Human Trafficking's topics - tribe.net

UK Government Caught at “Child Protection” Conference with Porn Industry

2008-07-04T07:55:47Z

UK Government Caught at “Child Protection” Conference with Porn Industry
By Terry Vanderheyden

BELFAST, November 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Northern Ireland Assemblyman is condemning a British government MP for attending a “child protection” conference at a Belfast hotel known for its purveyance of pay-per-view pornography, an industry that is often guilty of trafficking in women and underage girls.

“I do not feel that the Pay-per-View industry has any contribution to make to the fight against child pornography,” emphasized Northern Ireland Assemblyman, Dr. Esmond Birnie, a leading opponent of the normalization of pornography in the British Isles. “I therefore feel it is ironic that Paul Goggins MP, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Chairman of the Home Secretary’s Taskforce on Child Protection, has apparently decided to attend the conference at the Hilton Hotel Belfast. In my view the Home Office would also have been on safer ground using a hotel which was not itself connected to the trade in pornography,” he added.

Dr. Birnie added his criticism for a system that makes the child pornography industry viable – credit cards. “The vile and despicable trade in involuntary and criminal pornography which affects adults to the same extent it abuses children, is only possible because of transaction processing and other billing mechanisms,” Dr. Birnie explained.

VISA is one of the participants at the conference – a key player in the dissemination of child pornography world-wide. The ability to use credit cards to purchase child pornography has made it easier than ever to obtain. “The fact that child pornography can be purchased using a credit card . . . is causing an exploding global problem and an immeasurable impact on the sexual exploitation of children,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), as reported by LifeSiteNews.com last week, HYPERLINK "http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05110905.html"http://www.lifesite.net/ ldn/2005/nov/05110905.html

The sex trade experience of the Canadian government has illustrated the difficulties of distinguishing juveniles from adults. Pornography web-sites in Eastern Europe exploit juveniles with the same lack of discrimination as traffickers, strip-club agents, brothels and massage parlours.

According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Regpay Co. Inc., based in Belarus, processed $3 million dollars in subscription fees to Web sites hosting child pornography. A US company “knowingly participated in the criminal activity by providing credit-card processing services to Regpay,” according to a Concerned Women for America account. “Federal officials seized $800,000 from Connections USA, proceeds they believe are from child pornography sales.” In 2003, the FBI estimated that Regpay and Connections USA processed 270,000 credit card transactions on Visa and MasterCard alone.

“We’ve put Visa and MasterCard on notice,” said Jan LaRue, CWA’s chief counsel, “that they are also facilitating and profiting from purchases of adult hard-core pornography that is prosecutable as obscenity. We’ve sent them stacks of printouts from hard-core Web sites that feature their company logos.”

“They are also on notice that third-party processors like Regpay and Connections USA are passing through to them the charges from customers for purchases of hard-core porn. We’ve also brought this to the attention of [former] Attorney General Ashcroft.”

“When the credit card companies have knowledge that their products are being used in this way, they are as liable as the porn Web sites for violating federal obscenity laws. Their alleged cooperation in child pornography investigations can’t cover for knowingly profiting from other illegal material transactions,” LaRue said.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Child Porn Among Fastest Growing Internet Businesses
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05110905.html
Belfast Hilton Hotels Running Hard-Core Porn Endangering Staff
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05092902.html

View the conference brochure:
http://www.morrowcommunications.co.uk/vgt/prog.htm
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http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111609.html

posted in Human Trafficking - 8 replies

Make a Difference

2007-12-05T18:19:12Z

Please check out this web site
http://www.madebysurvivors.com/
It is something that we can all get involved in to make a difference.

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

a new moderator?

2007-12-05T18:17:17Z

I am a returned pc volunteer and served with the World Bank and Rotary Foundation.
This is not meant to impres you but only to suggest that this tribe may be elimated by TOU
for lack of moderation. Let me know id you would like for me to give help and serivce to this cause.

peace ~ patrick.

posted in Human Trafficking - 3 replies

Private Sector and Celebrities against Human Traficking

2007-12-03T09:49:17Z

Dear All,

I work for United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime and in particular for the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.

We are having a GLOBAL conference in Vienna on 13-15 February where one of the things thatI would like to see is active participation of the private sector and celebrities in the debates on human trafficking, how they can help eradicate HT, best case studes etc.

Is anyone out here familiar with private sector and celebrities involvement in fighting human trafficking'?

Could anyone point me to some contacts?

Kind regards,

Amit
www.ungift.org www.unodc.org www.giftasia.in

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

The Dutch do it right...

2007-04-08T15:43:56Z

Dutch urge clients to report forced prostitution
By Alexandra Hudson
January 12, 2006

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands launched a campaign on Thursday to fight forced prostitution by urging clients to alert police if they suspect women are being coerced into selling themselves.

Each year about 3,500 women are trafficked to the Netherlands to work in brothels or illegal escort agencies even though the Dutch have thousands of self-employed prostitutes and some of the most liberal sex laws in the world, research shows.

Billboard posters will be plastered around the country's red light districts, and flyers and magazine adverts will remind those who visit brothels or window-prostitutes that not all who work in the sex industry do so willingly.

"Have you seen the signals? Fear, bruises, no 'pleasure' in the job," the posters ask, detailing an anonymous phone line where clients, who may be anxious to conceal the fact they visit prostitutes, can report their concerns.

The posters depict a striking silhouette of a prostitute in spike-heeled knee-high boots, but the contours of her body form another silhouette of a man holding a gun to a woman's head.

The campaign to protect the forced prostitutes, who mainly come from eastern Europe with some from Asia, was launched by the Dutch justice ministry and the police.

TRAPPED IN HOUSES

Last year Dutch police received more than 600 tip-offs about women who may have been forced into prostitution, and 400 women contacted the Dutch foundation against female trafficking.

"A typical scenario is a woman leaves her country with someone she trusts, expecting to work in a bar or nightclub. But the person turns out to be a trafficker who sells her on to pimps in the Netherlands," a foundation spokeswoman said.

Often they end up trapped in private houses, forbidden to go out alone and regularly beaten and abused, she added.

Harrowing accounts of girls being smuggled into the Netherlands by abusive pimps have stoked public outcry in recent weeks but have done little to dent the huge number of visitors drawn to Dutch red light districts.

Although one local politician has called for the Amsterdam red light district to be closed down, tourist authorities admit the historic area is as much an attraction as the city's galleries and coffee shops.

posted in Human Trafficking - 5 replies

Germans Reconsider Legalized Prostitution (because of Human Trafficking)

2006-05-14T17:03:29Z

There is no easy way to do it right... This is an interesting article and there is much to rethink and consider! Is it really just a utopian idea to think that prostitution could be turned into a job like any other, or is there a way to do it right??? If sex work is legal, and is brought out of its shadow existence, why do some people engage in human trafficking, and why other sex-workers don't they pay their taxes? If sex work is legal, why are that many women in sex work still feeling unsafe and disrespected?? Wasn’t the legalization of sex work the ultimate panacea to bring the status of women up into a place where they can feel safe and where society respects them? I don;t think respect is given to these women in Germany, not yet.

Maybe the difference between stages of human awareness is just too big apart to make the legalization of "sex-work" work. Those with the least amount of human awareness engage in slavery and human trafficking, and those with the highest amount of awareness are developing the field of "sexual healing," as people try to do in Neo-Tantra, which is of course a far cry from what Tantra was once about.

Anyway, the path of a sex worker is indeed like walking in a razors edge, and it requires much honesty and integrity to be believable as a sexual healer? I wonder if the insurance one day would pay for services.... hehe. Anyway, I also wonder, how the sexual healers think about human trafficking? I am sure the field could be developed by the new transpersonal psychology and human potential movement. Society possibly would need some basic guidelines along the way. Just doing it to pay the bills, even if independently happy, does not make one a sexual healer. I would just call it, “going with the flow, or taking a ride of some new hip trends.” Still, as long as people are happy with what they are doing… I have no problems, as long as there is no exploitation... things are fine. But, when is there no exploitation in life? Life is just such a a sucker! :-)

www.lorainehutchins.com/newhol...cs.html
(interesting link... in regards to sexual healing... which should be legal...)
---------------------------

By Matthew Schofield
Mercury News

Knight Ridder Newspapers
Posted on Fri, May. 12, 2006
www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc...66682.htm

BERLIN - Luna is keenly aware that play begins next month in the World Cup soccer championship tournament here, but she doesn't have a favorite team. "How the games go has nothing to do with me," she said, sitting in the bedroom where she does her work. "But I'll be ready to make money during the halftime breaks."

Luna, who uses only one name professionally, is one of an estimated 400,000 female sex workers in a country that legalized prostitution in 2002.

But that won't be enough to fulfill the demands of the millions of fans who'll flock to Germany during the tournament, experts think. Another 40,000 are expected to come from outside Germany during the month-long tournament, at least some of whom, advocates worry, will have been forced into the sex trade against their will.

Stopping human trafficking was one of the reasons that Germany legalized prostitution. The logic was that by legitimizing the trade, it would become safer and healthier.

But a United Nations report on human trafficking released last month still rated Germany "very high" as a destination for women forced into sex work, and some of those who supported legalization are reconsidering.

"I was with my party, the Greens, when we pushed for legalization," said Hiltrud Breyer, a German member of the European Parliament. "We really believed it would bring the profession out of the shadows and improve lives. I'm rethinking that position."

In Germany, as in the rest of the world, prostitution is big business, with annual revenues estimated at 14.5 billion euro, or $18 billion - slightly more than those of Karstadt, the nation's largest department-store chain.

Under German law, prostitutes must be at least 18 years old, but registration isn't mandatory and the official government service-workers union, which represents them, says only a few have signed up. There's no health screening because prostitutes are eligible for the national health system. Some cities have limited where they can work, but Berlin allows them to work anywhere.

German officials hope to persuade more prostitutes to register by pointing out that it makes them eligible for state pensions, unemployment payments when they aren't working and even career-retraining benefits.

