Landmark child trafficking case catches advocates' eyes | CTV British Columbia

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111223/bc_human_trafficking_reza_moazami_111223/20111223/?hub=BritishColumbiaHomea

CTV News Video
Lisa Rossinngton on human trafficking law

By: ctvbc.ca

Date: Friday Dec. 23, 2011 5:39 PM PT

Anti-human trafficking advocates say they're keeping a close watch on the case of a Vancouver man charged with pimping out four young girls.

Reza Moazami, 27, was released from custody Thursday night after two months in jail on 18 criminal counts including trafficking in underage persons, living on the avails of a juvenile, sexual interference and sexual exploitation.

The case marks the first time that the charge of trafficking in underage persons has been used in B.C. since it came into effect last year, and legal experts it signals a change in how prostitution cases are prosecuted.

"Police are no longer willing to look these cases as simply prostitution cases, which is historically how they have been dealt with and often dismissed by many people.... Now they're being recognized for what they are, which is serious allegations of child sex trafficking," UBC law professor Ben Perrin told CTV News after the charges were announced.

The trafficking charge carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

Advocates say that human trafficking can encompass crimes far beyond illegal trade in people.

"It's the exploitation, using people as property, as slaves, to some extent," said Rosalind Currie of the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

She says human traffickers prey on the most vulnerable people in society.

"We believe aboriginal women and girls are often very vulnerable, runaways kids that are in trouble with the law.... We really need to protect them," she said.

The father of one of Moazami's alleged victims describes what happened to his daughter as abduction.

"They were lured into it. It's not like my daughter decided, ‘I want to be a prostitute.' It doesn't work that way. It was well planned," said the dad, whose identity is protected by law.

"She's a very, very confused kid. The damage is done."

Moazami is scheduled to make his next appearance in court in January.

With reports from CTV British Columbia's Mi-Jung Lee and Lisa Rossington


Related articles

• Helsingin Sanomat - Surge in investigations for human trafficking (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
• Minister chides security agents for abetting human trafficking (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)

Trafficking Victim’s Mother Seeks Redress

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/trafficking-12292011173306.html

2011-12-29

A Uyghur woman says that local Han Chinese officials won’t investigate her case.

Photo courtesy of Nurgul Tohti

Nurgul Tohti and her son Abbas Tayir, Dec. 25, 2011.

A Uyghur woman in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region who believes her child was sexually abused by human traffickers is seeking intervention from the United Nations after she says she was discriminated against by local officials who would not take on her case.

Nurgul Tohti, 35, said she has been hiding in Beijing while police from her hometown in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region search for her in the attempt to bring her back with them.

“Two years ago, my child was the victim of human trafficking committed by an illegal group. This past summer, I was also the victim of ‘human trafficking’ committed by Aksu officials. I am now facing a similar fate, so I am hiding in Beijing,” Tohti told RFA in a phone interview on Monday.

She said that on Dec. 24, authorities from Aksu prefecture in mid-western Xinjiang had visited her sister and said they wanted Tohti to return “so that they can help me.”

“They told her that seven police officers from Aksu had already headed to Beijing to meet with me and they asked that I cooperate with them,” she said.

“I won’t do it because I already cooperated with them in the past and ended up spending 39 days in jail because of it.”

Tohti said she had traveled to Beijing for the second time since June to appeal to relevant central departments about her son Abbas Tayir’s situation, to demonstrate in front of the United Nations office at the Chinese capital as well as to highlight her case to the foreign media.

Caught by traffickers

Tohti, originally from Uchturpan county in Aksu prefecture, said she was living in Dalian city in China’s northeastern Liaoning province in September 2009 when her seven-year-old son Tayir was taken by traffickers.

Her husband had died six years earlier and she was forced to leave her son in the care of a neighbor while she traveled to her hometown to deal with a family emergency.

“Just three days after I went to Uchturpan, I received a call from my neighbor in Dalian who said that my child had not returned home eight hours after the end of school,” she said.

“I immediately called the police in Dalian and reported the situation, but I never got called back. Finally, I personally took action to rescue my child.”

