Related articles
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Little Known About Men, Child Trafficking Victims
Little Known About Men, Child Trafficking Victims
A student at Nigeria's Benin University in Benin City walks past a billboard encouraging women to fight human trafficking.
A new study said much more research is needed on men and children who’ve been victims of human trafficking. It says they’re not getting the medical and psychological care necessary to rebuild their lives.
Dr. Sian Oram said human trafficking is widespread and growing.
“The international level organizations estimate that 2.5 million people are in situations [such] as forced labor as a result of trafficking. And really we see trafficking in every corner of the globe. So there’s about 270,000 people estimated to be in trafficking in industrialized countries, but also hundreds of thousands in sub-Saharan Africa, in the Middle East, North Africa, [and] Latin America,” she said.
Oram led a team of researchers from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry. She said many studies have been done on the physical and psychological effects of trafficking on women.
“The studies were really consistently reporting about women who’ve been trafficked – the sexual exploitation experienced - very high levels of physical and sexual violence. And also we found that they were reporting very high levels of physical, sexual and mental health problems,” she said.
Little is known
Many men become forced laborers in fields or fishing boats. Many children may be recruited into armed groups, sexually exploited or used in the illegal drug trade. Asked how much is known about how they’re affected, Oram said, “Really not very much at all. We didn’t find any studies that reported on the health of trafficked men. And we really only found a couple that reported on trafficked children, and they were very limited.”
Oram isn’t sure why so little is known, but she said it means little is being done to help them.
“I think it really means that when we’re looking to work with trafficked men and trafficked children to support their needs and help them recover from their experiences, we can’t do that in a way that’s informed by the evidence there, because the evidence just isn’t there,” she said.
PTSD
Many trafficking victims not only suffer from high levels of anxiety, but post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s something often associated with combat veterans and war victims. PTSD can have debilitating effects.
“For example,” she said, “if women are talking to police, or they’re completing an immigration interview, and some of the symptoms of PTSD that they may have are around difficulty concentrating, or difficulty remembering important aspects of what happened to them, they may seem like incredible witnesses when actually it’s symptoms of the disorder that they displaying.”
Oram said it’s important to know whether men and children are suffering the same effects.
“I think there’s really a need to prioritize research with trafficked children and with trafficked men. And I think it would be a good idea for researchers to start linking up with organizations that are supporting these people, so that they can start to tap into some of that knowledge that’s already there,” she said.
The study said, “There is no sign that human trafficking is abating.” It says more information is needed to design better interventions to “mitigate the physical and psychological damage associated with this global crime.”
Last updated on: May 30, 2012 6:47 AM
A student at Nigeria's Benin University in Benin City walks past a billboard encouraging women to fight human trafficking.
A new study said much more research is needed on men and children who’ve been victims of human trafficking. It says they’re not getting the medical and psychological care necessary to rebuild their lives.
De Capua report on human trafficking
Dr. Sian Oram said human trafficking is widespread and growing.
“The international level organizations estimate that 2.5 million people are in situations [such] as forced labor as a result of trafficking. And really we see trafficking in every corner of the globe. So there’s about 270,000 people estimated to be in trafficking in industrialized countries, but also hundreds of thousands in sub-Saharan Africa, in the Middle East, North Africa, [and] Latin America,” she said.
Oram led a team of researchers from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry. She said many studies have been done on the physical and psychological effects of trafficking on women.
“The studies were really consistently reporting about women who’ve been trafficked – the sexual exploitation experienced - very high levels of physical and sexual violence. And also we found that they were reporting very high levels of physical, sexual and mental health problems,” she said.
Little is known
Many men become forced laborers in fields or fishing boats. Many children may be recruited into armed groups, sexually exploited or used in the illegal drug trade. Asked how much is known about how they’re affected, Oram said, “Really not very much at all. We didn’t find any studies that reported on the health of trafficked men. And we really only found a couple that reported on trafficked children, and they were very limited.”
Oram isn’t sure why so little is known, but she said it means little is being done to help them.
“I think it really means that when we’re looking to work with trafficked men and trafficked children to support their needs and help them recover from their experiences, we can’t do that in a way that’s informed by the evidence there, because the evidence just isn’t there,” she said.
PTSD
Many trafficking victims not only suffer from high levels of anxiety, but post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s something often associated with combat veterans and war victims. PTSD can have debilitating effects.
“For example,” she said, “if women are talking to police, or they’re completing an immigration interview, and some of the symptoms of PTSD that they may have are around difficulty concentrating, or difficulty remembering important aspects of what happened to them, they may seem like incredible witnesses when actually it’s symptoms of the disorder that they displaying.”
Oram said it’s important to know whether men and children are suffering the same effects.
“I think there’s really a need to prioritize research with trafficked children and with trafficked men. And I think it would be a good idea for researchers to start linking up with organizations that are supporting these people, so that they can start to tap into some of that knowledge that’s already there,” she said.
The study said, “There is no sign that human trafficking is abating.” It says more information is needed to design better interventions to “mitigate the physical and psychological damage associated with this global crime.”
Sabre Joins Fight Against Human Trafficking - MarketWatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sabre-joins-fight-against-human-trafficking-2012-05-30
Source: MarketWatch
PRESS RELEASE
May 30, 2012, 8:58 a.m. EDT
Source: MarketWatch
PRESS RELEASE
May 30, 2012, 8:58 a.m. EDT
SOUTHLAKE, Texas, May 30, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Global travel technology company, Sabre Holdings, has joined members of the travel and tourism industry to fight sexual exploitation of children by signing the tourism Code of Conduct (The Code). A tourism-driven initiative to prevent child exploitation, The Code is co-funded by the Swiss Government (SECO) and private sector, and supported by Ending Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) International network, with UNICEF and the World Tourism Organization acting as advisory partners.
Sabre is the first travel technology company and the eighth U.S.-based company to sign the Code, which has more than 1000 members worldwide. It joins many of its customers in fighting the sexual exploitation of children including Accor Group, Carlson Group, Delta Air Lines, Hilton Worldwide and Wyndham Worldwide.
"Human trafficking is one of the most lucrative, widespread and fastest growing crimes, and often the travel and tourism industry is an unwilling and unknowing participant used by traffickers. Consequently, we are uniquely positioned to be a driving force in putting an end to these horrific crimes," said Sam Gilliland, CEO and Chairman of Sabre Holdings.
