Change.org's End Human Trafficking Blog

Freedom for the Weekend: International Justice Mission

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-20T12:00:00-08:00

Well, it's Friday afternoon, and that means the weekend is almost here! W00t! Perhaps you're reading this blog because you're bored at work or school and you're thinking about what you want to do this weekend. How about spending part of your weekend fighting slavery? Each week I'll profile a different anti-trafficking nonprofit who you can connect with to help free slaves and prevent slavery around the world. So, spend a couple hours this weekend getting to know this nonprofit through their website, and then get involved!

This Week's Profile: International Justice Mission

The Bottom Line: International Justice Mission (IJM) is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators, and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators, and to promote functioning public justice systems.

What They Do: IJM focuses on victim relief and aftercare -- removing victims from situations of trafficking and helping them heal -- in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They also have teams of professional and volunteer lawyers who work to prosecute traffickers and create legal reform in countries around the world.

What Can I Do?: You can volunteer for short periods of time in their Washington, DC office, or for longer periods of time overseas. They also have specific pro bono programs for lawyers. Or you can get involved as part of your church, community, or school. IJM accepts donations online as well.

Why They Rock: IJM has a tremendous capacity to leverage the law and lawyers in favor of human trafficking victims who really need legal justice. They are able to bring justice to victims around the world who otherwise might not get it.

So now that you've got some basic information on International Justice Mission, visit their website this weekend and get involved. And on Monday morning when everyone else is talking about sleeping in and watching TV over the weekend, you can say, "What did I do this weekend? Oh, just the usual -- abolition of slavery."

Do you have a favorite nonprofit you'd like to see featured here? If so, let me know!

The Philippines Prevents Trafficking Around U.S. Military Bases in S. Korea

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-20T07:00:00-08:00

In South Korea, "juicy bars" serve drinks to American GIs, foreign visitors, and locals. But many of them also serve up sex.

Specifically, they serve sex with young Filipinas who went to South Korea looking for work, but instead found themselves trapped in prostitution at a "juicy bar." This exploitation has become such a severe problem that the Philippines is considering preventing any women from securing visas to work in South Korean establishments.

Perhaps one of the most important details about these bars is that, despite the U.S. military's "zero-tolerance" prostitution policy, American soldiers frequent establishments where both voluntary prostitution and human trafficking are taking place. Here's how the "juicy bar" system works: Filipina women are brought to South Korea by brokers as "entertainers." The brokers then rent the women out to bars, priced depending on the girl's "talents" or attractiveness and the bar's needs. There, they flirt with and kiss soldiers and tourists, in an attempt to keep them buying the girls expensive juice drinks. If a girl sells her quota of juice drinks in the evening, all is usually well. But if she doesn't, she's expected to make up the difference. And her only means of doing that is prostitution.

Most of these women come to South Korea thinking they will be performers, and not because they're naive. Unlike other countries, Filipina women must pass a vocal audience in front of real judges to get their entertainer visa. But they always find out after they arrive abroad that their primary job is to flirt, and that if they're not an expert enough flirt, to prostitute themselves. It would be like boarding the plane to Las Vegas after a successful American Idol audition only to find that when you arrived, there was no show. Only compulsory work as a cocktail waitress with a side of prostitution.

U.S. military officials know that service men hang out at "juicy bars" from time to time. They claim to be vigilant in monitoring illegal activities at bars nears bases, especially human trafficking. However, they won't ban soldiers from going to "juicy bars" outright -- only the ones where human trafficking has been proven. There are currently about 50 such bars on the military's list of establishments where service members are not allowed.

If the Philippines imposes a ban, that could mean a serious labor shortage for South Korea. The chances are pretty high they'd just start importing girls from other places in the area, like Laos and Thailand. On the other hand, if the U.S. military imposed a ban, that might actually change the industry.

Photo credit: risager

President Obama, Please Address Slavery in North Korea Today

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-19T07:00:00-08:00

Dear Mr. President,

Today, like most days, is probably very busy for you. You're in South Korea, talking to important officials about a number of pressing issues regarding North Korea. I'm sure the crazy-dictator-might-have-some-serious-nukes issue will come up, as will trade, relations with China, etc. But I hope you will also address the major human rights abuse faced by over 200,000 North Koreans living in slavery inside government-sponsored forced labor camps. These are the same camps American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling narrowly escaped a few months ago. But there is no Bill Clinton to rescue thousands of North Korean citizens sentenced to slavery.

If government-sponsored slavery exists anywhere in the world, Mr. President, it exists in North Korea. Reports from released and escaped inmates indicate that prisoners in these forced labor camps work 12-15 hour days with a measly portion of sugared corn as their only meal. Women are raped with impunity and denied access to even the most basic supplies, such as sanitary napkins. Relatives of prisoners who commit suicide are brutally punished to dissuade others from taking their own lives as a means of escape. This system is a throwback not only to Soviet gulags and Nazi work camps, but to the chattel slavery of the 19th century.

