Monday, 9 May 2011
Child Sex Trafficking in the United States
Malika Saar Saada, founder and executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, discusses child sex trafficking in the United States. Each year, 100,000 to 300,000 children are in danger of being caught up in this multi-million dollar industry.
Demi Moore and CNN Documentary Highlight Human Trafficking
Demi Moore and husband Ashton Kutcher have been trying to end the sex trafficking industry by raising funds for their DNA Foundation and their controversial PSA campaign called “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls.” But now Demi is going into the frontlines with a new documentary project called Nepal’s Stolen Children.
The film is part of a CNN Freedom Project aimed at exposing human trafficking in Nepal. In the report, we see Demi join 2010 CNN Hero of the Year Anuradha Koirala and her anti-sex trafficking organization, Maiti Nepal, at a shelter in Nepal to hear first-hand accounts from women who were forced into the sex trade industry.
Demi and Anuradha travel from the human trafficking capitols of Kathmandu to Bhairahawa to document how women are smuggled from Nepal and into India to work as sex slaves. Additionally, Demi meets with the Prime Minister of Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal, to confront him about his country’s problem and uncover if he’s taking the proper measures to address it.
The great news is that this documentary will not be the end of the anti-trafficking campaign, as the CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery will continue throughout 2011 in an effort to expose the modern-day horrors of the sex trade industry. It will include special reports on trafficking that aims at solution-oriented information and motivating viewers to get involved so they can have a hand in effectively eliminating the practice.
“The inhumanity of those who trade humans is truly shocking and should be stopped,” said Tony Maddox, the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of CNN International. “Our coverage will spotlight not just those responsible, but the many courageous groups and individuals on the frontlines doing genuinely admirable work.”
As CNN is a huge news platform, we think it’s fantastic that Demi is taking advantage and helping to bring awareness to this issue.
The special is set to air on June 11th, so please tune in and support this cause!
Via Look to the Stars
Erin La Rosa
Demi Moore and CNN Documentary Highlight Human Trafficking http://bt.io/GzVa
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Human trafficking within Texas, U.S.
By ALLISON P. SMITH/Staff Reporter
Human trafficking can happen in any community where there are high profits and very low risks, and Texas is one of the largest areas of trafficking through the U.S., the speaker at Thursday’s Lifetime Learning lecture said here.Human trafficking is a $9.2 billion industry where people can be sold multiple times for multiple purposes and prosecution is difficult due to the nature of the crime, said Kazuko Suzuki, assistant professor at Texas A&M.
“Traffickers don’t stay in one place, they move around to avoid the police,” Suzuki said. “Many of the victims die in the brothels and those who do escape are too scared to go to police.”
The most common form of human trafficking is the sex trade, but there are other forms of exploitation: labor, bride trafficking, domestic services and illegal adoption.The sex trade accounts for 46 percent of the human trafficking in the U.S. with domestic servitude coming in second at 12 percent.
“We don’t pay much attention to the nannies, maids or other forced labor workers,” Suzuki said. “We think they come here to work as maids but they might be trafficked people.”
The U.S. is one of the largest destinations of forced labor trafficking where not much thought is given to factory or agriculture workers being trafficked.
“In the U.S. the sex workers are always considered trafficked because the prevailing thought is no one would willingly submit to such an activity,” Suzuki said. “But we really have to look at those domestic services as well because they might be victims as well.”
There are more than 4 million people trafficked a year throughout the world, according to the U.N. report, but it is difficult to pin down an actual number because the definition of trafficking changes over the years, Suzuki said.
“Trafficking and smuggling can over lap and it is difficult to differentiate between the two,” she said. “But the U.N. adopted a resolution against human trafficking and President Clinton signed the Victim of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in 2000 which increased the prison time to 40 years.”
The new trafficking protocol also introduced a universal definition to human trafficking to make prosecution easier. According to the new definition trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbor or receiving of a person by means of threats, force, abduction, drugs, deception, abuse of power or position of vulnerability to achieve the control of a person for the purpose of exploitation.
Human trafficking is the third largest underworld trade industry after drugs and weapon smuggling, and is looked at as a form of modern day slavery, Suzuki said.
“There is really little risk associated with human trafficking and the average prison time has been two to six years,” Suzuki said. “A lot of brokers get off with no jail time and make their way back to countries of trafficking origin to begin again.”
These brokers might deceive people with the promise of legitimate jobs in another country, people might be sold to brokers by family members or acquaintances, or the broker will kidnap people and put them into trades against their will, Suzuki said.
There are many factors contributing to human trafficking, including poverty or economic depression, lack of education and social inequality for women and children and political turmoil.
“Sex trafficking is correlated with the increasing marginalization of women especially where they are vulnerable,” Suzuki said. “We also need to look at the demand for the bodies of women and children and cheap labor in order to fight human trafficking.”