Tohti said that “Uyghur and Han Chinese mafia groups” in Dalian had earlier approached her several times, offering as much as 10,000 yuan (U.S. $1,580) a month if she gave her son to them. But she rejected the offers.

When she learned that her son was missing, she suspected that he was abducted by one of those who made the offers, whom she identified as Shan Ye. On contacting him, she discovered that he had indeed abducted Tayir.

“As he picked up the phone I said to him, ‘Let me speak with my child.’ He put his hand over the phone, which led me to believe that my assumption had been correct,” she said.

“When he got back on, I told him, ‘Release my child and send him to my home within two hours or I will bring the police to you.”

Four hours later, and some 24 hours after he had been reported missing, Tohti was informed by her neighbor that her son had returned home. The next day she flew back to Dalian.

But she said that when she met with Tayir, something about him had changed.

“When I saw him after being held for 24 hours, he had become so quiet and nervous about everything. He wouldn’t even tell me what he experienced during his time with Shan Ye,” she said.

Seeking help

Eventually, Tayir told her that he had been warned by his captors on his release not to say anything about what had happened to him or his mother would be killed.

“I took my child to the doctor who said that he was suffering from anxiety. He told me that my son’s recovery only required time and good care, but I didn’t trust him,” she said.

“Not all doctors are independent in this country and he also was likely considering the issue of [social] stability as the patient was a minority. My guess is that my son endured sexual abuse during the 24-hour period.”

Tohti instead sought help from municipal officials in Dalian, demanding that they charge Shan Ye with human trafficking and seeking compensation for her child’s ordeal. But the authorities said that they were unable to charge the suspect.

Believing that she was being discriminated against as a minority Uyghur in a largely Han Chinese city, Tohti traveled to Beijing in June to appeal to the central authorities about her son’s case.

She also joined other Uyghur petitioners who held a demonstration in front of the UN office in the hopes of convincing the international community to pressure China over ethnic discrimination. Later, she gave interviews to the foreign media, including RFA.

Forcibly repatriated

In July, after returning to Dalian, Tohti was captured by police from her hometown in Aksu who sought to repatriate her, but she escaped overnight while the police officers slept on the train she was being held on.

Two days later, she was recaptured and taken to Uchturpan, where she was immediately jailed.

Eventually, during her detention, Tohti learned that she was held for demonstrating in front of the UN office in Beijing. She was also told that she was suspected of representing the World Uyghur Congress, a Uyghur exile group Beijing says is behind outbreaks of ethnic violence in Xinjiang.

“On the 39th day of my detention, I was released under police surveillance after my sister signed a document which said I wouldn’t travel to Beijing again to petition. I succeeded in escaping from Uchturpan on my fourth attempt,” she said.

“I don’t have any hope for winning my case, even if I spend the next 10 years fighting … I believe that destiny will land me in jail sooner or later. I want to tell the world that I am not proud of being a Chinese citizen, which has never once benefitted my life.”

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

Minister chides security agents for abetting human trafficking

NEXT.COM

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5750082-146/story.csp

Hindi Livinus December 29, 2011 06:16PM

The minister for Foreign Affairs, Nurudeen Muhammed has accused the nation’s security agencies of culpability over the increasing rate of human trafficking in persons and child labour, by providing cover to perpetrators of these criminal acts through lax security checks, resulting in the easy passage of trafficked persons along Nigeria’s international borders.

Mr Muhammed, who spoke at a sensitization workshop organised in Yola at the Banquet Hall of the Government House on Wednesday, said trafficking in persons and other illicit trans-border crimes of human slavery tarnished the image of the country.

Mr Muhammed who is the minister of state II for Foreign Affairs, also attributed the porosity of the borders, illiteracy, poverty, greed and the insatiable zeal to get-rich quick among youth in the country as another factor that was responsible for trafficking in persons and child labour.

Muhammed told participants at the sensitization workshop that most of the time, those behind the heinous crimes are abetted by the activities of some unscrupulous security officers that make it easy for the traffickers to elude capture by offering them cover.

In some cases, he pointed the traffickers get to issue the security agents at the borders with fake documents which are neither properly checked nor verified thereby ensuring the easy passage of their victims along the international borders or checkpoints, adding that the consequences of the crime, whose proceeds are in millions of dollars, was however inimical to both national development and sub- regional integration efforts.

