Ashton Kutcher testifies before senators on ending modern slavery
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Showing posts with label Ashton Kutcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashton Kutcher. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Sunday, November 21, 2010
CNN Hero of the Year, Human Trafficking Activist | Indie Pro Pub
CNN Headquarters (Gray Wolf)
CNN has allowed site visitors to vote on their poll for their 2010 CNN Hero of the Year. The voting lasted for eight weeks.
Several celebrities and music artists showed up for the event, in support of the efforts of everyday people whom have show amazing courage and acts of kindness around the world. The show will air at 8pm ET, Thursday, November 25th and also on Friday, November 26th at 5 a.m.
The top 10 CNN Heroes were: Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vega (founded a hospital in the heightened violence city of Juarez, Mexico), Susan Barton (founder of a sober housing and support services to formerly incarcerated women in California), Linda Fondren (helped her home town in Mississippi battle weight gain and lose 15,000 pounds), Anuradha Koirala (fighting to prevent trafficking and sexual exploitation in Nepal), Narayanan Krishnan (brings hot meals and dignity to the homeless in India), Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow (provides over 400,000 free meals to children around the world), Harmon Parker (since 1997 has used his masonry skills to help build 45 footbridges over rivers in Kenya), Aki Ra (planted mines as a child soldier and since 1993 has worked to clear approximately 50,000 mines and weapons in Cambodia), Evands Wadongo (distributed 10,000 free solar lanterns to replace kerosene to rural families in Kenya), and Dan Wallrath (provides mortgage-free homes to injured veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan).
The winner of the prestigious 2010 CNN Hero of Year was Anuradha Koirala. She also received a 100,000 award for her efforts, in addition to the $25,000 award given to each of the top 10 Heroes.
Actress Demi Moore introduced Koirala at the event. Demi Moore and her husband Ashton Kutcher created the DNA foundation, to “eliminate child sex slavery worldwide”.
“Since 1993, Koirala, has helped rescue more than 12,000 women and girls through her organization, Maiti Nepal.” Koira has also “Provided a home fro them to heal, go to school, learn a skill”, including for the some that have been infected with HIV/AIDS. “It is the place where they can spend their days and be surrounded by love.”
Moore quoted Koirala, “She says, ‘Stop. Stop selling our girls.’ By raiding brothels and patrolling the India-Nepal border, she saves girls from being sold into the sex trade, where they are being repeatedly raped for profit, tortured and enslaved.”
When introduced, Koirala said, “Human trafficking is a crime, a heinous crime, a shame to humanity. I ask everyone to join me to create a society free of trafficking. We need to do this for all our daughters. Please try to respect the youth. They are the ones who are going to build the next generation.”
Source: Indie Pro PubCNN Hero of the Year, Human Trafficking Activist | Indie Pro Pub
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
YouTube - Dutch human trafficking in the spotlight
More than 1,000 security officials from across the world are meeting in Doha, Qatar, for the 79th Interpol general assembly.
One issue on the agenda for the world's largest police organisation is human trafficking, which has become a multi-million dollar industry.
People are being traded around the world for prostitution and menial labour among other things.
Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports on one victim's story from Amsterdam.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
How Abolitionists Are Ending Slavery 144 Characters at a Time | End Human Trafficking | Change.org
November 09, 2010 11:03 AM (PT)
Since the beginning of civilization, people have enslaved other people. Egyptians enslaved Jews, Ottoman Turks enslaved Armenians, and Americans and Europeans enslaved Africans. Even today, after slavery has been made illegal in every country on earth, the rich enslave the poor, men enslave women, and adults enslave children. But in 2010, we have a powerful weapon in the fight against slavery. Twitter. Yes, the 144 character social media tool might just do what all the legislation and international conventions have failed to — finally end slavery.
Twitter is increasingly becoming the most popular platform for the growing modern-day abolitionist movement. Modern-day slavery is an issue which is often overlooked by mainstream media; the Washington Post and New York Times don't have human trafficking beats. Yet across the world, millions of people still live in slavery as real as what's described in history books. They harvest tea, sugar, and cocoa. They make cell phones, sew blue jeans, and clean private residences. And they are trapped in brothels and sold through online classified services. But even as a global understanding that slavery still exists grows, trafficking victims' experiences are rarely front page news.