For most people in these forced labor camps, there is no hope for an end to their slavery; they have been sentenced for life. A few individuals may have the "opportunity" to undergo years of remedial socialist indoctrination, leading to eventual release under parole-like conditions. But the vast majority of North Korean slaves will die working in hard, manual, unpaid labor. And when the guards are taught to view the inmates as farm animals and prisoners are forced to view assassinations as lessons in obedience, death is sometimes welcomed as a friend.

International human rights organizations and anti-trafficking activists have been trying to fight the North Korean slave camps for years, often with little help from foreign governments and with active and sometimes violent resistance from the North Korean government. The fact that most of the world has ignored this form of official government-sanctioned slavery is inexcusable. Such a system has not been allowed anywhere else in the world for a long time.

Mr. President, while issues of nuclear nonproliferation and trade are certainly important, the U.S. and Europe cannot have such single focus that they ignore the suffering and slavery of hundreds of thousands of innocent North Korean people. Moving forward, we must find a way to address this issue as an egregious human rights violation and hold the government of North Korea accountable for the atrocity of legal and sanctioned slavery.

Good luck with your visit, Mr. President. And if you'd like to talk more about this issue when you return, I would be more than happy to come to the White House for another beer summit.

A Supporter and Proud Owner of an Obama Hand Puppet,

Amanda

2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-18T13:00:00-08:00

Yesterday, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) released their 2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame list of Inductees, companies selected for some of the most abhorrent and exploitative labor practices in the world. From forced child labor to ignoring the preventable deaths of workers, these brands deserve a great big "shame on you" for their refusal to address labor exploitation in their supply chains.

The 2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame Inductees are (drum-roll please):

Abercrombie and Fitch

Gymboree

Hanes

Ikea

Kohl’s

LL Bean

Pier 1 Imports

Propper International

Walmart

ILRF offers detailed explanation of each of these companies' particular sins on their website, but I want to draw attention to Gymboree, Hanes, and LL Bean. All three companies use cotton from Uzbekistan, which is not only the world's second largest producer of cotton, but also one of the biggest exploiters of children in the industry. Children as young as seven are prevented from going to school and forced to work long hours in the cotton fields harvesting the crops, often in miserable conditions.

The Uzbek government has ignored these widespread abuses of children, so a number of companies have agreed to boycott Uzbek cotton until measures are taken to prevent children in Uzbekistan from exploitation and slavery. However, Gymboree, Hanes, and LL Bean have all stubbornly refused to stop using this tainted cotton in their products.

It's important to note that the Hall of Shame list is far from complete. In fact, so many brands use products made by exploited labor, it would be nearly impossible to compile a complete list of companies to avoid. A good alternative, therefore, is to make a point of buying from companies who sport a sweat-free guarantee. For a great list of places to buy sweat-shop free items, check out this guide from Sweat Free Communities.

Stay tuned for more resources to help you make ethical purchases of products not tainted by slavery or labor exploitation. By shopping at companies who value their workers and avoiding those who abuse workers in the name of low prices, you're making the powerful statement that human rights trump bottom line prices.

To Better Know a Country: Human Trafficking in Jamaica

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-18T07:00:00-08:00

Every year, the U.S. State Department releases a Trafficking in Persons report which rates countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking. Each week, I'll be providing a brief glance at human trafficking in one of those countries, based off the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, with my own (often snarky) analysis added. This is just a snapshot of what's going on in the country. For more information, you can check out the full text of the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report here.

This Week's Country..... Jamaica

Basic Stats

Ranking: Tier 2

Status: Source, transit, and destination country for trafficking victims

Political Stability: Ey mon, it's all irie!

Cash Flow: Ey mon, you want some ganga?

Do I Think They Care?: Ey, what is dat trafficking ting you keep talkin' about?

Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?

Women: commercial sex, forced labor

Girls: commercial sex, domestic servitude, child sex tourism

Boys: commercial sex, domestic servitude, child sex tourism

Where Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?

Victims are trafficked from Jamaica to Canada, United States, Bahamas, and other Caribbean countries.

Victims are trafficked from Russia, Dominican Republic, and Eastern Europe to Jamaica.

Jamaicans are trafficked internally.

What's Gotta Happen

Investigate, convict, and sentence traffickers.

Train law enforcement agencies to identify human trafficking.

Fund shelters and services for trafficked children.

In summary, the stereotype of Jamaica's laid-back attitude is no joke. They are relaxed about just about everything, including fighting human trafficking. Trafficking in the sex industry thrives in Jamaica, and it is one of the few places in the world where boys and young men are victims almost as often as girls are. Jamaica's tourism industry seriously needs to step up their game and not look the other way when tourists ask for local children. Because child sex tourism is a lot more serious than a little too much sun and a little too much ganja.

Photo credit: 04devini

How Birth Certificates Save Lives

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-17T09:00:00-08:00

You wouldn't necessarily think that something as simple as a birth certificate can keep a child safe from traffickers, but it can. In fact, birth registration is the front line of defense against child slavery around the world. And Plan International is making it their job to count every last child.

