NZ police help rescue 31 kids from global paedo ring after Christchurch man's arrest - NZ Herald

NZ police help rescue 31 kids from global paedo ring after Christchurch man's arrest - NZ Herald:

The above link is courtesy of Jack Bear. Many thanks.

From Criminals to Survivors: Changing the Narrative of Child Sexual Exploitation - The Chronicle of Social Change

From Criminals to Survivors: Changing the Narrative of Child Sexual Exploitation - The Chronicle of Social Change:

9.5M trafficked in Asia-Pacific as of 2005 - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:04:00 01/21/2010

MANILA, Philippines—An estimated 9.49 million people were in forced labor in the Asia-Pacific region as of 2005, with a significant number believed to be in the Mekong region, according to United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO).

Thus, officials from the six countries of South-East Asia’s Mekong region and observers from the United Nations and other stakeholders opened a two-day meeting in Myanmar Thursday to step up the war on human trafficking, including sexual slavery and labor exploitation.

The meeting brings together ministers from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with observers from the UN, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking of Persons Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and donors.

“It is only through this kind of coordinated approach and solidarity of the counter-trafficking community that we can make a real difference in the lives of people who are suffering the cruel consequences of human trafficking and exploitation,” UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) regional manager Matthew Friedman told the 7th Senior Officials Meeting of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (Commit) in Bagan.

“Commit is unique in that it has fostered unprecedented accountability between the Mekong countries over the past six years,” UN Resident Coordinator Bishow Parajuli said. “I believe that this unity may be one of our greatest strengths in tackling some of our biggest challenges.”

Since the signing of a memorandum of understanding six years ago, the six countries have put in place legal and cooperative frameworks to prevent human trafficking taking place, prosecute traffickers and exploitative employers, and protect victims, helping them return home safely and with dignity.

The Bagan meeting will take a fresh look at regional approaches to counter trafficking, review plans and priorities, and discuss future joint actions, focusing in particular on law enforcement and the recovery and reintegration of victims.


9.5M trafficked in Asia-Pacific as of 2005 - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Sex trafficking a scourge

Image by m.toyama via Flickr

To end it, law enforcement needs to team with others who can join fight

By Rich Davis - Dec. 5, 2009 12:00 AM
Special for the Republic

A photographer snaps photos of poverty-stricken families in a foreign country. He shows the photos of the families' young girls to men seeking prostitutes. These men identify a girl that appeals to them and pay the photographer, who assures the delivery of the young girl.

Through coercion and money, the girl, now a prostitute, becomes a regular if she is popular with clientele. The photographer, often with the assistance of drug traffickers, gets her addicted to drugs and looks to sell her new skills. The buyer takes her to a new region with burgeoning demand for illicit sex while the traffickers tell the family some phony story and give them money.

This story is deplorable but is an example of how traffickers prey upon poor families. In Arizona, we have young women who find their way here through a similar process. Most are American runaways who get involved in prostitution and become victims of sex trafficking out of a need for survival.

Human trafficking has become the third largest criminal activity in the world, surpassed only by drugs and arms trafficking. According to the U.N., 70 percent of those trafficked are women, most under the age of 18. Other studies indicate that 3.2 million women, girls and boys are trafficked globally for sex each year.

In October 2000, the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act was signed into law. At the time, federal officials stated that 50,000 young women were trafficked annually in the U.S. and that organized crime was the culprit. Prosecution statistics show another story. According to a recent National Institute of Justice study, between 2000 and 2007, 298 individuals were charged with federal human-trafficking violations. Of those, 138 were charged with sex trafficking.

Over the past few years, the number of prosecutions in Arizona for sex trafficking is in the dozens - most are pimps of underaged girls, many are prosecuted using other laws. So why hasn't organized crime been tied to the sex-trafficking cases?

Evidence suggests sex traffickers are less hierarchical, more opportunistic and more entrepreneurial than organized crime. Traditional law-enforcement tools used for organized crime, such as wiretapping and informants, need to make way for a third-party approach.

New research from Central Asia and Turkey provide additional insight for law-enforcement officials. In 493 cases of sex trafficking in Turkey (2004-07), 42 percent of the women or girls were kept in apartments, 39 percent were kept in motels, and nearly 10 percent were kept in houses. Crimes tend to cluster in particular areas and these concentrations are related to physical and social features more permissive of illicit sexual activity.

