Batting Up for a Cause

While my knowledge of the D.C. Nationals, or any major league baseball team for that matter, is limited, I will be cheering them on as they take on the Cardinals June 15.

For this particular game, the Nationals have teamed up with the DC Human Trafficking Task Force to bring attention to modern day slavery. People who would otherwise not be inclined to learn about the issue will have information readily accessible at the game and persons dedicated to the cause can show up and make a statement that D.C. will not tolerate human trafficking anymore.

A portion of ticket sales will go to the DC Trafficking Task Force as they continue to help the countless victims of human trafficking. I’ll be there because I care about this issue and who knows; maybe I’ll learn a thing or two about that “old ball game.”

Please see below for registration details:
To register go nationals.com/tickets
* click Individual Game Tickets
* click “T” on game of choice
* enter Coupon Code “HTAN” and click continue
After the discount, tickets are $7/each.

CNN Freedom Project

It is not often that news stations highlight the horrors of human trafficking, even though there are an estimated 12 million persons enslaved throughout the world. In fact, this is a crime so hidden that many people are unaware of its existence.

However, for the next year, the CNN Freedom Project has pledged to take a stand against human trafficking by affording it the national coverage that it deserves.

The mission of the Freedom Project is to raise public awareness, speak out against the perpetrators of this crime, give victims a voice, and to share success stories. As we continue on the difficult road of combating modern day slavery, I can only hope that others join in with CNN to become a part of the solution.

To find out more about the Freedom Project and to get involved in the fight to combat modern day slavery, please click here.

Roll Out Your Yoga Mat on March 12 To Raise Awareness and Help Survivors

From Yoga Stops Traffick:

Wherever you are in the world, get ready to roll your mats out on 12th March 2011 for YOGA STOPS TRAFFICK, a worldwide yoga event to raise awareness about human trafficking. Last year YST brought together 1,500 people in 20 countries, 51 yoga studios, parks, homes, beaches and mountaintops around the world. With your help YST raised over £15,000 for Indian organization Odanadi Seva Trust, to give survivors of human trafficking the chance of a better future.

Following on from the huge success of last year, YST askes you to join them once again to take a stand against human trafficking: all you need is your yoga mat! Discover how you can get involved, and about the work being done by Odanadi. To find out here how the money raised from Yoga Stops Traffick will be spent visit www.odanadi-uk.org.

Call for Presentations: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Third Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Third Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking organizers invite you to submit an abstract for the 2011 Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking!

Anyone who has academic or professional work to present should submit an abstract of up to 300 words (no more) on their submission website.

The presentations will normally be 25 minutes with 15 minutes for discussion. The organizing committee is willing to consider other formats, such as panel presentations. They are not seeking workshops, however, but presentations of facts, knowledge, ideas, theories, on-the-ground approaches, methods, program evaluations, research agendas, and research needs. There will be one or more special sessions for students who wish to present and receive feedback on papers, theses, and dissertations that are proposed or in progress.

The deadline for submission of papers and presentations is April 1, 2011. Submitters who submit by April 1 can expect notification of acceptance or rejection by May 15th, 2011. The committee will expect a commitment to attend by at least one of the accepted presenters, with a non-refundable deposit of $50, by July 15, 2011, for presenters to remain on the program.

Authors will be expected to agree to a release of copyright, and allow the materials they present (in written, video, audio, or graphic form) to be made available on the conference website after the conference. No paper proceedings will be published, but the presented materials will be available on Digital Commons (the web host for the proceedings) for a considerable time.

The deadline for submission of materials to be placed on the Digital Commons website is October 31, 2011. Conference presenters may place a formal paper, Power Point slides, film, or anything arising from their presented work on Digital Commons. If nothing is submitted, their abstract will be placed on the web site.

If you have questions about presentations, please contact Dr. Dwayne Ball or visit the submission website.

About the conference: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is proud to host The Third Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking. [They] welcome researchers from non-governmental organizations, academia, and governmental agencies. This is a conference run along traditional academic paper-presentation lines, intended to spread knowledge, provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of research and professional work, and provide an opportunity to network with and learn from each other. Learn more on their website.