The over 40 million people -- mostly children -- in 32 countries who Plan has registered since beginning their project a few years ago now have access to health care, employment, and other government benefits that they lacked before. They also have a powerful tool to protect them from human trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

One of the reasons traffickers more often target children from rural areas of developing countries is not because the children there are any more gullible or make better slaves than children from cities. It's because these areas have lower birth registration rates. It's far easier to snatch a child who doesn't, according to the local government, "officially" exist.

Other benefits to having a birth certificate: in many countries, registered children enjoy greater access to education than unregistered ones, and education is a key component in protecting kids from exploitation now and throughout their lives. In addition, the ability to access health care or government benefits later in life will keep them out of desperation, which makes people vulnerable to human trafficking as adults. And upon having their own children, they will be more likely to get them registered, ending a multi-generational cycle of invisible children in much of the developing world.

So if birth registration is so beneficial, why wouldn't a parent get a birth certificate for their child?

In some places, the cost of registration is more than a family can afford. In other areas, hospitals and registration sites may be far away from where the baby was born (at home) and inaccessible. Parents' illiteracy, immigration status, and other factors pose further barriers to registration. In some conflict-torn areas, parents might be suspicious of identifying their child to the government. However, despite the host of barriers to registration, the benefits outweigh the challenges.

This increase in birth record registration will even help children who weren't previously registered and have been trafficked find their way back home. While kids trafficked at a young age are often unable to identify their home town or region, they might remember a sibling's name. If that sibling is registered, it helps the trafficked child discover other information about his identity, and hopefully eventually be reunited with his family.

Congratulations to Plan on their good work, and best of luck in the future.

Photo credit: dtcchc

Red Light Special: Kiri Purse is Sleek and Ethical

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-17T07:00:00-08:00

Are you sick of wasting your money on useless plastic crap made in overseas sweatshops? Do you want to use your money to vote for something you actually support -- a hopeful future for former slaves? Then check out Change.org's weekly Red Light Special. Once a week, I'll be bringing you a product that heals rather than hurts, because the proceeds go to help victims of human trafficking. Shop Red Light Specials to be part of the solution, instead of part of the useless crap problem.

This Week’s Red Light Special… Kiri Purse

Arrive in style to all your holiday parties with this sleek, simple black purse from Hagar Designs. The bag is made from black silk and features an elegant knot detail. It's sure to compliment dressy or casual festive holiday outfits for any occasion. Plus, it's a great way to start a conversation about how you like to make purchases that support human trafficking survivors. With this bag in tow, maybe your next cocktail party will be your next chance for some awareness raising.

Let's face it, you don't need any more stuff in your life, but human trafficking survivors sure need a future. And you can give it to them with just a click of the mouse and a swipe of the credit card. So what are you waiting for?

You can buy this item from the link above, or at http://stoptraffick.myshopify.com/products/kiri-purse

What the Media Won't Tell You About Child Prostitution

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-16T11:35:00-08:00

Update: Sadly, Shaniya's body was discovered a few hours after this story first posted.

Police in Fayetteville, North Carolina, are desperately looking for five-year-old Shaniya Davis, the little girl whose mother allegedly sold her into prostitution.

At first, this story might seem to be about one criminal woman low enough to exploit her own child sexually for profit. However, it tells the tale of something far more insidious that the mainstream media won't touch: even in a small town in North Carolina, there is a market for sex with five-year-old girls.

Antoinette Nicole Davis, Shaniya's mother, was arrested yesterday on human trafficking charges and charges related to prostitution. Authorities claim she "knowingly provide[d] Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude," and she "permit[ted] an act of prostitution." Shaniya went missing during a rare visit with her mother. Her father, Bradley Lockhart, had raised his daughter for the first several years of her life. But when her mother told him she'd been sober and employed for 6 months, he decided to let the girl spend some time with her. Shaniya was reported missing earlier this week, but has been seen being carried into a hotel room by a man since then. The man is being identified and Shaniya remains missing.

As sad and grotesque as it may be for a mother to knowingly put her child in a situatuion of sexual slavery, there is an even more disturbing element of this story that is going largely unexamined by the mainstream media.

Davis was able to sell her five-year-old daughter into prostitution because a prostitution market for children exists in America. Shaniya's story is making headlines because she is much younger than the average victim. However, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the average age of entry into prostitution in the U.S. is 12 to 14 years old -- barely past the age of puberty. Some estimates put the range a year younger, at 11 to 13. So while Shaniya's story of being sold at age five might be an anomaly, stories of girls being sold, even by their own mothers, into prostitution at 12, 13, or 14 years old are much more common. All of these girls are sold because there are men demanding sex from children, and who are willing to pay for it.

There are a couple of ways we can try and prevent what happened to Shaniya from happening to other little girls. We can do what we've been doing, taking children away from poor mothers who have addiction issues and putting them in foster care. Of course, kids in foster care are more at risk for exploitation and trafficking as well.

Or, we could spend our time and resources ensuring that the next time someone wants to sell a child into sexual servitude, there are no buyers. Let's make buying sex with a child a dangerous act for a man -- dangerous because the chance of arrest and jail is so high. Let's make buying sex with a child -- not just pre-pubescent children but every child under 18 -- culturally disgusting. Let's make the risk far greater than the reward.

