Change.org's End Human Trafficking Blog

Freedom for the Weekend: Fair Fund

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-06T12:00:00-08:00

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: FAIR Fund

The Bottom Line: FAIR Fund works to prevent human trafficking and sexual violence in the lives of youth, especially girls, around the world. They build the capacity of communities to better identify and assist youth aged 11 to 24 who are at high risk or have been exploited via human trafficking and sexual violence.

What They Do: FAIR Fund's programs include preventing youth trafficking in the greater Washington, DC area, building an international student movement against trafficking in persons, reducing orphan youths' risks toward sexual and labor exploitation in select Eastern European countries, and educating African street girls about how to protect themselves from sexual violence. They also work with college campuses, develop policy, and have skills development programs for teens.

What Can I Do?: You can join their mailing list to learn more. If you live in the DC area, you can also attend any of the upcoming events they are hosting. Or, you can donate online.

Why They Rock: FAIR Fund understands that human trafficking and sexual violence affect young women everywhere, which is why they have programs across Easter Europe and in Washington, DC. Languages and customs may be different, but teens' needs to make a way for themselves in the world is the same.

So now that you've got some basic information on FAIR Fund, 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!

Doctors Arrested for Faking Infants' Deaths to Sell Them

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-06T07:00:00-08:00

Three doctors and one nurse were arrested just outside of Mexico City yesterday for a child trafficking operation that involved fabricating the deaths of newborns and then selling the babies on the black market for profit. Whether the children were sold to parents desperate for a child or for more nefarious purposes is not yet clear. Nor is whether any of the infants were trafficked into the U.S.

What kind of sick and heartless beasts came up with this strategy? Did it start around the water cooler like this:

Evil Doctor 1: Hey, I'd love to make some money to supplement my doctor's salary, which is not quite enough to buy those jet skis. Anyone got any ideas?

Evil Doctor 2: Well, we've got all these babies just lying around the hospital, why don't we try selling some of them?

Evil Nurse: Who wants to buy a baby? Babies are expensive to take care of.

Evil Doctor 2: Oh, lots of people want to buy babies for all sorts of reasons.

Some couples who can't have children on their own get so desperate and frustrated with the adoption system, that they're willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a baby on the black market. Other people buy babies to use them as slaves, abuse them sexually, or harvest their organs.

Evil Doctor 3: But what about the women who come into the hospital to have these children? Won't they wonder what happened to their children?

Evil Doctor 2: We'll tell them their babies are died once we took them to get cleaned up, and if they want to see the body, we'll tell them we already cremated it.

Evil Doctor 3: But won't the mothers be upset that we cremated their dead babies' bodies before talking to them? Won't they try and sue us or something?

Evil Nurse: Come on, this isn't America! Besides, we'll just target poor women without a lot of resources or family support. That way it will be harder for them to try and say something.

Evil Doctor 1: Great ideas, everyone. Now let's start faking the deaths of infants, lying to their grieving mothers, and then selling the babies to the highest bidder, no matter how unscrupulous. This is a good plan and there is no way we'll ever get caught.

Fortunately, the doctors and nurse who developed this trafficking scheme did get caught. They were discovered selling an infant whose mother was told her child died shortly after being born to another woman for $15,000 pesos, or about $1300. Additionally, police discovered that a married couple had paid the hospital to falsify birth records for the child they purchased. This case is another sad example of the ease with which poor women and their children are exploited for profit.

Photo credit: Jorge Ravines Fotografias

Kraft Foods Commits to Buy More Sustainable Cocoa

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-05T13:00:00-08:00

Kraft Foods, makers of Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies (among others) has committed to buy 30,000 tons of Rain Forest Alliance certified cocoa beans to use in their products. In 2005, Kraft bought a smaller amount of certified beans from Cote d'Ivoire, but this move indicates a stronger commitment to fair and sustainable cocoa than ever before. Good job, Kraft Foods, for making a good choice in where your cocoa comes from.

As I've mentioned many times before, child labor, human trafficking, and abuses of workers are rampant in the cocoa industry, especially along the West Coast of Africa. Children enslaved and abused in the cocoa industry are made to work excruciatingly long days, and are often beaten if they try and leave or refuse to work. Many have been forced to pick cocoa with open wounds or covered in their own excrement. The cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast where some of the worst cases of child slavery and labor exploitation have been found are also the world's largest supplier of cocoa, making up 40% of the global market. The cocoa industry needs reform, and it needs it now.

The Rain Forest Alliance is a consumer goods certifying body which is different from Fair Trade, but also seeks to hold corporations to certain standards when it comes to protecting the environment or workers. Their certification covers a full range of worker protection issues including the right to organize; the right to a safe, clean working environment; the right to be paid at least the national minimum wage; dignified housing (including potable water); access to medical care for workers and their families and access to free education for workers' children. When a company like Kraft orders a large quantity of certified cocoa, this makes the certification more desirable for individuals farmers. Thus, they are more likely to change labor practices in order to be in line with the requirements. And Kraft will continue to reward ethical and sustainable farmers by buying their certified cocoa if we reward Kraft by buying their certified chocolate products.

This recent agreement was part of a public-private partnership, known as the "Market-Oriented Promotion of Sustainable Certified Cocoa Production" project. The partnership has enabled six Ivorian cooperatives, representing over 2000 farmers, to gain the Rainforest Alliance Certified(TM) seal. The first crop after the new partnership witnessed better yields and significant productivity gains, in some cases above 50%. The incidence of cocoa 'black pod' disease among workers was also reduced by one third. Overall, farmer incomes have improved from the project. The results speak strongly that the certification process not only helps workers and the environment, it helps farm owners and business owners as well.

