A Different World

The Emancipation Network
http://madebysurvivors.com/content/different-world

Sarah's blog

Submitted by Sarah Symons on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 12:23

Today we visited 10 of our school sponsored kids who have been placed in Ram Krishna Mission Boarding School. It was absolutely amazing! The kids looked so good, so happy and healthy and clean, that I almost did not recognize them. These girls, aged 6-13, were all born into the Kidderpore red light community of Calcutta. Their mothers were trafficked as young girls into brothels, and are still working the streets, kept captive now by a complete lack of other options, and by the extreme stigma hanging like a cloud over the whole district.

When the children lived at home, they shared a tiny room in the brothel with their mothers – it was a dangerous situation in the extreme, as there is always the risk that a client would tire of the mother and reach for her young daughter instead. Our partner agency Apne Aap, which runs a prevention program in Kidderpore, eventually took these 10 girls into the night shelter because they were at especially high risk or had already been exploited. The Emancipation Network began paying for their schooling three years ago and this past spring, they were enrolled in the Boarding School.

We have worked with these children for the past four years, and it has been such a gift to watch them grow up and to be part of their lives. The Boarding School, which educates thousands of children in multiple campuses, is one of the nicest places I have been in Calcutta, or anywhere. Gardens of vibrant flowers and huge trees flourished on every campus. Groups of children in tidy uniforms run and play in complete safety. The staff are exceptional in both their expertise and in their gentle kindness. Our children are getting a top quality education here. They are able to communicate with us in English now, and all have become literate.

But the most dramatic change is in their personalities. Kali, who was depressed and severely underweight before, could not stop smiling for the whole 2 hours of our visit. She is willowy but healthy, whereas before her skin was sallow and she was so thin we worried she would not survive to adulthood. All of the children were more confident and full of energy and hope. They plan to become doctors, teachers and social workers. These futures are now much more likely for them – with an RKM education, they will be able to go to college and become professionals. The stigma of forced prostitution is no longer theirs
to bear. Here they are just ten girls among the thousands of lucky children from all different backgrounds at the school. If you could have seen their lives before, you would be as stunned as I was by the contrast.

The red light area is a scary place for a child to grow up. There was never enough food, clothing, supervision or attention and these kids had to become self-sufficient at a very early age. Seeing their mothers hurt and exploited on a nightly basis was the hardest part. Without intervention, girls growing up in red light areas almost always end up in forced prostitution themselves.

We drew pictures, chatted, toured their bedrooms and classrooms, sang songs, and shared in their nightly routine of prayer and study. There were some sad moments too - holding Pinky when she cried about her mother’s death just 2 months ago from TB, and learning that one of our girls’ mothers, who is mentally unstable, had freaked out and pulled her child from the Boarding School.

We hope to get this little girl reenrolled when the new semester begins in April. The Director of the Mission made us an incredible offer during our visit- he has promised to accept 100 girl children from red light areas into the Boarding
School. If you saw the movie ‘Born into Brothels’, you will understand how difficult it is to find good quality school placements for red light kids due to stigma and their lack of birth certificates or other documentation. Although we aren’t ready yet to sponsor 100 more kids for school, we will begin laying the groundwork so that we can do this in the future. Please contact us using the contact form on this site if you want to be told when we have new kids available for this sponsorship.

Education is a surefire way to end the cycle of intergenerational slavery. Educating girls is the fastest way to transform a society from within. Thanks to our school sponsorship donors, to the dedicated Apne Aap staff members who made the relationship with Ram Krishna Mission School, and to all of you whose support of our work allows us to continue. For this group of girls, the future is indeed

* Sarah Symons's blog

BBC News - Burma army frees boy after mother pleads through media

The army in Burma has released a 14-year-old boy it had forcibly recruited, after his mother appealed for his return on international media.

Sandar Win, who has terminal cancer, told the BBC's Burmese Service and Radio Free Asia (RFA) her pleas for his return had previously been ignored.

But following her emotional media interviews two weeks ago, the army brought her son back to her house.

Correspondents say forced recruitment of children is common in Burma.

Ms Win told the BBC the boy had been lured away from her while she was working on her market stall by a soldier who offered him alcohol.

She found he was being held at an army base along with other child recruits but said that when she went to plead for his release, she was turned away and hit by the soldiers.