Because when there is no market for trafficked children, there is no incentive to sell them. And if there were no buyers in North Carolina, perhaps Shaniya would be home with her dad right now.

Photo credit: eflon

How to Fight Slavery with Coffee and Beer

Shelton Green — 2009-11-15T09:00:00-08:00

Guest blogger Shelton Green, founder of What's Your Response, shares an easy way for you to raise awareness about human trafficking in your area. Through What's Your Response, you can get coasters to leave in bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and other places people in your area congregate. They tell the stories of real victims of modern-day slavery. Check out what Shelton has to say about hosting your own "coaster crawl."

Blindsided. That was how a group of us felt when we discovered that there are 27 million people in slavery in the world today. That those slaves aren't just living in places whose names we can't pronounce, but right here in the United States. It was a fact so shocking that we found ourselves initially paralyzed. It was a fact so shocking that those we told about it hesitated to believe it. It was a fact so shocking that we set out to discover what we could do. What might our response be? It was coffee and beer.

We knew that people wouldn't be willing to fight the problem until they began to realize the gravity of the problem. We formed a group called What's Your Response? and began brainstorming possibilities for bringing attention to the issue of modern day slavery. On August 8, 2009 What's Your Response? took to the streets for our first "coaster crawl" to bring awareness to the issue of human trafficking in Texas. A turnout of nearly 50 individuals gathered, organized into groups, and went around town distributing free stacks of coasters to various bars, coffee shops, and restaurants. In a very short time we have seen the word spread and people want to know more about what they can do to end slavery.

The coasters tell the stories of three people who were trafficking in the US, where they were, and what type of slavery they suffered. Our goal is to put the issue of modern-day slavery in the middle of culture and present it to people where they gather socially, at bars, coffee shops and cafes. We tell their stories to bring attention to the big story -- millions of men, women, and children trapped, without freedom, modern slaves.

The fact is that each person who becomes aware of the reality of modern-day slavery brings us all one-step closer to helping prevent the horrors of it. And even though this first initiative may have been a crawl, it really was a big step in increasing slavery awareness in the US.

What's Your Response? is a grass roots movement and so every person and every response gets us one step closer to ending slavery. We encourage you to become part of the What's Your Response?. We need your ideas, your energy, and your time. We believe all people deserve freedom, dignity, and hope. We are committed to ending modern day slavery. We invite you to join us in our work. We invite you to respond. You can get coasters to distribute in your area at Shelton@whatsyourresponse.com.

Photo credit: glenharper

Business Groups Oppose Ban on Child and Slave-Made Products

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-14T09:00:00-08:00

Rachel Maddow's choice of "you child labor-endorsing, pro-slavery freaks" to describe business groups' opposition to a bill that would ban the import of goods made by child labor or slave labor was pretty apt. However, I personally would describe the move as the most stunning display of corporate douchebaggery since Walmart's "dead peasant's insurance" fiasco. According to a recent report from Inside U.S. Trade, business interest groups are "worried" that a legislative ban on goods made by children and slaves could prompt the government to more actively seek out and identify consumer goods made by exploited people. And if we started doing that, well then businesses might have to start giving workers their rights, paying them a living wage, not abusing children, and freeing their indentured slaves. And then where would we be?

Here's Maddow's analysis (the relevant part of the video starts about 3:30 in):

My colleague (and frequent guest poster) Tim Newman also has a great analysis of the history of legislative attempt to ban goods made with child and slave labor here. Last year, the International Labor Rights Forum took Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland to task for trying to block a voluntary child labor free certification initiative in the Farm Bill. The initiative passed, despite the lobbying of interest groups. History shows that despite the powerful corporate lobby, grassroots activists can be just as powerful a voice for children and workers as high ticket lobbyists can be for corporations.

As of now, we don't have word as to which business groups and which companies are going to out themselves as squishy invertebrates rather than men and women by vocally opposing legislative measures to prevent and reduce child labor and slavery around the world. But once we get word of who is standing between us and a market untainted by slavery, we will let them know in no uncertain terms where they can stick their opposition. Because let's face it -- coming out against a ban on slave-made and child-made goods is the same as acknowledging that your company uses those products and that you're okay knowing that. And I for one certainly don't want to shop at a company who actively or passively supports exploitation and abuse in the name of their own profits.

We'll keep you posted as we learn more on this issue.

Freedom for the Weekend: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-13T12:00:00-08:00

This Week's Profile: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

The Bottom Line: The Center reveals stories about freedom's heroes from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary times and challenges everyone to take courageous steps for freedom today. They connect 19th century slavery with modern slavery.

What They Do: Through both a physical center in Cincinatti, OH and an information-packed website, the center aims to educate people about the realities of both the role of the underground railroad in ending historical slavery and modern abolition of human trafficking. Maintaining their focus on personal stories as an important lens for history, they also allow families to research their genealogy and discover their ancestors.

What Can I Do?: You can support the center either by becoming a member or by making a donation. If you live in the Cincinnati area, you can also volunteer. You can also tap into their amazing resources for educators to teach yourself or others about slavery.