Kevin Bales on WGBH's One-on-One

From the WGBH program One-on-One:

In this One-on-One conversation, Bales discusses the realities of contemporary enslavement, the motivation behind his work, and how our generation can bring slavery to an end.

BBC World Debate on Trafficking

The BBC World Debate program recently held a debate on Human Trafficking with panelists Laura Agustin, Author of "Sex at the Margins"; Sophie Flak, Executive Vice-President of Accor; Rani Hong, Trafficking Survivor; Siddharth Kara, Author of "Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery"; and Ronald Noble, Secretary General of Interpol. Unfortunately, BBC videos are not embeddable, so I can only link to them here.

BBC World Debate on Trafficking

I have to say, this starts out slow, but the debate picks up quickly. These are really difficult discussions that I think are important for the field to have. There are some quick points that obviously were not settled and it would be great to hear the point of view of our readers:

• For all of the controversy that Agustin creates through her candidly hardened point of view, some of her points are difficult issues that service providers are faced with every day. At one point she stated that people are often educated or trained on the worst possible scenarios of trafficking, but that migration often invokes a range of abuse and exploitation. While some members of the audience disagreed with the premise of debating the definition, without (a more specific) one, do we risk missing potential victims and/or exposing/deporting migrants who then do not meet this "worst possible scenario?"
• Will it ever be possible to have reliable numbers of those trafficked? If not, will that affect the work of advocates and how?
• Just generally, how does the language we use surrounding trafficking affect the way we combat it? When we use numbers we don't fully understand? When we overly associate it with organized crime? Etc.

Thank you for any responses!

Teach Your Students about Child Slavery

This is an excerpt from the magazine of Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. I thought this was an interesting way of trying to broach such a difficult topic with young students. The site also includes a short list of teaching tips as well as more information about the sample coursework described below.

Enlisting Students to Confront Modern Slavery

Organizations like the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation are committing much of their efforts to getting the message out to young people about slavery today. They are teaming with educators to teach students about its current forms, and get students motivated to share their newfound awareness.

Elizabeth Devine is a social studies teacher at William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. She includes a three-week unit covering human trafficking and modern-day slavery in her one-semester course on human rights.

Devine’s unit features films, books and guest speakers to help students relate to and engage the material. She introduces the topic with scenes from the film Human Trafficking, a fictionalized look at the sex trade in Eastern Europe. She invites experts, such as a federal prosecutor who presided over a local human trafficking case, into the classroom. “The kids couldn’t believe [human trafficking] was happening here,” Devine says.

Her curriculum also includes excerpts from Sold, Patricia McCormick’s account of a young Nepalese girl who was purchased by an Indian brothel. The class views segments of the PBS series The New Heroes, which features vignettes of individuals around the world fighting modern-day slavery. Students’ perspectives expand from the individual to the systemic when they read Kevin Bales’ book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.

“No doubt it’s provocative,” says Devine, named the 2009–2010 Secondary Teacher of the Year by the National Council of Social Studies. “The high school students can handle it. And I don’t give them titillating things about sex to read. We focus on the difficulties faced by the women.”

The more students investigate, the more they recognize the economic underpinnings of human trafficking. They learn that wherever there is greed and vulnerable people, conditions exist for turning humans into slaves.

Devine guides students in tracking their own attitudes and perspectives as they explore the mini-unit. She has them keep a “dialectical journal,” synthesizing ideas from in-class discussions with their own ideas and personal responses to texts and videos.

To create the journal, students separate a page into two columns. On the left, they record the facts and concepts included in the text or video, including quotations and descriptions of material that affected them. In the right-hand column, they jot down their own thoughts, questions and insights. “They do it after everything we see or read, so they are constantly reflecting on what they learn,” Devine says.

The unit culminates in an “action project.” These projects ask students to research an issue, then perform a related project in the community. Last year, two girls teamed up to collect backpacks and toiletries for women who had been rescued from traffickers and were living in a safe house.

