human trafficking in U.S." China View. 5 December 2007.

Report Issued by Anti-Trafficking Task Force Names California Top Destination for Human Traffickers

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:56:00 GMT

California is a top destination for human traffickers who coerce people into the sex trade or hard labor through force or fraud, according to an 18-month government study.

The report by a 19-member task force of the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery says California is particularly vulnerable to human trafficking because of its international border, ports and airports; its booming immigrant population; and a large economy that includes industries that attract forced labor.

The problem goes far beyond the sex trade, with migrant farm and construction workers, household employees and workers in motels, restaurants and clothing factories frequently vulnerable to abuse, task force members said.

The report, required by a 2005 state law, cites research by the U C Berkeley Human Rights Center. From 1998 to 2003, university researchers found 57 forced labor operations in nearly a dozen California cities involving more than 500 people from 18 countries. Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose were centers for the problem.

Researchers say 80 percent of the victims are female, and half are children. The federal government says human trafficking is second only to the drug trade as an international criminal industry. "We don't have chains, but the traffickers use coercion and fear" to keep people from fleeing, said a 35-year-old woman who said she was lured from Puebla, Mexico, to a Los Angeles sweatshop in

The woman goes by the name Esperanza, a pseudonym that means "hope" in Spanish, because she said the sweatshop owner continues to stalk her. She said she spent 40 days working and sleeping in the clothing factory before escaping by telling her overseer she wanted to attend Catholic Mass.

She said the sweatshop owner threatened to harm her mother and the three children she left behind in Mexico and warned that she would be jailed as an illegal immigrant if she went to authorities. "She told me I had no identity: 'If I kill you, no one will answer for you,'" Esperanza said at a news conference at the state Capitol.

Esperanza now helps train law enforcement officers to spot human trafficking victims, who are often frightened, penniless, unskilled, don't speak English and lack basic knowledge of how to dial a telephone or board a bus to seek help. It's the sort of training task force members said should be provided for firefighters, building inspectors, ambulance workers and others who might be in a position to spot the signs of human trafficking.

The state should also increase penalties for traffickers and provide housing and protection for victims, the report says. Task force members are backing pending legislation that would allow a maximum prison term of six years, up from five now, for engaging in human trafficking and make it easier to prosecute child labor cases and trafficking rings that cross county lines.

Until recently, traffickers could be prosecuted only for related crimes, such as kidnapping, pandering or pimping, said San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, a task force member. Trafficking was made a specific stand-alone federal crime in 2000 and was criminalized in California in 2005.

That is one reason researchers have mainly anecdotal evidence that the crime is widespread, said task force Chairwoman Nancy Matson, who directs the state attorney general's Crime and Violence Prevention Center. About 600 cases are documented in California a year, Matson said.

The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division estimates that, nationwide, 14,500 to 17,500 people each year are brought into the United States by traffickers to work in the sex trade or other jobs. Harris said that doesn't include American citizens who are transported across state lines.

Adapted from: Don Thompson,"State a hot spot for human trafficking, panel says." Associated Press. 5 December 2007.

Morocco Center of Trafficking of Filipinos to Europe

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:00:00 GMT

The promise of employment and a better future has forced many Filipinos to resort to illegal means just to get to Europe.

Human trafficking syndicates are now using Morocco as the center of illegal recruitment for most Filipinos trying to cross the border of Europe. The North African country has become a favorite jumping point of illegal recruiters because it does not require a visa and is just near the border of Spain.

The tourist visa is valid up to three months. Many Filipinos have already overstayed from six months to one year, hoping to get their travel documents and make it to Europe. Madel de Silva is one of them and she is hopeful she will be able to join her sister in Milan, Italy.

De Silva said that incidentally, she replaced, her other sister who initially paid P350,000, but could not wait any longer in Casablanca, Morocco. She said her sister stayed in Casablanca for two months. De Silva is with 12 other Filipinos who are living in a crowded old apartment building in Mohammedia.

They have their own stories to tell, the ultimate goal of which is to get a job in Europe. JR Negoy said his family, now in Monaco, had already spent P2 million trying to get him. His first recruiter was able to take him only up to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, but was deported for illegal documents. Sensinio Villar Jr., meanwhile, is worried of crossing the border again after he discovered that his Schengen visa is fake.

His was a tampered visa with glaring discrepancies from the original document. Sam Siatrez, meanwhile, is no longer interested to pursue his European dream after almost seven months in Morocco. He believes that part of his P400,0000-placement fee would still be refunded.

Negoy, Villar, Siatrez and seven others earlier tried but failed to cross the Tangier port via the ferryboat which is just about an hour away from Marbella, Spain. Their Moroccan guide left them after the group paid 32,000 euros (P1.99 million) to a certain Arwin Montoya. Montoya is now wanted by the Moroccan police.

Another exit point from Morocco is Tetouan, which is almost an hour away from Spain. Except for Siatrez, most Filipinos are willing to wait and even take the risks of being arrested, justifying there is no better alternative in the Philippines.

Risk-takers
Stranded Filipinos in Morocco are willing to face deportation and arrest in their desperate attempt to cross europe despite having spurious travel documents. But a handful are just lucky to make it and join their loved ones in Europe. ake the case of "Cristy" (not her real name) who was able to enter Milan after a group of Filipinos took her in shortly after arriving at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris recently.

Cristy has rejoined her mom, who is domestic helper for many years in Italy. Cristy left Manila July 15 after her mother paid an initial amount of P250,000 to a recruiter whom she identified as Bobby Flores. She stayed for a month in Bangkok, Thailand and another two months in Morocco. Cristy revealed the modus operandi of the illegal recruitment syndicate. In traveling, they use two bags, one for check-in and the other, the handcarry bag. The check-in bag, she explained, is only for show to make it appear that she has a final destination. This bag only contains old clothes and sleepwear. The handcarry bag is where they hide the fake travel papers, and show it to immigration authorities when exiting the transit point in Europe.

The specially-designed bag has a secret opening at the bottom portion for documents which could not be detected by x-ray machines. At least one Filipino in Morocco, meanwhile, said the legal way is still the best way for Filipinos to gain entry to Europe. Lito Porto has been helping Filipino victims of illegal recruitment for the past 12 years in Morocco.

For him, the best way is still to do it legally because its not only deportation but the harsh penalty of arrest that Filipinos will have to pay.

Adapted from: Danny Buenafe, "Morocco center of trafficking of Pinoys to Europe." ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau.
6 December 2007.

Finland Falls Short in Helping Human Trafficking Victims

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:03:00 GMT

Finland often fails to identify victims of human trafficking, according to a steering group from the Ministry of Labour.

Hundreds of human trafficking victims are estimated to pass through Finland annually. But for many victims, Finland is the final destination. So far, police have launched investigations into just a handful of human trafficking cases. Only one investigation has led to convictions. In the summer of 2006, the Helsinki District Court sentenced seven people in a human trafficking and procurement case.

According to the steering group, more needs to be done to recognise human trafficking victims. It's calling for better training for officials working on such cases. The group also proposes nominating an independent human trafficking rapporteur, who would be responsible for analysing and assisting in human trafficking cases.

The government is expected to approve the steering group's recommendations in the future.

Finland Fails to Identify Sex Abuse Victims
Internationally, victims of human trafficking are often used for sex, and are often women. However in Finland, a large number of suspected human trafficking victims are men who are used for labour.

"The Finnish profile does not match the international picture. We have failed to identify human trafficking victims used for sex," said the chair of the steering committee, Mervi Virtanen. The report emphasises the importance of NGOs and labour organisations in finding victims.

"Victims feel more comfortable approaching NGOs than police," Virtanen added.

Adapted from: "Finland Falls Short in Helping Human Trafficking Victims." YLE.fi. 6 December 2007.

Anti-Trafficking Campaign Launched in East Africa

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:50:00 GMT

The International Organisation for Migration has launched a campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking in Tanzania, a country increasingly becoming a transit point, it said in a statement on Monday.

The three-month campaign dubbed "Uwe sauti Yao" (Be their voice) was launched at a hip-hop rally in the capital Dar es Salaam, and is being followed by public service announcements on television and radio. Posters, brochures, calendars, stickers, T-shirts and caps will also be distributed in all major cities across the impoverished African country.

"We're delighted that this truly unique event has received the full support Tanzania's most famous hip hop and gospel singers," Par Liljert, IOM's chief of mission in Tanzania, said in a statement. "Just like the media, artists have a crucial role to play to ensure people do not fall prey to ruthless trafficking networks," he added.

Cases of international and domestic trafficking have increased in Tanzania, most being internal ones. "Girls and boys are routinely trafficked from rural areas to urban areas where they are abused and exploited in domestic worker, commercial agriculture, fishing and mining industries, and in child prostitution," the statement said.

Women and children are also trafficked for sexual or labour exploitation to neighbouring countries as well as to the Middle East and Europe. Over the past two years, IOM Tanzania has assisted more than 120 victims of trafficking with support from the US State Department.

Adapted from: " Trafficking campaign launched."
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2239752,00.html www.news24.com. 17 December 2007.

Countries in Europe and North Africa Confront Human Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:53:00 GMT

Representatives of 35 countries have reaffirmed their commitment to regulate migration flows from the developing south to the industrialized north in order to curb the trafficking of human beings across the Mediterranean Sea.

Delegates that took part in a two-day government meeting in Portugal agreed on everything that must be done in particular to prevent the trafficking of women, who often fall prey to prostitution and sexual exploitation networks. They also agreed to strengthen the channels of legal migration.

The village of Albufeira, in the southern Portuguese region of Algarve, hosted the first Euro-Mediterranean conference on migration November, 18-19 2007.

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed) is made up of 25 of the 27 European Union countries and 10 Mediterranean partners: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. Libya has held observer status since 1999.

The interior ministers and other government representatives announced Nov. 19 that the EU would introduce training courses for migrant workers, pre-departure professional training and language courses for potential migrants, information campaigns on legal migration and labor opportunities available in the countries of destination, as well as programs and activities for new legal immigrants.

The main aim of these initiatives is to facilitate the flow of legal immigrants from non-EU Mediterranean countries and bolster their social and professional integration, according to the ministers, who also decided to create a joint working group to carry out an in-depth study of the labor situation and of the labor market’s need for migrants.

The Algarve, whose name comes from al-Gharb, which means “the West” in Arabic, is the region with the strongest northern African influence in Portugal.

The main aims of the meeting were to improve management of migration, fight trafficking in human beings and strengthen opportunities for legal migration, economic development and cultural exchange.

The final declaration said cooperation among all Mediterranean countries is essential in order to stiffen border controls and obtain concrete results. Despite the upbeat tone of the final document, non-EU countries complained of “brain drain” from North Africa to Europe.

Tunisian Minister of Social Affairs Ali Chaouch, who spoke with reporters after the meeting along with Ahmed El-Kewaisny, the coordinator of the group of Arab countries in Albufeira, said the countries of the Maghreb–Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania–“need their brains.”

With respect to economic questions, special emphasis was put on the remittances sent home by emigrants, an important source of revenue for the countries along the southern edge of the Mediterranean. Emphasis was also placed on microcredit, a mechanism that is becoming more and more important as a curb on migration to the EU.

Euromed recently released a study based on 2004 data that showed the largest flows of expatriate remittances from the EU go to the Maghreb, especially Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, while the main source of those flows are Spain, Italy and France. Morocco is by far the leading destination, receiving $4.2 billion in remittances in 2004, followed by Algeria, with $828 million, and Tunisia, with $228 million.

In recent years, European civil society organizations have loudly criticized the EU’s lack of flexibility with respect to migration flows from Africa and have called for measures such as temporary worker programs.

In one of the latest tragedies, 56 Africans trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands starved to death, were either killed or committed suicide when they found that the cans that supposedly carried fuel were actually full of water. Only the Senegalese skipper was found alive in late October in the boat, which had drifted south of the Cape Verde islands.

Portugal’s Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF) has launched the “You Are Not For Sale” campaign aimed at fighting trafficking in persons.

The typical victim is a young woman from the developing south or from central or eastern Europe who is lured to a rich country by a trafficker with promises of a decent, well-paying job. Once there, her passport is seized and she is forced to work as a prostitute to pay off the debt she incurred in order to be smuggled into the country.

The U.S. State Department’s seventh annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” released in June, said “Portugal is primarily a destination and transit country for women, men, and children trafficked from Brazil, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Romania, and to a lesser extent Africa. The majority of Brazilian female victims are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation.”

The report added that Portugal “does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”

Adapted from: Mario de Queiroz, "Countries confront human trafficking."
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4189.shtml www.finalcall.com
17 December 2007.

Dubai Declares War on Human Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:07:00 GMT

Launching a new drive against human trafficking, authorities in Dubai have busted a well entrenched prostitution ring operating from upscale villas and apartments.

The Dubai police have arrested 247 suspects, including 170 sex workers after raiding 22 locations on December 1, said Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim. Most of the sex workers were from East Asia.

This operation is only part of a series of other raids and measures that we will undertake to eliminate human trafficking from Dubai, sources in Dubai police told The Hindu.