Why They Rock: The center connects 19th century and modern slavery together in one seamless understanding of this antediluvian human rights violation. Slavery has been in societies as long as we have had societies; we must learn from our past in order to look to a better future.

So now that you've got some basic information on the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, visit their website this weekend and get involved. And on Monday morning when everyone else is talking about sleeping in and watching tv over the weekend, you can say, "What did I do this weekend? Oh, just the usual- abolition of slavery."

Do you have a favorite nonprofit you'd like to see featured here? If so, let me know.

Superstition and Modern-Day Slavery

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-13T07:00:00-08:00

Friday the 13th is the most superstitious day of the year -- supposedly a jinxed day which brings bad luck and misfortune. In Western cultures, superstition is usually laughed off as silly old wives tales about cats, ladders, and unfortunate mirror accidents. But for many people around the world, superstitions are ingrained parts of faith, culture, and society which have the power to make them more vulnerable to human trafficking or help them survive the trauma of modern-day slavery.

Recently, Spanish authorities apprehended a human trafficking ring based in Nigeria which was enslaving women in the commercial sex industry in Europe. To keep the women from trying to escape, the traffickers took their victims' hair and fingernails and performed voodoo rituals to bind their victims spiritually and physically. They told the women the curse would drive them mad or destroy their souls if they tried to disobey the traffickers. This ceremony and the religious and superstitious implications it had prevented the women from trying to leave their trafficking situations.

But it's not just voodoo that comes with cultural superstitions; traffickers have used superstitious and religious ceremonies as part of other faiths to scare and manipulate victims as well.

Traffickers who buy or kidnap Buddhist children have used their cultural belief that ill fortune in life is the result of sins in a past life to keep them docile. When the children are convinced that their situation of slavery is happening as a punishment for a wrong in a past life, they are more likely to continue serving what is presented to them as a just punishment. Similarly, traffickers who have brought Catholic women and girls from Latin America into the U.S. have used the church's value of virginity before marriage as a tool to keep their victims enslaved. They claim that once a woman has been sold for sex or raped, she is no longer pure and won't be accepted back into her church or family.

Superstition, faith, and religion, which overlap more often than not, can also be a source of strength for trafficking victims and a means of escape. Some traffickers have been known to let victims out to attend religious services. For example, in one famous case in the U.S. several skilled Indian workers were trafficked into a factory in Oklahoma. A couple of them attended a local church, where an observant pastor noticed some suspicious activity and asked the men if they needed help. With the pastor's help, all the men were eventually freed and the trafficker prosecuted. Additionally, human trafficking survivors around the world have claimed that a reliance on prayer, faith, or cultural religious beliefs helped them survive or heal from their trauma.

Sure we can all be dismissive of the idea that you should avoid black cats or wrap your mirrors really carefully when you're moving, but superstition and its overlap with faith and religion means a great deal more to vulnerable people around the world. Like so many forces, it can be used as a tool of good or of evil. And in the hands of human traffickers, you can certainly guess what it's being used as.

Photo credit: eric greer

Somali Judge Who Sentenced Pirates, Traffickers Is Assassinated

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-12T13:00:00-08:00

Today is a sad day for human rights and a victory for pirates. And not the funny, grog-swilling eye-patch wearing pirates, the real kind of pirates who kill people. Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware, a Somali judge who took a stand for justice by sentencing pirates, human traffickers, and Islamist insurgents was assassinated today outside a mosque in Bosasso, Somalia. The region where Judge Aware was shot is only partially controlled by the Somali government, and it is on a well-traveled human trafficking route that smuggles Somali and other East African people into Yemen to be exploited in forced labor or prostitution. His story is a reminder of the dear price some human rights champions pay.

Throughout his career as a judge, Aware sentenced hundreds of human traffickers and smugglers to jail in Somalia. He also sentenced pirates and other organized criminals to long prison sentences. In a country where corruption and bribery are not uncommon, standing up to powerful criminal gangs in this way was both rare and a true act of courage. Corruption of officials like judges, police officers, and local leaders is one of the largest facilitators of human trafficking world-wide. Aware was a man who existed outside that corruption.

Friends and family of Aware think he was killed by gangs of pirates or human traffickers. He was in fact shot in a region of Somalia where human trafficking flourishes, and where traffickers and their networks control much of the infrastructure. Bosasso is on the tip of Somalia which juts out into the Persian Gulf, a short boat ride from Yemen. This corridor is often used to traffic African workers to the Middle East.

Perhaps one of the saddest parts of this ordeal is that Aware's case is far from unique in the world.

Every day, men and women are killed because they refuse to cooperate with organized criminals or corrupt officials. They refuse to give their daughter to a man to rape. They refuse to take a bribe to let the boat full of undocumented workers pass by them. They refuse to buy rice from the man they know steals children to work in the fields. For millions of people living in places like Somalia where rule of law is patchy to nonexistent, standing up for justice may be a situation of life and death.

Today, a judge in Somalia laid down his life to bring human traffickers to justice and prevent them from enslaving more people. What will you do today?