Super Bowl a magnet for under-age sex trade

From MSNBC:

ATLANTA — Pimps will traffic thousands of under-age prostitutes to Texas for Sunday's Super Bowl, hoping to do business with men arriving for the big game with money to burn, child rights advocates said.

As the country's largest sporting event, the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers will make the Dallas-Fort Worth area a magnet for business of all kinds.

That includes the multimillion dollar, under-age sex industry, said activists and law enforcement officials working to combat what they say is an annual spike in trafficking of under-age girls ahead of the Super Bowl.

"The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told a trafficking prevention meeting in January. Girls who enter the grim trade face a life of harsh treatment and danger, according to a Dallas police report in 2010.

Few who emerge are willing to speak about it. Tina Frundt, 36, is an exception. Now married and living in Washington D.C., Frundt was lured into sex work at 14 after she fell for a 24-year-old who invited her to leave home in 1989 and join his "family" in Cleveland, Ohio. That family consisted of the man and three girls living in a motel.

When Frundt declined on the first night to have sex with her boyfriend's friends they raped her. "I was angry with myself for not listening to him, so the next night when he sent me out on the street and told me ... (to earn $500) I listened," she said in a telephone interview. Frundt paced the streets for hours and finally got into a client's car.

When she came home in the morning with just $50, her pimp beat her in front of the other girls to teach them all a lesson and sent her back onto the street the next night with the warning not to return until she had reached the quota.

Read the full story here. To learn more about outreach and awareness efforts surrounding the Superbowl 2011, visit Traffick911 and read about their I'm Not Buying It campaign. For a calendar of events around the Superbowl, click here.

To read Laura C's post about trafficking and the Superbowl, click here.

The Super Bowl and Human Trafficking

The 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas, Texas will bring thousands of people to the city in the hopes of witnessing greatness. Sadly, in the shadows of all the glitz and glamour, as many as a few thousand children will be trafficked as sex slaves, bought and sold countless times throughout the event.

In 2009, the Florida Department of Children and Families assisted 24 minors who were trafficked as sex slaves for the Super Bowl. Texas State Attorney General, Greg Abbott, is taking initiative, and announced plans to send 12 individuals from his human trafficking task force to help Dallas law enforcement fight human trafficking. A number of organizations, such as Traffick 911 and Free the Captives, are mobilizing ground efforts in Dallas to raise awareness and support prevention efforts in the area.

The awareness campaign is assisted by Dallas Cowboy player, Jay Ratliff, who recently filmed a public-service announcement for Traffick 911’s I’m Not Buying It Campaign. Watch the PSA here:

This Super Bowl Sunday there is more at stake than who wins the game on the field. The countless lives destroyed by trafficking reveal the true victory comes when we stop the commercial sexual exploitation of children off the field.

Photo courtesy of the United Methodist Women.

Human Trafficking Awareness Day 2011

This year, HTP has signed on to a letter produced through a collaborative effort in Boston, Massachusetts to produce a statement in light of Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Today is also your opportunity to find out what is going on your local community, and find a way to get involved. Towards the bottom of the letter are some suggestions. And please remember that we here at HTP are always looking for volunteer writers and submissions.

Dear Boston Area Residents,

We are service providers, faith leaders, teachers, students, law enforcement, advocates, parishioners, civil servants, NGO leaders, business owners, and survivors from the Boston area. We work to combat human trafficking--what many call ‘modern-day slavery.’

We are uniting today, on Human Trafficking Awareness Day 2011, to ask you to learn about and discuss human trafficking and modern-day slavery with your families, neighbors, churches, coworkers, friends, and fellow students.

Human trafficking is widespread throughout the United States today, including the greater Boston area. It is a hidden crime and often goes undetected by authorities and advocates. The lack of public awareness about human trafficking, together with a lack of understanding about trafficking survivors and the services they need, present major barriers to combating it.