Analysts point out that men and women have been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE.), where they have faced involuntary servitude and commercial exploitation.

There have been reports about UAE also being used as a transit country for human trafficking in the region. Women from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, India, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, Iraq, Iran, and Morocco have been reportedly trafficked to the U.A.E.

However, armed with a new law, authorities have started targeting the networks, said Lt. Gen. Dahi. He said women who had been inadvertently drawn into prostitution rings or possess information about such networks can make use of the Al Ameen helpline and seek protection. He added that with the biggest raid launched, a war on human trafficking had been declared.

Earlier this year, UAE Attorney-General Eassam Al-Humaidan had announced that a decision had been taken to confront human traffickers with an iron hand. He said practitioners would face a five-year jail sentence. Besides, anyone convicted of forming a gang for this purpose would be jailed for life.

Adapted from: Atul Aneja. "Dubai declares war on human trafficking." The Hindu. 6 December 2007.

Single Trafficking Act needed in South Africa

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:09:00 GMT

South Africa urgently needs legislation to counter human trafficking, particularly to help the people who are abused, a panel discussion in Pretoria heard.

"At some point we hope there would be a law protecting those victims who are not criminals," said Yitna Getachew of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Speaking at the panel discussion hosted by the IOM and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Getachew said trafficked people were simply deported by the South African authorities.

"For instance women who are trafficked for sexual exploitations simply get sent back before we can assist them or find out more about the networks who trafficked them," he said. He said the law should not only focus on the criminal side of the issue but also how to deal with trafficked persons.

"What are you doing with a victim, about their immigration issues, are you going to send them back certainly not, you are going to keep them," Getachew said. Patric Solomons of community-based organisation Molo Songololo said there was some legislation in the pipeline but this needed to be enforced or finalised.

They include the Children's Act and the Sexual Offences Bill, which make some provisions to tackle trafficking. The SA Law Commission is also working on a comprehensive legislation proposal which is expected to be submitted to the justice department next year.

Professor Vasu Reddy of the HSRC gender and development unit said there was a need for organisations to push for the legislation. "The next step would be to look at what mechanisms we can use to push for that," she said.

Reddy said this could include lobbying of parliament, research and further awareness raising of the issue. Several of the organisations who attended the discussion undertook to take up the issue.

Adapted from: "Single Trafficking Act needed." News24.com. 5 December 2007.

Judges in South Africa Asked to Clamp Down on Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:12:00 GMT

South Africa is being used as a destination and transit point, as well as a source for human trafficking, the International Association of Women Judges was told at a conference in Boksburg.

Public prosecutions director, advocate Thoko Majokweni, speaking on behalf of Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla, said: "Mozambican women are trafficked to the mines and sometimes to Kwazulu-Natal. "Malawian women are sold by Nigerian syndicates... to Germany, Italy and Belgium, and this all happens via South Africa." She said South Africans themselves were being trafficked to Hong Kong and Macau.

'It really needs to be transnational'
"Thai women are debt-bonded in brothels in Johannesburg and in KwaZulu-Natal, especially in port areas," she said. Chinese traffickers were using Johannesburg as a transit point for Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique, Majokweni said. Russian and Bulgarian women were exploited in private clubs and venues in Johannesburg.

Majokweni said reliable statistics on trafficking in southern Africa were difficult to obtain because most countries in the region had not criminalised the trafficking of people. Necessary legislative reforms were underway in South Africa to halt trafficking. She said the SA Law Reform Commission had prioritised finalising the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill to make human trafficking a criminal offence in this country.

One of the key issues in the Bill was the amendment to the definition of the action of trafficking itself. In SA, the commission was adding to the definition of trafficking as "recruitment, transportation, transfer and harbouring", also the "sale, supply, capture and procurement" of people both within or across the border. "It really needs to be transnational," said Majokweni.

She also said the issue of illegal adoption across the country had been incorporated into the bill. Majokweni said that in the short term other legislative measures such as provisions of the Children's Act, the Sexual Offences Act and racketeering charges were being used to prosecute those involved in trafficking. However, these laws had limitations.

For example, cases tried under the Sexual Offences Act criminalised the act of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation only. She also said the sentences issued under these laws often did not correlate with the severity of the crime.

South Africans should remember human trafficking was new in terms of recognition but not in its existence, she said. "You look and see the life of Sarah Baartman, who was sold into slavery in France, paraded naked for men's pleasure, and even in death didn't get any dignity because she was torn into little parts," Majokweni said.

"We do not see the chains, yet the bondage is there. We do not see the whips, yet the wounds are there."

Adapted from: Sapa, "Judges asked to clamp down on trafficking." Independent OnLine. 19 October 2007.

Ho Chi Minh City Cracks Down on Human Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:14:00 GMT

The Ho Chi Minh City Association of Child Protection on October 19 held a meeting with relevant agencies to discuss measures against women and children trafficking.

Municipal police reported that recent raids have unrooted five human trafficking gangs and 35 locations used by the gangs as match-making places to arrange illegal marriages between foreigners and local girls. Police also released a list of 15 suspects of illegal human trafficking and 64 others suspected to have arranged illegal marriages to foreigners.

Although HCM City is not a hotbed, it is used by the bandits as a transit port, police said. They emphasized on preventive measures and called on relevant agencies and social organizations to be active in the fight as the country is intensifying an overall action plan against women and girls trading.

Adapted from: "HCM City cracks down on human trafficking." Mathaba News Agency. 21 October 2007.

End to Human Trafficking Is UAE’s Top Priority

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:16:00 GMT

The UAE shares the core universal values that make the elimination of human trafficking a top priority, said Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs and Chairperson of the National Committee on Human Trafficking, in an exclusive interview with Khaleej Times.

Dr. Gargash said the recently-formed committee has undertaken several steps to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the problem in the UAE. He said the committee has taken into consideration the contributing factors unique to the country and common in the developed countries.

“The committee has already met four times in the past few months and has undertaken several steps to ensure a comprehensive assessment of human trafficking in the country. The committee recognises the multi-faceted nature of the problem and is, therefore, acting at all levels including prosecution, prevention as well as protection of victims,” said the minister.

Answering a question on the efficiency of the committee, he said the committee was still in the process of collating data from various agencies and emirates. “However, according to preliminary indications, there are at least 10 cases pertaining to human trafficking registered so far this year. Five of these are related to instigating prostitution, two to threatening the life of children, and three cases are related to other issues,” disclosed Dr Gargash.

“It is heartening to note that when the Federal Law No.51 of 2006 was first implemented, two people had already been sentenced to a jail term of seven years, and a third for three years for indulging in and aiding and abetting human trafficking,” he said.

“The government is committed to strictly enforcing the new law and punishing all those found guilty, and rehabilitating the victims in the best possible way and with compassion,” Dr Gargash stressed. The Federal Law No.51 on combating human trafficking, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East was enacted last year with the aim of eradicating trading in persons and protecting and rehabilitating victims of this crime.

Regarding the tasks of the committee, the minister underlined that the committee is responsible for developing an implementation framework for the federal human trafficking law. “The committee focuses on drafting legislation, assesses government implementation procedures, monitors cases, coordinates between government divisions, and promotes public awareness on human trafficking,” the minister added.

He said the primary mandate of the committee is to coordinate among federal ministries and departments efforts to curb crimes related to trafficking in persons, be it prostitution, abuse, maltreatment, coercive exploitation and abuse of work force, or illegal organ transplantation. “Secondly, the committee seeks to ensure strict enforcement of the law and its provisions. The committee has also been designated as the official authority to receive and manage international enquiries and delegations related to human trafficking,” Dr Gargash clarified .

About the initiatives taken by the government to curb the crime, he said, “One of the noteworthy accomplishments during the last two years has been the total ban on child camel jockeys, as well as the multi-million-dirham compensation and repatriation programme that the government continues to support in conjunction with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).”

The Dubai Women and Children Foundation’s initiative by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which was launched earlier this year, is another step taken by the government to combat trading in persons, he said.

The initiative aims at providing a safe environment, assistance and rehabilitation for women and children who were exposed to physical and psychological abuse, including human rights abuses such as trafficking. “The UAE has signed an agreement with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to provide up to Dh50 million to support the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking .This demonstrates the country’s commitment to tackle the crime not only in the UAE, but globally as well,” Dr Gargash stated.

He pointed out that it was important to highlight that human trafficking in the UAE has its origins in some other countries, a matter that has prompted the government to take joint measures with several countries, he said. “Agreements have been signed with Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to regulate the flow of workers. All labour contract transactions will henceforth be processed by labour ministries or offices in the supplying countries to prevent unscrupulous private recruitment agencies from trafficking, or otherwise exploiting, workers,” the minister concluded

Adapted from: Nada S. Mussallam. "End to human-trafficking UAE’s top priority." Khaleej Times Online. 20 October 2007.

Combating Human Trafficking a Priority in South Africa

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:18:00 GMT

Human trafficking is an evil as terrible as the Atlantic slave trade of the past, Chief Justice Pius Langa said.

"It is an evil as terrible as the slave trade of the past and it requires a concerted response from civil society and government," he said at the International Association of Women Judges Conference in Boksburg. "During the entire Atlantic slave trade, 25 million people were forced into slavery. Today there are an estimated 200 million people in conditions of slavery worldwide.

Langa said that even though slavery had been abolished over a century ago, practices like human trafficking kept its legacy alive.

'many women are subjected to an 'initiation' rape'
Langa said at least 800,000 to 900,000 people were trafficked annually around the globe. At least 28,000 children have been trafficked to South African cities for purposes of sexual exploitation. The majority of SA trafficking victims were refugees that were already in the country or came from the SADC region, Thailand, China and Eastern Europe.

"Refugees from other African countries already in South Africa often arrange for close female relatives to join them. "Once these women receive asylum-seeker status, their male relatives force them into prostitution." Langa said these women were often caught in a double bind when trying to access the law to help them.

"[They] are then placed in the unenviable position of choosing between deportation to an inhospitable home or remaining 'enslaved' but 'with' their family." Langa also said about 1 000 Mozambican girls and women were trafficked annually in SA.

He said they were lured with promises of lucrative jobs or picked up at taxi ranks while searching for a lift. "After crossing the border, many women are subjected to an 'initiation' rape at transit houses near the border. "The girls are then sold as 'wives' to men on the mines in the West Rand for around R650 or to SA brothels for R1 000."

Langa said gaps in SA laws meant it was only mainly the trafficking of children and sexual trafficking that was covered. New legislation aimed at targeting all forms of trafficking was in the pipeline, he said.

However, Langa said trafficking could not be solved by legislation alone. "Trafficking is a result of very serious social problems," he said.

"Trafficking in Southern Africa is generally attributed to extreme poverty, unemployment, war, lack of food and traditional practices that commodify women and make their sale acceptable. Langa also said organised crime syndicates and a demand for sex workers drove trafficking.

"As long as these realities exist it will be extremely difficult to abolish trafficking completely, but it is equally dangerous to use these realities as an excuse for not going the whole hog in fighting trafficking," he said. "[Fighting human trafficking] will require a combination of extended research, legislative measures, improved policing and prosecution practices and judicial awareness."

Langa said only this kind of multi-pronged approach could hope to fight what has become the third biggest profiteering organised crime after drugs and armaments. "Traffickers can make profits on drugs only once, they can sell the same person again and again and profit infinitely," said Langa in explaining trafficking's predominance.

Adapted from: Sapa."Human trafficking as terrible as slavery." Independent OnLine. 19 October 2007.

NGOs in Israel Warn Against Plan to Increase Russian Visas

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:21:00 GMT

Activists working against human trafficking in Israel called on Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch to reconsider a move to scrap visa requirements for visiting Russians, fearing the change could increase the flow of illegal sex workers into the country.

Report notes that the Israeli government still "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking."

"I understand that it will increase globalization and strengthen Israel's economy," Rita Chaikin, the anti-trafficking project coordinator of the grassroots Isha L'Isha - Haifa Feminist Center, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday. "I also understand that Russian tourists need to come in and visit, but the minute we open the borders, we have to be prepared [for the possibility] that trafficking will increase."

The abolishment of Russian tourist visas - a move that the Tourism Ministry claims will add tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue to the Israeli economy within the next few years - was approved last month by the cabinet and is now in the final stages of implementation. It will also allow Israelis to visit Russia without visas.

However, Russia is considered a transit destination for trafficking operations, with many men, women and children from neighboring countries arriving there before being transported elsewhere. Egypt has no visa requirements for Russian visitors, and its border with Israel is considered to be a main entry point for human traffickers.

A spokesman for Aharonovitch told the Post zthat the minister was aware of the problems of human trafficking in Israel and that the issue needed to be tackled; however, he added that there was little connection between the trafficking and the cancellation of visa requirements for Russian visitors.

He also said that the number of women arriving from Russia was much lower than those from other countries and that countries with border policies stricter than Israel's still had to contend with women and men being smuggled in for illegal work purposes.

However, Chaikin countered that "a legitimate Russian passport can be obtained quite easily," pointing out that the women are not necessarily from Russia, but coming through Russia from other countries in the Former Soviet Union block and Eastern Europe.

