Police Investigate Sex Trafficking Allegations - 1/30/10 - Fresno News - abc30.com

Saturday, January 30, 2010

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Police have uncovered evidence of human trafficking for sex in Fresno.

Officers busted a massage parlor at Fresno and Gettysburg this week, and found evidence that young immigrant women from China may have been forced to work as prostitutes at the New China Massage parlor at Fresno and Gettysburg.

We've been told it was a busy place, with customers coming in every half an hour, day and night. With different groups of young Asian women providing massages, and police say prostitution.

By the signs in the window it looks like a place to get a foot massage. But Fresno Police believe this place was selling sex.

"Numerous complaints and tips that there may be illegal activity going on, specifically prostitution," said Jeff Cardinale, Fresno Police Spokesperson.

Massage parlor busts are nothing new. In recent years Police in Fresno, Clovis and Visalia have discovered some parlors are fronts for prostitution. But in this case it appears the prostitutes may be victims as well. Police believe that just as young women from China have been pressed into prostitution in San Francisco and Los Angeles, it's happening in the Fresno area.

"There's some concerns about human trafficking here," Cardinale said.

That's not a surprise to women's advocate Patsy Montgomery. "Who is being trafficked. It's often people who are young. It's often women and they are often doing menial work for no money at all and that is slavery."

Montgomery believes along with prostitutes and massage parlor workers, there are many others from Asia and Latin America pressed into forced labor. "The sex slave industry, or as a domestic worker, in agriculture, all areas where they are vulnerable."

Fresno police are conducting an extensive investigation. They arrested one owner of this business, and one worker. They are looking for another girl, but witnesses say there has been a constant turnover of Chinese girls here every week for months. Witnesses also say they roamed the parking lot trying to attract customers. But Police believe most didn't volunteer to be prostitutes.

"Then when they get here they don't realize what they are getting themselves into and by that time it's too late. And they are really taken advantage of and unfortunately it looks like that was the case here," Cardinale said.

Police believe the women that worked here arrived in Los Angeles from China and are then circulated to massage parlors throughout Fresno, the valley and the state.

(Copyright ©2010 KFSN-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)



Police Investigate Sex Trafficking Allegations - 1/30/10 - Fresno News - abc30.com

CTV News | Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

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Sunday Jan. 31, 2010
Jan. 31, 2010. (AP / Andres Leighton)

CTV.ca News Staff

Ten Americans from a church group were being held Sunday in Haiti, after they tried to bus 33 children out of the country, just as stories of possible child trafficking are being told in the country.

The church members said they were trying to take traumatized children to the Dominican Republic, but officials say they lacked the proper documents.

The group was arrested Friday night in a bus along with the children, aged 2 months to 12 years.

The church group said they were taking the children to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

"In this chaos the government is in right now, we were just trying to do the right thing," the group's spokeswoman, Laura Silsby, told The Associated Press in Port-au-Prince.

The group is being held before a Monday hearing with a judge. No charges have been laid.

The Baptist church group was planning to take up to 100 children and take them by bus to a 45-room hotel in the Dominican Republic, which would be converted into an orphanage, Silsby said.

In 2007, intergovernmental International Organization for Migration reported that fake adoption agencies were selling children to rich Haitians and foreigners for as much as US$10,000.

Silsby said her group paid no money for the children and they were obtained from a Haitian pastor named Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

Solveig Routier, of Plan International, told CTV News Channel Sunday afternoon that is of the utmost importance that aid agencies follow the laws of the country they are in, even if they have the best intentions.

She also said she had heard the stories of child trafficking.

‘Poverty is quite high, after the earthquake people are in quite desperate situations," she said in a telephone interview from Port-Au-Prince.

Routier said Haiti's system most be followed, as some children may be orphans, but have other relatives in the country.

With files from The Associated Press

CTV News | Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

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US Intensifies Eforts to Prevent Trafficking in Haiti

By Jane Morse

Washington — The State Department announced it is stepping up its efforts to prevent human trafficking — particularly of children — in post-earthquake Haiti.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti January 12 — and the strong aftershocks that followed — killed tens of thousands. Many children were separated from their families in the confusion, exposing them to a greater risk of being trafficked by the unscrupulous.

Even before the earthquake, the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons had been working with Haitian authorities to control human trafficking. According to the State Department’s most recent Trafficking in Persons Report, Haiti is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. The report says several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in Haiti noted that in 2008 there had been a sharp increase in the number of Haitian children trafficked for sex and labor to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Although Haitian officials recognize that human trafficking is a serious problem in their country, Haitian law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, which limits the Haitian government’s ability to punish traffickers and protect victims. This is made worse by Haiti’s political instability and lack of resources, the State Department report says.

At a January 29 press briefing, Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said U.S. officials assisting in the post-earthquake relief efforts have noted a few cases involving pedophiles attempting to adopt Haitian children.

Crowley, in a statement released January 28, said that although UNICEF has taken the lead role in child protection and safety in Haiti since the earthquake, the United States is working to supplement their efforts in combating child trafficking.

Specifically, the State Department — along with UNICEF, the government of Haiti, the Red Cross and other international and nongovernmental organizations — is stepping up efforts to protect vulnerable children by:

• Registering unaccompanied and separated children and working to reunite them with their families.
• Preventing the trafficking of displaced Haitians.
• Educating Haitians about the risks of giving away children in times of crisis.
• Rebuilding the capacity of Haitian NGOs already working to protect child domestic servants, known in Haiti as restaveks.

There are some 90,000 to 300,000 restaveks in Haiti, according to the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. The word restavek comes from the French “reste avec” or “one who stays with.” It is actually a social system in Haiti where poor, usually rural, families send their children to work as domestics for wealthier families. The child is to receive food, shelter and education in exchange for the labor. Many restaveks, however, find themselves in unpaid servitude and physically abused; many are trafficked.

