IOM in El Salvador has teamed up with UNFPA and the ILO to launch a music video warning women against the dangers of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Showing posts with label Central America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Central America. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
IOM launches music video against human trafficking in El Salvador
IOM launches music video against human trafficking in El Salvador:
IOM in El Salvador has teamed up with UNFPA and the ILO to launch a music video warning women against the dangers of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
IOM in El Salvador has teamed up with UNFPA and the ILO to launch a music video warning women against the dangers of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
600 Guatemalan judges sharpen legal skills to prosecute human traffickers | WNN – Women News Network
This woman and child in Atiqua, Guatemala (2005) is part of Guatemalan society where poverty has contributed to a lack of human rights for women as well as children. Child labor and human trafficking has been high in Guatemala. As 600 judges receive specific training on how to succeed in the prosecution human trafficking, the IOM works toward a wide outreach with their programs to improve rights for indigenous migrants inside and outside the country. Image: Pedro Szekely
(WNN/IOM) Guatemala: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has started a series of refresher trainings on the prosecution of human trafficking cases for some 600 Guatemalan judges.
Read the full article:
http://womennewsnetwork.net/2012/05/07/guatemalan-judges-sharpen-legal-skills/
Related articles
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Defending the Dignity of Migrant Workers » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union
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Tuesday marked the 146th Anniversary of National Freedom Day, the day on which President Abraham Lincoln signed the joint congressional resolution that outlawed slavery and became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In remarks to the president's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that "modern slavery, often hidden and unrecognized, persists today on every continent and, most tragically, right here in the United States, despite being prohibited by both domestic legislation and international law."
On that same day, the ACLU and its co-counsel filed for class certification (PDF) in a case on behalf of over 500 Indian guestworkers. The lawsuit alleges the workers were trafficked into the U.S. and subjected to squalid living conditions, fraudulent payment practices, and threats of serious harm under the control of Signal International, LLC, a company that builds ships and offshore oil drilling rigs.
The lawsuit was first filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in March 2008. The ACLU is co-counsel with the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Louisiana Justice Institute, and Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP. If class status is granted, it could be the largest human trafficking case in U.S. history.
The complaint alleges that recruiting agents hired by Signal International held the guestworkers' passports and visas, coerced them into paying extraordinary fees for recruitment, immigration processing and travel, and threatened the workers with serious legal and physical harm if they did not work under the Signal-restricted guestworker visa. Between 2004 and 2006, hundreds of Indian men paid as much as $20,000 each for travel, visa, recruitment and other fees under the pretense that it would lead to good jobs and permanent U.S. residency for them and their families.
The complaint also claims that once in the U.S., the workers were housed at Signal's overcrowded, unsanitary and racially segregated labor camps, where as many as 24 men shared a trailer with only two toilets. The lawsuit charges Signal and its agents have violated the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. In addition to Signal's corporate violation of domestic laws and polices, the federal government has failed to protect the rights of migrants under the International Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICPRMW), as proven by the lack of government oversight necessary to prevent such a trampling of rights.
Also Tuesday, the FBI, Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior joined — for the first time — the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons meeting, which suggests that various governmental agencies and departments are now strengthening their efforts to remedy this endemic domestic issue and, hopefully, advance lawsuits against culpable corporations. Fulfillment of the task force's mandate, in addition to greater overall respect for international norms, are opportunities the U.S. must seize to affirm the human rights to which all migrants are entitled.
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| Source: aclu.org/blog/human-rights-immigrants-rights |
Friday, November 26, 2010
Promising Practices in Response to Human Trafficking
The identification of concrete actions to help prevent human trafficking and support trafficking victims is an issue facing policy makers and practitioners at all levels. UNODC recently provided expert input to a provincial authority evaluating local actions and trying to bench mark these internationally. The resulting, report, entitled, " An Exploration of Promising Practices in Response to Human Trafficking in Canada" was commissioned by the Government of Manitoba on behalf of the Federal-Provincial- Territorial ("FPT") Forum of Senior Officials responsible for the Status of Women. Its purpose is to identify and explore promising practices focused on human trafficking prevention and victim support - either in Canada or elsewhere - that could be considered by Canadian Federal/Provincial/Territorial ("FPT") governments to better address human trafficking in Canada.The report has three parts. The first part discusses the legal and sociological context required to understand human trafficking issues as they relate to prevention and victim services. The second section explores promising practices in human trafficking prevention and victim services while the third offers brief conclusions and recommendations on the practices presented.
