Trafficking in Children
Sweet Sugar for Us, Bitter Life for Bolivian Children
Published October 12, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Luis is thirteen now, but he first left school to work full-time harvesting sugarcane when he was ten. He spends all day, sometimes up to 14 hours, every day cutting, hauling, and chopping the plants to be eventually processed into chocolate and slurpies and cupcakes for Americans and other wealthy Westerners. It's dangerous and incredibly difficult work. But Luis is not alone. He is just one of around 320,000 children in Bolivia thought to be exploited in child labor. And sugarcane production is one of the worst forms exploitative child labor.
Exploited and forced child labor in sugar production is an issue all over the world, from the Philippines to Bolivia. Sugarcane harvesting is an industry in which child labor and slave labor thrive for a number of reasons. First of all, the price of raw sugar today is the highest it's been in over 30 years, which is causing many farmers who left the industry to switch back. The crop is also an economic draw for poor and migrant families; the long growing season and multiple harvests provide steady income roughly between April and November, longer than most crops. Harvesting sugarcane is a dangerous and dirty task since most of it is still done manually. The crops must be cut in the field, burned to remove unwanted foliage, and then chopped down the canes. They also must be stacked and loaded for transportation and processing. All of these factors mean that the job of harvesting sugarcane often go the the most powerless -- children and slaves.
Too much of the sugar available at the grocery store today and used to the create sweet treats that we enjoy come from places like Bolivia and the Philippines, where large portions of the industry uses child and exploited labor to harvest the sugarcane. In part, exploitation is so prolific because of a global demand for cheap sugar. And we are the people who are demanding that sugar.
So how can you reduce that demand and help reduce child labor in sugar? The easiest step is to buy Fair Trade sugar at the grocery store. Increasingly, grocery stores are carrying Fair Trade staples, like sugar and coffee, but they may still be difficult to find in some areas. If that's the case, you can buy it online.
But if you're busy and/or domestically-challenged like me, you're not making a lot of cookies from scratch. So how can you make a difference? There are a number of ways you can encourage the products you buy and the businesses you frequent to buy Fair Trade sugar. Does your workplace provide coffee and sugar for employees? Try creating a petition for Fair Trade sugar. Do you have a favorite coffee shop or bakery? Let them know that you're concerned about the sugar you eat being made by exploited children. When businesses hear from customers they value, they are more likely to meet those customers' requests and increase demand for fairly-produced sugar.
Child exploitation in the sugar industry is a serious problem, but it's something you can help by making better choices about the sugar you buy and encouraging businesses to do the same. When sugar is fair, it can be a sweet life for all of us.
Photo credit: dweekly
Child Slavery at the Circus
Published October 11, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Lions and tigers and bears and slaves, oh my! In the West, we most often associate the circus with acrobats, clowns, cotton candy, and animals (which are often abused as well). But for many Nepalese girls, the circus in India represents a life of slavery, rape, and exploitation.
It's difficult to estimate the number of children who have been trafficked into Indian circuses. One estimate is about 500 at any given time, with new ones being recruited as others age out or escape. They are mostly girls from small villages in Nepal. Some are kidnapped, some a tricked, and some are signed into a contract to work by their parents. But no matter how they enter, these girls rehearse and perform for hours a day, for as little as $3 per month. At night, many are abused and raped by men in the circus or sold in prostitution for extra money. Those who go to see the circus may never know that bright smiles and stage makeup hide nefarious exploitation and slavery backstage.
The Nepalese government has only recently begun to treat the recruitment and captivity of children in circuses as a crime. But now, they are even reaching out to the Indian government to work in partnership to reduced the number of Nepalese girls trafficked into circuses. This is a vast improvement of policy for both governments, and has the potential to prevent more girls from being trafficked into circuses.
I stumbled upon a video that's a great example of human trafficking in circuses. In 2007, a British rescue organization teamed up with a group of Nepalese parents to try and find and rescue the children they had lost to circuses. This is short documentary video of their efforts, which creates an vivid picture of what human trafficking in Indian circuses is like, complete with police corruption, difficulty in finding the victims and traffickers, and a happy ending for at least some of the enslaved girls. It's the reality faced by so many children hoping to escape slavery in an industry created for the joy and amusement of children.