In these locations, law enforcement may consider working with third-party participants such as motel and apartment managers, postal-delivery workers and utility-service providers. These third-party participants have been critical in disrupting sex-trafficking rings elsewhere.

The most important tool available to law-enforcement officials is the collaboration of federal, state and local agencies and the engagement with non-profit groups that are working to rid our society of this ill. The Phoenix Sex Trafficking Task Force and groups such as Street Light, an Arizona non-profit, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have brought resources, attention and leadership to the problem.

As collaboration among law enforcement, prosecution, NGOs and third-party participants grow, the number of sex traffickers arrested and prosecuted will increase. Now is the time to help these young women by applying the lessons from the international, national and state data to further detect and disrupt sex trafficking in Arizona.

Rich Davis is CEO of ARTIS Research and a visiting scholar at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University. He can be reached at rdavis@artisresearch.com.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2009/12/04/20091204davis05.html

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Lured From The Hills of Nepal and Sold to a Brothel in Mumbai

Image via Wikipedia

By Deepti Priya Mehrotra

Lured from the hills of Nepal, Nisha found herself sold to a brothel in Mumbai at 11. Two years later, she had contracted HIV. She had been entertaining five to ten customers a day for those two years.

At 19, the slightly-built Rakhi is the mother of a three-year-old. She conceived her daughter when she was sold to a brothel in Mumbai. She also contracted HIV. Nisha and Rakhi shared their stories at the South Asia Court of Women on the Violence of Trafficking and HIV/AIDS in Dhaka held a few years ago. And they are among the thousands of women, who are victims of both trafficking and HIV in the South Asian region. It is now being increasingly realised that trafficking for sexual exploitation is tied up with increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

But why haven`t South Asians nations been able to tackle the two together? Regional experts and representatives of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and UNAIDS believe that the questionable quality of interventions, poor outreach and lack of procedures like counselling are the reasons for the proliferation of both trafficking and HIV/AIDS.

According to Vandana Mahajan, Senior Programme Officer, UNIFEM India, "Strong linkages exist between these issues. Trafficking for sexual exploitation is tied up with increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS... and the HIV/AIDS epidemic intensifies poverty, which increases vulnerability to trafficking. Both issues have roots in poverty and gender inequality. Clearly, we have to devise integrated strategies, which can make an impact on trafficking as well as on HIV/AIDS."

There is growing recognition among nations that human trafficking needs to be tackled as a specific crime. The UN Protocol on `Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children`, 2000, which is implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), offers practical help to states with drafting laws, creating comprehensive national anti-trafficking strategies, and assisting with resources to implement them.

Even the SAARC Secretariat has created a Regional Task Force to implement Conventions relating to trafficking of women and children, providing a forum for discussion and planning to integrate trafficking, women and child welfare, and HIV/AIDS in the domestic and foreign policies of South Asian countries. The UNIFEM has formed a South Asia Anti-Trafficking Think Tank, that comprises governmental representatives, NGOs, UN agencies and inter-governmental organisations, to engage in dialogue, raise key cross-border issues and help coordinate policy and implementation in the region.

Yet despite all these measures at a recent `Regional Consultation on HIV/AIDS and Anti Human Trafficking` in New Delhi, Dr Munir Raza Ahmed, Social Mobilisation Adviser, UNAIDS, Bangladesh, confessed, "The quality of our interventions is still questionable. We have sex worker programmes covering brothels, hotels and home-based sector, but the outreach is poor. ...We have no comprehensive database or monitoring system on trafficking." On the positive side Ahmed described the services the government and NGOs are trying to provide to MARPs (Most At Risk Populations) that aim at prevention through measures like improving the health system, integrating gender awareness and providing youth-friendly services. But he was quick to add, "We have not yet situated these programmes in the context of poverty. The demand for trafficked persons comes from affluent sections, yet we have no behaviour change programmes targeting these sections."

Bangladesh is not the only nation at fault. The fact is that none of the countries have even begun tackling the problem from the demand side: They are just beginning to realise the need to target the `MMM` - Mobile Men with Money - who are the basic category of buyers of trafficked women and children. Tackling the MMM will in itself have to be a transnational campaign, since the richer countries, particularly the US and several European countries, are typically destination countries, while the Asian and African nations are typically the areas of origin.

Vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka have instituted legislation that targets trafficking - which is vital to tackle the problem - but there is a lack of enforcement.

Nepal has a Human Trafficking (Control) Act, 2007, and Women and Child Service Centres in over 25 police stations across the country. Yet, in 2006, the police registered only 97 cases of trafficking and 36 convictions took place. According to Sangeeta Thapa, Country Programme Coordinator, UNIFEM Nepal, though public policy in Nepal is sensitive to gender, not much impact has been made in challenging patriarchy and gender inequality in the country. "The vulnerability of women to trafficking and HIV/AIDS is not clearly understood. Female sex worker are looked at more as vectors, than as victims. Economic disempowerment and the lack of inheritance and land rights are not being sufficiently addressed. We have significant seasonal migration within Nepal, but the linkages between migration, trafficking and HIV/AIDS are not fully understood. But we do have opportunities. A new Constitution is being evolved with non-discrimination as one of its central values," she said.

Besides a lack of understanding, experts at the regional consultation also expressed logistic problems. Saghir Bukhari, Programme Specialist, UNIFEM Pakistan, felt that due to security issues it is difficult for organisations to reach out to approximately half of Pakistan. Here, too, a gender scan of programmes has indicated the need to integrate gender issues, but the way to do it is not clear. "Women", he noted, "are mostly invisible in the programming. We have a strategic framework, but it has yet to be translated into action. Gender-based violence and trafficking are not being addressed at all in the context of the national HIV/AIDS programmes..."

However, Pakistan has made some headway by passing a Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (PACHTO), in 2002; its Federal Investigation Agency registered 1,826 cases under PACHTO between 2003 and 2006. But of these cases, only 254 have been decided, with 222 sentences and 32 acquittals.

Even in India - considered a destination country for cross-border trafficking - while 12,665 persons were arrested for trafficking, 7,075 were convicted in 20005 under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (IPTA). Some 26,000 women were sheltered in Swadhar short-stay homes - run by NGOs and as part of the Ministry of Women and Child`s Swadhar scheme - but these are inadequate in terms of numbers as well as quality of services provided. Only, four states have set up Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa and West Bengal.

In the absence of comprehensive tracking, it is impossible to get definitive statistics. But these numbers are, most likely, barely the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, in countries like the Maldives, trafficking is not even recognised as a specific offence. According to Anna Liboro-Senga, UN Coordination Specialist, Maldives, a significant degree of internal migration exists within the country, with reports of trafficking, but no steps have yet been initiated in public policy. Though Afghanistan has undertaken some policy and implementation, with 287 victims identified in 2006 and 370 persons convicted for trafficking of persons, Sri Lanka has a law on Prevention of Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (2005) but no arrests or convictions have been made so far. In Bhutan, where the Penal Code identifies trafficking of a person `for any purpose` as a crime, there has so far been no arrests or convictions.

The `Global Report on Trafficking in Persons` (UNODC February 2009) notes that, worldwide, nations are just starting to view trafficking as a specific crime, and public policy as well as judicial systems are struggling to match up to the need. As UNODC`s Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, put it, "The crisis we face of fragmented knowledge and disjointed response intensifies a crime that shames us all."

(© Women`s Feature Service)
Published: November 18th, 2009 09:27 EST

Comment on this story, by emailing Judyth Piazza at comment@thesop.org or join the SOP friend network with your Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN or one ID account located on the front page of http://www.thesop.org.

http://thesop.org/world/2009/11/18/lured-from-the-hills-of-nepal-and-sold-to-a-brothel-in-mumbai

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Conference hears benefits to criminalising purchase of sex

05/11/2009 - 09:52:43

A major conference on sex trafficking being held in Dublin today has heard that the only way to end the exploitation of women is to criminalise the buyers of sex.

International approaches to policing sex trafficking are being discussed at today's event, which is being held by the Dignity Project.

Sweden, Iceland and Norway have all introduced legislation criminalising the purchase of sex and the Irish Government is being urged to do the same.

"We have a policeman from Stockholm police where, in Sweden, they have introduced legislation 10 years ago where they have criminalised those who purchase sex," said Grainne Healy, project co-ordinator of the Dignity Project.