Hopefully, Kraft's recent action will act as a catalyst for other companies (I'm looking at you Hershey and Nestle) to make similar strides towards using more certified cocoa, whether it's Fair Trade or Rain Forest Alliance Certified. But in the meantime, I'm going to celebrate this little victory with some delicious, and now more ethical, Oreos.

Photo credit: ericskiff

"No Good Jobs": Sokha and Makara's True Story of Slavery

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-05T07:00:00-08:00

Sokha and Makara's stories were originally collected by Stop the Traffick. In this case, a serious family illness put these young girls at risk for trafficking. Often, when given the choice between sending a child to work and watching another family member die, parents will send their children away with desparte hopes of money. Here is their story:

Sokha and Makara are from Poipet in Cambodia. When they were just 14 and 15 years old, their mother was ill with a liver problem. The family needed money to pay for the medicine to treat her. They also hoped to buy some land to build a home. A man promised good jobs for the girls in nearby Thailand, and offered the family some money if they would let them go. Sokha and Makara were excited at the thought of being able to help the family with the money they earned. The reality turned out to be very different.

The man was a trafficker. There were no ‘good jobs' for the girls in Thailand. Sokha's mother died within a year, and the family couldn't afford to buy the land that they had dreamed of. Sokha, who is now 17, says, ‘I felt cheated. The traffickers used us for slave jobs, and while they earned lots of money, we only got enough to feed ourselves each day.' She explains how she and Makara, 16, were given jobs selling fruit, but it did not pay enough. So they were forced to work even harder and to do work that they didn't enjoy.

Sokha and Makara's story has a happy ending because of the Cambodian Hope Organization (CHO) that works with Tearfund, a relief and development agency. Sokha and Makara's parents met with CHO and gave them photos to pass on to an organization in Thailand that rescues trafficked girls. The girls were found and rescued about a year after their ordeal started.

What is unusual about this story is not that the sisters were trafficked, but that they were kept together for the duration of their enslavement. Many traffickers will try and isolate and disorient victims, which often means cutting them off from friends and family. However, having a sister close by may have been the key to helping these two young women survive slavery.

Photo credit: thomaswanhoff

Victory in Landmark Human Trafficking Civil Case

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-04T13:00:00-08:00

What does justice look like for a survivor of human trafficking? Is it seeing her pimp handcuffed and sent to prison? Is it hearing his abuser sentenced to 10, 20, or 30 years? Is it reuniting with friends and family who were lost? All of these things can be justice for human trafficking survivors, but increasingly survivors are seeking another kind of justice -- cash. Specifically, they are suing their traffickers. And at least in once case in California this week, they are winning.

In what may be the first case of its kind in California, and one of the first in the country, a trafficked domestic worker brought suit against her former employer and was awarded $768,000, including $500,000 in punitive damages. The case stated that an Indonesian businessman brought the survivor Suminarti to Los Angeles to work in his home. The family confiscated Suminarti's passport, withheld all her pay, required her to work 16 hours a day with no days off, and refused to let her pray at a mosque or visit the Indonesian consulate. They abused Suminarti verbally and psychological, and told her to lie and say she was a family member if law enforcement ever visited the house. The family was convicted og the crime of human trafficking, but Suminarti wanted the sort of justice that civil suit could bring.

Her victory is indicative of a number of positive developments in the anti-human trafficking field.

First, the willingness of a jury to believe the reality of modern-day slavery in America and award damages accordingly indicates that public awareness of the issue is working. Secondly, this victory will hopefully encourage more survivors to bring lawsuits against their traffickers. The financial resources a trafficking survivor can gain from litigation can help her educate herself and her family, bring family members to the U.S., or take other steps to rebuild a broken life. Hopefully this victory will also inspire more lawyers to take civil human trafficking cases. Finally, this case has the potential to set legal precedent in California and elsewhere for litigation on behalf of trafficking survivors.

The availability of litigation for trafficking survivors is crucial, especially in situations where criminal prosecution is not possible. However, a the process of bringing suit can often be long and harrowing for the survivors. They are forced to relive their trauma publicly. They sometimes must address criminal histories related or unrelated to the trafficking, such as prostitution and drug use. But for some survivors, none of that matters. They want to hit their trafficker where it hurts, and for most traffickers, their most tender organ is their wallet. Damages can be as much about punishing the trafficker as empowering the survivors. And it looks like this case has done both.

Congratulations to Bet Tzedek, an NGO, and O`Melveny & Myers LLP, a law firm, who tried this case together. I hope this leads to many more legal victories on behalf of trafficking survivors.

Photo credit: hans s

To Better Know a Country: Human Trafficking in South Africa

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-04T07:00:00-08:00

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..... South Africa

Basic Stats

Ranking: Tier 2

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

Political Stability:It seems racial justice is actually good for a country. Who'da thought?

Cash Flow:They are to the rest of Africa what Donald Trump is to me: someone a lot richer who isn't going to give the money away.

Do I Think They Care?: Yes, but they're making a lot of bad policy calls.

Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?

Women:commercial sex, domestic servitude

Girls: commercial sex, domestic servitude, forced marriage, sex tourism

Med: forced labor in mobile factories

Boys:forced street vending, begging, crime, agriculture

Where Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?

Victims are trafficked from South Africa to Europe, Middle East, U.S., .

Victims from Thailand, Congo, India, China, Russia, Ukraine, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe are trafficked to South Africa.

South African victims are trafficked internally, especially from rural to urban areas.

What's Gotta Happen

Pass and enact a prevention of human trafficking bill.

Address demand for commercial sex associate with the 2010 World Cup.

Protect children from sexual exploitation.

What Can I Do

You can support The South African Development Fund, an organization which supports at-risk populations in South Africa, especially women and children.