But those benefits may be outweighed by costs such as paying taxes on their earnings, one possible reason that the number of registered prostitutes is so low.

Breyer said that when she checked national statistics recently only 300 to 600 taxpayers listed their jobs as prostitute. But union officials say they work with tens of thousands of prostitutes and that they think the government estimate of 400,000 is about right.

It's not just missing tax revenue that's worrisome, Breyer said. Because prostitution is legal, police don't investigate it as aggressively as they once did, and that's allowed forced prostitution to thrive, she thinks.

Anne Fitzgerald, who works with Solidarity With Women in Distress, agrees. That's why her group began preparing an information campaign last year.

The group flooded Eastern Europe and the Middle East with fliers warning young women against "accepting lucrative job offers in Germany," saying such jobs "may turn out to be jobs in brothels."

For those who don't heed or hear the warning, they've established a hot line to counsel women who find themselves trapped here.

"The idea behind the change in legislation was, I believe, that prostitutes should be able to leave the `gray zone' of semi-illegality and be registered and have social insurance like other professions," Fitzgerald said. "Reality has since shown that very few prostitutes are officially registered and the police have practically no way of justifying brothel raids, so that now fewer victims of trafficking are actually discovered."

The stigma apparently hasn't vanished either. Of all the prostitutes approached in researching this article, only Luna would agree to be photographed and then only if her face weren't shown.

Standing, nude and out of her work outfit only because she's removed her stiletto heels, Luna can't imagine why anyone would think she'd been forced into her job.

The 33-year-old says that when she arrived in Germany from Serbia six years ago she saw a choice: either hang out in her new nation's numerous swingers clubs and have sex with strangers for free, or hook up with a brothel and get paid.

Despite the fact that prostitution was illegal when she started, she chose the money. The job only got better when prostitution was legalized. Now she works at Artemis, Berlin's newest high-profile brothel, a mere three subway stops from Olympic Stadium, where the World Cup final will be played July 9.

Like the other women at Artemis, she pays rent for her space: 50 euros, about $70, for every 24 hours. For that, she gets two meals and a place to sleep.

"It's better now," she said. "It's safer, and I'm able to control my finances, instead of relying on a pimp."

Vanessa Rahn, Artemis' manager, pauses between rooms labeled Safari and Blue. She points to the tissue boxes and rolls of paper towels scattered throughout her club and notes that "sex is allowed everywhere, except in the restaurant and the swimming pool."

"This is a good place to see just what prostitution can be in Germany," she said. "People from around the world will visit us during the World Cup, and they'll leave convinced they've seen the future."

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

Human Trafficking Big in Florida and Georgia

2006-05-13T15:30:54Z

And this from the U.S....

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A 15-year-old girl, thought to be either from Mexico or Guatemala, is the center of a human trafficking investigation.

"We may be seeing a lot more of this in our area," says the girl's attorney, Patricia Parker.

One reason for that is Florida is considered one of the prime states for the modern day slavery.

In the 15-year-old's case, she was found in a home in Jacksonville with five undocumented men.

Two of the men were arrested. Marco Maldonado, 25, is charged with rape. Jose Perez, 31, is accused of not helping the girl when she screamed out for it and then not reporting the crime to police.

"I've been dealing with juvenile issues for 14 years and I've never come across this situation," says Parker.

The girl, who cannot speak english, is far from alone.

"Underage girls are being brought in from Central America to serve as prostitutes or for sexual exploitation for other immigrants usually in a particular area," says Andrea Bertone, who works with the State Department in researching human trafficking.

Bertone says statistics show about 15 thousand women and children are smuggled into the United States each year.

But not all human trafficking victims are from outside our borders.

Many are runaways and homeless folks right in our area who are being sold for cheap labor or sex.

Bertone says Florida and Georgia are prime areas because of the high immigrant population as well as it being a large farming area.

As for the 15 year old girl, she is now in DCF custody and is getting counseling.

First Coast News
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=57557

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

Canada moves on human trafficking

2006-05-13T15:28:39Z

Well, I guess that answers part of my question on the preceding post. ..

OTTAWA -- Two months after a scathing report declared Canada an "international embarrassment" in tackling modern-day sexual slavery, the Conservative government has taken steps to aid victims of human trafficking.

Immigration Minister Monte Solberg said yesterday that victims will now receive a temporary resident permit for up to 120 days and will be eligible for health-care benefits.

Victims, mostly women and children from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and some parts of Africa, are often trafficked into Canada with the promise of a better life, then forced into prostitution. Solberg said an estimated 600 to 800 people are smuggled into Canada each year, while another 1,500 to 2,200 transit through Canada to the U.S.

In March 2006, a blistering report from the Future Group gave Canada a failing grade for not providing basic medical services to victims and temporary residence status so victims could recover from their ordeals.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2006/05/12/1576195-sun.html
edmontonsun.com - Canada - Canada moves on human trafficking

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

Mekong Governments Taking Concrete Actions against Human Trafficking

2006-05-13T15:25:38Z

It's nice to see some regional cooperation in tackling this issue.
Are there regional efforts in the Western hemisphere
that anyone knows of? namaste - patrick

2006-05-12 21:12:27 Xinhua

The 4th senior officials meeting of the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) process concluded here Friday with the determination to further strength the fight against human trafficking in the region.

Over 30 senior government officials from the six Greater MekongSub-region (GMS) governments, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam attended the three-day meeting.

During the meeting, they reviewed and assessed the course of cooperation on trafficking in the Mekong region for the next decade and more.

The six countries expressed their satisfaction on the progress made in past years since the signing of the historic COMMIT Memorandum of Understanding in Yangon, Myanmar in October 2004.

The fact that the number of trafficking prosecutions has risen does not mean that the problem is increasing, said Susu Thatun, ofthe COMMIT. "The governments, the law enforcement officials, civilsociety and NGOs of the region are now more alert to the issues," she added.

The efforts made by the six countries include laying the foundation for a network of cooperation to stop traffickers and prosecute them, protecting victims of trafficking and assisting them return safely home, and launching efforts to prevent others from sharing the same fate.

At the meeting, the governments also demonstrated their concrete actions that had been taken over the past year, and fine-tune plans for activities in the coming year.

The Chinese delegation has said that the regional workshop among the COMMIT countries triggered off their recognition to develop its first National Plan of Action on Human Trafficking.

Myanmar has recently passed a new national law on trafficking in persons. Laos and Thailand have innovated a new bilateral arrangement between the two countries to use information from the community to trace actual missing persons in Thailand and use existing repatriation mechanisms to return them home safely.

Cambodia has been leading the way in promoting child safe tourism and reporting on their strengthened law enforcement response. While Vietnam has been moving forward on implementing their national plan of action on human trafficking.

While significant achievements from the past year were highlighted, the six GMS governments acknowledged that the crime of human trafficking continues to prevail in the region and they still face great challenges.

They cited widespread forms of trafficking, including new opportunities to exploit the migratory; children and adolescents of the region being trafficked to fill a large international and local market for commercial sexual exploitation; and not only women, but also men been trafficked for factory, plantation or construction work.

They attributed the region's human trafficking to a lot of factors and resources, such as the nation's poverty, lower education and in short of living skills.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, at the opening ceremony Wednesday, highlighted the "need to work together towards the creation of a society where is zero tolerance for this type of unacceptable abuse."

He also urged the international community to join hands with them "to make this world a better future, void of exploitative practices and human rights abuses that we call human trafficking."

The meeting agreed to hold its 5th COMMIT Senior Officials Meeting in Beijing, China in 2007.

Mekong Governments Taking Concrete Actions against Human Trafficking
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/05/12/272@88339.htm

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

Interesting Investigative Show about Trafficking from Ireland

2006-05-10T02:51:10Z

The RTE "Prime Time Investigates: Sex Trafficking" (Ireland) is online at:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0508/primetime.html.

Real Player = hour long video.

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

Existence of Chinese Concentration Camp, Says Organs Removed from Live Prisoners

2006-05-05T04:24:33Z

Please help us to end this horrible persectuion. knowledge is our greatest weapon, so please share this information. together in peace we can make a difference.

Falun Dafa is a peaceful meditation practice that teaches putting others before yourself, kindness, always telling the truth and being tolerant of others. We are literally being killed for being good people. The national media has done very little to help us because of trade issues with China. It is up to us to let the world know. Please help us.

By Ji Da
The Epoch Times Mar 17, 2006
www.theepochtimes.com

The witness, a former employee at the Liaoning Thrombosis Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, and says the bodies of Falun Gong practitioners are cremated immediately after the organs are removed. (The Epoch Times)
[High-resolution image ] A former employee of Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine told The Epoch Times during a recent interview that the Sujiatun Concentration Camp in China was actually a part of a hospital. The concentration camp has engaged in taking organs from Falun Gong practitioners when they were still alive and selling the organs. Since 2001, the concentration camp has secretly detained approximately 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners, none of whom have been able to leave the camp alive. The hospital removed many kidneys, livers, and corneas from the practitioners. After the organ removal, the practitioners were thrown into an incinerator, which was converted from a boiler. Their ashes were dumped together with burned charcoal.

Organs from Three Quarters of the 6,000 People Were Removed
Those whose organs were removed were in various states of health. Because many of the victims were illegally detained, there was neither an arrest warrant nor identification as to who these people actually were. Often after their organs were removed, nobody claimed the bodies. Sometimes their bodies were picked up by crooks who pretended to be their family members.

About three-quarters of the 6,000 people died after their hearts, kidneys, corneas, or skin was removed; their bodies were then burned. This witness, whose family member participated in the removal of Falun Gong practitioners' organs, said that approximately 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners remain in the hospital. She was afraid that the authorities would kill all of them to destroy evidence.

The Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine is located at 49 Xuesong Road, Sujiatun, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China. It was the first hospital in China to specialize in the heart, the brain, and surrounding blood vessels. The hospital is composed of several organizations, including the Liaoning Traditional Chinese Medicine College Teaching Hospital and the Shenyang Thrombosis Treatment Center.