"They've had great success with this; they've seen a drop in the demand for sexual services and more importantly they have seen a fall in trafficking of women for sexual exploitation into Sweden."

http://www.breakingnews.ie/Ireland/eymhmhaueymh/rss2/

Barnardo's warns of Britain's secret trade in child sex - Times Online

Image via Wikipedia

Nico Hines
Times Online

A secret network of organised child sex traffickers is operating within Britain according to the charity Barnardo’s.

Approximately one in six of the sexually exploited children currently being helped by the organisation say they have been moved between cities and passed around between paedophiles.

Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo’s, warned of a “hidden” problem in which vulnerable youngsters, many of whom have run away from home, are shunted around the country to increase their isolation.

“Through our work with children abused through prostitution, it became apparent that some young people were being moved around the UK, or from town to town, by abusing adults who would use the children for the purpose of sexual exploitation,” he said.

“An apparently kind man will buy them food, will buy them drink and give then a mobile phone, and then a few months later they will be isolated and alone, sometimes in a different town and sleeping with that man and his friends.”

No national records are kept on the number of children exploited in this way. Barnardo’s is calling for police and authorities across the UK to develop a greater awareness of the problem.

The charity said it was currently working with 609 sexually exploited children and young people, 90 of whom appeared to have been trafficked within the UK.

One of the victims of this trade, Imogen, ran away from her care home at the age of 12 with an older man she thought was her boyfriend.

She was groomed by a man who treated her well – giving her a mobile phone and the keys to a flat to use – before he began to abuse her.

“He was much older, he was protective – I felt looked after, wanted, loved even. He gave me everything I wanted,” she said, but soon she was being driven to “parties” around Britain where she was told to have sex with his friends.

“I didn’t have any choice – I felt so guilty. Eventually, he’d take me all over the country: Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, London. He’d take me to hotels, some nights two or three.

“I never saw any money change hands. Some men asked ‘How old is she?’ Some asked ‘Have you got any younger?’ They were really sick.”

The man was arrested and eventually Imogen went back to school and then on to university.

“It’s really hard to talk about girls being trafficked in this country; no one wants to believe it,” she said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6920001.ece

Man travels to San Francisco to combat child sex slavery and exploitation

November 10, 9:16 AM
SF LGBT Issues Examiner Eric Ross

On November 10th at approximately 2:00 PM, Clay Sipes will be arriving in San Francisco after cycling across the country. Sipes started his journey in New York on September 1st, and has ridden his bicycle over 3,000 miles to benefit Love 146, a Connecticut based 501c3 non-profit organization that helps prevent modern-day slavery of children. According to Love 146’s website, two children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation, approximately 1.2 million children are trafficked annually, and 32 billion dollars are generated from human trafficking each year. Sipes is hoping that his cycling challenge will bring more attention to this issue and the high statistics associated with them.

Sipes’ original destination was Seattle, WA but he encountered severe weather, causing him to turn further south and change his arrival destination to San Francisco. As he travelled across the country, he endured the great plains of the mid-west for weeks on end, climbed over the Rockies, tackled snow storms, and camped in the desert. He has had limited access to good food and lodging since there was little financial support.

A small group of people are planning to greet Sipes at San Francisco City Hall (Polk Street side) at 2:00 PM, as he arrives in the city. Shortly after, the group will gather inside City Hall for an official presentation of a Certificate of Commendation from the City and a few comments from select speakers. The ceremony is open to the public, so if you would like to welcome Sipes and show your support, make your way over to SF City Hall at 2:00 PM.

http://www.examiner.com/x-20225-SF-LGBT-Issues-Examiner~y2009m11d10-Man-travels-to-San-Francisco-to-combat-child-sex-slavery-and-exploitation

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Training On Human Trafficking

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Westchester Community NewsMt. Kisco, NY - A coalition of social service providers, community agencies and local law enforcement are pleased to announce a free training, “Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery: Tools for an Effective Response” on November 12, 2009 from 8:30am to 5:00pm at the Holiday Inn in Mount Kisco, NY.

Co-sponsors include The Freedom Network USA, The Junior League of Northern Westchester, International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA), My Sister’s Place, New York State Office of Temporary Disability Assistance (OTDA), The Pound Ridge Police Department, The Police Benevolence Association of Pound Ridge (PBA) and the Town of Pound Ridge.