This latest push to help Haiti’s most vulnerable victims, Crowley said, “is just the first wave of coordinated efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake which builds on existing efforts and expertise on the ground. We are coordinating further action to be announced in the coming days.”

South Florida Caribbean News

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State of bondage

Image by `jenigma via Flickr

January 31, 2010

A century and a half after slavery was abolished in the United States, the stain of involuntary servitude lingers on in Maryland. Immigrant laborers brought into the state by human traffickers work for little or no pay on farms and construction sites; women and girls lured by false promises of office jobs end up as virtual prisoners in homes where they serve as nannies and maids; and young people of both sexes are forced into prostitution, with the proceeds going to pimps and criminal gangs.

This archipelago of exploitation and misery is only made possible by the brutal application of force and relentless psychological coercion -- beatings, rapes, torture and murder are the commonest way of sowing fear among victims. And the criminals know that the state's laws against human trafficking are seldom enforced and are so weak that even if they are caught they are unlikely to suffer serious consequences.

Maryland's laws against human trafficking are, in fact, weaker in many respects than federal laws for the same crimes. Those lax laws, coupled with the fact that the state lies on the I-95 corridor linking it to other major trafficking centers in New York, Georgia and Florida and also has easy access to three major international airports, has made Maryland one of the hubs of a $9 billion-a-year global industry of trafficking in human beings that is among organized crime's most profitable enterprises.

That's why strengthening Maryland's laws against human trafficking should be a top priority for the General Assembly this year.

We hope lawmakers will support legislation sponsored by Dels. Jeffrey D. Waldstreicher and Kathleen M. Dumais and Sen. Jennie M. Forehand that would stiffen the penalties for criminals who traffic in adult victims, along with anyone who knowingly benefits from human trafficking, or has a reasonable opportunity to observe that juveniles are being victimized.

Maryland took an important step in 2007 when it changed the law against child sex trafficking from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

But state law still treats trafficking adult women as a misdemeanor, as evidenced by last year's bungled case against Carlos Silot, whom police accused of running a brothel near Patterson Park using two women illegally brought from Mexico as prostitutes. The charges were dropped because the women never showed up to testify at Mr. Silot's trial, but even if he had been convicted, he would have served no more than 10 years. The pending legislation would make trafficking adult victims a felony with the same penalties as those for trafficking children.

Similarly, current law only targets the people directly engaged in human trafficking while ignoring the network of brothel landlords, drivers, door-keepers and bartenders who also knowingly benefit from the crime. The pending legislation would expand the law to allow prosecutors to charge these actors for their roles in aiding and abetting the traffickers. It would also make it easier to bring cases involving juveniles by adopting the federal standard for such prosecutions, which requires only that a defendant had a "reasonable opportunity to observe" the victim was a minor.

Finally, lawmakers should also adopt legislation introduced by Dels. Joanne C. Benson and Tom Hucker to require the state to post information about how trafficking victims can get help. The notices bearing the phone number of a national hotline for trafficking victims would be placed at truck stops, bus stations, highway rest stops and toll booths, as well as in strip clubs, motels and certain agricultural workplaces. Human trafficking thrives on secrecy and the social and physical isolation of its victims. To combat the problem, Maryland must not only adopt tougher penalities for those who traffic in human lives but also let their victims know the law won't let them down if they ask for help in bettering their condition.

Copyright © 2010, The Baltimore Sun

State of bondage - baltimoresun.com

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Reports and Studies

TRAFFICKING MONITOR:Please check out new resource materials in:

Reports and Studies:

# Burma Digest Nowhere Else to Go: Sexual Trafficking and Human Rights Abuses in Southern Burma (2009)

# CAASE Allison Dunn Burque: Empowering Young Men Toward Ending Sexual Exploitation (2009)

# CAASE Michelle Willoughby: Demand Deterrence Strategies:International Initiatives to Eliminate Demand for the Sex Trade

# CAASE Rachel Durchstag, AM and Samr Goswarmi, Deconstructing the Demand for Prostitution

You are invited to recommend any materials that will raise awareness and advance research in human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Many thanks. SockFoon

Charity to target Gatwick Airport in fight against sex slavery (From The Argus)

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11:59am Sunday 31st January 2010

By Rebecca Evans »

An anti-slavery charity is stepping-up its campaign against human trafficking by increasing its presence at Gatwick Airport.

As part of its efforts, Stop UK (Supporting Trafficked & Oppressed People) has put up posters bearing the message “Human trafficking is modern slavery” at the airport.

The charity will also work in partnership with the UK Border Agency and Sussex Police to stop people being brought through Gatwick against their will or for false reasons.

To this end, it will be stationing a case worker at the airport, who will offer advice to vulnerable people about why they may have been brought into the country.

They will then be offered help and support if they decide not to enter the country after all.

The charity's patron, Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, said: “Stop UK forms part of a partnership of agencies working together at Gatwick Airport.

“Effective protection is being provided against trafficking and many other ills. The continuation of these schemes for the protection of the public and especially for vulnerable men and women remain vital.”

Jackie Morey, an inspector with the UK Border Agency, said: “The UK Border Agency aims to make the UK a hostile environment for trafficking, and protect victims and potential victims from this abhorrent crime.

“We are glad to have Stop UK working with us to achieve this. They provide assistance and advice on safety to vulnerable passengers who are at risk of being exploited by others.”

Stop UK aims to support trafficked people and raise awareness of the problem of modern day slavery in the UK.

For more information, visit www.stop-uk.org.


Charity to target Gatwick Airport in fight against sex slavery (From The Argus)

Films and documentaries on human trafficking and modern day slavery

Image via Wikipedia

Check out new resource section in Trafficking-Monitor (right side of blog).

Films and Documentaries

* Cargo, Innocence Lost
* Svetlana's Journey
* The Day My God Died
* Trading Women
* Women on the Frontline: Nepal

Trafficking Monitor welcomes suggestions for inclusion. Please include the URL/s. Many thanks.