“It was in realization of this that the authority of heads of state and government of ECOWAS endorsed a plan of action against trafficking in persons,” Muhammed said.

In the minister words, “We are aware that Nigeria is a source, transit and destination country of trafficking in persons. Being a source country, Nigeria has witnessed the deceitful migration of virile youths to western countries in search of a seemingly non-existent greener pasture. Many of these trafficked persons especially women and children have been forced into prostitution which exposes them to social and health hazards. Others are equally forced to work in farm plantations and as house-helps with little or no wages. These victims of human trafficking are from most of the states in the federation of which Adamawa is inclusive”.

According to the minister, the plan provided policy and administrative guidelines to enable member states articulate and implement a robust national legislation against trafficking in persons.

It further emphasized the need to build the capacity of the law enforcement agencies, ensure security and judicial reform, encourage an extensive enlightenment programmes at the grassroots and promote international co-operation among others.

The minister reiterated that Nigeria has remained committed to the implementation of the sub-regional initiatives, even as the country has ratified the United Nations Protocol on Human Trafficking.

Dr Muhammed maintained that to further demonstrate Nigeria’s commitment to the implementation of the sub-regional initiatives, the country also enacted anti-human trafficking law, established a functional institution, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in persons and other related matters, sustained enlightenment campaigns and improved law enforcement.

Also the permanent secretary, ministry of foreign affairs. Ambassador Martins Uhumoibhi, said the ministry of foreign affairs attached great importance to the sensitization campaign against human trafficking and child labour because it viewed it as crime against humanity and “another form of modern day slavery” which the government is determined to eradicate.

According to him “the attendant human suffering, not only brings enormous consular problems to our missions abroad, but also negative image to the country.”

Furthermore, Uhumoibhi said that his ministry will not rest until it educates people about the evil of the crime on both the victims and the society at large. The measures being taken accordingly is to reach out to members of the society by persuading parents, community leaders, security agencies and potential victims to apply themselves more seriously to combating the crime.

Related articles

• IJM Cambodia: Former Chief of Police Convicted of Trafficking Crimes in Historic Ruling | International Justice Mission (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
• Human trafficking preys on the poor: The need for economic emancipation | Deseret News (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)

Mickey Goodman: Actress Julia Ormond Speaks Out Against Human Slavery

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/Mickey-goodman/actress-julia-ormond-speaks_b_1128100.html

12/26/11 06:21 PM ET

Mickey Goodman

Author and Journalist

On an unseasonably blustery day in Atlanta, actress Julia Ormond's dark hair is pulled back in a jagged ponytail and she's clutching a loose sweater around her slender frame. She leans forward in her chair at Porsche headquarters and talks about her speech the night before to a group of women associated with Womenetics. Though her appearance is completely un-Hollywood, there's something decidedly magnetic about the beautiful actress who dazzled audiences inLegends of the Fall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and many more.

Once dubbed "the new Vivian Leigh," she portrays the famous actress in her current film, My Week with Marilyn. It is based on Colin Clark's memoirs, The Prince, The Showgirl and Me about Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier and his real-life wife, Vivien Leigh.

But instead of dishing Hollywood gossip or talking about the new film, her topic was deadly serious -- human trafficking -- and the organization she founded, the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET) which is on a mission to find solutions. Thanks to Porsche's partnership withWomenetics, Ormond was brought to Atlanta to talk to women executives at the top rung of their corporate ladders, all associated with the organization founded by Elisabeth Marchant to empower women and their companies.

L to R: Elisabeth Marchant, founder of Womentics with actress Julia Ormond.
Photo by Paula Gould

"Do you want to know where human slavery is the worst?" Ormond asks. "It's in my own kitchen. The tomatoes on my counter were likely picked by people living in slave camps in Florida where 90 percent of the tomatoes are harvested. They end up in restaurant chains, grocery stores and our own tables."

According to Ormond, nearly all of the fresh foods we eat, the clothes we wear and the athletic gear we use are likely produced by slaves somewhere along the supply chain. "Without our knowledge, it's a problem that has received little, if any, scrutiny," she says. "If we don't deal with it now, the problem will only get bigger."