In interviews with the BBC and RFA, Ms Win said that when she was allowed to see her son, he had been in tears and asked to go home but she was not allowed to take him.
Two weeks after the interviews, the military authorities came to her house to bring the boy home.

"I asked the authorities to return my son when I spoke to RFA and BBC," said Ms Win.

"I am very happy to have my son back and I don't know how to thank RFA and BBC for your help."

Tin Htar Swe, head of the BBC's Burmese Service, says children are regularly kidnapped by the army or given alcohol to make them enlist.

She said the boy's release was probably an attempt by the army to limit the damage from the case, which had attracted a lot of public attention and threatened to damage the army's reputation.

The Coalition to Stop Child Soldiers says Burma has thousands of children in its armed forces, some as young as 11 years old.

BBC News - Burma army frees boy after mother pleads through media

IOL: Child sex slaves 'easy to find'

Image via Wikipedia

Keith Ross
February 01 2010 at 07:45AM

It is "terrifyingly easy" to find children trapped in prostitution in South Africa, says an American author, Benjamin Skinner, who has researched the problem in this country.

He said it was also easy to buy child "sex slaves", some of whom were on offer in South Africa for as little as R45 each.

Skinner is the award-winning author of a book, A Crime so Monstrous: Face to Face with Modern Day Slavery.

He also recently wrote an article for Time magazine, South Africa's New Slave Trade and the Campaign to Stop It, about children forced into prostitution.

The article was researched during a visit to South Africa, where he spoke to teenage victims and also to some of the "monstrous traffickers" who sold them into sex slavery.

He has now spoken of his experiences when taking part in the SAfm Radio discussion programme, the After Eight Debate, on the issue of human trafficking.

Skinner said it was hard to gauge the extent of the traffic in South Africa.

"These are not people who stand in line, raise their hands and wait for a census to be taken," he said.

"This is a hidden population. Unless there is aggressive police work to go out and find this population and protect them, they will not be found and will continue to suffer in silence."

He said some organisations close to the problem had put the number of child prostitutes in South Africa at about 38 000, but the number could be higher.

"When I hit the ground in South Africa this summer I knew I could not go out to every single child held in prostitution. What I could do was go out and find a few and tell their stories."

He did some research in Bloemfontein, at the invitation of Pastor Andre Lombard, of the Christian Revival Church, who has been working on a project to help child prostitutes.

Together they interviewed child prostitutes, one of whom, a 15-year-old, was dying in a Bloemfontein hospice.

"She had full-blown tuberculosis, full-blown Aids and was about three months' pregnant. And she died a week later. That is the end game for these children."

Skinner even posed as a potential buyer and spoke to a child trafficker, named only as Jude, a Nigerian.

Jude promised to get him two 15-year-old girls for R45 each.

"I made it clear I wanted them to work for me in a sex club, in a prostitution club, in a brothel.

"At a certain point he said: 'I will be pulling these girls off trash heaps where they are currently digging to survive around Johannesburg.'"

Skinner said two of the sex slaves he interviewed told of how they were duped into coming to the city and then forced to work as prostitutes.

"They were beaten if they did not perform to standard or did not come with the minimum amount of money they were required to earn every evening."

He was led in his research by Pastor Lombard, who told the debate that his church had launched a project in 2006 to help the girls.

"We have seen girls from the age of 13 being exploited, being sold by people."

Lombard said some were lured by job offers in newspapers and then forced into prostitution.

"They have a target they have to meet every night. If they do not make that target they will get the consequences."

He said there were 300 to 400 prostitutes on the streets of Bloemfontein at night and 50 to 70 were under 18.


IOL: Child sex slaves 'easy to find'

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Apparent Human Trafficking Victims Rescued from Reseda Home

Updated: Monday, 01 Feb 2010, 12:27 AM PST
Published : Monday, 01 Feb 2010, 12:25 AM PST

* Reporter: Gigi Graciette

Reporter:
Gigi Graciette
*

By:
myFOXla.com Web Staff

Posted by: Scott Coppersmith / myFOXla.com

More than a dozen undocumented immigrants were rescued from a San Fernando Valley home where they were apparently being held against their will.

The 13 immigrants -- from El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic -- were found after a 911 call brought authorities to the home on Sunday afternoon.

The nine men and four women were the ones who called for help, according to authorities, and they are not facing any charges. They claimed to have been victims of human trafficking, police said.