Demand seems to be higher in densely populated urban areas, military bases or where prostitution is flourishing or tolerated, she said.
Human trafficking can be fought by educating women and more economical development in origin areas like South Asia, China and Russia and awareness in destination countries like the U.S. Western Europe and the Middle East, Suzuki said.
The U.S. has special visas for victims of human trafficking where there will be major retribution if the victim returns to the origin country, and victims are also eligible for legal, medical and psychological services.
“They underwent a lot of trauma, and we as a community need to do everything we can to help rehabilitate them back into society,” she said.
Sex slave at age 11, little girl bravely tells her horror tale to save others
It's been seven months since an 11-year-old vanished from her Bronx home for five days - but horrific details of how she was turned into a sex slave are just emerging.
Lured from home by a sexual predator, the fifth-grader was pimped out to a series of men in a lower East Side flat.
"One man gave me $700, another gave me $1,000 and another gave me $500," the girl told the Daily News, which is withholding her name.
"Maybe there were five or six men, in all."
The ordeal ended after the victim managed to call her grandmother.
When the phone rang, there was silence on the other end, but Yolanda Agostini knew it was the grade-schooler.
"Talk to me," Agostini pleaded. "If it's you, please tell me where you are."
Finally, after 20 minutes, a faraway voice murmured: "Mommy, it's me. They're hurting me. Please, I need you ... I'm in a house, I don't know where."
Lured from home by a sexual predator, the fifth-grader was pimped out to a series of men in a lower East Side flat.
"One man gave me $700, another gave me $1,000 and another gave me $500," the girl told the Daily News, which is withholding her name.
"Maybe there were five or six men, in all."
The ordeal ended after the victim managed to call her grandmother.
When the phone rang, there was silence on the other end, but Yolanda Agostini knew it was the grade-schooler.
"Talk to me," Agostini pleaded. "If it's you, please tell me where you are."
Finally, after 20 minutes, a faraway voice murmured: "Mommy, it's me. They're hurting me. Please, I need you ... I'm in a house, I don't know where."
Human traffickers tough to prosecute
http://t.co/qLAB2Qr
of The News-Sentinel
Human trafficking has become a $30 billion-a-year business worldwide.
It's difficult to prosecute. Victims who illegally entered a country are often reluctant to come forward, afraid they will be deported and lose what little money they are making. Like domestic violence victims, they are frequently in contact with their captors 24/7.
Friday afternoon, Raio G. Krishnayya, an attorney and executive director for Indianapolis' Center for Victim and Human Rights, spoke during a forum at Catherine Kasper Place, sponsored by Crime Victim Care (CVC) of Allen County. The event was a part of CVC's ongoing monthly meetings to address the needs and problems of refugees in Fort Wayne.Krishnayya founded his center, which works with clients in immigration matters related to crime victimization or human rights violations. Center representatives accompany clients to proceedings, interviews or meetings and also work with law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices to protect and enforce federal and state crime victim and human rights.
Krishnayya spelled out the problem with grim statistics, explaining the limitations the legal system has for going after human traffickers. What he had to say hit even closer to home Friday in light of U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett's announcement Wednesday of the dismantling of a multistate prostitution ring with Indianapolis and Fort Wayne ties. Women from Mexico and Central America were smuggled into the country to work in brothels in multiple states, including Indiana , Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, for the past few years.
“The Indiana state human trafficking law has only been around since 2007,” Krishnayya said. But despite the law, victims don't come forward.
“So why don't we hear about this more often?” Krishnayya asked the audience.
Krishnayya said victims don't always seek help because they are afraid the situation may go from bad to worse, and they are afraid of retaliation. Prosecuting the offender is a secondary thought on their part; they are worried about survival.
“Our organization provides legal services to the victims of crimes. Victims' worlds are far more complex than testimony and trials. They worry about housing, medical and job issues; that's what we deal with. Our interest is to buttress the victim from the other pieces that are gong on in their lives; we handle it from a legal perspective,” Krishnayya said.
Using data from the State Department Trafficking in Persons report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office and U.S. Department of Justice, Krishnayya drew a picture of how pervasive the problem is. He cautioned that part of the problem in looking at numbers is that few victims file a complaint, so the numbers are really very deceptive; like domestic violence, human trafficking is underreported.
“For all these cases we see reported there are probably many more out there that are not being reported,” Krishnayya said.
Human trafficking is legally defined by three things: force, fraud and coercion. There are no clear-cut cases, so it's hard to investigate, Krishnayya said. And to prove use of force you almost need to see someone chained to a basement floor, living in trailers or emaciation. Every situation is different. With coercion you have to prove the person feels he or she will be harmed for trying to get away. Nowadays, traffickers threaten the victims with being picked up and deported as illegal aliens. What frequently happens is the victims will become victims of the system when they inadvertently break the law, such as driving without a license, drunken driving or child molestation because they don't know the age of consent.