The report reviews five promising anti-trafficking practices:
- the development of a national anti-trafficking structure, which several states have adopted to combat human trafficking;
- promoting women's equality through laws and policies;
- to enhance labour monitoring in sectors where foreign workers are most vulnerable, particularly in areas such as domestic service and agriculture;
- to support effective non-governmental trafficking victim service providers;
- working with Aboriginal communities on human trafficking prevention programs.
In its efforts to combat trafficking in persons, UNODC works closely with Member States. Through the Global Programme against Trafficking in Persons, funded in part by the Government of Canada, UNODC is currently implementing in anti-trafficking activities such as the current initiative to develop a transnational response in Central America.
Related Information:
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized CrimeGlobal Programme against Trafficking in Persons
Tools and Publications
New & Events
Source: UNODC.org
Promising Practices in Response to Human Trafficking
Monday, September 27, 2010
IOM - Press Briefing Notes - IOM and Mexico's National Human Rights Commission Sign Cooperation Agreement to Fight Human Trafficking and the Kidnapping of Migrants in Mexico
Posted on Tuesday, 14-09-2010 | |
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Source: IOM
IOM - Press Briefing Notes - IOM and Mexico's National Human Rights Commission Sign Cooperation Agreement to Fight Human Trafficking and the Kidnapping of Migrants in Mexico
Monday, August 30, 2010
Belize Human Trafficking Trial Set | NowPublic News Coverage
Image via Wikipediaby bettyAphilips | August 27, 2010 at 12:25 pmThe trial is a consequence of a national police raid on three ficha bars in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. This was a raid that saw the chief of Belize’s criminal investigation branch refer to a hardcore human trafficking ring in this tourist area. And he also said his squad would be back if there were further evidence of human trafficking in action. We can live in hope.
We have three basic questions that we are asking ORT campaign supporters to send to the Belize government.
Are the bar owners being charged with human trafficking and profiting from prostitution or is Belize scapegoating a single bar employee? According to Belize law, it is the owners that should be standing trial. Ask Attorney General Bernard Q. Pitts this question.
What about the human trafficking victims? It is not known how many of the 24 arrested wound up in Hattieville prison because they are undocumented and in the country illegally. The Catch-22 for them is, they are in the country illegally because they’ve been trafficked. So why are the innocent being punished again? What has the Human Development and Social Transformation Ministry done to identify them and protect them? Ask Minister Peter Eden Martinez.
What happened to the four minors who were picked up in the police raid? Are they in Hattieville at risk in the company of adult criminals? Where are these children, Mr. Martinez, Mr. B.Q. Pitts?
[TRAFFICKING MONITOR: In a personal communication, Ms. Phillips stated that the trial will occur on Tuesday, August 31, 2010, in the morning.].
Belize Human Trafficking Trial Set | NowPublic News Coverage
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Newsvine - Belize Human Trafficking Victims Talk " Belize Bank Parking Lot"
FROM NEWS VINE.COM
Wednesday August, 25, 2010
By humantrafficking
Newsvine - Belize Human Trafficking Victims Talk " Belize Bank Parking Lot"
Wednesday August, 25, 2010
By humantrafficking
This is about a girl with the street name Marisa, a Honduran working in San Pedro at a ficha bar across the street from Belize Bank. She was owned by a Chinese group, openly known for having girls for sale. The bank and the bar are on the main street of San Pedro one block from the old immigration office on the island.
The trafficked girls of San Pedro in most cases do not understand they are trafficked. They understand they have no place for help and that they are considered whores. They are a close-knit group, these girls on the island working in these bars. The ones who are free after work stick together and, in fact, often live together in shacks. This is a form of protection for each other. The only one they have.
Marisa had spent a year on the Island at first working as a housekeeper at a large resort. This was a typical resort in that it seldom paid on time. Having to pay for her room weekly, she found herself often on the street if she did not get paid by the resort.
She made the choice for survival, meaning food and a roof over her head. So she began to work in a bar. She managed to limit her interaction with men to short visits in the bathroom. Oral sex was her role.
Through our efforts to help to these women and young girls, our reputation was known within the system. We are well known by the underground of the prostitution, ficha bars and trafficked women in San Pedro, Belize and other parts of the country.
We were in San Pedro one night when a girl known as Yenny reached us and told me that Marisa was in trouble. Her boss had beaten her and she at was at Belize Bank parking lot. At 2 in the morning we found Yenny and made our way to the parking lot.
We found Marisa in a ball in the corner of the lot. The bar owner had beaten her by holding her hair and smashing her head on a concrete pillar. Then he had scraped his nails across her face to disfigure her.