Enter Twitter, the 144 character social media site and it's most prolific user, Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher has proven that Twitter can be a tremendous force in building and mobilizing the movement to end human trafficking. At a recent event at the United Nations, journalist Nicholas Kristof pointed out that Kutcher has just over 6 million followers on Twitter, compared to 140,000 who follow the UN. But while Kutcher could use his power only to promote his films or share videos of fainting cats, he instead uses it as a platform to educate people about human trafficking and mobilize them into action.
And he's not the only one. Around the world, abolitionists and other advocates for lesser-known social issues are using Twitter as a platform to create social change. For example, Twitter user @DianaScimone has run successfull tweet-a-thons on 9/9/09 and 10/10/10 to raise money for the fight against human trafficking by mobilizing the Twitter community to action. @27millionslaves drives users to the incredible resource set available from End Slavery Now, including tools to help them fight slavery in their communities. NGOs like @polaris_project and @anti_slavery use Twitter to mobilize their base to action, like writing letters to congress, attending events, volunteering, and of course, signing petitions on Change.org. And groups like @madebysurvivors and @FairTradeUSA use the short-form tool to spread the word about their slavery-free products to consumers looking to make ethical purchases.
The advent of Twitter means that abolition has a platform where activists can exchange information, educate themselves and others, and mobilize each other to take action. For the first time in history, we don't have to wait for the mainstream media to get this issue and take up our cause. We're already doing it ourselves. So, @Twitter, thx for platform to fight #humantrafficking and create #socialchange.
Photo credit: Rosora Ochara
Amanda Kloer has been a full-time abolitionist for six years. She currently develops trainings and educational materials for civil attorneys representing victims of human trafficking and gender-based violence.
Source: End Human Trafficking
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Role of media in eradicating human trafficking stressed
VOL 18 NO 10 REGD NO DA 1589 | Dhaka, Wednesday November 10 2010
FE Report
Media can play a significant role in eradicating human trafficking and in ensuring safe migration, said International Organisation for Migration (IMO) in Bangladesh Tuesday.
The organisation, working worldwide since 1958 for raising awareness among the people for safe migration and for providing victims with legal support and rehabilitation, emphasised the need for cooperation in electronics and print media, as media could influence the people directly.
The observations came from a discussion held between the IMO and the media at the Reporters Unity Club in the city Tuesday.
IMO and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) jointly organised the programme titled "Towards Awareness on Migration: Power of Media".
"Press, television, radio have a great impact on the people and people are directly influenced by the media. Our history teaches us how the media have played a striking role in increasing mass awareness during every crucial movement when the nation seeks a proper way," said National Programme Officer of IMO Asif Monir.
He said, "migration abroad plays a great role in the national economy and also in our socio-economic development. So we must have to ensure legal and safe migration".
"And to ensure a legal and proper migration abroad, the government, NGOs and the media have to work jointly"
After a visual presentation of fictions and documentations on 'trafficking victim' the discussion took place.
Speakers from different print and electronics media emphasised the need for direct cooperation between the organisations like IMO and the media.
"Mobile phone and upcoming community radio also can play a noteworthy role in arousing consciousness," said the speakers.
Many of the journalists there stressed the need for involvement of journalists in arousing consciousness in the remote areas.
"Most of the victims are from remote areas; so the government, NGOs and international organisations like IMO have to work jointly with journalists in rural areas and have to give them proper recognition considering matters like human trafficking", media persons said.
They suggested that the government give severe punishment to the criminals and the media should also telecast and publish the examples of punishment for raising fear among the criminals.
Role of media in eradicating human trafficking stressed
Source: The Financial Express
Monday, November 8, 2010
Human-trafficking fight has made gains | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/07/2010
Image via WikipediaHuman-trafficking fight has made gains | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/07/2010
Source: The Phillidelphia Inquirer
Local group formed to fight human trafficking | TuscaloosaNews.com
T
By Stephanie Taylor Staff Writer Published: Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:05 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 12:05 a.m.
TUSCALOOSA | Two years ago, Tuscaloosa attorney Shelly Standridge was appointed to represent a young Guatemalan teenager accused of trying to harm her infant son.
In Alabama
Alabama became the 45th state to pass legislation criminalizing human trafficking. The bill, passed in April, made human trafficking a felony and allowed local law enforcement to investigate suspected trafficking crimes, which was previously done only by the FBI. The law requires mandatory restitution for victims and allows victims to sue traffickers.