In summary, South Africa has some very specific policy issues they are grappling with, especially whether or not to legalize prostitution prior to the 2010 World Cup as a tool for reducing human trafficking. Of course, I would strongly advise that a culture of tolerance for prostitution creates a haven for human traffickers and child sex tourists. South Africa also needs to focus on creating better laws to protect children, as the country draws child sex tourists from around the world. They have their hearts in the right place, but need a little push towards better policy. Luckily, I am currently accepting World Cup tickets in exchange for human trafficking policy advice. You know how you can get in touch with me, South Africa.

Photo credit: Randy OHC

Rhode Island Bans Indoor Prostitution

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-03T14:36:00-08:00

The end has finally come to a long and often malicious battle in Rhode Island over a 30-year-old legal loophole which allowed indoor prostitution to legally occur. Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri signed the bill into law today, and it is effective immediately. The debate which took place around this bill and the Rhode Island prostitution law ended up being about far more than just legalese and statutory distinctions. It encompassed the growing debate about the relationship between human trafficking and prostitution.

To say the personal attacks that have been broadcast through the blogosphere during this debate escalated to vicious is like saying people had strong feelings about Obama's election. Both the pro-legalizing indoor prostitution camps and the pro-making indoor prostitution illegal camps did their fair share of demonizing the other side. Those who fought to keep the loophole in the law were accused of being unsympathetic to human trafficking victims, shells for the commercial sex industry, and anti-feminist. Those who fought to close the loophole were called autocratic moralists, Bush administration cronies, and anti-feminists. If you listen to the rhetoric that went on, is sounds like the biggest group of misogynists to ever fight for the rights and welfare of women. At one point I was called an "intellectual malcontent," which I believe was intended as an insult, but which I consider somewhat of a compliment (I strive to be intellectual and I'm am certainly not content with the prevalence of human trafficking and sexual violence against women in the world). But the mud-slinging was more than just meanness, it was symptomatic of how long before today, this debate stopped being about Rhode Island and its residents, and started being about polarizing and conflicted ideologies on how best to protect women.

I've made no secret that I believe that human trafficking thrives in areas with legal and heavily tolerated commercial sex markets, nor that many, many women enter into prostitution as children, due to coercion, or because of a lack of other options. So it won't come as a surprise that I support Gov. Carcieri's signing the bill into law, and that I anticipate it will help protect women and children from exploitation. But it would be naive to think the broader debate is over now that the Rhode Island question is settled. And it would be negligent to think that the next debate should also devolve into the level of petty name-calling and unreasonable accusations that this one did. These questions are not going away of their own accord, and all of us who care about women -- women in prostitution, women who are victims of trafficking, women in need of economic options -- owe it to them to not lose sight of our common goals in the darkness of our differences.

So please, see this message as an open invitation to anyone who was dissapointed by the Rhode Island decision and wants to have a respectful discussion about the relationship between human trafficking and prostitution and how that affects or should affect legislation. Let's do something truly radical to change the world together: let's listen to each other. Let's listen and learn how we can be better advocates, and how we can create better policies. We cannot hide from each other any more than the women we try and help can hide from violent pimps or violent police men or violent clients or the violence of poverty. And we cannot afford to lose ourselves in petty insults when there is so much work still to be done.

This blog will always be a space where people can respectfully discuss these important issues, even when we disagree. All I ask is a willingness to listen.

Photo credit: keepwaddling1

Red Light Special: Vanilla Citrus Hand Lotion Is Luxury Without Guilt

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-03T06:00:00-08:00

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… Vanilla Citrus Hand Lotion

Keep away the chapped skin of winter with this yummy vanilla citrus hand lotion from the Not for Sale Campaign. Not only will it keep your skin soft and supple, but it is produced by women in the U.S. who have been victims of violence and human trafficking. It's a bottle full of healing for your skin, and a whole lot more healing for their lives.

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://notforsale895.corecommerce.com/Bath-amp-Body/Citrus-Vanilla-Hand-Lotion-p58.html

Zimbabwe Still Exporting Blood Diamonds

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-02T15:48:00-08:00

The folks over at the Kimberly Process certification scheme, the main body responsible for certifying diamonds as "conflict-free", have threatened to suspend Zimbabwe's participation in the program for six months. It appears Zimbabwe is still seeing a great deal of human rights abuses, exploitation, and slavery in the diamond industry.

The Kimberley Process (KP) is a coalition of governments, diamond industry representatives, and civil society stakeholders, which was created to stem the flow of conflict diamonds from countries in Africa to global markets. Rough diamonds have been used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments, and the diamond industry has become notorious for exploitation and slavery, especially of children. The trade conflict diamonds has fuelled devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone and resulted in the abuse of thousands of workers and children. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) imposes extensive requirements on participating members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free’.

Zimbabwe's eastern diamond fields are the areas currently being questioned by the KP. Human Rights Watch has accused the military of killing a number of diamond diggers in the area and using the gems recovered from the dead diggers to line their own pockets. Zimbabwe is also accused of not having stringent enough regulations in place to prevent abuse in the diamond industry. A KP inspector recently recommended that Zimbabwe be barred from importing or exporting rough diamonds within the Process for at least six months "until such time as a KP team determines that minimum standards have been met." Such a ban would be a huge blow to the diamond industry in that country, but might also allow KP members to put the additional regulations in place to help prevent exploitation in the industry.

It's comforting to know the folks at KP are actively monitoring all of their members, and that they aren't hesitating to call one out for failing to live up to the rigorous standards KP insists on. But it's still important to know where the diamonds you buy have come from and how or if they are certified. You can find a wide selection of Fair Trade diamond and gold jewelry at Brilliant Earth's website.