As a member, Sabre will look at ways to condemn child trafficking and exploitation, including providing training to its 10,000 global employees so they are more informed about the issue. It will also explore ways to raise awareness about human trafficking with its airline, hotel, travel agency and corporate customers, as well as directly to travelers who use its online booking tools, Travelocity.com, lastminute.com and Zuji.com.
"We will look at adding useful information about human trafficking to a traveler's e-ticket receipt for example, so they can be better prepared to identify and report potential trafficking incidents. We'll also work with the travel industry and government organizations around the world to shine more light on this issue and encourage them to be part of the solution," said Gilliland.
Human trafficking is estimated to be a US$32 billion trade affecting 161 countries worldwide. Today over 12 million men, women and children are trafficked within and across international borders for commercial sex or forced labor, including in the U.S. where an estimated 100,000 children are forced into the sex trade each year.
"Having a global technology company like Sabre join The Code is an important step forward in child protection. There is great potential to leverage their technology to address exploitation," said Carol Smolenski, Executive Director at ECPAT-USA. "It is also encouraging that they are willing to associate their brand with an organization that works on a difficult issue. Corporations that are willing to take this step have a genuine passion for the industry and the welfare of children, and I hope we continue to find support from more of these altruistic companies."
Demonstrating its immediate commitment to The Code, Sabre has invited the Polaris Project, an organization focused on combating all forms of human trafficking, to educate more than 350 travel agents and technology professionals expected to attend the company's annual Technology and Marketing University event next week in Las Vegas.
Bradley Myles, Executive Director and CEO of Polaris Project, said: "Sabre's passion, expertise and resources add a new dimension to this cause, and it's great to see them already proving a commitment to leverage their resources by having us educate attendees at their Technology and Marketing University event."
The signing of The Code is part of Sabre's broader commitment to global corporate responsibility in areas of travel, tourism and the communities it lives and works in.
About Sabre Holdings: a global travel technology company, serving the world's largest industry -- travel and tourism. We provide software to travel agencies, corporations, travelers, airlines, hotels, car, rail, cruise and tour operator companies through our four businesses: Sabre Airline Solutions, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, Sabre Travel Network and Travelocity (including lastminute.com and Zuji). Sabre has approximately 10,000 employees in 60 countries around the world. It has large development and customer care centers in the United States, Argentina, India, Philippines, Poland and Uruguay. Sabre has won numerous awards for being a top employer and corporate citizen in Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, Peru, Poland, and the United States. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, Sabre is privately owned by Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Silver Lake Partners. For more information please visit: www.sabre.com
About ECPAT: the U.S. arm of ECPAT International, is focused on protecting children trafficked into the U.S., American children trafficked for sexual exploitation, and foreign children exploited by American tourists traveling abroad. ECPAT International is a global network of organizations working together for the elimination of child trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography. The network is comprised of 81 groups in 74 countries around the world. All ECPAT groups are independent grassroots organizations, working to combat child exploitation at the local level. For more information, visit www.ecpatusa.org .
About Polaris Project: is a leading organization in the United States combating all forms of human trafficking and serving both U.S. citizens and foreign national victims, including men, women, and children, and they operate the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline. For more information, please visit: www.polarisproject.org
Note to Editors
About child sex tourism: Child sex tourism is the commercial sexual exploitation of children by people who travel from one place to another to engage in sexual acts with minors. Often, child sex tourists travel from a richer country to one that is less developed, or they may be travellers within their own countries or region. Some child sex tourists (preferential abusers and paedophiles) target children specifically, but most do not usually have a sexual preference for children; they are situational abusers who unscrupulously take advantage of a situation in which children are made available to them. Child sex tourists take advantage of their anonymity as well as the socio-economic disparities in the locations they visit. They may try to rationalise their actions by claiming sex with a child is culturally acceptable or that money or goods exchanged benefit the child and community, or by setting their own thresholds for defining who is a child (under the CRC, a child is anyone under the age of 18).
SOURCE: Sabre Holdings
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Enslaved in our own backyard | Local | News | Welland Tribune
On a cold November day in 2007, 17-year-old “Eve” summoned the courage to escape her captor and call police after two and a half years of sexual slavery.
Related articles
She led them to a motel room where her trafficker kept another girl, a 14-year-old, also as a sexual slave.
“Eve” is a pseudonym for a girl whose story was documented in news reports, court documents and an academic study on slavery. Her bravery led to Canada’s first ever human trafficking conviction—a 26-year-old Niagara Falls man.
Imani Nakpangi had forced Eve, through beatings and threats, into selling sex to up to 15 men a day, many of whom booked her services through Craigslist ads.
Click on URL below for the full story.
Enslaved in our own backyard | Local | News | Welland Tribune
A Permanent Evil
A Permanent Evil:
Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery, is one of the most wide-spread and egregious violations of human rights in our world today. Traffickers and pimps use tactics that are almost unthinkable to lure, control, and compel their victims into forced labor or commercial sex acts. These abusers use violence, threats, false promises, and the illusion of love to slowly break down their victim’s sense of humanity over time. They feed off our vulnerabilities, our need for care and love and affection – and use them against their victims. I can think of nothing perhaps more evil than preying off the emotional and psychological vulnerabilities of another human being to exploit and profit off of them. But sadly this happens every day, in just about every city, all over the world.
Many victims of sex trafficking are forcibly branded or tattooed by their pimps to dehumanize them and reinforce the trafficker’s message: that they are their property or their slave. Pimps have tattooed the word “daddy” or their own name on their victims, or even used symbols like a product barcode. Nicholas Kristof recently wrote about a young girl, Taz, in New York who, along with 3 other girls, were forcibly tattooed or branded by a violent pimp. Another sex trafficker in Los Angeles, California, who compelled 13 and 14 year old girls to engage in commercial sex, forcibly tattooed them with his street name.
Since December of 2007, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline has received nearly 150 calls across the nation related to tattoos and human trafficking, including 63 unique cases of potential trafficking situations. In nearly 18% of the cases referenced, callers identified having seen the trafficker’s name or identifying symbol tattooed on the victim. In another 10% of the cases, callers stated that the trafficker physically forced the victim to be tattooed. Calls referenced both sex and labor trafficking situations, where the majority of victims were overwhelmingly minor girls.
Even after escaping their trafficking situations, these victims are forced to view this constant and permanent physical reminder of the tragedies that they were forced to endure at the hands of evil men.