Photo credit: Monica's Dad

Report Exposes Egyptian Christian Women Forced Into Muslim Marriages

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-12T07:00:00-08:00

A new report released by Egyptian women right's activist Nadia Ghaly and anti-trafficking specialist (and guest blogger here) Michele Clark has uncovered an insidious system of the kidnapping of Christian (known as Coptic in Egypt) women. These women are forced to marry Muslim men and in many cases convert to Islam. It's a practice which meets the international definition of human trafficking, but is also a serious issue of violence against women.

Exemplary of this phenomenon is the story of a woman identified as “R.” At 17, she received a phone call from a polite young man who said his name was Amir and that he admired her. He asked her to meet him at a local church. When she arrived, however, she was drugged and kidnapped. When she woke up “Amir” told her she would have to marry a stranger, a Muslim man named Mahmoud. When she refused to have sex with Mahmoud, his family held her down while he raped her. As a result of the rape, she is now unable to have children.

The report does not attempt to identify or measure the prevalence of the Coptic-Muslim forced marriage phenomenon, but rather focuses on documenting a number of cases which meet the international definition of human trafficking. The Coptic population of Egypt is between 8 and 12% of the total population. Are these forced marriages a common or rare occurrence for Coptic women? Do they occur with greater, lesser, or equal frequency with forced marriages within the Muslim Egyptian community or Coptic community? One of the priests interviewed suggested that at least 50 cases of Coptic-Muslim forced marriage had occurred involving women in his parish alone. But data is still lacking on the scope of the problem across the country.

One of the most interesting findings in this report is the consistent patterns which emerge in the process of luring and coercing these young women into forced marriage. Almost always, the process begins with a trafficker earning the woman's trust, and then physically separating her from her family and friends. Personal relationships are key; traffickers aren't just driving around in vans picking up Coptic women off the streets and forcing them into marriages. This trust ---> kidnapping ---> exploitation is a pattern we've seen before from the U.S. to the Netherlands to Japan -- traffickers use trust to lure women to them. The distinction between exploitation which starts with trust and exploitation which starts with force is important because it's much more difficult to make people question those they trust and thus prevent trafficking.

It's easy to look at this report and phenomenon and see a religious struggle between Muslims and Christians, but I don't believe either Islam or Christianity are at the heart of this issue. Forced marriages thrive in situations of power imbalance, both between genders and communities. Egyptian Coptics are a minority group, and like minority groups everywhere, they are more vulnerable to abuse. But whether it's their religion, their gender, or their status as minorities which puts Coptic women in the path of traffickers and the clutches of forced marriages, their struggle is a serious human rights issue which needs to be addressed.

Photo credit: islandspice

Human Trafficking Officially a Mainstream Issue

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-11T13:00:00-08:00

Human trafficking has been officially declared a mainstream issue. By me. Just now on this blog. What gives me the right to move this cause from the "niche" box where it has sat so comfortably for over a decade to the "mainstream" box where the big causes like global warming and world peace dwell? Because human trafficking is officially everywhere in the mainstream media. Yep. Everywhere.

The media life of human trafficking was nascent for much of the 1990s. Sure, there was a news article here or there about some poor Ukrainian girl who was brought to America to work as a waitress and then forced into prostitution, but these were presented as isolated and unique cases. Then sometime around the change of millennium, the issue began to pick up traction. Newspapers reported stories on not just isolated cases of trafficking, but individual stories that are part of a global phenomenon of exploitation. Patterns were recognized and connections were made between cases of people trafficked into commercial sex and other industries, like agriculture and factory work. Between 2000 and 2004, a great deal of attention was paid to modern-day slavery as something that happens in the developing wold, from the brothels of Thailand to the brick fields of India to the cocoa plantations of Cote d'Ivoire.

Sometime in the middle of the decade, Americans (and American media outlets) began to look internally for human trafficking. And they found it.

At first it was a women's issue, and Lifetime and other women's interest media created specials and documentaries. When I first moved to DC in 2005, most of the people I met who had heard of human trafficking had been exposed to it via the Lifetime miniseries. But since 2005, media coverage of human trafficking has grown exponentially. And it hasn't just increased in quantity -- the quality, depth, and understanding of the issue is growing. And because of that, every media outlet wants to have their say on human trafficking as the issue d'jour.

I was amazed a few years ago to find an article in Glamour on trafficking. And I was floored a few weeks ago to learn that E! Online (Keeping Up with the Kardashians being among their more cerebral programming) was airing a special on teen sex trafficking in the U.S. This week, CSI is doing a three part crossover series which focuses on one case of human trafficking. But the final blow to human trafficking's status as a niche issue was when I discovered its presence on one of my favorite shows ... Reno 911. Yes, the brave men and women of the Reno Sheriff's Department were engaged in an undercover sting investigation of what they thought was the forced sale of a young Asian girl into marriage. Of course, Junior accidentally marries her and hilarity ensues, but the issue was presented with surprising accuracy for a mostly improvised sitcom.

This increase in media coverage is a double-edged sword. On one hand, more coverage can lead to more awareness. But it can also lead to more stereotypes and misconceptions. Then again, the presence of human trafficking in mainstream media can also help support more independent media on the issue. Like blogs. And that, I fully support.

