Justice Response/VAST

Maryland: Germantown Man Charged with Human Trafficking

2012-01-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

A Germantown man has been charged with human trafficking and conducting prostitution, after a long investigation of alleged brothels fronted by acupressure and massage parlors, Montgomery County Police Department said in a press release Friday.

Howard Hao Wang, of the 19100 block of Forest Brook Road, is one of four county business operators facing charges, the release states.

Feng Liu, 46, of the 100 block of Orchard Drive, Gaithersburg, and Roberto Carrasco, 47, of the 1500 block of North Pierce St., Arlington, Va., was charged with conducting prostitution. An arrest warrant was issued for Mauricio Alex Garcia Guardia, 31, of the 14000 block of Westbury Drive in Rockville, on charges of conducting prostitution and human trafficking, according to Montgomery County Police.

Wang, 48, is the business operator of Tropical Spa, 620 Hungerford Drive, in Rockville, and Best Massage, 966 Hungerford Dr, Suite 11A, Rockville — two of six parlors under investigation, according to the release.

Police alleged that the business owners were like “pimps” and attempted to place distance between themselves and the business operations "in order to be immune from criminal accountability," according to the release. But investigators determined the businesses were illegitimate and alleged the bogus shops were for human trafficking schemes, “exploiting the most vulnerable women as tools for profit," the press release states.

Police said they were tipped off by an increase in the number of acupressure and massage parlor ads on websites that cater to adult services. Police also received numerous complaints.
Four other businesses under investigation include:

The Pink Spa,932 Hungerford Drive, Suite 14A, Rockville
Executive Bodywork, 966 Hungerford Drive, Suite 14A, Rockville
Wa Wa Spa, 5858 Hubbard Drive, Rockville
Ya Ya Spa, 751 Rockville Pike, Suite 1B, Rockville

Montgomery County Police have asked anyone with information to call the Montgomery County Special Investigations
Division-Vice and Intelligence Unit at 240-773-5958.

Indianapolis: Cab Drivers Training to Prevent HT at Super Bowl

2012-01-25T05:43:00.000-08:00

Training is part of plan to show hospitality

By MAUREEN HAYDEN CNHI Indiana The News and Tribune Sun Jan 22, 2012, 08:01 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS — Hundreds of Indianapolis cab drivers being trained in how to show Hoosier hospitality for soon-to-arrive Super Bowl fans are also learning how to recognize sex workers brought in for the event.

The cab drivers are part of a larger group of hotel, restaurant and other service workers in Indianapolis being asked to help identify potential victims of the commercial sex-trafficking industry.

Driving the effort is the National Football League championship game that will be played in Indianapolis on Feb. 5, and all the alcohol- and sex-infused parties and events that transform the game into a week-long spectacle. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has said the Super Bowl is the largest sex-trafficking event in the nation.

In recent weeks, more than 700 cab drivers have taken part in the “Super Service” hospitality training offered by staff and volunteers with the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee. It includes a session on sex-trafficking and the fast-tracked legislation aimed at cracking down on the crime.

“Whenever there’s a large event like the Super Bowl, we know there’s an increase in sex trafficking,” said Valerie Schmitt, coordinator of a human-trafficking outreach effort in Indianapolis. “There’s an increased demand for [commercial] sex and that leads to an increased risk that someone will be victimized.”

On Friday, as a House committee heard testimony on a bill that would ramp up criminal penalties for sex-traffickers in Indiana, Schmitt was meeting with about 100 cab drivers to ask for their help.

She described some of the classic victims of sex-traffickers, including illegal immigrants forced to work off their debts by working as prostitutes or teenagers sexually exploited by adults. She predicted Indianapolis will see an influx of prostitutes, including many who are underage.

“You’re our eyes and our ears ...” she told them. “You meet a lot of people and overhear a lot of conversations that might be helpful in recognizing someone involved in [sex] trafficking.”

She asked them to put the human-trafficking hotline phone number of 888-373-7888 into their cells phones and use it if they suspect anything. Some of the cab drivers looked skeptical; while others pulled out their cell phones to program in the number.

Tim Neville, operations manager for Indianapolis Yellow Cab, the city’s largest cab service, said more than 150 of his drivers had been through “Super Service” training that includes the session on sex trafficking.

“I think it’s great,” Neville said. “This is our community; we live here and want to protect it. Our drivers know how to balance a passenger’s expectation of some anonymity with what could be criminal activity.”

Local prosecutors are counting on having a new law to combat the crime. During a House committee hearing Friday, Marion County deputy prosecutor Mary Hutchinson spoke in favor of legislation, authored by Republican Sen. Randy Head of Logansport, that would enact harsher penalties for sex traffickers. The committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the full House for a vote, but that action came after the hearing had been delayed two hours.

The delay was caused by House Democrats who boycotted the session’s morning quorum call to prevent a vote on the Republican-backed right-to-work legislation that would outlaw mandatory union dues for private-sector workers.

The House has been out of session seven days over the last three weeks because of the boycott. House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer said Friday that he expects House Democrats will return to the House floor Monday.

Ensure Justice Conference: Vanguard University, March 2012

2012-01-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

Training Opportunity: Human Trafficking 101 Training in Baltimore

2012-01-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Do you want to know more about Human Trafficking here in Baltimore, MD, and the U.S.?

Come to Human Trafficking 101 training sponsored by Safe House of Hope.

When: Saturday, January 14th, 10am-noon

Where: 901 Hollins St, Baltimore, MD 21223

...see you there!!

Human Trafficking Awareness Day!

2012-01-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the U.S., and faith communities and faith-based organizations are calling upon Americans to become more aware of the millions who are victimized by trafficking – and more involved in finding ways to stop it. Since today is about Awareness, the Justice Response/VAST leaders wanted to make you aware of some great free resources we've made available on the VineyardUSA website. These resources can get you educated and aware regarding trafficking. They can be a first step in seeking the Justice of the Kingdom of God in your local community, across the nation, and around the world.

First, Love146 has put together a great resource for understanding the Problem.
Next, the Streetgrace Church Mobilization Guide. Street GRACE mobilizes the resources of churches, financial, human and material, toward those organizations and individuals who have demonstrated effectiveness in battling the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the areas of advocacy, aftercare, and mentoring. The ultimate goal is the elimination of this problem in all cities across the United States.
Finally, the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation/CAASE Communities of Faith toolkit, which helps Christian communities engage in ending sexual exploitation and trafficking.

We hope these resources can help educate and inspire your faith communities to join us as we follow the Father to proclaim freedom for the captives!

Shining a Light on the Support Roles in Trafficking

2012-01-03T05:54:00.000-08:00

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY, NYTimes

Sofia, a sweet-voiced and cherubic 24-year-old, was one of the lucky ones: She managed to escape much of the suffering shared by the millions of sex workers trafficked throughout the world, and even saw two of her traffickers forced out of the country and back to Mexico.

But the young woman said she still feels that complete justice has eluded her, because the drivers who ferried her from john to john, her de facto bosses, remain at large.

As prostitution has shifted off the streets and into hotels and apartments, the drivers who transport prostitutes have emerged as some of the industry’s most powerful players. Sofia, who uses a pseudonym because she fears retribution from traffickers, said that when she was enslaved as a prostitute, her drivers organized her schedule, drove her to appointments and took half of her earnings before she turned over the remainder to her pimp.

“They are more important than the pimps because they’re the ones who decide everything,” Sofia said softly in Spanish. Her words were translated by a counselor and a lawyer from Sanctuary for Families, a nonprofit group that works with domestic violence victims. “I want all of them in jail, or back in their countries. I don’t want to see them working like this.”

On Wednesday, Sofia will testify, from behind a screen, before a joint hearing of the City Council’s Transportation and Women’s Issues Committees, on two pieces of proposed legislation that would penalize drivers who knowingly transport prostitutes.

The first proposal, introduced by Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, would raise the fines on drivers who knowingly transport trafficking victims, and would direct the Taxi and Limousine Commission to add training for all its drivers on the subject of sex trafficking.

The second bill, introduced by Councilman James Vacca and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, seeks to punish those who operate unregistered cars as liveries, with misdemeanor charges, fines and possible prison time, noting that many of the drivers fail to register with the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“Who would have thought that black cars or livery cars were going to become a point in the issue of sex trafficking?” said the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who noted that this would be the Council’s fourth hearing on sex trafficking this year. “We have to hit every way we can to crack down on that effort.”
David S. Yassky, the chairman of the taxi commission, said he wanted to work with the City Council without adding costs for drivers. He suggested that the agency could issue a pamphlet about sex trafficking.
“I don’t know if we need full-blown classroom instruction on this particular topic,” Mr. Yassky said. “We would like to do what we can at the T.L.C. to make sure that car services, livery bases are not participating in reprehensible human trafficking.”

Reporting of sex-trafficking cases seems to be growing more frequent. Lori Cohen, a senior staff attorney with the Anti-Trafficking Initiative of Sanctuary for Families, said that the number of victims it advised had jumped to 293 in the 12-month period that ended June 30, compared with 85 in the previous 12 months.

Sofia estimates that she worked with 70 drivers, who brought her to 5,000 clients. Clients often found drivers’ phone numbers in advertisements placed in newspapers or on cards handed out on the street. When business was slow, her pimp would give her a list and have her call the drivers directly. Her drivers took more of her earnings if she did not finish her appointments within 15 minutes, she said.

Sofia said that the drivers rarely spoke to her, except when they tried to recruit her away from her pimp. “They promised us a better life,” Sofia said. “I know a lot of girls who said they left the pimp they were working with. In the end they just worked for the driver.”

Virginia: NoVa Asian Massage Parlours Raided

2011-12-19T10:22:00.000-08:00

By Tom Jackman (Washington Post)

Northern Virginia - We were reminded recently, by Rep. Frank Wolf, that many Asian massage parlors in Northern Virgnia serve as “a modern-day form of slavery,” because their employees are forced to work long hours under poor conditions to pay off their immigration-related debts.

Prompted by research from the Polaris Project, a national anti-human trafficking organization, Wolf in October pushed the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force to crack down on the unassuming-looking places in industrial parks and office buildings. Last week, the task force leapt back into the fray, visiting 61 massage parlors during a seven-hour sweep Wednesday afternoon.

The sweep involved 40 Fairfax County police officers, task force members from ICE, Virginia State Police, the FBI, Prince William, Vienna and Herndon police, the State Department, plus zoning, licensing and fire officials. The Polaris Project also attended to help with assisting any possible human trafficking victims.

Fortunately, none of those were found Wednesday, Fairfax police said. In fact, 38 of the 61 visited weren’t even open, which may be a function of visiting massage parlors in the middle of the afternoon. But of the 23 the task force visited, they did find licensing violations at seven of them, in Herndon, Vienna, Falls Church and Alexandria.

“We will continue to be vigilant on this heart-wrenching and tragic problem,” Fairfax Lt. Chris Marsh said. For a more in-depth look at the dilemma, go here.

Google Donates $11.5 Million to Fight Modern-Day Slavery

2011-12-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tech giant Google announced Wednesday it is donating $11.5 million to several coalitions fighting to end the modern-day slavery of some 27 million people around the world.
In what is believed to be the largest-ever corporate grant devoted to the advocacy, intervention and rescue of people being held, forced to work or provide sex against their will, Google said it chose organizations with proven records in combating slavery.

"Many people are surprised to learn there are more people trapped in slavery today than any time in history," said Jacquelline Fuller, director of charitable giving and advocacy for Google. "The good news is that there are solutions."

The Washington-based International Justice Mission, a human rights organization that works globally to rescue victims of slavery and sexual exploitation, was chosen by Google to lead the efforts.
It will partner with Polaris Project and Slavery Footprint and a handful of smaller organizations for the multi-year effort to rescue the enslaved, push for better infrastructure and resources for anti-slavery enforcement agencies overseas, as well as raise awareness here in the United States and help countries draft anti-slavery legislation.

"Each year we focus some of our annual giving on meeting direct human need," Fuller said. "Google chose to spotlight the issue of slavery this year because there is nothing more fundamental than freedom."

Gary A. Haugen, president of the International Justice Mission, said the coalition would focus on three initiatives: A $3.5 million intervention project to fight forced labor in India; a $4.5 million advocacy campaign in India to educate and protect the vulnerable; and a $1.8 million plan to mobilize Americans on behalf of the millions currently at risk of slavery or waiting for rescue around the world.

The remaining $1.7 million will go to several smaller organizations working to combat slavery.

"It's hard for most Americans to believe that slavery and human trafficking are still massive problems in our world," said Haugen. "Google's support now makes it possible for IJM to join forces with two other leading organizations so we can bring to bear our unique strengths in a united front."

Those leading the U.S. efforts will meet in Washington on Wednesday to kick off the joint initiative. The project will focus on improved legislation to protect vulnerable children and adults in the United States, as well as a push for more accountability and transparency in the U.S. supply chain by retailers and manufacturers to make sure their products are "slave-free."

The trafficking of women for the sex trade is common in big American cities. Some illegal immigrants find themselves forced to work in sweatshops, in private homes as domestic servants or on farms without pay under the threat of deportation.

The new effort will launch new initiatives that ordinary Americans can take to help abolish modern-day slavery, such as understanding how their own clothing or smartphones might contain fabrics or components manufactured by forced labor.

"Whether it's by calling the national human trafficking hotline, sending a letter to their senator, or using online advocacy tools, millions of Americans will be able to use their voices to ensure that ending this problem becomes a top priority," said Bradley Myles, executive director of Polaris Project.

Google.org — the philanthropy arm of the Silicon Valley firm — announced the anti-slavery effort as part of its $40 million in end-of-year giving that brings its charitable donations to more than $100 million in 2011. The grants will also support science, technology, engineering and math education; girls' education in the developing world; and the use of technology for social good.

Justin Dillon, the founder of Slavery Footprint, said the Google grant would allow the movement to move from "anecdote and emotion," to tangible action that could make a dent in history.

"Having a company like Google recognize the value of our work marks a major turning point for the anti-slavery movement," said Dillon, whose nonprofit gives consumers some tools to determine whether slaves were used in the making of their goods and teaches them to use social media to sound off about slavery and engage with corporations about their supply chains.

Chinese Officials CRack Two Child-Trafficking Rings

2011-12-09T06:26:00.000-08:00

CNN - (Beijing) Chinese police have busted two child-trafficking rings after a six-month nationwide investigation, rescuing 178 children and arresting 608 suspects, the country's Ministry of Public Security announced this week.

Calling it "the biggest achievement since the launch of a national campaign against human trafficking," the ministry described in detail the joint effort of police forces in ten provinces in statement posted on its official website.

A traffic accident in May in southwestern Sichuan Province unexpectedly led the authorities to a network of child-traffickers headed by man named Cai Lianchao, the ministry said.

In August, police in southeastern Fujian Province uncovered another human trafficking ring led by a woman named Chen Xiumei, according to the statement.

After gathering initial evidence on the two rings that kidnapped and sold children across China, the ministry said 5,000 police officers conducted a highly coordinated nationwide investigation for several more months before finally arresting the suspects last week.

Officials placed rescued children in local orphanages while they tried to reunite them with their families, the ministry said. It added that female police officers were dispatched to take care of the children, some of whom were being treated for illnesses.

"We will strictly adhere to our policy of 'zero tolerance' on child-trafficking," the ministry emphasized in its statement.

"This policy is aimed at cracking down on the buyers' market," said Chen Shiqu, Director of the anti-human trafficking department at the Ministry of Public Security.

"We will ensure the buyers lose both their money and the purchased children, so that we can address the problem from the source by reducing the demand for kidnapped and trafficked children."
Since the government launched a national campaign against human trafficking in April 2009, police have arrested almost 50,000 suspects, rescuing more than 18,000 children as well as some 35,000 women, the ministry said.

Human trafficking is a major problem in China, with children and women being the primary victims.
Premier Wen Jiabao pledged last week that the government would continue to crack down on the crime to protect women and children.

Training: Human Trafficking 101/Baltimore, Maryland

2011-12-06T03:06:00.001-08:00

Do you want to know more about Human Trafficking here in Baltimore, MD, and the U.S.?

Come to HT 101(Human Trafficking) training sponsored by Safe House of Hope.

When: Saturday, Decemeber 10th
10am-noon

Where: 901 Hollins St, Baltimore, MD 21223
...see you there!!

New Resource Guide on Services for Trafficking Victims

2011-12-05T04:20:00.000-08:00

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATIP) has published Services Available to Victims of Human Trafficking: A Resource Guide for Social Service Providers. The resource guide provides information about the resources available for both pre-certified and certified victims, including children with letters of eligibility. It describes the many community and State-funded resources available for victims, including options for food, shelter, clothing, medical care, legal assistance, and job training. In addition, the guide provides information on how adults and children can obtain Certification and Eligibility Letters.

The majority of the booklet outlines the types of Federal benefits and services available to trafficking victims in various immigration categories. Included in the guide is a chart for each government program, describing eligibility information for certified adults, children with letters of eligibility, lawful permanent residents, U.S. citizens, and others. To download a copy of the resource guide, go to the following link: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/Trafficking_Svcs_9_30_11.pdf

Advocacy/Awareness: Check Your State's HT Report Card

2011-12-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Shared Hope International has released the results of their Protected Innocence State Report Card project. Shared Hope completed national and local level research for the Departments of State and Justice. DEMAND. research and domestic minor sex trafficking assessments in locations around the country led to the National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, which outlines the top policy issues discovered through the research. The most pressing policy needs include:

The increase in specialized shelter care for domestic minor sex trafficking victims beyond the mere 100 beds specifically provided for these victims;
The development of alternatives to a criminal justice response, preferably through a child protective procedure; and
A prioritization and focus on the investigation and prosecution of demand (buyers of sex with minors).