Their cases are being handed over to the Department of Homeland Security.

The investigation is continuing at this hour.


Apparent Human Trafficking Victims Rescued from Reseda Home

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• Haiti earthquake: US church group tried to take children (telegraph.co.uk)

Idahoans Facing Trafficking Charges In Haiti - KIVITV.COM | Boise. News, Breaking News, Weather and Sports-

Image by Inside Disaster via Flickr

KIVI-TV Today's 6 News
Posted: Feb 1, 2010 12:15 AM
Updated: Feb 1, 2010 12:15 AM

Eight Idahoans are among the ten people being held on human trafficking charges in earthquake ravaged Haiti. The group was picked up Saturday after they tried to take 33 orphans across the countries border to their temporary orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

"We've been wrongly accused of something, I believe it's trafficking, which is completely not the truth," New Life Children's Refuge Director Laura Silsby said outside a hospital.

Haitian officials clam the charity group didn't have documentation or passports for any of the 33 children. Silsby confirmed that to reporters in Haiti. "For me it's not American's who've been arrested," Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said. "It's kidnappers who have been arrested."

Video shows a few members of the group at a Haitian hospital Sunday because one of the Idahoans, Chrissa Coulter, was being treated for diabetic shock. Her condition isn't known at this time, and family members couldn't be reached. "We believe God is with her and will protect her," her father Mel Coulter told Today's 6 Saturday.

At the Meridian Church many of the group call home, Sunday morning brought backlash. Central Valley Baptist Church Pastor Clint Henry has received several angry and threatening phone calls. Parishioners there are keeping the faith, and won't let what's happened stopping them from helping in the future. "Its discouraged us but it has not soured us," Henry said during a press conference.

Despite the charges, the missionarys wore forced smiles as they talked to reporters late Saturday night. The 33 kids the group was trying to move are now in another orphanage. Workers there claim that the children came in so hungry and thirsty that a few of the babies had to be hospitalized for dehydration. They also say some of the children aren't orphans at all. "We already know that some of these children still have parents because an elder girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old told us crying, I'm not an orphan I do have my parents," Orphanage Spokesman George Willeit told reporters.

Silsby and the group maintain it is all a misunderstanding and that they're trying to help the kids. "We came here simply to help these children and we went to the border based on the approval of the Dominican government to take the children into the Dominican Republic and the pastor entrusting these precious children to our care because his orphanage collapsed and his churches collapsed, and he had nowhere for these children to go," Silsby said Sunday.

The Pastor at the group's church echo those thoughts. "The only comment I would make on that is that I don't believe that," Henry said.


The arrested families have ask U.S. Officials for help, but haven't said what kind of help they're getting. All ten will go in front of a Haitian Judge on Monday.


Idahoans Facing Trafficking Charges In Haiti - KIVITV.COM | Boise. News, Breaking News, Weather and Sports-

Church fears rise in human trafficking

Image via Wikipedia

By Ethan Baron, The Province
January 31, 2010

Canada's Catholic bishops this week released a letter to pastors across the country, denouncing the human trafficking they expect will feed the Metro Vancouver sex industry during the Olympics.

"Groups involved in the struggle against human trafficking are worried," the Jan. 27 letter says. "At some major sporting events, systems are often put in place to satisfy the demand for paid sex. Unfortunately, this is likely to be the case during the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver."

Some academics and activists assert that sex-trafficking for the Games is a certainty, while other activist groups and police argue such trafficking is not likely to rise.

"Our studies have suggested there won't be an increase in human trafficking," says RCMP Border Integrity Program Sgt. Duncan Pound. "We will have a large number of investigators available to respond should a case arise or be reported."

A study commissioned by the provincial government and the Vancouver Police Department concluded in a 2009 report that forecasts of massive human-trafficking connected to prostitution at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany were wrong.

"In relation to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, public statements have been made which project an alarming increase in this human trafficking," the report says. "These claims are inconsistent with the evidence . . . that trafficking and mega-events are not linked."

But others believe the realities of commerce will lead to trafficking.

"If there's a demand for paid sex, then supply is going to be created," says Michelle Miller, executive director of Resist Exploitation Embrace Dignity, an anti-prostitution group.

"When you add half-a-million visitors . . . we know that the demand is going to go up and the supply is going to have to be increased."

