IMPACT: PEOPLE AGAINST CHILD TRAFFICKING IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS 2016 Lecture Series

IMPACT: PEOPLE AGAINST CHILD TRAFFICKING IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS presents  A SPRING LECTURE SERIES ...

TEEN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION & TRAUMA INFORMED RESPONSE K-12

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PEOPLE AGAINST CHILD TRAFFICKING 2016 Lecture Series: 

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/

Court of Women

Unprecedented Court of Women hears testimonies from the trafficked and sexually exploited

Nusa Dua, Bali (Indonesia), August 7

The jury deliberating on a most unusual trial - the first South East Asia Court of Women on HIV and Human Trafficking in South East Asia - here have urged the governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations and others to urgently to address the vulnerabilities of women to trafficking and HIV.

However, these responses should be rights and gender-responsive and should not "re-victimise" the women who have been trafficked, they said. What is required are joint-efforts based on human rights principles rather than inappropriate law enforcement.

This was no typical court proceeding, but was instead a symbolic court held in conjunction with the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), which opens here on 9 August.

"The vulnerabilities of women to trafficking and HIV are rooted in the disproportionate human insecurity, poverty, illiteracy and disempowerment that they face in their daily lives," the Jury said in a statement issued at the end of the Court. In several countries, women who are trafficked are chased by the same law that is meant to protect them: they are treated as "illegal migrants" and "criminals" and are often denied their rights and choices.

The jury of six eminent legal and human rights experts heard real-life testimonies in the Women's Court, including harrowing stories of trafficking, violence and exploitation. The Court provided a forum for women across SE Asia to share their personal survival stories and to create further awareness about trafficking, sexual exploitation, bonded labour, and HIV in the region.

Alongside the powerful and poignant testimonies of women who suffered at the hands of traffickers, "expert witnesses" presented data and powerful analyses to highlight the intense violation of dignity and rights of thousands of other women from South East Asia. The Court brought together leaders, politicians, activists and communities who are working to make a difference to empower women and reduce their vulnerability to trafficking and HIV in the South East Asia region.

The event was organised by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Women's Human Rights Council (AWHRC), and Yakeba, a Balinese NGO , with financial support from the Japanese Government and in partnership with UNODC and others.

Opening the court, Ms. Meutia Hatta, Minister for Women's Empowerment of Indonesia, said: "of the total number of people trafficked globally, one-third is from South East Asia and gender inequality and unequal power relations are the main fuelling factors for this phenomenon." In view of the seriousness of the issue, the Government of Indonesia enacted the anti-trafficking law in 2008. The spread of HIV in the region is increasingly impacting women 2-3 times more at risk of contracting HIV than men in the same age group.

In her key note address, Dr. Nafis Sadik, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific region, said that trafficking was matter of legislation alone, though laws were essential. They should be drafted with due respect for human rights and there must be even-handed enforcement. "Too often, we find double or triple standards at work." She added: "the sex workers are endowed with the same rights as other human beings; and that coercion in all its forms, including trafficking, has no part to play".

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The testimonies heard by the Court included:

* Wanta, a young Cambodian woman selling sugar care juice on the streets of Phnom Penh couldn't resist the lure of an overseas job that promised her a decent salary. Smuggled out of her country through the Cambodia-Thai border, she ended up in Malaysia as a bonded sex worker. After months in several brothels and a jail, she is now back in Phnom Penh, thanks to the intervention of an NGO. But with a battered past and HIV, life is a daunting struggle for her.

* Nitha from Indonesia took a job in the Middle East as a domestic worker, but faced extreme hardship and escaped, ending up in a detention centre in Jakarta. Unable to make both the ends meet, she tried for another job in another country. This time, the working conditions were worse. "They forced me to work without a break and withheld my pay frequently. I fell unconscious often. I was raped several times."

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. El Mostafa Benlamlih, UN Resident Coordinator for Indonesia and UNDP Resident Representative, said: "there are no borders between human trafficking, violence and HIV/AIDS as there are no borders between nation states. When human insecurity and poverty thrive; migration, human trafficking, violence against women and HIV breed on each other." "Behind the voices of the testifiers at the Court, there is suffering of human beings, men, women and children; misunderstood, victimized, exploited, raped, infected, imprisoned, blamed and thrown at the margins of society."

"The timing of the Court is significant in that the current economic crisis has narrowed the opportunities for formal migration, making women in particular vulnerable to various forms of exploitation including trafficking. What is needed is collective and inclusive responses, given the diversity of views that exist on the issue," said Mr. Jeff O'Malley, Director, HIV/AIDS Practice, UNDP, New York said. The Court has brought together these critical views and has made an affirmative move towards joint efforts against trafficking and HIV that build on human rights principles and empowerment strategies, rather than inappropriately using only law enforcement, he added.

"In addressing the dual challenges of human trafficking and HIV, we need to ensure that the voices of women who are most affected are heard. The Regional Court of Women in attempting to bring such unheard voices to the public domain is laudable," said Christian Kroll, Global Coordinator of HIV/AIDS, UNODC.