The Protected Innocence State Report Card measures each state’s legislative framework and assigned it point values that calculate to a grade: A-F. The report card strives to provide recommendations to improve a state’s grade.

Check your State's Report Card HERE.

Massachusetts Passes First HT Law

2011-11-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

Washington, DC (November 15, 2011) – Polaris Project

The Massachusetts legislature has taken a crucial step to reduce trafficking by passing the state’s first anti-human trafficking legislation today, said Polaris Project. The new bill (HB 3808) makes it a criminal offense to traffic people for forced services or sexual servitude. Prior to this legislation, Massachusetts was one of only three states to have no law against human trafficking.

“By passing this crucial bill, Massachusetts legislators are sending a strong signal that the enslavement of men, women and children is simply not acceptable,” said Mary Ellison, Director of Policy for Polaris Project. “We are thrilled to see Massachusetts catching up to the 47 other states that have already passed anti-trafficking legislation.”

The legislation carries a potential 20-year sentence for human trafficking, and traffickers of children could face life in prison. It also establishes fines of up to $1 million on businesses who engage in human trafficking and increases funding for social services for victims of sex and labor trafficking. Two other provisions significantly target traffickers’ profits: the state may forfeit traffickers’ assets and put them into a victims’ trust fund and trafficking victims may also sue their traffickers.

With the passage of this bill, West Virginia and Wyoming are the only two remaining states that have no criminal laws against human trafficking.

“Stronger state laws like this one can make it easier for local prosecutors to win cases against traffickers and increase services for survivors of trafficking,” continued Ms. Ellison. “Trafficking occurs because it is a high-profit, low-risk venture. These are the types of tools we need to reduce trafficking in our communities and protect trafficking victims.”

Human trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry worldwide, and the United States is an active and profitable venue for both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The federal anti-trafficking bill, The Trafficking Victims Protection Act recently expired and is currently being considered by the U.S. Congress.

Training Opportunity: TurnAround Advocate and Mentor Program/Baltimore

2011-11-29T09:38:00.000-08:00

The TurnAround Anti-Trafficking Program is looking for volunteers to provide support to survivors of sex trafficking. Community Advocates and Mentors assist survivors in variety of ways as they begin to rebuild their lives.

Our next training for those interested in becoming an Advocate or Mentor will be Thursday, December 8, 2011 from 6-9pm at the TurnAround offices in Towson. If you are interested in learning more, please contact arubenstein@turnaroundinc.org with questions or to receive an application.

Training Opportunity: Rescue & Restore on Labor Trafficking

2011-11-26T06:42:00.000-08:00

HHS Rescue & Restore to Host WebEx Training

“U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division:

Combating Human Trafficking"

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Summary

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hosting a series of free, online WebEx training sessions on a variety of topics related to human trafficking. The information session on Tuesday, November 29, will focus on how the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) within the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) combats human trafficking and address the following:

· How to determine labor violations vs. labor trafficking

· WHD investigations and enforcement; and

· WHD partnerships with social service and law enforcement agencies.

Presenter

Michael Kravitz, Director of Communications

Wage and Hour Division (WHD), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

Mr. Kravitz is currently the Director of Communications for the WHD within DOL. His responsibilities include overseeing external and internal messaging for the agency, including outreach, partnerships, and media activities. In addition, he oversees coordination of human trafficking activities for the Division.

How to Register:

To register for the Tuesday, November 29th, 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) training session, please click on the link below (or place it into your Internet browser):

https://mman.webex.com/mman/j.php?ED=174351752&RG=1&UID=1236477892&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Multiple participants from an organization are encouraged to register one individual for the session; participants can view the training through one computer and a speaker phone.

For those of you not familiar with WebEx trainings, all you need is access to a computer, the Internet, and your phone.

After you register, the WebEx system will send you a confirmation e-mail with login information for both the web and the teleconference portions. Please save the confirmation email because it includes the following information:

 Toll-free phone number and participant passcode for the audio portion of the training session; and

 Web site link and passcode (same as the phone passcode) so you can view the PowerPoint (ppt) presentation as it is being presented. The ppt will advance automatically during the training session.

As part of the WebEx session, you can ask the presenter questions. Once on the call, the technician will guide you on how to ask questions orally. The speaker will answer questions during the last 15 minutes of the presentation.

Accommodation Request:

In the event that any participant requires reasonable accommodations, such closed-captioning services, please submit your request to ATIP at trafficking@acf.hhs.gov by COB November 23, 2011.

We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

Jay Womack

Acting Director, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division

Rescue & Restore

www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking

National Human Trafficking Resource Center • 1-888-3737-888

Lured by Hope into Slavery in the US, Rescued Trafficking Survivor Story

2011-11-22T04:44:00.000-08:00

(CNN) – (CNN Freedom Project) One was sold by her impoverished parents, the other willingly left her family to become a nanny. But both found years of their lives turned to domestic servitude before finally finding freedom.

CNN's Martin Savidge tells the story of Isabel. Her mother sold her into slavery at around age 7 to a Taiwanese family who later moved to the United States in an upscale southern California neighborhood.

So as other children went to school, Isabel cooked and cleaned. Her bedroom was the garage, her bed the floor. Her food - whatever the family didn't want, often spoiled or soured. And there were the beatings, she says, often with a spatula and once, when her owner accused her of drinking a cup of tea, a toilet bowl brush.

Isabel finally met someone who helped her escape and is now in her 20s and trying to learn what many her age have already mastered: driving a car, ordering at a restaurant, understanding money. No criminal charges were brought against the family who brought Isabel to the U.S. from Taiwan. But she has settled a civil lawsuit with that family and is no longer in touch with them.

CNN's Gena Somra reports on Laome, who was 17 in Nigeria when she thought she was getting an education in the U.S. in exchange for becoming a nanny for a wealthy Nigerian American woman, Bidemi Bello. Instead, she says, she had instead become a slave. Bello, Laome says, instilled that fear in her right from the beginning, abusing her almost every day.

She later escaped with the help of friends, and Bello was brought to trial. Found guilty of human trafficking, Bello faces 11 years behind bars. After that, she will be deported back to Nigeria.

For Laome, she says that with the trial behind her, she is finally free.

Watch more of Laome's story below

New York: More victims than Official Statistics Show, according to new Hofstra Study

2011-11-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

According to a new study, carried out by researchers at Hofstra University and a non-profit support group, private support groups have worked with 11,268 unique survivors of trafficking since 2000 and at least 1,606 people over this past year.

These numbers significantly exceed official estimates. A 2007-08 study by the New York State Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking reported just 36 confirmed victims in the entire state of New York.

For more news on the study, click here.

For the Hofstra study, click here.

Gangs Enter New Territory with Sex Trafficking

2011-11-18T03:40:00.000-08:00

November 14, 2011/NPR

The MS-13 gang got its start among immigrants from El Salvador in the 1980s. Since then, the gang has built operations in 42 states, mostly out West and in the Northeastern United States, where members typically deal in drugs and weapons.

But in Fairfax County, Va., one of the wealthiest places in the country, authorities have brought five cases in the past year that focus on gang members who have pushed women, sometimes very young women, into prostitution.

"We all know that human trafficking is an issue around the world," says Neil MacBride, the top federal prosecutor in the area. "We hear about child brothels in Thailand and brick kilns in India, but it's something that's in our own backyard, and in the last year we've seen street gangs starting to move into sex trafficking."

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Weapons and paraphernalia from gangs are displayed during a news conference in 2006. Authorities in Fairfax, Va., have brought five prostitution cases in the past year against gangs. One member of the MS-13 gang was recently sentenced to life in prison for sex trafficking.

Weapons and paraphernalia from gangs are displayed during a news conference in 2006. Authorities in Fairfax, Va., have brought five prostitution cases in the past year against gangs. One member of the MS-13 gang was recently sentenced to life in prison for sex trafficking.

In Virginia, at least, the consequences can be severe. Over the past few weeks, one member of MS-13 nicknamed "Sniper" got sent to prison for the rest of his life. Another will spend 24 years behind bars for compelling two teenage girls to sell themselves for money.

Usually, investigators say, gang members charge between $30 and $50 a visit, and the girls are forced into prostitution 10 to 15 times a day.

It's easy money for MS-13 — thousands of dollars in a weekend, with virtually no costs. Except for alcohol and drugs to try to keep the girls off-kilter.

Often, the activity takes place at construction sites, in the parking lots of convenience stores and gas stations.

"Yeah, this last case we worked, the victim was 12 years old," says John Torres, who leads the Homeland Security Investigations unit at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Washington.

He says the girl, a runaway, approached MS-13 gang members at a Halloween party. She was looking for a place to stay. Within hours, she was forced to work as a prostitute.

"You have a gang that's taking advantage of people that are in a desperate situation, usually runaways or someone that's looking for help from the gang," Torres says.

Joshua Skule, who oversees the violent crime branch of the criminal division at the FBI's field office in Washington, lists some reasons for street gangs' move into sex trafficking.

"It is not like moving, or as risky as moving narcotics. It is not as risky as extorting business owners," he says. "And these victims really have no way out."

Skule says they're like modern indentured servants. The 12-year-old girl involved in one of the recent sex trafficking cases is safe now, authorities say. But she'll be dealing with the physical and emotional scars for many years.

"When someone leaves, there's a lot of shame and guilt associated with the time they were there," says Victoria Hougham, a social worker who helps victims and survivors of sex trafficking.

"They may have physical injuries which can impact, especially for young women, their sexual and reproductive health."

Hougham works with Polaris Project, a nonprofit that runs a 24-hour hot line that helps connect victims of human trafficking with police or social services. She says survivors of that kind of abuse do best when they reconnect with their families and get support from law enforcement.

Prosecutors in Virginia say they expect to bring more sex trafficking cases against gang members over the next several months.

For the audio of this NPR story click HERE.

Fair Trade: Trafficking and the Chocolate Trade in the Ivory Coast

2011-11-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Friends -

The following was sent to us by our friend Lisa Thompson, Coordinator for the Intiative Against Sexual Trafficking at the Salvation Army.

__________________________

Dear Friends:

By following this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15686731 you can view a moving report by the BBC about cocoa production in the Ivory Coast. In the light of stories like these chocolate loses all its sweetness.

I know I've lost my appetite for anything but Fair Trade chocolate. For some Fair Trade chocolate options see: http://www.equalexchange.coop/chocolate-bars

Abolition!

Lisa

Advocacy Opportunity: Accountability for Slave Labour

2011-11-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

This Advocacy Opportunity comes to us from our friend Amanda Kloer @ Change.org...

________________________________

Dear VAST,

Huu Lung was a teenager battling drug addiction when he was sent to a rehab center in Vietnam that ended up being a forced labor camp. Rather than receive treatment for his addiction, however, Huu Lung was forced to shell hundreds of cashews a day for no pay. His fellow workers ranged in age from 14 to 56 and were threatened with beatings if they refused to work.

When many of the world's cashews are produced by child and forced laborers like Huu Lung, it’s unacceptable that a major snack nut company like Diamond Foods refuses to say exactly where its nuts come from.

Advocacy group Fairfood International wants Diamond Foods to come clean about where all of its cashews come from. The group has started a petition on Change.org calling on the mega-snack food company (Diamond Foods owns Emerald Nuts, Pop Secret, Kettle Chips and Pringles) to be completely transparent about its cashew sourcing to make sure they’re child and forced labor free.

Will you sign Fairfood International's petition telling Diamond Foods to provide the proof that it's not buying child and forced labor cashews?

Processing cashews is incredibly labor intensive. The shells cause blisters and rashes on skin (it has the same toxins as poison ivy), which is why many cashews end up being shelled by child and forced laborers like Huu Lung. And advocacy groups have documented that at least 144,000 pounds of cashews from fake drug treatment centers in Vietnam have been sold under the Diamond Foods brand, making it even more important for Diamond Foods to be completely transparent.

American companies fear the negative publicity that comes with disclosure of bad labor practices overseas. Earlier this year, Change.org members took on forced labor in the flower industry: Within 72 hours of 50,000 Change.org members signing a petition directed at 1-800-Flowers (the largest florist in America), the company agreed to offer a Fair Trade collection, publish information on flower sourcing, and create a code of conduct for suppliers that prohibits forced and child labor. We can get the same results from Diamond Foods by amping up the pressure.

Please sign the petition asking Diamond Foods to reveal where it buys its nuts and to ensure it sells cashews free from forced and child labor:

http://www.change.org/petitions/diamond-foods-emerald-nuts-wake-up-and-join-the-fight-to-stop-child-labour

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Amanda and the Change.org team

Book Recommendation: God in a Brothel

2011-11-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

Just a quick resource recommendation:

This past long weekend, the students and leaders from the Heroic Leadership Institute got to visit with Daniel Walker (author of God in a Brothel) and hear his own story and testimony firsthand. It was a touching and hope-filled testimony full of both the darkness that we fight against, counting the cost of being involved and redemption in the midst of our lives.

This is the true story of an undercover investigator's experiences infiltrating the multi-billion dollar global sex industry. It is a story of triumph for the children and young teens released from a life of slavery and the rescuer who freed many hundreds of victims leading to the prosecution of dozens of perpetrators. And it is a story of haunting despair for those left behind in corrupt systems of law enforcement.

It is the personal story of Daniel Walker, one man who followed a path of costly discipleship, agonizing failure and unlikely redemption.

And it is a challenge to God's people to join in the battle that all might be freed.

Check it out here!

Heroic Leadership Institute Justice-intensive in Maryland

2011-11-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

Consider us psyched....today 12 students from the Heroic Leadership Institute arrive to join us here at the Central Maryland Vineyard for their "Justice-intensive". HLI is a boot camp for young (aimed at 18 to 35-ish) leaders in the body of Christ. It is a 9-month full-time training program currently based in Lewiston, Maine at the Pathway Vineyard.

The dream of HLI is to create a path within the Vineyard movement for our young leaders to be trained and released into significant ministry and as life-long lovers of Jesus and people. The hope is to create a green-house affect where the students are exposed in an intense way to three strategic venues of training. The rest of this week is going to be intense: filled with both serious hands-on justice training and experience on the street, formational prayer and soul care for a sustainable life of "Doing Justice", as well as some in-depth teaching and conversational reflection on Jesus' heart for the justice of the Kingdom!

As a way of preparation and focusing our attention on what God has given us to do, we've been meditating on this verse from Isaiah 30...why don't you join us throughout the rest of this week in praying through and meditating on this with us: “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”

Washington DC: Invitation to Congressional Hearing on Trafficking

2011-10-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman

Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Co-Chairman

For Immediate Release www.csce.gov

October 27, 2011

U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION TO HOLD HEARING ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

WASHINGTON -- The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) announced the following hearing:

Please join the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe for a hearing that explores the nexus between Transnational Organized Crime and Human Trafficking.

Organized Crime has evolved to meet the challenges of globalization and modern technology. In this evolution major international criminal organizations and smaller highly specialized groups of criminal entrepreneurs have found new ways to expand their operations and exploit human beings into slavery. To meet these challenges new national and international strategies have been placed into action, but their results remain to be seen. This continues the Helsinki Commission’s hearing series on new fronts in human trafficking. This hearing will focus on: (1) the evolving nature of Transnational Organized Crime, (2) the role of major international organized crime groups and smaller organized criminal syndicates in human trafficking, (3) identified trends, and (4) strategies to combat these organizations and prevent the trafficking of human beings.

Mr. Greg Andres,

Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice

Mr. Piero Bonadeo,
Deputy Representative to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in New York

Ms. Martina Vandenberg
, Esq., Pro Bono Counsel, The Freedom Network USA

###

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the Federal Government charged with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Accords and advancing comprehensive security through promotion of human rights, democracy, and economic, environmental and military cooperation in 56 countries. The Commission consists of nine members from the U.S. Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce.

The following witnesses have been invited to testify:

"Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime: Assessing Trends and Combat Strategies"

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Room: B-318 Rayburn House Office Building

Malaysia: Police Free 21 Ugandan Sex Slaves

2011-10-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

(AFP) – Oct 17, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian police said Tuesday they had rescued 21 Ugandan women from forced prostitution, breaking up what they called the country's first large-scale such ring involving African victims.
The Federal Criminal Investigation Department said in a statement that police freed the women on Friday from four flats in an apartment building on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The women, aged from 19 to 42, were lured to Malaysia with promises of jobs as maids in homes and hotels but instead were forced into prostitution to pay off their $7,000 travel fees.

The women "were exploited as sex slaves," the statement said. "The victims were threatened physically and mentally if they ran away and report to authorities."

It added that all of them were brought from Uganda to Malaysia via China.

If they refused sex, they were beaten and raped, a police official in the department said.

"This is the first time we have such a large number of Africans," said the official, who declined to give his name as he was not authorised to speak publicly about the case.

He added there had been previous cases involving individual African prostitutes but not a syndicate.
Police have also arrested two Ugandan woman believed to be pimps and a Ugandan man believed to be a customer, the department statement said.

The official said police were still investigating how long the ring had been in operation and whether there were more victims.

The penalty for human trafficking in Malaysia is up to 15 years in jail.

Although prostitution is illegal in Muslim-majority Malaysia, it is prevalent especially in urban centres.

Houston: Is There a Sweatshop in your Backyard?