Photo credit: swamibu

Bacha Bazi: Afghan Tradition Expolits Young Boys

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-02T06:00:00-08:00

Two subjects within the field of human trafficking are too often ignored: cultural traditions of slavery and the sale of boys in the commercial sex industry. CNN recently shed light on both of these in an article about the Afghan tradition of bacha bazi, or "boy play". It's a cultural tradition for many powerful Afghan men, but it's modern-day slavery for the boys who live through it.

Bacha bazi is illegal in Afghanistan, but the practice is still thriving. Boys are taken from their families at a young age and sold or given to wealthy and powerful business men, politicians, and military commanders. The boys are dressed in women's clothing and makeup and forced to dance to entertain their master and his guests. They are also forced to perform sex acts on their master or his guests. The few boys who are able to escape their slavery have a difficult time ever making a living doing anything else. They are forever branded in society as a bacha bereesh, or a "boy without a beard," a boy who dances and dresses as a woman.

Their plight is not unlike that of women forced into sexual performance or prostitution, who also have a difficult time being accepted into society and finding work after their ordeal. Bacha bazi boys often return to the industry even after they have left, because they have no other means to support themselves. Women who have been forced into commercial sex often do the same. Perhaps so many similarities exist because bacha bazi feminizes these boys in order to degrade them. By forcing them to perform in women's clothes and by raping them, this tradition not only seeks to humiliate these boys for the pleasure of wealthy men, but also to reinforce the idea that women are inferior and for a boy to have feminine affectations is degrading for him. It's a window into the severe gender inequality that pervades Afghanistan.

What I found most interesting about bacha bazi is the prevalence of a tradition based around same sex rape and gender-bending performance in a severely homophobic country like Afghanistan.

I don't pretend to understand the disconnect that must occur in someone's mind to allow them to criminally prosecute individuals for identifying as LGBT or having a consensual same sex relationship and then forcing young boys into prostitution with grown men. My only guess is that the practice feminizes the boys so much, their abusers no longer view the sex act as taking place with a boy, but rather with a girl. But I would be interested to learn more about how this practice has come to thrive in a modern-day Afghanistan.

Human trafficking and modern-day slavery are often hidden behind the veil of cultural traditions, whether that's bacha bazi or servile marriage or debt bondage. But slavery has no place as a cultural institution in any society. We have won the battle to make slavery illegal in every country in the world. Now, comes the harder part, where we also must make is socially and culturally unacceptable. Otherwise, exploitative practices like bacha bazi will continue in shadow markets all over the world.

Photo credit: hamed masoumi

Where to Buy Fair Trade Winter Accessories

Amanda Kloer — 2009-11-01T08:00:00-08:00

Winter is sneaking up on us like a spy in silk stockings, and bringing with it those icy winds that require hats, gloves, and scarves. But before you stock up on winter accessories, take a few moments to consider the people who are making you warm. Buying Fair Trade products to keep you cozy is a great way to support companies who are taking measures to prevent slavery and exploitation of workers. Plus, the Internet is full of great options. Here are a few:

World of Good Ebay Store: From sweatshop-free wool socks to simple hemp gloves to colorful handmade mittens, this is your Fair Trade Winter hookup. As a bonus, you can also buy through individual sellers who make a living selling Fair Trade and environmentally conscious products. Also, Original Good, which is part of World of Good, has a huge selection of scarves, though they're the kind that are probably better in warmer climates.

Pristine Planet: They have a selection of Fair Trade and eco-friendly products. with a huge selection of scarves. Some are the keep-you-toasty kind and some are good for Winter in Dallas or Atlanta.

Ethica Accessories: Based in Australia, this company was founded by a group of Sisters of St. Joseph who wanted to make a difference. They sell handmade, Fair Trade products from Peru, including Alpaca hats and other Winter snugglies. They also have products for kids.

Eka: This UK fashion line is all Fair Trade and features cute vintage-style Winter hats inspires by the Great Gatsby and Rita Hayworth, among other. These would make a great holiday gift for anyone who likes both fashion and justice. I would totally live in these hats year round if they didn't make me sweat in July.

Vaute Couture: If you're the creative type, you can design (or ask others to design) your own made-to-order Winter coat. All the materials they use are vegan, green, and Fair Trade materials, and the coats are assembled in Chicago by workers paid a living wage. It's high fashion with a high purpose.

There are a number of other sources of Fair Trade Winter accessories, so if you know of any, please leave them in the comments. If we take the time to really think about out purchases, we can keep warm this winter without leaving workers in developing countries out in the cold.

Photo credit: mahalie

10 Human Trafficking Horror Films

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-31T09:00:00-07:00

Human trafficking can be scary. So in honor of Halloween today, I've compiled a list for ten horror films that aren't about human trafficking, but could be based on their titles. Here are some new synopses for the modern-day slavery centric plots of these classic horror flicks. And, yes, the tag lines are cheesy on purpose, just like most films in the genre. Don't try to find these on Netflix, friends. They exist only in my head. And while these synopses are works of fiction, they are heavily based on reality.

10 Human Trafficking Horror Films

10. Nightmare on Elm Street: It can happen in small town America.

Yolanda and Gina were 14-year-olds the evening they took a walk on Elm Street. What could ever happen in their sleepy small town? A car pulled up next to them with the older brother of a friend in it. He offered them a ride, and what ensued for the girls was a whirlwind tour of the underground world of child sex trafficking in the U.S.

9. The Ring: Money can't buy you love ... but it can buy abuse.

Nikola joined a mail order bride agency in the hopes of getting out of Moldova. So when she met Frank, she thought he was her ticket to a life of prosperity in America. Little did she know, Frank was waiting at home for his "obedient" wife with a list of demands and a belt.