Within the Boston area there have been numerous incidents of international sex and labor trafficking, as well as the sex trafficking of U.S. citizens. Sex trafficking of children is sometimes referred to as CSEC (the commercial sexual exploitation of children).

Survivor stories from the Boston area are diverse: a woman from Southeast Asia trafficked into years of domestic servitude, a young Eastern European woman looking for a better life but forced into sexual exploitation, a child from Latin America sent to the U.S. by her family who ended up being exploited for labor, and an American teenager who fled abuse at home and then relied on her “boyfriend” who prostituted her. Women, men, girls, and boys from a variety of backgrounds are being trafficked for sex and labor in our communities today. Many of these individuals can’t see a way out of their situations, and are afraid to speak up for themselves due to threats, coercion, or violence.

Please join the anti-trafficking movement. Your involvement, voice, and skills can make a difference. Below are three things you can do. These action items all begin with educating yourself. Details are available at www.traumacenter.org/initiatives/necat.php.

Talk about human trafficking in your communities and ask others to educate themselves

• Invite a speaker from a local organization to talk to your group
• Read a book, hold a documentary screening, write a blog or an editorial
• Use Google alerts to send news about trafficking and slavery to your email

Tell your legislators to take action - Massachusetts is currently one of five states that has failed to pass anti-trafficking legislation

• Write your legislator

Get involved with a local organization

• Support, volunteer for, or spread the word about a local organization
• Donate or fundraise to ensure the work continues

We, the undersigned, pledge to continue to fight human trafficking and modern-day slavery in greater Boston and beyond. Please join us.

For a full list of signatories, please click here.

For more specific suggestions from signatory organizations, please click here.

Music and Pimp Culture

By Rachel Lloyd:

Recently, Jay-Z, the man who created an anthem which shamelessly glorified pimp culture, "Big Pimpin", acknowledged his own conflicted feelings about that song to the Wall Street Journal. "It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing? Reading it is really harsh," said the rapper. Yeah, listening to it come on in a club and see the entire crowd go wild and singing along has been really harsh too Jay.

Full disclosure, I'm a Jay-Z fan and I have been since his first album Reasonable Doubt. Yet as a survivor of the commercial sex industry and as an advocate for exploited and trafficked girls it's hard to not feel some shame for liking an artist who has contributed his fair share of misogynistic lyrics and who has helped equate the concept of pimping with masculinity and 'swagga.'

I'm not alone with these conflicted feelings about Jay-Z or hip-hop in general. For those of us who grew up listening to Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, Eric B, and Rakim Mc Lyte and Queen Latifah and who felt that rap told our stories and captured our hearts in a way that nothing else did, hip-hop has been part of the soundtrack of our generation. Yet for those of us, particularly women, who have been impacted by gender-based violence, who've experienced the venom behind the words 'bitch' and 'ho' and who are disgusted by the objectification and sexualization of women and girls in this medium, loving hip-hop presents an uncomfortable contradiction.

For me, the conflicted feelings run deep. For the last 13 years, I've worked with and fought for girls and young women who've experienced violence and oppression at the hands of pimps and johns. And I know first-hand what its like to dance on the stage of a stripclub, be leered over by strange men, and break my 'daddy' off some bread. In short, I've been one of the girls that are alternately scorned and objectified in the lyrics of many rap songs.

Read Rachel Lloyd's full article here.

Rachel Lloyd is the founder of GEMS.

*****************************

Rachel Lloyd's piece raises a number of important points and questions, most without easy answers. Creating a world without sex trafficking or any form of slavery will take more than laws, arrests, prosecutions, and victim services. It will take evaluating the root causes and the ways that we are complicit, as individuals and as societies, in a world that tolerates and even promotes slavery. As Lloyd notes, that includes examining the "glorification of pimp culture" in music, art, and film.

Lloyd goes on to write, "I don't know how much Jay-Z understands the realities of pimps and the harm that's done to girls and young women every day in this country by pimps and traffickers. I don't know how much he feels that he's played some role in the acceptance and glorification of pimping within our culture and how committed he is to perhaps trying to take responsibility for that. But his acknowledgment that he feels a level of shame about this song is a start towards having a balanced conversation about hip-hop's role in this issue."