2011-10-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

The following comes from our friend The Peace Pastor @ the Houston Chronicle blog:

You might be surprised that sweatshop labor is in your backyard. I was! Sweatshop stories are typically from overseas and surround well-known companies. For instance, according to laborrights.org the official inductees of the 2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame are: Abercrombie and Fitch, Gymboree, Hanes, Ikea, Kohl’s, LL Bean, Pier 1 Imports, Propper International, and Walmart.

But that’s all a world away. Right?

Sadly, no. I joined about 60 others Friday afternoon at a Heights area wholesale clothing company on 25th Street to confront the owners for their illegal and immoral practices. Two employees contacted The Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center after the company failed to fully pay them their last couple of weeks of employment. What was learned is shameful.

While working at the warehouse, the workers made shoes & bags for production, sorted large clothing shipments, and loaded and unloaded merchandise crates. They worked 6 days a week sometimes up to 12 hour days, often with no breaks and in a cramped space with no fire extinguishers, marked exits, or adequate ventilation, among other safety and health violations.

Bad enough, right? Not being paid for working in sweatshop conditions. But there’s more! In talking with the employees it was discovered the workers were never paid overtime and were both making below minimum wage. In other words: their wages were stolen.  They are currently owed over $6,500 in stolen wages.
These two workers who are part of the working families that help create our city’s economy, deserve more than sweatshop working conditions and stolen wages. They deserve more than having their former employers run out the back door when presented with documentation of their abuses. They are only two of thousands of Houston workers subject to these types of corrosive jobs which threaten the well-being of our communities and economy.

Wage theft in Houston is prevalent, but unquestionably illegal. The Texas Legislature passed stricter provisions against wage theft which took effect last month. Questions linger as to District Attorney Lykos’ willingness to pursue cases against employers who steal wages. But there are no questions that the Houston community stand in solidarity against this behavior. Area faith leaders, Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center, Good Jobs-Great Houston and OccupyHouston folks all stoodFriday with these two workers who courageously confronted their employer. And we’ll keep doing so as needed.

I stand with workers because as a Christian the God I follow loves justice. And as I’ve said elsewhere, “The work of justice ultimately demands only one thing from you: that you believe God.” Do we believe God when he says worship (ie fasting) is less important than justice? God asks in Isaiah 58

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,
   to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
   and to break every yoke?

As Jose Eduardo Sanchez, with HIWJ said, “All religions believe in justice, and we work with faith leaders to ensure workers have the respect and dignity they deserve.” Indeed. Many will read this on Sunday, your key day for worship. As you do, consider that God values justice more than worship.

If you or someone you know has had or suspects you have had wages stolen, please contact Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center (713.862.8222). They can and will help! If you are interested in learning more about wage theft, standing in solidarity with workers, advocating for living wages or safe working conditions, or going on a delegation like described here, contact Laura Boston at HIWJ: lboston@hiwj.org.
Do justice Montrose and Westheimer, love kindness Midtown and Beltway, walk humbly Space and Energy city! You’re be blessed if you do & blessed if your persecuted. And together, we’ll be the remedy to the world’s great problems.

Marty Troyer practices loving the unloved as pastor of Houston Mennonite Church. You can join us anytime in Spring Branch or visit us online at houstonmennonite.org. Follow Marty on Twitter @thepeacepastor. This post written with the wise help of Laura Boston, who also provided the pics.

Survivors Share Stories of Modern Slavery in DC

2011-10-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

by Tanya Hutchins, DC Examiner.com
18 October 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – Saturday’s Stop Modern Slavery Walk on the National Mall aims to give a voice to the voiceless. Shamere McKenzie knows what it is like not to have a voice and plans to use hers this weekend. She is a survivor of human trafficking, which includes forced labor and the commercial sex industry. “I was looking for money to go back to school and I met a man who said he would help me and that’s how I got into the life.”

McKenzie said she realized something was wrong the first night. “He put me to work. I felt like I was violated and he actually choked me to the point of unconsciousness,” she said. “When I woke up, he turned into Prince Charming.”

She said he apologized and said he didn’t mean to put his hands on her. He also told her that she wouldn’t have to work as a sex slave any longer. That proved untrue for the next year and seven months.

“It’s very similar to domestic violence,” McKenzie said. Although she was a victim, she and her perpetrator were both arrested five years ago. It was a blessing and a curse. The arrest got her out of that life, but it also criminalized her. “I was charged and convicted of a felony,” she said. The man forced her to drive across state lines with underage girls, in violation of the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting under-aged girls for prostitution or sex acts.

McKenzie says she wants people to know this is happening in the United States and that it happens to children and adults. “Just to inform people so they can look for the signs and prevention.” She is scheduled to speak Saturday between 11:45am and 12:15pm. She is one of three survivor speakers and several musical performers.

The DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk is organized entirely by community volunteers from DC, Maryland and Virginia and begins at 8:00am.

Lisa Carrasco is on the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force and is walking with her family. “Hopefully, it will inspire people to help others in need,” Carrasco said. She hopes official reporting of human trafficking cases begins in 2012.

Walk organizers say various entities facilitate human trafficking: Landlords, hotels/motels, transportation companies, advertisers and banks. Some are aware of their role, while others are not.

If you see or hear suspicious activity that you think may involve modern slavery, call 1-888-3737-888.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/volunteerism-in-washington-dc/survivors-share-stories-of-modern-slavery

Street Outreach Training @ Safe House of Hope

2011-10-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Safe House of Hope will be doing a Street Outreach Training later this month. If you are interested and in or near Baltimore, Maryland, the dates are October 27-29, Thur and Fri 6-9pm, Sat 10am-2pm @ Gospel Assembly Church,3555 4th St, Brooklyn, MD 21225.

Preregistration is appreciated but open in-person registration will be available on Thursday.

Email for more info safehouseofhope@gmail.com

New Film Documents Sex Trafficking in Los Angeles

2011-10-12T03:37:00.000-07:00

A new film documenting sex trafficking in Los Angeles debuted last night at the LAPD headquarters. More showings are scheduled for the general public. For more information about the film, click here.

California Community Takes Action Against Trafficking

2011-10-03T03:22:00.000-07:00

In the San Antonio neighborhood in Oakland, Calif., sex trafficking has been a problem since several motels moved into the community decades ago attracting pimps. Last year, All Things Considered and Youth Radio collaborated on an investigative series from young people's point of view that revealed what it's like being sex trafficked and also how police efforts to combat the problem often criminalize young women. Since then, the community has stepped up its response.

Over the past year, parents and advocates in the San Antonio neighborhood became active when they realized pimps were targeting their middle school girls.

"It happens at the bus stops, it happens in front of homes, and it happens in front of schools," says Nhuanh Ly, program coordinator for Banteay Srei, a group that works with neighborhood girls to build self-esteem and teach them how to avoid being recruited by pimps.

School district officials say it's hard to prevent because the pimps just look like regular guys.

"Not too long ago, one of the girls who attends our after-school program called me and she was really, really distraught. She was like, 'Nhuanh! Nhuanh! I can't believe this just happened! A pimp just tried to recruit me and he actually picked me up in his car,' " Ly says.

Every time I see a young girl out there, I see my daughter.

- Andy Nelson, deputy director for organizing and public policy at East Bay Youth Center, who has a 4-year-old daughter

Ly says the average age at which girls get recruited into trafficking in the U.S. is 12. People often think girls end up being trafficked because they were kidnapped. But many times, it can start with a seduction or even a relationship. So Ly encourages families to have frank conversations early about dating and sex.

"Yeah, it's awkward talking to your parents about sex, right? A common response for parents is to try to shut their children away from seeing this. But the reality is that it's so visible and it's so prevalent that we can't do that," she says.

It's so prevalent that families can look outside their windows and see pimps.

Reynaldo and Jody Terrazas raised two girls in this neighborhood. They live a block from the National Lodge motel that the community has been fighting for years, saying pimps run their business from it. From their living room, the Terrazases also have a view of International Boulevard where girls, some barely teenagers, stand on the corners.

"Little girls, you bet," Jody says. "Very skinny. They probably weigh 100 pounds, maybe 115 pounds. Some of them look very confident and bold about what they are doing. And then there are times they look like they are trying to get away, to hide. They don't want to be here."

At the National Lodge motel, you have to be buzzed in. A small women sits behind a thick glass window like a bank teller. She wouldn't answer any questions. Later, Rita Patel answers the phone in the office. She's part of the family that owns the motel.

Courtesy of Denise Tejada

Jody and Reynaldo Terrazas stand in front of a painting of their oldest daughter. The Terrazases have lived in Oakland's San Antonio neighborhood for more than 40 years and raised two girls there.

"No, we don't accept prostitutes here," she says when asked about neighbors' fears of sexual exploitation of minors. "No we don't."

Andy Nelson, deputy director for organizing and public policy at East Bay Youth Center, says he's pleased that the City of Oakland has officially joined the fight and is suing to shut down the National Lodge motel for allowing prostitution and sexual exploitation of minors.

"Since we started pushing, there were a couple more officers who were assigned here and there is been a lot more willingness to talk to us and to try to work collaboratively ... the concern is, you know, what would happen if we stopped pushing," Nelson says.

That pushing includes marches, rallies, and meetings with the mayor, the City Council and the police. So what's Nelson's motivation to keep pushing? His 4-year-old daughter.

"As she gets older, it's going to be challenging. But every time I see a young girl out there, you know," Nelson says, choking up. "Every time I see a young girl out there, I see my daughter."

Until recently, Nelson says a lot of neighborhood parents felt there was nothing that could be done to stop sex trafficking. He says getting rid of the National Lodge motel is not going to solve the problem, but it would be a big accomplishment.

Nelson and others won't give up the idea that Oakland's San Antonio neighborhood can be a good place to raise kids.

Spain: Unraveling Sweatshop's

2011-09-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

Large-scale criminal organizations from Eastern Europe, Africa and China are setting up shop - bringing people into Spain under the guise of giving them jobs, then keeping their passports and forcing them to work in nightmarish conditions, either in prostitution or labor exploitation:

Is There Justice in Johns Schools? by Dr. Lederer

2011-09-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

Is There Justice in John Schools?

Laura J. Lederer, J.D.

Like drug trafficking, human trafficking is a business involving a triangle of activity: supply, demand, and distribution. Unlike drug trafficking, however, there is little, if any, focus on the demand side of the human trafficking business. While some men who buy sex are unaware of the harm to themselves, their families, their communities, and the women trapped in prostitution, far more are crass consumers in the sex industry seemingly without regard for the consequences. A renewed and vigorous focus on the men who fuel the market for commercial sex is imperative. In the feminist movement, and in the broader anti-trafficking movement, the question has become: What is the most effective way to focus on the demand side of the business of trafficking, especially sex trafficking?

Before the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, and for several years after its passage, the focus was on the victims of human trafficking, and rightly so. As Congress debated the passage of the TVPA (1998 – 2000) they heard the testimony of dozens of victims – young women and girls who had been physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually devastated by the sexual slavery in which they were trapped. The law, which is called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act had key clauses that focused on the rescue, rehabilitation, restoration, and reintegration of victims into mainstream society. This work is critical and must continue. Yet, two years after the passage of the law, a number of experts who worked on it became convinced that our energies to rescue victims would be misplaced if we did not more clearly understand the business of human trafficking.

During the time I spent in the U.S. Department of State, where I was Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the Office for Global Affairs, I was responsible for assisting the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs in shaping USG programs and policies that would address human trafficking. I developed a white paper for the Under Secretary on the economics of human trafficking. One of the key components of the paper was a model that demonstrated that the law, law enforcement, and victim-centered approach mandated in the TVPA left out a key aspect of the work: the demand that drives the market for both sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

By the time I left the State Department, several colleagues were talking and writing about the demand, but no one had designed a comprehensive demand reduction strategy with suggestions for concrete programs that could be put in place to address demand. One my first efforts upon leaving USG and was titled, “The Five S’s of Demand.” It built on the USG 3Ps framework of Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection and suggested a strategy for addressing the demand side of human trafficking. It is beyond the scope of this paper to examine all 5 S’s. Instead I want to look at one particular S: Second Chance Schools and discuss the on-going debate about the effectiveness of such schools.

Some background: Second Chance Schools refer to The First Offender Prostitution Programs (FOPP), more commonly and colloquially known as “Johns Schools.” They were developed and perfected by the late Norma Hotaling.[1] A survivor of prostitution, Norma founded the organization SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) in 1992. SAGE was a resource, advocacy, and counseling center for those trafficked into or trapped in prostitution. In 1995, she partnered with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to create a first-of-its-kind class for men caught soliciting for prostitution.[2] Though there are variations in the programs, essentially FOPP allows the court to drop charges for first offenders of adult prostitution if they pay a $1,000 fine and participate in an eight-hour course taught by sex trafficking-experts, prosecutors, police, neighborhood activists, and health educators who discuss the harm of prostitution. Participants also hear from victims of trafficking; examine their own motivations for buying sex; and learn about the nature and scope of human trafficking. The program was lauded in a 2008 U.S. Department of Justice study, which concluded that men who attended San Francisco’s “john school” were less likely to be rearrested for soliciting than men who did not attend such a program.[3]

It is unclear how many men have been through the FOPP programs in the United States over the past fifteen years. The number is in the tens of thousands (over 7,000 men have attended the San Francisco Johns School) but to date there has never been a study that of the achievements of all the FOPPs. Last year, Global Centurion conducted a brief survey of 38 Johns Schools in the United States, and 6 schools in Canada to obtain information about the nature and scope of the program offerings. Here are some of the key findings from our survey:

Of 39 Johns Schools surveyed most had units on the legal, health, societal, community, and personal safety consequences of prostitution;
All but four had a component on the victimization of women and children in prostitution;
A few programs consist of psychotherapy sessions only;
One of the programs had only a health component (i.e., warning men about HIV/AIDS, STDs, and other serious communicable diseases;
12 schools charge between $250 and $500 per class; 7 schools three schools charge $60 – $800; Only 4 schools charge $1,000 or more for the class;
Restorative justice is an important aspect of the class for at least 10 schools: in these programs, money from the johns’ fees go directly to the victim services programs.

For many of the programs, building a Johns School that supports the work with victims is critical. Kristy Childs, Director of Veronica’s Voice, says that one of the most important aspects of the Johns School in Kansas City is the fact that it has a restorative justice element. “The fact that the fees from the Johns School go directly into victim services, including our street outreach to women and our drop in program is hugely important factor in our Johns School design.” She said. For SAGE, in San Francisco, fees are shared with the D.A’s office and the SF Police Department. Even so, if police arrest men, SAGE can pull in several hundred thousand dollars from The Johns School, dollars that help keep their program for women running.
The biggest debate is about whether the Johns School are effective programs for deterring men from the sex industry. Melissa Farley, of the Prostitution Research & Education Group says that Johns Schools are not the solution to the problem. She believes that the growing use of “john schools” that offer educational programs and counseling as an alternative to sentencing for first offenders is a mistake. In a recent study Farley conducted, she found that johns themselves viewed jail as a far more powerful deterrent to recidivism, and the strongest deterrent of all was the threat of being registered as a sex offender.[4]

A recent study by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) conducted among johns in Chicago, Illinois, seems to concur. It found that 41 percent of men said John School would deter them from buying sex, compared with 92 percent who said being placed on a sex offender registry would scare them from re-offending.[5]

And yet a half dozen other surveys and studies seem to indicate that Johns School can have a lasting positive effect. The Brooklyn D.A.’s office reported a recidivism rate of .005% (twelve out of 2218 men) since the Johns School was put in place. In Cincinnati, Ohio and Columbus Ohio, the recidivism rate is 0 since the inception of the Johns School. In Marion County, Indiana 2% (8 out of 400 men) of the graduates of their diversion program have been rearrested (over a period of nine years). In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a recidivism rate of .004% (2 out of 500 men) has been reported since 2008. Breaking Free in Minneapolis Minnesota area reports a recidivism rate of .004% (3 out of 700 men as of 2009). SAGE reports a recidivism rate of 1% (14 out of 1512 re-arrests). Most of these studies are not scientifically significant: for one thing there is no control group. Much more research is necessary to draw final conclusions about The Johns Schools.

The most significant information to come from these studies is the words of the men themselves.
One young man said, “I used to laugh at prostitutes. Now I see them as people with real feelings.” SAGE founder Norma Hotaling told me that one man emerged from Johns School saying “Why didn’t I have this when I was 17 – my whole life would have been different if I had known then what I know now.” Another participant, a 37-year-old unemployed mental health counselor, said when his wife left him, he vowed never to get emotionally involved with another woman. Seeking out women in prostitution, he thought, was the perfect answer: no one would get hurt. “Now I realize it isn’t the solution. If they had put me in jail, I’d probably have gone back to it. It probably wouldn’t have changed anything. But now I have been exposed to that information. I’m transformed.” Justice in Johns Schools? The evidence isn’t in yet, but it points in that direction.

[1] The first concept of education of men involved in prostitution began in 1981 when Cindy Sikkema started running “John Groups” in Grand Rapids Michigan. In 1988 Steve Sawyer of Minneapolis/St. Paul developed a counseling program for men who had been arrested for prostitution. Norma Hotaling refined and enlarged the concept, engaging the City of San Francisco, the Mayor’s Office, the District Attorney, and others to help build and sustain the program.

[2] SAGE, First Offender Prostitution Program; http://www.sagesf.org/html/about_services_fopp.htm

[3] Final Report on the Evaluation of the First Offender Prostitution Program; Author: Michael Shively, Ph.D. ; Sarah Kuck Jalbert ; Ryan Kling ; William Rhodes, Ph.D. ; Peter Finn ;
Chris Flygare ; Laura Tierney ; Dana Hunt, Ph.D. ; David Squires ; Christina Dyous ; Kristin
Wheeler Document No.: 222451; Date Received: March 2008; Award Number: 2005-DD-BX-0037; Available on-line; U.S. Department of Justice, NCJRS.