Concentration Camp Details
The hospital site is 21,087 square meters, with 17,564 square meters of building area. It employs 460 people in 24 departments and 20 specialized offices. Information from the Chinese government shows that the hospital was established in December 1988, and was formerly named the Shenyang Research Institute of Thrombosis and Liaoning Province Thrombosis Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine. In June 1998, it was renamed China Traditional Medicine Thrombosis Treatment Center.

The Chinese Business Morning View said in a story on July 4, 2004, that a farm worker died of abnormal causes in Sujiatun, Shenyang and was later cremated. The death certificate was provided by the Chinese Medicine Thrombosis Treatment Center in Sujiatun. The news caused a stir in China.

Epoch Times: Did the hospital's medical staff inside the concentration camp know about this?

Answer: This hospital has a small number of officials and some doctors involved secretively in the operation of organ harvesting. Some other staff in the hospital knew about this, but this is absolutely a taboo [to talk about]. They all are afraid of being killed or courting trouble, so they all avoid the issue. Only those highly trusted doctors could be chosen to be the surgeons for organ harvesting operations.

ET: Were Falun Gong practitioners alive when their organs were harvested? Did their families know about this?

Answer: Falun Gong practitioners who were imprisoned there came mostly from Dabei Prison, Masanjia Labor Camp, and other prisons in Shenyang, or they were Falun Gong practitioners arrested in parks or residential homes. Because they refused to denounce Falun Gong, they were arrested without formal warrants, and their families did not know their situation. Many did not even have their names [recorded]. In addition, since the Chinese authority exercises a policy of "not being responsible" for killing Falun Gong practitioners, the death of Falun Gong practitioners is not a very big issue for prisons. The Chinese Communist Party persecutes Falun Gong, [but] these medical personnel were told Falun Gong practitioners were facing death because they killed people, or they were sentenced to death because of crimes, or they had become insane from practicing Falun Gong.

Those Falun Gong practitioners whose organs were harvested came from several types.

Organs harvested from live bodies are worth far more than organs taken from dead bodies. Many Falun Gong practitioners were still alive when their organs were taken. After their organs were cut out, some of these people were thrown directly into the crematorium to be burnt, thus leaving no evidence. For some others, after their organs were stolen, the doctor sewed up the wound and asked the family or family representative to give a signature for cremation. Family members did not know at all that the dead had their organs taken out.

Furthermore, there were some healthy Falun Gong practitioners in prisons in other areas who were injected—without their knowledge—with psychoactive drugs that made their minds confused. They then were transferred to Sujiantun concentration camp to suffer further torture, till in the end their organs were harvested and their bodies were cremated in secret.

Among the Falun Gong practitioners whose organs were harvested, some were weak and some were healthy. Since most of them were illegally arrested, there were no arrest warrants or identification cards. After their organs were taken out while they were still alive, no one came to claim their bodies; or [sometimes] people using fake identities claimed their bodies.

None of these people have come out [of the concentration camp] alive; three-quarters of these 6,000 people have died, having their hearts, kidneys, retinas, and skins harvested and their bodies disposed of. I think now about 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners are still in this hospital, and I am afraid now that the authority will destroy all evidence and kill them.

Question: How did you know these things? Were you yourself a doctor involved in organ harvesting?

Answer: I worked at the Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Shenyang. This is exactly where this concentration camp is located. One of my family members was involved in the operation to harvest Falun Gong practitioners' organs. This has brought great pain to our family.

Question: Please tell us what you knew about.

Answer: From 2001, our hospital started to detain Falun Gong practitioners. At the beginning, these people were detained in the single-storey houses in the back yard of the hospital. Later, the hospital authorities demolished the single-storey houses, and it was unknown where in the hospital the Falun Gong practitioners were transferred. Many staff of the hospital discussed in private that these Falun Gong practitioners had been secretly transferred to the underground chambers of the hospital. According to some people working inside the hospital, the hospital has a huge system of secret underground chambers.

At the time when we went to work there, the person in charge of logistics and purchasing in the hospital said that the quantity of disposable sterile gloves used for operations and daily supplies that the hospital authorities asked to be purchased had increased dramatically. The logistics people estimated based on the scale of purchases at that time that there were at least 6,000 Falun Gong practitioners detained in this hospital.

These Falun Gong practitioners were not detained in the 4-story building under the in-patient department and administration at the front of the hospital, in order to keep the hospital staff from seeing them at all. We only occasionally saw Falun Gong practitioners being sent on a mobile intensive care bed to the first floor for physical examinations. These people were very weak. For the majority of the Falun Gong practitioners, nobody knew where they were being secretly kept. While they still did not know where these people were kept, some staff inquired to the hospital authorities about why so much food and so many sterile gloves and daily supplies were purchased. The hospital authorities said, "You only need to do your job well. There is no need for you to ask any other questions."

Starting in 2001, a family member of mine participated in organ-harvesting operations. My family member tried to keep me from knowing about this at the beginning. The hospital authorities selected doctors they trust in different aspects to perform the secretive operations. After a period of time, I found that my family member was in a lot pain, often had nightmares, and appeared panic-stricken. After repeated inquiries, this family member told me the truth. The leader of the hospital had asked my family member to participate in the organ harvesting operations on Falun Gong practitioners as early as 2001. It was 2003 when my family member confessed. A few years after, my family member felt so much pain from participating in this incident that it was impossible to continue with the evildoing. My family member decided to go abroad to get away from this matter.

My family member also told me: "you don't understand my suffering; those Falun Gong practitioners were alive. It might be easier for me if they were dead, but they were alive."

Question: Were there any other doctors from the hospital taking part in the operations of cutting out Falun Gong practitioners' organs?

Answer: I know there were some. All these things have been carried out secretly. Many doctors at our hospital involved were practicum doctors transferred from other hospitals. Because the government does not want to be responsible for Falun Gong practitioners' bodies and lives, their lives are treated as garbage by the regime, and their bodies were used in experiments by new doctors doing their practitcums.

Many doctors came and left the hospital because they suffered a lot after having been involved in these kinds of things. They either requested to be transferred to other places, or changed their names. Some might have been killed to eliminate the evidence, their identity files were taken out from the hospital's filing system, or their names were changed. Nobody knows where the doctors have gone.

The hospital staff all know that the rear part of the hospital is forbidden. It is always watched. The staff avoids talking about the place.

Question: It is said the hospital is equipped with an incinerator. The person whose organs were removed will be burned when he or she is still alive. Is that true?

Answer: The employees in our hospital call this place "the incinerator." Actually, it is a boiler room. Some poor farmers from nearby places were hired to work in the boiler room. They were penniless when they first came here. But they could scrape up some watches, finger rings, necklaces, and so on. The amount is not small. It is said by the employees in the hospital these jewelry and watches were collected from the Falun Gong practitioners whose organs had been removed when they were about to be thrown in the boiler to be burned. It is also said by the employees in the hospital, some were still alive when being thrown into the boiler.

Question: Do they get injection of anesthetic when in surgery?

Answer: Yes. There is a cap to the anesthetic quantity used in mainland China's hospitals. Generally, the supply of anesthetic was determined according to the accommodation of the hospital. To the public, the number of patients in our care appears to be very small, and publicly reported number of surgical procedures performed is quite low. But the equipment and articles used in surgery are abundant. Because the amount of anesthetic is limited, these secret surgeries could not use the normal anesthetic doses. In order to save anesthetic, they economized on the anesthetic used in surgeries on these Falun Gong practitioners. The amount of anesthetic used was very small. However, many whose organs were removed were still alive. You can imagine the pain suffered by the Falun Gong practitioners whose organs were removed.

Question: Are there any survivors among the 6,000 people detained since 2001?

Answer: Nobody has come out alive. The number of them gets smaller and smaller. The Falun Gong practitioners detained at Sujiatun are fewer now than before. But I believe that the sin of removing the organs of the Falun Gong practitioners is still continuing.

Question: Where are these organs usually sold to? Do the higher authorities in the government know about this?

Answer: They are mainly sold to Thailand, but I believe they are also sold to other regions of the world. Nowadays, there are many patients in China who need human skin, corneas, and kidneys for organ transplant surgeries. Many patients have to wait in line to purchase organs. Currently, a kidney can be sold up to the price of 30,000 to 100,000 U.S. dollars. The profit from selling organs is simply too great. The people who benefit from this are not only the top leaders of hospital and the officials of the Chinese Communist Party's Heath Department. This is a crime present across the entire nation. People ranging from government officials to doctors to organ sellers are all involved in this and are profiting greatly.

Question: Why did they target Falun Gong practitioners as the source of organs?

Answer: Because relatives of many Falun Gong practitioners don't even know that their family members were arrested. So if the Falun Gong practitioners are killed, there will be no one to come and claim their dead bodies.

Question: Why did you want to expose this? This may bring great danger to you.

Answer: I know that there are many Falun Gong practitioners who are currently detained at the hospital. I would like to expose this to the international community, so those who are not yet killed can be saved. Also, I would like to expose this as an atonement for my family.

I am not a Falun Gong practitioner. But as a former staff member of the hospital, I have the responsibility to expose the truth, and let the world to save those Falun Gong practitioners who are still alive. Organs of some Falun Gong practitioners are still living on patients' bodies. I would like to call on all society to pay attention to this issue and stop this shocking crime.

you can find out how you can help at www.fofg.org

posted in Human Trafficking - 2 replies

Urgent!!! Please help

2006-04-11T03:45:03Z

Urgent!!! Please Help

I am posting this everywhere I possibly can, Please help us.
There are thousands of good people who could potentially lose their lives very soon.

Since the release of the information on the Sujiatun concentration camp in China, which is reported to do live organ harvesting on Falun Gong practicioners. More people have been stepping forward to reveal information. Recently, a veteran military doctor in the region of Shenyang said that the Sujiatun Concentration camp is just one of 36 such camps. Another camp in Jilin Province referred to as 672-S is said to hold over 120,000 people.