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Students learn ways to combat modern-day slavery | The Pitt News

Image by /Sizemore/ via Flickr

By Johanna Jones / For The Pitt News
published: Mon, 25 Jan, 2010

Students discovered a new meaning for the acronym DDR last night: Disarmament. Demobilization. Rehabilitation.

Eric Reidy, president of 1 Life 1 World 1 Peace, spoke about modern-day slavery to about 45 people gathered in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room last night.

He used the film “Blood Diamond,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as diamond smuggler Danny Archer, to highlight the discrepancies between pop culture’s perceptions of child slavery and child soldiers and what actually occurs.

The film follows Archer as he helps a father, Solomon Vandy, played by actor Djimon Hounsou, search for his son, who has been taken by militia. Near the end of the film, Archer and Vandy find Vandy’s son, who tries to shoot them. Vandy tries to remind his son that he’s still a “good boy.” The boy surrenders and follows his father home.

Reidy said it’s rarely that simple in real life. To bring a child soldier home, he said, you must use disarmament, demobilization or rehabilitation.

The event was the first in a four-part series focusing on child soldiers as a form of modern-day slavery. The next event, another presentation, will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 in the Assembly Room. The group does not yet have dates for the other two events. The third event will focus on human trafficking and the process needed to push forward with the modern abolitionist movement, while the fourth will be a simulation in the community to apply what was learned throughout the semester.

After deconstructing scenes from “Blood Diamond,” Reidy spoke about Hollywood’s portrayal of child soldiers, saying they might find one form of relief: the knowledge that their situation is being publicized.

Reidy capped the evening with a “break-out session.” 1 Life 1 World 1 Peace set up multiple tables with handouts chronicling the experiences of child soldiers from five different locations: Colombia, Staten Island, Rwanda, Uganda and Sri Lanka. Members of 1 Life 1 World 1 Peace handed out sheets listing different organizations that work with child soldiers and books and articles about the topic.

The group concluded with a video of Emmanuel Jal from the TEDGlobal Event 2009, in London. Jal is a former child soldier from Sudan, who joined the militia at the age of 8, after he saw his aunt get raped, his mom and sisters killed and his village burned down in front of his eyes. To help Sudan, “Stop sending UN aid, you’re only killing another generation,” Jal said. “Give us tools — tools to grow crops. Invest in education so we have strong institutions to create revolution.”

Reidy said the group chose to hold the series because it was looking for a new way to inspire people.

“Traditional activism used abstracts images,” such as those of starving or bloated children in Ethiopia, to make people feel guilty and thus get them to take up a cause, he said.

But 1 Life 1 World 1 Peace is trying to use what Reidy called a “new generation of activism.” This new activism uses the Internet to create a global sense of solidarity.

“Our goal is to humanize conflict” and replace guilt-driven activism, Reidy said.

Reidy and fellow sophomore Alex Lee launched the group in September 2008. Reidy said he was involved in humanitarian activities throughout high school, primarily with the organization Invisible Children. When Reidy came to Pitt, Invisible Children asked him to organize a screening of the documentary “Go,” which features Invisible Children’s Schools for Schools book drive.

The screening marked the beginning of 1 Life 1 World 1 Peace.

The pair decided to create their own student group because, “There’s a strong desire to get involved, and we wanted to create tangible ways to connect and act,” Reidy said.

The multimedia presentation can be found on the group’s website in the blog section at 1life1world1peace.org.

Students learn ways to combat modern-day slavery | The Pitt News

Canadian bishops warn of prostitution and trafficking at Winter Olympics :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Image by longtrekhome via Flickr

Ottawa, Canada, Jan 29, 2010 / 07:37 am (CNA).- As the 2010 Winter Olympics approach, the Canadian bishops have spoken against the “trivialization” of concerns about prostitution during the event. They said the crime is a part of a “new form of slavery” known as human trafficking and called on Catholics to help fight it.

While the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games are much anticipated, the bishops said some see the event as a chance to make money at the cost of human dignity and human rights.

Those in vulnerable situations may believe unscrupulous smugglers or succumb to earning money through “sexual tourism,” the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) said in their Pastoral Letter on Human Trafficking.

The pastoral letter was authored by the CCCB’s Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, which is chaired by Archbishop of Kingston Brendan M. O’Brien.

“In Canada, Aboriginal women and young girls disappear from their villages and are never seen again,” the letter lamented. “Increasingly, younger immigrants work the downtown streets or get jobs in strip clubs and massage parlors.”

Immigrants may not be able to speak the language and may have their passport taken from them.

“They are at the mercy of pimps who demand to be reimbursed for the victim’s transportation costs.

“Women and children, usually under the influence of drugs, must then engage in prostitution under the vigilant eye of pimps who pocket the profits. If the victims try to run away or stand up for their rights, the pimps threaten to kill them or members of their families back home.”

The pastoral letter encouraged Canadians to become aware of human trafficking and take action to stop it.

“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” the letter continued, quoting the First Letter of John.

The bishops also recognized that demand for prostitution fuels human trafficking.

“In a country that considers equality between women and men to be a fundamental value, a country where a majority of citizens are Christians who promote the dignity of each person created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), how can we tolerate prostitution, which is a form of institutionalized violence that destroys the physical, psychological and spiritual integrity of other human beings?”

The bishops also urged support for organizations that work with victims of human trafficking and to provide “concrete assistance” such as spiritual support, health care, safe housing, decent employment, and substance abuse programs.

“Our prayers will also strengthen the hope of those many people whose liberty and humanity have been taken from them by trafficking and the courage of those groups that assist them,” their letter concluded. “May our faith and outrage spur us to get involved, individually and together, for the transformation of our world!”