[4] Prostitution Research and Education, “ Comparing Sex Buyers With Men Who Don’t Buy Sex,” August 2011, http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/

[5] “Deconstructing The Demand for Prostitution: Preliminary Insights From Interviews With Chicago Men Who Purchase Sex,” Rachel Durchslag and Samir Goswami, May 2008, http://caase.org/pdf/resources/17-deconstructing-the-demand-for-prostitution.pdf

About Laura Lederer
Laura Lederer is President of Global Centurion Foundation, an international organization fighting human trafficking by focusing on demand. Global Centurion assists communities, states, and governments in developing a comprehensive demand reduction strategy. Visit www.globalcenturion.org for more information and to see a global map of other hubs of demand for sex trafficking.

Chicago/Ukraine: Trial Rescheduled after Trafficking Victim Identifies Defense Lawyer as a Client

2011-09-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

by Paul Bentley, UK Mail Online

A sex trafficking case has collapsed in astonishing circumstances after a masseuse who was called to the stand pointed out the defence lawyer as one of her clients.

Ukrainian immigrant Liudmyla Ksenych had been summoned to court in Chicago as one of the women said to have been forced by a pimp to provide sexual favours to clients and then hand over thousands of dollars to their boss to avoid deportation.

But as she left the witness stand last week, she told prosecutors that she recognised the lawyer representing pimp Alex 'Daddy' Campbell - because the married man was one of her regulars.
After the allegation came to light, Douglas Rathe, who is a former assistant state attorney, confessed to the judge that he had visited Miss Ksenych four times in 2009.

He said he didn't recognise her name before she arrived at court because she used a pseudonym when she worked in the parlour.

While he told U.S. District Court Judge Robert Gettleman that the pair had exchanged emails and he had even given her a bottle of perfume as a gift, he insisted 'nothing inappropriate' had occurred.

'It was a massage - that was all it was,' Mr Rathe later told the Chicago Sun-Times. 'What happened was embarrassing - there was no doubt about it. [But] I did nothing illegal or nothing that was considered improper. This was a very unusual circumstance.'

He added: 'I apparently used very poor judgement in even going to this place, but I did nothing inappropriate. I apologise to Mr. Campbell. … I got too friendly with [Ksenych]… in the sense that I liked her a lot… And I gave her a bottle of perfume. Stupid thing to do when you are married, but I did it.'

Mr Rathe insisted he did not know Mr 'Daddy' Campbell before the case.

Mr Campbell was on trial accused of forcing immigrant women to take jobs at his massage parlours before confiscating their passports, locking them in apartments and coercing them into handing over their money.

An accomplice of his has already pleaded guilty to the same charges.

Authorities said part of the evidence against him is a 'pimp bible' in which he had written detailed accounts about how to force women into sex trafficking.

Miss Ksenych is said to be an illegal immigrant who came to America from the Ukraine five years ago with a bachelor's degree in law.

The prosecutors and the judge initially decided the trial could continue, with the state offering to withdraw Miss Ksenych as a witness.

But Mr Campbell filed for a mistrial arguing that he could no longer trust his lawyer to do his job and would require a new court-appointed attorney.

'I have to reluctantly conclude that the relationship is irreparable and, therefore, we have to start again,' Judge Gettleman said.

He added that he did this with 'great compassion for the witnesses… besides the cost and everything else and disruption. I think we have no choice in this sad matter.'

The trial has now been rescheduled for January.

Training: HHS to Host Online Training on Engaging Volunteers in Anti-Trafficking Outreach

2011-08-31T07:44:00.000-07:00

HHS Rescue & Restore to Host WebEx Training

“Engaging Volunteers in

Anti-trafficking Outreach”

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Summary

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hosting a series of free, online WebEx training sessions on a variety of topics related to human trafficking. The information session on Wednesday, September 14, will focus on engaging volunteers in anti-trafficking outreach and address the following:

· Best practices for engaging community volunteers;

· How to mobilize and train student volunteers; and

· Challenges in working with volunteers.

Presenter

Mrs. Sandie Morgan, Director of the Global Center for Women and Justice

Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, California

Mrs. Morgan teaches women's studies, family violence, and human trafficking at Vanguard University and is a registered nurse. Sandie is also president and founder of the Lydia Today Foundation, which seeks to rescue, rebuild, and restore women and children who are victims of domestic abuse, human trafficking, and other forms of violence. Additionally, Mrs. Morgan is the founder and director of Live2Free, a youth mobilization initiative against human trafficking. Sandie recently served as administrator of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force.

How to Register:

To register for the Wednesday, September 14th, 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) training session, please click on the link below (or place it into your Internet browser):

https://mman.webex.com/mman/j.php?ED=170961657&RG=1&UID=1222758147&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Multiple participants from an organization are encouraged to register one individual for the session; participants can view the training through one computer and a speaker phone.

For those of you not familiar with WebEx trainings, all you need is access to a computer, the Internet, and your phone.

 Toll-free phone number and participant passcode for the audio portion of the training session; and

Accommodation Request:

In the event that any participant requires reasonable accommodations, such closed-captioning services, please submit your request to ATIP at trafficking@acf.hhs.gov by COB September 7, 2011.

We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

Jay Womack

Acting Director, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division

Rescue & Restore

www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking

National Human Trafficking Resource Center • 1-888-3737-888

IAST Webinar: The Link Between Trafficking and Street Gangs, featuring Dr. Laura Lederer

2011-08-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Dr. Laura Lederer will discuss the link between human trafficking and street gangs in this free webinar.
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar Seat Now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/252067163

Title: The Link Between Human Trafficking and Street Gangs
Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

System RequirementsPC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Advocacy Opportunity from Change.org: Alledged Abuse at Hershey's

2011-08-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

The following advocacy opportunity comes to us from Jess Kutch at Change.org

__________________________________________

Hundreds of foreign exchange students paid to come to America this summer, expecting opportunities to learn English and experience American culture.

Instead, the exchange students found themselves forced to work in back-breaking, round-the-clock production lines packing chocolates at a Hershey's plant in Pennsylvania at low wages. When the students complained, Hershey's threatened to have them deported.

Now the exchange students are fighting back. They just walked out of the Hershey's plant and into the streets to protest the abusive conditions and to demand big changes to Hershey's deceptive "cultural exchange" program.

And they've teamed up with the National Guestworker Alliance to start a petition demanding that Hershey's compensate the exchange students, and turn their work into good jobs for local workers. Click here to add your name.

Yana, a 19-year-old girl from Ukraine, lifts boxes that weigh 40 pounds -- nearly half her weight. Peng, a 21-year-old economics student from China, also lifts heavy boxes during his eight-hour shifts at the warehouse.

Hundreds of students from Ghana, Turkey, Mongolia, and other countries each paid up to $6,000 for the privilege to come to America in a cultural exchange program this summer. Now Hershey's pays them around $8 an hour for their warehouse work, minus costs of housing -- leaving many students broke, tired, and disillusioned.

Why would Hershey's want to use foreign exchange students as cheap, manual labor? According to the National Guestworker Alliance, a group helping the students, it's about profit. Hershey's is laying off 500 American workers in the next year. The company's strategy is apparently paying off: Hershey's pocketed $130 million in just the last three months.

The foreign exchange students are asking Hershey to refund the thousands of dollars the students paid to come to America. And that's not all: The students also want Hershey's to convert their low-paying positions to living wage jobs for local residents in Pennsylvania.

Please sign the petition to Hershey's demanding the company refund the students' costs to come to America and give their jobs back to American workers who live near the warehouse.

http://www.change.org/petitions/hershey-stop-exploiting-student-guestworkers

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Jess and the Change.org team

National Tattoo Association Will Train Artists to Fight Sex Trafficking

2011-08-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

There will soon be a new population trained and ready to fight human trafficking: tattoo artists. Tattoo artists are in a unique position to stop a disturbing trend -- pimps using the art of tattooing to abuse and control women and girls. But now, after being urged by more than 2,000 Change.org members, the National Tattoo Association has invited anti-trafficking organization Polaris Project to give a human trafficking training at their next conference. This training will mark the first ever national program to encourage tattoo artists to join the fight against trafficking.

Tattoos as a tool of branding and control of sex trafficking victims are becoming frequent in media reports of trafficking cases. For example, in one recent case in Brooklyn, a local pimp wanted to gain control over a 15-year-old girl he had just started to "break-in" as a child sex trafficking victim. So he took her to a tattoo studio, presented himself as her legal guardian, and forced her to get his nickname tattooed on her body. The tattoo was a permanent sign of ownership, making the pimp feel more powerful and the victim feel more helpless. And it's a scar that won't fade; even once victims are free from trafficking, a tattoo is often a permanent reminder of the trauma and abuse they suffered.

However, if tattoo artists know the signs of human trafficking, they can help prevent pimps from using tattoos to brand sex trafficking victims as property and report suspected cases of abuse to the police. Understanding the power tattoo artists have to fight trafficking, the National Tattoo Association has welcomed Polaris Project to conduct a training for artists at their next convention, hoping to help prevent the misuse of their art by human rights violators.

"The National Tattoo Association will always remain dedicated to promoting and protecting the art of tattooing through education and exposure." said Curt Keck, of the National Tattoo Association.

The Polaris Project is also looking forward to reaching out to and educating a new audience on the ins and outs of identifying human trafficking victims, with the hope of helping young women and girls before they are marked for life, physically or emotionally.

“We’re always excited to engage new constituencies in the fight against human trafficking," said Andrea Austin, of Polaris Project. "We know that pimps often try to ‘brand’ the women and girls under their control with tattoos. Training tattoo artists is an important point of intervention that can lead to increased victim identification.”

Congratulations to The National Tattoo Association, Polaris Project, and the thousands of Change.org members who helped make this partnership possible. With increased education and resources, we can help ensure no one uses an art form so symbolic of freedom as a tool for slavery.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic

Chinese Officials Seized and Sold Babies, Parents Say

2011-08-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

By SHARON LaFRANIERE, New York Times

LONGHUI COUNTY, China — Many parents and grandparents in this mountainous region of terraced rice and sweet potato fields have long known to grab their babies and find the nearest hiding place whenever family planning officials show up. Too many infants, they say, have been snatched by officials, never to be seen again.

But Yuan Xinquan was caught by surprise one December morning in 2005. Then a new father at the age of 19, Mr. Yuan was holding his 52-day-old daughter at a bus stop when a half-dozen men sprang from a white government van and demanded his marriage certificate.

He did not have one. Both he and his daughter’s mother were below the legal age for marriage.
Nor did he have 6,000 renminbi, then about $745, to pay the fine he said they demanded if he wanted to keep his child. He was left with a plastic bag holding her baby clothes and some powdered formula.

“They are pirates,” he said last month in an interview at his home, a half-hour trek up a narrow mountain path between terraced rice paddies.

Nearly six years later, he said, he still hopes to relay a message to his daughter: “Please come home as soon as possible.”

Mr. Yuan’s daughter was among at least 16 children who were seized by family planning officials between 1999 and late 2006 in Longhui County, an impoverished rural area in Hunan, a southern Chinese province, parents, grandparents and other residents said in interviews last month.

The abduction of children is a continuing problem in China, where a lingering preference for boys coupled with strict controls on the number of births have helped create a lucrative black market in children. Just last week, the police announced that they had rescued 89 babies from child traffickers, and the deputy director of the Public Security Ministry assailed what he called the practice of “buying and selling children in this country.”

But parents in Longhui say that in their case, it was local government officials who treated babies as a source of revenue, routinely imposing fines of $1,000 or more — five times as much as an average local family’s yearly income. If parents could not pay the fines, the babies were illegally taken from their families and often put up for adoption by foreigners, another big source of revenue.

The practice in Longhui came to an end in 2006, parents said, only after an 8-month-old boy fell from the second-floor balcony of a local family planning office as officials tried to pluck him from his mother’s arms.
Despite a few news reports outside the Chinese mainland about government-sanctioned kidnappings in Longhui and other regions, China’s state-controlled media ignored or suppressed the news until this May, when Caixin, an intrepid Chinese magazine well known for unusually bold investigations, reported the abductions and prompted an official inquiry.

Zeng Dingbao, who leads the Inspection Bureau in Shaoyang, the city that administers Longhui County, has promised a diligent investigation. But signs point to a whitewash. In June, he told People’s Daily Online, the Web version of the Communist Party’s official newspaper, that the situation “really isn’t the way the media reported it to be, with infants being bought and sold.”

Rather than helping trace and recover seized children, parents say, the authorities are punishing those who speak out. Two of the most vocal fathers were detained for 15 days in Shaoyang on charges of soliciting prostitutes at a brothel. Released last month, the two men, Yang Libing, 47, and Zhou Yinghe, 34, said they had been entrapped.

Mr. Yang said he was constantly followed by government minders. Mr. Zhou said the village party secretary had warned him to stop talking to reporters about the abduction of his 3-month-old daughter in March 2003 or face more punishment. “They are like organized criminals,” Mr. Zhou said.

China’s family planning policies, while among the strictest in the world, ban the confiscation of children from parents who exceed birth quotas, and abuses on the scale of those in Shaoyang are far less common today than they once were. Even so, critics say the powers handed to local officials under national family planning regulations remain excessive and ripe for exploitation.

“The larger issue is that the one-child policy is so extreme that it emboldened local officials to act so inhumanely,” said Wang Feng, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who directs the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy in Beijing.

The scandal also has renewed questions about whether Americans and other foreigners have adopted Chinese children who were falsely depicted as abandoned or orphaned. At least one American adoption agency organized adoptions from the government-run Shaoyang orphanage.

Lillian Zhang, the director of China Adoption With Love, based in Boston, said by telephone last month that the agency had found adoptive parents in 2006 for six Shaoyang children — all girls, all renamed Shao, after the city. The Chinese authorities certified in each case that the child was eligible for adoption, she said, and her agency cannot now independently investigate their backgrounds without a specific request backed by evidence.

“I’m an adoption agency, not a policeman,” Ms. Zhang said.

The Shaoyang welfare agency’s orphanage is required to post a notice of each newly received child for 60 days in Hunan Daily, a newspaper delivered only to subscribers in Longhui County. Unclaimed children are renamed with the surname Shao and approved for adoption. Foreign parents who adopt must donate about $5,400 to the orphanage.

Reports that family planning officials stole children, beat parents, forcibly sterilized mothers and destroyed families’ homes sowed a quiet terror through parts of Longhui County in the first half of the past decade. The casualties of that terror remain suffused with heartbreak and rage years later.

Yang Libing, one of the two fathers accused of soliciting prostitutes, said he was a migrant worker in the southern city of Shenzhen when his firstborn, Yang Ling, was stolen from his parents’ home in May 2005 when she was 9 months old.

Family planning officials apparently spotted Yang Ling’s clothes hung to dry outside the family’s mud-brick home. Her grandmother tried to hide her in a pigsty, but the grandfather, Yang Qinzheng, a Communist Party member and a former soldier, bade her to come out.

“I don’t disobey,” he said last month. “I do what the officials say.”

Yang Ling’s parents had not registered their marriage. To keep the baby, the officials said, the elder Mr. Yang would have to pay nearly $1,000, on the spot. Otherwise, they said, he would have to sign away the girl with a false affidavit stating that he was not her biological grandfather.

“I was totally outraged,” he said, but “I did not have the courage to resist. They do not play by the rules.” He signed the document.

Yang Libing discovered the loss of his daughter during his monthly telephone call home from a pay phone on a Shenzhen street. “Is she behaving?” he asked cheerily. The answer, he said, made him physically sick.
After racing home, he said, he begged family planning officials to let him pay the fine. They said it was too late. When he protested, he said, a group of more than 10 men beat him. Afterward, the office director offered a compromise: although their daughter was gone forever, the Yangs would be allowed to conceive two more children.

“I can’t even describe my hatred of those family planning officials,” Mr. Yang said. “I hate them to my bones. I wonder if they are parents, too. Why don’t they treat us as humans?”

Asked whether he was still searching for his daughter, he replied: “Of course! This is not a chicken. This is not a dog. This is my child.”

Hu Shelian, 46, another anguished victim, gave birth to a second daughter in 1998. Even though family planning specialists said couples in her area were allowed a second child if the first was a girl, she said family planning officials broke her windows and took her television as punishment.

After she had a third daughter the following year, they levied a whopping fine of nearly $5,000. When she pleaded poverty, she said, four officials snatched her newborn from her arms, muscled her into a car and drove her to the county hospital for a forced tubal ligation. Her baby disappeared into the bowels of the Shaoyang orphanage.

Xiong Chao escaped that fate. Villagers say he was the last baby that officials tried to snatch, and one of the few returned home.

Now, six years later, his 63-year-old grandmother, Dai Yulin, patiently scrawls blue and white chalk numerals on her concrete wall hoping — in vain — that Chao will learn them.

“He has been to primary school for a whole year,” she said, “and he still cannot recognize one and two.”
Nearby is the tiny, dark room where, she said, she tried and failed in September 2006 to hide Chao from family planning officials. He was 8 months old, her son’s second child. Officials demanded nearly $1,000, then took him away when she could not pay.

His mother, Du Chunhua, rushed to the family planning office to protest.

There, as she struggled with two officials on the second-floor balcony, she said, the baby slipped from her grasp and fell more than 10 feet, to the pavement below.

