Human Trafficking in Asia and the Pacific
Remembering Why Laura Ling and Euna Lee Were At the N. Korean Border
Published August 06, 2009 @ 07:29AM PT
The scenes of tearful reunion between journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee and their families yesterday, silhouetted against the stoic form of Bill Clinton, were moving to say the least. After months of captivity and living in fear of a sentence of 12 years in a forced labor camp, we all breathed a sigh of relief when the journalists came home. But let's not forget why Ling and Lee were captured in March- they were reporting on human trafficking across the Chinese-North Korean border.
The cross-border trafficking between China and North Korean primarily affects women and girls. They are sold as brides and forced into serviles marriages. Some North Korean women are promised greater job opportunities and education in China, along with freedoms not granted in North Korea. Too often, those jobs are forced prostitution or domestic servitude. Women in this region of the world are incredibly vulnerable to trafficking, due to the dire economic situations many of them face and the heavy corruption and criminal activity in the region.
Such cross-border trafficking between two countries is not unusual, but the situation between China and North Korea is even more complicated by the fact that both countries deny there is a serious problem with human trafficking over the border. Corruption among border officials in the region is high. Even the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof has speculated that Ling and Lee were sold by their guide to a North Korean border official, and that their guide tricked them into crossing the border. Fighting cross-border trafficking is hard enough when both countries admit the problem and take steps to address it. But in this case, denial is a river that runs across East Asia.
So as we celebrate Lee and Ling's safe returns, let us not forget why they suffered months of fear and imprisonment- to discover and report the truth about human trafficking. Let us also not forget that while they are thankfully safe at home with their families, thousands of women and girls in China and North Korea have been torn away from theirs. These women are imprisoned in brothels, homes, marriages, and workplaces. They too are scared and uncertain, Like Ling and Lee were, and wondering when they will see their families and friends again.
Who will help these women, the ones who are not yet home safe? Will it once again be Bill Clinton?
Or will it be you?
Sex Slave Training Video Game For Sale Under New Euphemism
Published August 05, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
Earlier this year, women's rights blogger Jen brought you a great story about Amazon.com's refusal to sell the Japanese video game Rapelay, where the main character/player is a stalker and rapist. That company is still selling rape games, plus games focused on "sexual slave training." To skirt regulations, however, they've just given the games new, more euphemistic names.
The website BGamebox which sells these games via download to home computer has recently "removed" the offending categories, but in a Craigslistesque move is just going to rename them. The "ryoujoku" (rape) category has been renamed the "Platinum" category and the and "choukyou" (sexual slave training) category is now the "Thoroughbred" category. They're also renaming individual games. For example, "Gang Raped by the Entire Village: Girls Covered in Milky Liquid has become the slightly-tamer sounding The Trap Set by the Entire Village: Bodies Covered in Milky Liquid. Wow, that new title leaves me totally wondering what on Earth that liquid could be! The content of the games, remains the same.
The fact that these video games, which train players (often young men) how to rape and abuse women and train them as sex slaves, are for sale is bad enough. But these new cleaned up titles mean than now they might be stumbled upon by someone looking for a much less nefarious game. A kid looking for a video game about horses now has a chance of finding one about training women to be sex slaves! How could this possibly be considered an improvement? All this change is doing is marketing exploitative, x-rated video games to unsuspecting audiences.
I did a quick search on Amazon.com for video games and "thoroughbred" and "platinum", and found nothing but games about horses and war, so it looks like Amazon.com is still seeing though the ruse. But the thought of video games that encourage rape and trafficking of women and girls are available to teen boys online is a disturbing one.
Image from escapistmagazine.com
Italian Trafficking Ring Busted, 17 Arrested
Published July 30, 2009 @ 08:02AM PT
Italian law enforcement agents are patting themselves on the back today after busting a huge country-wide and international human trafficking ring. Police have arrested 17 men on charges of human trafficking and aiding illegal immigration.
This particular trafficking ring brought men from Asia, primarily Bangladesh and Pakistan, into Italy to work in agriculture. The men had to pay 10,000 Euros to their captors in order to be smuggled into the country and placed in a agricultural job. Afterwards, they found they had a debt which could not be paid off.