Photo credit: Ballistik Coffee Boy

To Better Know a Country: Human Trafficking In New Zealand

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-11T07:00:00-08:00

Every year, the U.S. State Department releases a Trafficking in Persons report which rates countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking. Each week, I'll be providing a brief glance at human trafficking in one of those countries, based off the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, with my own (often snarky) analysis added. This is just a snapshot of what's going on in the country. For more information, you can check out the full text of the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report here.

This Week's Country..... New Zealand

Basic Stats

Ranking: Tier1

Status: Source and destination country for trafficking victims

Political Stability: Ruled by wizards, but populated by all the diverse creatures of Middle Earth

Cash Flow: The Gandalf and Friends tour package accounts for 62% of the GDP.

Do I Think They Care?: Yes, and it shows.

Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?

Women: commercial sex, agricultural labor

Girls: commercial sex

Men: agricultural labor

Where Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?

Victims are trafficked from Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and Eastern Europe to New Zealand.

New Zealanders are trafficked internally.

What's Gotta Happen

Develop anti-trafficking campaign for clients of the legal sex trade.

Proactively identify victims among migrant populations.

Create minimum sentences for traffickers.

In summary, New Zealand has one of the lowest population-to-trafficking-problem ratios in the world. However, some people say that research into the issue there has not been extensive enough. The legal commercial sex trade poses interesting challenges to law enforcement and activists, and may require additional public education about human trafficking. Kiwis are famous for their peaceful ways, and perhaps the lack of trafficking in that country is a symptom of that reputation. So, New Zealand, congratulations on your good work preventing trafficking. And on Flight of the Concords. I intend to enjoy both equally.

Photo credit: kiwinz

Swedish Prostitution Model Moves to Illinois

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-10T13:00:00-08:00

Residents of the greater Chicago area are about to have more in common with Sweden than just a local Ikea and winters that can freeze important body parts off. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart (yes, the same guy who sued Craigslist for promoting the prostitution of minors) is revising his approach to prostitution, and implementing a state-wide version of "the Swedish model," as demand-focused criminalized prostitution policy has come to be called. Ambassador Lagon from Polaris Project has a great op-ed on this topic; he's optimistic, and I'm a little more cautiously anticipatory.

If you're not familiar with Swedish prostitution law, here's a quick summary. The change in policy Dart is bringing to Illinois is slightly different from what happened in Sweden in 1999, in that no legislation will actually be changed. Instead, police resources which have previously been directed towards arresting (and releasing and rearresting and re-releasing) women and girls for prostitution will now be directed at arresting the men who buy them. Women caught in the act of prostitution, which remains illegal, will instead be diverted to social services designed to give them a way out of prostitution and other viable economic options. No word on what will happen to women who refuse to participate in the social service programs, but I guess a revolving door of social services is at least an improvement over a revolving door of jail and a criminal record.

Lagon points out the success this model of law has seen in reducing prostitution in Sweden, as well as some of the criticisms its received, including blame for an increased rate of STDs in the shrinking pool of women in prostitution. And while I strongly support the idea of focusing law enforcement resources on the buyers of commercial sex instead of the sellers, I have some concerns about implementing "the Swedish model" in Illinois or anywhere else in the U.S. The U.S. isn't Sweden, and here's why:

1. Sweden has a broader and more inclusive social welfare system. One of the reasons Sweden has been successfully able to provide social services to women in prostitution is that they have social services to provide. They have a well-funded and advanced social welfare state which can support both the long-term and short-term needs of women coming out of prostitution. Illinois may be able provide immediate counseling and shelter, but what about job training? Higher education? Health care? Child care? Housing support? Addiction recovery? This model of addressing prostitution needs a strong welfare system supporting it. Does Cook County have the resources it needs?

2. Sweden is smaller and more centralized. Sweden has a significantly smaller and more culturally homogeneous population than the U.S. Their prostitution law is part of national legislation. In the U.S., prostitution is regulated by both states and municipalities, making uniform policy across all jurisdictions nearly impossible. The U.S., and even Chicago alone, has a great diversity of cultures, including large immigrant communities with their own views on gender, sexuality, and prostitution. The social zeitgeist around prostitution in the U.S. is far different than Sweden, and policy changes will be received differently by the public here.

3. The U.S. has a history of doing whatever the heck we want. Americans love to do whatever they want and really, really hate it when the government tells them they shouldn't do something. They tell us not to smoke and ban it in bars and restaurants, we light up outside. They tell us not to eat trans-fats, we keep Kentucky Fried Chicken in business. They tells us not to pay for sex and that prostitution is immoral, demeaning to women, and promotes human trafficking and other abuses, we tell them to go regulate themselves. American men are not going to want to hear that they can get arrested for buying sex now, when before, it was just the woman who got arrested.

These concerns shouldn't prevent Sheriff Dart or any other creative public servants from taking a hard look at their prostitution policies and reinventing them to better protect women and girls in prostitution. But they should be an reminder that the U.S. isn't Sweden, and thus we shouldn't implement the exact same policies nor expect the exact same results. But with a little massage on the Swedish model, the Chicago area could soon be cookin' in their fight against human trafficking.