Obviously this is a two-way street, and as music consumers we bear some responsibility for supporting songs that glamorize pimps and that objectify women and girls. Still, like Lloyd I would argue that if established artists and musicians began the learning about the realities of trafficking and start self-reflecting on their roles and actions, both positive and negative, we will have a strong first step.

Action Steps from the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation

Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) recently presented at a national human trafficking conference on effective ways for citizens to Demand Change! This post will highlight steps for you to demand change on international sex trafficking and the commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC). Each action results in a reaction, each reaction hopefully leads to a discussion on ways to end human trafficking. Add your voice to the Demand for Change.

1) Keep Informed: Read up on international sex trafficking on websites such as www.notforsale.org; www.love146.org, www.polarisproject.org, Read blogs on the issues. Knowledge is power. Equip yourself with the power to end human trafficking.

2) Raise awareness. Visit the “Restore and Rescue” campaign for resources to share with your community. (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking).

3) Fundraise for a trusted organization fighting human trafficking. Events could include a benefit concert, movie night, or a 5k marathon to engage the local community. Potential movies include Playground, Very Young Girls, Lilya 4-Ever, or Born into Brothels.

4) Volunteer! Take time to volunteer at a local organization aimed at the abolition of human trafficking. Or donate money to an anti-trafficking organization.

5) Advocate! Be the voice of the estimated 600,000-800,000 individuals trafficked internationally each year.

a) Lobby for international airlines to train their employees on identifying human trafficking victims. A free manual is provided at www.innocentatrisk.org.

b) Ask your representative to support the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act. (HR5575).

6) Add the Human Trafficking Hotline number to your phone. Take out your phone right now and add 1-888-3737-888. Phone to “report a tip; to connect with anti-trafficking services in your area; or to request training and technical assistance, general information, or specific anti-trafficking resources” (Polaris Project)

The steps outlined are just a foray into the ways YOU can make a difference and make your voice heard!

Posted on behalf of Laura Convery.

Exhibit: Invisble: Slavery Today

Invisible: Slavery Today

Earlier this month, the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH opened an exhibit examining modern-day slavery. "What we hope to do, at very least, is raise awareness that this exists," said Paul Bernish, the Freedom Center executive in charge of its contemporary slavery exhibit and programs, believed to be the first such position in the American museum field said in an article by Mark Curnutte. "Secondly, we want to offer people things they can do to become engaging to ending these forms of slavery."

According to their website,the "design and "feel" of Invisible is that of a dingy warehouse in an unfamiliar city, filled with wood, metal and plastic containers -- shipping cartons for human beings. Through a variety of techinques and media, including videos, sounds and touch-screen prsentations, Invisible offers a comprehensive examination of slavery in the modern world through the life experiences of five individuals who were caught up in one of the five most common forms of exploitation: forced labor, bonded indenture, child slavery, sex trafficking and domestic servitude. The exhibition explores the causes of slavery, the economic forces that have contributed to its growth, and the response of government, the justice system and the general public to this scourge. . .

"But Invisible is not just a grim walk through degradation and mistreatment. A major concluding section is devoted to antislavery activities underway around the world, especially by the Freedom Center's partners in the exhibition: Free the Slaves, Goodweave, International Justice Mission and Polaris Project. Visitors are also asked to make a personal commitment to be 21st Century Abolitionists in the cause of freedom."

Click here to learn more about the Freedom Center and for information about the Invisible exhibit. Click here to view photos from the exhibit.

Halloween and Human Trafficking

With Halloween quickly approaching, October is a particularly opportune month to raise awareness about the use of forced labor, child labor, and other exploitative labor practices in the chocolate industry. A number of organizations are hosting campaigns to help community members raise awareness about these issues and to encourage the chocolate industry to continue to address these abuses in the industry.