"Its like the [Tourism] Ministry was born yesterday," she continued. "They should really do their research and check the field before making such decisions. They have only thought about the financial benefits."

According to the US State Department's 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), which was released last June, Israel has made efforts to prevent such activities, but still "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking."

In the 2006 report, Israel was listed on the Tier 2 (Watch List) category - one level before the US imposes sanctions on a country. Russia currently appears in the same category.

"We need to be ready to go back to that [level of problems]," continued Chaikin. "Our status has improved, but if this [visa] change is not properly monitored, we could end up back where we were." Although she believes it is most likely too late to prevent the visa change from going ahead, Chaikin said the government must still take steps to continue fighting human trafficking.

"Now there need to be even better checks of people entering the country, and closer attention must be paid to groups of young women traveling here," she said, adding that advertisements were needed to raise public awareness and to advise slave trade victims on where to receive help if they needed it.

Government-appointed attorney Rachel Gershoni, the national coordinator in the battle against trafficking, refused to comment on the pending visa arrangement between Israel and Russia.

Adapted from: Ruth Eglash. "NGOs warn against plan to increase Russian visas." The Jerusalem Post. 23 October 2007.

MTV, Rain Campaign Against Human Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:26:00 GMT

MTV, one of the world's largest and influential television network, has launched ``End Exploitation and Trafficking'' (EXIT), a global campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking. Along with Thai star Tata Young, Korea's pop singer Rain has joined in the action as the front man for the Asia Pacific region.

``This is a form of slavery that still exists today, and I don't think enough people are aware of that,'' said Simon Goff, 30, campaign director for MTV EXIT, told The Korea Times at MTV Korea in central Seoul.

Individuals are denied their basic human rights and are usually tricked or coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude or other labor, according to the United States Trafficking Victims Protections Act (TVPA). After drugs, it is the second largest illegal trade in the world, and generates about $10 billion every year. Its total market value is around $32 billion.

The U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 2.5 million people worldwide are victims, of which over half live in Asia Pacific. The majority of them are women and children, most of whom are sexually exploited, Goff said.

It is shocking and sad that the majority of these trafficked and exploited people are women and children. I hope I can be of help to those battling for these people,'' Rain was quoted as saying, according to MTV Korea.

Goff explained that the issue ``was getting some attention from the media but certainly not directed toward young people… We're the biggest broadcaster in the world so we have the ability to target messages and target our audience, so on a pro-social level it works very well.

It's also part of MTV's overall commitment to not just entertain our audiences but to educate them on social issues that are going on, and affecting young people around the world,'' he said. Launched in 2003, MTV EXIT's campaign theme was inspired by a music festival in Serbia. It receives support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In every country, (celebrities') involvement increases the impact on massive messages immeasurably. If you put out a documentary, x number of people will watch it; if you put something with Rain in it… it will quadruple the number of people tuning into it,'' he said.

Actress Angelina Jolie, for example, hosted a documentary titled ``Inhuman Trafficking'' and supermodel and photographer Helena Christensen and Pelle Almqvist from Swedish rock band the Hives presented short films for MTV EXIT. Last summer, there was also a large-scale concert tour across Europe.

On Saturday and Sunday, a series of street performances featuring highlights of the documentary and live skits created a buzz in Daehakno and Hongdae, two hot spots in northern Seoul.

In countries like Korea and Japan where human trafficking is less reported, ``it is a difficult issue. We have these issues in Western Europe as well,'' said the British native. Nobody likes to be told they're an exploited country… but it's important to acknowledge that it's happening.''

According to the June 2007 U.S. State's Trafficking in Persons (T.I.P.) Report, Korea is classified as a Tier One country, meaning that the government fully complies with the TVPA. But Korean men flocking to Southeast Asia for sex has recently been gaining media coverage. With the escalating number of foreign brides here, traffickers have been abusing the brokered international marriage system. And yet, Korea is primarily considered a source country.

The biggest surprise I've found while looking into this is the fact that there are still Korean women being trafficked -- especially given that Korea is a developed country,'' Goff said. Korean women and girls are trafficked internally to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, according to the T.I.P. Report.

As soon as you start talking about prostitution you are obviously in a quite sensitive area that in any culture nobody really wants to acknowledge what's going on. So with the campaign we try not to go down into it too much,'' he said.

The MTV documentary provides a broad spectrum of the issue. Though only 30 minutes long and very fast-paced, the film gives viewers an in-depth look at the matter and makes it approachable at an individual level. It features seven people: three victims, a trafficker, a consumer (a young man who buys sex), a policeman pursuing traffickers and a social worker helping survivors of trafficking.

As these individuals courageously testify to the horrors of human trafficking, the documentary touches the core of the issue -- how it petrifies individual lives. Its music video-like audiovisual also speaks well to an audience whose attention span is rather short. Rain fans should not expect to see his signature smile as he narrates the film.

Future of Trafficking
As for the future of the human trafficking issue, Goff said, ``I think it'll get through there… Obviously 20 years ago, HIV/AIDS campaign started coming out and it was a bit taboo at the time. But the government began to understand the importance.'' The director had also been part of MTV's 2002 HIV/AIDS campaign ``Staying Alive,'' in which stars like Diddy and Alicia Keys participated.

This is tied in with national security issues so governments are interested in doing something about it... But now it's time for the guy in the streets to do something about it so they can start to sort of make as stand against it as well,'' he said. However, Goff pointed out that organized criminal networks primarily run the lucrative trafficking business in countries like Korea and Japan, which not only makes it difficult to gather exact statistics but also makes it challenging to crack down.

It is thus up to individuals to initiate a change. ``As a consumer you're part of this issue,'' said the director, explaining that consumers in Korea and elsewhere could well be eating shrimp that involves forced labor. As Bridget, a social worker helping victims recover says in the film, ``If everyone is aware that we are part of the problem and part of the solution then we can exercise our responsibility to uphold social justice for all.''

Tune into the documentary, to premiere on Korea's MTV channel at 10:20 p.m., Oct. 27 (Sat.). Catch the reruns at 9:20 p.m., Oct. 29 (Mon.) and 5:30 p.m., Oct. 31 (Wed.). No English subtitles.

For English and other language versions, visit www.mtvexit.org. You can view video clips, links to related organizations, as well as ways in which you can become involved. The Korean version featuring Rain is yet to be posted.

Based in Bangkok, MTV EXIT Asia was launched across Thailand, India, China and the Philippines. After Korea it will continue on to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Adapted from: Lee Hyo-won. "MTV, Rain Campaign Against Human Trafficking." The Korea Times. 23 October 2007.

Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings Will Enter into Force

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:28:00 GMT

The Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS n° 197) will enter into force on 1 February 2008, following the ratification by Cyprus as the tenth country to ratify it.

On this occasion Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, made the following statement:

“The Convention is deliberately hard on traffickers and makes a clear difference for the victims of this crime. These victims will be offered comprehensive assistance and protection of their human rights.

Europe is finally going to use this new and far-reaching instrument to fight this modern form of slavery. Ten ratifications take us over the threshold required for the Convention to enter into force, but the Convention will use its full potential when it is ratified by other countries in Europe and beyond.

The fact that this treaty has been agreed within the Council of Europe extends its application to all European countries, which include countries of origin, transit and destination of the victims of trafficking. It is also open to non-European countries and therefore provides a global response to a global problem. “

The main features of the new Convention include:

compulsory assistance measures and a recovery and reflection period of at least 30 days for the victims of trafficking;
the possibility to deliver residence permits to victims not only on the basis of cooperation with the law enforcement authorities, but also on humanitarian grounds;
the possibility to criminalise “the clients”;
a non-punishment clause for the victims of trafficking;
a strengthened international cooperation system and an independent monitoring mechanism, GRETA, which will monitor the proper implementation of the Convention by the Parties.

Adapted from: "Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings Will Enter into Force." Coucil of Europe. 25 October 2007.

Trafficking 'Potentially' a Huge Problem in Ireland

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:30:00 GMT

The Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan, has said human trafficking has the potential to become a significant problem in Ireland.

Mr Lenihan was speaking in the Dáil during this morning's debate of the second stage of the Criminal Law Human Trafficking Bill. He said the Government was committed to tackling the crime and recognised the need to draw together the various Government departments in combating it.

His comments came after the arrest of one suspect as part of an investigation into an international child trafficking ring.

Dutch police announced last night that 19 arrests of suspected traffickers were made in Holland, Spain, Belgium, Britain, the United States and Ireland. It says Nigerian children, allegedly controlled through voodoo threats, were trafficked into Holland and forced to work as prostitutes in several European countries including France, Italy and Spain.

The suspect arrested in Ireland, on a European Arrest Warrant, is Peter Sarfo and he is due back before the High Court next week. It is understood there is no evidence of any children being trafficked into Ireland.

This investigation into the disappearance of Nigerian children in Holland has been ongoing for over a year. It uncovered a child trafficking ring, whereby Nigerian children, mostly girls controlled by voodoo threats, were sent to Amsterdam with fake documents and told to apply for asylum.

The young girls were then moved from care centres and forced into prostitution. More than 130 went missing and several victims have been found on the streets of France, Italy and Spain as well as Holland.

In a series of raids the Dutch found 10 migrants and arrested 13 people, while six other suspects have been arrested in Spain, Belgium, Britain, the United States and Ireland.

Adapted from: "Trafficking 'potentially' a huge problem." RTE News. 25 October 2007.

Ireland Criticised in Child Trafficking Report by Amnesty International

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:33:00 GMT

Ireland has been criticised in an Amnesty International report for a lack of child trafficking legislation and inadequate treatment for mentally ill children.

The Amnesty International Report for 2007 is an assessment of human rights worldwide. The report also claims that counter-terrorism laws could pose a potential threat to free speech in Britain.

The so called 'war on terror' and the ongoing conflict in Darfur are two of the principle issues raised in the report. But how Ireland treats young people with mental disabilities and the Irish record on human trafficking do not escape criticism.

Noeleen Hartigan of the Amnesty International Irish Section claims that victims of trafficking are currently criminalised rather than supported. The treatment of children with mental disabilities in adult inpatient facilities is in direct contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to Amnesty International.

Adapted from: "Ireland criticised in child trafficking report." RTE News. 23 May 2007.

Irish Minister of Justice Takes Note of Child Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:36:00 GMT

Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has warned that human trafficking could become a major problem in Ireland if the issue is not addressed.

Mr Lenihan was speaking during a Dáil debate on the second stage of the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Bill 2007. The Bill, if passed by the Oireachtas, will make it an offence to recruit, transport, transfer or harbour a person for the purpose of sexual or labour exploitation, or the removal of their organs.

The Minister said the Government was fully committed to taking a "holistic approach" to tackling human trafficking. "[The Government] recognises the need to draw together all the work that is being done across the various departments and agencies," he said. He added that although there is "no evidence of an appreciable problem" of trafficking into Ireland, "any level is deplorable".

"Trafficking into Ireland is not a significant problem, however it is a potential problem and could grow without remedial action," Mr Lenihan said. Mr Lenihan was speaking as gardaí announced they have arrested a man in Dublin in connection with a Dutch investigation into a child trafficking ring that allegedly used voodoo to force Nigerian children into prostitution in Europe.

The man was arrested by gardaí under a European arrest warrant on October 10th and will appear before the High Court on October 31st.

His arrest is part of an international operation involving six police forces. Dutch authorities, who have been investigating the disappearance of Nigerian children in the Netherlands for over a year, announced yesterday they had arrested 19 suspected traffickers.

Thirteen suspects were arrested in raids in the Netherlands, while the other six were arrested in Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Britain and the United States. It is believed that up to 130 Nigerian children, mostly girls, have been trafficked into the Netherlands by a criminal ring who controlled them using voodoo threats.

The children were sent to the country with false passports, told to apply for asylum, and then taken by the traffickers from the facilities in which they were placed by the Dutch state. They were then forced to work as prostitutes in several European countries, including France, Italy and Spain.

Gardaí said there is no evidence to suggest any of the children were trafficked into Ireland.

Adapted from: Clodagh Mulvey. "Lenihan issues warning on human trafficking risk." The Irish Times.
25 October 2007.

Human Trafficking Case on Long Island, New York

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:48:00 GMT

Slavery trial in New York may help highlight human trafficking.

Local authorities are hoping a Muttontown, New York couple's conviction on slavery charges will make people more aware of human trafficking - a problem they say is far worse than most people suspect.

Authorities say it is likely that numerous people are brought to Long Island each year to be used as slaves, but that it is nearly impossible to know how many, especially because the victims in such cases are usually terrified of reporting their situations to the police.

"Often, the victims don't speak the language, they are living in very isolated conditions, and they are distrustful of the police," said Nassau Det. Lt. Andrew Fal, who is a member of the Long Island Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes representatives from Nassau and Suffolk counties, New York State and the U.S. attorney's office. "They fear that if they complain, they will be arrested or deported themselves."

Awareness of human trafficking has skyrocketed in the past several years, since Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, according to Andrea Bertone, director of HumanTrafficking.org, a Web site funded by the U.S. Department of State.

Since then, many states, including New York just this spring, have passed their own human trafficking laws, making it easier for state and local prosecutors to bring traffickers to justice. The federal government is also funding 42 task forces on trafficking, including the one on Long Island.