Marisa was in shock and bleeding. We gathered her up and took her to a safe house in the San Pablo area of San Pedro. Like an army medical unit, these women treated Marisa. Using a needle and thread they stitched her head. Cleaned her up and placed her on a bed shared by five girls. They all sat through the night comforting Marisa.
I returned the next day to see a child of just 18 with her eyes swollen shut, black and blue. She stayed at the safe house for a week. I made arrangements and had her taken off the Island and returned home.
Always the question is asked why did girls like this do not run? To answer the question think about how powerless you feel when the electricity goes out at your home or the water stops. Or you are at an ATM machine out of money and the machine is down. You have somewhere you can go while you wait for power and water to be returned. You can call a friend if you need money. You could be on the street and stop a police officer. These opportunities do not exist for the trafficked and so-called “worthless” women of San Pedro, Belize and rarely in the rest of the country.
The trafficked girls of San Pedro in most cases do not understand they are trafficked. They understand they have no place for help and that they are considered whores. They are a close-knit group, these girls on the island working in these bars. The ones who are free after work stick together and, in fact, often live together in shacks. This is a form of protection for each other. The only one they have.
Marisa had spent a year on the Island at first working as a housekeeper at a large resort. This was a typical resort in that it seldom paid on time. Having to pay for her room weekly, she found herself often on the street if she did not get paid by the resort.
She made the choice for survival, meaning food and a roof over her head. So she began to work in a bar. She managed to limit her interaction with men to short visits in the bathroom. Oral sex was her role.
Through our efforts to help to these women and young girls, our reputation was known within the system. We are well known by the underground of the prostitution, ficha bars and trafficked women in San Pedro, Belize and other parts of the country.
We were in San Pedro one night when a girl known as Yenny reached us and told me that Marisa was in trouble. Her boss had beaten her and she at was at Belize Bank parking lot. At 2 in the morning we found Yenny and made our way to the parking lot.
We found Marisa in a ball in the corner of the lot. The bar owner had beaten her by holding her hair and smashing her head on a concrete pillar. Then he had scraped his nails across her face to disfigure her.
Marisa was in shock and bleeding. We gathered her up and took her to a safe house in the San Pablo area of San Pedro. Like an army medical unit, these women treated Marisa. Using a needle and thread they stitched her head. Cleaned her up and placed her on a bed shared by five girls. They all sat through the night comforting Marisa.
I returned the next day to see a child of just 18 with her eyes swollen shut, black and blue. She stayed at the safe house for a week. I made arrangements and had her taken off the Island and returned home.
Always the question is asked why did girls like this do not run? To answer the question think about how powerless you feel when the electricity goes out at your home or the water stops. Or you are at an ATM machine out of money and the machine is down. You have somewhere you can go while you wait for power and water to be returned. You can call a friend if you need money. You could be on the street and stop a police officer. These opportunities do not exist for the trafficked and so-called “worthless” women of San Pedro, Belize and rarely in the rest of the country.
Newsvine - Belize Human Trafficking Victims Talk " Belize Bank Parking Lot"
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Organization For Responsible Tourism (FACTS) | NowPublic News Coverage
Image via Wikipediaby bettyAphilips | August 13, 2010 at 11:50 amThe Organization For Responsible Tourism (FACTS)
International Attention through a Tourism Boycott.
Stopping corruption at Belize borders is the key to stopping human traffickers from using Belize as a human trafficking superhighway. The Campaign to Stop Human Trafficking in Belize is supported by the Organization for Responsible Tourism. Organization for Responsible Tourism President Vivian Trill has appealed on behalf of the Campaign for Belize to tighten its borders.
Thousands of human trafficking victims wind up in bars run by owners who profit form forced prostitution.
The Campaign to Stop Human Trafficking in Belize is supported by the Organization for Responsible Tourism. Organization for Responsible Tourism President Vivian Trill has called for strengthening and enforcing liquor laws so they provide penalties to bar owners profiting from prostitution.
The Campaign to Stop Human Trafficking in Belize has extended an invitation to work in partnership with Prime Minister Dean Barrow. The Campaign, through Organization for Responsible Tourism, has issued a number of Appeals to the Belize government urging immediate action to address human trafficking within and along its borders.
Organization for Responsible Tourism President Vivian Trill has issued the Appeals on behalf of the Campaign.
- Fines for bar owners, starting at $2,000 (Belize) for a first offence
- Suspension of liquor license for a period of six months for the first offence, up to two years for the second, and up to five years for subsequent violations
- Monitor police enforcement of liquor license laws.
You can help us grow our on-line community that demands an end to sexual enslavement of girls in the Human Trafficking system of Central America. Five minutes of your time three times a week can make an immediate change.