According to the Integrated Committee's announcement, transplant hospitals in China are now telling patients to "come in quickly" to get transplants. Patients are told that matching organs can be found at this time in as short as one or two days. The hospitals are also reported to say that, "it will be difficult after this batch of organs is used up."

We fear that there is going to be a mass execution to “hide the evidence” and get rid of witnesses. PLEASE HELP us, Falun Gong practitioners around the world are requesting an international investigation while there is still time.

This is the US petition, please sign it. It can save someone’s life.
http://www.fofg.org/act/act_petition.php?pid=1

you can also help by going here:
http://publicpetition.unvcc.com/UN/index.php
this is an easy, fill in the blank letter that with a click is automatically
sent to the senators and representatives of your choice
And it would also greatly help us if you would please pass this information on.

Thank you,
Joshua

You can learn more about this at:
The Epoch Times
http://www.theepochtimes.com/211,111,,1.html
Amnesty International
http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/chn-summary-eng
Falun Dafa Information Center
http://www.faluninfo.net/why/index.asp
or, you can ask me any questions you have by sending me a message.

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

Combating Human Trafficking in Asia: A Strategy for Action

2006-02-09T22:51:18Z

Symposium Report
November 16, 2005
Cosponsored with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Written by

Ann Putnam, Rapporteur
in cooperation with
Doris Bacalzo, Program Officer, Asian Social Issues Program, Asia Society

Major funding for this project was provided by the Open Society Institute.
The Asia Society gratefully acknowledges its support.

Introduction

In November 2005, the Asia Society in cooperation with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted an all day symposium in New York and a policy briefing in Washington, DC to address human trafficking in Asia. They brought together representatives from non-governmental organizations, advocacy and policy experts, and scholars from the US and Asia to discuss the global implications of the entrenched problem of sex and labor trafficking, and in particular the challenges of the US’s policy and role in making a meaningful impact. The panelists examined the innovative legislation, actions and policies emerging to end trafficking, while also analyzing measures for prevention. Panelists and participants further engaged in discussions to generate an effective strategy for action.

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing underground sectors of organized crime in the world. Unlike the trafficking of illegal drugs, the transport and sale of human beings can be repeated numerous times utilizing the same person. It is estimated that nearly one million people are trafficked internationally into this form of modern slavery. This probes larger social issues in the context of economic development, public health, national security, foreign policy, and international law, predominantly concerning women and children.

The symposium discussion began with dissecting and understanding the definition of trafficking. This allowed participants to take a closer look at the critical components of human trafficking in Asia. Revisiting current definitions provided an opportunity for many advocates and experts in the room to asses the context of their understanding of the problem and hence, their subsequent actions and strategies. Trafficking not only consists of the illegal sex trade but also encompasses migrant labor, domestic workers, agricultural workers, and sweatshop laborers. Panelists examined the efforts made by non-governmental organizations, governments, UN agencies and local community groups to prevent and raise awareness of human trafficking. Finally, the symposium addressed the most crucial aspects of trafficking and discussed ways in which communication among all key actors can be coordinated more effectively. The core objective of the symposium aimed to determine the interventions needed to make a significant impact on halting trafficking and to produce a set of policy recommendations. Key recommendations emerging from the symposium were brought to the US policy community’s attention at the briefing in Washington, DC.

Policy Recommendations:

Adopt a human rights-based approach to frame anti-trafficking policy that provides meaningful protection and enables individuals to make sound decisions.

Improve governance and democracy in both source and destination countries to overcome structural and legal barriers that perpetuate cycles of long-term vulnerability to human trafficking, e.g. poverty, inadequate economic opportunities, lack of citizenship, narrow immigration rights, and grave gender discrimination.

Formulate a comprehensive strategy on all sides of trafficking, including prevention, awareness, prosecution, services, law enforcement, intervention, collection of data, analyzing information, exchanging information and building capacity of local actors.

Design intervention programs embedded in development strategies which address cross-cutting issues and are appropriate to particular situations. These programs should not be limited only to crime prevention and international security concerns.

Advance an inclusive policy to enable vital stakeholders from the ground to be engaged and informed at every stage of design, implementation and monitoring of technical programs on human trafficking.

Engage with multi-development banks and international financial institutions to address the greater issue and root causes of trafficking. Anti-trafficking prevention efforts should be part of their development programs and priorities.

Endorse effective legislation on labor laws that address the concerns and rights of domestic workers. Domestic workers currently are unprotected by labor laws, thus often are abused or fall through the system without appropriate protection.

Promote corporate social responsibility and encourage businesses to monitor their overseas operations to prevent forced labor and abuses against migrant workers or domestic workers.

Insist on fair labor practices and standards from businesses and factories.

Provide economic opportunities to women and girls who may otherwise be trafficked. Efforts to establish micro-credit initiatives, farms and selling of agricultural products will empower women to earn a stable and reliable income and stem the need to earn an income outside of their communities.

Effectively train law enforcement services in countries of destination. This is important to identify the problem and ensure that victims are provided with appropriate social services and attorneys.

Establish an inter-agency learning environment that will encourage key actors working to prevent and stop trafficking to share their methodology and strategies with their community and partner organizations. Improve coordination and communication among civil society actors, advocacy organizations, governments and service providers.

Obtain more accurate statistics of trafficked persons and cases, which will buttress information and numbers of cases when drafting policies and identifying the gravity of the problem.

Coordinate with media outlets to improve the public understanding of trafficking, which will eventually have a profound effect on policy making and change political behavior toward human trafficking.

Overview: Trafficking in Persons within Asia and across International Borders

The symposium began with a brief overview of trafficking across Asia. Panelists presented a broad definition of trafficking and referred to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. The UN Protocol was ratified in December of 2003, and last year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights appointed a Special Rapporteur to focus on trafficking in persons, which especially concentrates on women and children and the human rights aspects of trafficked victims. The UN Protocol defines trafficking as the recruitment, transfer, harboring, transportation or receipt of a person by means of threat, use of force, abduction, deception, abuse of power, giving/receiving payment, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking also involves the process and geographical transfer of people by extensive recruitment, transportation, harboring and receipt of persons. During this process, victims of trafficking are typically threatened, abducted, deceived by an abuse of power or forced into situations beyond their control. Trafficking also exploits human beings for the use of prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, as well as services for forced labor, practices similar to slavery, servitude, removal of organs, child soldiers, marital purposes, illegal adoptions or the transportation of illegal drugs.

Now more than ever before is the formal and informal economy in Asia demanding large volumes of inexpensive labor. The forced movement of humans across national borders is not a new phenomenon in the world, but what is striking is the sheer volume and numbers of people being trafficked today. In a world where free trade agreements govern economic relations between countries, trafficking satisfies the demand for cheap, unregulated labor. Recently trafficked labor is being demanded at oil pipelines, construction sites and large infrastructure projects, where boomtowns flourish. Laborers toil under harsh working conditions where leaving or escaping comes with severe consequences. Moreover, boomtowns drive the demand for sex trafficking, leading to a significant HIV/AIDS problem. In some cases, the demand by men in these boomtowns for young virgins in the belief that this will cure them of HIV/AIDS further worsens the situation.

Trafficking in persons illustrates the worst form of labor exploitation. Today’s economy lacks sturdy labor standards and is experiencing a degradation of work. Workers today are in worse situations than their predecessors were a decade ago. This is the result of less job security, less social security available to workers, and the probability of job opportunities without benefits, which eventually places workers in more vulnerable situations leaving them without a safety net. Labor standards are deteriorating in general, thus are even worse for trafficked and migrant workers.

One panelist described the consequences of trafficking as a decrease in social values, family deterioration, greater violence against women and an erosion of labor standards. As a result, communities face severe public health consequences, particularly psychological trauma and extreme forms of stress.

In 2000, the US government passed the Trafficking of Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which develops policies and programs addressing all forms of trafficking including child prostitution, bonded forced labor, conscripted child soldiering, debt bondage and involuntary servitude. The TVPA acknowledges trafficking as a federal crime and clearly defines parameters for identifying the problem. The US government estimates that on average 600,000-800,000 persons are trafficked each year across borders and 56% of them are trafficked for commercial exploitation. An estimated 14,500-17,500 persons are trafficked into the US each year, with Asia being the leading source of trafficked victims.

Trafficking in human beings preys on vulnerable populations. Ethnic minorities, unprivileged populations, females in economically depressed communities, migrant laborers bound for richer Asian states or the Gulf region, and domestic servants are among the most vulnerable populations susceptible to trafficking. Economic disparities and poverty have stimulated migration trends around the world along with the growing demand for cheap labor. Trafficking further exploits this situation through smuggling and enslaving vulnerable populations. Moreover, the aftermath of war and subsequent deterioration of families contribute to the vulnerability of communities.

Panel One: Sex and Labor Trafficking: A Closer Look at Two Critical Components of Trafficking

The first panel examined the different forms of trafficking within Asian countries. While sexual exploitation has been the most commonly known form of trafficking, labor trafficking is exceedingly becoming equally as prevalent. The increase in the number of human beings trafficked worldwide is undisputed. Panelists compared the trends and practices specific to sex trafficking and labor trafficking, and discussed the health and social impacts on victims. Both sex and labor trafficking involve some extent of coercion and deprivation of basic human rights. Nearly all of the commercial sexual exploitation involves women and girls, while economic exploitation concerns men and women both in almost equal numbers. Children make up between 40-50% of the victims who are trafficked. Globalization has led to an upsurge of both labor trafficking and sexual exploitation. Wealthier nations seek cheap labor from less developed nations. Neo-liberal economic policies have unhindered the flow of goods and services between nations, but it has also fostered significant imbalances in markets and incomes. The gap between the rich and poor is growing wider under economic globalization. This contributes to increased vulnerability of economically disadvantaged communities to trafficking.