Canadian bishops warn of prostitution and trafficking at Winter Olympics :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

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Professor helps pass sex trafficking bills - News

Noelle Myers
Issue date: 1/29/10 Section: News

[Photo] Media Credit: Courtesy of www.uri.edu

1/29/10 - University of Rhode Island women's studies Professor Donna Hughes has researched and documented the trafficking of women and children internationally for the past 25 years.

Hughes discovered her passion for the topic while studying for her graduate degree from Pennsylvania State University.

"I think it's important to be an advocate for women's rights [and] to generate knowledge that can be used to further freedom in the world," Hughes said. "I try to convey that in my teaching."

Hughes said people typically start at the "grassroots" of the issue and work their way up to the state, national and international levels. She, however, started working immediately on the subject on an international level.

Post graduation, she worked with The Coalition Against Trafficking and Women, an organization that focuses on creating change internationally by means of conducting and supporting anti-trafficking projects.

"Sex-trafficking is nothing but serial rape," Hughes said.

Her focus was on Southeast Asian women, and she worked with the organization for 10 years.

She also conducted research projects about women in Ukraine, Russia and Korea, where she worked with other academic researchers.

"My goal was to document the problem," she said.

Hughes set up interviews with women from these countries, which helped her learn more about the issue. She was given grants to continue this research and her work was eventually sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hughes also documented two reports for the Council of Europe (Eastern and Western), where she found places on the Internet in which women were being advertised and recruited by men.

From her work on educating people about sex trafficking through the Internet, she was invited to Hilary Clinton's speech about the topic just last week.

Hughes has written documents on trafficking of women in the U.S. as well, and is also an advisor on the topic.

Although much of her work has been focused on the national and international levels, she recently supervised a URI undergraduate with her honors thesis regarding sex trafficking in Rhode Island. Melanie Shapiro graduated from URI last May, and she provided testimony to the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Hughes said Shapiro focused on Asian massage parlors in her research.

She said the goal was to pass a new human trafficking law.
"[There was] no law concerning prostitution behind closed doors," Hughes said.

Three bills were passed in October with supporting evidence from Shapiro and Hughes' testimony and research. The bills criminalize prostitution in the state wherever it takes place, and protects minors from being forced into labor and sex trafficking.

Hughes has been teaching at URI since 1996, and taught women's studies at the University of Bradford in England for two years prior.

"It was a very interesting experience," Hughes said.

While in England she witnessed women being abused. Many of her students were forced into arranged marriages and battered by family members. They tried to stay in college as long as possible to keep them from the arranged marriages, Hughes added.

Women in England were forced to go to Pakistan for arranged marriages at age 14 and 16. She said one woman was killed for refusing.

Hughes has experienced sex trafficking throughout the world, and she is focused on the freedom of the Internet. China in particular has a firewall, in other words, their Internet is blocked from interacting with other countries.

"We need internet freedom to communicate," Hughes said. "The only way people can learn about trafficking is if they communicate with other people."


Professor helps pass sex trafficking bills - News

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Welcome to the United States / ISN

27 Jan 2010
Welcome to the United States

Cartoon showing an enslaved woman, courtesy of Steve Weaver/flickr
Picture of an exhibition to highlight the trade of sex trafficking and enslavement in London
(cc) Steve Weaver/flickr

As the US urges the global community to do more to protect victims of human trafficking, declaring January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the lurid business thrives in the 'Land of the Free,' Julianne Geiger writes for ISN Security Watch.

By Julianne Geiger for ISN Security Watch

As thousands of foreign nationals are trafficked each year into the US, NGOs and anti-slavery activists are hopeful that the recent proclamation from the White House, recommitting the US “to stopping the human traffickers who ply this horrific trade,” will be more than just rhetoric.

America’s war on human trafficking began in 2000 with the Trafficking Victim Protection Act (TVPA), followed by then-attorney general John Ashcroft’s announcement that combating this evil would be one of the Justice Department’s highest priorities.

At the time, tens of thousands of foreign nationals were being trafficked into the US and enslaved; yet by October 2001, the US had prosecuted only 34 human trafficking suspects. Although this was quadruple the number prosecuted in 2000, the numbers fell embarrassingly short of the number of actual victims.

The TVPA was reaffirmed in 2003 and again in 2005, each time with renewed vigor. Yet today, human trafficking continues to go virtually unchecked, despite adequate financial resources, a willing government and law enforcement that is, for the most part, honest. In fact, less than 1 percent of human trafficking victims in the US can hope to be rescued.

Ambassador Mark P Lagon, current executive director of the Polaris Project, has an optimistic view of the recent proclamation against modern-day slavery, telling ISN Security Watch that it was “important symbolism coming from the first president of African-American heritage.” Lagon served as ambassador-at-large and director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking from 2007 to 2009.

The Polaris Project is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the US, combating multiple forms of human trafficking including the sex trade and forced labor, advocating for foreign national as well as domestic victims.

Easy money

Human trafficking is a global problem, which, according to a report from the Polaris Project, holds nearly 27 million people in bondage as of 2007. Human beings are trafficked from and to a variety of countries, the US being one of the most popular destinations. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Human trafficking is tied with illegal arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world - drug trafficking is the first. However, human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry, generating $32 billion each year, according to the newest State Department Trafficking in Persons Report 2009.

What makes trafficking in humans so lucrative is that unlike drugs and arms – nonrenewable resources – the services of a person can be sold again and again. In addition, in many countries, human traffickers do not face consequences as severe as those who traffic in drugs or illegal arms. In the mind of human traffickers, the benefits often outweigh the risk.

Economic decline, rising unemployment, a flurry of foreclosures, or even America’s suspect Guest Worker Program may exacerbate the issue, but slaveholders have flourished in America since before the Civil War. Whatever the legal loopholes may be, whatever the shortcomings of the government or law enforcement, whatever the desperation of the potential victims - slaveholders have found a way to exploit it.