The statistics are appalling. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that there are 12 million victims of forced labor worldwide of which 2.5 are trafficking victims. Half of those are underage. "But for every person forced into the sex trade, nine are forced to work in agriculture and manufacturing," Ormond says. It's common to use children in mines and fields, a number estimated at 200 million worldwide by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Corporations benefit by being able to offer lower prices. Reform has been far too slow, and consumers are largely left in the dark.

Until now.

Thanks to the efforts of ASSET and other nonprofits, there's been a breakthrough. On January 1, 2012, California will become the first state to enact a bill requiring companies with revenues of more than $100 million to publicly report on their websites voluntary efforts to monitor their direct supply chains to eliminate exploitation.

Named the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 (SB 657), it affects 3,200 different brands doing business in the state. By visiting company websites, consumers can use their buying power to convince corporations that human slavery is bad for business.

But why would a Hollywood actress who continues to land plum roles get involved?

"While working in Eastern Europe, the issue of human trafficking kept popping up," says Ormond, a long-time activist. She couldn't get the problem out of her mind and decided to talk with survivors. "Hearing their stories was like walking through a tunnel of horror. I also talked with experts who were struggling to find systemic solutions -- not just something reactive like setting up shelters and refugee centers."

Out of those conversations came ASSET and an effort to bring all the stakeholders together -- government, law enforcement, non-governmental organizations, corporations and consumers. Since those associated with Womenetics are in positions to think about best practices in their own companies and strive to eliminate the use of forced workers, they are the perfect audience to effect change.

Although stopping slavery, whether sexual, agricultural, manufacturing or mining is definitely part of their DNA and one of the main reasons Porsche signed on as a major sponsor of Womenetics, their main focus is empowering women. "Companies that have women at the top get better results," says Marchant, whose decision to become a virtual organization was to focus on women around the globe.

The reasons can be counted in dollars and cents. In 2009, women became the majority gender in the workforce, topping 51 percent. Many are the sole breadwinner. They make 90 percent of the buying decisions in the household, control $12 trillion of the $18.4 trillion total global spending, generate $1.3 trillion in revenue, own 8.1 million businesses that employ 7.7 million people, and control 51.3 percent of private wealth (www.womenetics.com).

Because Atlanta is home to Porsche's North American headquarters and the geographic center for human trafficking in the United States, the company wanted to reach out to women like those associated with Womenetics who could take action. By bringing Julia Ormond to the city, they hope to raise awareness of this issue on a local and national level.

OSCE Special Representative presents annual report, agenda for preventing trafficking for labour exploitation

http://www.osce.org/cthb/86276

Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, presenting her annual report to the OSCE Permanent Council, Vienna, 15 December 2011. (OSCE/Ahmet Cinar)

Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, called on states to tackle the structural factors that increase the vulnerability of people to trafficking such as discrimination, violence, and lack of education and job opportunities, in her annual report to the Permanent Council on 15 December 2011.

“Addressing trafficking in human beings as a human rights violation implies not only a negative obligation of any state to abstain from direct violations of human rights, but also a positive obligation to put in place protective measures for potential, presumed and actual victims. Prevention also means long-term measures aimed at the economic and legal empowerment of people at risk,” said Giammarinaro.

She presented An Agenda for Prevention: Trafficking for Labour Exploitation - three expert papers that build on the outcomes of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons Conference on Decent Work and Social Justice.

Giammarinaro also highlighted the importance of the Declaration on Combating all Forms of Human Trafficking agreed by the OSCE foreign ministers at the recent Ministerial Conference in Vilnius.

“The Vilnius declaration is an important achievement for the OSCE as a whole, as it reconfirms the political commitment to fight trafficking as an integral part of OSCE efforts towards common and comprehensive security, which includes full respect of human rights,” she said.

She told the ambassadors of OSCE participating States the declaration could underpin efforts to “achieve more effective results in the fight against all forms of trafficking, including the least addressed, such as trafficking for the removal of organs, for forced begging and forced criminality, while continuing to develop innovative approaches to the prevention of and fight against trafficking for sexual exploitation, trafficking for labour exploitation including domestic servitude, and child trafficking".