It is commonly believed that migration for work purposes is voluntary and sex trafficking is forced, however, the issue is not straightforward. There are numerous factors involved, making the situation complex. Furthermore, trafficking is linked to more factors than merely poverty and the search for better jobs. Trafficking is a type of migration that has taken a turn for the worse. It is a form of migration, which prospers on the abuse of human rights and coerced movement.

Trade agreements have loosened barriers between nations to allow the easy exchange of goods, services and labor. This also removes obstacles for traffickers. The constant flow of migrants across porous borders makes it difficult to trace cases of human trafficking. Furthermore, the spread of globalization means more and easier access to the Internet, where the trafficking industry is thriving. While globalization makes borders easier to penetrate, trafficking victims are also passing through border controls with less hassle and scrutiny than before. However, tightening borders will not end the problem of trafficking. It simply forces traffickers and their victims further underground at greater risks.

The Greater Mekong Subregion, comprising of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Southwestern China, is a region of Asia where trafficking has become rampant. Extensive economic growth, accelerated development and political transition have deeply affected the population, leading many to turn to desperate means in order to earn a basic income. The increased trade and investment has also introduced more demand for labor across borders. In this region, there are immense income and social disparities, particularly concentrated around urban hubs such as Bangkok. Thus, Thailand has become a principal destination country for trafficking. Ethnic minorities in northern Thailand are drawn to urban centers such as Bangkok to enter the lucrative sex industry. Yet, many arrive with naïve notions about the actual situation. In other Mekong countries, trafficking leads to harsh labor exploitation. Some examples include girls ages 14-23 in Laos who were discovered hiding in a garment factory producing jeans, young Burmese boys who were found living in fishing boats and forced to work for a fish processing plant, and Khmer boys under the age of 10 working long hours in tourist districts of urban centers as beggars. Routinely these children were beaten with the purpose of making them appear abused in order to solicit more money and sympathy from passersby. All of these examples represent common situations as a result of trafficking for labor purposes.

One panelist described the situation in Indonesia and Malaysia, where many women are trafficked as domestic workers. Recently the Malaysian government began massive deportations of illegal migrants, regardless of how they had entered the country. Many who were illegally trafficked into Malaysia against their will and without papers were affected. Immigration law in Malaysia lacks protection of migrant workers and fails to take into consideration trafficked victims. Hundreds of thousands of women were deported, rendering them vulnerable to being repeatedly trafficked. Other panelists agreed that the differences between migration, trafficking and smuggling needs to be more clearly defined and acknowledged for the protection of victims who face life-threatening situations, such as deportation from Malaysia to another unknown destination. Trafficked victims are a subset of migrants needing attention different from other migrants. Trafficked victims are completely vulnerable and dependent on someone in a position of power, often for their survival.

The presenter from the International Labour Organization (ILO) underscored the importance of analyzing this issue at the source and at destination countries. At the source, the panelist highlighted the need for greater economic and social empowerment, the mobilization of local communities, an improvement in education and employment options and the ability to identify and map high risk areas where trafficking is most likely to occur. Looking at the issue inside a destination country entails improving labor protection, installing an effective system of contracts among relevant actors within a work environment, the supervision of recruitment for work and reliable monitoring. Both of these approaches will promote mechanisms and protections for safe migration and fair standards for labor under internationally recognized principles. Furthermore, the panelist from the ILO highlighted the value of coordinated action in regional areas between countries of origin and destination.

A major challenge facing East Asia is the continuous flow of North Korean refugees trafficked into China. According to one panelist, nearly 200,000 North Koreans voluntarily cross into China fleeing detention camps, prisons and political repression from the North Korean government. Among these refugees, numerous North Korean women and girls are trafficked and sold against their will as wives, concubines, karaoke club servers or sex workers in China. In an effort to stem the abuses against refugees, the US has signed a “Statement of Principles”, which is a document exerting pressure on China to treat refugees humanely in accordance with the UN Convention on the status of refugees (1951). Additionally, civil society actors are concerned with the status of victims and the repercussions if they are returned to North Korea.

Another enormous problem in Southeast Asia is forced labor trafficking. The International Labour Organization released its May 2005 Annual Report documenting a minimum of 2.45 million trafficked forced laborers worldwide. Asia remains the region with the greatest number of victims, which accounts for more than 1.4 million persons. In particular, South Asia bears the largest concentration of trafficked victims. For instance, 61% of India’s sex workers are children, many of them trafficked or working in the sex industry against their will. Children are also trafficked to be used as camel jockeys for the camel racing industry. Burma’s political status directly contributes to the overwhelming problem of forced labor and trafficked labor within Burma. The United Nations and permanent Security Council members have the capacity to forcefully address this issue with Burma, but they must emphasize the urgency and demand results.

Migration in search of economic opportunity is seen throughout Asia and across the world. The economic incentives to seek work options in more industrialized nations are a common trend. However, trafficking compounds this situation into something far worse. Abject poverty fuels people to take risks to their lives and enter harmful situations in order to escape desperate situations. For instance, many Southeast Asian women are hired as domestic workers in the Gulf region only to be forced into servitude, physically abused or raped with no way out. Work places hiring migrant labor often bypass fair labor practices and workers lack understanding of their rights. Impoverished communities are persuaded by guarantees of jobs in distant countries only to be deceived, abused and trapped in life-threatening situations.

Panel Two: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead

This panel broadly looked at efforts being made across Asia, but also the challenges that lie ahead and how to tackle the problem from different approaches. From a domestic point of view, advocates working closely with trafficked victims in the US promoted more education and awareness within immigrant communities to understand the complexities of trafficking. From a regional perspective, draft laws and policies are currently being presented to governments based on the growing number of trafficked victims. Grassroots networks in Asia remain a strong thread of community based advocacy and lobbying for improved laws to protect victims of trafficking. Finally, a lively discussion ensued in this panel, debating the benefits and consequences of raids on brothels to pull victims out of harmful situations. While rescuing a victim from a brothel on the surface appears to be the best case scenario, panelists deliberated the usefulness of this when not all victims are released. Where will victims go after leaving that brothel? Will their lack of documents place them in danger of being deported and trafficked again? These challenging questions were raised throughout this session.

Trafficking thrives on the supply and demand of labor and sex work. This is worsened by conditions of poverty, corruption and a weak rule of law in many countries. Panelists analyzed the push and pull factors fueling the supply and demand in the larger social context. The situations in Burma and North Korea exemplify this problem and are two of the most serious cases of trafficking in Asia. Panelists underscored tackling root causes as essential to stop the flow of victims falling into exploitative situations.

A panelist from the Kachin community unveiled the often hidden side of waves of trafficking from Burma. Many women who are already marginalized from Kachin State, Burma, are trafficked into China as second wives. And it is becoming an all too familiar scenario. Most Burmese women and girls are deceived by the assurance of better paying jobs than Burma has to offer, and China is the most common destination. Once trafficked to China, these women face scant protection, extended periods of forced detention and harsh physical abuse. Chinese men offer to pay US$625-1,875 to purchase a wife from Kachin State, Burma. In other cases, women are placed in debt bondage to traffickers for several years. Those who are able to pay back their debts or escape fear returning to their home communities. Due to gender attitudes toward women in Burma, trafficked victims are stigmatized upon returning home. In other instances, women are repatriated to Burma through wrong border crossings, far from their homes, placing them in great risk to be trafficked again.

In recognition of the problem, the Burmese military regime passed an anti-trafficking law in 2005. However, the law does not discuss root causes of trafficking or pledge to protect the basic human rights of victims upon return. Women’s rights were scarcely recognized in Burma prior to the passage of this anti-trafficking law, therefore many observers view it as a feeble attempt to combat the issue. Furthermore, the weak rule of law questions the sincerity of the measure and its enforcement. Trafficking remains a grave problem throughout Burma. The military regime must take more concerted steps toward genuinely tackling the larger human rights problems throughout the country.

In the case of Hong Kong, domestic workers are entitled to a set of labor rights and are aware of their status to demand fair treatment. Although enforcement of domestic workers’ rights laws remains to be carried through in every instance, domestic workers in Hong Kong are highly organized and possess far more rights than workers in neighboring countries. In other countries, domestic workers are unaware of their rights, thus refrain from demanding them. Panelists agreed that advocating for a stronger rights-based approach to labor rights, especially in sectors such as domestic workers, is essential.

Asia ACTs Against Child Trafficking, which is a regional network of anti-trafficking organizations, has been proposing innovative laws and policies with respective governments in Southeast Asia to address the entrenched problem of trafficking. For instance, Asia ACTs now operates affiliate organizations in the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. In May of 2003, the Philippines passed a law to establish and implement an interagency council to oversee the issue of human trafficking and manage a trust fund confiscated from assets of traffickers to assist victims and work toward prevention. Within Asia ACTs in the Philippines, three-day training workshops have proven effective in explaining the key issues to communities and training people how to respond to trafficking cases. These trainings further demanded improved governance and democracy in areas where trafficking thrives the most.

Human trafficking is beyond a moral, economic and criminal problem, but an egregious violation of human rights. Efforts to combat trafficking must implement a three-pronged approach of prevention, protection and prosecution. The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons is one of the first global treaties of the anti-trafficking movement, bringing standards of international law and policy to the issue. Formation of a treaty is the first step in acknowledging the issue in legal terms and on a global scale. Yet, more action must be taken to buttress the UN Protocol and ensure that nations implement the treaty within their domestic systems.

There are some efforts to tackle these issues in urban centers. For instance, in New York City, there are successful training sessions for NGOs and immigrant communities creating an awareness of human trafficking. Trainings are focused on convening law enforcement, social service providers and lawyers to act in the best interest of the victim. The panelists noted the overemphasis on law enforcement in many major international cities where trafficked victims are sent, recommending that policies must be more victim-centered. Many agreed that anti-trafficking policies should engage civil society actors as well as business owners. Those working directly with trafficked victims understand the importance of an intervention to rescue women and girls. However, crucial questions remain: what impact will an intervention have on the situation and for other victims not rescued? What are the consequences for the victim upon returning home? Furthermore, once rescued, where are the victims to go if home is not an option? Returning home is not always the safest decision and depending on the conditions, fails to guarantee that the victim would not be trafficked again. For the case of those without proof of citizenship, such as hill tribes in Thailand or ethnic communities in Burma, returning home comes at extreme risk. Without legal documents, they can be prosecuted, thrown in prison or deported. Panelists and participants engaged in a discussion on the benefits and risks of intervention. They recognized the different approaches and types of services being rendered at different levels on individuals, communities, workplaces, or at a national, regional and international arena and the need for more information-sharing among themselves towards achieving a greater impact.