This story is a great example of how sometimes international trafficking rings are highly specialized, moving people from one country into one country to work in one industry. A specialized criminal enterprise such as this one can be easier to operate, because you can perfect your techniques and pay off a minimal number of corrupt officials in order to succeed. It's also important to keep in mind that several human trafficking operations can be taking place in the same country at the same time. If they move in different industries, they may not know about each other. Apparently, this ring was operating for years. Here are some of the other, unrelated operations which existed simultaneously:
- Women and girls from Albania were brought in to Italy via boat and trafficked into commercial sex.
- Nigerian women were brought in via Spain and trafficked into Italian brothels and private homes as domestic servants.
- Chinese men and women were trafficked in Italy in forded labor.
- Roma children were trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced begging.
The kicker is, Italy actually has it's act together as a country and is identifying and prosecuting trafficking. And if all these unrelated trafficking rings can operate in a wealthy, educated, politically motivated country like Italy, just think what they can do in poor countries like Bangladesh and Bolivia. Or developing countries like Honduras and Namibia. Or dictatorial countries like Burma and North Korea. This list of co-occuring trafficking rings would be much longer.
National political will, national resources, and training and education for law enforcement remain some of the best tools we have for combating trafficking. Congratulations to Italy for their recent success.
Image from animalphotos.info
Interview: Human Trafficking Filmmaker Guy Jacobson
Published July 28, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
Recently, I had the chance to chat with Guy Jacobson, creator of the critically acclaimed film Holly, about a young girl trafficked into prostitution in Cambodia. While making Holly, Guy also started the Redlight Children Campaign to raise awareness about child trafficking.
Rare in the anti-trafficking movement, Guy walks the fine line between the serious subject and being downright funny. His passionate rhetoric is punctuated with his charming, earthy Israeli accent and sharp, self-deprecating wit. It's with a joking twinkle in his eye that he says his career change from high-powered New York lawyer to anti-trafficking filmmaker was a huge disappointment to his Jewish mother. But it is with grave seriousness that he tells the story of traveling through Cambodia and being solicited by throngs of 7, 8, and 9-year-old girls. He recounts,
"'Me yum yum you,' said one of the little girls. ‘Me no have money, then mamasan be boxing me.' She meant that the madam of her brothel was going to beat her that night if she didn't return with money."
It was then Guy decided he couldn't sit back and wait for someone else to help these children.
Amanda: You mentioned that you made Holly to draw attention to the issue of child trafficking. Do you think you've succeeded?
Guy: I would like to believe that the last 7 years of my life have made whatever amount of tiny impact to put this issue more on the agenda, to make it slightly more mainstream. We've tried to use the film to get law firms and associations and corporations involved and active. I hope that people will hear about this issue because of [Holly], people who may not want to hear an academic panel about trafficking but will go see a film. If not, (he chuckles) my mother was right and I should have stayed an attorney and made more money.
Editors Note: Holly has inspired perhaps hundreds of news articles and other media pieces on this issue, so despite Guy's commendable modesty, he has made much more than a slight difference.
Amanda: One of my favorite things about listening to you speak is your use of humor. Given the seriousness of the subject matter, where is there room for humor in anti-trafficking activism?
Guy: In my case, I am just a smartass! But seriously, child trafficking is an incredibly difficult issue, and maybe the reason this issue is not discussed more regularly is that it so emotionally difficult and taxing. It is a gross human rights violation and a crime against humanity. It involves the word "sex", and it makes people want to put their hands on their ears and go "la la la!" So I use a little bit of humor; it's a way to ease people into the issue. Humor can allow people to hear it more easily.
Amanda: Sounds like between your wit and the film you chose to make, you're all about making this issue accessible to as many people as possible.
Guy: Then bottom line is you can't only preach to the choir. You can't only talk about trafficking to the people who already know about it. I realized I knew so little- the scope, the ages of the children, the location and the prevalence. If I didn't know these things, and I'm reasonably educated, then the issue is not in the media. I thought maybe I can leverage mass media to reach the masses.
Amanda: Do you have plans to make another anti-trafficking movie?
Guy: I think there are enough contracts on my life after the first one (he laughs)! When we shot Holly, at the same time we started working on a documentary. It's called Redlight, and Lucy Liu is the producer and narrator. It follows the story of Somaly [Mam] and the kids [in her shelter] for five years. We're in the polishing stages, and we hope it will be premiered in the major international film festivals later this year and released in theaters in 2010. Beyond that, as a filmmaker, I personally don't have another story to tell on this issue.