Even when a victim seeks help it is a long process. Krishnayya's agency will try to get a trafficking visa so the victim has the right to stay in the country while legal action is being taken against the trafficker. This ensures the victim will not be deported. However, there is no guarantee of getting the visa and they need identification documents, a full case work up, and it takes time. The victim must be willing to cooperate for a very long time.
“This is not a one-time process and every step has risk of retaliation. Law enforcement can protect them, but there is no shelter for them. What will they do for those two years before the case goes to trial? This is why these cases very often are never prosecuted,” Krishnayya said.
Juveniles are one of the most at-risk populations for being exploited. They are the easiest to control and the most unlikely to come forward.
Worldwide, 1 million children are victims of human trafficking. There is a high reward for trafficking a human. The trafficker can expect $1,100-a-month profit per victim.
Krishnayya believes more cases could be prosecuted if the laws were changed. Currently a criminal case must be tried before a civil suit. The civil suit could return money to a victim, making it worth his or her while to come forward. If the law were changed so both processes could happen at the same time, Krishnayya believes it would speed up the process and make it worthwhile to report trafficking.
In the United States there have only been 59 convictions for sex trafficking and 10 for bonded labor. The chance of being prosecuted for human trafficking is 1 in 250 people. The annual cost to victims in unpaid and underpaid wages is $20 billion.
“It's a high-profit, low-risk enterprise; why wouldn't they do this?” Krishnayya said.
of The News-Sentinel
It's difficult to prosecute. Victims who illegally entered a country are often reluctant to come forward, afraid they will be deported and lose what little money they are making. Like domestic violence victims, they are frequently in contact with their captors 24/7.
Friday afternoon, Raio G. Krishnayya, an attorney and executive director for Indianapolis' Center for Victim and Human Rights, spoke during a forum at Catherine Kasper Place, sponsored by Crime Victim Care (CVC) of Allen County. The event was a part of CVC's ongoing monthly meetings to address the needs and problems of refugees in Fort Wayne.Krishnayya founded his center, which works with clients in immigration matters related to crime victimization or human rights violations. Center representatives accompany clients to proceedings, interviews or meetings and also work with law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices to protect and enforce federal and state crime victim and human rights.
Krishnayya spelled out the problem with grim statistics, explaining the limitations the legal system has for going after human traffickers. What he had to say hit even closer to home Friday in light of U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett's announcement Wednesday of the dismantling of a multistate prostitution ring with Indianapolis and Fort Wayne ties. Women from Mexico and Central America were smuggled into the country to work in brothels in multiple states, including Indiana , Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, for the past few years.
“The Indiana state human trafficking law has only been around since 2007,” Krishnayya said. But despite the law, victims don't come forward.
“So why don't we hear about this more often?” Krishnayya asked the audience.
Krishnayya said victims don't always seek help because they are afraid the situation may go from bad to worse, and they are afraid of retaliation. Prosecuting the offender is a secondary thought on their part; they are worried about survival.
“Our organization provides legal services to the victims of crimes. Victims' worlds are far more complex than testimony and trials. They worry about housing, medical and job issues; that's what we deal with. Our interest is to buttress the victim from the other pieces that are gong on in their lives; we handle it from a legal perspective,” Krishnayya said.
Using data from the State Department Trafficking in Persons report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office and U.S. Department of Justice, Krishnayya drew a picture of how pervasive the problem is. He cautioned that part of the problem in looking at numbers is that few victims file a complaint, so the numbers are really very deceptive; like domestic violence, human trafficking is underreported.
“For all these cases we see reported there are probably many more out there that are not being reported,” Krishnayya said.
Human trafficking is legally defined by three things: force, fraud and coercion. There are no clear-cut cases, so it's hard to investigate, Krishnayya said. And to prove use of force you almost need to see someone chained to a basement floor, living in trailers or emaciation. Every situation is different. With coercion you have to prove the person feels he or she will be harmed for trying to get away. Nowadays, traffickers threaten the victims with being picked up and deported as illegal aliens. What frequently happens is the victims will become victims of the system when they inadvertently break the law, such as driving without a license, drunken driving or child molestation because they don't know the age of consent.
Even when a victim seeks help it is a long process. Krishnayya's agency will try to get a trafficking visa so the victim has the right to stay in the country while legal action is being taken against the trafficker. This ensures the victim will not be deported. However, there is no guarantee of getting the visa and they need identification documents, a full case work up, and it takes time. The victim must be willing to cooperate for a very long time.
“This is not a one-time process and every step has risk of retaliation. Law enforcement can protect them, but there is no shelter for them. What will they do for those two years before the case goes to trial? This is why these cases very often are never prosecuted,” Krishnayya said.