8. The Wicker Man: He'll break you like a reed.

The wicker man promised Fransisco a good job in his factory making furniture. It was only a couple hundred miles away, and Fransisco could send money home to support his family. But the factory was actually a slave compound and Fransisco had unknowingly entered into debt bondage. Can he escape without being caught and beaten to death?

7. Rosemary's Baby: Now I lay you down to a life slavery.

Rosemary was raped at age 14 and didn't know what to do when she got pregnant. She met a kind woman who offered to let Rosemary live with her while she was pregnant and adopt the baby out to a good family. But Rosemary begins to notice some strange happenings around the house, and soon finds herself deep in the world of the underground economy of child trafficking, trying to get herself and her child out alive.

6. Amityville Horror: Sometimes people do horrible things.

When Maggie and Peter moved to Amityville, she thought the quite town would be the perfect place to raise a family. That is, until Peter was caught buying sex from underage girls in prostitution on Craigslist. Can their marriage survive his buying and abusing human trafficking victims?

5. Rear Window: Let's meet in real life ... and be together ... forever.

Madison met Brandon in a chat room. He was a few years older than her -- she was 13 and he was 22 -- but he was the first boy who really understood her. So when he asked her to meet him in person, she never hesitated to climb right out her bedroom window and into his car. Madison's picture showed up on an escort service website a few days later. Can the police and her parents find her before its too late?

4. Seven: Seven cents an hour, seven hours a week.

Carlos followed his cousin's advice and took a job in Mexico on a seasonal berry farm. And then he found out what the working conditions were like: 17 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 7 cents an hour. Carlos tried to get out of the bogus contract he'd signed, but the boss convinced him that he'd be deported back to El Salvador if he did. Carlos must now try and find someone to help him avoid a lifetime of indentured servitude.

3. The Changeling: He's not what he seems.

Jung was thrilled to find a traditional, manly husband at first, until he began hitting her. The abuse escalated, especially when he lost his job. And when money got tight, he told Jung she had to prostitute herself in order to help them make ends meet. Will Jung's community shun her for wanting to leave an abusive and exploitative marriage? Will they believe what is happening to her even though her husband is an upstanding member of the community?

2. 28 Days Later: She went to be a student, but she became a slave.

Haiba was excited when her distant relatives in France offered to send her to school in exchange for a little help with the household chores. They were in France illegally, so Haiba had to travel secretly, by boat. 28 days after she left her home, she arrived in France to discover she was not to be a student, but a slave. Will Haiba ever get an education?

1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers:They're coming for you ... and they have guns.

Taji was only 9 when the body snatchers, the men who kidnap boys to become child soldiers, came to Uganda. His mother cried, but she didn't dare try and prevent them from taking him. Taji had no idea, when they first gave him a gun, what horrors his new life as a soldier would hold. Or that it would now be much, much shorter.

Freedom for the Weekend: Bet Tzedek

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-30T12:00:00-07:00

This Week's Profile: Bet Tzedek

The Bottom Line: Bet Tzedek is one of the nation’s premier legal services organizations, providing free assistance to more than 10,000 people of every racial and religious background at its headquarters in the Fairfax area and its office in North Hollywood and at more than 30 senior centers throughout Los Angeles County. They serve everyone from human trafficking victims to holocaust survivors to victims of consumer fraud.

What They Do: Through their employment rights program, Bet Tzedek helps ensure workers get the wages that are owed to them and prevent human trafficking. They represent workers regardless of immigration status who have been illegally denied wages.

What Can I Do?: If you're a law student, you can apply for a summer externship or clerkship. If you aren't but live in the Los Angeles area, you can volunteer. You can also donate through their website.

Why They Rock: Immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. Groups like Bet Tzedek protect their legal rights.

So now that you've got some basic information on Bet Tzedek, 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!

Great Idea: Pilates for Hope

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-30T07:00:00-07:00

I love it when people smarter and more creative than me have great ideas and post them on the inter-webs. That means I get to share those ideas with (and hopefully inspire) you! And some of my favorite ideas are when people turn their skills and passions into fundraisers for human trafficking. A couple months ago, we met a woman whose love of baking pies helped her fight slavery. And next week, an LA-based pilates studio will team up with Project Exodus for Pilates for Hope to raise money and awareness for human trafficking. Now I'm the kinda gal who chooses pie over pilates every time (to my belts' detriment), but an exercise-based fundraiser is great idea for a number of reasons.

First of all, Pilates for Hope is the sort of event you can duplicate in your town with a local fitness club or studio -- whether it's pilates, yoga, kickboxing, kung fu, spinning, or synchronized swimming. One of the great components of this fundraiser is that it offers private instruction. This is a tempting offer for novices like me, who are worried about showing up to a group class where everyone has her legs around her head and panicking that I can barely touch my toes. Plus, the lure of private instruction in any new activity can entice people new to both the exercise and the issue. And this fundraiser also offers massages and other treats to get people in the door.

But perhaps the most creative and practical part of this fundraiser is the way they involved a community partner that, on the surface, has nothing to do with human trafficking. At least, I've never heard of a trafficked pilates instructor before. By including community partners that can become invested in this issue, you are broadening your potential audience. You're also helping to draw attention to a local business. So really, everyone wins in this model of fundraising.

Putting together a succesful fundraiser is not a blindfolded and barefoot trip up Kilimajaro. It does take a little work and dedication, but it's a very attainable goal. Attainable like finishing your first pilates class or baking a delicious pie. And it's a goal that, when you reach it, feels great to more than just you. It feels great to all the abolitionists working to end human trafficking who rely on your innovation and support to continue to free slaves.