In a speech earlier this month at Touro Law Center in Central Islip, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said he was convinced that there are hundreds of homes in Long Island and the metropolitan area where immigrants are being held captive. Spota's numbers come from multi-jurisdictional investigations of massage parlors and escort services from 2002 to 2004, said Bob Clifford, a spokesman for Spota's office.

Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said through a spokesman that she hopes the conviction of Varsha Sabhnani and her husband, Mahender, will encourage victims to come forward.

"It would irresponsible to think this type of exploitation isn't more widespread," said Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Rice.

Bertone agreed. "Cases like this can shine light on this issue and maybe promote the change in attitudes toward people who are here in very abusive situations," she said.

NOW PRISON

In approving the initial bail arrangement, U.S. District Judge Thomas Platt said "For all practical purposes," their home would be turned into "a jail at their own expense."

COST

NOW: $15,000/day or $5.475 million/year for both

IN PRISON: $133.92 per day or $48,880/year

(includes food, security, all ongoing operations)

(average for two prisoners in federal prison system, source Bureau of Prisons. divide by two if you prefer numbers for each.)

SIZE

NOW: 5,898 square feet, or 983 square feet per person (assuming all four children live there per article 6/1/07)

IN PRISON: As little as 60 square feet per person (per GAO report; refers to minimum)

ACCESS TO PHONES

NOW: One phone line and one fax line, both monitored All calls in English

IN PRISON: 300 minutes per month on monitored lines Calls to attorneys not monitored

PERMITTED TO LEAVE

NOW: To visit attorneys, attend religious services or see doctors, accompanied by guards and wearing monitors

Adapted from: ANN GIVENS, " Slave trial may help highlight human trafficking."
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-bzmore185505916dec18,0,765807.story. 17 December 2007.

US Monitors Uganda on Human Trafficking

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:44:00 GMT

THE US has placed Uganda on its watchlist of countries dogged by human trafficking. According to the 2007 US Trafficking in Persons Report, Uganda falls in “Tier 2”, which refers to countries that do not meet minimum standards of combating human trafficking but are making significant efforts to ensure compliance.

Although Uganda is a source, transit and a destination for trafficking in persons, it does not have a specific law addressing the phenomenon, revealed Rogers Kasirye, the executive director of Uganda Youth Development Link.

Kasirye told a consultative workshop organised by the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association at Ridar Hotel in Seeta, Mukono yesterday that Uganda had not ratified the Palermo Protocol on fighting trafficking although it signed it in 2000.

Parliament recently allowed the chairperson of the Women MPs, Winnie Masiko, to move a private members’ Bill on human trafficking. Kasirye said although there was scanty information on the actual numbers of persons trafficked; boys were trafficked as early as 10 years and girls at 15 years.

Women and girls are more vulnerable because of their gender roles, he added.
He noted that internal trafficking was the highest form, with children brought to Kampala and Mukono from Karamoja, Kisoro, Rakai, Lyantonde, Mbarara, Masaka, Fort Portal, Luwero, Bugerere and Kayunga. The victims, he said, are taken by the traffickers to work as sex slaves in lodges, do manual labour and dance in bars.

Others are taken for marriage, sacrifice, cross-border trade, while others end up as street children. On cross-border trafficking, Kasirye noted that Ugandan children were being exchanged for guns and medicine in Kenya.

The women legislators had invited selected male counterparts to sensitise them on the subject, with a view to seeking their support when the Bill is debated.

Adapted from: Joyce Namutebi," US monitors Uganda on human trafficking."
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/602562 17 December 2007.

American Anthropologist Comments on Global Efforts to Reduce Human Trafficking

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:16:00 GMT

An international monitoring project designed to combat human trafficking is flawed, according to Brown University anthropology professor Kay Warren.

Warren made her remarks during this year’s Robert G. Mead Jr. Lecture, held in the Student Union Theatre on November 8, 2007. The lecture, on human trafficking around the world, was part of the University’s celebration of International Week.

Warren is the Charles B. Tillinghast Jr. ’62 Professor in International Studies at Brown, where she directs the Politics, Culture, and Identity Program at the Watson Institute for International Studies.

She said a Trafficking in Persons program (TIP) was created by the U.S. State Department to measure countries’ levels of compliance with international norms in what are called TIP reports. However, she says, the TIP program lacks the measures needed for accurate results.

She defined human trafficking as “the international recruitment and transportation of individuals, especially women and children, which involves some form of coercion with the goal of exploitation for financial gain.”

Any form of labor could be the subject of trafficking, she said, but “in practice, there has been a much narrower understanding of trafficking, which focuses mostly on women and children and sexual exploitation.”

The Colombia-to-Japan trade fits into this category. Women, mostly in their 20s, are recruited from Colombia to go to Japan for the country’s sex entertainment industry, she said.

“That may range from anything from bar hostessing with no touching at all, to what would be regarded as coercive and violent sexual exploitation,” said Warren. “The TIP reports are widely circulated four-tier rankings designed to reward those judged to be in full compliance and to sanction those that fail both to recognize human trafficking and to embrace the global discipline combating this transnational crime,” Warren said.

“My analyses show how state policies and practices in Colombia and Japan have reworked American standards in striking ways – being that these and other countries jockey to keep their U.S. State Department rankings high. It’s hysterical to watch in practice.”

She said that countries take the protocol and “try to change it with another national, domestic agenda. The protocol actually morphs in this process. It might, for instance, take on a new identity as an anti-immigrant vehicle. “Even as these countries are trying to play with this imposition from the U.S. government, they also want high rankings,” she said. “Everyone wants to be a tier 1.”

Colombia, a source country for trafficking, has a high tier ranking, Warren said, noting that it is “working very hard to reform its morals.” Japan, on the other hand, through 2004, was ranked tier 2. “It hurt their reputation,” Warren said. “Japan is the second largest economy in the world. It’s a sophisticated place.”

But it has been hard for Japan to move out of tier 2 status, Warren said: “Japan has a one billion dollar sex entertainment industry. It’s part of their corporate culture.” She said the global estimate of 600,000 to 800,000 trafficking victims each year has been used in government reports as a measure of a global tragedy, but asked, “Where did those numbers come from? There was no methodology.”

She asked, “Is criminal disorder actually defeated by these anti-trafficking processes? It’s not clear to me. Anti-trafficking policies have had important effects on state policies through the legal system, but it’s unclear to me that they have had very effective consequences for transnational organized crime.”

Added Warren, “The issue is: Would there be another way to measure, and another kind of methodology, that one could develop that would target the criminals?”

Adapted from: Sherry Fisher,"Speaker says efforts to reduce human trafficking ineffective."
The UConn Advance. 26 November 2007.

Victim in Trafficking Case Details Ex-wrestler's Control over Women

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:17:00 GMT

Strung out on drugs and reeling from the death of her daughter, Lexi thought she had hit rock bottom in that Cobb County, Georgia extended-stay hotel.

Then came the muscle-bound man in the black SUV. Former pro wrestler Harrison 'Hardbody' Norris Jr., shown giving his own opening argument, lured women by promising to turn them into wrestlers, but testimony by one of the women, 'Lexi,' illustrated how it was really a sex trafficking ring.

He pulled up to Lexi as night fell on a gas station parking lot off Windy Hill Road in June 2005. He introduced himself as "Hardbody" and asked Lexi whether she had ever considered a job in professional wrestling. She was flattered.

The guy seemed legit. He pulled out fliers from his training facility: the Southstar Championship Wrestling Alliance. And the eight women inside his GMC Denali said they were wrestling understudies, too. No matter that they were wearing mini-skirts and stiletto heels.

"Being on the streets, you get tired," she would say later. "This seemed like something positive in my life." Lexi disappeared into the SUV with the "HARDBDY" license plate and hoped it would take her to something better.

Instead, a federal jury ruled last week, 30-year-old Lexi had entered a sex trafficking ring run by Harrison "Hardbody" Norris Jr. The former pro wrestler was found guilty of peonage, forced labor, aggravated sexual abuse and sex trafficking involving Lexi and four other victims. In essence, he turned them into sex slaves at his two Cartersville homes. Jurors also found Norris, 41, guilty of conspiracy charges involving three other women.

Norris, who will be sentenced Feb. 28, faces life in prison under a 2000 law that has made it easier to punish those who force people into labor. No longer do prosecutors need shackles to prove a case. The anti-human-trafficking law recognizes that tools of imprisonment can be financial, psychological and physical. In a 2 1/2-week trial, the government painted Norris as a master of all three.

The testimony from "Lexi" — the name given to her in Norris' home — helped build that case. (Her real name is being withheld because she is the victim of a sex crime.) She declined to talk outside the courtroom, leaving some questions about her life unanswered.

The following account is taken from Lexi's day on the witness stand. Norris, who represented himself at trial, argued that the women had plenty of chances to leave. In cross-examining Lexi, he asked why she never cried out for help to people she encountered: doctors in the hospital, authorities in jail or security guards at nightclubs.

But jurors sided with Lexi. In sometimes graphic detail, she explained how she felt trapped in his web for nearly three months. Then one morning, with the help of a razor blade, she cut her way free. For Norris, that was the beginning of the end.

The night Lexi hopped into the Denali, she and the other girls hit Latino clubs around metro Atlanta. Men would pay them $5 for a dance. Lexi didn't think much of it when the women handed the money to Norris.

Just before daybreak, the group arrived at side-by-side homes along a suburban street in Cartersville, 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. "I'd been up for I don't know how long," Lexi told jurors from the witness stand, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. "I was exhausted."

Her grueling initiation was just beginning. Lexi had one week to master seven lists. Some were expectations to memorize. Others were duties to practice. They had names like "Hardbody's 10 Commandments" and "The Hallway of Pain."

Norris, a former Army sergeant and Gulf War veteran, ran the homes with military-like precision. He slept in the "General's Quarters." Norris told Lexi she was a "soldier" and pinned a stripe on her chest. She would be assigned a "team leader" named "Athena" whose real name was Aimee Allen, whom prosecutors called an unindicted co-conspirator in the case against Norris.

"We were never allowed to be alone," Lexi said. There was even a sign-in sheet for the bathroom. Norris, a 2001 national Toughman champion, put them on a strict diet. A typical dinner was three hard-boiled eggs, grapefruit juice and wheat toast.

Resisting Norris' orders didn't seem to be an option, Lexi said, something he made clear in one of her first sessions in the gym Norris built out back. Lexi, an asthmatic, had forgotten her inhaler. She was wheezing in the ring. Norris said she could retrieve it, but at a cost: Her entire team would be fined. So Lexi pressed on without it and nearly collapsed.

She sensed a strong bond forming with her teammates. "It felt like I was actually starting to belong somewhere." The training regimen grew more oppressive as the week wore on, however, particularly the session called "HB Training." "You think it's going to be something in the ring," she said. "But it wasn't. It was sex with [Norris]."

It wouldn't be the last time she had sex at Norris' request. Less than two weeks into her stay, he drove Lexi to a home in Rabun County for the last duty on her list: CPT, which meant "cut party training." "Cut parties" were forced orgies.

"I told him I really didn't feel comfortable doing anything like that," said Lexi, who had never been a prostitute. Norris, the man providing a roof over her head, somehow made her feel guilty. "He asked me was I 'in' or not?"

The pressure was compounded by the knowledge that her teammates would be fined if she refused. Lexi didn't want to let them down. She went into the living room, where three men were sitting on a couch. As Norris and other women watched, Lexi had sex with all three.

Soon after, she found out what really was expected at those Latino clubs.

The women would leave the Cartersville homes wearing long coats over their skimpy outfits. Norris' wife, after all, lived there with their daughter, the youngest of his three children. At the clubs, the women didn't always stop at a $5 dance. An additional $200 would buy one hour of sex in a car or a nearby hotel.

At the end of each night, Norris would divide up the money. Half went to him. Much of the rest went into envelopes labeled for various expenses, from rent to manicures. And if any of the women broke a rule, she'd have to pay a fine into a piggy bank labeled with the transgression. One was called "Talks Too Much."

When Norris bought Lexi's anti-seizure medication — she had diabetes — he added it to her bill. Lexi was working as a prostitute but falling into debt. By day, she learned wrestling moves and enjoyed announcing the matches. But there was nothing "pro" about this wrestling. Norris' friends and neighbors would watch. Nobody ever paid.

The real money rolled in when Norris would put on a leather trench coat filled with condoms and get behind the wheel of the Denali. Sometimes he'd take the women to other states. One trip, to a North Carolina casino, ended in disaster. The police pulled Norris over on suspicion of drunken driving. He was sober, but an ID check revealed Lexi had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation. She went to jail.

Norris told her to keep an eye out for recruits, "girls who didn't have anywhere to go." Lexi was surrounded by authorities but never thought of reporting Norris. She owed him money. "And I just thought it would make things worse for me," she said. "I'll be honest, there was never a time when the law worked for me."

That was about to change.

Lexi had grown close to "Sierra," another new member of the group. They'd chat for hours in the back of the Denali. Eventually, they realized they shared a goal: to escape Norris' control. While visiting a Michigan casino, Norris denied Sierra's request to see her sister. Lexi protested, and Norris flew into a rage. "He threatened to put me through the wall of the hotel."