French Culture Minister "Excited" By Sex with Slave Boys
Published October 09, 2009 @ 05:30AM PT
Move over Roman Polanski -- you no longer have a monopoly on sick, ethically-vacant European men who shamelessly enjoy sex with unwilling children. France's Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand is now getting heat for a book he wrote four years ago in which he not only pays for sex with young boys in Thailand, but gets a little happy in the trousers thinking about "the slave market" that made those boys available. Will someone please tell me how this man is still employed running France?
Here are some quotes from his aptly titled 2005 book The Bad Life,
"I got into the habit of paying for boys, [despite knowing] the sordid details of this traffic. ... All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously... the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire."
The list of things that outrage me about this statement unfortunately exceeds the 500 word limit I try and impose on myself for these posts. But perhaps my most immediate question is why has it taken four years for someone to realize that this high-powered politician knowingly had sex with trafficked children? He is so brazen in his announcement of lust at the idea of a slave market. And it's not like this was information was discovered through some blackmail pictures or old emails unearthed by an assistant. It was in a freakin' published book! And I thought the French were a nation of readers ...
Mitterand, of course, claims he's done nothing wrong. He clarifies,
"It is neither a novel nor my memoirs. I preferred to leave things vague. Nothing is true, nothing is false."
Wow, thanks for clearing things up. Now I have a perfect idea and absolutely no idea of what happened. He's also complained that everyone is unfairly confusing pedophilia with homosexuality. Just to make sure we're not doing that, let's read his quote again, this time with the gender changed to be female.
"I got into the habit of paying for girls, [despite knowing] the sordid details of this traffic. All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously... the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young girls put me in a state of desire."
Well, that statement still pisses me off. You?
It's not the gender of the children in the slave market you wrote about raping that's an issue, Mitterrand, -- it's raping children in the slave market! And even if every one of those boys had just had his 18th birthday, you admit yourself that the details of how they got into your bed were "sordid," and you even use the word "traffic." Having sex with adult trafficking victims is wrong, too. And the fact that you state it's the buying and selling (the market) of young boys that makes you hot in the biscuit is disturbing to say the least.
I know that the French people realize their culture is pretty awesome, and I hope that they realize it deserves better than to be tainted by a scummy politician who gets his jollies from sex trafficking. Get this guy out of office and let him and Polanski live on some farm somewhere with nothing but each other for company. They certainly deserve each other.
Photo credit: letemps.ch
Are U.S. Government Contractors Still Supporting Slavery?
Published October 07, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
A few months ago, The Slave Next Door exposed the truth that, as late as 2005, U.S. government contractors were using slave labor in construction projects paid for by American taxpayers. Employees at the notorious firm DynCorp were accused of having sex with girls as young as 12 in Bosnia in the late 1990s. Now, American taxpayers may be supporting more trafficking through government contractor ArmorGroup. They are accused of frequenting brothels in Afghanistan known to enslave young girls, an act which is in direct violation of U.S. law and Department of State policy. But do you really need a law to tell you sex with underage enslaved girls is wrong?
Former ArmorGroup Director of Operations-turned-whistle-blower James Gordon filed a suit this past month. alleging that not only did ArmorGroup employees break the law by visiting brothels known for holding trafficked women and girls, they withheld documents and blocked efforts to investigate or end the illegal outings. And this little scandal went all the way to the top -- the manager in charge in Kabul is accused as being part of these activities, even though he knew they were illegal. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act prohibits government contractors or employees from visiting brothels overseas.
Gordon says he was concerned because the brothel ArmorGroup employees frequented was known to sell very young Chinese girls and women against their will, and because he was worried that all that sex was distracting the employees from their job -- guarding the U.S. embassy in Kabul. Seriously, Gordon? I mean, why would a U.S. embassy in Kabul need focused and steady protection? Tell me one bad thing that has ever happened to a U.S. embassy overseas in a war-torn area full of insurgents. Oh, wait..... Maybe ArmorGroup should have been doing what I (and the other taxpayers) are paying them to do and not raping young Chinese girls. And yes, their "outings" got in the way of work, because some of them happened during business hours -- hours they should have been protecting the U.S. embassy.