The annual report for 2011 highlights work with the participating States, OSCE structures, Institutions and field operations, as well as with international and non-governmental organizations to make the anti-trafficking framework more effective.

Helsingin Sanomat - Surge in investigations for human trafficking

Helsingin Sanomat  

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Surge+in+investigations+for+human+trafficking/1135270087824 

Minority ombudsman praises active police

print this

Finnish officials have launched a record number of investigations into suspected cases of human trafficking this year.
      

By early December the police and the Finnish Border Guard have either launched investigations or received criminal complaints relating to 25 separate cases of suspected trafficking in humans.
     
Previously there have been about ten suspected cases of human trafficking each year.
   

   This year, dozens of people are believed to have been victims of human trafficking in cases that are fairly equally distributed around Finland.

     “We have made a conscious decision to put efforts into the unmasking of human trafficking”, says Deputy Police Commissioner Robin Lardot.
     
The increase in investigations into suspected cases of human trafficking has more to do with increased police activity in the matter than any actual increase in the number of crimes.
  

    “I doubt that human trafficking as a phenomenon has changed significantly in Finland”, Lardot says.

      In previous years, crimes involving suspected human trafficking may have been investigated as procurement or extortion, for which it is easier to find evidence than for human trafficking. Police expect that there will be more convictions specifically for human trafficking in the future.
     
The Ombudsman for Minorities had criticised the police earlier in the year for not sufficiently recognising the signs of human trafficking in their investigations.

      Now Venla Roth, chief inspector at the Office of the Ombudsman for Minorities, praises the police for investigating suspected cases more pro-actively than before.

      Punishments for human trafficking are considerably more severe than for procurement, for instance.

      Aggravated human trafficking can bring a ten-year prison sentence, while the maximum sentence for procurement is just six years.
     
Whether a crime is prosecuted as human trafficking or something else can also have significance for the victim.

      If the charge is human trafficking, the victim can officially be seen as a plaintiff, and not just as a witness. Plaintiffs are entitled to legal counsel.

      “Because of legal counsel, possible sexual abuse, violence, and intimidation are more easily revealed”, says Venla Roth.

      She also believes that victims who get the official status of plaintiffs in a court case can have easier access to systems of assistance for victims of human trafficking.
      

IJM Cambodia: Former Chief of Police Convicted of Trafficking Crimes in Historic Ruling | International Justice Mission

http://www.ijm.org/news/ijm-cambodia-former-chief-police-convicted-trafficking-crimes-historic-ruling

Source: IJM

Wed, 12/21/2011

Today is a new day in Cambodia: Four men were convicted for trafficking crimes, including the former chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Anti-Trafficking Unit.

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – In a landmark case that will echo throughout trafficking rings around the capital city of Cambodia, the former chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Anti Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police was found guilty as an accomplice to aggravated procurement of prostitution. Yesterday, he and three other perpetrators were convicted for trafficking crimes, all sentenced to at least seven years in prison.

The former chief is the first police officer from an anti-trafficking unit to ever be convicted of a trafficking in persons crime. This conviction will serve as a deterrent to others who might seek to profit from or aid traffickers in Cambodia, and it sets a precedent for future convictions against corrupt police officers who are complicit in trafficking crimes.

"It's hard to proceed with a case against a high-ranking police officer in Cambodia, and this verdict is a very positive sign," explains Sarouen Sek, IJM Cambodia's lawyer who represented two of IJM's clients who testified in the trial against the senior-level officer. "These convictions will not only act as a deterrent to others, but also protect many girls and women from exploitation."

"This is an historic conviction in Cambodia," says IJM's Director of Operations in Southeast Asia, Blair Burns. "This man was in a senior position of authority, responsible to protect young women who had been trafficked for sex. And he was instead protecting the owners of the brothels where they were being exploited."

The former chief is the first police officer from an anti-trafficking unit to ever be convicted of a trafficking in persons crime. This conviction will serve as a deterrent to others who might seek to profit from or aid traffickers in Cambodia, and it sets a precedent for future convictions against corrupt police officers who are complicit in trafficking crimes.