Later, she said, as the baby lay in a coma in the hospital, his forehead permanently misshapen, officials offered a deal: they would forget about the fine as long as the family covered the medical bills for Chao.
Also, they said, the Xiongs could keep him.

Edy Yin, Shao Heng and Shi Da contributed research from Beijing.

British Film Warns of Sex Trafficking for London Olympics

2011-08-03T12:34:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, 03 August 2011 11:12 AM EDT Charisma News Staff News - Featured News

With one year remaining before the London Olympics opening ceremony, a new movie warns about the possibility of girls being trafficked into the city to meet the increased demand for sex.

DemandSupply2012 is a new short narrative film about the possible increase in sex-trafficking for and during the London 2012 Olympics. It was recently screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival as part of the shortfilmcorner and is currently being submitted to U.K. film festivals.

"Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of slavery and sexual exploitation," says J. John from Philo Trust. "Jodi De Souza creatively communicates the horror of this injustice in her compelling short film DemandSupply2012. My prayer is that this shocking film will compel us to prayer and action."

July 27 marked one year until the opening ceremony and director Jodi De Souza is keen to use the film to raise awareness.

"There seems to be quite a bit of caution around mentioning a possible increase of trafficking for the London Olympics," De Souza explains. "I think people want to avoid putting any negative slant on the wonderful opportunity that the games bring for so many people, but the reality of the issue is clear for me—where there is increased demand there is always going to be increase in supply. Even one more person trafficked to meet that demand is one too many. It was not our intention to portray the games negatively, but neither do we want to be silent on the issue. Part of the success of the Canadian Winter Olympics anti-trafficking campaign was due to so much awareness being raised."

The film juxtaposes the lives of two young girls both being 'prepared', one English—preparing to dance in the Olympic opening ceremony, and the other Eastern European—being trafficked into London to work as a prostitute in a brothel.

"The film DemandSupply2012 as scripted and directed by Jodi De Souza grips our attention in the innocence of youth who could be our daughters or sisters. This film leaves you with an unfinished feeling of shock in the insidiousness of captured innocence. It makes one realize that a nation in preparation for the U.K. Olympic Games must address the medals of darkness served up on the exploitation of sexual trafficking and outside the cheering venues of national pride," says M. Christine Mac Millan, commissioner for the Salvation Army, and director of the International Social Justice Commission.

De Souza believes there is something important to be said about prevention. "If more men were aware that the prostitutes they went to see were victims of trafficking—even as young as 15 years old, forced to sleep with up to 40 men a day and with no way of freeing themselves—I'm sure many might think twice. I'll never forget what one man said after a performance of my play No Sale about trafficking which I directed back in 2007. 'I never knew, but now I do I will never ever go to a prostitute ever again.' I believe raising awareness is a major key to the success of stopping this horrendous crime."

The film will be available for public release later in the year.

Maryland/DC/Virginia: MS-13 Gang leader convicted of sex trafficking of a child

2011-07-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

28 July, 2011
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Salvadoran national and MS-13 gang leader was convicted today of prostituting a 12-year-old female with clients throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jose Ciro Juarez-Santamaria, 24, indicted on May 12, 2011, was convicted today of conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation of a minor for prostitution. He faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 28, 2011.

"Forcing girls into prostitution for the purpose of turning a profit is not only criminal, it is intolerable," said John P. Torres, Special Agent in Charge for ICE HSI in Washington, D.C.. "ICE's Homeland Security Investigations is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to investigate sex trafficking, as well as working with our local non-governmental, community-based, and faith-based organizations to identify, rescue and assist victims of trafficking."

"From the moment he laid eyes on the victim, Juarez-Santamaria did not see a young 12-year-old runaway in need of help," said Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "He saw a money-making opportunity for him and his gang and began prostituting her the very next day. No child should ever have to suffer what this victim endured, and we will continue to pursue MS-13 and other criminal organizations that prey upon young girls and enslave them through sex trafficking."

According to court records and evidence at the trial, Juarez-Santamaria joined MS-13 while in El Salvador. He was a leader of the Pinos Locos clique of MS-13 and known by the gang as "Sniper." At a Halloween party in Oxon Hill, Md. on Oct. 31, 2009, Juarez-Santamaria met a 12-year-old runaway who asked for his help in finding a place to stay. Instead, the very next day, Juarez-Santamaria began prostituting the victim throughout the metro-D.C. area.

The victim testified at trial how Juarez-Santamaria and his fellow gang members would constantly call customers in an effort to drum up business. The victim was prostituted from October through December 2009 and, at times, was providing sex for money every day of the week. To keep the victim compliant, Juarez-Santamaria and others would ply her with alcohol and marijuana. The prostitution took place at various businesses, homes, apartments, and hotels in the Northern Virginia area. Juarez-Santamaria also allowed MS-13 gang members to have sex with the victim free of charge.

Evidence at the trial showed that Juarez-Santamaria generally charged $40 for fifteen minutes of sex, but would sometimes charge more depending on what the customer wanted. At times, he would take the victim to a location where customers would be lined up waiting for her.

China: Officials Claim 81 Babies Rescued from Child Traffickers

2011-07-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

By SHARON LaFRANIERE New York Times: Published: July 28, 2011

The Ministry of Public Security said Wednesday that the police had rescued 81 children from a child trafficking ring in eastern China. Xinhua, China’s official news agency, reported that 13 babies were rescued in Hebei Province ranging in age from 10 days to 4 months; most were girls. Liu Ancheng, a ministry deputy director, blamed the practice of “buying and selling children in this country” on the traditional preference for boy babies.

Nike Having Sweatshop Trouble in Indonesia

2011-07-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Associated Press

SUKABUMI, Indonesia — Workers who make Converse sneakers in Indonesia say supervisors throw shoes at them, slap them and call them dogs and pigs. Nike, the brand’s owner, acknowledges such abuses have occurred among contractors that make its hip high-tops, but the company say there is little it can do to stop it.

Dozens of workers interviewed and a document released by Nike show the company has far to go to meet the standards it set a decade ago to end its reliance on sweatshop labor.

Nike says nearly two-thirds of the factories that make Converse products fail to meet standards for contract manufacturers, but the company insists it cannot address many of the problems because many factories operate under contracts set before Nike bought Converse in 2003. But a worker at Pou Chen Group factory in Sukabumi — which didn’t start making Converse products until after Nike bought Converse — said she was kicked by a supervisor after making a mistake while cutting rubber for soles. “We’re powerless,” she said. “Our only choice is to stay and suffer, or speak out and be fired.”

Making a Mockery of the Justice System in Washington State

2011-07-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Published July 13, 2011 | Associated Press

TACOMA, Washington -- A Washington state man accused of child sex crimes is allowed to view child pornography in jail.

The sheriff and the prosecutor don't like it. But Weldon Marc Gilbert is acting as his own lawyer in the case, and that means he's allowed to review the evidence.

More than 100 videos and photographs were seized from Gilbert's Lake Tapps home after his 2007 arrest. Authorities say some of them were shot by Gilbert.

Gilbert worked as a pilot and is accused of using money and alcohol to lure more than a dozen boys to his home, where police say he molested them.

KIRO-FM reports that when Gilbert views his videos in the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, he's with an investigator in a separate room visible to jail guards.

Free Anti-Trafficking Conference in DC

2011-07-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

From our Friend Mary David at the United Nations:

Want to attend a FREE conference at the U.S. capitol on anti-child trafficking efforts?

Children Uniting Nations will hold its sixth annual conference on July 28 with three panels devoted to the sexual exploitation of children. The panel topics are:

Policy Trends to Combat the Sex Trafficking of Children in the U.S. (9:35am-11:00am);
Building Agency and Community Ability to Respond to Child Sex Trafficking (11:15am - 12:45pm);
Los Angeles Human Trafficking Project for Domestic Minor Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation (2:30pm - 3:30pm).

When: Thursday, July 28, 7:45am - 8:00pm
Where: US Capitol Visitor Center, Washington DC

Attendance to the conference is free but limited so register early at: www.regonline.com/cun2011dc

Two Connecticut Residents Found Guilty of Human Trafficking

2011-07-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

News from our friend Sarah Eisele-Dyrli at No More Slavery:

Several months ago, Jarell Sanderson and Hassanah Delia pled guilty to sex trafficking of minors in Connecticut. The girls were 14-years old at the time of the trafficking.

About one month ago, Sanderson was convicted to 310 months (25 years 9-ish months). He also will be required to pay them restitution, though the amount has not yet been determined.

About one week ago, Delia was convicted to 110 months (9 years 2-ish months). She also will be required to pay a yet undetermined amount of restitution.

It isn’t clear from the FBI press releases why the convictions are so different. However, U.S. District Attorney for Connecticut David Fein notes that these appropriately lengthy sentences should serve as a warning to people who sell or buy sex online that the consequences of purchasing sex for minors is punished severely. I have a feeling it will take many more cases, and cases that actually receive decent media coverage, to have an effect.

Allegations Link U.S. Companies to Brazilian Sex Tourism

2011-07-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

By BARRY MEIER, NYTimes

The Justice Department has been conducting a criminal investigation of sports fishing expeditions in the Amazon that may have been used as covers for Americans to have sex with underage girls, according to newly filed court papers.

The investigation and two related actions — a parallel criminal inquiry in Brazil and an unusual lawsuit filed in federal court in Georgia — could provide a rare look at the business operations of the multibillion-dollar international sex tour industry, which has increasingly focused on Brazil.
“Brazil is taking over from Thailand as a premier sex tourism vacation” spot, said Kristen Berg, an official of Equality Now, an advocacy organization in New York that helped bring the lawsuit in Georgia.

That lawsuit was filed last month on behalf of four Brazilian women who claim that they were coerced as minors to serve as prostitutes for Americans on Amazon fishing expeditions operated by an Atlanta-area businessman. One of the women said that she was 12 years old at the time.

Ms. Berg said the lawsuit was the first time that a federal law, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, had been used to seek damages from someone accused of operating sex tours.
On Thursday, the defendant in that case, Richard W. Schair, filed a motion asking that the lawsuit be stayed. The motion cited continuing criminal investigations in the United States and Brazil.

In a brief telephone interview, Mr. Schair, who operates an Atlanta-area real estate business, said that allegations that he was involved in child sex tours were untrue. He declined to discuss specifics of the inquiries.

“The allegations are false,” he said. “The facts will prove that.”

Solomon L. Wisenberg, a lawyer in Washington who represents Mr. Schair in connection with the federal criminal investigation, said he was confident that his client would not face charges. The status of the investigation is unclear, as Justice Department officials declined to comment.

Ms. Berg, of Equality Now, said that the group helped bring the Georgia lawsuit because it was looking for precedent-setting cases involving child sex tourism overseas.

She said that she and lawyers from a major firm, King & Spalding, which is working on the case pro bono, traveled to Brazil to interview prospective witnesses, including young women.

Both the lawsuit and the federal criminal investigation are apparently fallout from a separate lawsuit filed in 2007 by Mr. Schair against another operator of Amazon fishing tours, Philip A. Marsteller.
In that action, Mr. Schair charged that Mr. Marsteller had slandered him by telling people that he supplied clients on his fishing tours with prostitutes and drugs. Mr. Marsteller stood by his comments and, as part of his defense, sought statements from young women in Brazil as well as employees of Mr. Schair’s company, called Wet-A-Line Tours. The company is no longer operating.

In 2008, the two men settled the case, with Mr. Schair paying token compensation to Mr. Marsteller, said Kevin Buchanan, a lawyer in Dallas who represented Mr. Marsteller. Mr. Buchanan said that information that came up during the lawsuit led federal officials to begin an investigation of American business connections to child sex tourism in Brazil.

Several news reports in recent years have indicated that Mr. Schair was the subject of criminal investigations both here and in Brazil. But the filing Thursday in conjunction with the Georgia lawsuit was the first time the investigations were publicly acknowledged.

According to the court papers filed by Mr. Schair, federal prosecutors in Miami sent a grand jury subpoena to his company in 2009 asking for, among other things, customer lists. Another document shows that prosecutors notified his ex-wife in December that investigators had obtained information indicating that she was “involved with a company and/or an individual who may have engaged in child sex tourism in Brazil.”

Asked about the documents, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department in Miami, where the inquiry is based, declined, as a matter of policy, to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

Translations of Brazilian documents, attached by Mr. Schair to his filing, show that he is charged in a proceeding there with the sexual exploitation of minors. He has denied the accusation.
Mr. Schair made the filing on Thursday on his own behalf.

According to the lawsuit filed last month, Mr. Schair or his employees or customers recruited young girls at a social club along the Amazon to join them on a fishing boat, where the girls were coerced into sex acts and paid.

The Amazon River in Brazil is a particularly attractive area for fishing enthusiasts because it is a home to a hard-fighting species called the peacock bass.

New Tennessee Laws Address Human Trafficking

2011-07-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

By: The Associated Press 06/13/11 2:05 PM

Gov. Bill Haslam has signed a series of bills protecting minors who are victims of sexual slavery and punishing people who exploit them.

One bill changes state law so that minors will no longer be prosecuted for prostitution. Rather, police will return the minors to their parents or guardians while the pimps and their customers are arrested, The Commercial Appeal reports.

Another measure lets police confiscate cars, homes and other property used in the sex trade. And another law increases from a misdemeanor to a felony the charge for people who pay for sex with a minor or mentally disabled person.

The steps are a response by lawmakers to a study that shows sexual slavery of adults and youths is spreading across the state. Haslam signed the bills in mid-June.

Advocacy Opportunity: Trafficking, Wyndham Hotel Group and San Diego

2011-06-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

From 2006 to 2011, Crips gang members in San Diego ran a child sex trafficking ring out of area hotels that destroyed the lives at least 16 girls.

An 18-month FBI investigation discovered that the gang was able to use two Wyndham-owned hotels (Travelodge and Howard Johnson) regularly for child prostitution with the knowledge and even assistance of staff.

After hearing about these cases, San Diego native Tim Rosner started a petition urging the Wyndham Hotel Group to sign an international child protection agreement for travel and tourism companies, which could have saved those 16 girls from sexual exploitation.

In California, the staff at a Howard Johnson in Escondido, CA, refused to stop sex trafficking -- and at the San Diego Travelodge, staff actively facilitated and profited from the sexual exploitation of children.

Travelodge staff knowingly rented rooms to Crips gang members for use in child prostitution -- and demanded higher rates for these rooms in exchange for cooperation. They even set aside specific areas in the hotel for sex trafficking.

Members of the staff also allowed the gang members to use the hotel computer to post online ads advertising sex with minors and agreed to warn the Crips if police were nearby.

Although Wyndham has a child protection policy, it has failed at least 16 children -- with more cases emerging.

Just last week in Alexandria, Virginia, a grand jury indicted a MS-13 gang member for selling sex with girls as young as 15 on another Wyndham property, a Super 8.

Two major American hotel chains -- Hilton Worldwide and Carlson Companies, an entity that includes Radisson Hotels and other chains -- have already signed the international child protection policy, as have 945 other companies across 37 countries.

Click here to make sure Wyndham is next to sign the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children and call on the company to implement this stricter child protection policy in order to prevent future instances of child sex trafficking:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-wyndham-hotel-staff-from-supporting-child-sex-trafficking-in-wyndham-hotels

Thanks for taking action,

- Patrick and the Change.org team

2011 Trafficking in Persons Report Released

2011-06-28T04:23:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Department of State's 2011 Trafficking in Persons report was released today. In this report, the U.S. expands its list of Tier 3 countries from 13 to 23. The report states that ground has been lost in the struggle to end modern-day slavery from Africa and across the Middle East into Asia. Of course, every country still has this terrible activity going on in its borders. Please pray and act against this wickedness. For more information, click here: 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report.

Do You Buy Products Made from Forced or Child Labor?

2011-06-22T04:18:00.000-07:00

The story below from Top Secret Writers is about products made with Forced and/or Child Labour Trafficking. If you are interested in the list of products made via Forced or Chiuld Loabour, you can view the U.S. Department of Labor list at this page on the Justice Response/VAST VineyardUSA webpage, at the bottom.

________________________________________________

If you have been to the UK, have you ever tried shopping in Primark on a Saturday? Well that’s a silly question actually, because the answer you most probably would respond with, along with millions of other shoppers, is absolutely – yes. Hence, the huge queues and hundreds of people seen leaving the store laden with more bags then they can carry.‘Cheap and cheerful’ fashion has really taken off in recent years, with stores such as Primark and Asda in the UK and Walmart in the US selling new clothes for less than a second hand charity shop can sell used.

But, have you ever thought about the circumstances surrounding the making of such ‘cheap and cheerful’ products?

Prohibition of Child Labour

In 1999, the “Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labour” was signed in the US.

The Executive Order is intended to ensure that federal agencies enforce laws related to forced or indentured child labour in the making of products.

The Order also requires the Department of Labor to publish and maintain a list of products which they have a reasonable basis to believe, might have been ‘mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labour.’

The 2011 list, which was published on May 31 on the Federal Register, contains just short of 30 items, ranging from bamboo in Burma, coffee in the Cote d’Ivoire, cotton in China, garments in Argentina, India and Thailand, hand-woven textiles in Ethiopia, rice and tobacco in Malawi and toys in China.

Child Labor Conditions Across the World

14-year-old Ranjith was from an extremely poor family of West Bengal.

Ranjith, along with nine other children, was forced to work in a gold shop in Kerala.

16-hour days, very little food and physical abuse became part of Ranjith’s pitiful life. When he was unable to tolerate any more abuse, he eventually ran away to Calicut.