Photo credit: khatawat

End Human Trafficking's Top 10 Greatest Hits

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-29T13:00:00-07:00

In celebration of End Human Trafficking's 500th blog post this week, I've complied a list of End Human Trafficking's Top 10 Greatest Hits -- the ten most popular posts. It's interesting for me to see what you, the readers, have enjoyed engaging in the most. I hope to provide you with more of what you like. I would love your thoughts on this list and any suggestions you have for making the next 500 posts on the End Human Trafficking blog even better.

10. Sex Slave Training Video Game For Sale Under New Euphemism: I find a whole lot of disturbing nooks and crannies of the Internet in my research, but this has to be one of the most egregious ones. It's a video game that actually teaches young men how to train women as sex slaves. I wish I was making this crap up.

9. "Slave Next Door" Exposes U.S. Gov't Sanctioned Slavery: If you think the government stopped sanctioning slavery in the 1800s, you haven't read this book yet. And you should. The Slave Next Door tells many compelling stories of modern-day slavery in America, including one about U.S. government contractors using trafficking victims to build structures for the military in 2003. If you paid taxes in 2003, then that was your money they used to support slavery.

8. Children Are Sold for Sex in America's Capitol: My good friend and colleague, Melissa Snow, points out the disturbing fact that in Washington, DC, the capitol of the U.S., children as young as 12 are being sold for sex on the street, just blocks from the White House. President Obama, this is literally slavery happening in your back yard. It's time to do something about the taint of modern-day slavery in the U.S.

7. 7 Ways to Fight Slavery at the Grocery Store: Human trafficking seems like a huge and daunting issue, but we can make a serious impact as abolitionist with the small decisions we make every day, like what to buy at the grocery store. I list seven common items that are often tainted with slavery somewhere in the chain of production and alternatives to those items which are better for workers. The choices we make make the difference.

6. Diners Club Offers Payment Plan for Vietnamese Brides: I was outraged when I heard that Diners Club was, in effect, allowing men to put women on layaway when using their cards with a mail order bride service based in Vietnam. Mail order bride and international marriage broker agencies have extremely high instances of human trafficking, especially when unregulated. But you sent in hundreds of letters and Diners Club listened -- they ended the promotion. For many of you, this was your first major victory through Change.org.

5. A Side of McSlavery with That?: Millions of Americans eat at McDonald's, and most of them have no idea where the tomatoes McDonald's serves come from. Some of them come from Florida, where farmworkers in slavery or slave-like conditions toil to collect them. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is making tremendous progressive in getting companies like McDonald's and others to pay a fair price for tomatoes, thanks in part to all your efforts.

4. Prostitution and Trafficking: A Policy Debate: In what was probably one of the most controversial and comment-generating posts I've ever seen, I debated a frequent reader about how prostitution policy and the legalization or decriminalization of prostitution relates to human trafficking. The debate sparked discussion. And it showed that people who feel differently and passionately about this issue can engage in a respectful dialogue about the best interests of women.

3. The Real Faces of Prostitution: Of all the topics I've ever written about, I struggled with this one the most. Ultimately, I published and commented on these mug shots, which are public record, to show what prostitution can do to women, even those who enter it voluntarily. Showing their faces was a judgement call I've often questioned, but I stand by my decision to share the cruel reality of prostitution with this community of activists, so we can better understand and address it.

2. Teen Trafficking Survivor Gets Life Without Parole: When you've been working in human trafficking as long as I have, not much breaks your heart any more. But this case of a girl who was trafficked at 12 and killed her pimp to escape at 16 did. Since I published this story, at least one person a day has commented or written to me asking what they can do to help Sarah Kruzan. I've talked to her lawyers, and they've said that it would be better to wait until they have filed a legal action before we do anything. Thanks for your support, but please sit tight. I will let you all know the moment we as a community can be helpful to Sarah.

1.Department of Labor Releases List of Slave-Made Goods:

After several thousand of you wrote in asking for this list, the Department of Labor released it. The findings that a number of consumer goods are made by slaves is not surprising. But the detailed list of what goods from what countries are made by child and/or forced labor is incredibly helpful. We've just really begun to understand the full extent of that information.

Thanks for hanging in with me and End Human Trafficking so far, and I look forward to all the great social change you'll create over the course of the next 500 posts.

Photo credit: Brenda Annerl

What Hillary Clinton Should Say In Pakistan This Week

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-29T07:00:00-07:00

Hillary Clinton is on day two of her official three day visit to Pakistan, the first of her career as Secretary of State. I'm pretty sure that while she's there, she'll remember to talk about terrorism and the Taliban. I hope she might even slip in a comment or two about women's rights. But will Clinton mention the rampant debt bondage and slavery that makes modern Pakistan look more like 11th century Europe than a modern nation? And next to terrorism, is that even important?

To borrow some terrorism language, the situation of debt bondage in Pakistan is quickly deteriorating from a Code Orange to a Code This-Whole-Freakin'-Country-Is-Getting-Dragged-Back-Into-the-Dark-Ages. For example, according to TIME Magazine, at least three landlords have held as many as 170 bonded farmworkers at gunpoint on their estates since late September. Most traffickers have tools other than guns to keep workers enslaved, but the fact that these traffickers can hold their victims at gunpoint for months with no government interference speaks to the impotence of the Pakistani government in addressing debt bondage. In Pakistan today, 10% of men own 90% of the land. The vast majority of farmers are somehow indentured, and many of them are caught in false debts and held under the threat of violence -- they are slaves. Debt bondage is not the exception in Pakistan. It would be the rule, if there was any system of enforcement.