In June 2011, IJM assisted the Cambodian Ministry of Interior's Anti Human Trafficking police to rescue women and girls who had been raped for profit in two brothels, both owned by a network of powerful criminals in Phnom Penh. In the trial, two of the trafficking survivors testified to the exploitation they endured in the brothels. Other police officers also corroborated the trafficking charges against the corrupt former chief of the municipal-level anti-trafficking unit.

An article published in The Phnom Penh Postreported on the trial days before the judgment was delivered. The Post reported that the former chief of the municipal anti-trafficking police would solicit bribes from brothels, alerting them when an anti-trafficking operation was being planned. The presiding judge in the trial said that the former chief "ordered his closest people to collect money for him from a number of brothels for his protection from police crackdowns or arrests."

The brothel owner was present for the trial and has begun serving an 8-year sentence in prison. The former chief of the municipal-level anti-trafficking police and the two others convicted with him were tried and convicted in absentia. The search for their whereabouts continues.

The brave survivors who chose to testify in the trial of the abuse they had endured are now thriving in freedom. IJM social workers have connected both with aftercare services, including trauma-focused counseling. One of the survivors, an adult woman, recently completed a vocational training program with one of IJM's trusted aftercare partners and was hired on to work at the café making high-end cakes and pastries.

These women no longer have to fear the brothel owners or the corrupt officer who helped to perpetuate their violent abuse. Instead, the perpetrators who have been publicly named and declared guilty are the ones fearfully in hiding. Today is a new day in Cambodia. 

Rev. Seamus P. Finn, OMI: Human Rights Day 2011: New Advocates?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-seamus-p-finn-omi/human-rights-day-2011new-_b_1147033.html

Rev. Seamus P. Finn, OMI

Member, Justice/Peace and Integrity of Creation Ministry

12/20/11 01:53 PM ET

A new important framework and tool has been added to the human rights tool kit as we celebrate Human Rights Day in 2011. In June this year the U.N. Human Rights Council, in Geneva, formally endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This represented the conclusion of the mandate given in 2005 by U.N. Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to the Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie -- a mandate characterized by some as an important step forward in the design of a regulatory framework for globalization. The development and endorsement of these principles is also consistent with the recognition of the ever expanding reach and deepening influence that corporations have on the lives of communities and individuals across the world.

The principles were developed to offer guidance for the implementation of the "Protect, Respect and Remedy" framework, which was first introduced by the Special Representative in 2008, and to provide very practical and concrete recommendations on how to operationalize the framework. The framework was built around the following three central pillars:

1. States have a responsibility to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including corporations;


2. Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights;


3. Victims of human rights abuses must be free to access effective remedies.

The framework and principles break new ground both substantively and through the open and transparent process that was followed by those who guided the project. The commitment to the production of guiding principles that are responsive to the interests and perspectives of numerous stakeholders is always difficult to fulfill. When this effort is undertaken within a global horizon that aspires to include a range of industry sectors, corporate enterprises and numerous interested stakeholders, it is both ambitious and daunting.

The guiding principles break new ground when they explicitly clarify the responsibility that corporations have concerning human rights and where they enumerate a number of specific requirements that flow from that responsibility. One of those requirements is that companies "seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts."

In the vernacular, this benchmark is often referred to as "supply chain management." It applies to all corporations and includes both a list of issues and challenges that investors and other stakeholders have helped to identify and monitor in recent decades. This began when stories and concerns about the wages and working conditions in the manufacturing facilities of major multinationals, especially in developing countries, were exposed and they were being pressed to respond by assessing the liabilities that existed in their global footprint. It has evolved to include working conditions in agriculture and commodity operations, especially mining and energy explorations, as well as the impacts that any such operations have on local communities and regions.

Many companies identified and accepted their responsibilities in the environmental arena and were pressed to set out both clear benchmarks and aggressive strategies to address those challenges. These have ranged from measuring carbon footprints to routine recycling and energy saving measures, to adoption of green building standards and certifications.

However, in the human rights arena designing strategies and responses to both identify and address the various issues and challenges that exist in their supply chain was never going to be as easy.