She soon realized that the girl had a mental disability and showed signs of having been sexually abused. Standridge dug deeper, and found that the girl and another teenager were victims of sex trafficking who had ended up living in Northport.
“They were told that they would be coming to the U.S. and were going to be nannies,” Standridge said. “When they came across the border, they were taken to hotels where they worked as prostitutes.”
The case against the 16-year-old was dismissed and she was deported to Guatemala.
Although it may surprise many, sex trafficking is taking place in Alabama.
In August, a man pleaded guilty to bringing a young woman from Nicaragua to work as a prostitute in Northport. She was paid $25 of the $35 he charged for men to have sex with her at a house on 10th Street.
Tuscaloosa resident Jaena Eidson read about the Nicaraguan woman who was trafficked in Northport and decided that she wanted to get involved and help the victims.
“This beast is crouching at our door. It will change the face of our community if we don’t stand up and say that we won’t stand for it,” she said.
Eidson’s small group at The Church at Tuscaloosa has been raising funds for Sisters in Service, a global advocacy group based in Atlanta that works in communities in places like India, China, North Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The group has raised around $20,000 for a project in Nepal, where an estimated 12,000 girls are trafficked into India each year.
Workers interview girls crossing the border into India and provide educational and life-skills instruction.
Eidson said that by working with Sisters in Service, her group in Tuscaloosa can better learn how to run an advocacy organization and eventually start a safe house and provide other services for victims in Tuscaloosa.
Eidson, a stylist and manager at New Creations salon in Tuscaloosa and the mother of two young girls, said that traffickers prey on poor, uneducated girls.
“They send out decoys, who are the same age as the girls — around 15 or 16 years old — to woo them in,” she said. Men will buy the girls things, or perhaps start a relationship with them to gain trust.
“They’ll say ‘If you love me, you’ll do this,’ ” she said.
Other times, men will bring the girls into the country, and act as if they must work as prostitutes to repay the costs of bringing them from their home country.
In September, a federal jury took less than 30 minutes to convict a Florence man of prostituting a 15-year-old Mexican girl in August and September 2009.
Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, said that labor and sex trafficking have increased in recent years, but that it was hard to quantify the problem.
“When you talk about human trafficking, people might think of Russian mail-order brides. It never occurs to them that there is modern-day slavery going on, but in fact, there is,” she said.
Many victims are in the country illegally and are less likely to report the crime to authorities, she said.
Victims are sometimes young runaways, she said. Men will advertise their services on Craigslist or travel to cities along major truck stop routes.
“You may see one guy with a few girls,” she said. The men are often working within larger organizations.
“It isn’t that different from drug trafficking. Our real goal is to reach back from these tentacles into the deeper roots of the organizations and really stamp it out,” Vance said.
Alabama became the 45th state to pass legislation criminalizing human trafficking in April. The bill made human trafficking a felony and allowed local law enforcement to investigate suspected trafficking crimes, which was previously done only by the FBI. The law requires mandatory restitution for victims and allows victims to sue traffickers and provides for asset forfeiture.
In Birmingham, a group called Freedom to Thrive organized as an advocacy group for victims of human trafficking. The group helped draft the bill that the Legislature passed earlier this year.
Eidson said that an estimated 27 million people are victims of some kind of human slavery across the world. She said that 49 percent of those are involved in forced prostitution.
“That’s 10 times greater than it was at the peak of the African slave trade,” she said.
Eidson said that her group will focus on creating a system that will help rescued victims of sex trafficking receive the help they need.
“We’ll need to meet their physical needs, get them the medical care that they need and the love they need when they realize that they’ve been hurt and abused,” she said.
“I think we can make a difference. This is lurking at our doorstep. It’s not at our back door, it’s at our front door and we can no longer close our eyes to it.”
Reach Stephanie Taylor at stephanie.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0210.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Pam Bristow: Ashton Kutcher to UN: Twitter, Facebook can be Great Weapons in Fight Against Human Trafficking
Having worked on other UNODC projects, I can personally attest to how much weight this UN agency throws behind combating one of the great atrocities of our time. This meeting was no exception. Alongside UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sat the meeting's moderator -- two time New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning author-journalist Nicholas Kristof -- and actors Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher whose humanitarian work in the arena of human trafficking was being highlighted. The couple's organization, DNA, is working to abolish modern-day slavery in the United States and abroad. The meeting took an interesting turn when the conversation shifted to Kutcher's mastery of social networking and how he was channeling his online prowess to serve his nonprofit's mission.