Juveniles are one of the most at-risk populations for being exploited. They are the easiest to control and the most unlikely to come forward.
Worldwide, 1 million children are victims of human trafficking. There is a high reward for trafficking a human. The trafficker can expect $1,100-a-month profit per victim.
Krishnayya believes more cases could be prosecuted if the laws were changed. Currently a criminal case must be tried before a civil suit. The civil suit could return money to a victim, making it worth his or her while to come forward. If the law were changed so both processes could happen at the same time, Krishnayya believes it would speed up the process and make it worthwhile to report trafficking.
In the United States there have only been 59 convictions for sex trafficking and 10 for bonded labor. The chance of being prosecuted for human trafficking is 1 in 250 people. The annual cost to victims in unpaid and underpaid wages is $20 billion.
“It's a high-profit, low-risk enterprise; why wouldn't they do this?” Krishnayya said.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
U.S. Atty. Gen: adult porn leads to trafficking, child porn, violence ag...
www.Waronillegalpornography.com In a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, who has oversight responsibility for the Department of Justice, Rep. Forbes (R-VA) asks Attorney General Eric Holder why the DOJ why all prosecutions of illegal adult obscenity has stopped. Holder admits there's a link between pornography and increased sex trafficking, child porn, violence against women and maybe sexual violence. He seems flustered when confronted with questions then about why they are doing nothing.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Attacking the demand for child sex trafficking
By Siddharth Kara, Special to CNN
Editor’s Note: Trafficking expert Siddharth Kara is a Harvard fellow and author of the award-winning book, "Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery." For more than 15 years, he has traveled around the world to research modern-day slavery, interviewing thousands of former and current slaves. Kara also advises the United Nations and governments on anti-slavery research and policy.I recently had the privilege of talking to CNN’s Piers Morgan about the “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls” campaign of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s DNA Foundation.
Siddharth Kara
The importance of this effort cannot be overstated.
Most NGO’s and policy makers focus on the supply-side of sex trafficking, with efforts intended to protect people from being trafficked, such as awareness campaigns, education and economic training, and other efforts that attempt to mitigate the forces that render people vulnerable to being trafficked. All such efforts are crucial and should be expanded.
However, sex trafficking – like all forms of human trafficking – is a business, and for any business to survive it requires two forces: supply and demand.
The demand side of sex trafficking receives much less attention than the supply-side, even though I argue it is much more vulnerable to near-term disruption by the right kind of policies and interventions.
While the issue of sex trafficking often gets sidetracked by ideological debates on prostitution (i.e., whether to legalize or criminalize it), no right-minded person can think that legalizing the sale of children for commercial sex is in any way acceptable.
In addition to supply-side efforts to protect children from being trafficked, an aggressive and sustained campaign against male demand to purchase commercial sex from minors promises to have a meaningful impact on the overall business of child sex trafficking.
Such campaigns may not eliminate the totality of global male demand to purchase children for sex, including child pornography, which also involves countless trafficked children. However, any meaningful decrease in demand that results from these campaigns will go a long way towards disrupting the overall business of child sex trafficking.
There are also important economic forces of demand that must be attacked, namely the exploiter’s demand to generate immense profits through the sexual exploitation of children.
By my calculation, the global sex trafficking industry generated profits exceeding $39 billion in 2010, with an annual weighted average net profit of over $29,000 per slave (ranging from roughly $11,000 in South Asia to over $130,000 in North America and West Europe). Considering that the global weighted average acquisition cost of a trafficked sex slave is $1,900 (ranging from a few hundred dollars to roughly $8,000), then the return on investment is staggering.
These numbers alone demonstrate why there is immense demand among small-time criminals and international organized crime groups alike to be involved in the business of sex trafficking.
At the same time, the penalties for the crime remain paltry in most jurisdictions globally – relatively short prison terms and small economic penalties, or no economic penalty at all.
It is striking that sex trafficking involves the aggregate of numerous crimes - such as rape, torture, illegal confinement, administering a noxious substance (drugs), battery and assault - all of which are aggravated in the case of a minor, yet the penalties for each of these individual crimes are often greater than their aggregate in the form of sex trafficking.
Addressing these economic forces of demand is a matter for law enforcement, prosecutors and lawmakers, who must deploy far more aggressive efforts to investigate and punish child sex traffickers, particularly with severe economic penalties that negate the underlying purpose of the crime.
However, none of these crimes would exist without the robust forces of male consumer demand to purchase women and children for sex.
Attacking this force of demand is an indispensable component to an overall strategy of eliminating the crime of child sex trafficking.
The DNA Foundation is to be commended for focusing on a key component in the fight against child sex trafficking, and attacking that component with an aggressive, intelligent and hopefully very successful campaign.
The opinions expressed in this guest blog post are solely those of Siddharth Kara.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)