Red Light Special: Free the Slaves Bookmark for Activist Readers

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-10T07:00:00-08:00

Are you sick of wasting your money on useless plastic crap made in overseas sweatshops? Do you want to use your money to vote for something you actually support - a hopeful future for former slaves? Then check out Change.org's weekly Red Light Special. Once a week, I'll be bringing you a product that heals rather than hurts, because the proceeds go to help victims of human trafficking. Shop Red Light Specials to be part of the solution, instead of part of the useless crap problem.

This Week’s Red Light Special… Free the Slaves Bookmarks

This beautiful, etched metal bookmark features one of Martin Luther King, Jr's most significant quotes, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" It also includes Free the Slaves' logo and a decorative black cord to help you find your place easily. This bookmark is a great way to remind yourself of the goal of serving others when you read, or a nice addition to a gift of a book about human trafficking this holiday season.

You can buy this item from the link above, or at http://freetheslaves.madebysurvivors.com/product-p/fts19.htm.

Emma Thompson's Journey Into Abolition

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-09T15:47:00-08:00

Human trafficking victims have a well-informed and intelligent celebrity advocate who doesn't show her underwear in public. I'll wait while you pick your chin off the floor. The newest hero of the modern-day abolitionist movement is award-winning British actress Emma Thompson. Thompson is not new to human rights advocacy or even anti-trafficking advocacy. But she is going above and beyond just using her celebrity to bring attention to this issue and using her well-endowed noggin.

Thompson recently opened an art exhibit called Journey, which is meant to draw attention to the issue of trafficking of women and girls into commercial sex. But the mature and nuanced analysis which Thompson brings to her characters on stage and screen also shows through in her approach to human trafficking. Journey presents trafficking as not just an international phenomenon, but a local one which happens where we live, even in the U.S. and UK. Case in point -- Thompson got involved in the fight for abolition when she discovered a massage parlor on her street was trafficking women. And if I had to guess, I'm gonna guess Emma Thompson doesn't live in a shady, low-rent part of London. Journey drives home the point that slavery in prostitution and commercial sex is not just happening on the other side of the world, it's happening in your community.

In her recent Good Morning America interview, Thompson fearlessly addresses the tough questions around commercial sex, prostitution, and human trafficking. While she never claims to have a "right" answer, she does point out that since Sweden fully criminalized buyers of commercial sex, traffickers have been reluctant to bring victims into a country where demand is so greatly reduced. But she balances this with the consideration of protecting all women, including those who have voluntarily entered prostitution. Thompson is obviously not satisfied with simply attaching her name to the issue and walking away satisfied -- she understands the complexities involved and is working for real change.

In the age of celebrity endorsements for every product from sneakers to soda, including causes, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to tease out what endorsement is representative of a meaningful commitment to an issue. But Emma Thompson is rare in her knowledge and meaningful analysis of the problem of human trafficking and the solutions we must pursue to end it. So whether you love Thompson for her more highbrow work in Howard's End, or for her nutty portrayal of Harry Potter's divination teacher Professor Trelawny (my personal favorite), you can certainly appreciate her passionate and well-informed commitment to raising awareness about human trafficking and moving victims from slavery to freedom.

Journey will be in Washington Square Park in New York City and runs through Nov. 15. If you're in the area, please check it out.

Photo credit: World Economic Forum

Iraqi War Widows and Orphans Have Few Options But Prostitution

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-08T09:00:00-08:00

The war in Iraq and the continuation of violence has had devastating effects on Iraqi families, particularly women and children. As is often the case in areas of conflict, the wives and female children of men killed in the war, whether civilians or soldiers, find themselves with no way to support themselves. With no other viable choices, they are forced to turn to prostitution as a source of income.

CNN recently told the story of Wedad, who entered into prostitution after her husband was killed in order to feed herself and her three daughters. Here's Wedad's story, with more after the jump.

Iraqi womens' rights activist Yanar Mohammed believes thousands of women like Wedad are in the sex trade in Iraq because they have no other viable options. Those who are caught are arrested, even though the men who buy them are almost never punished. They are sent to jail for a couple months, and when they get out their pimps are waiting to pick them up and put them back to work. There are no services, no help, no alternatives, and no way out for these women.

War and conflict often reduce women and girls' already limited availability of economic support. Women who lose their male provider in war, female refugees, and internally displaced persons are often pushed into prostitution to feed themselves and their families. In entering the industry, they become vulnerable to all the dangers of prostitution -- contracting HIV and other STDs, rape and sexual assault, physical violence, social contempt, and violence from pimps. These women may be choosing prostitution and not being tricked, forced, or coerced by another person (the benchmark for human trafficking), but if they choice is prostitution or starvation, is that really a choice? It's certainly not an empowering one.

Wedad desperately hopes for a way out of her situation before her daughter gets old enough to understand and figure out what she is doing. But what Wedad and the thousands of women like her really need is a politically stable Iraq with economic opportunities for women and peaceful streets. And that is a cure that goes beyond prostitution or human trafficking.