The U.S. government hasn't addressed this issue with Pakistan, in part because the Taliban, Al Queda, and all the other violent and extremist goings-on look like a much bigger and more important issue than some farmers not getting their due. Well I've got news for Secretary Clinton and all the foreign policy wons who think they can ignore slavery -- ending slavery in Pakistan will go a long way towards reducing terrorism and creating a peaceful, stable Pakistan.

Here's how it works:

The feudalist system that exists in Pakistan currently is both a cause and a symptom of the political instability there. Debt bondage, corruption, exploitation, and slavery are rampant because there is no stable mechanism to enforce the rule law. In turn, when people are exploited, enslaved, and impoverished by corrupt officials, extremist factions become more attractive and they are more likely to undermine what rule of law exists. This breeds both the social and political chaos that allows radical Taliban leaders to hide in and control large chunks of the country. If Pakistan had a free working class making a living wage, the Taliban could not have gained so much strength as they have today because they would have had many fewer supporters. Slavery and terrorism in Pakistan are connected, and reducing one will help you reduce the other.

So, Secretary Clinton, what you should say in Pakistan this week is that America supports the freedom and prosperity of the Pakistani people. That slavery is unacceptable, and that everyone has a right to freely choose and be paid for work. We cannot hope to ignore slavery and battle terrorism any more than we can hope to ignore oil consumption and battle climate change or ignore fast food advertising and battle obesity. A stable Pakistan with little love for extremists is a free Pakistan.

And, Secretary Clinton, if you'd like to chat about this in person, I have no major plans this weekend and have always wanted to see Islamabad.

Photo credit: US Mission Canada

Sex Buys Survival for Runaway Kids

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-28T13:00:00-07:00

Nothing calls attention to an issue like an article in the New York Times, and this time the media giant has deigned to shine its blinding spotlight upon domestic minor sex trafficking -- sorta. Never once in the article does the author use the term "trafficking victim" the describe the children in question -- American kids who run away from home and end up in prostitution either for survival or under pimp control. But legally in the U.S., any child under 18 involved in commercial sex is a trafficking victim. Semantics aside, though, the issue of American youth coerced and forced into prostitution by pimps is a significant and growing problem.

Author Ian Urbina gives prostituted runaway youth a face in Roxanne L., a 16-year-old girl from Queens who was picked up for prostitution. Dan Garrabrant, the detective questioning her, has only one hour before he must turn her over to social services. If in that hour he can get her to admit that she has a pimp, he can get her off the street and into victim services. He tries everything -- pushing, commiserating, talking about other stuff, offering safety -- but nothing can get her to admit that she has a pimp. His initials are tatooed on her body, but she denies he even exists overt and over. At the end of the interview, Garrabrant is forced to release Roxanne to a youth shelter. Her body is found several days later, killed by the pimp she insisted never existed. Roxanne is not the first, nor will she be the last, child to die at the hands of her pimp.

Out of the 1.6 million children who run away from home each year, about one third (or over 530,000) trade sex acts for tools of survival like food, shelter, warmth, drugs to feed an addiction, or the promise of protection and companionship.

On average, a child is approached by a pimp within her first 72 hours on the street. Pimps know what to look for in a potential victim. They like teens who have already engaged in survival sex, because they are often easier to groom for more formal prostitution. They also look for girls with low self-esteem, who have nowhere else to go, and who have histories of rape or abuse. It's easier to break a girl down if she's already a little broken, they reason. The pimps begin by showing affection, as grand as the promise of marriage or as simple as a meal at McDonalds. At first the sex is consensual, perhaps even affectionate. But soon, the pimp begins the process known as "turning out" a girl, or sending her out onto the streets. If she's new to prostitution, he might ask her to start small by having sex with his friends for money. He might tell her what she has (her body, her sexuality) is so valuable, it's a crime to give it away for free. He might tell her that they've run out of money, and if she loves him, she'll do this for him. And once a girl is "turned out" and turned into a trafficking victim, she is dangerously and deeply entrenched.

So why do pimps prey on teen runaways? In part because they are easier to manipluate. But a huge part of pimps' motivation is that these children fetch a higher price from buyers than adult women do. Men are not just willing to may to have sex with a child -- they are actively seeking it out and paying high premiums for the opportunity. There is such a sense of male entitlement in society and the ojectification and commodification of female bodies has become so common, that men can see children as nothing more than a tool for their pleasure. A series of holes to rent for a few minutes. These men don't care that they are violating a child's autonomy, reducing her humanity, and turning her into a play thing. They don't care about anything but getting off. And they think, as men, getting off is their right.

Yes, we need the pimps behind bars and at-risk girls in prevention programs. But the crux of this issue, the reason that runaway children become trafficking victims, is that men are willing to pay to rape them. The buyers demand the "products", they finance the pimps, and they create the economy of child prostitution. Think of the statistics this way: if the 530,000 children who exchange sex for items of value each year only do it 5 times (a conservative estimate since many of them are in prostitution for years), that's over 2.5 miliion men a year buying sex with children. If buying trafficked kids were a disease, that number would make this an epidemic. And instead of reading a solitary New York Times article about it, we'd be desperately looking for a cure.

Photo credit: w.marsh

To Better Know a Country: Human Trafficking in Thailand

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-28T07:00:00-07:00

This Week's Country..... Thailand

Basic Stats

Ranking: Tier 2

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

Political Stability: Solid as a rock, just as long as no one tries to end the rampant corruption that holds the system together

Cash Flow: Best in the region, though tourism and sex tourism are a big part of that

Do I Think They Care?: It's hard to turn down the huge influx of Western money that lax prostitution and child protection laws entice, even when it's the right thing to do.

Who Are the Victims and What Are They Doing?

