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.

No More Dirty Gold

Change.org recently reported on the child labor in the gold industry of Peru. Peru, since the beginning of colonialism in South America, has been exploited for their vast amounts of precious metals hidden in the mountains of the Andes. After the fall of the Incan empire, the Spanish conquistadors were hungry for more wealth and used native people as slaves to mine silver in order to further enrich their empire.

Today precious metals and slavery continue to have an enduring relationship. The Peruvian Sierra region, the main source of gold in the country, is the focus of Change.org's campaign to stop the exploitation of men, women and children who are forced to work in treacherous, inhumane conditions everyday so that we, Americans, can buy cheap bracelets and earrings from our favorite air-conditioned retail stores.

"Children as young as five have been found working in gold mines, and children under 14 are regularly forced to handle dangerous chemicals and perform backbreaking labor," explains the Change.org campaign. In addition to being exposed to toxic chemicals like cyanide, children often are expected to handle dynamite to extract the gold from the mountains.

Peru is not the only country known for slave labor in their gold industries. 17 other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America force young children and adults to spend hours upon hours mining for gold that is in turn sold to companies in the United States. According to Change.org, gold was "the most frequently named commodity appearing on the US Department of Labor's List of Good Produced by Child or Forced Labor."

As a result, Earthworks organized a campaign called "No Dirty Gold" which encouraged companies to buy gold from sources that do not use child labor or slavery, or cause significant environmental damage. Change.org says that "70 national and international jewelry retailers have signed onto (the campaign)." However, Target has refused to agree to these terms. Interestingly enough their chief rival (and usually a major laggard in human rights issues), Wal-Mart, has already pledged to source their gold from cruelty-free producers.

After "tens of thousands" of letters from Change.org members, Target has publicly agreed to "consider" joining Earthworks' campaign. As we all know, this is a weak statement and another way to avoid changing their routine to buy products that are slave labor free.

Sign the petition and tell Target that you don't support child labor and slavery.

For more information about the "No Dirty Gold" campaign, visit Earthworks: No Dirty Gold.

If we don't act, Target won't either. Each dollar we spend at a corporation like Target is vote in agreement of their practices. The people of Peru deserve better, and we must demand more of our companies and their products.

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.

Job Opportunity: California Against Slavery Volunteer and Communications Coordinator

From Idealist
Volunteer and Communications Coordinator

California Against Slavery (CAS) is a 501(c)4 non-profit, non-partisan human rights organization. Founded in 2009, our mission is to strengthen California state laws to better reflect the personal and societal impact of human trafficking. Our goal is to put an initiative on the 2012 California ballot to strengthen current human trafficking laws and increase victims’ rights. We will start the signature gathering campaign in the Fall of 2011. In preparation, CAS has one year to enlist 100,000 members and raise $1 million. For more information, please visit www.californiaagainstslavery.org.

CAS has an immediate need for a motivated, dependable, organized and articulate individual for a part-time, contract position. Reporting to Executive Director, the Volunteer and Communications Coordinator is responsible for the volunteer recruitment program. S/he will also work on various aspects of communications and help with fundraising efforts. S/he will gain expertise on the issue of human trafficking in our state and nation, the initiative process and the CAS proposed initiative.

CAS is a volunteer-based organization. This is CAS's first compensated position. The ideal candidate is someone feels a personal calling to end modern day slavery and a commitment to CAS's mission for justice.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
•Recruit, mobilize, motivate and train volunteers to form County Committees across the state and to fill specific central roles
•Provide guidance and leadership to County Committees on fundraising, volunteer recruitment, messages to educate about CAS, and strategies to enlist county resources and organizations to support and fund CAS’s mission
•Work with Core Team to create & execute plans to achieve monthly membership and fundraising targets
•Supervise volunteers and possibly interns/fellows
•Assist with planning weekly leadership meetings and special events
•Be involved in all aspects of communications:
- Maintain and update website, newsletter, Facebook, and Twitter content
- Respond to e-mail and voicemail
- Draft and edit correspondences with volunteers, members, endorsers, and others as needed
- Represent CAS at events, forums and collaborative, including being a guest speaker
- Be well informed of the latest news in human trafficking in California
- Assist the Communications Director with press releases
•Work collaboratively with law enforcement associations, attorney groups, elected officials from all political parties and other community organizations
•Keep abreast of latest thinking around volunteerism and volunteer issues
•Other duties as assigned

JOB INFORMATION
This is a contract, part-time position for 3 months. Position and hours may be extended after 3 months based on organizational needs.