As desperate persons find themselves with limited options, they are often willing to accept substandard working conditions, placing them in a category of people who are more likely to become modern-day slaves - an epidemic oddly labeled human trafficking, which has more to do with the exploitation of human beings than with their transportation.

The US Justice Department estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 foreign nationals are funneled into the US each year for the purposes of slavery. That statistic is overwhelming when compared to the number of foreign nationals certified by the US Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) as victims of human trafficking from June 2007 to August 2009: 1,264. From 2001 to 2007, the DOJ prosecuted only 360 human trafficking defendants, securing 238 convictions.

Less reliable are the figures that represent those who are trafficked within US borders.

The ignorance enabler

Human traffickers flourish in environments where the citizens are unaware. Victims of human trafficking are often mistaken for willing participants in the sex trade as prostitutes, or as willing smuggling participants. Victims are often arrested by unaware law enforcement personnel, and are often deported as a result.

Human traffickers understand this process all too well, and use this to their advantage.

Professor Bridgette Carr, director of the new Human Trafficking Clinic at University of Michigan’s Law School, said that one common element in all foreign national human trafficking cases she had worked was the fear instilled by the traffickers that kept the victims from seeking help.

“Traffickers tell the victims that Americans hate immigrants and that law enforcement won't help them and will simply deport them back to where the traffickers will be waiting,” Carr told ISN Security Watch. “What I see is traffickers preying on the anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. They are told that even if they escape, the cops will deport them.”

America’s primary hurdle in addressing human trafficking, according to Carr, is its “lack of awareness.”

“Laws, law enforcement, victim assistance and prevention won’t be successful in fighting human trafficking without awareness,” she said.

One of the functions of the university’s new clinic is not only to advocate directly on behalf of foreign nationals, but also to raise community awareness, as well as the awareness of a variety of stakeholders such as law enforcement and NGOs.

Jane White of the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force agrees that awareness is critical.

“One of the difficulties is getting people to believe that it really exists. In our culture, we are free to go and do as we please - we have also been through this with spousal abuse,” White told ISN Security Watch.

Hi-tech trafficking

Like all savvy business owners, human traffickers have kept up with technological advancements. In the US, the internet hotspot Craigslist - the largest site next to eBay for swapping and selling new and used items and for posting job opportunities - has become an efficient method for traffickers to exploit children. On Craigslist’s ‘Adult Services’ section (formerly ‘Erotic Services’), a user can find offers of pornography, recordings of sex crimes, offers of prostitution and much more.

Ads are regulated by Craigslist, but it is impossible to monitor every post. The Erotic Services category was removed in May 2009 following the murder of masseuse Julissa Brissman; Brissman met Philip Markoff, who was later charged with her murder, from an add posted in the Erotic Services section on Craigslist. Ads placed in the new Adult Services section are said to be manually reviewed before posting; however, in less than 30 minutes, ISN Security Watch was able to find multiple instances of implied sexual favors and or nude photographic services.

MySpace and Facebook are also resources for human traffickers. Half of the humans trafficked in the US are under 18. Half are trafficked in the sex industry for pornography, stripping or prostitution.

The human trafficking laws for the sex industry are different than those of forced labor, causing not only rifts within the NGO community, but also confusion within law enforcement. The term ‘human trafficking’ has also caused some confusion, and according to some NGOs and other activists, is likely behind some of the lack of awareness. Human trafficking does not need to involve the movement of a human being, only the exploitation of a person through coercion or intimidation. The word ‘trafficking’ leads many to erroneously believe that a person must be brought across a border to be considered a trafficking victim.

In reality, there are many domestic victims of human trafficking. Estimates are that 244,000 American children are at risk of being sexually exploited as of 2000, according to the Polaris Project. For American prostitution, the age of first involvement in the industry is between 12 and 14.

Criminalizing victims

Unfortunately, victims of human trafficking are often seen and treated as criminals. Forced to service up to 100 clients a week, prostitutes are often arrested, jailed and then put back on the street, while their pimps or slaveholders remain at large.

Minors go through a similar punitive system, with law enforcement further limited as they have “no place to take them,” according to Lagon of the Polaris Project.

With an overburdened foster care system, and with victim benefits available only to trafficked foreign nationals, domestic victims of human trafficking - particularly minors - are left with few options.

“We don’t treat juveniles in this country really well. We say we do, but we really don’t,” Jane White of Michigan State Uuniversity Law School and Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force told ISN Security Watch. One of the task force’s goals is to raise awareness, not only within the community, but also within law enforcement; the ultimate goal being to better identify victims of trafficking.

In 2010, a decade after the TVPA, America has shown little success, and while the US has taken a tough stance on human trafficking elsewhere around the world, what it will not tolerate abroad continues to thrive at home, making renewed efforts to combat the lucrative slave trade must now, more than ever, go beyond rhetoric.

Beginning one year after the TVPA, a large number of people from the Philippines, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic paid thousands of dollars for a temporary visa to work for Giant Labor Solutions in the US. Similar to many victims of human trafficking, many were in pursuit of a brighter future for their family.

Upon entering the US, the workers found they were in debt to their employers. The living conditions were modest and they were denied access to mail. They were transported to different states to work, and they had no say in what type of work was to be done or how often it was to be done. They were told if they did not do as they were told, their visas would be revoked, they would be deported, or their family would be forced to pay $5,000 to $10,000 to make up for the loss. Many discovered on payday that they were further in debt to their employer when their paycheck was not enough to cover the shelter provided by Giant Labor.

The nightmare ended in 2009, when 12 people were indicted for human trafficking, eight of whom were Uzbek nationals.

Julianne Geiger is a freelance writer and editor based in the US.