However, legislators in California are currently looking at helping these survivors by making their tattoos less permanent. . Assemblyman Anthony Portantino introduced AB 1956 earlier this year. The first of its kind, AB 1956 expands existing tattoo removal programs for ex-gang members to include survivors of human trafficking. If it becomes law, survivors of this form of modern-day slavery will no longer have to live with the constant reminder of their tragic past. This bill received unanimous bi-partisan support in the California Assembly, and is currently pending in the California Senate. AB 1956 is among a package of billsthat Polaris Project is actively working on behalf of in California.
Join Polaris Project and our partner organizations, in calling on the California Senate to once again lead the nation in innovative responses to human trafficking, by unanimously passing this important piece of legislation. Together, let us erase this evil practice.
Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery, is one of the most wide-spread and egregious violations of human rights in our world today. Traffickers and pimps use tactics that are almost unthinkable to lure, control, and compel their victims into forced labor or commercial sex acts. These abusers use violence, threats, false promises, and the illusion of love to slowly break down their victim’s sense of humanity over time. They feed off our vulnerabilities, our need for care and love and affection – and use them against their victims. I can think of nothing perhaps more evil than preying off the emotional and psychological vulnerabilities of another human being to exploit and profit off of them. But sadly this happens every day, in just about every city, all over the world.
Many victims of sex trafficking are forcibly branded or tattooed by their pimps to dehumanize them and reinforce the trafficker’s message: that they are their property or their slave. Pimps have tattooed the word “daddy” or their own name on their victims, or even used symbols like a product barcode. Nicholas Kristof recently wrote about a young girl, Taz, in New York who, along with 3 other girls, were forcibly tattooed or branded by a violent pimp. Another sex trafficker in Los Angeles, California, who compelled 13 and 14 year old girls to engage in commercial sex, forcibly tattooed them with his street name.
Since December of 2007, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline has received nearly 150 calls across the nation related to tattoos and human trafficking, including 63 unique cases of potential trafficking situations. In nearly 18% of the cases referenced, callers identified having seen the trafficker’s name or identifying symbol tattooed on the victim. In another 10% of the cases, callers stated that the trafficker physically forced the victim to be tattooed. Calls referenced both sex and labor trafficking situations, where the majority of victims were overwhelmingly minor girls.
Even after escaping their trafficking situations, these victims are forced to view this constant and permanent physical reminder of the tragedies that they were forced to endure at the hands of evil men.
However, legislators in California are currently looking at helping these survivors by making their tattoos less permanent. . Assemblyman Anthony Portantino introduced AB 1956 earlier this year. The first of its kind, AB 1956 expands existing tattoo removal programs for ex-gang members to include survivors of human trafficking. If it becomes law, survivors of this form of modern-day slavery will no longer have to live with the constant reminder of their tragic past. This bill received unanimous bi-partisan support in the California Assembly, and is currently pending in the California Senate. AB 1956 is among a package of billsthat Polaris Project is actively working on behalf of in California.
Join Polaris Project and our partner organizations, in calling on the California Senate to once again lead the nation in innovative responses to human trafficking, by unanimously passing this important piece of legislation. Together, let us erase this evil practice.
Latest Human Trafficking News May 29, 2012
- Eight arrested after brothel raids
More than 130 premises were raided and eight people arrested in a cross-border operation targeting organised prostitution, criminality and money laundering.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The complicated, sad truth of American sex trafficking
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/the-complicated-sad-truth-of-american-sex-trafficking-2379617.html
Source: statesman.com
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Monday, May 28, 2012
We think of branding as something ranchers do to their cattle. But it's also what pimps do to women and girls they control across America.
Source: statesman.com
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Monday, May 28, 2012
We think of branding as something ranchers do to their cattle. But it's also what pimps do to women and girls they control across America.
Taz, a 16-year-old girl here in New York City, told me that her pimp had branded three other girls with tattoos bearing his name. When she refused the tattoo, she said, he held her down and carved his name on her back with a safety pin.
More about Taz in a moment. That kind of branding isn't universal, but it's very common.
An alleged pimp indicted last month in Manhattan is accused of tattooing his street name on a prostitute's neck, along with a bar code. He allegedly tattooed another prostitute with a symbol of his name on her pubic area, along with a dollar sign. In each case, the message was clear: They were his property, and they were for sale.
Such branding is a reminder that women being sold on the streets in America are — not always, but often — victims rather than criminals. That consciousness is spreading, and we are finally seeing considerable progress in tackling domestic sex trafficking.
So far, in 2012, states have passed more than 40 laws relating to human trafficking, according to Megan Fowler of Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking organization.
Prosecutors and police are increasingly targeting pimps and johns, and not just the women and girls who are their victims.
In Manhattan, the district attorney's office recently started a sex trafficking program and just secured its most comprehensive indictments for sex trafficking. Likewise, a federal prosecutor in Virginia brought sex trafficking charges last month against a man accused of selling a 14-year-old girl in several states.
Now President Barack Obama is said to be planning an initiative on human trafficking.
I'm hoping that he will direct the attorney general to make sex trafficking a higher federal priority and call on states to pass "safe harbor" laws that treat prostituted teenage girls as victims rather than criminals.
The other important shift is growing pressure on Backpage.com, a classified advertising website that dominates the sex trafficking industry.
Calls for Village Voice Media, which owns Backpage, to end its links to sex trafficking have come from attorneys general from 48 states, dozens of mayors from around the country and some 240,000 Americans who have signed a petition on Change.org.
Resolutions are pending in the Senate and House calling on Village Voice Media to get out of this trade.
At least 34 advertisers have dropped Village Voice Media publications, including the flagship, Village Voice in New York City.
In its defense, Village Voice Media notes that it screens ads and cooperates with the police. That's true, but Taz — the 16-year-old with her former pimp's name carved into her back — told me that three-quarters of her "dates" had come from Backpage.
I met Taz at Gateways, a treatment center outside New York City.
She told me that she ran away from home in New York City at the age of 14 and eventually ended up in the hands of a violent 20-year-old pimp who peddled her on Backpage.
Skeptics mostly believe that prostitutes sell sex voluntarily, and anti-trafficking advocates sometimes suggest that they are almost all forced into the trade. The truth is more complicated.
Taz wasn't locked up, and, at times, she felt a romantic bond with her pimp. She distrusted the police — with reason, for when officers found her in December, they arrested her and locked her up for four months in juvenile detention.