“All of us are repulsed by the idea of trafficking in human beings, a form of modern day slavery. Yet few in the United States are aware of the size and scope of this global problem. Even fewer realize that human trafficking is rampant in our cities and towns across the United States, including Northern Westchester,” says Alison Boak, a resident of Pound Ridge and co-founder of the Freedom Network USA and the IOFA.

Human trafficking consists of heinous acts that revolve around forced labor and marriages and despicable extraction and sale of human body parts as well as sexual exploitation. UN figures estimate 2.5 million people are trafficked annually from over 127 countries. Even worse, 1.2 million of them are children often sold into prostitution. Human trafficking is a big business generating between $5 and $7 billion annually. Abolishing human trafficking is one of the greatest challenges facing the global community in the 21st century and ignoring it will foster crimes against humanity.

According to Chief Ryan of the Pound Ridge Police Department, “This practical training will be offered by the nation’s leading anti-trafficking experts to first responders, those best positioned to identify potential victims of human trafficking, including local law enforcement, hospital and clinic staff, volunteer ambulance corps members and social service providers, especially those working to assist the day laborer population in Northern Westchester.”

“It’s important for local community groups that directly serve the public as well as government and law enforcement officials to make attending this training a priority,” says Kiersten Marich, President of the Junior League of Northern Westchester. This all day training, thanks to funding by the Freedom Network Training Institute, will provide participants with practical knowledge on human trafficking, as defined by both US and New York State law including victim identification and referral.

For additional information on Training on Human Trafficking – Modern Day Slavery, contact Caroline Meyers at cmeyer@townofpoundridge.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or 914-764-4206. To register on line or to download a registration form, please visit www.jlnw.org and click on the Freedom Network icon.

The Junior League of Northern Westchester (JLNW) is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. The Junior League of Northern Westchester reaches out to women of all races, religions and national origins who demonstrate an interest in, and commitment to, voluntarism.

http://www.westchester.com/Westchester_News/Community/Training_On_Human_Trafficking_2009102712252.html

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Warning on 2010 sex trafficking

Image via Wikipedia

By Clayton Barnes October 26 2009 at 05:31PM Traffickers and pimps would exploit the opportunity of the World Cup with promises of jobs and thousands of dollars in cash, a child rights expert has warned. Speaking in the city at a round-table discussion on child sexual exploitation and the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Susan Kreston, a Fulbright professor and research fellow at the Centre for Psychology and Law at the University of the Free State, said women and children would be especially targeted during the event. Tough economic times and the five-week mid-year school holiday may lead to both adults and children searching for opportunities to get extra cash. Debt bondage is just one of the many ways people get trapped in trafficking' "Debt bondage is just one of the many ways people get trapped in trafficking," said Kreston. "The trafficker would offer the adult or child large amounts of money, or make promises of a good job with a good lifestyle in one of the 2010 host cities or abroad, but then the victims would be expected to sell their bodies or be mutilated as a form of repayment." Kreston said 12.3-million people were trafficked annually across the world. One in 10 of these was a child. She said children from as young as six were targeted by traffickers and pimps. They faced a future of being sexually violated up to six times a day. Child pornography and cases of children using their cellphones to film each other having sex and swopping or selling the pictures, were also expected to spike during the World Cup. "Children need to realise that this is a crime and that they could be selling these images to paedophiles who could make a living out of swapping their images with other criminals," she said. 'The closure of schools during the World Cup is our biggest concern' Kreston said an overarching law against trafficking was needed before the World Cup. She urged the government to fast-track the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill. Patric Solomons, the director of child rights group Molo Songololo, said child prostitution rings were growing rapidly across the Western Cape. He said police in several areas, including Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Khayelitsha, Athlone, Delft and Eerste River, were investigating reports of children being prostituted along the main routes. "The closure of schools during the World Cup is our biggest concern," Solomons said. "The government, with the private sector and NGOs, needs to get programmes running during that period. If not, we will definitely see a large number of children being trafficked or lured into prostitution." The Department of Education said the five-week holiday period would not be changed. Earlier, officials said there was an extensive consultation process before the 2010 school calendar was determined. Solomons added that the 2010 local organising committee and the police had noted the lack of child safety measures in their World Cup plans, and were addressing this. It is believed that 40 000 women and children were trafficked during the World Cup in Germany in 2006, and it is estimated that close to 100 000 could be affected next year. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20091026124713537C392565

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