Welcome to the United States / ISN

Child trafficking victim: 'They conned me'

Sunday, January 24, 2010
Last updated 10:12 p.m. PT

Child trafficking victim: 'They conned me'

KOMO-TV STAFF

A young victim of human trafficking is breaking her silence to warn other potential victims as a bill works its way through the state Legislature that would crack down harder on traffickers.

Although there are already crimes against selling kids as prostitutes, proponents of new legislation say the penalties aren't tough enough. They want to change that.

It's a hidden crime ... hidden by the darkness of night ... hidden by the silence of the traffickers and their victims.

But one young victim, Brianna -- whose life was saved from prostitution -- can remain silent no longer.

"If I can save a life with my story it's worth coming out," she said. "Let's look past the shame and the guilt."

Brianna is a straight-A student, from a good family. But the traffickers were able to lure her in, like they've done to thousands of girls -- and young boys.

"They prey on them. They manipulated me, they conned me into thinking I was safe and that they were going to take care of me," she said.

She all of a sudden found herself working in a Seattle strip club.

"They tried to get me into prostitution," she said. "They tried to get me to consider it at least, and they approached me at the strip club, and he offered me $1,000 for an hour."

But a friend found her and got her away from the traffickers just hours before they were sending her to Phoenix, Ariz.

Linda Smith of Project Hope said, "They move them by the event, and there's a lot of money in Phoenix and they typically move a lot of girls into Phoenix and into critical places where young girls can be sold."

Smith, a former congresswoman, works with these kids -- and so does a Sheila, who herself was a victim. They're all fighting for new legislation.

"If we do something that will deter that behavior I think it won't continue to be the way it is right now," Sheila said.

She says more than 300 girls were trafficked in the Seattle area last year.

"It can happen to anybody," added Brianna.

The bill, SB 6476, now pending in the state Legislature, would raise the penalty for trafficking from $500 up to $5,000.

If a car is used, it could be impounded with a $500 impound fee.

Plus lawmakers are hoping that the publicity of stories like Brianna's will help get these victims to break away.

Child trafficking victim: 'They conned me'

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• 19-year-old man sentenced for promoting teen prostitution (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Human Trafficking In Europe Priority For EU Spanish Presidency | Gov Monitor

Image via Wikipedia

Source: European Parliament Posted on: 24th January 2010

In modern Europe there exists a new type of slavery that involves the trafficking of people for sexual and labour slavery. Europol have said the problem did not decrease last year and that 80% of its victims are women.

Last Tuesday (19 January), Swedish Socialist MEP Anna Hedh and Conservative MEP Edit Bauer from Slovakia raised the issue in Parliament.

They will ask questions to the Council of Ministers and the European Commission to try and get anti-trafficking high on Europe’s agenda.

Why are you raising this issue now?

Trafficking is constantly increasing. Slavery was abolished over 200 years ago in Europe but thousands of people are being sold today. Trafficking includes sexual and labour exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude and other forms of exploitation including the removal of organs. It is considered to be one of the most serious crimes worldwide. More than 80% of the victims are women.

Last year the Commission suggested a framework for legislation against trafficking in human beings. But since the Lisbon Treaty was ratified, Parliament now has an equal say with ministers over this issue and we want the Commission to use a different legal framework. And this is why we are asking a question and handing in a resolution.

What has to be done to deal with the problem?

The Commission likes to talk about a different penalty rate but we also need a holistic approach in all policy making. For example, it involves migration. There must be harsh penalties. But we also need prevention and to get all EU members to deal with the question of demand. If there was no demand there would be no problem.

I would like to sell the Swedish model on the purchase of sexual services (under which the purchaser gets punished). It is sensitive but Sweden has fewer problems with trafficking than the rest of the EU.

What sanctions do you want for those involved in human trafficking?

There must be harsh penalties in order for it to work. The Commission has suggested three different levels and I think that the highest level they propose (12 years) should be the lowest. I think there must be a penalty of at least 10 years in prison. We are talking about a person who has bought and sold a human being.

Trafficking is one of the priorities of the EU Spanish presidency…

Yes, and this makes me happy. I hope that they will succeed with the discussions in the council because previously there have been different views, amongst other things about the levels of penalties. I hope the Spanish presidency will unite the council so that we get good legislation.

While we are talking people are being exploited and people are exploiting. Is there a risk that this will be only another directive and that nothing will change?

Yes. This is a big problem and it is very important to make sure that this is legislation that will allow us to put pressure on the member states.

We also need to educate the police and court personnel across the EU. In addition, victims must know that they are entitled to support when they have been exploited, so that they ask for help from the national authorities.

Legal texts are often difficult to read and therefore it is important that the member states produce information campaigns to disseminate information for all citizens and victims.

Human Trafficking In Europe Priority For EU Spanish Presidency | Gov Monitor

CBS 7 - Your Eye on West Texas

Image by `jenigma via Flickr

Jennifer Samp
CBS 7 News
jsamp@cbs7.com

January 25, 2010

You’ve seen it portrayed in movies and on television, but it’s a very real epidemic.

Millions of people each year are forced into modern-day slavery or prostitution.
Now law enforcement officials say the problem maybe closer than we think.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Houston and El Paso are two of the most intense trafficking areas in the country.

ICE officials says offenders bring their victims right here through west Texas.

Texas attorney Greg Abbott called a human trafficking prevention task force meeting last Tuesday to better identify victims.

"Texas comprises the largest portion of that,” Jerry Garnett with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, “So there's going to be a large volume coming through the state of Texas"

So what does this mean for our area?

“Organizations don't bring the people here for them to remain here.” Garnett says.

He says the Midland-Odessa area is not a haven but a corridor for human trafficking groups.

“This is just a wait point along the way they might bring them here in one load then break up that load going destine for different parts of the United States.” Garnett said.

He says it's hard for law enforcement to recognize these trafficking groups.

Its very difficult in that we have to identify the organization and actually have some type of information coming from it.” Garnett said. “Usually we get the information from a victim of trafficking.”