Using the power of the most democratic tool available today: Web, Email, Twit, blog and using your social networks to get the message out. The message? A community demanding a stop to sexual enslavement of girls in the human trafficking industries of Belize, Honduras and Guatemala.
- Appeal to Canadians: Stand On Guard Against Belize Human Trafficking
- Belize Child Sex Tourism "an emerging trend in Belize – Belize News
- Canadians "Shout No to Human Trafficking" Asks Betty Philips
- ORT Declares Worldwide Watch For Belizeans for Justice
- Herbert Gayle, Anthropologist Hattieville Prison A Human Rights Mess
- Human Trafficking Message To Judith Alpuche From Vivian Trill
- Betty Philips fights Human Trafficking from Vancouver
2010 Human Trafficking Report. (TIP REPORT)
The Trafficking in Persons report says it has evidence of poor children and young women being forced by their parents or carers to perform sexual favours for wealthier people in return for money.
This so-called "sugar daddy effect" was especially noted in Belize and is also said to be a problem in Barbados.
The El Cazador Campaign, driven by "THE ORGANIZATION FOR RESPONSIBLE TOURISM" was months in the making, has recruited, educated, and mobilized a social movement to take action and combat human trafficking in Central America.
A legion of supporters from around the world are now working via the Internet and social media on a specific and targeted set of key actions to stop human trafficking.
Here are the Vivian Trill's The Organization For Responsible Tourism Campaign’s key actions at this date:
- Action: Immigration – stop the corruption at the borders
- Action: Tourism – block tourism to resorts that tolerate trafficking
- Action: Belize – expose this major terminal for sex trafficking victims
The Organization For Responsible Tourism (FACTS) | NowPublic News Coverage
Friday, August 13, 2010
Appeal to Canadians: Stand On Guard Against Belize Human Traffick | NowPublic News Coverage
Image via Wikipediaby bettyAphilips | August 13, 2010 at 10:10 am “Our campaign is built on growing worldwide attention to human trafficking in Belize,” said Philips. “Our Belize tourism boycott is only one element of our campaign. We are now calling on Canadians to send the Appeal. It asks Belize for specific actions, starting with tightened immigration policies that would block human traffickers’ effortless transit of victims through Belize.”
As in all its Appeals, ORT continues to offer partnership with Prime Minister Barrow’s government to address human trafficking crime.
Under the U.S. anti-trafficking in persons act, Belize has the opportunity to negotiate with the U.S. to avoid worst human trafficking offender status and avert possible economic sanction.
The Appeal recommends that in upcoming reviews and negotiations, the two countries establish a commitment that Belize will:
· Strengthen and enforce its immigration policies - regulate border protocol
· Strengthen and enforce liquor licensing laws - address forced prostitution
“ORT’s campaign is different and our Appeals are unlike standard petitions,” said Philips. “We don’t ask for money. We ask for action. We know we can count on Canadians to send the Appeal to the U.S. and Belize governments asking them for a win-win on human trafficking.”
Appeal to Canadians: Stand On Guard Against Belize Human Traffick | NowPublic News Coverage
Monday, July 5, 2010
Appeal #4: Regulate Borders To Stop Belize Human Trafficking
Image via Wikipedia
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Recommitting to working in partnership with Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow, Trill said that tightening immigration protocol and practice at these two borders would require only simple and inexpensive measures to block human traffickers.
Melchor Border Crossing
The Melchor border crossing is an inadequate immigration and customs facility with a station and a check in. Immigration officers are paid off openly by human traffickers. It is very common for human trafficking victims to be driven across this border in the trunks of taxis. Between 350 and 600 human trafficking victims are transported through his border on a monthly basis.
Jalacte Border Crossing
The Jalacte border crossing is a completely unmanned Belize/Guatemala borderline. In this no-man’s-land, human traffickers easily transport their victims between the two countries, with no monitoring taking place. About 400 human trafficking victims are transported across this border monthly.
The basic problem is human traffickers count on a bribery system to keep the steady flow of trafficking victims moving across borders. As well, they count on unmanned or poorly staffed borderlines to maintain their human trafficking industry.
ORT recommends inexpensive and simple ways to address human trafficking all Belize border crossings:
· Improve the existing immigration computer system so that it accurately and reliably keeps track of who goes in and out of the country
· Cameras that monitor border staff
· Frequent immigration department inspections
· Training for border staff
· Penalties and enforcement of penalties, including criminal prosecution and conviction for all border staff who take bribes, including their superiors.
“Human traffickers count on bribery and sieve-like borders to conduct their business,” said Trill. “We urge Prime Minister Barrow to begin tightening immigration policy and enforcement of laws, starting at Belize’s Melchor and Jalacte borders.”