Fortunately for Ranjith, Calicut Control Police referred him to Kozikode CHILDLINE in 2005 and carried out an investigation based on the evidence Ranjith gave. The police carried out raids, rescued six additional children and arrested those involved in the abuse, and Ranjith was taken back home.

In an embroidery factory in Delhi, a similar raid was carried out, in which 82 children were brought from Bihar and forced to work as labourers with very little food. The children were referred to a government shelter home and the factory owner was arrested.

Millions of Children Involved in Child Labour Worldwide

Cases such as these are a depressing reality around the world, and according to UNICEF, there are an estimated 250 million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour worldwide. The UN stipulates in the Convention on the Rights of the Child:

“States Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from the economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. Although globally there is an estimated 250 million children working.”

Why is it that despite the “Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labour” Executive Order being signed, an annual list of products and countries suspected to be ‘mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labour’ needs to be published every year?

Why are 250 million children robbed of their childhood and forced to work in conditions not even fit for an animal?

The Western “Consumer”

Are we, the greedy consumers of the west, intent on ‘getting a bargain’, and relieving our ‘tensions’ with some shopping therapy, really that ones that are to blame for ‘turning on a blind eye’ on such inhumane and unethical practices?

Or are the majority of the consuming public simply ignorant to the circumstances of how their Saturday night outfit was made?

The argument that it is the latter that makes up the biggest slice of the consumerist western society’s conscience is illuminated by an investigation carried out by the BBC in 2008.

Reporters went undercover for the BBC’s Panorama programme and exposed child labour in three of India’s garment factories sub-contracted by Primark.

When the BBC alerted its findings to the clothing chain, Primark replied: “Under no circumstances would Primark ever knowingly permit such activities.”

Nonetheless, the damage had already been done, and in the wake of the Panorama broadcast, hundreds of people protested outside Primark’s Oxford Street store in London.

The protest was organised by the humanitarian charity War on Want. War on Want’s senior campaigner Simon McRae said the following at the time of the protest:

“Pressure on Indian suppliers to deliver fast fashion at rock-bottom prices has made sweatshop labour inevitable. Again and again, scandals exposing UK retailers exploiting garment workers underline that the public cannot trust stores to police themselves. It is high time the British government introduced regulation to stop this shameful abuse.”

And Simon McRoe’s point is as valid now as it was in 2008, with a staggering 250 million children worldwide still being forced to work, governments are obviously not doing enough. So what can the consumer do?

Top Secret Writers Interviews Primark Shoppers

Whilst the Panorama investigation may have instigated an albeit short-lived protest and initial shock and horror, people still continue to shop at such outlets, determined to get ‘their share’ of the bargains.

Top Secret Writers went outside Primark’s largest store, which is located on Market Street in Manchester, to get the word off the street.

Angela Hughes, who was particularly laden with shopping bags, was willing to share her views when I asked her about child labour being used to produce many of the cheap items in western culture.

The 31-year-old mum of two told me:

“I remember the Panorama programme that exposed Primark as being involved in child labour in its manufacturing in India, but I also remember the company saying it would sack its Indian suppliers. I guess if I knew for sure that they were using children to make their products, I wouldn’t buy any. But the truth is, being a single mum of two, I cannot afford to buy clothes from more expensive shops.”

Judging by the number of bags Ms Hughes was grasping onto, I would say she definitely can’t afford to shop anywhere other than at Primark.

It appears that she, like the hundreds of other shoppers around her, are willing to turn a blind eye on whether or not it was a child that sewed those sequins onto that shiny new top.

Child Labor Activists Go After Governments, Not Shoppers

Paul Collins, Media Officer at War on Want spoke exclusively to Top Secret Writers and emphasised that War on Want does not criticise shoppers who buy cheap and cheerful fashion but believes the British Government should be doing more to stop the unethical practice of child labour.

Paul Collins told Top Secret Writers:

“The nearest the Labour government moved towards fighting child labour came in 2008, when international development minister Gareth Thomas called on retailers to ensure their suppliers paid a living wage to its workers. But the government’s failure to introduce regulation meant this call fell on stony ground.
If adult garment workers received a living wage in countries such as India, they could afford to send their children to school rather than into sweatshops.
Besides Primark, our charity has exposed supermarkets like Tesco and Asda exploiting overseas workers producing their clothes. The last government stalled on demands for a supermarket ombudsman by kicking the issue into the long grass for wider consultation.
Now the current administration has raised fears that a watchdog may not come into force for another two years. War on Want continues to seek decent pay and conditions for workers abroad to lift families out of poverty, which would help tackle child labour”

U.S. Department of Labor Says Governments are Working Hard

On the other hand, Gloria Della, Director of Public Affairs for the Department of Labor in the US, believes governments are making inroads to combat this cruel and unethical act.

When I asked Ms Della whether governments worldwide are doing enough, she replied:

“Since 2009, when the U.S. Department of Labor published our initial List of Goods Produced by Child Labor and Forced Labor (pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 or TVPRA), we have been pleased to see a number of governments make meaningful efforts to combat child labor and forced labor. In our updated TVPRA report published on December 15, 2010, we highlighted a number of these efforts in countries such as Jordan, India, Ghana, Brazil, Thailand and others.”

In conclusion, we all have a responsibly – to boycott the products as well as the outlets that are selling the products listed on the Federal Register, and then perhaps children could finally live like children?

Online Training: HHS Rescue & Restore - Reducing Demand for Commerical Sex

2011-06-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

HHS Rescue & Restore to Host WebEx Training
“Reducing Demand for Commercial Sex”

Wednesday, June 22, 2011
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Summary
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hosting a series of free, online WebEx training sessions on a variety of topics related to human trafficking. The information session on Wednesday, June 22, will focus on how to reduce demand for commercial sex and address the following:

San Francisco's First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP), commonly known as the "John School";
Benefits of the FOPP for the community and the criminal justice system; and
Intervention services for prostituted adults.

Presenter

Ms. Kristie Miller, Administrative Manager

Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) Project

The Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE) Project is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization with one primary aim: to bring an end to human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children and adults. SAGE contributes to this goal by raising awareness about trafficking and CSE issues and by providing treatment services for survivors.

Ms. Miller has worked for the SAGE Project since 2002, where she had the privilege of being personally mentored by renowned CSE expert and SAGE Project Founder Norma Hotaling. Currently SAGE Project’s Administrative Manager, Ms. Miller coordinates and moderates San Francisco's FOPP.

How to Register:

To register for the Wednesday, June 22th, 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) training session, please click on the link below (or place it into your Internet browser):

https://mman.webex.com/mman/j.php?ED=148133757&RG=1&UID=1167883417&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Multiple participants from an organization are encouraged to register one individual for the session; participants can view the training through one computer and a speaker phone.

For those of you not familiar with WebEx trainings, all you need is access to a computer, the Internet, and your phone.

Toll-free phone number and participant passcode for the audio portion of the training session;
and Web site link and passcode (same as the phone passcode) so you can view the PowerPoint (ppt) presentation as it is being presented. The ppt will advance automatically during the training session.

Trafficking Survivor Shares Her Story

2011-06-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Transitions Global Survivor Shares Her Story from Transitions Global on Vimeo.

Srey Neth, a courageous survivor that has graduated from Transitions Global's TLC program, now speaks as a voice for the voiceless - encouraging other survivors to hope again.

Srey Neth has been in the care of Transitions since 2006. During her time with us, she has studied computers extensively and has studied and become certified as yoga and yoga therapy instructor, which she currently teaches, as well as, working at the TLC in Cambodia, helping other girls with orientation and making the most of their program with Transitions Global.

Russia: Needs to Strengthen Child Porn Laws and Enforcement

2011-06-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

Russia looks to strengthen child porn laws that critics say aren't working.

Virginia Bolsters Child Sex Trafficking Laws

2011-06-03T03:31:00.000-07:00

From our friends at Shared Hope International:

On May 31, 2011, Virginia Governor McDonnell signed HB 1898. HB 1898 improves protections for child sex trafficking victims by further criminalizing domestic minor sex trafficking, establishing evidentiary protections, and criminalizing actions of facilitators.

The signing of HB 1898 is a huge victory in the fight against domestic minor sex trafficking in Virgina. Though federal law can provide serious penalties for predators and protection for victims, federal resources to prosecute these crimes are limited. Recognizing that responses to domestic minor sex trafficking must originate at the state level, Shared Hope International launched the Protected Innocence Initiative, a comprehensive strategy to promote zero tolerance for child sex trafficking.

The Protected Innocence Legislative Framework establishes foundational policies needed in each state to create a safe environment for children in the United States. Under this initiative, Shared Hope International will release fifty-one (51) individual Report Cards based on the Protected Innocence Legislative Framework. The Report Cards set a national standard of protection against domestic minor sex trafficking. Click here for additional information.

"The General Assembly and Virginia's government must do all it can to make Virginia's children safer-especially from those who would sexually exploit them for money" Delegate Tim Hugo (VA), the primary sponsor of HB 1898, said in a testimony earlier this year. "House Bill 1898 makes it more difficult for perpetrators to prey on Virginians by increasing penalties for these crimes. We are making a clear statement that those who participate in human trafficking are not welcome in Virginia."

Nigeria: Police Raid Home Used for Trafficking and Illegal Adoption

2011-06-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

LAGOS (AFP) – Nigerian police have raided a home allegedly being used to force teenage girls to have babies that were then offered for sale for trafficking or other purposes, authorities said on Wednesday.

"We stormed the premises of the Cross Foundation in Aba three days ago following a report that pregnant girls aged between 15 and 17 are being made to make babies for the proprietor," said Bala Hassan, police commissioner for Abia state in the country's southeast.

"We rescued 32 pregnant girls and arrested the proprietor who is undergoing interrogation over allegations that he normally sells the babies to people who may use them for rituals or other purposes."

Some of the girls told police they had been offered to sell their babies for between 25,000 and 30,000 naira (192 dollars) depending on the sex of the baby.

The babies would then be sold to buyers for anything from 300,000 naira to one million naira (1,920 and 6,400 dollars) each, according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

The girls were expected to be transferred to the regional NAPTIP offices in Enugu on Wednesday, the regional head Ijeoma Okoronkwo told AFP.

Hassan said the owner of the "illegal baby factory" is likely to face child abuse and human trafficking charges. Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.

"We have so many cases going on in court right now," said Okoronkwo.

In 2008, police raids revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or "factories" in the local press.

Cases of child abuse and people trafficking are common in West Africa. Some children are bought from their families to for use as labour in plantations, mines, factories or as domestic help.

Others are sold into prostitution while a few are either killed or tortured in black magic rituals. NAPTIP says it has also seen a trend of illegal adoption.

"There is a problem of illict adoption and people not knowing the right way to adopt children," said Okoronkwo.

Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug trafficking in the country, according to UNESCO.

Gracehaven Seeking Program Director

2011-06-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Gracehaven, a Christian organization seeking to develop a long-term comprehensive, integrated rehabilitative program for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking is seeking applications for the position of Program Director. The position of Program Director will be an administrative position providing supervision to the staff of the Gracehaven House, as well as oversight of all the programming within the rehabilitative facility. The program director will also be responsible for providing secondary trauma care to the house staff. Initial responsibilities include finalization of the program to be used within the Gracehaven House and submission of the application for licensure. Qualifications for this position include possessing an MSW, LISW.

If interested, please submit your full resume/CV to: info@gracehavenhouse.org

Mexico: Alarming Amount of Human Trafficking in Mexico City

2011-05-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Gang Running Trafficking Ring Arrested

Mexico City (CNN) -- While an estimated 10,000 women are victims of human trafficking in Mexico's capital, there were only 40 investigations of the crime and three convictions in the city last year, according to a report issued this week.

The discrepancy is an "alarming figure" that shows a need to improve laws and policies, according to a study on human trafficking and sexual exploitation from Mexico City's human rights commission, which calls the phenomenon a "new form of slavery."

"The authorities are not investigating, nor are they asking witnesses," said Eva Reyes, investigation coordinator at the Antonio de Montesinos Center for Social and Cultural Studies, one of the partners of the study.

Cultural norms and social stigma prevent people from realizing that many prostitutes lingering in dark alleys of Mexico City are victims, officials said as they presented the report Wednesday.

"They are seen as people who are doing it freely. That is the first obstacle to justice," Reyes said.

Authorities in Mexico City announced Monday that they had rescued 62 victims of a forced-prostitution ring -- including a 13-year-old girl.

Five men and two women who police say ran the ring were arrested after an investigation that started when a minor involved reported the suspects to authorities.

One victim told investigators that she was forced into prostitution in Mexico City after meeting two men in Oaxaca, a city more than 460 kilometers (288 miles) away.

"After chatting with her, the victim told him that she was a domestic worker and the accused offered her a more comfortable life with well-paid work, and in a second encounter he convinced her to come live with him," the statement said.

Such approaches are a common tactic for those involved in human trafficking, who frequently target women and girls in smaller cities outside the capital, Reyes said.

In the southern border state of Chiapas, Central American women are frequently a target, Reyes said.
But regardless of where victims are recruited, she said, they often pass through -- or end up -- in Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of more than 21 million people.

"In one case, 107 trafficking victims, both Mexican and foreign citizens, were freed from a factory disguised as a drug rehabilitation center in Mexico City; many of them had been kidnapped, and all were subjected to forced labor," according to 2010 report on human trafficking from the U.S. State Department.

The State Department report noted that authorities had conducted raids on brothels suspected in human trafficking and a special prosecutor for trafficking in Mexico City sentenced one offender to 10 years in prison last year, "the first sentence under Mexico's federal anti-trafficking law and Mexico City's local anti-trafficking law."

But more needs to be done, this week's human rights commission report said.

"The high number of women who are victims of human trafficking are not achieving access to judicial resources and because of this, the large majority of these incidents remain in impunity. ... Their rights remain unprotected," it said.

Advocacy Opportunity: Against Apple's New Sugar Sugar iPhone App

2011-05-26T03:17:00.000-07:00

For those who may have heard of this, according to Rosa Golijan, after June 1st, it'll be possible that prostitution and trafficking will be available via using an iPhone app.

According to ZDNet, dating service Sugar Sugar has managed to get Apple to grant its app a spot in the App Store. Sugar Sugar links up sugar daddies — wealthy men who are willing to shower young women with money, gifts, and other compensation in exchange for companionship — and their so-called sugar babies.

In more blunt terms: The service aids pimps in prostitution and their clients connect.

We don't really know how on earth the app slipped through the App Store approval process. After all, there are several Apple "guidelines" which should've prevented it from getting a seal of approval.
The Sugar Sugar app most certainly violates by promoting prostitution. But here we are — a few weeks away from the app's debut. Click here to sign the petition against the rollout of this new iPhone app.

Travel Centers of America to Use Truckers Against Trafficking Training Materials

2011-05-24T04:21:00.001-07:00

Chapter 61 Ministries, in cooperation with a key trucking industry participant, TravelCenters of America (TA), is expanding its educational outreach on the issue of human trafficking. Human trafficking training materials, made available to members of the trucking industry through Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), an initiative of Chapter 61 Ministries, will be used by TravelCenters of America (TA) to educate its workforce and help raise awareness about TAT's key issues to its community of customers.

"We're extremely encouraged by TA's participation to help get our message across," said Kendis Paris, TAT national director. "Their decision to use TAT materials will disseminate the message to thousands of members of the trucking industry and better equip them to understand and help fight human trafficking, which is why TAT exists."

Commenting on TA's decision to participate in this educational role, Barry Richards, executive vice president of TravelCenters of America, stated, "Truckers are among our country's most caring, upstanding individuals, and trucking-related initiatives like TAT work to address issues important to the trucking community. TA is proud to be part of that community and to play a small part in furthering TAT's mission among its many trucking community supporters."

The TAT initiative has a four-fold purpose: to educate members of the trucking/travel plaza industry about human trafficking and the role they can play in fighting it, equip them with tools, empower them with steps to take and mobilize them to take a stand against one of the world's most lucrative and destructive crimes. The initiative includes a website, where the TAT video can be viewed; webinars; Human Trafficking 101 classes; wallet cards with questions to ask, red flags to look for and the National Hotline number to call if trafficking is suspected; posters; and publicity and promotion.

Human trafficking, a term for modern-day slavery, is a $32-billion worldwide industry with more than 27 million people enslaved in the world today. In the United States, it has been reported in all 50 states, and the number of victims is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

For more information, please contact chapter61@gmail.com or Kendis Paris at 720-202-1037.

For more information about TFC's Initiative Against Human Trafficking, please contact our coordinator Tammy Stauffer at 717-426-9977, Ext. 104 or Tammys@transportforchrist.org

The Trap of Human Trafficking/The Predatory "Boyfriend"

2011-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

PREDATOR IN BOYFRIEND'S CLOTHING
This PSA depicts the most common tactics American traffickers use to enslave and exploit children - deception and violence.

Many victims of abuse and exploitation are spared from a life of misery (and even death itself) because people like you and me make a simple phone call.

If you currently suspect someone is a victim of labor or sex trafficking (including commercial sexual exploitation of a minor) please don't hesitate to call the hotline now: 1.888.3737.888

Maryland: Man Gets 10-Years for Trafficking 12-year-old

2011-05-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

A 43-year-old Glen Burnie man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for child sex trafficking, after a missing 12-year-old called relatives from an Anne Arundel County motel room and said she had been "recruited" into prostitution.