He says the difference between smuggling and trafficking are the intentions.
Debt bondage can easily turn "smuggling" into "trafficking"

Debt bondage would be cases were the aliens were smuggled into the U.S. and they're forced into working in order to payoff their smuggling fees.

In most cases the victim never pays off their smuggling fees

“For females its prostitution or massage parlors,” Garnett said, “Children it's a little bit different but children could also be traffic for the sex trade.”

Garnett says is a way to lure people in who are just looking for a way to live in America

“They try to tell the people, we'll bring you into the United States, well find you a job, we'll do all this for you and rope the people into it.” Garner said.

If you suspect human trafficking or smuggling, ICE recommends calling their tip line: 1-866-DHS-2-ICE

CBS 7 - Your Eye on West Texas

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• Bill planned that would fight I-5 sex trade (theolympian.com)

Moved to adopt Haitians? It's not always best, experts say - CNN.com

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

January 22, 2010 10:33 a.m. EST

{PHOTO}Haitian orphans rest on mattresses in a truck this week at the Maison des Enfants de Dieu orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
Haitian orphans rest on mattresses in a truck this week at the Maison des Enfants de Dieu orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- The images of Haitian children crying or injured or wandering the streets alone are heartbreaking. It's no surprise there has been a flood of well-intentioned people who want to adopt those children.

But that's not always the best immediate move, aid groups caution.

Save the Children Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread said the "vast majority" of children on their own in Haiti are not orphans, but were simply separated from their families in the chaos.

Their family members may still be alive, she said, and "will be desperate to be reunited with them."

"Taking children out of the country would permanently separate thousands of children from their families -- a separation that would compound the acute trauma they are already suffering and inflict long-term damage on their chances of recovery," Whitbread said.

Hurriedly whisking unclassified children out of Haiti will not ensure the children are happy or safe in the long-term, experts said. Homes and potential parents must be reviewed by professional social workers and it's logistically impossible to do that in a short time. Allowing adoptions to proceed without thorough background checks can lead to child trafficking and other crimes.

The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, does not facilitate adoptions, but it has been bombarded with calls from people who want a Haitian orphan, said Christopher de Bono, a UNICEF spokesman.

In 2007, UNICEF estimated that there were 380,000 orphans in Haiti, but de Bono said Thursday that he'd "hate to vouch for that figure" because that number -- any number -- is impossible to verify.

Between Haiti's "lousy [child welfare] oversight system," and all the challenges that Haitians have endured, it's not uncommon for Haitian parents to put their children in orphanages temporarily, de Bono said. This means knowing who is truly an orphan and who isn't requires great attention to detail and documents.

"Removing children who've just experienced a disaster from their environment, from where they're from is not necessarily good for them," he said. Haitian children must first be fed, sheltered, clothed and given medical attention; the next step is to register them and trace their relatives.

Diana Boni, who works with Port-au-Prince's BRESMA orphanage, is firmly against new adoptions out of Haiti. "Under no circumstances should we evacuate any child newly orphaned or displaced," she wrote in an e-mail to CNN.

"Imagine losing much of your family, only to discover that a surviving relative had been whisked off to the States to be adopted by strangers without your knowledge or consent! Adoptions without consent are child trafficking. Pure and simple."

She has been taking care of children who waited for years in the orphanage to be adopted. "It's a bit sad, as I have several wonderful children who waited literally for years for new families, and no one ever came," she said.

The disaster in Haiti has led to an outpouring of support around the world, with the United States alone donating more than $305 million as of Wednesday, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations.

Because Haiti's poverty already made it "extremely vulnerable" to exploitation and abuse, rushed adoptions could open the door to traffickers, said World Vision Chief Executive Justin Byworth.

"We are concerned not only about premature overseas adoption but also about children increasingly being sent unaccompanied to the Dominican Republic," he said.

Aid groups said adoptions that were already in progress before the January 12 earthquake should go ahead, as long as the right legal documents are in place and they meet Haitian and international law.

For those who want to help Haitian children, Whitbread said, they should donate to aid agencies that are working on reuniting children with their families.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has opened an office at the headquarters of the Haitian Red Cross in Crois de Prez to help people locate their relatives, said Pete Garratt, a disaster response manager at the British Red Cross.

The Red Cross also has set up a Web site to help people searching for relatives, he said.

CNN's Jessica Ravitz contributed to this report.

Moved to adopt Haitians? It's not always best, experts say - CNN.com

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• Haiti earthquake: charities warn against rush to speed adoptions (telegraph.co.uk)

Haiti earthquake: aid agencies fear child trafficking | World news | guardian.co.uk

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

* Esther Addley
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 January 2010 18.56 GMT


[Photo] Haitian Red Cross volunteer Jean Zacharie helps one-month-old Deborah Fatima in Port-au-Prince, where her mother died in the 12 January earthquake. Amid the chaos and destruction, aid agencies fear children missing from hospital may have been stolen by child trafficking gangs. Photograph: Talia Frenkel/AFP/Getty Images

Aid agencies continued to warn against adopting children from Haiti today, amid unconfirmed reports that a number of children who had gone missing from hospitals in the devastated country may have been trafficked.

An adviser for Unicef told reporters that about 15 children had disappeared from hospitals, presumed taken.

Jean Luc Legrand was quoted as saying: "Unicef has been working in Haiti for many years and we knew the problem with the trade of children in Haiti which existed before, and unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with the international adoption 'market'."

A spokesman for the charity said it could not confirm the figures but had referred the reports to the Haitian government, which was investigating. It has stepped up its efforts to ensure all children under five are in a safe place and properly fed by this weekend.

Hannah Reichardt, emergencies adviser for Save the Children, said: "This is why child protection is utmost in our concern at the moment, particularly because we know that child trafficking was already a problem in Haiti before the quake."