Panelists identified areas that pose the most challenge, such as strengthening community awareness of trafficking, revising and reinforcing laws to more clearly define the parameters of human trafficking, specifically in assigning age provisions, developing a safe child protection network and understanding the assistance required of victims and survivors toward a full recovery and reintegration into society. More specifically, the US government representative asserted that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act or TVPA is limited to some extent because of its bilateral approach in addressing human trafficking. The TVPA neglects to concentrate the regional implications of trafficking, which is often relevant to remedying the situation. Other panelists noted the lack of an adequate UN structure for monitoring compliance of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. Without an effective compliance system to hold governments accountable, the treaty fails to achieve its purpose.

Another criticism of the approach to combating trafficking focused on the US’s approach of adopting the “Three Ps” namely, “Prosecution, Protection and Prevention” in this order of priority. Some panelists argued for a reverse approach starting with prevention as a vital and important first step in the whole process. Broadening the understanding of prevention work was proposed by a panelist as lessons are learned on the ground. Asia ACTs draws prevention success that includes not only training and community education about human trafficking, but also that which addresses issues of local governance to the rebuilding of communities and the network of social, economic and family support services an approach that is parallel to addressing challenges for conflict resolution. There is also still a need to standardize and develop clear guidelines for the protection of trafficked persons that meet human rights standards.

Panel Three: Next Steps: Role of the International Community

The final panel evaluated the role of the international community and the necessary measures to collectively devise a coherent and effective strategy to put an end to trafficking. Labor standards exist to promote workers’ rights, but an inclusive policy framework for human rights and labor rights is lacking on an international level. Forced labor, labor exploitation and human trafficking are inextricably linked. Coordinating an action plan for each region of the world between countries of origin and destination will contribute to efforts of halting trafficking. All agreed to engage all stakeholders at all times throughout the process of promoting national ownership of putting an end to trafficking. The stakeholders range from communities, workers’ organizations, NGOs, national governments to businesses, multilateral institutions, foundations and the media. The need for broader donor-based collaboration was proposed in order to pool resources toward achieving a more comprehensive impact on the ground. This is a challenge with donors due to a tendency to claim ‘success’ with small funds on limited areas and levels of intervention.

One of the most basic and fundamental steps identified was having an entire region to agree on one common definition of trafficking and establish clear boundaries under the law to define trafficking. The US representative emphasized the lack of clarity on defining trafficking, which hinders any efforts in collaborating with partner organizations. As a consequence of an unclear definition of trafficking, victims are punished or deported because they fall beyond the definition of trafficked persons agreed upon for one specific country. There is a lack of understanding and knowledge about trafficking, thus some countries adopt narrow and biased definitions. All agreed that victims should not be punished for unlawful acts as the result of trafficking, such as immigration or prostitution violations. This addresses the heart of the problem of defining trafficking. Without an undisputed definition, legislation or advocacy fails to be effective.

Panelists concurred that an improved system is needed across agencies to exchange information and strategies. Currently there is a gap in communication, only weakening the struggle to end trafficking. Panelists agreed toward a more comprehensive approach on all sides of trafficking (prevention, awareness, prosecution, services, law enforcement, intervention, collecting of data, analyzing information, sharing information and building capacity.)

The US government urges nations to follow the TVPA as a model to approach trafficking cases. The TVPA four-tier ranking system indicates to what extent nations are upholding basic standards to prevent and combat trafficking. For instance, countries placed on a lower tier face the possibility of US sanctions or public condemnation. The tier system and its policies insist on victim protection. Many nations have undertaken the principles outlined in the TVPA. For instance, Japan refers to a national Plan of Action and an anti-trafficking law. In Thailand, a screening process has been established in coordination with International Organization on Migration (IOM). The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) annual report outlines strategies and standards that the US government employs when faced with cases of trafficking. The US representative encouraged nations to refer to the TIP report as a way to approach human trafficking and analyze the situation on a consistent basis.

Conclusion

Human trafficking is a multifaceted and complex problem throughout Asia with unintended consequences. As poverty, economic inequality, dislocation, a weak rule of law and marginalization of vulnerable communities persist, trafficking will also exist and possibly worsen in the future. The symposium discussed the broader recognition of trafficking and explored policy options and political action to address the most critical aspects of trafficking.

Next year the UN will highlight the significance of migration and development acknowledging the problem of trafficking, signaling to the international community and governments that trafficking in humans is at a critical moment. The US government’s heightened attention to this challenge has aided in raising the issues to a greater degree of awareness. Panelists and participants identified that a clearer and more coordinated effort on behalf of NGOs, UN agencies, governments and relevant organizations must improve to work toward a positive strategy for action.

The challenges ahead must address how to strengthen community awareness, revise national laws to firmly define trafficking, and provide comprehensive assistance to victims and survivors toward full recovery and reintegration. Coordinating efforts to confront human trafficking on all levels will bring the world closer to ending human trafficking.

Asia Society Symposium

Combating Human Trafficking in Asia: A Strategy for Action

November 16, 2005
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York City

Cosponsored with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

This program is made possible with generous support from the Open Society Institute

One of the fastest-growing areas of organized crime, trafficking in human beings is now estimated to earn as much money for criminal syndicates as the global narcotics trade. Today’s symposium at the Asia Society will bring together leaders from the U.S. and Asia in academia, nongovernmental organizations, and the health and policy making communities to discuss local and global strategies for combating human trafficking. After exploring the complex context and causes of trafficking, the participants will examine its status in international law and current prevention efforts. They will also discuss the larger social issues surrounding sex trade, and suggest how to make effective policy to address those issues while promoting international accountability and responsibility. Coordination and communication between sectors are vital in the fight against human trafficking, and this timely program strives to facilitate the critical formation of partnership and leadership through in-depth discussion.

8:30 am Breakfast

9:00 am Welcome and Introductory Remarks

Jamie Metzl, Executive Vice President, Asia Society

9:15 am An Overview: Trafficking in Persons within Asia and across International Borders

Panelists:

Amihan V. Abueva, Coordinator for Southeast Asia, Asia ACTs Against Child Trafficking

Ruchira Gupta, Executive Director, Apne Aap Women Worldwide, India
Mark Taylor, Senior Coordinator for Reports, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State

Moderator: Nisha Varia, Researcher, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

1. What are the different forms of human trafficking? Under what conditions does this trafficking occur? What are the less visible yet most prevalent forms of trafficking in Asia? How can successful interventions be made in these cases?
2. How do the United Nations, civil society groups, as well as governments, like the U.S. and countries in EU, define it? How does this definition address the issue’s complexities, or not?
3. What societies and populations in Asia are most vulnerable to trafficking, e.g. minorities? How do legal and structural issues within and across countries perpetuate cycles of long-term vulnerability?
4. How do trends and patterns of trafficking to the U.S. compare to other regions of the world?

10:15 am Panel I: Sex and Labor Trafficking: A Closer Look at Two Critical Components of Trafficking

Panelists:
Thetis Mangahas, Chief Technical Adviser/Programme Manager, ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour, Mekong Sub-Regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women
Norma Timbang, Research Consultant, Washington State Human Trafficking Response Network (Former Executive Director, Asian and Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center, WA)
Neha Misra, Coordinator, Counter Trafficking Programs, Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO
Donna M. Hughes, Professor of Women’s Studies at University of Rhode Island

Moderator: Josh DeWind, Director, Social Science Research Council

1. What are the different forms of sex trafficking within Asian countries? Is the sex trade a part of this? Does the situation in Asia impact the global sex industry? What particular trends and modalities are taking place in the region?
2. What different forms of exploitative practices are linked to labor trafficking? In which countries outside Asia do most trafficked migrant laborers end up as sweatshop workers, commercial or agricultural laborers, or maids and nannies? How are governments implicated in labor trafficking, if at all?

3. How does “irregular migration” compound the problem in trafficking in both the short and long term (future citizenship rights for children, etc.)? What impact do migration laws and border control practices have on this problem? What are the major transit routes across Asia? Which countries in Asia are major destinations for irregular migrants?
4. What are the consequences and impact on health brought about by sex and labor trafficking? Are health-based interventions adjusting to the changing face of sex and labor trafficking?

11:15 am Coffee Break

11:30 am Panel II: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead

Panelists:
Shirley Seng, Coordinator, Kachin Women's Association Thailand
Amihan V. Abueva, Coordinator for Southeast Asia, Asia ACTs Against Child Trafficking
Juhu Thukral, Director, Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center
Thomas Steinfatt, Professor, University of Miami, Florida

Moderator: Sam Zia-Zarifi, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human rights Watch

1. What are the efforts by NGOs, governments, the UN and other international organizations, including the private sector, to prevent trafficking?
· What initiatives for collaboration are in place? What strategies or approaches work best, and under what conditions? What are the best ways to coordinate efforts and communication between and among them?
· What sectors should be engaged at different levels for greater impact?
2. How do social instabilities and increasing state-sponsored ethnic persecution exacerbate trafficking in Southeast Asia?
3. What is the current status of laws relating to human trafficking in Southeast Asian countries like Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, etc.? What impedes their effective application and enforcement? What would enable successful prosecution?
4. What interventions have proven to work or have made significant impact in educating and empowering groups who are vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking? What roles can NGOs, tourism industries or employment agencies play?
5. What is the impact of anti-trafficking laws in Asia on sex workers? How do advocates for sex workers’ rights and those opposed to legalizing prostitution work together to define and reach common solutions in securing human rights protection and ending sexual exploitation? How do national laws and international conventions address these issues?
6. Are the human rights of trafficked individuals protected under existing immigration, labor laws and anti-trafficking laws?