"We need to urgently shift the deeply embedded norms, attitudes and behaviours that socially sanction unspeakable forms of violence against women. Rampant human rights violations, gender inequality, severe deprivation and unsafe migration; which create a fertile environment for trafficking of women are the same factors that increase their vulnerability to HIV, Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Regional HIV Practice Leader, Asia Pacific, UNDP, said.

Ms. Corinne Kumar, International Coordinator, Courts of Women, said: "in its experience of a new imaginary, the Courts of Women are finding different ways of speaking truth to power; but also speaking truth to the powerless, seeking the conscience of the world, creating other reference points than that of the rule of law, returning ethics to politics."

The eminent jury included Hon. Mieke Komar Kantaatmadja (Supreme Court Justice, Indonesia), Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn (Prof. of Law and Former UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Thailand), Marina Mahathir (Steering Committee Member, Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and Development, Malaysia), Annette Sykes (Lawyer, New Zealand), Sylvia Marcos (Director, Center for Psycho-ethnological Research, Mexico), and Esperanza I. Cabral (Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippines).

For more information, please contact: G. Pramod Kumar ( pramod.kumar@undp.org); Kazuyuki Uji ( kazuyuki.uji@undp.org) Ph: +94114526400

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/court-of-women.html

Working Group Challenges Prominent Participants to Work Together to End Human Trafficking

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) announced today that President of Corporate and Government Affairs David Arkless will lead a working session on ending human trafficking at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative Thursday in New York City.
"It's an honor to be a part of convening some of the world's leading thinkers to consider how we can work together to end human trafficking," Arkless said. "As Manpower stands for the dignity of work and employment opportunities for all, we must lead the way in stopping human trafficking through our own actions, as well as by lobbying, generating awareness and reaching out to our peers."
Manpower Inc. was the first company to sign the Athens Ethical Principles, which declare a "zero tolerance" policy for working with any entity, which benefits in any way, from human trafficking. This includes Manpower clients, vendors and business partners. Manpower's effort to engage more companies in support of the Principles has resulted in more than 12,000 organizations signing up directly, or through the commitment of their industry federations.
The purpose of Arkless' working group is to identify practical solutions for partnerships between different sectors to end human trafficking and forced labor. Participants in this session will include l, Ambassador and Director of the US Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; Swanee Hunt; Ambassador and Harvard University academic; Sophie Gasperment, Global CEO of The Body Shop; Ndioro Ndiaye; President of the Alliance for Migration, Leadership and Development; Julia Ormond, Founder & President of the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET) and Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson, Global March Against Child Labour.
Ricky Martin, Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, will also make a presentation during the discussion, followed by break-out sessions led by anti-trafficking practitioners from around the world. These experts include Dan Viederman, CEO of Verite; Mark Lagon, CEO of POLARIS; Kellie McElhaney, Former Director, Center for Corporate Responsibility of the Haas Business School at the University of California - Berkeley; Alison Warhurst, Founder of MapleCroft and David Batstone, President of the Not for Sale Campaign.
Batstone, a journalist and anti-trafficking leader, has called Manpower a "super corporate ally." He says, "David Arkless is in an elite group of individuals who truly understand how the laws regulating each country's labor recruiting can create ambiguity where coercive and manipulative labor recruiters find opportunity to thrive. In order to solve this problem, we are going to need more individuals and partners like Manpower, who understand what the global talent pool looks like today: the industries that need it, the recruiters that find it, and the regulations that police it. "
Since its founding in 2005 by former President Bill Clinton, more than 80 current and former heads of state; hundreds of leading CEOs, philanthropists, and NGO leaders; and 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Prize laureates have attended CGI. This year, US President Barack Obama and leading voices from every sector are taking action on solving four major global challenges: innovation, infrastructure, human capital and the global economy.
Through programs initiated by its local operations throughout the world, Manpower provides people from all walks of life with sustainable livelihoods and helps the disadvantaged and disenfranchised survive and thrive by linking them to work. Manpower's role as an agent of positive social change, particularly in the area of workforce development, forms the cornerstone of the company's corporate citizenship program. Manpower also recently introduced a new global procurement procedure designed to ensure that all its vendors adhere to the company's strict guidelines to eliminate forced labor, human trafficking and corrupt business practices.
About Manpower Inc.
Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) is a world leader in the employment services industry; creating and delivering services that enable its clients to win in the changing world of work. With over 60 years' experience, the $22 billion company offers employers a range of services for the entire employment and business cycle including permanent, temporary and contract recruitment; employee assessment and selection; training; outplacement; outsourcing and consulting. Manpower's worldwide network of 4,100 offices in 82 countries and territories enables the company to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, including small and medium size enterprises in all industry sectors, as well as the world's largest multinational corporations. The focus of Manpower's work is on raising productivity through improved quality, efficiency and cost-reduction across their total workforce, enabling clients to concentrate on their core business activities. Manpower Inc. operates under five brands: Manpower, Manpower Professional, Elan, Jefferson Wells and Right Management. More information on Manpower Inc. is available at www.manpower.com.


SOURCE Manpower Inc.