Traffickers may use the Olympics to facilitate bringing women across the border into Canada, says UBC law professor Benjamin Perrin. "How much easier is it to simply claim that you're going to be visiting the Games?" he says. "There has not been an increased police response to this issue."

Those who have been publicly predicting increased trafficking have actually lured many prostitutes to Vancouver for the Olympics, says Suzie Davis, an advocate for sex workers.

"By . . . promoting the idea that there's going to be a huge amount of earning potential for sex workers in Vancouver, they are encouraging women in an economic recession to take to the road," Davis says.

© Copyright (c) The Province

Church fears rise in human trafficking

Human Trafficking Survivors Train Cambodian Police and Government Officials

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Cambodian human trafficking survivors will work with the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) and the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT) Task Force to eradicate human trafficking.
The power of these public-private partnerships can be seen in the eyes of the young women who escape the human sex slave industry and become advocates for change.

(PRWEB) February 1, 2010 -- Cambodian human trafficking survivors will work with the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) and the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT) Task Force to eradicate human trafficking.

The survivors, part of the Somaly Mam Foundation’s Voices for Change (VFC) program, will train police and government officials on laws and issues related to sex trafficking and forced labor in Cambodia.

The training will focus on four Cambodian provinces -- Pailin, Battambang, Kampong Cham, and Takeo. The survivors will help participants better understand Cambodian anti-trafficking laws and the need for compliance with the Rule of Law. The training will also raise awareness of the underlying issues that lead to human trafficking and the specific needs of trafficking victims. The survivors will both lead the training sessions and help monitor and evaluate progress in the area after the training concludes.

A public service initiative will complement the training courses in each area. Two television and 24 radio talk shows are already committed to scheduling programs in 2010 that raise awareness of sexual exploitation and human rights issues in Cambodia. Voices for Change participants will help the stations create programs on topics such as trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation, child sex tourism, safe migration, new anti-trafficking laws, and victim assistance.

William Livermore, Executive Director of the Somaly Mam Foundation, says that programs like Voices for Change are perfect examples of Public-Private sector partnerships -- governments, corporations and NGO’s working together to address society's needs. “The Somaly Mam Foundation is proud to be able to partner with the United Nations, our corporate sponsor LexisNexis, and the Cambodian Government on such an important program,” Livermore said. “The power of these public-private partnerships can be seen in the eyes of the young women who escape the human sex slave industry and become advocates for change.”

About Human Trafficking:
Human trafficking, a multi-billion dollar industry, is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. With over one million women and children sold into sexual slavery each year, it is a global crisis. South East Asia is particularly hard hit by the effects of this crime. Sexual tourism and a lack of enforcement result in the victimization of thousands of young women and children every year.

About the Somaly Mam Foundation:
The Somaly Mam Foundation (www.somaly.org) is a non-profit public charity committed to ending modern-day slavery around the world.

Founded by sexual slavery survivor, Somaly Mam, the foundation supports rescue, shelter and rehabilitation programs across Southeast Asia. The Somaly Mam Foundation also runs global awareness and advocacy campaigns that shed light on sexual slavery and involve the public and governments in the fight to abolish slavery.

About the Voices for Change Program:
The Somaly Mam Foundation provides interested and qualified survivors from its rehabilitation program the opportunity to help eradicate human trafficking.

Voices for Change (VFC) is designed to give survivors an opportunity to help themselves by helping others, and to provide a platform for their voices to be heard in the courts and by the public. The organization's vision is that a new generation of leaders in the fight against human trafficking will arise from those who have experienced the pain of slavery.

Program participants join legal training seminars and courageously share their stories with magistrates, judges, and other members of the legal community to help them better understand sex slavery. Survivors who have undergone rescue, recovery, education, and reintegration also provide critical services to fellow victims of human trafficking. VFC members speak with new victims brought to the centers, complete intake forms, teach classes, share life skills training, and provide love and support.

About the LexisNexis Rule of Law Initiative:
LexisNexis combats human trafficking by applying our resources, people, solutions, legal expertise and direct financial support to combat human trafficking wherever it exists.

LexisNexis sponsors the Somaly Mam Foundation and Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire (AFESIP), or Acting for Women in Distressing Situations. LexisNexis also sponsors special events around the world for government and legal professionals in order to raise awareness of the existence of human trafficking.

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Human Trafficking Survivors Train Cambodian Police and Government Officials

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