Derwin Samuel Smith's sentence also includes 20 years of supervised release, according to federal prosecutors:

According to his plea agreement, on June 7, 2010, members of the Maryland Human Trafficking task Force recovered a 12 year old girl who had been reported missing and was believed to be involved in prostitution, from a motel room in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The child had called a relative from the motel room and investigation revealed that the room was registered to Smith. The child told the officers that Smith had said that he would be back later that evening to have sex with her.
The child was taken to police headquarters and further identified Smith as the person who had picked her up on the street in Washington, DC, paid for sexual services performed in the backseat of his car and recruited her to work for him as a prostitute. Smith had then driven the girl to Atlantic, City New Jersey where at Smith’s direction, men paid to have sex with her over the weekend. The child gave Smith all of the money.

While the child was at police headquarters, officers waited at the motel until Smith arrived. Smith was arrested and police recovered the key to the motel room where the girl was recovered. Smith later admitted picking up the victim in Washington, D.C. on Friday evening, taking her to Atlantic City, New Jersey over the weekend, and purchasing the motel room for her on Monday morning.

The case was investigated by the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members. For more information about the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, please see www.justice.gov/usao/md/Human-Trafficking/index.html

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Details about Maryland’s program are available at www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html

Rescue & Restore Free Online Training: Assisting American Indian Sex Trafficking Victims

2011-05-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

HHS Rescue & Restore to Host WebEx Training
“How to Assist American Indian
Sex Trafficking Victims”

Thursday, May 12, 20112:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Summary
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is hosting a series of free, online WebEx training sessions on a variety of topics related to human trafficking. The information session on Thursday, May 12, will focus on how to assist American Indian sex trafficking victims and address the following:

Risk factors for and patterns of entry into sex trafficking among American Indian women and girls;

How to assist American Indian sex trafficking victims; and

How to address sex trafficking among the American Indian community.

Presenter
Ms. Suzanne Koepplinger, Executive Director, Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center
The Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) is a non-profit social and educational services organization committed to the holistic growth and development of American Indian women and their families. Founded in 1984, MIWRC provides a broad range of programs designed to educate and empower American Indian women and their families, and to inform and assist those who provide services to the community.

MIWRC released a report, Shattered Hearts: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of American Indian Women and Girls, which includes a discussion of sex trafficking among this population in Minnesota. MIWRC has created several new programs to address the commercial sexual exploitation of American Indians in response to this research. Ms. Koepplinger is of European and First Nations Mohawk ancestry and has extensive experience in working with domestic violence victims, program development, advocacy, and strategic planning for non-profit organizations.

How to Register:
To register for the Thursday, May 12th, 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) training session, please click on the link below (or place it into your Internet browser):

https://mman.webex.com/mman/j.php?ED=146574627&RG=1&UID=1161842297&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Multiple participants from an organization are encouraged to register one individual for the session; participants can view the training through one computer and a speaker phone.

For those of you not familiar with WebEx trainings, all you need is access to a computer, the Internet, and your phone.

After you register, the WebEx system will send you a confirmation e-mail with login information for both the web and the teleconference portions. Please save the confirmation email because it includes the following information:

Toll-free phone number and participant passcode for the audio portion of the training session; and
Web site link and passcode (same as the phone passcode) so you can view the PowerPoint (ppt) presentation as it is being presented. The ppt will advance automatically during the training session.

We look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,

Maggie Wynne
Director, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division
Rescue & Restore
National Human Trafficking Resource Center • 1-888-3737-888

Chicago: CSEC Training Seminar - May 20th

2011-05-10T03:12:00.000-07:00

There will be a Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Training Seminar in partnership with Columbia College, Chicago Department of Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling
Columbia College
600 S. Michigan Avenue, 13th Floor, Room 1306
Chicago, IL

May 20, 2011
Cost: $40 per attendee including $10 CE fee for counselors and social workers.

(Lunch is on your own)

Presenters:Seth Donovan, Prax(us)
Brenda Myers-Powell, The Dreamcatcher Foundation
Time: 8:00am - 4:30pm

REGISTRATION: SPOTS ARE LIMITED.

Only 50 spots are available. Paid registrations will have priority. They are currently taking online registrations.
To register, see http://www.colum.edu/Academics/DMTC/csec-training.php

Those interested in paying by check or cash at the door should email me directly at Ldowney@colum.edu for a reservation although paid registrations will have priority.

(5.5) continuing education credits will be offered for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors (LCPC) through the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations. Registered Dance/Movement Therapists (R-DMT) and Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapists (BC-DMT) will receive continuing education credits through the American Dance Therapy Association.

Shelter Helps Trafficking Survivors in United Arab Emirates

2011-05-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

By Jenifer Fenton, CNN Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates (CNN) - From the outside it looks no different from the luxury villas that dot this affluent emirate. Inside the modern building, though, are secrets: stories of depravity and horror that sound out of place in the 21st Century.

The Ewa'a shelter is an oasis for women and girls whose lives have been filled with pain and tears.
We meet a 15-year-old girl, who will not tell us directly who she is or about what she has experienced. The other six victims we are introduced to are older, but in the past some of the victims who've passed through the shelter have been as young as 11 or 12 years old. All of them, shelter officials say, have been trafficked and sexually abused. The officials recount how these women have been raped, locked up or forced into prostitution.

One woman tells us she came to the UAE because she was promised a job at a supermarket. When she arrived she was forced into what she says was "not good business." She will not elaborate. Another, we are told by social workers, was locked up by her captors for a year.

Most of these women came to the UAE in search a job. "The traffickers, what they do, is bring them with a good salary, with a visa basically. It is all a lie," says Madawi al-Saud, Ewa'a's media coordinator.

The shelter, whose location in Abu Dhabi is a secret, opened in 2009. That year (for which the most recent statistics are available), 38 women and children sought refuge.

Ewa'a is a non-governmental organization that receives funding, from other things, charities set up the UAE royal family. It also runs two other shelters in Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah. Victims are usually referred by the police, embassies, hospitals or religious institutions. In addition to providing shelter and protection to the victims, the women receive medical and psychological care. Computer and language classes are offered. And legal assistance is also provided.

Most women spend two to six months at the shelter. When appropriate, the women are repatriated, according to the administrators. "Some of the victims, their parents either sold them or they just don't want to go back home for certain reasons," says al-Saud.

If a victim does not want to return to her home country, she is referred to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, which helps find another country where she can be resettled. The UAE does not grant refugee status.

The shelter says by helping victims at every stage of the police investigation, as well as in the courts, it helped convict 28 traffickers in 2009. But that, it says, is just one step in the fight against trafficking.
"My target, my aim in the future (is) to close all these shelters. That means my country (is) free from human trafficking," says Sarah Shuhail, the executive director of Ewa'a Shelters.

"Human Trafficking, according to UAE Federal Law 51 of 2006, is the recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes all forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour, enslavement, quasi-slavery practices, or detachment of organs."

Michigan Law School Opening Sex Trafficking Clinic in Mexico

2011-05-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

From Spero News
By Jared Wadley

The Law School's Human Trafficking Clinic, of the University of Michigan, has received a $300,000 federal grant to open a similar clinic in Mexico in 2011.

This U.S. Department of State grant means the new clinic in Zacatecas, Mexico, will help victims of human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery. This crime involves the recruitment, transportation, harboring or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, forced labor and servitude.

Human trafficking exists nationwide and across the world. It can be found in many industries: agriculture, spas and massage parlors, hotel work and domestic service, as well as prostitution.

“By awarding us the grant, the State Department acknowledged that the success of our clinic could be replicated elsewhere,” says clinic director Bridgette Carr, a visiting clinical assistant professor of law. “We’re excited about this new venture and look forward to helping victims in Mexico.”Read the full article here.

Justice Response/VAST Workshops @ Vineyard National Leaders Conference in Phoenix

2011-04-28T02:56:00.000-07:00

If you will be in Phoenix for the VineyardUSA National Leaders Conference, be sure to stop by our table in the main lobby, and connect with us at the two workshops we will be hosting:

Beyond Awareness: Integrating Your Church's Existing Ministries and Next Steps for Fighting Human Trafficking

Cheryl Pittluck & Steven Hamilton
You've learned the statistics and you've heard the stories of the surprising and atrocious crime of human trafficking. Now, it's time to take the next steps in engaging your church with fighting human trafficking from within, around,and beyond your church community.

Connecting the Dots: Pornography, Your Church, & HumanTrafficking

Cheryl Pittluck & Steven Hamilton
"It's not a problem"..."It's just between me and God"..."Not my son/daughter/husband/wife!"... "Who does it hurt?" It's time to face facts...the prevalence of the use of pornography in the church, the relationship between the business of pornography and human trafficking, and how it can be addressed with tools to help and support people in the church who are dealing with addictions to it.

Trafficking Survivors Testimonies

2011-04-27T03:01:00.000-07:00

Five young women trapped in the world of sex trafficking escaped and, in interviews with The Washington Times, tell how they got caught and how they got out.

by Chuck Neubauer

Tysheena, 21, was 13 and in New York when she met at a bus stop the 27-year-old man who would become her pimp. At first they talked on the phone, and then he started buying her gifts. They began what she thought was "a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship." She started cutting classes at 14 to be with him.
Molested at 12 by a relative of her stepfather, she fought repeatedly with her mother and, after one beating, began running away. On one of those occasions, the man took her to Atlantic City and showed her the street where prostitutes worked.

"He explained to me he was a pimp," she said, adding that he told her that working for him as a prostitute was "the only way to survive without going back to my mother." She said she decided to do it because "he was the only person who loved me."

She worked for him for three years, during which she was beaten if she disobeyed him and threatened with death if she left. She got out of the life when she was 17 and ended up living with an uncle in Maryland, where she finished high school and then went to Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) in New York, where she now works with other girls as an outreach coordinator.

Sheila, 24, has been away from the life for five years, a victim of sex trafficking from ages 15 to 19. At 15, she tried to escape her dysfunctional home, where there was domestic violence and alcoholism, by moving in with a friend. Instead, she was raped by her friend's stepfather and ended up in foster care, where she was abused.

"I felt that no one really cared about me," she said, until a girl in the foster care home introduced her to a 30-year-old man she described as "real sweet." She said, "For the first time I had someone listening to me." She did not know he was a pimp and the girl from the home was his recruiter.

"He got me into the life. This was not my choice," she said, adding that he threatened her with a hot iron and once beat her in front of others. "No one asked if I was all right," she said.

When she was 17, she was arrested and sent to GEMS, but she soon was back on the street with her pimp, where she remained for another two years. She got out at 19 and now also works at GEMS with other young women as an outreach coordinator.

Katrina, 31, was 16 and in Atlanta when she met a 31-year-old-man who would be her pimp for three years. "He drove a nice car and offered to spend a lot of money on me," she said, but she was forced instead into prostitution. She said she was expected to make him $800 a night.

"When I wanted to leave, I couldn't leave," she said. "He isolated me from my family."

He also moved her to New York, where there were regular beatings. She said she still has marks on her legs from where he had his dog bite her. Although threatened with more physical violence if she tried to leave, she escaped when she was 19, taking her baby son and sleeping in a car — eventually returning to Atlanta, where she is using her experience to work as a peer-support specialist for the Georgia Care Connection, helping young girls who have been trafficked.

She said her background makes it easier for the girls to talk to her. "There is not much they have done that I haven't done," she said.

Brandy, 31, another peer-support specialist at Georgia Care, was forced by her mother to have sex with the mother's friend in exchange for goods, which she called "material things." "I was exploited by my mom between the ages of 2 and 6," she said.

At 18 she also began to barter for money, goods and meals. "I went out and exploited myself," she said, pointing out that, given her background, "it was normal to be exploited for sex."

She said she changed her life around in her mid-20s and now is trying to help other girls. "It is rewarding to even get a smile out of a kid," she said.

Anna, 27, was bought to the United States from Mexico under false pretenses and forced into prostitution. She was almost 16 when she came to New York to work in a factory. Instead, the man who brought her forced her to work in a Brooklyn brothel.

"I was working every day from 9 a.m. to midnight," she said through a translator. "I saw 50 to 60 men daily."
She said the man who brought her to this country beat her and burned her with cigarettes if she refused to work. She said he told her he could make one call to Mexico and have her family harmed. With the help of another woman, she escaped to Atlanta in 2000.

"I still have a lot of problems sleeping," she said, but she is getting help from an Atlanta-based nonprofit, Tapestri Inc., which works with foreign-born victims of sex trafficking, many of whom fear beatings from traffickers or arrest and deportation by authorities if they try to escape. "I get scared going outside," she said.

How California is Fighting Trafficking

2011-04-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

from CNN's Freedom Project:

On October 18th, 2010, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 657, titled “California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010.”

By January 2012, major manufacturers and retailers within the state of California must fully disclose the efforts made to ensure their products have not been tainted by slavery or forced labor at any point within the supply chain. In an attempt at complete transparency, these companies will be required to post their policies on their own websites, allowing consumers to see for themselves if their purchases are slavery-free.

The California law isn’t only a step forward in the fight against human trafficking; it sets an example for the rest of the nation and the world to follow. Most importantly the bill gives you, the consumer, the choice and power to be a part of the solution.

Sex Trafficking Among Charges in Oceanside Gang Probe

2011-04-22T04:05:00.000-07:00

38 Indicted -- Including Hotel Owners -- On Prostitution, Trafficking Charges

SAN DIEGO -- Members of three Oceanside gangs normally at odds with each other collaborated in a racketeering conspiracy which included prostitution of minors and adults, drug trafficking and other offenses, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.

Thirty-eight people were charged following an 18-month multi-agency gang investigation dubbed "Operation Vice Grip," said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

The defendants are members, associates and facilitators of the "Oceanside Crip Enterprise," composed of three Crip gang sets -- the Insane Crip Gang, Deep Valley Crips and Crook, Mob Gangsters, according to the indictment.

All three Crip sets -- each with their own area of influence in Oceanside -- have interacted over the last several years to the point that traditional gang distinctions have broken down, Duffy said.

The indictment alleges that since 2005, the defendants engaged in multiple racketeering acts in furtherance of the enterprise, including the sex trafficking of minors and adults, attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion and the distribution of controlled substances.

"The indictment unsealed today targets a growing problem in San Diego County and across the country," Duffy said. "Street gangs like the Crips (are) expanding traditional gang activities" -- like drug trafficking and violent crime -- "to include prostitution."

"I cannot state this more emphatically: I regard the kind of prostitution involved in this case, including the trafficking of children via the Internet, social networking sites and local businesses, as a form of modern-day slavery to which every available law enforcement resource will be applied," she said.

Duffy said prostitutes caught up in the operation were often "traded like property" and beaten by their pimps if they did not do as they were told.

"These women get used and thrown away," a former prostitute who calls herself "Jessica", told 10News.

Jessica said she's happy that with the sweep, and added, "I hope their names get out there, so younger women know who they are."

Jessica's story began 6 years ago, when she met a man named Hank Barnhill. Barnhill drove a nice car and had a comfortable home with expensive furniture.

"He courted me," said Jessica, who acknowledged she enjoyed all the attention.

As the relationship progressed, Hank took her to Las Vegas. It was a trip that would change her life.

"Hank opened the car door and kicked me out," recalled Jessica.

She was with another woman who said, "Get out of the car, we've got to make money, and we can't come back until we get it."

That woman showed Jessica the ropes on the Las Vegas Strip.

"It was really scary for me. I never thought I'd be out there doing that," said Jessica.

She began working the streets, earning $1,000 a night and handing it over to Barnhill, who she said rewarded her with beatings.

"He'd choke me, throw me across the room, hit my head against concrete, stomp me," she said.

Jessica's relationship with her pimp lasted about a year. When he asked her to help him "train" two new girls to work as his prostitutes, she made a break for it.

Barnhill was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but will be out in 6.

"I feel sorry for all these young girls that are getting pimped," said Jessica. "The pimps are the only ones profiting."

Michael Carney, Acting Special Agent in Charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, said 30 underage girls were rescued during the investigation, which puts the spotlight on organized criminal activities by gangs to make money in San Diego County.

"The sex trafficking of women and children is a particularly heinous crime and cannot be tolerated in our communities," Carney said. "Our goal is to not only prevent the spreading of this modern-day form of slavery, but to wipe it out in every form where it exists."

Among those charged with facilitating the enterprise's prostitution activities are a father and son and a company which owns and operates the Oceanside Travelodge, Duffy said.

The indictment alleges that Hitesh Patel, 27, and his 60-year-old father, Vinod Patel, acting on behalf of Gayatri Investments, LLC, facilitated and allowed members and associates of the enterprise to rent rooms at the Oceanside Travelodge, using other people's identification, knowing of the illegal activity that would occur, and, occasionally, understanding that payment would be made following "dates" or "tricks."

The Patels arranged to have the participants housed in specific areas and rooms within the hotel so that they were segregated from legitimate customers, according to the indictment.

The Patels charged -- and the defendants paid higher room rates -- in exchange for permitting the prostitution activities to be conducted at the Travelodge, the government alleges.

The Patels are also accused of warning members and associates of the enterprise about law enforcement activity or inquiries.

EEOC Charges Farms and Companys with Human Trafficking and Exploitation

2011-04-21T04:52:00.000-07:00

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a California-based labor contractor, Global Horizons Inc., and farms in Washington and Hawaii, claiming they discriminated against more than 200 Thai workers in what the authorities called the largest human trafficking case in the nation’s agriculture industry.

Global Horizons confiscated the workers’ passports and threatened to deport them if they complained about conditions, commission officials said.

Named in the suit were the Captain Cook Coffee Company, Del Monte Fresh Produce, the Kauai Coffee Company, Kelena Farms Inc., MacFarms of Hawaii and the Maui Pineapple Company, all in Hawaii, and Valley Fruit Orchards and Green Acre Farms of Washington.