Yet Taz wasn't exactly selling sex by choice, either.
She said her pimp issued his four girls a daily quota of money to earn; if they didn't, he would beat them.
They could never leave, either, Taz said, and she explained what happened when her pimp caught her trying to run away:
"I got drowned," she recalled. "He choked me, put me in the tub, and when I woke up, I was drowning. He said he'd kill me if I left."
Another time, Taz says, she tried to call 911.
"He hit me over the head with a glass bottle," she recalls.
Then he ordered another of his girls to sweep up the broken glass.
I bet the police looked at Taz and saw an angry, defiant prostitute who hated them and didn't want to be rescued.
There was an element of truth to that. But there's another side as well, now visible, and it underscores the importance of helping these girls rather than giving up on them.
Taz is emerging as a smart, ambitious girl with dazzling potential.
She loves reading and writing, and when I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up, she smiled a bit self-consciously.
"I'd like to be a pediatrician," she said.
Krugman writes for The New York Times.
Monday, May 28, 2012
15 human trafficking victims rescued in Tawi-Tawi | Sun.Star
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2012/05/25/15-human-trafficking-victims-rescued-223377
Source: Sun.Star
Friday, May 25, 2012
TWO inter-agency task forces have rescued 15 female victims of human trafficking on two separate operations in Tawi-Tawi province, officials disclosed Friday.
Source: Sun.Star
Friday, May 25, 2012
TWO inter-agency task forces have rescued 15 female victims of human trafficking on two separate operations in Tawi-Tawi province, officials disclosed Friday.
Senior Superintendent Rodelio Jocson, Tawi-Tawi police director, said eight of the 15 victims were rescued on Wednesday while the remaining seven, including one minor, were rescued on Thursday.
Jocson said the victims were rescued while they were about to be transported out of the country, most likely to nearby Malaysia, from Bongao town in Tawi-Tawi.
The victims were rescued by the combined forces of the Tawi-Tawi Police Provincial Anti-Trafficking Task Group (PATTG) and the Bongao Inter-Agency Task Forces Against Trafficking (BIATFAT).
The latest rescue has brought to a total of 59 human trafficking victims rescued in a week’s time here in Western Mindanao area.
Jocson said the victims were turned over to the Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF) for proper disposition.
The VFF is a non-stock, non-profit organization that works for the protection of vulnerable migrants, including victims of human trafficking, forced labor, and other modern-day forms of slavery.
Ailyn Repadas, a VFF staff, said that some of the victims are from Zamboanga City and nearby provinces in the region and as well as from the Visayas and Luzon regions.
Last May 12, the local police rescued 44 victims of human trafficking and arrested the alleged recruiter at a hotel in this city.
The 44 victims are all residents of Makiri and Timpul villages in Isabela City, the capital of the nearby province of Basilan.
They were allegedly recruited by Khaiser Alih, also of Isabela City, who promised the minors a scholarship grant from the National Youth Commission and jobs in Manila.
The suspects had been detained and cases of illegal recruitment, child abuse and large scale estafa were filed against him, the police said. (Bong Garcia)
Expert: Fear and mind games control sex trafficking victims
http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=154884715&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10222
SOURCE: NWCN.com Washington - Oregon - Idaho
SOURCE: NWCN.com Washington - Oregon - Idaho
NWCN.com
Posted on May 27, 2012 at 5:31 PM
Updated yesterday at 6:02 PM
SPOKANE COUNTY -- The search continues for more victims of a human trafficking case out of Spokane County. Detectives said the case may involve more people beyond the four suspects already arrested.
The alleged victim contacted the Sheriff's Office last Thursday. She said she was forced into prostitution and held captive for about a year. The 21-year-old woman said she was shuttled between different homes and hotels and forced to have sex against her will. She claims there are more victims.
Experts who work with trafficking victims say these cases are more common than most people think. Many victims do not come forward because they do not realize the services available to help them.
Community leaders hope this recent case helps to not only let possible victims know about their services, but also teach the public about this problem.
Community leaders hope this recent case helps to not only let possible victims know about their services, but also teach the public about this problem.
"We see trafficking of children, we see trafficking of adults," said Adam Shipman of Lutheran Community Services. "Children are at risk especially in the sex trafficking industry."
Cases are rarely reported, making human trafficking an invisible industry.
"Some people may go back into the lifestyle and almost 100% of the time that is fear, fear of their safety. Traffickers are skilled at letting victims know the consequences for leaving," said Shipman.
Those who want to speak out are aware of what could happen. But they often do not realize who else is out there to help them.
"The big thing we are seeing in Spokane is identifying resources within our community. We make sure that the systems are in place so when trafficking victims are identified, they can immediately get services."
If you are a victim of trafficking, or know someone who is, you can call a confidential crisis line. That number is 1-866-751-7119. The line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you are a victim of trafficking, or know someone who is, you can call a confidential crisis line. That number is 1-866-751-7119. The line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Palawan: Human trafficking victims rescued by PH Navy on Malaysian border | GroundReport
http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Palawan-Human-trafficking-victims-rescued-by-PH-Na_9/2946388|
Source: GroundReport
Source: GroundReport
by Michael Cohen May 27, 2012
Six women were rescued from a human smuggling ring that allegedly opperates a series of illegal brothels in Kudat Malaysia, Locals had long complained in Southern Palawan about the 'Blue boat trade' describing what is one of many illegally engaged in human trafficking between the Southern Philippines and Malaysia.
Philippine Naval Forces West Public Affairs Officer Lt. Karen A. Abulon of Naval Station Del Rosario told journalists a joint tactical operation along with members of the Balabac Philippine National Police were able to find a bost with six women believed bound for sex industry dens in Sabah, Malaysia at Calandorang Bay, Balabac in Palawan.
Abulon, in a news release said that the "joint Navy and Police operation resulted on reports of a 'concerned citizen' to the small navy station on the Philippine Border with Malaysia.
The tip given the Navy was a small veseel the "KT Kudat, blue on its freeboard and pilothouse, was at the village of Bancalaan, Balabac, Palawan to transport women to Kudat, Malaysia."
A joint operation with elements of Naval personel conducted a patrol to preempt the illegal border crossing and human trafficiking , in its report to Manila ,"the joint team of NSNDR and Balabac-PNP spotted and intercepted a motor launch matching the description at the vicinity of Calandorang Bay, Balabac in Palawan."