The Dark Side of Chocolate
The International Labor Rights Forum, along with Global Exchange, Green America and Oasis USA, are organizing screenings of The Dark Side of Chocolate all across the country. This new documentary exposes the ongoing use of child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry in West Africa. It is a great resources for increasing awareness of this critical labor rights issue.

As part of the Raise the Bar Hershey campaign, they are asking concerned individuals to host screenings in their communities throughout October 2010, especially during a national week of action from October 25 through October 31.

For more information, please contact Tim Newman at Tim.Newman@ILRF.org or 202-347-4100
To watch the trailer, click Here
To download a community screening toolkit, click Here

Reverse Trick-or-Treating
Ten to twenty thousand groups of children will hand chocolate back to adults during their regular neighborhood trick-or-treating rounds this Halloween. The children will distribute Fair Trade certified chocolate attached to a card explaining the labor and environmental problems in the cocoa industry globally and how Fair Trade provides a solution. The event, Reverse Trick-or-Treating, was launched to raise awareness of the pervasive problem of child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa fields, to empower consumers to press the chocolate industry for more fair cocoa sourcing policies, to shift the industry toward sourcing Fair Trade certified cocoa, and to inform consumers about Fair Trade companies that are leading the way to industry reform. Fair Trade standards prohibit the use of abusive child labor, contain extensive environmental sustainability protections, and enable farmers to escape poverty.

To learn more, click Here
To order a kit, click Here

Slave Trader Joe's?

Is Trader Joe's Selling Slave Picked Produce?

By Amanda Kloer
September 09, 2010

Trader Joe's presents itself as a hip, progressive place to shop, full of vegetarian options and free from the plethora of hot orange processed snacks found elsewhere. But Trader Joe's refuses to take one very critical progressive step and join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' (CIW) Campaign for Fair Food. And because of their refusal, you might just be buying slave-picked produce from those friendly, Hawaiian shirt-wearing joes.

Modern-day slavery is a reality for many farm workers right here in the U.S. In Florida, over 1,000 people have been identified as trafficked in fields and on farms, picking the food we eat every day. Farm workers have also been trapped in slavery or seriously abusive conditions in California, Washington, North Carolina, Maryland, and several other states with large agricultural industries. Because the laws governing agriculture are different than those regulating other industries in the U.S., many of these workers don't have the same legal protections the rest of us do.

Trader Joe's is no stranger to dealing with labor and transparency concerns. Two years ago, a 17-year-old girl suffered a fatal heat stroke while picking grapes for Charles Shaw wine, the "Two Buck Chuck" Trader Joe's is famous for. And folks over Change.org's Sustainable Food property are asking the company for better transparency in their organic food sourcing. TJ's has also gotten flack for selling un-sustainable seafood and fish from places like Thailand and Bangladesh, where slavery in the fishing industry is common. That's a pretty poor track record for a company with a progressive, conscious customer base.

This is where you, that conscious customer, come in. As a consumer, you have the power to ensure the workers who grow and harvest your food are getting fair pay for their work and are being treated with dignity. The CIW's Campaign for Fair Food harnesses the purchasing power of the food industry for the betterment of farm worker wages and working conditions. Over the past decade, CIW has used the campaign to get some of the largest food purchasers in the country to support fairer labor standards for farm workers in the U.S., including a zero tolerance policy for slavery and transparent supply chains. Current participants include Subway, McDonald's, and Whole Foods. Now, Trader Joe's has the opportunity to join them and take a stand against slavery and farm worker exploitation.

Please, take a minute to ask Trader Joe's to join the Campaign for Fair Food and ensure that they aren't selling their customers slave-picked produce.

*******************************************************************************************************************************

Trader Joe's has a wide reputation for being a company where people can purchase food and feel good about it. Unfortunately the secrecy of the organization, their unwillingness to join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' (CIW) Campaign for Fair Food and some of their practices put this feeling into question. One of these practices includes sourcing unsustainable seafood from Thailand and Bangladesh where slave labor in the seafood industry is unfortunately not uncommon. Additionally, the death of a 17 year old who was picking grapes for Trader Joe's wine has also created concern among activist. Please visit this site and click the take action button to sign your name to the petition asking Trader Joe's to ensure fair and safe labor practices. Let them know their customers (and the community as a whole if you are not a customer) care.