ORT invites all individuals and groups to submit Appeal #3 to the Government of Belize. Appeal #3 is a supplement to the preceding “Appeal to Stop Human Trafficking In Belize.”
ORT promotes traveling for a better world.
Appeal #4: Regulate Borders To Stop Belize Human Trafficking
Thursday, June 3, 2010
California Against Slavery: raising the bar on human trafficking legislation
LA Border and Immigration Examiner
June 2, 3:47 PMLA Border and Immigration Examiner
Aurelia Fierros
According to the U.S. Department of State and its 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, the major forms human trafficking occurring around the world includes the categories of forced labor, bonded labor, debt bondage among migrant laborers, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child soldiers, sex trafficking, and child sex trafficking.
The United States is a destination for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked largely from Mexico and East Asia, as well as countries in South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe, for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation; many of them, are victims of fraudulent offers of employment. But this crime is also perpetrated among an unknown number of American citizens and legal residents who are trafficked within the country, primarily for sexual servitude.
Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery is a global growing illicit industry and California is not exempt. In such context, identifying and protecting victims of trafficking, raising awareness about the problem as well as promoting tougher legislation is a challenge that California Against Slavery (CAS) has made its own.
"Human trafficking is a criminal business that profits from enslaving people for sexual servitude and forced labor. It is flourishing in California because the law is weak," said Daphne Phung, executive director of California Against Slavery.
CAS is calling Californians to support stronger laws against human trafficking and to join them in Sacramento, at a State Capitol rally on June 28th.
"There is an urgent need for laws that would provide stiffer measures to stop traffickers, better protection for human trafficking victims, and greater funding for organizations that serve human trafficking victims. We are calling all Californians to speak up at the rally. Let's make a big deal of a big issue."
CAS is promoting a ballot initiative to strengthen human trafficking laws and increase trafficking victims' rights. They need your help to collect 600,000 signatures by June 15, 2010.
The rally will start at Raley Field at 9:45 a.m. on June 28, 2010. The group will march to the State Capitol West Steps at 10 a.m. The protest will feature speakers, musical performances, and visits to the offices of California legislators.
For more info:
Please visit the California Against Slavery site.
or directly Contact:
Daphne Phung
Executive Director and Founder of California Against Slavery
info@californiaagainstslavery.org
(510) 473-7283
http://www.CaliforniaAgainstSlavery.org
California Against Slavery
P.O. Box 7057
Fremont, CA 94537
California Against Slavery: raising the bar on human trafficking legislation
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June 2, 3:47 PMLA Border and Immigration Examiner
Aurelia Fierros
According to the U.S. Department of State and its 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, the major forms human trafficking occurring around the world includes the categories of forced labor, bonded labor, debt bondage among migrant laborers, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, child soldiers, sex trafficking, and child sex trafficking.
The United States is a destination for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked largely from Mexico and East Asia, as well as countries in South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe, for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation; many of them, are victims of fraudulent offers of employment. But this crime is also perpetrated among an unknown number of American citizens and legal residents who are trafficked within the country, primarily for sexual servitude.
Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery is a global growing illicit industry and California is not exempt. In such context, identifying and protecting victims of trafficking, raising awareness about the problem as well as promoting tougher legislation is a challenge that California Against Slavery (CAS) has made its own.
"Human trafficking is a criminal business that profits from enslaving people for sexual servitude and forced labor. It is flourishing in California because the law is weak," said Daphne Phung, executive director of California Against Slavery.
CAS is calling Californians to support stronger laws against human trafficking and to join them in Sacramento, at a State Capitol rally on June 28th.
"There is an urgent need for laws that would provide stiffer measures to stop traffickers, better protection for human trafficking victims, and greater funding for organizations that serve human trafficking victims. We are calling all Californians to speak up at the rally. Let's make a big deal of a big issue."
CAS is promoting a ballot initiative to strengthen human trafficking laws and increase trafficking victims' rights. They need your help to collect 600,000 signatures by June 15, 2010.
The rally will start at Raley Field at 9:45 a.m. on June 28, 2010. The group will march to the State Capitol West Steps at 10 a.m. The protest will feature speakers, musical performances, and visits to the offices of California legislators.
For more info:
Please visit the California Against Slavery site.
or directly Contact:
Daphne Phung
Executive Director and Founder of California Against Slavery
info@californiaagainstslavery.org
(510) 473-7283
http://www.CaliforniaAgainstSlavery.org
California Against Slavery
P.O. Box 7057
Fremont, CA 94537
California Against Slavery: raising the bar on human trafficking legislation
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