The team found the six women on board four from Bulacan province on Luzon Island; and two residents of Quezon, Palawan; and
The vessel a small launch was operated by by a certain Rumi Bin Mamura with six other crew members.
Further the report by the Philippine Navy revealed that the vessel a motor launch is owned by a Chinese businessman based in Kudat, Malaysia.
Authorities found out that the motor launch has no documents except for a mayor’s permit with declared identification and classification as F/B Isle Fortune for a fishing boat in the Philippines. The vessel is one of many involved in illegal border crossings.
The six women were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Balabac while M/L Kudat Transport remained in custody of the Balabac Police and proceedings are underway to have it forfieted to the local government.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Lisa Kristine Illuminates the World of Modern Slavery
Lisa Kristine Illuminates the World of Modern Slavery:
You may already have seen some of Lisa Kristine’s captivating photographs that feature work of Free the Slaves around the world. Now, you can see Lisa talk about her experiences capturing the reality of slavery in mine shafts, brick kilns and makeshift brothels.
Lisa’s recent TedX presentation is available online. She spoke in January in Hawaii.
Lisa’s collection of images is available in an inspiring book, Slavery. It’s available directly from Lisa’s gallery. Proceeds benefit Free the Slaves.
You may already have seen some of Lisa Kristine’s captivating photographs that feature work of Free the Slaves around the world. Now, you can see Lisa talk about her experiences capturing the reality of slavery in mine shafts, brick kilns and makeshift brothels.
Lisa’s recent TedX presentation is available online. She spoke in January in Hawaii.
Lisa’s collection of images is available in an inspiring book, Slavery. It’s available directly from Lisa’s gallery. Proceeds benefit Free the Slaves.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Johnelle L. Bell, 27, Arrested For Alleged Sex Trafficking Using Backpage.com Ads
Johnelle L. Bell, 27, Arrested For Alleged Sex Trafficking Using Backpage.com Ads:
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A nationwide sex trafficking ring run by a violent pimp and his associates used Backpage.com to solicit customers for prostitutes as young as age 17, advertising the women as "smokin' hot babes," according to a federal indictment recently unsealed in Iowa.
A 50-page indictment alleges a New Jersey man used coercion and violence to force women between 17 and 21 to act as his sex workers between November 2009 and June 2011, when investigators broke up the ring during a sting operation at a hotel in Omaha.
Read More...
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A nationwide sex trafficking ring run by a violent pimp and his associates used Backpage.com to solicit customers for prostitutes as young as age 17, advertising the women as "smokin' hot babes," according to a federal indictment recently unsealed in Iowa.
A 50-page indictment alleges a New Jersey man used coercion and violence to force women between 17 and 21 to act as his sex workers between November 2009 and June 2011, when investigators broke up the ring during a sting operation at a hotel in Omaha.
Read More...
Op-Ed Columnist: She Has a Pimp’s Name Etched on Her
Op-Ed Columnist: She Has a Pimp’s Name Etched on Her: Across America, pimps are branding their victims like cattle and selling them like property. Finally, there are hints of progress.
Controversial Cambodian Activist Fights Southeast Asian Sex Trade | The Jakarta Globe
Controversial Cambodian Activist Fights Southeast Asian Sex Trade | The Jakarta Globe
![]()
Somaly Mam attends the Somaly Mam Foundation's Voice of Change Anti-Human Trafficking event at The Box on April 6, 2010, in New York City. (AFP Photo/Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
May 23, 2012
Related articles
3 Convicted in Somali Sex Trafficking Case in US11:32am May 5, 2012
Ugandan Women Tricked Into Malaysian Sex Work8:16am Feb 21, 2012
Angkot Drivers Sell 3 Teen Girls into Prostitution11:10am Feb 21, 2012
Deaf Girl: I Was Kept in UK Cellar as Sex Slave10:23am Feb 14, 2012
Police Nab Women Who Lured Girls to Sex Trade2:59pm Jan 28, 2012
Sold into a brothel as a child, Cambodian activist Somaly Mam has become one of the most recognizable, glamorous and controversial faces of the global anti-sex slavery movement.
The quirky, energetic campaigner boasts a string of celebrity supporters and has been named a CNN hero of the year, but she is as divisive among anti-trafficking activists as she is beloved by the international press.
Most recently, Mam kicked up a storm of controversy when she allowed her “old friend,” New York Times correspondent Nicholas Kristof, to “live-tweet” a brothel raid in the northern Cambodian town of Anlong Veng in November.
“Girls are rescued, but still very scared. Youngest looks about 13, trafficked from Vietnam,” Kristof wrote to his more than one million followers on the Twitter microblogging website, in remarks that trafficking experts say raised questions of safety and consent.
For Mam, who created the anti-trafficking organisation AFESIP and now runs an eponymous foundation, the benefit of the attention Kristof brings to trafficking issues outweighs the security concerns.
“Even if you’re not tweeting it is also dangerous ... but if [Kristof] tweets it, it’s better because more people get awareness and understanding,” Mam told Agence France-Presse in an interview during a visit to Vietnam.
Tania DoCarmo of Chab Dai, an anti-trafficking group working in Cambodia, said the raid coverage was an “unethical” PR stunt which broke Cambodian anti-trafficking laws and which “sensationalizes” a very complex issue.
“Doing ‘impromptu’ coverage of children in highly traumatizing situations would not be considered ethical or acceptable in the West ... it is inappropriate and even voyeuristic to do this in developing nations such as Cambodia.”
“This is especially true with children and youth who are unable to provide legal consent anyway,” she said.
AFESIP says it has been involved in rescuing about 7,000 women and girls in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam since 1997.
In Cambodia alone, there are more than 34,000 commercial sex workers, according to a 2009 government estimate.
The line between “victim” and “trafficker” is often not always clear. Women who were tricked into working in a brothel may go on to recruit others in the same way.
Mam, who is in her early-40s but does not know her exact year of birth, was sold into a brothel in her early teens by a man who she says was either her grandfather or an uncle and then repeatedly raped and abused until, after watching a friend be killed in front of her, she managed to escape.
“I was completely broken,” she said, adding that this experience of being a victim is something she cannot forget and is what drives her anti-trafficking campaigning.
Within the anti-trafficking field, Mam takes a controversially hard-line stance: all sex workers are victims, whether of trafficking or circumstance, as no woman would really choose to work in a brothel.