Women:commercial sex, forced labor, domestic servitude

Girls: commercial sex, forced labor, domestic servitude, begging, sex tourism

Med: forced labor

Boys: commercial sex, forced labor in fishing and agriculture, domestic servitude, begging, sex tourism

Where Are They Coming From and Where Are They Going?

Victims are trafficked from Thailand to Taiwan and Bahrain.

Victims from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, China, Vietnam, Russia, and Uzbekistan to Thailand.

Thai victims are trafficked internally, especially from rural to urban areas.

What's Gotta Happen

Investigate labor trafficking as well as sex trafficking.

Prevent adult victims from being confined to shelters against their will.

Educate workers, especially migrant workers, on their rights.

What Can I Do

You can support Baan Kredrakarn, and organization which provides shelter for women and children who have been victims of human trafficking in Thailand.

In summary, the commercial sex industry, both the voluntary and involuntary sectors, is a huge part of Thailand's growing economy. While the government has taken some important steps and passed some strong legislation to prevent human trafficking, they are fighting an uphill economic battle. Thailand has become a stereotype for human trafficking, but in this case the stereotype is grounded in reality. The Thai government, Thai people, and the rest of the world need to stand together to say and support Thailand's economic growth through other means.

Photo credit: flydime

101 Things to Be for Halloween Other Than a Pimp

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-27T13:00:00-07:00

Here's how my Halloween usually goes: go out with friends, run into a guy dressed as a pimp, proceed to corner the pimp and explain why his costume is inappropriate and offensive. Yep -- I'm pretty much a buzz-kill. I would love to have a conflict-free Halloween this year (and one where my friends don't ditch me), but that's only going to happen if no one dresses up in costumes that glamorize pimping. Pimps are people who exploit women. Period. Yet Halloween glamorizes pimps like no other holiday. Maybe it's because their stereotypical attire makes an outlandish costume. Maybe it's because they are an easily recognizable part of American culture. There have been pimp costumes available on the Internet for a long time, but now even your dog can be a pimp. And as Kat over at Polaris Project points out, so can your pumpkin.

I know coming up with a Halloween costume is hard, so to help you out, I've provided 101 ideas for cosutmes that don't glorify criminals who rape women and sell them like objects. If you're thinking of dressing like a pimp, pick one of these instead, especially if you live in the DC area. Because you don't want to meet me and my feminist literature in a dark alley on Halloween night.

101 Things to Be for Halloween that Aren't a Pimp

NASCAR driver

Wizard with a pegleg

Amelia Earheart

Dinosaur

Cat in a litterbox

Zombie lumberjack

Your mom

Flapper

Harlem Globetrotter

Wall-E

Chuck Norris

Drunk robot

Pancake

Simpson's character

Golfer

Sarah Palin

King of Spades

Slutty panda

Keg of beer

Wind up penguin toy

Hipster

Michael Jackson

Bunch of grapes

Wizard with an expensive prosthetic leg

Party animal

George W. Bush

Ghost eating a muffin

Little Orphan Annie

Sexy or not-so-sexy librarian

Voltran

Waldo

Peanut M&Ms

Mummy

Tooth fairy

Cop with a mohawk

Ultimate frisbee player

Bernie Madoff

Harry Potter

An underpaid babysitter

Sexy Abraham Lincoln

Starfish

Grasshopper with anxiety disorder

Someone else's mom

Peter Pan

Bee keeper

Cookie Monster

Drunk jerk at the bar

Marathon runner

Naked skydiver

Feminist Rapunzel who made him take the stairs

iPod commercial

The bartender's mom

A vampire from Twilight or True Blood

A stick

Santa Claus

Frodo Baggins

Dishwasher

Shifty-eyed chipmunk

Scarlet fever

Marie Antoinette

Rabbit

Bag of jelly beans

Nina, Pinta, and/or Santa Maria

The Big Bad Wolf in grandma's mu-mu

Detective

Break dancer

Uncertain pie

A maid of any nationality other than French

The guy from "The Wrestler"

A Trans-Am

Pony

Sack of bricks

The cute kid from Where the Wild Things Are

Christian Amanpour

Ants at a picnic

Michael Moore

Charles in Charge

Hobo who reads Chaucer

Carnie (Wilson or the profession)

Magic bean

Cheerleader

Elvis

Robot Chicken

Abominable Snowman

Half angel, half devil

Dreidel

Batman

A rouge fisherman with poor night vision

Pedicurist

Banana

Vietnam protester

Shooting star

Man on horseback

Spock

Don and Betty Draper

Walnut grove

Adam Lambert

Unicorn on steroids

3 dollar bill

Witch with buckteeth

The Gosselin Family

Now, you have no excuse to be a pimp this Halloween. So have fun this weekend, be safe, and if you see someone dressed as a pimp, tell him to read this blog next year.

Photo credit: bovinemagnet

Red Light Special: Travel in Ethical Style

Amanda Kloer — 2009-10-27T07:00:00-07:00

This Week’s Red Light Special…Luxury Travel Set

Travel can be exhausting, but you can arrive at your destination refreshed with this beautiful travel set made by trafficking survivors. The set includes a neck pillow, eye mask, and travel bag for cosmetics or toiletries and comes in orange or purple. With so much holiday travel looming before you, what better way to treat yourself or a friend than with a relaxing journey.

You can buy this item from the link above, or at http://store.madebysurvivors.com/Luxury-Travel-Set;jsessionid=0a0101421f43dd5e4e1db5d54da18ac1e3d41e4d592e.e3eSc3iSaN0Le34Pa38Ta38QbN10

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

If you know of an organization or business which you’d like to see financially rewarded for helping trafficking victims, let me know!