After sobering opening remarks by the Secretary-General on the current scope of the 32 billion dollar international human trafficking trade, Kristof introduced Kutcher, humorously pointing out Kutcher 's 6 million Twitter followers versus the UN's 140,000. In response, Kutcher offered new insight to Kristof's leading question "Why the internet?"
The actor-activist argued that, while having fueled the sex trade with its built-in anonymity, speed, and ease of access, the internet has also given law enforcement and activist groups a strong weapon with which to combat trafficking and offer aid to victims. Kutcher pointed out that part of what makes dismantling and exposing trafficking networks so challenging is the industry's global nature. For example, in just one transaction, several countries will likely be involved. The "broker" will be in Country A, the victim may be abducted from Country B, the transaction will take place in Country C, and the final customer will return home to Country D with his new acquisition. Additionally 76 percent of these child trafficking transactions happen on the internet. The internet, Kutcher argues, is a global solution to a global problem, allowing us to fight and expose human trafficking across borders.
Victim demographics play a factor as well. The average American age for forced entry into the sex trade is 13. While this is a devastating statistic, it plays in favor of using the internet as a tool to reach at-risk adolescents, many of whom are runaways. According to Kutcher many of these kids are still updating their social networking pages once they have left home. Kutcher and Moore have seized this opportunity by creating partnerships with a coalition of tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Twitter with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to develop technological solutions to the problem of child sex slavery. Initiatives include the implementation of online predator deterrants as well as PhotoDNA and geo-location technology to help protect children and find and rescue victims.
Kutcher said his Twitter presence has also given him a platform to affect male attitudes about the sex trade. "I can use Twitter to implore men around the world to understand that buying sex isn't cool... when they find out that the average age of entry to the business is 13 and that most of these girls are held against their own will, suddenly it becomes a lot less sexy."
At the peak of the legal slave trade in 1780, an estimated 80,000 slaves from Africa were brought to the New World in one year. Almost 250 years later, the UN estimates that there are approximately 2.5 million slaves in captivity worldwide at any time. As Kutcher pointed out, "we agreed to abandon slavery 62 years ago (with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948.) We are not asking for new laws. Let's just enforce the ones we have."
Those wishing to learn more or make a pledge to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons can visit the UNODC fund page.
Pam Bristow: Ashton Kutcher to UN: Twitter, Facebook can be Great Weapons in Fight Against Human Trafficking
Source: The Huffington Post
Friday, November 5, 2010
Sex Trafficking Survivor Wins Freedom Award For Fighting Slavery | End Human Trafficking | Change.org
November 05, 2010 06:37 AM (PT
)
This Sunday, anti-trafficking hero Tina Frundt will rub elbows with celebrities like Jason Mraz, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Forest Whitaker at the third annual Freedom Awards, where she will be honored for her activism in the movement. But it wasn’t always glamor and celebrities for Tina. She is an American survivor of child sex trafficking. However, Tina overcame her experience and is now using it to help other young girls forced into the commercial sex industry.
As a teen, Tina was beaten with a bat until her arm broke. She was burned with cigarette butts. She was forced to walk the streets and have sex with up to 18 men a day to meet the financial quota for her pimp. She was only 14 when she was put into sexual slavery. And she could find no way out, until one day, the police came.
But the police weren't there to help her. She wasn't treated like a victim of sex trafficking — she was arrested for prostitution. The arrest took her out of the hell of slavery, but she had a long road to recovery. At the time, there were no specialized shelters to house and rehabilitate American survivors of sex trafficking. In fact, there were few support services, if any at all, for trafficked girls like Tina.
Now, decades later, Frundt has started her own anti-slavery organization: Courtney’s House, a direct service provider for survivors of trafficked children, aged 12 to 18. They have a hotline, and are preparing to open the first group home in the DC metro area exclusively for minor sex trafficking victims. Tina started Courtney’s House because she saw a need. “When most of us Americans hear the words ‘human trafficking,’ we invariably think of women and children overseas,” Frundt has said. But, she emphasizes, human trafficking is very much an American problem.