“Sometimes a woman — she tells me she is choosing to be a prostitute (but if you ask) how about your daughter? You want her to be? She’ll say: No, no, no’,” said Mam. “[they] have no choice”.
This position, which underpins Mam’s reliance on brothel raids as a tool to fight trafficking, enrages other activists, such as the Asia Pacific Sex Worker Network, which argues consenting adult sex workers need “rights not rescues.”
Sweeping raid-and-rescue operations and police round-ups of street-based sex workers are not only ineffective, experts say, but lead to “systematic violations of sex workers’ human rights,” New York-based Human Rights Watch said in 2010 report.
Mam’s organization, AFESIP, has also been criticized for accepting sex workers picked up during Cambodian police roundups which HRW has said constitute “arbitrary arrests and detentions of innocent people.”
Mam dismissed HRW’s assessment.
“When a girl has been killed in the brothel does HRW go into the brothel? So who are you exactly? When I am in the brothel, one of my friend she has been killed. Did HRW go there? No,” she said.
Consenting, adult sex workers detained during the police raids — who say they were neither victims of trafficking nor wanting AFESIP’s services — have also reported being held against their will at AFESIP shelters.
“The first time [a sex worker] come to the shelter she don’t want to stay ... because she don’t know us,” Mam said, adding that women are so “broken” by sex work they want to stay in the familiar surroundings of the brothel.
“I always say: please, can you just stay one or two days, treat it like a holiday,” she said, adding that if women chose to stay in the brothels she respected that decision.
“I’m not going to force them, I have been forced my own life. It’s up to them,” she said, adding that this applied within the shelters, with no girl being forced to speak to the press or share her experiences with anyone.
Mam says she tries to listen to and learn from criticism of her tactics and approach, adding that she has “made a lot of mistakes in my life,” and has never claimed to have all the answers to how to end sex slavery.
“What I know how to do is just helping the women,” she said.
Agence France-Presse
The quirky, energetic campaigner boasts a string of celebrity supporters and has been named a CNN hero of the year, but she is as divisive among anti-trafficking activists as she is beloved by the international press.
Most recently, Mam kicked up a storm of controversy when she allowed her “old friend,” New York Times correspondent Nicholas Kristof, to “live-tweet” a brothel raid in the northern Cambodian town of Anlong Veng in November.
“Girls are rescued, but still very scared. Youngest looks about 13, trafficked from Vietnam,” Kristof wrote to his more than one million followers on the Twitter microblogging website, in remarks that trafficking experts say raised questions of safety and consent.
For Mam, who created the anti-trafficking organisation AFESIP and now runs an eponymous foundation, the benefit of the attention Kristof brings to trafficking issues outweighs the security concerns.
“Even if you’re not tweeting it is also dangerous ... but if [Kristof] tweets it, it’s better because more people get awareness and understanding,” Mam told Agence France-Presse in an interview during a visit to Vietnam.
Tania DoCarmo of Chab Dai, an anti-trafficking group working in Cambodia, said the raid coverage was an “unethical” PR stunt which broke Cambodian anti-trafficking laws and which “sensationalizes” a very complex issue.
“Doing ‘impromptu’ coverage of children in highly traumatizing situations would not be considered ethical or acceptable in the West ... it is inappropriate and even voyeuristic to do this in developing nations such as Cambodia.”
“This is especially true with children and youth who are unable to provide legal consent anyway,” she said.
AFESIP says it has been involved in rescuing about 7,000 women and girls in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam since 1997.
In Cambodia alone, there are more than 34,000 commercial sex workers, according to a 2009 government estimate.
The line between “victim” and “trafficker” is often not always clear. Women who were tricked into working in a brothel may go on to recruit others in the same way.
Mam, who is in her early-40s but does not know her exact year of birth, was sold into a brothel in her early teens by a man who she says was either her grandfather or an uncle and then repeatedly raped and abused until, after watching a friend be killed in front of her, she managed to escape.
“I was completely broken,” she said, adding that this experience of being a victim is something she cannot forget and is what drives her anti-trafficking campaigning.
Within the anti-trafficking field, Mam takes a controversially hard-line stance: all sex workers are victims, whether of trafficking or circumstance, as no woman would really choose to work in a brothel.
“Sometimes a woman — she tells me she is choosing to be a prostitute (but if you ask) how about your daughter? You want her to be? She’ll say: No, no, no’,” said Mam. “[they] have no choice”.
This position, which underpins Mam’s reliance on brothel raids as a tool to fight trafficking, enrages other activists, such as the Asia Pacific Sex Worker Network, which argues consenting adult sex workers need “rights not rescues.”
Sweeping raid-and-rescue operations and police round-ups of street-based sex workers are not only ineffective, experts say, but lead to “systematic violations of sex workers’ human rights,” New York-based Human Rights Watch said in 2010 report.
Mam’s organization, AFESIP, has also been criticized for accepting sex workers picked up during Cambodian police roundups which HRW has said constitute “arbitrary arrests and detentions of innocent people.”
Mam dismissed HRW’s assessment.
“When a girl has been killed in the brothel does HRW go into the brothel? So who are you exactly? When I am in the brothel, one of my friend she has been killed. Did HRW go there? No,” she said.
Consenting, adult sex workers detained during the police raids — who say they were neither victims of trafficking nor wanting AFESIP’s services — have also reported being held against their will at AFESIP shelters.
“The first time [a sex worker] come to the shelter she don’t want to stay ... because she don’t know us,” Mam said, adding that women are so “broken” by sex work they want to stay in the familiar surroundings of the brothel.
“I always say: please, can you just stay one or two days, treat it like a holiday,” she said, adding that if women chose to stay in the brothels she respected that decision.
“I’m not going to force them, I have been forced my own life. It’s up to them,” she said, adding that this applied within the shelters, with no girl being forced to speak to the press or share her experiences with anyone.
Mam says she tries to listen to and learn from criticism of her tactics and approach, adding that she has “made a lot of mistakes in my life,” and has never claimed to have all the answers to how to end sex slavery.
“What I know how to do is just helping the women,” she said.
Agence France-Presse
Blushing Brides or Trafficking Victims?
Blushing Brides or Trafficking Victims?:
19/05/2012 – According to Bangladeshi authorities, human traffickers are posing with their female victims as newlyweds in a new effort to cross the border into India.
|
The head of the Border Guard Bangladesh had some disturbing news about child trafficking out of the country today. Major General Anwar Hussain said that young women and girls are being smuggled into India by their “pimps” who masquerade themselves as honeymooners.