Among the general areas of supply chain management that faith-based and socially responsible investors have identified and encouraged companies to consider are the following: mapping of supply chain exposures, identifying and prioritizing risks in their supply chain and the development of a process to monitor and certify supply chain compliance and security. This includes a clear mapping of all the suppliers, vendors and partners that are part of the manufacturing process or the service delivery that a company offers. Only this level of management will be successful in providing the kinds of assurances that investors, customers and other stakeholders are asking for.

Specific issues, in the human rights arena, that are priorities under the areas identified above include those contained in the United Nations, International Bill of Human Rights and codified in the International Covenants. Practically, these include commitments on living wages and benefits, safe working conditions, child and slave labor criteria, respect for freedom of association and the eradication of human trafficking.

The vision, framework and guiding principles that have been developed over the last six years and offered to governments, corporations and stakeholders will be an invaluable tool for increased collaboration by all who are committed to protecting and promoting human rights and providing new remedies for those whose rights are threatened or abused.

Follow Rev. Seamus P. Finn, OMI on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Seamus Finn @Sa

ASEAN Partners with MTV EXIT

http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/stories/december2011/asean-partners-with-mtv-exit.html

( MTV EXIT) - MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) have joined forces to promote human security for ASEAN citizens in the battle against trafficking in persons in Southeast Asia.

MTV EXIT, supported by the United States and Australian Governments, produces cutting-edge multimedia content, such as free live concerts, public service announcements (PSAs), music videos, and documentary films to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking and exploitation.

The partnership was announced as the MTV EXIT campaign returns to Cambodia for a free live concert at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Pehn, headlined by Korean band After School, and American pop band The Click Five. MTV EXIT has held 27 concerts across Asia over the past two and a half years, including events in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. Concerts will be held in other ASEAN countries next year.

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Political-Security Community, Sayakane Sisouvong, who was present at the concert expressed that, "Being one of the most powerful means and tools with today's advanced technology and the growth of social media, the music, the film and celebrities, we believe that MTV EXIT can certainly make an additional contribution to ASEAN in its continued effort to reach out to young people in their campaign to increase awareness of the issue through families, friends and neighbors."

MTV EXIT's collaboration with renowned international and local celebrities around the world seeks to build a stronger affinity with youth and keep this global problem relevant to them with the objective to inspire and empower youth to drive local action against a global problem by spreading the message to their communities.

MTV EXIT's new celebrity ambassador to Cambodia, Dr. Chea Samnang said, "Human trafficking is modern day slavery and it is an issue that affects all of us, including my family and yours. It is a crime that needs to be addressed and stopped, which starts with you and me. Let us join the fight together to end this critical issue in Cambodia and in ASEAN."

ASEAN has taken measures to intensify the efforts to curb the issue of trafficking in persons as it threatens the stability and prosperity of the region. At the 18 ^th ASEAN Summit held in May 2011, ASEAN Heads of State agreed to strengthen regional and international cooperation to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, enhance cooperation within existing frameworks and instruments, and emphasized the protection of the rights of victims.

"The U.S. Government is committed to ending modern-day slavery. We are proud to work in partnership with MTV EXIT, ASEAN and Australia," said David L. Carden, U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN.

Last week in Phnom Penh, MTV EXIT also hosted the first-ever MTV EXIT National Anti-Trafficking Youth Forum in Cambodia co-organized with World Vision Cambodia to empower and engage youth leaders from across the country to spread key anti-trafficking messages. The Forum brought together youth leaders ages 18 to 25 years old for a series of interactive workshops conducted by media professionals over 4 days. The Forum strengthened the youth leaders' creative skills, while challenging them to produce a campaign plan to take the fight against human trafficking back to their local communities.

H.E. Penny Richards, the Australian Ambassador to Cambodia said, "The rise of being trafficked is a real one for far too many people living in Southeast Asia.  Australia is a proud supporter of MTV EXIT and continues to work closely with ASEAN and the United States on this issue of shared international concern."

For more details about human trafficking and exploitation in Asia, visit www.mtvexit.org or follow MTV EXIT on the following social media platforms: Twitter@mtvexit and www.facebook.com/mtvexit