Lexi believed him. She had heard Norris beat one of the other women. That night Norris didn't let Lexi have dinner. She suffered a diabetic seizure and ended up in the hospital. The time had come, she thought, to leave.

Lexi informed Norris of her decision. He tried to talk her out of it and reminded Lexi that she still owed him for medication. They agreed that one last trick would be enough to pay Norris back and buy a Greyhound ticket home, provided she also completed her chores. Lexi's teammates chipped in, helping her finish the list.

Lexi prostituted herself and asked Norris for bus fare. But he remembered a Western-style brothel portrait he had made with Lexi and the other girls. Now, if she left, it would be useless. She couldn't leave without paying him for that, too.

The next morning, Lexi's roommate — a "team leader" who was supposed to keep an eye on her — dozed off. Norris was in a bedroom down the hall, so walking out would be too risky. Lexi entered the bathroom and pretended to take a shower. With the water running, she pulled out a bladed tool used to scrape dead skin off her feet. She cut through the window screen, climbed up on the vanity and escaped — feet first.

Lexi tapped on Sierra's window, but there was no answer. She'd have to come back.

She ran to a nearby shop, where she asked a worker to call the police. Then she called Sierra's cellphone and begged her to make a run for it. The police were coming, it would be OK. "[Sierra] thanked me. She was afraid that I had left her."

Police arrested Norris and realized this was no ordinary prostitution ring. He had false imprisonment charges pending. A year earlier, three women shopping in Smyrna had dashed out of a store to a passing policeman. They said Norris was holding them against their will.

Now federal investigators took over and raided his Cartersville homes. During Norris' trial, prosecutors displayed one of the seized items. Lexi identified it as the chore list. Dozens of duties were beneath each woman's name.

A prosecutor asked Lexi to read the word scribbled across the bottom of the column with her name.

Lexi glanced at Norris, dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. Then she smiled and answered:

"Gone."

Adapted from: BRIAN FEAGANS, Victim in trafficking case details ex-wrestler's control over women." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 25 November 2007.

Former Wrestler Found Guilty on Human Trafficking Charges in Georgia

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:24:00 GMT

A federal jury returned guilty verdicts against former professional wrestler Harrison Norris Jr.

A federal jury returned guilty verdicts against former professional wrestler Harrison Norris Jr., known in the wrestling world as "Hardbody Harrison," on multiple charges of sex trafficking and slavery related to a scheme to force women into prostitution, announced Rena J. Comisac, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and David E. Nahmias, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

According to the charging documents and evidence presented at trial, Norris kidnapped some of his victims and lured others to come live with him by promising to train them as professional wrestlers. Once he got the women to his home, however, he instead forced them to work for him as prostitutes. The witnesses at trial described beatings Norris administered and threats he made to bend the women to his will. On one occasion, Norris
head-butted a woman and threatened to throw her through a hotel window when she would not engage in sex with two customers.

Witnesses also testified that Norris imposed a strict military structure in his home. The defendant assigned each of his victims to a "squad" overseen by an "enforcer," a woman conspiring with Norris to keep the victims in servitude. Witnesses also testified that Norris referred to himself as "the General"; sometimes made his victims sleep with him in "the
General's Quarters"; and pierced the victims' skin with a mark of their "rank" in the operation. Numerous witnesses also testified about parties at which the women were forced to have sex with numerous men and sometimes with other women. One woman testified that Norris forced her to sexually assault another woman during one of these parties. Evidence at trial
established that forced acts of prostitution occurred at Hispanic nightclubs, in apartments, at hotels, in the back of Norris' truck, and in North Carolina and Northern Georgia. The victims also testified that they were forced to have sex with Norris.

In addition to forcing the victims to work as prostitutes, the defendant made the women work in and around his two homes in Cartersville, Ga. Witnesses testified that Norris required the victims to haul trees, lay sod, and paint. The evidence at trial further established that Norris set strict rules and fined the women for such infractions as talking too much or failing to exercise. In addition, Norris kept the women financially indebted to him by charging them for cigarettes, medicine, and food. Norris then told the victims that they could not leave until their debts were paid, all while continuing to increase the debt he claimed he was owed.

The jury convicted Norris after two days of deliberation. In rendering its verdict, the jury specifically found that Norris' offenses involved aggravated sexual abuse. Because of this special finding, Norris faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"This jury has vindicated the rights of the numerous young women this defendant exploited, abused, and forced into prostitution. The Department of Justice will continue to prosecute vigorously matters, such as this one, involving the sexual exploitation of young women," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Rena J. Comisac.

United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said, "The evidence at trial clearly proved that Norris used force and threats of force against the victims forcing them to work as prostitutes against their will. Sex trafficking and other forced labor are forms of modern day slavery and cannot be tolerated."

Human trafficking prosecutions such as this one are a top priority of the Department of Justice. In the last seven fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, has increased by nearly seven-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court as compared to the previous seven fiscal years. In FY 2007, the Department
obtained a record number of convictions in human trafficking prosecutions. This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and officers of the Atlanta Police Department, Human Trafficking Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Coppedge and Department of Justice Civil Rights Attorney Karima Maloney prosecuted the case.

Adapted from: U.S. Department of Justice, "Former Wrestler Found Guilty on Human Trafficking Charges in Georgia." USNewswire. 23 November 2007.

Spotlight on Human Trafficking in the UK

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:29:00 GMT

The scale of human trafficking in Swindon and Wiltshire, UK, will come under the microscope at a meeting.

Stop the Traffik has organised a meeting for 27 November 2007. Those at the event will hear from Stop The Traffik's project manager and Emma Triplett who runs Fair Trade company Hatti Trading.

The event will also be addressed by a senior officer from Wiltshire Police who will reveal details of the force's involvement in Operation Pentamater - a national drive to halt human trafficking for the sex trade.

"People do say that this sort of thing doesn't happen here," said Sally Parker, regional representative for Stop The Traffik. "But that just isn't the case, it is very much here in this country and in Wiltshire.

This event is about raising its profile because for much of the time we here in Wiltshire will bury our heads in the sand over issues like this." Planning for the event began earlier this year after issues of modern day slavery were highlighted at the time of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

So far organisers have contacted politicians, teachers, faith and church leaders, Amnesty and victim support officers to drum up interest. "People can change their eating habits so that the foods they eat are fairly traded which means those involved in its production are not exploited. At the event we will talk about other changes we can make," said Sally.

The meeting will be staged at the University of Bath's Oakfield Campus in Marlowe Avenue, Swindon from 7.30pm.

Adapted from: Matthew Pardo, "Spotlight on Human Trafficking." thisiswindon.co.uk. 23 November 2007.

Filipino 'Sex Slaves' Rescued in Malaysia

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:32:00 GMT

Three women who were rescued from a flesh trade in Malaysia on November 9, 2007 and repatriated to the Philippines on November 15, 2007 filed charges of illegal recruitment and human trafficking against their recruiter.

The Manila Standard Today newspaper said Philippine Vice President Noli de Castro, the presidential adviser for overseas Filipino workers, accompanied the unnamed complainants to the Department of Justice in Manila, where they filed the charges. The recruiter is an unnamed Filipina.

In their complaint, the women recounted that a Filipina recruited them to work in Malaysia as waitresses. They said a Malaysian immigration officer facilitated their entry into Malaysia even without proper documents obtained from Philippine government agencies that regulate overseas employment.

Once in Malaysia, they were force to provide sexual services to customers. They were not allowed to leave a house where they were confined. They claimed there are 40 other Filipinas in the sex den in Labuan and the recruiter is hiring more from the Philippines.

Adapted from: Windsor Genova, "Filipino 'Sex Slaves' Rescued In Malaysia Sue Recruiters For Human Trafficking." allheadlinenews.com. 24 November 2007.

Arrests Made in Sex Trafficking Probe in the United Kingdom

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:34:00 GMT

Nine people have been arrested after a series of raids on 10 suspected brothels in Devon and Cornwall. The seven women and two men were arrested on suspicion of offences in connection with running a brothel.

The week of raids was part of Operation Pentameter - a national operation aimed at targeting people trafficking.

Twelve sex workers, all foreign nationals, were taken into protective custody but 11 told officers they had not been working against their will. The sex workers were from England, Korea, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Thailand.

One woman from China remains in protective custody after telling officers she had been coerced into sex work. Police raided addresses in St Austell, Truro, the Torbay area, Plymouth, Whimple and Exeter.

More than £12,000 in cash was also seized. The first Operation Pentameter in 2006 freed 84 women and teenage girls from brothels and massage parlours and led to 232 arrests.

It also led to the creation of the Human Trafficking Centre, aimed at stopping the trade and supporting victims.

Adapted from: "Arrests in sex trafficking probe." BBC News. 24 November 2007.

Should Human Trafficking Should be Taught in School in the Philippines?

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:36:00 GMT

If this NBI chief agent had his way, the problem of human trafficking and how not to be caught in the traffickers’ snares would be discussed among schoolchildren.

"Law enforcers should go to primary and secondary schools to educate kids, especially young girls, on human trafficking," said Ferdinand Lavin, chief of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division in the Philippines.

“The campaign should be focused on grades five to high school because these minors are often the target of syndicates," he added in a recent informal chat with reporters. He said the campaign should be mounted with the help of Department of Education officials.

"We should strengthen the preventive aspect, perhaps by information dissemination," he said. "IACAT (Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking) should also map out where the victims came from and focus on info dissemination in that particular area."

Lavin said he has long pushed for an information dissemination campaign, even taking up his idea with IACAT officials.

"We already made this appeal to the IACAT but we were told that there was no funding. That’s the problem," he said.

Adapted from: Tina Santos, "Human trafficking should be taught in school." Inquirer.net. 24 November 2007.

Britain Cracks Down on Human Trafficking

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:27:00 GMT

Britain is among a number of European countries cracking down on human trafficking, a virulent form of modern-day slavery.

The UK is a main destination in the international human trafficking market and, in the latest drive to stop the crime, police say they are targeting gang leaders and their trade routes.

Joanne is not her real name. She wants to remain anonymous. She says that when she left her war-ravaged home in Rwanda, she thought life would get better.

"It felt like a new chapter, a new life, a new beginning and I was desperate for that," she said. The man who smuggled her into Britain had other plans. "He forced himself on me, then he started bringing different people to gang rape [me]. He'll be [he was] paid in the process," she added.

Joanne says her entire family died in Rwanda's civil war of the 1990's and she had no one to help her. Leaving seemed like a good solution, but when she finally made it to Britain in 2000, another nightmare began.

"My first thought was to escape, but to where? I wanted to kill myself, but didn't have the means to do that. I wish I had died with my family," she said. Joanne is one of thousands here in Britain who have been sold into modern-day sexual slavery.

British government research suggests that 4,000 women involved in the illegal sex trade may have been brought to the country for that purpose, and the number may be twice that. Authorities say they are tightening controls in a new crackdown in hopes of surpassing previous efforts to curb and eliminate the trade.

In operations last year, police freed 84 women and teenage girls from brothels and massage parlors and made over 200 arrests. Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Kinsella, head of Britain's Human Trafficking Center, says the focus must increasingly be on the gangs that run the trade.

"We need to make this, the UK, a hostile environment for traffickers where if they are involved in trafficking activity, it's a high risk, low profit crime," he said. The UK is just one of the European destinations for human traffickers, who focus largely on the richer western European nations, such as Sweden, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

Nearby, in the Netherlands, figures show a 25 percent rise in the trade since prostitution was legalized in 2000.

To fight the trade, Sweden came up with a unique law in 1999, criminalizing those who buy sex. The penalty is a fine or up to six months' imprisonment. The Swedish government says the law is working and cites a substantial drop in trafficking.

The United Nations is now recommending that other countries consider the Swedish model. Speaking in her therapist's office here in London, Joanne says she was set free after 11 months, because her health began to fail and she was no longer useful to her trafficker. She says he let her go, but gave her devastating news.

"He said, 'I have HIV and I'm pretty sure I have infected you as well.' I went to a clinic and found out I was HIV positive which leads to AIDS and I totally lost my mind," she explained. Sister Patricia Mulhall is a Roman Catholic nun who works with the United Nations in developing legislation to stop the trade in humans.

"A drug is sold, it's gone, but a woman and a girl can be sold over and over and over again," she noted. Sister Mulhall says the message has to get to the men who pay for sex.

"I think we have to tackle the situation head-on. Look at the demanders and challenge the social behavior," she added. Mulhall says if the demand stops, the trade could cease to exist. But, Joanne says she is not hopeful. "It's happening, it is still happening and it's not going to end with me," she said.

Adapted from: Mandy Clark, "Britain Cracks Down on Human Trafficking." Voice of America. 27 November 2007.

West Africa Urged to Reduce Vulnerability of Children to Trafficking

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:34:00 GMT

At an international meeting on trafficking in children and armed conflict taking place from 26-28 November in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, urged governments of West and Central Africa to reduce the vulnerability of children to human trafficking.