The traffickers are using this method in an attempt to cross borders without drawing attention. Many of the trafficking victims were from poverty-stricken backgrounds and were searching for a future with more opportunities than they might find at home. This is why they go willingly with traffickers.The problem is, they don’t know what is really waiting for them on the other side.
In the past three months, the Border Guard has rescued 70 women and girls from border regions. Many of the girls had fallen into the traffickers' clutches through false promises of job offers from abroad, the Deccan Herald reports. Other common causes include domestic violence, false tourism and marriage offers.
According to the South Asian News Agency, both Bangladeshi and Indian border authorities agreed to cooperate in order to take steps to end human trafficking and smuggling at a recent four-day conference in Shiliguri, India. Earlier this week, Bangladesh committed to signing a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia on curbing the level of human trafficking between the two countries.
Bangladesh has also launched a national action plan to combat trafficking, with a strategy covering the next two years (2012-2014).
“Some children are sold into bondage by their parents, while others are induced into labor or commercial sexual exploitation through fraud and physical coercion,” says the US State Departments 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report on child trafficking in the country. Bangladeshi children are also trafficked for purposes of domestic servitude and forced labour, says the report.
Incorporating trafficking into poverty reduction initiatives has remained challenging. When discussing social marginalization and social disintegration, trafficking should also be discussed, local media reports.
According to the country’s Home Ministry, between 100,000 and 200,500 Bangladeshi females are trafficked each year in this illicit sector, which is the world’s third largest after drug and arms dealing.
Globally, millions of people are subjected to human trafficking every year. Most of the victims are aged 18 to 24, though 1.2 million are children. Almost all will experience physical or sexual violence, while 43 per cent will be forced into the commercial sex industry.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Trafficked: Sex slaves seduced and sold
Trafficked: Sex slaves seduced and sold: One trafficked girl's escape from sex slavery
Nepalese dying to work
Nepalese dying to work:
Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) – Twenty-one-year-old Ramila Syangden weeps uncontrollably as she clutches her 10-month-old baby. She sits and watches as the pyre where her husband’s body will be cremated is set alight in the open Nepalese air.
Syangden never considered one of the potential consequences of her husband’s decision to work abroad. Now she can’t ignore it.
Hours before the Buddhist cremation ceremony she watched the coffin, with her husband’s body inside, arrive on a flight from Saudi Arabia where he had worked.
The paperwork says the 36-year old committed suicide there. Not a single person gathered for the cremation ceremony believes it.
“I don’t think so. He said he would go abroad, see the place, earn as much as he could for the children and come back. I think somebody killed him,“ his wife said.
She may never know exactly what happened to him. But the family says he had every reason to live. He was a retired police officer collecting a pension. He was healthy and he’d been working in Saudi Arabia for less than a month without any complaints.
“When my son went I thought that he would earn money for the family but his dead body came back instead,” his father, Sonam Singh Bomjang, said.
He can’t believe his son died this way, especially considering he survived being shot by Maoists while serving as a Nepali police officer.
The family's story is not at all unusual. Nepal is one of the poorest countries on earth. With little work available, an estimated 1,300 Nepalese citizens go abroad for work every single day. But every day some return in coffins.
“On an average per day, two to three coffins are coming back to Nepal mostly from the Gulf countries,” said sociologist Ganesh Gurung, a member of Nepal’s government task force for foreign labor reform.
The official reason for the deaths vary, but once the bodies make it to Nepal the cause of death is rarely if ever investigated further.
Gurung says Nepalese workers attracted by good money abroad often face awful problems. The most common complaint: workers do not get what they were promised. But the complaints can be far worse, particularly for women who work as maids in homes.
“They have experienced physical exploitation, sexual exploitation, and we have received many girls coming back with children from their employers,” Gurung said.
We met one such maid. Not even her own family knows the pain she has suffered. Kumari is seven months pregnant and said the baby inside her is a product of rape. The father, she says, is her former employer in Kuwait.
For a year-and-a-half Kumari said she was paid the equivalent of $144 a month but then the pay stopped and the beatings started.
“My landlord would beat me, they (he and his wife) both would beat me. My body would ache. I bore that beating for a long time but stayed,” she said in tears.
Then one day, she said, the beating came with something else; rape.
She said the landlord came home when the rest of the family was out, and called her into the bathroom while she was folding clothes in another room. When she refused he came to her.
“He beat me up. First he covered my mouth so I could not scream. After he did that (raped me) I asked for my passport. He wouldn’t give it to me,” she said her voice breaking.
So she fled to the Nepalese Embassy in Kuwait with no passport. She says she spent weeks in Nepalese custody and found herself with dozens of other Nepali women.
Some were pregnant like her, others had babies, and still others were one their own - but they all wanted to escape employment there.
The 35-year-old divorced mother of two now lives in a shelter in Nepal with other maids recovering from abuse abroad. When we asked what she planned to do with the baby on the way she said: “I wanted to get rid of this baby, (abort it), but they told me that was not possible because my life would be endangered.”
She was several months pregnant when she finally made it back to Nepal. “Now the baby is going to be born. I am not going to keep it,” she said.
For more than 10 years, Nepal banned women from traveling to Gulf countries for work after the suicide of a Nepalese maid who complained of abuse in Kuwait.
But the need to survive surpassed fear and women did it illegally. The government lifted the ban in 2010.
Now the lines for foreign work visas are as long as ever, even as the stories of despair keep coming home.
Human labor is Nepal’s largest export. The workers usually sign two or three-year contracts to work for employers abroad. The money Nepalese workers send back to their families from outside the country accounts for nearly 25% of Nepal’s gross domestic product.
It is big business in Nepal, officially second only to agriculture. And some labor experts argue remittances from abroad are actually the biggest contributor to the country’s economy because it is nearly impossible to tally all the cash that makes its way back into the country.
At a training facility in the capital, Masino Tamang is going abroad for the second time to find work even after he says he endured backbreaking work the first time.
He was promised a job as a driver, but when he arrived in Malaysia the job was making and lifting heavy furniture.
Still Tamang plans to try again. This time he is getting training and going through a professional agency.
“I am not going because I want to. People have money problems. If I stay home I will not be able to earn anything,” he said.
Some do make a relatively decent living but all say they work very hard. The government has now mandated any citizen going to work abroad must attend an orientation course.