12:30 pm Lunch Break

1:45 pm Panel III: Next Steps: Role of the International Community

Panelists:
Thetis Mangahas, Chief Technical Adviser/Programme Manager, ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour, Mekong Sub-Regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women
Mark Taylor, Senior Coordinator for Reports, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State

Moderator: Frances Sullivan, Regional Representative for North America and the Caribbean, International Organization for Migration

1. What forms of partnership and leadership are necessary to meet the challenge? What resources are required?
2. What can the U.S. do to make a meaningful impact on international opinion and policy-making to end human trafficking?
3. What is the impact of the U.S.’s current punitive policies, tier system and sanctions on countries with evidence of increasing trafficking? What are the limitations and alternatives?
4. What role can the United Nations or EU play? What steps need to be taken?
5. What revisions are necessary in state policy, migration law, and international conventions for a coherent and effective strategy to prevent and end human trafficking?
6. What are the necessary local, national and international infrastructures that must be in place to facilitate a systematic process and sustainable means to address trafficking?

2:45 pm Conclusion and Review of Key Recommendations from Speakers
Moderators: Sam Zia-Zarifi, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human rights Watch; and Asia Society

3:30pm Adjourn

posted in Human Trafficking - 0 replies

They may even go as far as Strip-Clubs...

2006-01-14T06:17:12Z

January 13, 2006
DoD human trafficking rules tighten

by Sgt. Sara Wood
American Forces Press Service

Harsher punishments for Defense Department personnel who participate in human trafficking or support the industry by patronizing prostitutes are part of a bill signed into law Tuesday by President Bush.

"Human trafficking is an offense against human dignity, a crime in which human beings, many of them teenagers and young children, are bought and sold and often sexually abused by violent criminals," Bush said at the White House before signing the bill. "Our nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery."

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 amends the military manual for courtsmartial, making the punishment for using a prostitute the same as that for being a prostitute, said John Awtrey, director of law enforcement policy and support for the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Under the new act, any service member convicted of patronizing a prostitute can receive a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and one year of confinement.

Prostitution is being targeted because it is the main fuel for the human trafficking industry, Awtrey said. Human trafficking is the illegal practice of procuring human beings for unpaid work in physically abusive settings and locations from which they are not allowed to leave.

Whether people realize it or not, most women involved in prostitution are there against their will, he said, and supporting that industry -- even by going to a strip club or bar that allows prostitution -- supports the worldwide human trafficking industry.

"If you spend money there, you're giving money to the traffickers, and traffickers are criminals," he said.

Many people don't understand the human trafficking industry, so DoD has established a new training program to clarify what it is and what the implications are of becoming involved, said Robert Wisher, DoD's director of advanced distributive learning.

The training was developed early last year and can be taken in a classroom or online, Wisher said. The training covers four basic areas:

* U.S. and DoD policy on human trafficking;

* The origins of the trafficking phenomenon;

* Detection of trafficking; and

* Legal provisions of trafficking.

The overall goal of the training is to change people's attitudes about prostitution and human trafficking and make them realize the victims side of the story, Wisher said.

"We change attitudes through gripping stories based on actual accounts of what the victims go through," he said.

The training is mandatory for all service members, DoD civilian employees and contractors who are going overseas, Wisher said. Later this year, it will become mandatory for all military members and DoD civilians, he said.

DoD also is developing a separate training module for commanders about what to do when incidences of human trafficking are reported and a module for investigators about how to handle the reports, Wisher said.

Human trafficking became an important issue for DoD because of the many military units that are stationed overseas in countries where human trafficking is rampant, such as Korea, Awtrey said.

"Our primary focus is overseas because of the number of units and personnel that are in countries that are high-demand destinations for trafficked women in the sex exploitation industry," he said. "We want to educate people on what it is so they know what to stay away from or what to report."

It is too early to judge the ultimate success of the training program, Wisher said, but he said he already is receiving positive feedback from service members who said the training opened their eyes to the problem of human trafficking.

Human trafficking is the third-largest source of money for international organized crime and occurs internationally and within the United States, Wisher said.

http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/10_52/national_news/39144-1.html
----------------------------

This is gonna be interesting... If they want women out of the sex industry, they really got to give the right job-training (a job which pays the bills) and do something against poverty.

Fighting ht and not poverty, somehow may not work... Anway, some people don't even get paid when they give sex (or call it time) for money. That sucks!

I am interested to see what these issues bring up. Anyway, I am glad the authorities take human trafficking serious. If a few John's suffer a bit - that maybe worth it to get the message across. Only a caring John is a good John, lol. Who knows how many of them are utter jerks? Poor gals out there.

What interests me how the sexual healing community (the great tantrics) will deal with that? They want prostitution legalized so they can heal all of us from our sexual dysfunction and raise our awareness (and kundalini – as if they can do that really…). That’s all well and good if they can do just that… I am all for it. Heal ME, please ??? I don’t like to pay money for that and would want my insurance to pay for it. I like trained sexual healers anyway better. Anyway, those little sexual healers are the most benign folks out there often (and have a spiritual inclination, which sometimes comes across as somewhat overblown – too full of themselves at times-, but well they are cute and nobody is perfect. Somehow, I think that many of these naïve healers have not thought matters through in regards to the legalization of prostitution and how it could legalize pimping and invite trafficking (a trick will get cheaper and cheaper, and the market dictates the price). I would be fine if there would be NO EXPLOITATION and no madams, pimps, etc. (co-ops structures would be fine with me, no BOSS..., who wants that anyway?)… Plus the kids need to pay their taxes. I wish they would all take a concrete stand against human trafficking (it would look good for their cause…). Otherwise, those little healers really come across as rather self-serving “healers.” There are a lot of issues to deal with before prostitutio can be legalized with minimal dysfunctions left.

http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/10_52/national_news/39144-1.html

We will see what kind of issues come up.

posted in Human Trafficking - 1 reply

Italian report warns of threat by rise of Albanian mafia

2006-01-14T05:35:46Z

Italian report warns of threat by rise of Albanian mafia

December 27, 2005 12:00am
Source: BBC Monitoring International Reports

Italian authorities have warned of the danger of the Albanian mafia in the country, Il Sole 24 Ore has reported. The Intelligence and Democratic Security Service (SISDE) warned that "The induced Islamization in Albania, which occupies the most aggressive and fundamentalist profiles, could move into Italy in the near future..." The Albanians have formed alliances and accords with the mafia, the paper says. Their "presence is elusive, marked by internal solidarity, grid-like in its structure, flexible in its activities, very fast in its movements and capable of gradually capitalizing the criminal profits which it makes", the paper says. They have a leading position in the sex market, control over other illegal immigrants from the Balkans and are protagonists of the drugs market. A report by the Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA) says that "Albanian criminal groups are asserting themselves as the main points of reference for all the other foreign criminal organizations". US agencies have also been monitoring them in fear of their move to the USA, the paper says. The following is the text of report by Marco Ludovico entitled "The unstoppable rise of the Albanian Mafia", published by Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on 4 December:
The resumption of robberies in people's villas, which has been seen in the news recently. The collaboration between the FBI and the [Italian] police which, without making a lot of noise, is reaching fever pitch. And a report from the SISDE [Intelligence and Democratic Security Service], which has just been published, which paints a very worrying picture. The common denominator of these events is the Albanian mafia, which is forcing its way onto the daily agenda of the law-enforcement bodies.

Gnosys, the official magazine of the secret service [SISDE] headed by Mario Mori, has written that this is "a priority threat".

At first only in Puglia, the Albanians have gradually formed alliances and accords with the mafia, the Camorra [mafia in Naples and Campania], and the 'Ndrangheta [Calabrian mafia]. Today we can say that they are everywhere, in Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia, in the Triveneto area and in Le Marche.

But what is most striking is the way in which it is spreading and expanding: "Dotted here and there, and based on a system of mutual aid," in the words of the SISDE, the Albanian presence is elusive, marked by internal solidarity, grid-like in its structure, flexible in its activities, very fast in its movements, and capable of gradually capitalizing the criminal profits which it makes.

This is shown by its leading position in the sex market in Italy, in which the Albanians not only run the racket in their young female compatriots, but also now have control over other illegal immigrants from the Balkans.

In the exploitation of prostitution, they have to stand against the Nigerians, the other powerful foreign mafia-style association which is present (see the 20 March edition of Il Sole-24 Ore ) - and there has been no shortage of clashes. And while the latter threaten, almost always verbally, to use voodoo rites, the Albanians turn to action, and apply the cruel Kanun code to control the prostitutes. A real system of terror - with ruthless murders, such as the recent murder of a girl who was killed with blows from a hammer - which imposes what is, to all intents and purposes, a regime of slavery.

However, the Albanians, protagonists of the drugs market from and to Italy, along the Balkans route, on the one hand, and from South America, via The Netherlands and Spain, on the other hand, have chosen a specific tactic to consolidate their presence: Stepping up crimes with a low level of criminal violence - drugs, auto theft, or arms trafficking, another sector of major activity, all of which are far more profitable - and proceeding with caution in crimes which have greater social visibility: Robberies at people's villas, of course, but no further than that, to the extent of outsourcing this kind of criminal activity to Moldavians, Bulgarians and Romanians.

Reading the documents from the investigators - with the ROS [Special Operations Section] of the Carabinieri, led by Gen Giampaolo Ganzer, and the SCO [Central Operational Service], a department of the police, which comes under the Anti-Crime directorate, headed up by Prefect Nicola Cavaliere, in the front line - what one is most struck by is its unstoppable ability to expand: avoiding conflict on the ground with the other criminal organizations, at most occupying residual spaces, and, more and more often, creating forms of synergy and alliances: the 'Ndrangheta, for example, gets fresh supplies of weapons from the Albanians.