Countries React to 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report

The U.S. Department of State's 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report came out this week, to much international interest. The report ranks countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking, from Tier 1 (highest) to Tier 3 (lowest), and is used by the U.S. as a diplomatic tool. Here are some of the responses, both positive and negative, from some of the countries ranked in the report:

Cuba: Cuba's foreign ministry spokesperson issued a strongly worded statement against the report, referring to it as "shameful slander," "false and disrespectful," and "can only be explained by the desperate need the U.S. government has to justify...the persistence of its cruel policy of (economic) embargo." Stating that "sexual trafficking of minors does not exist in Cuba," the spokesperson added that Cuba has some of the most advanced standards and mechanisms in the region for preventing and combating human trafficking. Cuba was placed in Tier 3.

Vietnam: According to the Thanh Nien News, the foreign ministry spokesperson for Vietnam stated that the report "contains political characteristics and unjust comments that fail to reflect the real situation in Vietnam." Vietnam was placed in Tier 2.

Guyana: The Guyanese Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon reportedly called the report "most superficial, unproven, the dirtiest kind of information collected...." Guyana was placed in Tier 2.

Nigeria: Nigeria was placed in Tier 1 this year. Executive Secretary Barrister Simon Chuzi Egede acknowledged the accomplishment, but reportedly "stressed the need for all involved in this fight to be mindful of the fact that the battle is far from being won, because the enemies of the Nigerian children are ever ready to deploy their arsenals of assault through any loophole either real or imagined."

Jamaica: Says one writer from Jamaica, "I find it counterproductive for the U.S. to stand in judgement of the world when the very evil it purports to eradicate is happening in abundance in its backyard. I find the report to be contradictory for how is the U.S. any different from Jamaica in that it is not fully compliant but is making 'significant' efforts to eliminate human trafficking." Jamaica was placed in Tier 2.

Thailand: Thailand has expressed its disappointment in the TIP report; Thailand's foreign affairs deputy spokesperson Thani Thongphakdi reportedly stated that "Thailand doubts the credibility of the U.S. report because this came out despite our efforts to provide further updates [on the country's measures to handle the problem] to the US that were seen throughout the year." Thailand was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

Fiji: Fiji moved to the Tier 2 Watch List, up from Tier 3 last year, which has given it hope that the government's application for a $1 billion loan will be approved by the International Monetary Fund. While Fiji was on the Tier 3 list, U.S. members on the IMF board would apparently have been required to vote against the loan.

United Arab Emirates: In response to the report, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs stated that the UAE "welcomes recognition of the country's anti-trafficking efforts, constructive criticism as well as collaborative efforts. The UAE is aware that several challenges still lie ahead, and we are committed to continuing our efforts alongside our international partners." The UAE was upgraded from the Tier 2 Watch List last year, to Tier 2 this year.

Stop Modern Slavery: Human Trafficking Training

Stop Modern Slavery DC's Training Team will host a human trafficking training at the Cleveland Park Police Station on Tuesday, June 15th at 7:30 pm.

The training will cover what human trafficking is, how you can spot a trafficked victim--often described by experts as "hidden in plain sight"--and what you can do to help put an end to these unthinkable crimes. The training is open to the public.

The training is targeted to groups that may come into contact with trafficking victims, including emergency medical personnel, taxi drivers, police officers, hotel workers, etc. Stop Modern Day Slavery DC urges people to forward information about the event to anyone who may be interested in the event, particular the populations listed above. Contact organizers@stopmodernslavery.org for more information.