Private companies such as SOS Manpower offer skills training and safety training to villagers who will be working on buildings on a scale they have never seen before. Many of the workers come from mountain villages where the only skyscraper is the Himalayan mountains.
But nothing can prepare these men for the searing desert heat in the countries where they will work. The heat has often been suspected in worker deaths.
For those using illegal means to get work abroad, the living conditions can be so horrid and unsanitary it makes workers sick.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai told CNN he is well aware of the many problems Nepal’s workers are facing abroad. He told us the government has been making changes to try to protect its workers.
“We have instructed our missions in those countries to take the issue seriously, but the main problem still is as long as we can’t provide jobs within our own country they are forced to migrate. They use illegal channels and when they go there illegally then they don’t have legal protection,” he said.
Bhattarai has a plan to bring more jobs to his country but concedes it could take years to see the fruits of that plan.
Far too late for the men and women who returned emotionally scarred, or even in a box, for simply trying to create a better life for themselves.
Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) – Twenty-one-year-old Ramila Syangden weeps uncontrollably as she clutches her 10-month-old baby. She sits and watches as the pyre where her husband’s body will be cremated is set alight in the open Nepalese air.
Syangden never considered one of the potential consequences of her husband’s decision to work abroad. Now she can’t ignore it.
Hours before the Buddhist cremation ceremony she watched the coffin, with her husband’s body inside, arrive on a flight from Saudi Arabia where he had worked.
The paperwork says the 36-year old committed suicide there. Not a single person gathered for the cremation ceremony believes it.
“I don’t think so. He said he would go abroad, see the place, earn as much as he could for the children and come back. I think somebody killed him,“ his wife said.
She may never know exactly what happened to him. But the family says he had every reason to live. He was a retired police officer collecting a pension. He was healthy and he’d been working in Saudi Arabia for less than a month without any complaints.
“When my son went I thought that he would earn money for the family but his dead body came back instead,” his father, Sonam Singh Bomjang, said.
He can’t believe his son died this way, especially considering he survived being shot by Maoists while serving as a Nepali police officer.
The family's story is not at all unusual. Nepal is one of the poorest countries on earth. With little work available, an estimated 1,300 Nepalese citizens go abroad for work every single day. But every day some return in coffins.
“On an average per day, two to three coffins are coming back to Nepal mostly from the Gulf countries,” said sociologist Ganesh Gurung, a member of Nepal’s government task force for foreign labor reform.
The official reason for the deaths vary, but once the bodies make it to Nepal the cause of death is rarely if ever investigated further.
Gurung says Nepalese workers attracted by good money abroad often face awful problems. The most common complaint: workers do not get what they were promised. But the complaints can be far worse, particularly for women who work as maids in homes.
“They have experienced physical exploitation, sexual exploitation, and we have received many girls coming back with children from their employers,” Gurung said.
We met one such maid. Not even her own family knows the pain she has suffered. Kumari is seven months pregnant and said the baby inside her is a product of rape. The father, she says, is her former employer in Kuwait.
For a year-and-a-half Kumari said she was paid the equivalent of $144 a month but then the pay stopped and the beatings started.
“My landlord would beat me, they (he and his wife) both would beat me. My body would ache. I bore that beating for a long time but stayed,” she said in tears.
Then one day, she said, the beating came with something else; rape.
She said the landlord came home when the rest of the family was out, and called her into the bathroom while she was folding clothes in another room. When she refused he came to her.
“He beat me up. First he covered my mouth so I could not scream. After he did that (raped me) I asked for my passport. He wouldn’t give it to me,” she said her voice breaking.
So she fled to the Nepalese Embassy in Kuwait with no passport. She says she spent weeks in Nepalese custody and found herself with dozens of other Nepali women.
Some were pregnant like her, others had babies, and still others were one their own - but they all wanted to escape employment there.
The 35-year-old divorced mother of two now lives in a shelter in Nepal with other maids recovering from abuse abroad. When we asked what she planned to do with the baby on the way she said: “I wanted to get rid of this baby, (abort it), but they told me that was not possible because my life would be endangered.”
She was several months pregnant when she finally made it back to Nepal. “Now the baby is going to be born. I am not going to keep it,” she said.
For more than 10 years, Nepal banned women from traveling to Gulf countries for work after the suicide of a Nepalese maid who complained of abuse in Kuwait.
But the need to survive surpassed fear and women did it illegally. The government lifted the ban in 2010.
Now the lines for foreign work visas are as long as ever, even as the stories of despair keep coming home.
Human labor is Nepal’s largest export. The workers usually sign two or three-year contracts to work for employers abroad. The money Nepalese workers send back to their families from outside the country accounts for nearly 25% of Nepal’s gross domestic product.
It is big business in Nepal, officially second only to agriculture. And some labor experts argue remittances from abroad are actually the biggest contributor to the country’s economy because it is nearly impossible to tally all the cash that makes its way back into the country.
At a training facility in the capital, Masino Tamang is going abroad for the second time to find work even after he says he endured backbreaking work the first time.
He was promised a job as a driver, but when he arrived in Malaysia the job was making and lifting heavy furniture.
Still Tamang plans to try again. This time he is getting training and going through a professional agency.
“I am not going because I want to. People have money problems. If I stay home I will not be able to earn anything,” he said.
Some do make a relatively decent living but all say they work very hard. The government has now mandated any citizen going to work abroad must attend an orientation course.
Private companies such as SOS Manpower offer skills training and safety training to villagers who will be working on buildings on a scale they have never seen before. Many of the workers come from mountain villages where the only skyscraper is the Himalayan mountains.
But nothing can prepare these men for the searing desert heat in the countries where they will work. The heat has often been suspected in worker deaths.
For those using illegal means to get work abroad, the living conditions can be so horrid and unsanitary it makes workers sick.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai told CNN he is well aware of the many problems Nepal’s workers are facing abroad. He told us the government has been making changes to try to protect its workers.
“We have instructed our missions in those countries to take the issue seriously, but the main problem still is as long as we can’t provide jobs within our own country they are forced to migrate. They use illegal channels and when they go there illegally then they don’t have legal protection,” he said.
Bhattarai has a plan to bring more jobs to his country but concedes it could take years to see the fruits of that plan.
Far too late for the men and women who returned emotionally scarred, or even in a box, for simply trying to create a better life for themselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