Young victims of human trafficking can be found in many countries of the region: children - drugged, coerced, and forced to carry guns almost as big as themselves - become killers, child soldiers on the frontlines of savage conflicts; boys, with stones tied around their ankles, are forced to dive into dangerous waters to untangle nets (like on Lake Volta); girls, caught up in conflict, are forced into sex slavery; children, who should be at school, are working long hours in coco fields or in mines doing back-breaking work for almost nothing.

Mr. Costa warned that this crime has an impact far beyond the trauma suffered by these children, "for how can West Africa build a peaceful and prosperous future if its youth is being exploited, recycled, and scarred for life?"

Since many child soldiers are hooked on drugs, the UN's drugs chief underlined the need for drug treatment as an integral part of post-conflict rehabilitation.

He also stressed that more attention should be given to the plight of girls who are caught up in conflict situations because "they are twice as vulnerable: first, as victims of rape and sexual harassment perpetrated by armed groups; and second because they are seldom involved in disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration processes, nor provided with special rehabilitation programmes". He pointed out that this misery is compounded by HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases contracted as a result of being victims of human trafficking, leading to further stigmatization, trauma, and disease. "Let's make sure that victims of conflict do not become victims of trafficking", he said.

Noting that internally displaced people and refugees are highly vulnerable, Mr. Costa urged governments to make "extra efforts to ensure that safe havens do not become recruiting grounds for traffickers". He added that "it goes without saying that peacekeepers themselves should abstain from becoming part of the problem. The UN must show zero-tolerance for peacekeepers involved in sexual abuse and exploitation."

Mr. Costa appealed to the private sector in Africa, and doing business in Africa, to ensure that their supply chains and employment practices do not supporting human trafficking, warning that "your reputation is at stake".

He also urged consumers to use their purchasing power more forcefully: "do you really want to eat chocolate, drive on tires, or wear diamonds dripping with the blood and sweat of slave labour?"

To fight human trafficking, Mr. Costa called on all governments of West and Central Africa to implement the UN anti-trafficking Protocol which includes measures designed to criminalize human trafficking, prevent trafficking, prosecute the traffickers, and protect the victims. He also urged them to improve regional cooperation, and collect data on trafficking cases and trends so that policy is evidence-based.

During his visit to Cote d'Ivoire, Mr. Costa met with President Laurent Gbagbo and government ministers, and observed a basketball clinic against child trafficking and child soldiers in the former war-torn region of Bouake

Adapted from: "West Africa urged to reduce vulnerability of children to trafficking." ReliefWeb. 26 November 2007.

Review of the film "Holly"

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:54:00 GMT

The inspiration for "Holly," a docudrama about child sex-trafficking, came as Israeli-born producer Guy Jacobson inadvertently wandered into a notorious red light district in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh five years ago.

"It was a dusty street like any other, but suddenly, I was surrounded by 15 little girls -- 5, 6 and 7 years old -- who were aggressively soliciting me for sex," Jacobson said in a phone interview from his Manhattan apartment, now the headquarters of the Redlight Children Campaign he has co-founded to help fight child prostitution. "I was struggling to remove their hands, and most of them realized that I was not a potential client, but one of the littlest girls kept saying, 'I yum yum very good; I no money today, mama-san boxing me,' which meant the madam of her brothel would beat her up. I gave her $20 and walked away, but I knew I had to return and do something about this horrific problem."

In the summer of 2004, Jacobson did return to that dusty street and the adjacent brothels to film "Holly" -- accompanied by 40 bodyguards wielding M-16s to protect the cast and crew from gangsters.

The drama tells of Holly (Thuy Nguyen), a 12-year-old virgin, and Patrick (Ron Livingston), an American smuggler who becomes obsessed with saving her from the pervasive, government-backed industry. It proves to be a fool's errand, and while "Holly" has been lauded on the festival circuit (one reviewer called it "a work of serious, contemplative outrage"), it has also been criticized for "dousing its drama with the cold water of education," in the words of another.

Critics have also noted that it is among several recent films on sex trafficking, including "Trade" and the documentary, "Very Young Girls," which "is working its way into the popular culture since the U.S. Congress passed human trafficking legislation in 2000, said Carol Smolenski of ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes-USA). An estimated 2 million child sex workers toil in what the United Nations deems the fastest growing criminal enterprise worldwide.

The hyper-realistic portrayal of such a child's life has made "Holly" a darling of human rights activists (the United Nations hosted a VIP screening with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton [D-N.Y.] on the host committee); The New York Times published two stories on the movie, one also focusing on the Red Light campaign, before it opened in New York two weeks ago, earning a No. 2 slot for all-around box office receipts.

While the prostitution drama may well recoup its budget of several million dollars, the effort was not about the money, Jacobson insisted. "I don't mean to offend anybody, but for me, this is a global crime against humanity, similar to the Holocaust," he said. "And once you see the film, you can no longer say you didn't realize the scope of the problem, only that you don't care."

Jacobson, 44, said it is no coincidence that almost everyone involved in making the film grew up in Israel, including the writer-director, Guy Moshe, and New York financiers Smadar and Amit Kort, who were so moved by early drafts of the script that they vowed to give Jacobson whatever he needed to produce it. "We're used to operating under stress, and making this film was like a miniwar," he said.

Jacobson drew on his experience in Israeli intelligence during the Lebanon War to research "how a 12-year-old prostitute really feels" in Phnom Penh. While posing as a pedophile client, he chatted with the girls, their pimps and clients in cafes and "bought" a time upstairs with various girls in order to photograph their rooms, which were tiny, dirty, and decorated with magazine cutouts of puppies and kittens (he would ask them to take a shower so he could snap pictures and tell them he wasn't in the mood when they returned.)

It took 15 drafts (and Moshe's reworking of the script) to get the tone just right: "Go a bit too far and the film becomes unbearable, and if you don't go far enough, it won't raise awareness," Jacobson said. The filmmakers included neither sex nor nudity in order to avoid exploiting the subject matter.

Moshe said he also drew on his Israeli military service -- in an elite special forces unit in the Gaza Strip during the intifada -- to make the film. His job was to seek out and arrest terrorists, and while he declined to elaborate, he would say, "You're still a child mentally, but you're thrown into situations and experiences that many much older people never go through. It makes you identify more with people enduring the bleaker side of life."

Because of their wartime experiences, neither Moshe nor Jacobson were alarmed when they received a call from Interpol agents just before they were to begin production, reporting that contracts had been taken out on their lives. The filmmakers were advised to leave the country immediately.

"Then just three days before the shoot, we learned officials were going to shut down the movie unless we paid them an obscene amount of money," Moshe said. "We had to negotiate with them around the clock, and that debacle ended with me counting out $60,000 in cash -- with a bodyguard standing behind me -- to a delegate with his own bodyguard."

Moshe and Jacobson smuggled the scenes shot each day to secret locations outside of Cambodia ("That meant I didn't see dailies until 17 days into the shoot," Moshe recalled), and a co-producer was detained at the airport as she tried to leave the country with much of the equipment (she laid low for a week by hiding in seedy hotels under an assumed name).

The scene based on Jacobson's memories of being solicited by a 5-year-old posed a different set of challenges. Moshe obtained his child actors from an orphanage run by a social worker, who wanted to help eradicate the real-life problem. In order to protect the girls, who did not speak English, he taught them their lines phonetically so they did not know what they were saying. ( Two psychologists were on the set.)

"For me, that sequence epitomized what the whole film is about, and how sacred this subject is in a certain way," he said.

The film opens Nov. 23 at the Laemmle Theatres.

Holly
23 November 2007
The Laemmle Theatres.
Naomi Pfefferman, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Jewishjournal.com

Five South Koreans convicted in US over sex-trafficking ring

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:32:00 GMT

Five South Koreans were found guilty in a New York court of involvement in a sex-trafficking ring involving a string of brothels across the northeastern United States, officials said.

The five owned or managed brothels in Washington, New York and Connecticut that operated under the cover of massage parlors, spas and acupuncture clinics going by names such as "Magic Health Salon" and "OK Spa."

The five were convicted of conspiring to transport women across state and foreign borders to engage in prostitution and were among 31 people arrested in August last year and charged with immigration and trafficking offences.

The five, named as Sun Daneman, Hyang Ran Kim, Seng Hee Ryan, Jae Shim, and Tae Nam Thompson, face between five and 10 years in jail and are due to be sentenced in March next year.

An investigation began more than two years ago after a South Korean couple who owned a chain of brothels in New York City attempted to bribe an undercover detective to avoid being raided.

The resulting investigation turned up a network of brothels stretching from Rhode Island in the north to Washington, prosecutors said. At one location, investigators discovered more than 2,000 condoms hidden in picnic coolers.

According to prosecutors, the trafficking ring found women in South Korea who wanted to move to the United States and either smuggled them in through Canada or Mexico or provided them with false immigration documents.

The women would incur debts running into tens of thousands of dollars and would be forced to work as prostitutes to pay off their debts.

Adapted from: "Five South Koreans convicted in US over sex-trafficking ring." New York AFP. 10 November 2007.

Israel and Human Trafficking

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:56:00 GMT

Thousands of women are being smuggled into Israel where they are constantly subjected to violence and abuse, a new report says.

According to a parliamentary committee, the issue has created a booming sex trade industry which rakes more than $1 billion a year. Findings of the report showed that each year some 3,000 to 5,000 women are smuggled and sold into the prostitution industry where they face danger, threats and violence.

These women are brought into Israel on the false promises of jobs, education and a better future.

"When I was in the Ukraine, I had a difficult life," said Marina, who is a victim of sex slavery. She came to Israel in 1999 at the age of 33 after answering a newspaper advertisement offering the opportunity to study abroad.

"I was taken to an apartment in Ashkelon, and other women there told me I was now in prostitution. I became hysterical, but a guy starting hitting me and then others there raped me."

"I was then taken to a place where they sold me - just sold me!" she said, recalling how she was locked in a windowless basement for a month, drank water from a toilet and was deprived of food.

Like Marina, some trafficked women are brought into Israel legally, while others are smuggled by Bedouins across the border from Egypt. In all cases, the traffickers take away the women's passports before selling them on to pimps.

Sometimes the women are subjected to degrading human auctions, where they are stripped, examined and sold for $8,000-$10,000. The US State Department ranks Israel in the second tier of human trafficking around the world.

Most of these unfortunate women in Israel come from Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Russia.

Adapted from: "Israel ranks 2nd in human trafficking." pressTV. 17 Nov 2007.

Israeli State Still Falters on Human Trafficking

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:01:00 GMT

Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of slave labor and prostitution is a serious threat to Israel's national security, US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones told a joint session of the Knesset Committee for Foreign Workers and the Subcommittee on the Trafficking in Women.

"Once the channels of trafficking [humans] have been established then they can easily be used to smuggle drugs, arms and even terrorists into the country," Jones warned those gathered at the meeting, including representatives of the Justice, Interior, Welfare and Social Services ministries, as well as law enforcement officials and non-governmental organizations.

Jones presented the committee with the findings of the US State Department's 2007 annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), which was published in June. Israel was placed in the Tier 2 category of countries who have made efforts to combat trafficking in human beings but have yet to fully comply with the minimum requirements of the US State Department.

Israel's standing slightly improved on the previous year, when it was placed on the report's Tier 2 Watch List, which is just one level higher than the lowest - countries that completely refuse to comply with the State Department's requirements.

Israel's elevation to Tier 2 and off of the watch list was due in part to legislation passed in the Knesset last October, which broadened the definition of human trafficking and outlined stiffer punishments for those caught trafficking humans, explained Jones. However, Israel needed to make a greater effort to actually prosecute the perpetrators and increase awareness among the victims of their rights, he added.

"Israel has made significant progress in combating trafficking into the country but there are still many steps that can and should be taken to improve the situation," Jones said, adding that he hoped by the time of next year's report Israel would be elevated to the optimum Tier 1 status.

Trafficking in humans will lead to drugs, arms and even terrorist smuggling, US Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones said Monday at the Knesset.

"I believe that Israel not only has to make every effort to reach Tier 1 by next year, it actually has no choice but to make it there," MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), chair of the Foreign Workers Committee, told The Jerusalem Post following the meeting. "I think that with all the pressure from politicians interested in this subject we have a good chance of getting there."

Jones pointed to the appointment in June 2006 of Rachel Gershuni, Israel's inter-office liaison on trafficking in persons, as another step in the right direction.

A lawyer by training, Gershuni presented to the committee some of the efforts initiated over the past year, including an agreement with Thailand to ensure basic conditions for workers arriving here. She also said that her department would use the TIP report to evaluate activities in other countries around the world, including leveraging private companies to combat trafficking. Israel's national airline carrier El Al is one example of a company that could be utilized to disseminate information to foreign workers coming into Israel, said Gershuni.

Among other activities to be put in motion in the coming months, Gershuni described the establishment of safe houses countrywide for foreign workers and prostitutes who fall victim to trafficking or slave labor conditions and increased legal assistance for those victims to prosecute their former employees.

Another issue that was raised in the meeting was the handing out of visas to victims of trafficking who want to stay in Israel following their ordeal.