But just visiting the brothels wasn't enough for some of the ArmorGroup employees. Gordon claims to have overhead one AG recruit arranging to buy a girl for $20,000, but was skeptical that he could start making money off her right away. This particular recruit was eventually fired, but the company made very little effort to investigate the incident or do anything to prevent employees from trying to buy and traffic other women and girls. At the rate these guys were being unethical, I'm frankly surprised they didn't congratulate him for being skeptical of such a large investment.
So in addition to supporting human trafficking, ArmorGroup employees were endangering the lives of U.S. embassy staff and guests, as well as the others who worked with them by thinking a lot more with their "downstairs brains" then their bigger, upstairs brains. The lawsuit is pending, but the case has also been brought to the attention of the State Department. Hopefully, this case will be one to show U.S. government contractors that the U.S. is serious about that whole don't-support-slavery-with-U.S.-taxpayer-dollars thing. However, this isn't the first time that a government contractor has been caught exploiting women in brothels or workers in construction. And I'm worried that it won't be the last.
Photo credit: mr.nomind
Human Trafficking Charity Sued for Misuse of Funds
Published October 05, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
It crushes me to report that not all human trafficking charities may be what they seem. Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General for Connecticut, announced on Friday that he was filing a lawsuit against Raymond Bechard, Founder of Ahava Kids, Inc., claiming he spent over $100,000 in donations intended to help victims of human trafficking and orphaned children living with HIV/AIDS, on himself. Spending donors' money meant to help survivors of slavery and people living with AIDS on yourself? That's so pathetic I can't think of a witty insult.
The donations Ahava Kids received, donors were told, would go toward operating a hotline for human trafficking victims and safe houses in Connecticut and Georgia, as well as to help women and children in prostitution and their HIV positive children access life-saving AIDS medications. However, according to Blumenthal, Bechard spent the charity's money on himself at restaurants and stores, including authorizing the charity to "loan" $67,000 to for-profit companies Bechard owned.
This news didn't shock me, because I actually heard a rumor that Ahava Kids was not a legitimate organization a few months back from a listerve. I wrote Raymond Bechard an email asking him to address the allegations that were being made against him. He replied promptly. However, all the evidence I could find amounted to his word against the word of the person who leveled the allegations, so I refrained from publishing any of the our interview until I had more concrete information. However, in light of this lawsuit and the Connecticut AG's allegations, I think it appropriate to share my questions and his responses. These are edited for length and to remove the names of specific individuals and organizations who have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Amanda: The allegations against you claim no other reputable organizations that assists child victims of trafficking have ever heard of you, seen a victim you have served, or seen a shelter you run.
Bechard: We have worked with several organizations -- from service providers to law enforcement. In fact, ************* of ************ is quoted on the back of my 2006 book, Unspeakable - The Hidden Truth Behind the World's Fastest Growing Crime. Overall, *************** seems to be implying that we do not work with victims or have 'shelters.' We have worked with several victims here in the United States and have Safe Houses for young adults in Connecticut and Georgia.
Amanda: Another one is that no one answers your hotline.
Bechard: An electronic record is kept of all calls that come in to our Hotline. Our records show that ************ tried the Hotline once, on March 23rd, at 3:02 PM. I have no explanation as to why this one call was not answered, but we did respond immediately in an email. If ************ is passing judgement on our Hotline system by one attempted phone call, to which we did respond, this seems completely unfair. I apologize for the missed call, however, it should be known that we are now working with a 19 year old victim from Connecticut who called the hotline last week as a result of our Cybervention efforts.
Amanda: It seems no one knows where your shelters are.
Bechard: This is not only untrue, but completely inaccurate. First, the ministries from which we lease the facilities are fully aware of their location and purpose, as are our Board members, our staff and others. Second, they are not 'shelters,' they are Safe Houses for young adult victims of human trafficking and prostitution. As such, yes, their locations are kept in the strictest confidence. This is for the protection of the survivors who may stay there and our staff.
Earlier in the email, he indicates that the accusations that Ahava Kids was not legitimate are unfair and leveled because his organization "has a Hebrew name" and he is a Christian male. In their investigation, the AG's office found that a legitimate safe house does exist, but it was barely used. This finding seems to jive with what Blechard was defending himself against to me -- his organization wasn't a complete sham. And from the facts that have come out so far, it seems that it wasn't. Some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars Bechard accepted in donations trickled down to trafficking victims and AIDS orphans.