She said tracing families was the "primary important thing that we do" at this stage in an emergency, alongside aid distribution. Save the Children is now ­co­-ordinating all family tracing work in Haiti at the request of the UN. Twenty-nine agencies are currently pooling child protection resources in the country.

Both charities have joined other agencies which have warned would-be parents against hasty adoptions of children who would appear to have been orphaned.

Bethany Christian Services, a US adoption agency, said it had received more than 1,000 requests for adoption applications, while the Joint Council on International Children's Services, a US advocacy organisation, said it had received 150 enquiries about Haitian adoption in three days, compared with 10 a month normally.

It said that evacuating children from Haiti at present, even with altruistic motives, was "premature and dangerous".


Haiti earthquake: aid agencies fear child trafficking | World news | guardian.co.uk

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France24 - Child trafficking in Cambodia

Image via Wikipedia

01 January 2009

[TRAFFICKING MONITOR: Be sure to view the video.]

VIDEO

Caring investigates child trafficking in Cambodia. Despite stricter legislation, the problem is still rampant. On one side are parents who want to foster a child, and on the other, Cambodian parents' poverty which pushes them to sell their own.

By FRANCE 24 (text)

Child trafficking, a loose term with negative connotations, is essentially when young offspring are given away to wealthy foreigners in exchange for money.

For lucky adopters, the actual sum is inconsequential. Exhausted after costly and upsetting attempts in their own countries, many gratefully look to smaller, developing nations in their bid to find a child, countries like Cambodia, where widespread poverty forces many locals to consider desperate ways to make ends meet.

Dazzled by the promise of a better life for their loved ones, parents and families readily relinquish control and sign away their offspring. But an increasing number of abuses of the system by rogue adoption agencies has prompted many Western governments to immediately suspend all adoptions of Cambodian children.

In France, the government has only just recently lifted the ban that had been in place for some five years, but French authorities are enforcing stringent tests and vetting on would-be parents.

In Cambodia, there are as yet few laws against the widespread corruption and not enough incentive to make parents stop this tragic practice of selling their children.
Click here to find out more!

France24 - Child trafficking in Cambodia

The Blotter | Teenage pimp sentenced to 17 years in prison | Seattle Times Newspaper

Posted by John de Leon

A Seattle gang member who forced girls into prostitution was sentenced today to 17 years in prison for human trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

DeShawn "Cash Money" Clark, 19, was the first person in the state to be convicted under a new human trafficking law.

Clark was found guilty in November of second-degree human trafficking, first-degree promoting prostitution, two counts of commercial sex abuse of a minor, unlawful imprisonment and conspiracy to promote prostitution.

He was found not guilty of a second count of second-degree human trafficking, as well as charges of second-degree assault and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

According to testimony at his trial, Clark is a member of the West Side Street Mobb, a West Seattle gang whose moniker includes an acronym for "Money Over Broke Bitches."

More than 50 witnesses -- half of them law-enforcement officers -- took the stand in Clark's seven-week trial. Roughly 300 exhibits were submitted as evidence, including recorded phone calls from the King County Jail. In one, Clark tells a young prostitute to tell detectives: "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know" when questioned. In another, he tells the woman to get the word out that one of his co-defendants, who'd agreed to testify against Clark, was "a snitch."

Prosecutors said that Clark and his fellow gang members preyed on vulnerable, impressionable girls and sold them a dream, making the girls believe they were loved when really "they were nothing more than a revenue stream."

Five co-defendants involved in the West Side Street Mobb's prostitution enterprise pleaded guilty to a variety of prostitution charges, including Clark's older brother, Shawn Clark.

The Blotter | Teenage pimp sentenced to 17 years in prison | Seattle Times Newspaper

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Ex-stripper testifies at statehouse on bill

Sunday, January 24, 2010
Last updated 10:04 a.m. PT

KOMO-TV STAFF

A young victim of human trafficking is breaking her silence to warn other potential victims as a bill works its way through the state Legislature that would crack down harder on traffickers.

Although there are already crimes against selling kids as prostitutes, proponents of new legislation say the penalties aren't tough enough. They want to change that.

It's a hidden crime ... hidden by the darkness of night ... hidden by the silence of the traffickers and their victims.

But one young victim, Brianna -- whose life was saved from prostitution -- can remain silent no longer.

"If I can save a life with my story it's worth coming out," she said. "Let's look past the shame and the guilt."

Brianna is a straight-A student, from a good family. But the traffickers were able to lure her in, like they've done to thousands of girls -- and young boys.

"They prey on them. They manipulated me, they conned me into thinking I was safe and that they were going to take care of me," she said.

She all of a sudden found herself working in a Seattle strip club.

"They tried to get me into prostitution," she said. "They tried to get me to consider it at least, and they approached me at the strip club, and he offered me $1,000 for an hour."

But a friend found her and got her away from the traffickers just hours before they were sending her to Phoenix, Ariz.

Linda Smith of Project Hope said, "They move them by the event, and there's a lot of money in Phoenix and they typically move a lot of girls into Phoenix and into critical places where young girls can be sold."

Smith, a former congresswoman, works with these kids -- eand so does a Sheila, who herself was a victim. They're all fighting for new legislation.

"If we do something that will deter that behavior I think it won't continue to be the way it is right now," Sheila said.

She says more than 300 girls were trafficked in the Seattle area last year.

"It can happen to anybody," added Brianna.

The bill, SB 6476, now pending in the state Legislature, would raise the penalty for trafficking from $500 up to $5,000.

If a car is used, it could be impounded with a $500 impound fee.

Plus lawmakers are hoping that the publicity of stories like Brianna's will help get these victims to break away.

Ex-stripper testifies at statehouse on bill

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• Bill planned that would fight I-5 sex trade (thenewstribune.com)
• Teenage pimp sentenced to 17 years in prison (seattletimes.nwsource.com)