MK Zehava Gal-On (Meretz), head of the Subcommittee on the Trafficking of Women, said a firm policy should be established by the Interior Ministry to issue visas to all foreign nationals that have been enslaved in Israel either for purposes of labor or prostitution. Currently, the ministry assesses each case individually and hands out visas as a humanitarian gesture.

A representative of the Interior Ministry's Population Registry said, "When it has been determined the person is a victim we usually do not have a problem handing out the [required] visas. Our staff has started to undergo training to identify such victims."

"Trafficking in humans is not only a threat to our national borders," Gal-On said. "Fortitude is also measured by how a country protects is weakest people."

Jones ended the meeting by calling on all governmental bodies and NGOs to work together to eliminate trafficking completely from our society.

"Just as traffickers use networks to transfer people around the world, so do governments need to establish networks to prevent or eliminate such exploitation," he said.

Adapted from: RUTH EGLASH, "State still falters on human trafficking." The Jerusalem Post. 20 November 2007.

West African Human Trafficking is Catalyst for Child Abuse

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:05:00 GMT

Akissi was not even 10 when she was sent abroad from Togo to work as a domestic servant for a woman who beat her and twice forced chilli peppers into her vagina to punish her.

Now 15 and struggling to care for her 6-month-old baby and a husband who beats her, Akissi's tale was discovered by researchers investigating the psychological effects of child trafficking in West Africa and the way it encourages abuse.

Researchers for U.S.-based non-profit development agency Plan International, who shared their findings with Reuters ahead of Monday's World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse, gave the girl the pseudonym Akissi to protect her identity.

Working with researchers, Akissi drew a "life-line", with flowers to represent good experiences and stones for bad ones.

A green flower marks her return from domestic servitude in Benin to her village in Togo at the age of 12. A black stone indicates when she was raped there before her next birthday.

Akissi is severely traumatised by past and present abuse, and is at serious risk of committing suicide by consuming agricultural chemicals, having already tried to do so once, Plan researchers say.

"There are very few institutions ready to help them ... there is no psychological support for these children. Their families do not understand, and sweep it under the carpet," said Plan's Serigne Mor Mbaye, who worked on the pilot research programme in Togo that interviewed Akissi.

"This really is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"MODERN SLAVERY"

The U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year into what it calls "the modern-day equivalent of slavery".

This trafficking takes many forms in West Africa, encouraged by a tradition of "placing" young children with families of wealthier relatives to receive an education or learn a trade.

"It's a high-risk practice," Mbaye said.

"Many of those who are placed are victims of abuse. This traditional practice continues to happen, but (social) solidarity does not function like before," he said, adding that many children are placed these days with unrelated strangers.

The Plan research in Togo found most trafficked children went to Nigeria, girls generally as domestic servants and boys working in agriculture, markets or serving food.

Different types of child trafficking networks have sprung up in other parts of West Africa.

Police in tiny Guinea-Bissau uncovered a trafficking network last week when they found over 50 young boys headed to Senegal, where hundreds of children sent from neighbouring countries to attend Koranic schools end up begging for coins on street corners.

"You should have seen the state they were in. Aged between 4 and 21, these exhausted children were barefoot, poorly clothed, some naked from the waist up," said Carlos Abdulai Djalo, governor of the Bafata region where the 52 children were found.

Rights activists have campaigned against the use of "child slave" labour on farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together produce most of the world's cocoa beans. But researchers have said the situation is often more nuanced than appears, with children working on family-owned fields in traditional fashion.

The child trafficking debate has been revived by the arrest last month in Chad of French humanitarian activists on child kidnapping charges over a bid to fly 103 children to Europe.

The children were presented as orphans from Darfur, even though most turned out to be from villages in the Chad/Sudan border area and had at least one living parent. (Editing by Pascal Fletcher)

Adapted from: Alistair Thomson, "African human traffic is catalyst for child abuse." Reuters. 18 Nov 2007.

Lucy Liu Presents MTV Human Trafficking Documentary

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:10:00 GMT

Actress Lucy Liu, star of the new ABC series Cashmere Mafia, will present Traffic: An MTV EXIT Special, a documentary on human trafficking that premieres in Singapore today.

The documentary is aimed at raising awareness and increasing prevention of human trafficking in the Asia Pacific. The program is the lead feature of the MTV EXIT campaign across Asia and the Pacific, an expansion of the successful MTV EXIT European campaign that launched in Europe in 2004. MTV EXIT television programming is produced rights-free and free of charge for all broadcasters and organizations.

Lucy Liu joins other Asian celebrities, including Korea’s pop icon Rain, Thailand’s Tata Young, Greater China’s Karen Mok, and Bollywood star and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta, to raise awareness about this issue. A number of different language versions of the documentary have been produced, including English, Korean, Thai, Japanese, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese, among others. MTV is also working closely with broadcasters in other territories to produce more language versions with local celebrities.

Traffic tells the stories of real people who unknowingly became part of the trafficking chain, including Anna, who was trafficked from the Philippines and forced into prostitution; Eka, an Indonesian woman trafficked into forced domestic servitude and a life of slavery; and Min Aung from Burma, who was trafficked to Thailand and imprisoned for two years in a factory. Their stories are told alongside other people in the trafficking chain, including a trafficker from the Philippines who has been forcing girls into prostitution for over 20 years and a woman who runs a shelter in Singapore for victims of trafficking and other abuses. The documentary also provides information on how individuals can protect themselves against trafficking, as well as what people can do to help end exploitation and trafficking.

"Human trafficking has become a critical human rights issue facing young people across Asia and the Pacific,” said Bill Roedy, the vice chairman of MTV Networks. “Victims are subject to horrendous abuses, including rape and torture, with women and girls particularly affected. MTV EXIT is part of our commitment to highlighting issues affecting young people in Asia and across the world, and we are delighted that Lucy Liu is joining us and lending her powerful voice to the fight against trafficking and exploitation.”

Adapted from: Irene Lew,"Lucy Liu Presents MTV Human Trafficking Doc." WorldScreen.com. 20 November 2007.

Anthropology Says Efforts to Reduce Human Trafficking Ineffective

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:33:00 GMT

An international monitoring project designed to combat human trafficking is flawed, according to Brown University anthropology professor Kay Warren.

Warren made her remarks during this year’s Robert G. Mead Jr. Lecture, held in the Student Union Theatre on Nov. 8, 2007. The lecture, on human trafficking around the world, was part of the University’s celebration of International Week.

The Colombia-to-Japan trade fits into this category. Women, mostly in their 20s, are recruited from Colombia to go to Japan for the country’s sex entertainment industry, she said.

“That may range from anything from bar hostessing with no touching at all, to what would be regarded as coercive and violent sexual exploitation,” said Warren.

“The TIP reports are widely circulated four-tier rankings designed to reward those judged to be in full compliance and to sanction those that fail both to recognize human trafficking and to embrace the global discipline combating this transnational crime,” Warren said.

“Even as these countries are trying to play with this imposition from the U.S. government, they also want high rankings,” she said. “Everyone wants to be a tier 1.”

Colombia, a source country for trafficking, has a high tier ranking, Warren said, noting that it is “working very hard to reform its morals.”

Japan, on the other hand, through 2004, was ranked tier 2. “It hurt their reputation,” Warren said. “Japan is the second largest economy in the world. It’s a sophisticated place.”

But it has been hard for Japan to move out of tier 2 status, Warren said: “Japan has a one billion dollar sex entertainment industry. It’s part of their corporate culture.”

She said the global estimate of 600,000 to 800,000 trafficking victims each year has been used in government reports as a measure of a global tragedy, but asked, “Where did those numbers come from? There was no methodology.”

Added Warren, “The issue is: Would there be another way to measure, and another kind of methodology, that one could develop that would target the criminals?”

Adapted from: Sherry Fisher, "Speaker says efforts to reduce human trafficking ineffective." The UConn Advance. 26 November 2007.

Economic Crisis Fueling Child Labor and Trafficking in Burma

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:01:00 GMT

The economic crisis and instability in Burma is driving waves of Burmese children into hard labor, begging and the sex trade, claims exiled Burmese rights groups.

To mark the fourth anniversary of the international Day Against Child Trafficking on December 12, Mae Sot-based organization Burma Anti-Child Trafficking and the Burmese Migrant Workers' Education Committee organized a campaign in the Thai border town of Mae Sot against the trafficking of children and warning against the hardships of child labor.

The two groups called for the protection of children’s rights in an event that was attended by some 2,000 children, parents and teachers.

Nang Muu, coordinator of the Burma ACT told The Irrawaddy: “The amount of Burmese children trafficked increases year after year. It is because of the economic crisis and the social problems that parents believe the word of traffickers.”

Often, parents of children and teenagers in Burma are persuaded by businessmen, relatives and friends to send their children abroad—usually to Thailand, China, India, Malaysia or Indonesia—to seek jobs with better salaries than exist in Burma, according to a member of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, a Mae Sot-based migrant rights group.

Migrant “street children” in Thailand feature in no official statistics and NGOs can only hazard a guess at their true number—20,000 is a generally accepted figure. A 2005 report released by Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University highlighted the vulnerability of migrant street kids. Children were found at shopping malls, weekend markets, train and bus stations, slum districts and bar areas, said the report.

Burma ACT has documented about 70 cases of child trafficking in 2007 and helped to send four trafficked children from Mae Sot back to their homes in cooperation with other rights groups, said Nang Muu. Meanwhile, the results of child trafficking has had a huge impact on the education of many Burmese migrant children, forcing the children into hard labor in factories, sweat shops and even into the sex trade, according to Burmese migrant education groups.

Many victims under the age of 18 have become street beggars and sex workers instead of studying at school, said Paw Ray, the chairperson of the BMWEC, which operates nearly 50 schools for children of Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot.

Paw Ray, who is also a director of Hsar Thu Lay School in Mae Sot— a learning centre for orphans, refugees and Burmese migrant children—said, “Children are our future. We should take care of them and protect them. We should let them express their feelings freely.” Due to the difficulties of daily survival, some parents are forcing their children to work and some children are even sold by their parents, said Paw Ray.

Meanwhile, Penpisut Jaisanit, a Rajabhat University researcher who conducted a study around northern Thailand’s border with Burma’s Shan State, said most child laborers were ethnic children from Burma. “We found that the ethnic children were forced to beg by their parents, especially in Mae Sai. If they cannot collect enough money they are punished. Some girls under the age of 15 work in ‘entertainment centers’ and are sexually harassed at an age when they should be in school,” said Penpisut.

“We should not sit back and watch. Rights groups should cooperate and try to stamp out the trafficking of children and highlight the issue,” urged Paw Ray, adding: “The Burmese regime is responsible for this.”

However, Thailand’s Minister of Labor, Somsak Thepsutin, has indicated that it would be another ten years before the worst forms of child labor are eradicated in Thailand. Burmese child laborers were unearthed in six of Thailand’s provinces, from Chiang Rai in the north to Songkhla in the south, said researcher Penpisut Jaisanit.

Ne Oo, the secretary of the BMWEC, tells the parents that if their children don’t receive an education they will have hard lives: “It’s difficult for us to help those [migrant families] with their daily survival. We explain to them the comparison between the lives of educated people and uneducated people,” he said.

Ne Oo added that many children lack the interest in education and said he had noted some 40 Burmese street kids coming every day to collect plastic and rubbish under the bridge linking Burma’s Myawaddy town and Thailand’s Mae Sot. “They [migrant children] don't get pocket money if they attend school. If they collect plastic and sell it, they earn at least 20 baht per day. So, they prefer to keep working as street children,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Rangoon resident told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the amount of street children in the former capital is now increasing. “Many children aged between 4 and 13 are begging on the streets. Some young children are carrying babies and begging. Some street children look for plastic in the rubbish bins and dumps and some go fishing every day for their daily survival,” she said.

The Rangoon resident added: “If we are sitting and eating in a shop, they [child beggars] come to us and wait for money. They will wait until we have finished eating.” Ne Oo concluded: “We try to explain to the parents of these children. We told them that the life of an uneducated person is hard. How can they expect their children to survive in the future?”

Adapted from: Saw Yan Naing, "Economic Crisis Fueling Child Labor, Trafficking."
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9627 18 December 2007.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Cracks Down on Human Trafficking

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:37:00 GMT

The Ho Chi Minh City Association of Child Protection on October 19, 2007 held a meeting with relevant agencies to discuss measures against women and children trafficking.

Police also released a list of 15 suspects of illegal human trafficking and 64 others suspected to have arranged illegal marriages to foreigners.

Although HCM City is not a hotbed, it is used by the bandits as a transit port, police said.

They emphasized on preventive measures and called on relevant agencies and social organizations to be active in the fight as the country is intensifying an overall action plan against women and girls trading

Adapted from: "HCM City cracks down on human trafficking." Mathaba News Agency. 21 October 2007.

NGOs in Israel Warn Against Plan to Increase Russian Visas

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:37:00 GMT

However, Russia is considered a transit destination for trafficking operations, with many men, women and children from neighboring countries arriving there before being transported elsewhere.

Egypt has no visa requirements for Russian visitors, and its border with Israel is considered to be a main entry point for human traffickers.