But when you're taking people's money and telling them it's going to heal children surviving slavery, trickle-down economics just isn't good enough.
Photo credit: apdk
DOL Commits $59 Million to End Child Labor
Published October 01, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
It's nice to see a government agency putting their money where their reports and public statements are (for once). Following up their in-depth report identifying consumer goods made by child and/or forced labor in a number of countries, the Department of Labor has now committed $59 million dollars in grants to help end those practices and remove victims to safety. You can't see it, but I'm having a personal little party right now.
Here's how the breakdown of dollars went regionally:
- Africa: $20.4 million
- Latin America: $15.8 million
- Asia: $15.3 million
The rest of the funds will go to research and the development of a best practices model to prevent child labor. While I'm usually a fan of anything that channels more money to my often-ignored and under-funded friend Africa, I have to question their distribution between Africa and Asia. While Africa has some incredibly serious child trafficking and forced labor issues to address, the industries in Asia which enslave children and workers are much more diverse. Plus, the sheer logistics of getting to rural areas in Asian countries is much harder based on their size, and rural areas is where most of the exploitation is taking place. Arguably, African countries will be less able to put forth their own funds than relatively wealthier Asian countries like India and China, but I would still reconsider the expense of implementing a diversity of programs in the vast rural regions of Asia. It's going to be a huge undertaking.
But despite my difference of opinion on the funding allocations, I'm still celebrating. The reason for my party is that unlike previous administrations, <cough> Bush <cough>, it's good to see that the DOL under Secretary Solis isn't going to talk a big game and then sit on the cash and refuse to take any concrete action. The DOL is also modeling a behavior that we as consumers should pay attention to: if you say you care about this issue, be willing to pay for it. That means we have to be willing to spend a little more for t-shirts, coffee, rugs, and everything else that is made without child or forced labor. But if we're all willing to pay a little more, than no one has to pay a lot, especially enslaved children.
In Recession, 35% of Asians in Prostitution Are Children
Published October 01, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
I was heartened to hear today that the IMF says the global recession is over, but they might have a hard time convincing the thousands of children who are now being forced into commercial sex as a result of the recession in Southeast Asia that bluer skies are ahead. UNICEF estimates that now up to 35% of people in prostitution in the Mekong sub-region are between 12 and 17 years old. Sorry, IMF, but the recession's not over for them just yet.
35% is a huge number- just over one third. Statistically speaking, if you went to this part of Asia and had sex with three "women" in prostitution, one of them would be a child. Children are not a small portion of the commercial sex industry, but a major sustainer of it. To those individuals who argue that trafficking victims make up a tiny portion of people in prostitution and that the vast majority are in the industry willingly, I say "not in the Mekong sub-region". But why is it this part of the world that sees so much child exploitation?
A number of factors are contributing to an increase of children sold for sex in the region. Unemployment in Thailand is spiking, and thousands of factories and projects are being shut down. As poverty is increasing, living conditions are deteriorating and children are more likely to leave school and search for work. Even before the global recession, some countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand relied on child sex tourism as a large contributor to GDP -- anywhere from 2% to 14%, according to the ILO. And with other forms of productions down, that percentage may be rising. Then, of course, there's always the reputation -- earned or not -- of lax laws and easily-bribed officials.
But these problems are not unique to Southeast Asia. Unemployment and factory closings are high everywhere, even here in the U.S. More children are becoming homeless and families are unable to pay school fees. Does this mean that perhaps Southeast Asia isn't the only region seeing an increase in child trafficking and child sex tourism? Sure it's the most famous region for child sex tourism, but other parts of the world -- places like Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico especially-- are also becoming common destinations for child sex tourists. I wonder if those areas aren't seeing this same increase.
On one hand it's great to have optimistic economic indicators that the recession is now over. But it's another thing to remember that the human reality of the recession will last for years, regardless of what the economists think looks promising. The 12-year-old girl who was forced into a brothel in Cambodia yesterday won't be released today because the IMF has announced the end of the recession. She'll be there for months, maybe years to come. Maybe she'll find a way out and maybe not. In either case, her recession is far from over.
Photo credit: youngsixta