And that is not all. According to the latest report from the DIA [Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate], which is now led by Gen Cosimo Sasso, "Albanian criminal groups are asserting themselves as the main points of reference for all the other foreign criminal organizations". In other words, we are seeing a series of pacts and agreements between "Mediterranean organized crime groups", one which regulates a large slice of the global trade in drugs, weapons and illegal immigration.

So much so that an (almost) unexpected new development has come along. The Albanians are spreading even beyond the Atlantic, into the United States.
This was recently discovered by the men from the State Police, led by Gianni De Gennaro, and the long-standing collaboration with the FBI has been stepped up because our wealth of knowledge is indispensable for US investigations, while the work of keeping an eye on the organizations present in Italy now serves also to see whether, and how, and to what extent, they intend to spread on US soil.

All this, without forgetting a warning issued by the SISDE in a subdued manner. "The induced Islamization in Albania, which occupies the most aggressive and fundamentalist profiles, could move into Italy in the near future, with more markedly fundamentalist interests." In short: the risk of Islamic terrorism could increase also owing to the Albanians. As yet it is just a theoretical prospect. But Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu is warned.

Source: Il Sole 24 Ore, Milan, in Italian 4 Dec 05

<<BBC Monitoring International Reports -- 12/27/05>>

posted in Human Trafficking - 2 replies

Law to fight sex trafficking enacted

2006-01-13T17:55:32Z

Law to fight sex trafficking enacted

Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau

Washington - President Bush on Tuesday signed a law co-authored by Rep. Deborah Pryce of Columbus that provides $360 million to fight sex trafficking in the United States and abroad. It establishes $50 million in grants that police can use to target prostitution patrons for arrest.

"Our nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery," Bush said as he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005.

The U.S. government estimates that 18,000 to 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States as slaves each year, including teens who become prisoners to the sex trade. Many willingly leave home for jobs they believe are legitimate, only to be forced into prostitution.

With money from the bill, authorities in the United States will apprehend prostitutes' customers, commonly known as johns, in order to crack rings that bring women to the United States for prostitution. Pryce's office said money from the bill also would be used to fight trafficking of runaway and kidnapped U.S. teens who are sold for sex domestically.

The law also authorizes a pilot program to counsel sex trafficking victims in the United States, convene a yearly conference on reducing the demand for prostitution, and provide better law enforcement statistics about the scope of trafficking.

"A nation that stands for the freedom and dignity of every human being cannot tolerate the degradation and exploitation of the innocent going on on our own soil," Pryce said.

Pryce has held congressional hearings to investigate sex trafficking.

After leading a congressional-fact finding tour to Albania, Moldova, Greece and Italy, Pryce also arranged surgery in the United States for a Moldovan girl who suffered crippling spinal injuries while escaping from a Turkish prostitution ring. The girl recently returned to Moldova after her successful operation, a Pryce spokeswoman said.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/113697225836390.xml&coll=2

posted in Human Trafficking - 1 reply

Trafficking Victims Protection Act - TVPRA to become NEW law

2006-01-13T17:51:55Z

Rep. Smith's Trafficking Victims Protection Act to Become Law;
Soon-to-Be Law Strengthens and Expands Human Trafficking Laws, Combats Domestic Trafficking, Targets Sex Trade Industry
12/22/2005 10:28:00 AM

To: National and State Desks

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a bipartisan vote, the Senate overwhelmingly passed Rep. Chris Smith's (R-N.J.) Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 (HR 972), legislation that strengthens the nation's current trafficking law (also authored by Smith in 2000) and authorizes new funds for investigation and prosecution of domestic trafficking within the United States. Smith has had four major bills pass through Congress in its final weeks, putting him at the top of the most active and successful legislators in the United States.

The TVPRA reinforces that the United States will continue to lead the global battle against modern-day human slavery. According to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill will provide $361 million over the next two years to combat trafficking. President Bush will sign the legislation, making it the third Smith-authored human trafficking law.

"With this new law, the United States assumed a leadership role in combating the modern day slavery known as human trafficking," said Smith, who was the author of that landmark trafficking law (Public Law 106-386). "Make no mistake, this legislation is about protecting women, since the majority of the victims of this abhorrent crime are young girls and women."

"The 2005 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act provides law enforcement with the necessary tools to continue the liberation the unfortunate women and children who are forced into this horror."

Each year, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders. It is estimated that millions more are trafficked internally within the borders of countries. In the past four years, twice as many people in the United States have been prosecuted and convicted for trafficking than in the prior four-year period. Worldwide, more than 3,000 traffickers were convicted last year -- an increase from the previous year. These numbers reflect an increasing number of countries acquiring the laws necessary to combat trafficking and having the political will to implement those laws.

Smith's bill reauthorizes and expands appropriations for anti-trafficking programs in the United States and abroad and offers solutions to specific scenarios where additional initiatives are needed to combat trafficking problems, such as in peacekeeping missions. For the first time, programs geared toward reducing the demand for commercial sex in the United States and preventing human trafficking of U.S. citizens within our own borders are authorized, and new funding will be provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to combat both domestic and international trafficking.

Smith worked with Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) to craft an amendment creating a $25 million grant program for local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute human trafficking (and related offenses) and includes initiatives to attack the demand for prostitution, which fuels sex trafficking.

The TVPRA, in its entirety, enables prosecution in the United States of trafficking offenses committed by federal employees and contractors and amends the United States Code to strengthen the use of money laundering, racketeering and civil and criminal forfeiture statutes against traffickers. In addition, the Department of Justice is directed to conduct a biennial analysis of trafficking and commercial sex acts statistics inside the United States.

"With a crime as abhorrent as human trafficking, it is essential that the United States takes the lead and that includes within our own borders," said Smith, whose original law was recently the focus of a Lifetime miniseries starring Mira Sorvino titled "Human Trafficking." "We must work to target the criminals -- slaveholders -- who force these young children and women into unimaginable horrors."

Smith's bill also addressed the American and foreign victims of human trafficking and includes provisions to help reintegrate them to a normal life. It authorizes a grants program for non-governmental organization victim service providers, establishes programs for residential rehabilitation facilities and promotes access to information about federally funded services for victims.

"The 2005 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act strengthens and expands our efforts and allows law enforcement to continue to liberate the women and children who are forced and coerced into slavery," said Smith, who has fought for human and victims rights since coming to Congress. "With this new law, the victims of this terrible crime know they are not forgotten."

HR 972 – Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act:

Prevention of International Trafficking In Persons

-- Requires U.S. assistance programs for post-conflict and humanitarian emergencies to include anti-trafficking measures.

-- Provides U.S. courts jurisdiction over federal government employees and contractors for trafficking offenses committed abroad.

-- Expands the ability to prosecute traffickers for violations of money laundering, racketeering, and civil and criminal forfeiture statutes.

-- Requires that the State Department include in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report information on the steps taken by international organizations (UN, OSCE, NATO) to prevent involvement of personnel with trafficking.

-- Requires U.S. assistance programs for post-conflict and humanitarian emergencies to include anti-trafficking measures.

Prevention of Domestic Trafficking In Persons

-- Requires the Attorney General to study and report to Congress on the prevalence of severe forms of trafficking and sex trafficking in the United States and the approach to combating these crimes by law enforcement.

-- Terminates all government grants, contracts and cooperative agreements with contractors that engage in trafficking in person or procure a commercial sex act during the period in which the grant is in effect.

-- Establishes a grants program through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assist American citizens and nationals who are victims of human trafficking and directs HHS to establish a program to create residential treatment facilities for juveniles subjected to trafficking.

-- Establishes a grants program for states and local law enforcement totaling $50 million in 2006 and 2007 to investigate and prosecute acts of trafficking in persons and criminals that purchase a commercial sex act within the United States.

For additional information about Rep. Chris Smith and his efforts on behalf of global human rights, please visit http://www.house.gov/chrissmith/.
http://www.usnewswire.com/

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/

posted in Human Trafficking - 2 replies

Senator Clinton Hails Passage of Anti-Trafficking Legislation

2006-01-13T17:47:56Z

Senator Clinton Hails Passage of Anti-Trafficking Legislation
December 22, 2005

Washington, DC — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today released the following statement on last night’s Senate passage of H.R. 972, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005.

“I am pleased at the Senate’s unanimous passage last night of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which will enable our government to strengthen its efforts to end the heinous crime of trafficking in persons, and I would urge the President to sign this legislation as quickly as possible.

The scourge of trafficking in women and children was a priority for me as First Lady and continues to be a priority for me as a U.S. Senator. Since the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, I have been working to raise awareness of the heinous practice of buying and selling women and children like commodities. This barbaric practice has caused far too many to exist in a perpetual state of fear and vulnerability, and we must do everything in our power to bring the scourge of trafficking out of the shadows and to the attention of the world.

I am proud to say that the United States has, for the past decade, been the leader in trying to persuade the rest of the world to eradicate this abhorrent practice. As the Clinton Administration increased the anti-trafficking activities of our government through programs at the State Department and the Department of Justice, Congress was developing bipartisan legislation to eradicate trafficking. This culminated in the passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. This law has meant the difference between freedom and enslavement for unknown numbers of potential trafficking victims, and this reauthorization only increases our ability help those who have been trafficked.

The bill that was passed last night enhances the 3 P’s strategy – prevention of trafficking, prosecution of those that engage in these acts, and protection of the vulnerable individuals who have been trafficked – that we developed in the Clinton Administration. It gives the Justice Department the authority to pursue extraterritorial prosecutions of federal employees or those accompanying them if they engage in trafficking activities. It encourages the prevention of trafficking by requiring reporting of the anti-trafficking activities of the organizations or contractors engaged in U.S.-supported peacekeeping efforts. And it will protect those who have been trafficked overseas by increasing funding for programs like residential treatment facilities.

In the fight against trafficking in persons, patience simply is not an option. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to end this barbaric practice in both the United States and around the world.”

posted in Human Trafficking - 1 reply