In the 2006 report, Israel was listed on the Tier 2 (Watch List) category - one level before the US imposes sanctions on a country. Russia currently appears in the same category.

"We need to be ready to go back to that [level of problems]," continued Chaikin. "Our status has improved, but if this [visa] change is not properly monitored, we could end up back where we were."

Although she believes it is most likely too late to prevent the visa change from going ahead, Chaikin said the government must still take steps to continue fighting human trafficking.

Government-appointed attorney Rachel Gershoni, the national coordinator in the battle against trafficking, refused to comment on the pending visa arrangement between Israel and Russia.

Adapted from: RUTH EGLASH,"NGOs warn against plan to increase Russian visas." The Jerusalem Post. 23 October 2007.

MTV, Rain Campaign Against Human Trafficking

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:42:00 GMT

MTV, one of the world's largest and influential television network, has launched "End Exploitation and Trafficking'' (EXIT), a global campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking.

Along with Thai star Tata Young, Korea's pop singer Rain has joined in the action as the front man for the Asia Pacific region.

"This is a form of slavery that still exists today, and I don't think enough people are aware of that,'' said Simon Goff, 30, campaign director for MTV EXIT, told The Korea Times at MTV Korea in central Seoul.

Goff explained that the issue "was getting some attention from the media but certainly not directed toward young people… We're the biggest broadcaster in the world so we have the ability to target messages and target our audience, so on a pro-social level it works very well."

In every country, celebrities' involvement increases the impact on massive messages immeasurably. If you put out a documentary, x number of people will watch it; if you put something with Rain in it… it will quadruple the number of people tuning into it,'' he said.

Actress Angelina Jolie, for example, hosted a documentary titled "Inhuman Trafficking'' and supermodel and photographer Helena Christensen and Pelle Almqvist from Swedish rock band the Hives presented short films for MTV EXIT. Last summer, there was also a large-scale concert tour across Europe.

On Saturday and Sunday, a series of street performances featuring highlights of the documentary and live skits created a buzz in Daehakno and Hongdae, two hot spots in northern Seoul.

In countries like Korea and Japan where human trafficking is less reported, "it is a difficult issue. We have these issues in Western Europe as well,'' said the British native. Nobody likes to be told they're an exploited country… but it's important to acknowledge that it's happening.''

Future of Trafficking

As for the future of the human trafficking issue, Goff said, "I think it'll get through there… Obviously 20 years ago, HIV/AIDS campaign started coming out and it was a bit taboo at the time. But the government began to understand the importance.'' The director had also been part of MTV's 2002 HIV/AIDS campaign ``Staying Alive,'' in which stars like Diddy and Alicia Keys participated.

However, Goff pointed out that organized criminal networks primarily run the lucrative trafficking business in countries like Korea and Japan, which not only makes it difficult to gather exact statistics but also makes it challenging to crack down.

It is thus up to individuals to initiate a change. "As a consumer you're part of this issue,'' said the director, explaining that consumers in Korea and elsewhere could well be eating shrimp that involves forced labor.

As Bridget, a social worker helping victims recover says in the film, "If everyone is aware that we are part of the problem and part of the solution then we can exercise our responsibility to uphold social justice for all.''

Tune into the documentary, to premiere on Korea's MTV channel at 10:20 p.m., Oct. 27 (Sat.). Catch the reruns at 9:20 p.m., Oct. 29 (Mon.) and 5:30 p.m., Oct. 31 (Wed.). No English subtitles.

Based in Bangkok, MTV EXIT Asia was launched across Thailand, India, China and the Philippines. After Korea it will continue on to Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Adapted from: Lee Hyo-won, " MTV, Rain Campaign Against Human Trafficking." The Korea Times. 23 October 2007.

Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings Will Enter into Force

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:45:00 GMT

The Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS n° 197) will enter into force on 1 February 2008, following the ratification by Cyprus as the tenth country to ratify it.

On this occasion Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, made the following statement:

The main features of the new Convention include:

compulsory assistance measures and a recovery and reflection period of at least 30 days for the victims of trafficking;
the possibility to deliver residence permits to victims not only on the basis of cooperation with the law enforcement authorities, but also on humanitarian grounds;
the possibility to criminalise “the clients”;
a non-punishment clause for the victims of trafficking;
a strengthened international cooperation system and an independent monitoring mechanism, GRETA, which will monitor the proper implementation of the Convention by the Parties.

Adapted from:"Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings Will Enter into Force." Coucil of Europe. 25 October 2007.

Houston, Texas Major Hub for Human Trafficking

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:48:00 GMT

Large ring kept up to 120 women in virtual slavery.

If you think you've identified a victim of human trafficking, call 911 or the national Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. For information locally, contact the Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition at 713-306-0583. Here are some questions to ask a suspected trafficking victim:
• What type of work do you do?

• Are you being paid?

• Can you leave your job if you want to?

• Can you come and go as you please?

• Have you or has your family been threatened?

• What are your working conditions like?

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The picture, with its implicit threat, was all it took.

It was taken just before Christmas 2004. She had been thinking about running away from the windowless bar on Houston's northwest side, where he kept her and other women, forcing some of them into prostitution while they paid off their "debts."

But Maximino "Chimino" Mondragon knew of her plans.

Carrying a camera and Christmas presents for the woman's daughter, he had appeared unannounced at her family's home in El Salvador. The woman, who was not identified by authorities, told investigators that Mondragon had talked his way into the home by saying the gifts were from her.

"By the way," Mondragon reportedly asked her parents, "would you mind taking a photo of me with the little girl?"

There were no more plans of escaping.

With similar threats, Mondragon and a network of family members and associates operated one of the largest human trafficking rings in U.S. history in which as many as 120 women were held captive and coerced to work off their smuggling debts. Some of the women were raped and forced to have abortions.

Mondragon's operation collapsed in November 2005 when the women were freed and he and seven other defendants from El Salvador and Honduras were arrested on federal human trafficking charges.

All eight defendants in the case have pleaded guilty in Houston courtrooms, but only one woman — a Honduran accused of providing the abortions — has been sentenced. The remaining sentencings are scheduled for this winter.

Houston a trafficking hub
The Mondragon case underscores the need to raise awareness about human trafficking, which still largely operates "under the radar" despite major efforts to combat the crime in recent years, said Ed Gallagher, the deputy chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston. The U.S. State Department estimates that 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year, but the vast majority are never identified as victims.

Gallagher said the Mondragon case was remarkable because of the large number of victims. The only U.S. case with more certified human trafficking victims was based in American Samoa, and involved a ring that forced hundreds of Vietnamese and Chinese to work in a factory, officials said.

Maritza Conde-Vazquez, a special agent with the FBI, said Houston is a popular trafficking hub in part because the city is so diverse, with large Hispanic, Asian and Middle Eastern populations, which allows traffickers and their victims to blend into local communities. The city's major port and proximity to the border also influence its position as a major distribution point for traffickers.

Recognition of the growing problem in Houston has spawned coalitions and task forces that include law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations, Gallagher said. The joint efforts have led to major cases, and helped put Texas behind only California in the number of registered human trafficking victims, with 252 reported since 2001, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"It's everywhere. It's in restaurants and so-called spas. A lot of them are fronts for cantinas and brothels," said Deputy Edwin Chapuseaux of the Harris County Sheriff's Department. "Wherever there is some kind of labor, there's a possibility human trafficking could be happening."

The Department of Justice estimates that human trafficking is the third-most-profitable criminal activity in the world, after drug and arms trafficking, with an estimated $9.5 billion generated annually worldwide.

Nationally, prosecutions of human traffickers are increasing, according to Department of Justice statistics. The DOJ reported a record number of defendants charged and convicted in connection with human trafficking in fiscal year 2006, while the number of investigations that year increased more than 20 percent from the previous year, to 167 from 138.

'Modern-day slavery'
Gallagher said human trafficking is often confused with smuggling, but differs substantially. To fit the legal definition of human trafficking, a crime must involve using force, fraud or coercion. Recent cases in Houston have ranged from domestic servitude to forced prostitution rings.

"In many cases, they are brought into modern-day slavery," Gallagher said. "They are exploited repeatedly, and they are treated as a commodity rather than a human being."

Under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, victims who cooperate with authorities on trafficking cases are permitted to stay in the U.S. legally, at least temporarily while the case moves through the court system. Some victims meet the qualifications for a "T-visa," a trafficking visa, which also offers a path toward legal residency. The rules are slightly different for children and teens, who are sometimes too vulnerable to be compelled to testify.

Chapuseaux, an investigator on the local human trafficking task force, lives with the images from the Mondragon case. He has a picture of a stillborn baby born at a Houston hospital, perfectly formed at five or six months, the result of the abortion-inducing drugs. He said he struggles with the memory of a 17-year-old Salvadoran girl who was purchased from the Mondragon ring by a source working for investigators. She was raped on a mattress in a room behind the bar before the source could pick her up, Chapuseaux said.

Mondragon and his co-defendants worked with Walter Alexander Corea, an admitted smuggler, to bring the women to Houston and force them to work in cantinas on the northwest side, including Mi Cabana Sports Bar, El Portero de Chimino Bar and Huetamo Night Club, prosecutors said. If a customer just wanted a beer, it would cost $2 or $3, depending on the brand. But if the customer wanted the company of a girl, a Corona would cost $13, investigators said. Of that, $9 went to pay down the debt from the smuggling.

When authorities raided the apartments where the women lived on Houston's northwest side, they found 98 possible victims, witnesses and suspects, officials said. Eventually, the number of victims in the Mondragon case grew to about 120.

Lorenza Reyes-Nunez, aka "La Comadre," who was accused of performing abortions, took a deal with the government. The Honduran woman was accused of giving pregnant women an herbal supplement that induced abortions, often late in the pregnancies.

One woman who took the drugs in a failed abortion attempt weeks later had a baby born with a hole in his heart and vision problems, investigators said. Reyes-Nunez pleaded guilty in August 2006 to obstruction of justice for encouraging women to destroy evidence. She was sentenced to time served in prison while the case waited for trial and marked for deportation to Honduras.

In January and February, sentencings are scheduled for Maximino Mondragon; his brother Oscar Mondragon; half brother Victor Omar Lopez; and the wives or ex-wives of the Mondragon brothers, Olga Mondragon and Maria Fuentes. Corea and his son, Kerin Silva, also are scheduled for sentencing this winter.

Long-term damage
Prosecutors and investigators said it's unclear whether the victims will testify at the sentencings. The lore of the trafficking ring is still powerful, investigators said, especially since the network operated in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Officials declined to allow a reporter to speak with the victims because the case is still pending. Some of the women have returned home, while others have settled in Houston or Dallas with visas that allow them to work legally in the U.S., their attorneys said.

Some have suffered long-term psychological damage, while others have health problems, such as sexually transmitted diseases from their time as prostitutes, advocates said. One woman who drank heavily while working in the Mondragon ring's cantinas suffered serious kidney damage and is on dialysis two to three times a week, Chapuseaux said.

"She has one foot in the grave," he said. "It's just a matter of time."

Adapted from: SUSAN CARROLL, "Houston major hub for human trafficking
Large ring kept up to 120 women in virtual slavery." Houston Chronicle. 28 October 2007.

'Ethical Traveler' Raises Awareness about Child Prostitution in Cambodia

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:09:00 GMT

Four non-profit groups have come together this year to launch a campaign to help stop and bring about awareness of Cambodia’s child sex trade.

Driven by Berkeley-based Ethical Traveler, the campaign will feature a letter-writing drive in the hopes to pressure the government to pass and enforce laws to protect minors. Global Exchange, Not For Sale Campaign and ECPAT-Cambodia will join Ethical Traveler in its cause. The letters will all be sent from travellers straight to Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism, urging him to use his name and influence to help abolish the now thriving sex slave industry.

"Cambodia relies on tourist dollars for much-needed foreign exchange," said Jeff Greenwald, Ethical Traveler's Executive Director. "Child sex tourism is a threat to the future of this developing nation, and to its appeal as a legitimate travel destination."

Victims of sex slavery are often treated as illegal immigrants in Cambodia and are sent to prison, whilst their traffickers go unpunished. The letter writing campaign aims to disrupt the attitudes and laws surrounding victims.

"We have created a simple, easy, and direct way for concerned people from around the world to write the government of Cambodia, urging it to take action to stop child prostitution," said Greenwald. "Tourism is a major economic force in Cambodia. By joining together, travelers can influence Cambodia to protect vulnerable children even as it protects its reputation as a world-class tourist destination."

For more information on this campaign, or to send a letter to the Cambodian Minister of Tourism, please visit http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/cambodia.

Human Trafficking Should Be Taught in Philippines' Schools

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:22:00 GMT

If this NBI chief agent had his way, the problem of human trafficking and how not to be caught in the traffickers’ snares would be discussed among schoolchildren.

Lavin said he has long pushed for an information dissemination campaign, even taking up his idea with IACAT officials.

"We already made this appeal to the IACAT but we were told that there was no funding. That’s the problem," he said.

Adapted from: Tina Santos, "Human trafficking should be taught in school." Inquirer.net. 24 November 2007.