You can find out more about Holly, Redlight, and Guy's other projects at www.priorityfilms.com and www.redlightchildren.com. The trailer for his Holly is below, and it is now available on DVD on the Priority Films website.
The Child Who Makes Your Makeup
Published July 26, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
You know that shimmer eye shadow that you wear on date or to special parties? Well, that shimmer comes from the mineral mica. And much of the world's mica comes from India, where children as young as six work long, arduous days for as little as a single meal of rice. And their labor is what fuels the Western cosmetic industry.
According to one Indian child rights NGO, after garments, sporting goods, and fashion accessories, cosmetics is the fourth largest industry employer of child labor. As one child laborer testified,
I used to go to school and I learned how to write my name in English and some maths. Now I just collect mica with groups of children. We work in a 5ft to 10ft hole, and loose earth falls down all the time. Last year one girl was buried.
Mica is not only used in cosmetics, but also in paints and in some electronics. It is actually a surprisingly common material in a number of consumer products. Just for fun, I decided to check some of my own cosmetics, specifically one that I thought was safe from being tainted by exploitation. My Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer? Contains mica. Since my Burt's Bees was made in North Carolina (at a factory near where I went to college), I thought for sure there could be no exploitation in it. It even says "100% Natural" on the label, which must mean something! But supply chains can taint products, even those made in America in fair factories.
The moral of this story is bigger than mica. Slavery and exploitation sneak into products via supply chains. And when a product like my Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer has up to 20 ingredients, it can be very difficult to track the source of each one. Maybe the mica in my tube was mined by poor, desperate and exploited children and maybe it was not. But as a very loyal customer, I want to ask Burt's Bees (and all the many, many other cosmetic companies who use mica) to find out.
Image from indiansari.blogspot.com
Microsoft, NGO Train Trafficking Survivors in IT Skills
Published July 24, 2009 @ 06:50AM PT
In the Philippines, human trafficking survivors are being given far more than just a safe place to sleep at night. With the help of Microsoft and local NGOs, they are being training in cutting edge IT skills to help them find good jobs and avoid future trafficking.
The IT training program is a partnership between the Visayan Forum Foundation and Microsoft Philippines, and is funded by an Unlimited Potential grant from the latter. Trafficking victims who are rescued by the Visayan Forum undergo training to develop leadership skills and interpersonal communication skills, in addition to their practical IT skills. The goal is to improve their knowledge base and their overall professional capabilities to make them more marketable as workers in the country's mainstream workforce.
Having a marketable skill set can help make vulnerable populations less vulnerable to trafficking and prevent survivors from being re-trafficked. In global economy where even college graduates and professionals are having a difficult time finding work, those without access to education face even more dire financial situations. Many of the skill-building programs which anti-trafficking programs promote are based on manual labor or artisan skills. While those are certainly valuable, IT training can make a survivor especially marketable in the workforce.
Microsoft has repeatedly proved to be a friend and supporter of the abolitionist movement. But this program really shows the innovation of which they are capable.
Who's Watching the Watchmen?
Published July 23, 2009 @ 12:32PM PT
In the past few days, immigration officials in both Malaysia and the UK have been caught assisting human traffickers in moving victims into their countries. Immigration officials are poised to be life-savers when it comes to spotting trafficked persons, but they can just as easily switch sides to help the traffickers and their own pocket book.
In Malaysia, the suspects would allegedly directly hand deported immigrants to human traffickers at the Thai-Malaysian border, instead of depositing them in Thailand. Each immigration officials would receive about $100 per human they gave to the traffickers. The deportees would soon find themselves slaves, most often in Thailand's fishing industry.
In the UK, border officials took bribes from and traded favors with trafficking rings over a number or years. In some cases, money exchanged hands directly. In others, the officials and the traffickers formed "mutually beneficial relationships," which allowed them to earn over $1 million a year. A recent report from the UK states that many traffickers find it "relatively easy" to move their victims through the UK.
Corrupt immigration officials are one of the greatest tools at a trafficker's disposal if he wants to move his victims internationally. Who knows who many innocent people were handed over to human traffickers because a group of Malaysians and a group of Brits decided to make a few extra bucks? We trust these officials to put the safety of the citizens of their country and all other countries first. They are our watchmen, and they break that trust when they use it to traffick human beings.
It begs the question recently asked by Hollywood, and which should be asked by all of us about our public officials, in light of these events: Who's watching the watchmen?
Image from iwatchstuff.com