In the U.S., the average age of entry into prostitution for girls is 12 to 14 years old. Experts say there are about 100,000 American children exploited in the sex trade every year. But currently, there are under 100 beds nationwide set aside to help shelter and rehabilitate them. More direct service programs and shelters are needed to meet the needs of the thousands of child sex trafficking victims. And you can do something about it. The Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010 is currently making its way through Congress. Tina Frundt is a supporter of this bill; she recently testified before Congress, urging them to pass the law.
The law will help provide comprehensive services to rehabilitate young victims of sex trafficking in the U.S. and could allocate funds to train law enforcement and service providers on how to recognize and combat domestic sex trafficking. Crucially, the law would help trafficked minors to be treated as victims, rather than criminals or juvenile delinquents.
Sign the petition below to urge your representative to enact this law. For more information about the Freedom Awards taking place this Sunday, November 7 in Los Angeles—and how to buy tickets—go here.
Photo credit: Dan O'Mell
)
This Sunday, anti-trafficking hero Tina Frundt will rub elbows with celebrities like Jason Mraz, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Forest Whitaker at the third annual Freedom Awards, where she will be honored for her activism in the movement. But it wasn’t always glamor and celebrities for Tina. She is an American survivor of child sex trafficking. However, Tina overcame her experience and is now using it to help other young girls forced into the commercial sex industry.
As a teen, Tina was beaten with a bat until her arm broke. She was burned with cigarette butts. She was forced to walk the streets and have sex with up to 18 men a day to meet the financial quota for her pimp. She was only 14 when she was put into sexual slavery. And she could find no way out, until one day, the police came.
But the police weren't there to help her. She wasn't treated like a victim of sex trafficking — she was arrested for prostitution. The arrest took her out of the hell of slavery, but she had a long road to recovery. At the time, there were no specialized shelters to house and rehabilitate American survivors of sex trafficking. In fact, there were few support services, if any at all, for trafficked girls like Tina.
Now, decades later, Frundt has started her own anti-slavery organization: Courtney’s House, a direct service provider for survivors of trafficked children, aged 12 to 18. They have a hotline, and are preparing to open the first group home in the DC metro area exclusively for minor sex trafficking victims. Tina started Courtney’s House because she saw a need. “When most of us Americans hear the words ‘human trafficking,’ we invariably think of women and children overseas,” Frundt has said. But, she emphasizes, human trafficking is very much an American problem.
In the U.S., the average age of entry into prostitution for girls is 12 to 14 years old. Experts say there are about 100,000 American children exploited in the sex trade every year. But currently, there are under 100 beds nationwide set aside to help shelter and rehabilitate them. More direct service programs and shelters are needed to meet the needs of the thousands of child sex trafficking victims. And you can do something about it. The Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010 is currently making its way through Congress. Tina Frundt is a supporter of this bill; she recently testified before Congress, urging them to pass the law.
The law will help provide comprehensive services to rehabilitate young victims of sex trafficking in the U.S. and could allocate funds to train law enforcement and service providers on how to recognize and combat domestic sex trafficking. Crucially, the law would help trafficked minors to be treated as victims, rather than criminals or juvenile delinquents.
Sign the petition below to urge your representative to enact this law. For more information about the Freedom Awards taking place this Sunday, November 7 in Los Angeles—and how to buy tickets—go here.
Related Petition
Anne Keehn was a media volunteer at the L.A.-based direct services organization the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking and is currently the Zimmerman Fellow at Free the Slaves.
Sex Trafficking Survivor Wins Freedom Award For Fighting Slavery | End Human Trafficking | Change.org
Source: End Human Trafficking
Quebec fails human trafficking victims | lavalnews.ca
The author of a new book that exposes the widespread extent of human trafficking in Canada for the first time takes aim at the government of Quebec for not cracking down on a branch of criminality he compares to “modern-day slavery” concealing itself behind escort services and violent street gangs.
No help here
“Unfortunately the Quebec government has not put a system in place to help trafficking victims,” Benjamin Perrin, author of Invisible Chains: Canada’s Underworld World of Human Trafficking, said in a phone interview with the Laval News. He said failure to have a plan in place, as is the case with the Quebec government, “is having a severe impact on human traffi
cking victims.”
When Perrin, an assistant professor with the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Law, initially started researching the issue of human trafficking in Cambodia a decade ago, he didn’t expect to see the same phenomenon not only manifesting itself, but becoming widespread in this country.