The commission also filed a lawsuit in Mississippi against the marine services company Signal International claiming that 500 Indian workers faced discrimination and substandard living conditions in Mississippi and Texas.

Nationwide Latino Residential Brothel Network Busted

2011-04-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

So-called "Latino Residential Brothels," an insidious form of prostitution that has been creeping into the country for several decades, adopt sophisticated camouflage to elude officials.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Texas: Tarrant County Anti-Trafficking Training

2011-04-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

Tarrant County Frontline Responder Training

8–noon Tuesday, April 26

Register via email: training@traffick911.com

Tarrant County Family Court Assembly Room

200 E. Weatherford

Fort Worth, Texas 76196

Domestic minor sex trafficking is happening right under our noses. If you are in or near Fort Worth, Texas, learn what to look for and what you can do:

The life expectancy of American children forced into sexual slavery is just 7 short years. We don’t have time to wait.

TCLEOSE 3271 and Social Worker CEUs available

(This training is being provided free of charge.)

Questions? 817-933-1755

www.tra 􀁴 www.traffickstop.org ffick911.com

India: Journey through New Delhi's Red Light District

2011-04-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

Another insightful video from CNN's Freedom Project. In this video, women’s rights advocate Zainab Salbi takes a journey through New Delhi’s red light district. She interviews a brothel owner who explains that the majority of prostitutes are trafficked women who have been sold into slavery.

DMST - Christian Trafficking Shelter Conference

2011-04-05T04:54:00.000-07:00

DOMESTIC MINOR SEX TRAFFICKING - CHRISTIAN TRAFFICKING SHELTER CONFERENCE

MAY 13-14, 2011 in Austin, Texas at the For the City Center, (500 St. Johns - just west of I35)
Register here: http://traffickstop.skyrocketstudio.com

only $30.00 PER PERSON, Payment by credit or debit card secure through PayPal.

Truckers Learn How to Report Trafficking

2011-04-04T05:16:00.000-07:00

Posted: 10:00 PM
Last Updated: 2 hours and 52 minutes ago

By: Sara Goldenberg

DRUMRIGHT, Okla. - Oklahoma's truck stops and rest stops sit at the crossroads of America's interstate system. And they've become a hot spot for human trafficking.

A new program is helping some truck drivers become equipped with the knowledge to fight it.

After a four week truck driving course, student drivers at Central Tech in Drumright are ready to hit the road. But before they go, they have one more lesson to learn.

"This is an epidemic that's starting out there. It's been there for a long time, but a lot of people don't know a lot about it," said Mark Brown,

assistant director of truck driver training, at their last class.

Brown is preparing students for more than driving. He's teaching them how to spot human trafficking.
"I think if we save one child guys, one child, I think we've done our job," he said.

Armed with a video and wallet cards from a group called Truckers Against Trafficking, Brown is fighting what he says he's seen himself at truck stops across the country-- girls, boys and women being sold for sex.

"We have to get the word out," Brown said. "And what better way to do it then with students that are just going into the field."

His students are mothers and fathers, even grandfathers themselves.

"So us being more aware would change it dramatically. Like one of the teachers said, just saving one child's life could be something that you'd never forget," said student Richard Sutherland.

"It's very emotional. I got chills and goosebumps thinking about how anybody could do that to any child," said student Laura Kaylor.

Kaylor says she's also seen human trafficking at truck stops.

"It made me think if anybody got a hold of my stepdaughter, I'd have to hurt somebody. Because my stepdaughter means the world to me."

Now she knows all it takes is an extra set of eyes to notice the red flags. And the courage to make a phone call. A national hotline puts truck drivers in touch with law enforcement, who will take on the investigation from there.

"I"d let them know where I'm at, what I'm seeing. And do the best to get them all the information that they need in order to get that person and put them behind bars where they need to be at. And get the child, or lady home to their families," Kaylor said.

Brown hopes this short, but powerful lesson about human trafficking will become a staple of truck driving courses across the country.

"It's somebody's child. Somebody's daughter, somebody's son, somebody's grandson, daughter, cousin, whatever the case may be. That child does not have to be treated that way," he said.

Truckers can reach the national hot line to report human trafficking at 1-888-373-7888. You can learn more about spotting the red flags by visiting the Truckers Against Trafficking web site by clicking the link below.

http://www.truckersagainsttrafficking.com/

New Documentary about Eastern European girls drawn into Trafficking and Abuse

2011-04-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

A documentary film investigating sex trafficking by Mimi Chakarova

The Price of Sex is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.

Interstate 90 is Midwest Pipeline for Human Trafficking in U.S.

2011-03-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

People were shocked when federal prosecutors charged the owners of a motel in Oacoma, S.D., a town of fewer than 500, with keeping Philippine women in virtual slavery, forcing them to work 20-hour days under the threat of violence and taking back their paychecks after they had been endorsed to deposit in their own accounts.

Prosecutors said the enslaved women performed cleaning and front-desk duties at the motel and were expected to work second jobs at fast-food restaurants. Every aspect of their lives, according to records in the 2007 case, was controlled, including what they ate, where they lived, what they wore and to whom they spoke.

Human traffickers had crept unnoticed into the small Lyman County community, located on the west bank of the Missouri River 80 miles southeast of Pierre, the state's capital. But the townsfolk soon learned that Interstate 90, which roars right by Oacoma, is part of the "Midwest Pipeline," the superhighway used to deliver trafficking victims to cities across the country.

In November, federal prosecutors struck again in South Dakota, this time bringing sex-trafficking charges against a couple in Tea, a city of 4,600 also just off Interstate 90. They were convicted of using coercion and threats to force underage girls, some as young as 15, into prostitution.

"It was a shock to me to learn that people had been trafficked through South Dakota," said state Sen. Joni Cutler, a Sioux Falls Republican who sponsored legislation in January making human trafficking a state crime. She said South Dakotans like to think of the state as a place "where everybody knows everybody or is related."

"We don't want a quiet, rural area like South Dakota to become a place where people are trafficked," she said.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed the Cutler bill into law on March 16.

Human trafficking generates billions of dollars each year in illicit profits, in the United States and globally, through the entrapment and exploitation of millions of people, mostly women and children. The growing illegal trade in human beings for sex or forced labor isn't limited to either rural outposts or the world's largest cities.
Young women have been forced into prostitution over the past year through deception, fraud, coercion, threats and physical violence in Denton County, Texas; rural Tennessee; St. Paul, Minn.; Norcross, Ga.; Memphis, Tenn.; Fremont, Calif.; Harrisburg, Pa.; New York City; Los Angeles; Honolulu; Woodbridge, Va.; Gaithersburg; Annapolis; and many other cities.

Just last week, a 36-year-old Mexican national was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a federal judge in Georgia on charges that he tricked girls into leaving their families in Mexico, beat them and forced them into more than 20 acts of prostitution a night in Atlanta. The man had promised to get them jobs in restaurants. Five co-defendants previously pleaded guilty in the case.

In Columbus, Ohio, dozens of illegal immigrants from Russia, Estonia, Belarus and Ukraine were forced to work as housekeepers and laundry workers after their passports were seized. In Buford, Ga., Nigerian women were forced to work as nannies and housekeepers after being threatened and physically abused. In Falls Church, 20 Indonesian women were sold as housekeepers after their passports were seized; some were sexually assaulted and their families were threatened.

Tougher laws
Texas state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, San Antonio Democrat, introduced legislation this month to strengthen laws against human trafficking. She said 25 percent of the people trafficked into the United States pass through the state.

"We are trying to get at those who profit from selling our children," she said, adding that she became interested in the issue in 2004 when two runaways from Oregon - a 16 year-old-boy and his 14 year-old-sister - were forced into prostitution.

"Nobody wants to think there is human slavery in their neighborhood," she said.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said nearly every country is affected by human trafficking, either as a source for or destination of the many victims. He told a human trafficking conference in Arlington last year that the problem was "an affront to human dignity" and warned that in the United States, "it is, unfortunately, growing."

"Human trafficking has become big business - generating billions of dollars each year through the entrapment and exploitation of millions," Mr. Holder said. "The poorest and most vulnerable among us are being robbed of basic rights to dignity, security and opportunity."

Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, compared human trafficking to drug and gun smuggling in that it frequently involves complex organized-crime cartels. In October, during the 10th anniversary celebration of the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, he said, the number of prosecuted cases has risen from four in 2001 to more than 50 last year.

"We're not just bringing more cases, we're bringing cases of unprecedented scope and impact, taking on international organized criminal networks," he said. "But this work isn't about how many cases we've charged or how well we work together; it's about the human lives restored to freedom and dignity."

Nathan Wilson, creator of the Project Meridian Foundation, which seeks to assist law enforcement in identifying the traffickers and their victims, said the illegal trade in human beings for sexual exploitation or forced labor has reached epidemic proportions.

"Sex trafficking has become so widespread that no country, no race, no religion, no class and no child is immune," he said, adding that 1.6 million children younger than 18 - native and foreign born - have been caught in the sex trade in the United States. But, he said, the actual number of victims is hard to quantify because of the lengths to which traffickers go to keep their crimes hidden.

Billions in profits
The Washington, D.C.-based Polaris Project, which advocates stronger federal and state laws on human trafficking and provides help to victims, has said traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits by victimizing millions of people around the world and in the United States. It has said human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing criminal industries in the world.

With an estimated annual revenue of $32 billion, law enforcement authorities, government agencies and others have said human trafficking is tied with arms dealing as the second-largest criminal industry in the world - behind only drug smuggling.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the lead agency for investigating and dismantling human-trafficking organizations, has estimated that 800,000 people are trafficked into commercial-sex trade and forced-labor situations throughout the world every year.

ICE Deputy Assistant Director James C. Spero described human trafficking as "a global problem ... driven by profit." He said the agency opened 650 trafficking investigations during fiscal 2010, up from 560 in 2009 and 430 in 2008, and he is still trying to determine the scope of the trafficking problem.
"You don't know what you don't know," he said.

In a 2010 report, the State Department also said human trafficking claimed 800,000 victims every year. Earlier reports estimated that 80 percent of the victims were female and half of them were minors. The department also said in the 2010 report that 17,500 people were thought to be trafficked into the United States each year.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said some Americans are trapped by abusive employers and others are held in sexual slavery and that the department has sent "a clear message to all of our countrymen and women: Human trafficking is not someone else's problem."

The report, for the first time, ranked the United States as a "Tier 1" country, meaning it fully complies with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, but also identified it as a "source, transit and destination country" for human traffickers.

Lucrative way
The complex criminal nature of human trafficking as noted by Mr. Perez also has been reported by the Congressional Research Service, which said last year that in many parts of the world, "trafficking in money, weapons and people is largely conducted by criminal gangs or mafia groups." The research service called human trafficking a "lucrative way" for organized criminal groups to fund other illicit activities.

"In Latin America, Mexican drug cartels are increasingly involved in the trafficking of people as well as drugs," the report said. The Congressional Research Service also said the links between organized crime and terrorism may be significant, noting that the language school that provided some visas for the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers also is reported to have provided visas for prostitutes of a human trafficking ring.

A Department of Health and Human Services fact sheet said that after drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms industry as the world's second-largest criminal industry and is the fastest growing.
That rapid rise is worrisome to Mr. Wilson, who said he is concerned that profits from human trafficking could be used to fund terrorists. He said trafficking profits were used to fund terrorists in Iraq and that some of the proceeds from businesses such as prostitution "may be diverted toward supporting terrorist groups."
Mr. Spero said ICE had not found any evidence that terrorists were benefiting from human trafficking, but acknowledged that any financial crime has the potential to be exploited by terrorists.

The Justice Department also has identified human trafficking as one of the threats posed by international organized-crime networks. It said in a 2010 report that global crime cartels were involved in Asian massage parlors in Massachusetts, Ukrainian criminal networks exploited janitorial service workers in Pennsylvania, and an Uzbek organized-crime ring exploited Philippine, Dominican Republic and Jamaican guest workers in 14 states.

The department said human traffickers know no boundaries or borders. It said the crimes exploit men, women and children, whether they be citizens, guest workers or illegal immigrants - extracting profit from the toil of others in farm fields, factories, strip clubs, suburban mansions, brothels and bars.

Major piece
William Carroll, a former district director for the now-defunct U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said human trafficking is a "major piece of operating income for the cartels and other organized criminal organizations." He said the cartels are attracted to its lucrative nature and because it does not require a distribution system like drugs.

Justice brought 52 human trafficking cases in fiscal 2010, its largest single-year total. It noted in its latest report that human traffickers often prey on those who are poor, frequently unemployed or underemployed, and who may lack access to social safety nets.

"Victims are often lured by traffickers with false promises of good jobs and better lives, and then forced to work under brutal and inhumane conditions," the department said, noting that Somali gangs forced girls younger than 14 into prostitution in Minnesota, Tennessee and Ohio - passing them around like chattel for sex with other gang members or to paying customers.

Calling the trafficking of children for sex as "intolerable," U.S. Attorney Jerry E. Martin, whose office brought the case against the Somali gangs, said the problem is widespread and difficult to prosecute. The victims, he said, "are not likely to complain to the police."

Advocacy Opportunity: Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victim Support Act

2011-03-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

Ask your U.S. Senators to join in support of Senate Bill 596!

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) are once again championing the issue of domestic minor sex trafficking by reintroducing a bill that will establish a grant program to support victims of the crime. This bill nearly passed last year - let's seize the opportunity to support this critical legislation and achieve success this year. Please take a moment to review this important information and find out what YOU can do to support the passage of the bill!

S. 596: Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victim Support Act

Status: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (effective 3/18/2011)

To track this bill, please visit: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-596

What you need to know about this legislation:

It will provide $2 million to $2.5 million a year in funding to six state and local pilot projects to serve and shelter child victims of sex trafficking.
Applying entities must have a multidisciplinary, collaborative plan to combat the sex trafficking of minors.
67% of funds must be used for direct services and shelter for victims.
Funds can be used to increase law enforcement efforts to combat the sex trafficking of children.
This is a bipartisan bill.
The legislation is sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX).

How this bill will help address existing domestic minor sex trafficking challenges:

Challenge: There is little collaboration and communication between the various agencies and organizations that encounter or work with sex trafficked children. This lack of collaboration is a major impediment to efficiency and finding workable solutions.

How this bill helps: This legislation requires multidisciplinary collaboration from grantees.

Challenge: Law enforcement has expressed frustration that when they discover an exploited child, there is nowhere safe to place him/her for help.

How this bill helps: With at least 67% of funding required for shelter and services for victims, the grant locations will be required to establish safe shelter for victims.

Challenge: Sex trafficked children have a multitude of needs ranging from post-traumatic stress and depression to STDs, substance abuse and chronic illness. They also may not have a safe, appropriate home to return to. There are few programs appropriate to address their needs. As a result, they are caught in a cycle of abuse and arrest.

How this bill helps: The majority of funding is required to go to services and shelter for victims. Additionally, the bill's multidisciplinary focus will result in all stakeholders coming together to collaborate on fixing the response protocol, making it more efficient and addressing the intense needs of these children.

Challenge: Trafficking cases are time intensive and can be expensive. Federal prosecutors may prosecute these cases but local police are most often in a position to find the crime. Local law enforcement agencies need the resources and training so they can identify a trafficking case. If law enforcement does not have the resources to investigate trafficking cases, criminals will see little risk in the profitable venture of selling children for sex.

How this bill helps: By allowing funds to be used for training and law enforcement/prosecutor salaries related to investigation and prosecution of sex trafficking cases, the bill supports critical enforcement efforts.

To learn more facts about Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking see the Report from Shared Hope International.

Advocacy Opportunity: Maryland Legislature Considers Forfeiture Law

2011-03-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, Maryland police entered a Baltimore hotel room to find a 19-year-old woman held against her will and violently forced into prostitution by East Coast pimp Edward Perkins.

Who knows how much money Perkins made forcing this teenager to have sex with paying customers, but thanks to a glaring loophole in Maryland law, the victim won't see a dime of it.

Some states have "asset forfeiture" laws for human trafficking -- laws that ensure that trafficked women and children see some of the money their captors made by trafficking them. But not Maryland.

In this case, an asset forfeiture law would mean that the money Perkins earned from selling his victim on Backpage.com – even if he used it to buy cars, jewelry, or other assets – can be used to help his victims seek counseling, pay legal fees, and find housing.

In addition to being left without financial help, the young woman won't have any prostitution convictions removed from her record, despite being a victim of sex trafficking. That's because Maryland doesn't expunge convictions for trafficked people.

So in Maryland, traffickers like Perkins keep their ill-gotten money to hire lawyers, and their victims are often left penniless and struggling with undeserved criminal records.

Two proposed bills in the Maryland legislature would address these serious issues, and the first committee vote is scheduled for this week -- if it fails, the bills likely won't pass until 2012 at the earliest.

HB 418 would allow Maryland to seize the profits from human traffickers and use that money to aid law enforcement and victim service providers, thus removing the financial burden of fighting human trafficking from Maryland taxpayers. SB 327 would allow the courts to order traffickers to pay their victims restitution and reverse commercial sex convictions for all human trafficking victims.

Tell the Maryland legislature to pass HB 418 and SB 327 before Friday's vote comes and goes. Victims of trafficking are depending on us:

http://www.change.org/petitions/marylanders-please-help-bring-human-trafficking-to-an-end-in-maryland?alert_id=aTMKFNKkTW_ZERqnXABSV&me=aa

Thanks for taking action!