Hong Kong lags behind in the battle against modern-day slavery | South China Morning Post

"A saddening, yet familiar story hit the headlines late last month. Children below 16 were sent from the western province of Yunnan to be exploited in textile factories in the eastern city of Changshu, in Jiangsu province."

"As some experts point out, the issue is not child labour alone. The employers confiscate the children’s identity papers and do not pay wages until the end of the year, so as to prevent them from walking away from the job. This constitutes bonded labour, one of the many forms of forced labour."

Hong Kong lags behind in the battle against modern-day slavery | South China Morning Post:

US raises red flag over Pacific Island workers | Stuff.co.nz

MICHAEL FIELD

Last updated 05:00 24/07/2011

New Zealand is risking an American rebuke over one of this country's pet aid projects, which brings hundreds of Pacific Islanders here to work for minimum wages picking fruit and grapes, warn high-level US sources.

Wellington sees the recognised seasonal employer scheme as charity, but Washington views it as verging on human trafficking and debt-bonded labour.

This comes as the US State Department's latest international report on human trafficking condemned the use of forced labour on foreign charter fishing boats, exposed by the Sunday Star-Times.

Last week US Human Trafficking Ambassador Luis CdeBaca came with a delegation to talk with government officials, unions and lobby groups.

No statement followed, but sources say the Americans were alarmed at a lack of recognition of trafficking in New Zealand.

The Americans are investigating bonds used to bring minimum wage workers from Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

"The burden of illegal costs and debts on these labourers in the source country, often with the support of labour agencies and employers in the destination country, can contribute to a situation of debt bondage," a source said.

Seasonal Solutions Cooperative, the largest importer of seasonal labour, says in its annual report that bringing in seasonal labour gives farmer members of the cooperative a real choice over workers.

"As a consequence, these growers have seen their productivity elevated to unprecedented levels," Seasonal Solutions says.

The company did not return calls for comment on human trafficking.

The Americans also believe trafficking of sex workers – especially from Asia – is taking place.

But Catherine Healy of the Prostitutes Collective told them the collective does not believe this.

"We haven't come across sex workers who are victims of trafficking yet," she said, adding the word trafficking was "such a dramatic catch-all".

"What we are asking for is old-fashioned labour rights.

"We explained that sometimes sex workers are made to work exceptionally long shifts and have their money withheld by some brothel operators."

Healy said some managers and operators are "dreadful to work for" and the Department of Labour should deal with them.

The collective told the Americans it was pleased sex workers had the right to say yes to sex work and that this was getting rid of exploitation.

"[CdeBaca] acknowledged it was important to not conflate prostitution and trafficking, as has been our recent experience in dealing with the American administration and their overall response to sex work."

The American delegation told New Zealand officials that slavery at sea remained prevalent and may have increased, and that some owners of Asian fishing fleets and seafood companies were relying on forced labour to harvest ever-diminishing fish stocks.

They capitalised on unclear jurisdictions and difficulties inspecting boats in deep water.

The Americans said fishing was becoming unsustainable economically, and needed semi-slave crews to survive.

Without a coordinated effort, the enslavement of foreign migrants would continue.

- Sunday Star Times

Source: Stuff.co.nz

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• Slavery at sea exposed - national | Stuff.co.nz (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)

Don't judge Kavi by my skin colour: Director

Thursday, March 04, 2010 (New Delhi)

After Slumdog Millionaire another Indian poverty story is in the running for the Oscars this year, but Gregg Helvey, the American director of Kavi, says that his film does not sell Indian misery to the West.

Helvey who spent the past three years writing, directing and producing the 19-minute film about a family of bonded labourers, said that the film is not a "reaction" to Slumdog's success.

"I hope people watch Kavi before they pass judgement on the film or on me as 'just another foreigner'. Kavi is a story about hope and the triumph of the human spirit and it illustrates a beautiful aspect of India and humanity," said Helvey.

The fictional film shot in Hindi marks Helvey's debut as a filmmaker and has been nominated for an Oscar in the 'Short Film (Live Action)' category.

Last year, the India story dominated the Academy Awards with three films, Slumdog Millionaire, the potboiler set in the underbelly of Mumbai's crime and poverty and two documentaries The Final Inch and Smile Pinki.

Slumdog which swept the award circuit and took home eight Oscars had opened a debate about the representation of India in films by Western filmmakers, with many critics slamming it as "a white man's idea of India."

But Helvey who has already won the Student Academy Awards for the film, says that his film, which was shot before Slumdog even went into production, is "authentic".

"I did see Slumdog and I enjoyed it, but Kavi wasn't made as a reaction to Slumdog's success. India is dear to my heart, so it was incredibly important for me to make Kavi as authentic as possible. My film shows that Indians are helping Indians to stop the injustice of modern-day slavery," said the 30-year-old filmmaker.

Helvey, who first came to India 7 years ago for the shooting of a BBC documentary, spent a year visiting brick kilns and meeting child workers. The journey was a tedious one and interestingly the film which took three years to make, was shot in just 7 days.

"I visited about 20 different brick kilns throughout the country, met the workers, took photos and video, and soaked up as much as I could. My brother Joe came with me, and I credited him in the film as 'Location Scout Security' because they let me know that I was not welcome in certain kilns," said Helvey.

The filmmaker first came to know of the existence of slavery during his brief stint in the National Geographic channel and he was hooked to it. As he dug into research, he learned that the most prevalent yet least-known form of modern-day slavery is bonded labour.

"The majority of films I had seen exposed sex slavery and human trafficking, but there is very little on bonded labour. I read about some brick kilns in India and Pakistan where entire families are forced to make bricks in order to pay off 'loans' they are tricked into taking," said the director who then made up his mind to tackle the subject in his thesis film for his degree from the University of Southern California.

The hard work paid off for Helvey when his film was nominated for an Oscar, but the young filmmaker is still pinching himself.

"I still can't believe it! It doesn't get any better than an Oscar nomination," said Helvey who shot the film on a shoe-string budget in and around Shirwal, near Mumbai.

Produced by Guneet Monga and Harish Amin, the film aims at creating awareness about the issue of slavery and 30 per cent of proceeds from DVD sales will go to anti-slavery organisations.

Don't judge Kavi by my skin colour: Director