When:
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
7:30pm - 9:30pm

Where:
Cleveland Park police station
3320 Idaho Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20016

Who:
Open to the public

To RSVP, go to one of these links:
Meetup.com

Facebook

Other

Countdown to the 2010 World Cup

As the 2010 World Cup games quickly approach, human traffickers and abolitionists alike are gearing up for a busy month. According to one estimate, at least 373,000 football fans are expected to be drawn to the events in South Africa. Although it is hard to make an accurate estimate of the number of sex workers that will also be present, it is clear that they are already arriving in force and their numbers undoubtedly include those who will be working against their will.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, local hotel employees report seeing an influx of prostitutes from many different countries, from as far away as China, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, and Venezuela, although the primary source country for incoming sex workers appears to be Zimbabwe. According to the Monitor, cross-border bus drivers have reported that most of their passengers in April were women, which is unusual because normally their passengers primarily consist of men traveling to South Africa for work.

Despite these reports from locals, an anonymous senior Home Affairs official told the Monitor that "We do not have evidence of [prostitutes entering the country], but will always make sure that no illegals, particularly human traffickers, enter the country through our ports." One has to wonder about the diligence of the government, if it truly does "not have evidence" of entering prostitutes, while hotels and bus drivers report that entering prostitutes have been comprising a majority of their clientele.

Meanwhile, charity and international organizations have been working to spread awareness about human trafficking during the games. One international network of Catholic women's orders has been running an awareness campaign called "2010 Should Be About the Game," targeting attendees, potential victims, and the general public.

The International Organization for Migration launched an initiative this week to support organizations responding to human trafficking during the World Cup, which will be funded by the U.S. Department of State. The initiative will primarily fund activities raising awareness, including radio dramas, theater, road shows, soccer matches, and school trainings.

Even FIFA has taken unusual steps toward assisting South Africa's police force, holding a security meeting at its headquarters with international security representatives, and funding additional police officers from all participating nations to assist the South African police force during the games. Although there is no indication the assistance is directed toward addressing the trafficking problem, hopefully it will free up more of the South African police to put more efforts towards assisting the games' most vulnerable and unwilling participants.

Image source: The Catholic Herald

Trafficking of U.S. Children

From NPR, an advocate and survivor discuss sex trafficking of children within the U.S.:



According to Malika Saada Saar, co-founder of The Rebecca Project for Human Rights, "[T]he venue of Craigslist...is really evolving as almost a virtual slave market in which children are bought and sold over the internet."

Symposium on Human Trafficking in Los Angeles

From the UCLA Center for the Study of Women:

The University of California Institute for Research in the Arts and the UCLA Center for the Study of Women present

A Symposium on Human Trafficking in Los Angeles: Local Discussions and New Collaborative Directions in Anti-Trafficking Work and Research

UCLA Royce Hall, Room 314 – May 14, 2010 – 9am-4pm

Keynote Speaker Denise Brennan, Georgetown University

Confirmed Participants: Kathleen Kim (Loyola Law School) – Jennifer Musto (UCLA) – Lara Stemple (UCLA) – Elena Shih (UCLA) – Dennis Ballas (LAPD) – Maria Suarez (Human Trafficking Survivor and Advocate) – Imelda Buncab (Not For Sale) – Susie Baldwin (LA County Department of Public Health) – Vanessa Lanza (Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking) – Abbe Land (City of West Hollywood).

The Human Trafficking in Los Angeles Symposium brings together scholars, students, professional advocates, activists, and artists in Southern California to discuss regional trends, collaborative interventions, and artistic responses to human trafficking for the purposes of forced labor. Organized around structured conversations and panel discussions, this event provides a platform to reflect upon the multi-professional, cross-institutional relationships that have been forged to respond to human trafficking in Los Angeles and questions recent trends in identifying and protecting trafficked persons and researching the issue.

RSVP to Jennifer Musto at jmusto@ucla.edu by May 12th.

This event is being funded through support from University of California Institute for Research in the Arts and is cosponsored by the UCLA Center for the Study of Womenm the UCLA Department of Women's Studies, and the UCLA Anti-Trafficking and Human Rights Coalition Student Group, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, the LA Metro Task Force on Human Trafficking, and the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.