Now in Canada
Perrin’s documentation of what he says are cases of human trafficking in virtually all of Canada’s major cities — including Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and smaller localities — leads to the conclusion that human trafficking is now established in this country. In most cases, he found, traffickers were exploiting Canada’s immigration and refugee programs.
In Quebec, according to Perrin, police have identified the involvement of street gangs trafficking young girls who are lured to the Greater Toronto Area, where their sexual services are made available through strip clubs or hotels and motels advertised through the Craigslist online website. Perrin is currently demanding that Craigslist shut down its erotic services in Canada, as it has already done in the U.S.
In second place
Not unlike slavery, which flourished throughout the western world less than two centuries ago, human trafficking is the illegal trade in persons, usually for the exploitation of prostitution, or for the purposes of obtaining human labor without paying the cost. While drug trafficking remains in first place as the fastest growing criminal activity in the world today, according to the U.S. government’s National Human Trafficking Resource Center, human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms trade as the second most widespread global crime.
The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada estimates the gross revenue of a prostitute forced to work for a trafficker at $280,000 annually. With this kind of money available, the involvement of organized crime in human trafficking may not seem surprising. However, the potential extent of the problem becomes even more alarming when one realizes that legitimate businesses in this country may also be involved. Perrin claims that some escort agencies — many of which advertise in the back pages of alternative newspapers and even in mainstream publications — are serving as “fronts” for human trafficking operations.
‘It is huge money’
“Escort agencies have been used to sell victims of sex trafficking,” he said, while cautioning that not all agencies are involved. “We know that traffickers are involved in this business, and the reason that traffickers are involved is because of the money. It is huge money … Sex trafficking victims have also been sold in massage parlors, in strip clubs, on-line. Essentially at any outlet for the commercial sex trade in Canada that you could think of we have found victims of human trafficking.”
Even though prostitution is no doubt the most lucrative form of human trafficking, Perrin’s research found an equal number of cases involving forced labor in Canada. In early October, several members of a family in Hamilton, Ont. were arraigned on charges of fraud, theft and human trafficking after an alleged human trafficking victim complained to the RCMP that he was just one of a group of people being exploited. Sixteen people, all of whom were destitute in Hungary, were allegedly lured by the family from their country to Canada with promises of a better life.
Threats and intimidation
Once in Canada, the victims obtained social assistance. The accused are charged with appropriating it for themselves. The victims typically lived in their hosts’ basements, were fed poorly, and worked daily for long hours at construction sites without pay. Without money, according to the alleged scenario, they were unable to return to their home country, were kept under constant close watch and were subjected to threats and intimidation.
“From all my research, I have concluded that there are hundreds, possibly thousands of victims of human trafficking exploited in Canada every year,” said Perrin. “Most concerning to me is that our country has failed to address this hidden national tragedy. We do not have a national action plan, and only some provinces have put in systems to help victims.”
Souce: Laval NewsRelated articles
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher join Secretary-General to launch Trust Fund for victims of human trafficking
4 November 2010 - In a bid to help the victims of human trafficking, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today launched the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons with Hollywood stars and humanitarian activists Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. Joining them were Joseph Deiss, President of the General Assembly, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC, former trafficking victims, and New York Times journalist-author and Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas Kristof.The Trust Fund is one of the most important elements of the new United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons adopted by the General Assembly in July 2010. It will provide humanitarian, legal and financial aid to victims of human trafficking with the aim of increasing the number of victims who are rescued and supported, and broadening the extent of assistance they receive.
Ms. Moore and Mr. Kutcher have been strongly committed to the fight against human trafficking. They created "DNA", the Demi and Ashton Foundation, which aims to raise awareness about child sex slavery worldwide, change cultural stereotypes about the issue and rehabilitate victims. "Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom," Mr. Kutcher said. "No one has the right to enslave another person," said Ms. Moore.
In a cruel irony, victims of human trafficking are very often treated as offenders rather than victims of a crime. Recognizing this, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated, "Many victims end up stranded, friendless, trapped in modern day slavery. They may not ask for help because they are isolated or cannot speak the local language. Or they may be seized by fear - fear that they will be treated as criminals even though they have been forced to engage in criminal acts".
Mr. Fedotov, whose Office will administer the Fund with the support of a Board of Trustees said, "We are honoured to have Demi and Ashton join us in launching the UN Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons. We hope Demi and Ashton's extraordinary commitment to the plight of trafficking victims will move others to take similar action".
The United Nations has estimated that more than 2.4 million people are currently being exploited as victims of human trafficking. No country is immune. Human trafficking affects every country of the world, as country of origin, transit or destination. UNODC reports that victims from 127 countries undergo exploitation in at least 137 nations. Human trafficking takes many guises: forced or bonded labour; domestic servitude and forced marriage; organ removal; and the exploitation of children in begging, the sex trade and warfare.
"The Trust Fund will foster partnerships between Governments, the private sector, international organizations, NGOs and individuals so that they can work together to help victims of human trafficking, especially women and children", stressed the UNODC chief. "I am very proud that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime will serve as manager of the Trust Fund. UNODC has been working against human trafficking for many years, focusing on prevention of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers, protection of victims, and building partnerships to stop this shameful crime and to help its victims."
During the event, the first pledges to the Trust Fund were made by the Governments of Qatar, Luxembourg and Egypt, as well as by Mr. Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of Orascom Telecom . Mr. Fedotov expressed his gratitude to these donors for taking the lead in making pledges.
UNODC has drawn attention to the plight of trafficked victims through the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking ( UN.GIFT) and the Blue Heart Campaign. The fund-raising slogan for the Trust Fund will be "Have a Heart for Victims of Human Trafficking" making a clear reference to the Blue Heart, which is rapidly becoming an international symbol against human trafficking and of solidarity with its victims.
UNODC invites all Governments, Foundations, the Private Sector and even individuals to generously pledge contributions to the Trust Fund.
For information on how to pledge, please contact Ms. Simone Monasebian, Chief of UNODC New York Office, at 1-212-963-5631 ( monasebian@un.org) or visit the Trust Fund page.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher join Secretary-General to launch Trust Fund for victims of human traffickingSource: UNODC
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Monday, September 27, 2010
Free The Slaves: Ashton Kutcher Says Twitter Can Help End Slavery
September 27, 2010
By Anne Keehn, Zimmerman Fellow at Free the Slaves.Can Twitter end modern day slavery? Ashton Kutcher says social media has the power to give traditionally under-represented voices a major platform. And in the process, bring the issue of slavery to the masses.
At the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative yesterday, Ashton Kutcher announced his foundation's commitment to eradicating modern day slavery. He made the announcement during a panel discussion on how communication technology can advance human rights.
At last year's Clinton Global Initiative the issue of modern day slavery was highlighted by Bill Clinton himself. Clinton held up FTS President Kevin Bales' book, "Ending Slavery" during one of his speeches and said:
"[Kevin Bales' book] points out there are 27 million people in the world -- a very small percentage of the world's population. A small percentage of the population of the developing world. But 27 million people who are in effect, sold into bondage... everything from prostitution to forced labor in homes to forced labor in factories and fields. No continent is exempt."See video of Bill Clinton talking about Kevin Bales and "Ending Slavery" here.
He went on to say, "The Bales book I like because it's essentially upbeat. It tells you [slavery] is a problem we can solve and here's how to do it. But it's hard for me to believe we can solve it on a sustainable basis unless in every country there's an economic model that can at least minimize the inequality trap."
Clinton said slavery is "something that I intend to take up next year." And he was true to his word.
The issue of modern day slavery was brought up by Ashton Kutcher in a breakout session moderated by none other than Arianna Huffington, and presented by Nicholas Kristof (the NYT columnist who tirelessly writes about human trafficking and modern day slavery, and co-wrote "Half The Sky" with his wife Sheryl WuDunn). The panel discussion was on the topic of Democracy and Voice: Technology for Citizen Empowerment and Human Rights.
Kutcher announced the launching of an anti-child sex trafficking campaign titled Real Men Don't Buy Girls. The campaign is operated through the DNA Foundation -- an organization founded by Kutcher and his wife Demi Moore. Real Men Don't Buy Girls aims to raise awareness and action about sex trafficking through social media. Kutcher said:
"Demi and I are about to announce a commitment to launch an advocacy campaign to end child sex trafficking, which I think ties directly to the power of this new media -- this social media." He continued, "I was looking the other day at the top 100 media moguls of the world. Ninety percent of which are white males over the age of 40... If you look at the top 100 people on Twitter, 30% are women. Seven percent are African American. They come from different socioeconomic backgrounds," he said. "That's the true democratization of media."Source: The Huffington Post
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