Hours: 20 hours a week
Compensation: $15/hour
Location: Fremont, CA or San Diego, CA
Additional Qualifications:
•Motivated, dependable, articulate, positive, energetic self-starter who takes initiative to help create and execute the organization’s activities
•3-5 years of work experience, with 2 years coordinating community volunteers and writing/editing preferred, experience in fundraising a plus.
•Excellent writing skill, including ability to write a variety of communications ? from motivational letters to news articles, to op-eds and opinion pieces, to press releases and brochures.
•Confident public speaker
•High sense of integrity. Has good judgment, conflict resolution, and organizational skills
•Able to work in a startup environment and accept and manage rapid changes
•Ability to both take direction and to work autonomously
•Has a "COUNT ME IN" attitude regardless if the task is clerical or administrative
•Available to work half day on Saturdays and Sunday evenings for our weekly leadership meeting
•Has a reliable transportation to travel to events or meetings locally
•May require some travel to other parts of California
•Working knowledge of MS Office and comfort with navigating the internet
•Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience

How to Apply:
Send resume and writing sample to jobs@CaliforniaAgainstSlavery.org. CAS's effort is mission critical and will make a real and substantial impact against the heinous crime of human trafficking in our backyard. We need an individual who has a strong record of following through on assignments, commitments and deadlines. So please…absolutely no flakes.

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.

Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign

From the Department of Homeland Security website:

Secretary Napolitano Launches First-Of-Its-Kind Campaign to Combat Human Trafficking

Release Date: July 22, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today launched the “Blue Campaign”—a DHS-wide initiative to combat human trafficking through enhanced public awareness, victim assistance programs, and law enforcement training and initiatives.

“The battle against human trafficking is a shared responsibility involving the Department’s federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement partners, non-profit and non-governmental organizations, governments around the world and communities across the nation,” said Secretary Napolitano. “With the Blue Campaign, we seek to shine a light on a crime that thrives in the shadows, bring traffickers to justice, and assist victims in communities across the nation.”

The Blue Campaign was officially launched today by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Deputy Director Ken Keene and Alice Hill, Senior Counselor to Secretary Napolitano—underscoring the unified effort to prevent human trafficking, assist victims and hold traffickers accountable by bringing together the Department’s diverse resources and expertise under one initiative.

To help citizens learn to identify and properly report indicators of human trafficking, the Department is launching public outreach tools that include social media, multilingual public awareness campaigns, and a new, comprehensive one-stop website for the Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking at www.dhs.gov/humantrafficking.

The Blue Campaign also features new training initiatives for law enforcement and DHS personnel, enhanced victim assistance efforts, and the creation of new partnerships and interagency collaboration—including the deployment of additional victim assistance specialists and specialized training for law enforcement personnel.

The Blue Campaign’s name and symbol were chosen by the Department to evoke the “thin blue line” of law enforcement, as well as the global anti-human trafficking symbols the Blue Blindfold, produced by the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Center, and the Blue Heart, developed by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, to help raise international awareness about this issue.

A fact sheet detailing the numerous aspects of the campaign across the Department is available here. For more information, visit www.dhs.gov/humantrafficking.

NYC Let's End Human Trafficking Campaign

Press Release: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, along with Deputy Mayor Carol A. Robles-Roman and Chief Advisor for Policy and Strategic Planning John Feinblatt, has launched a new Let’s Call an End to Human Trafficking public education campaign encouraging New Yorkers to “See It. Know It. Report It.”

Print advertisements have been posted in both English and Spanish at bus stops throughout New York City’s five boroughs, featuring silhouettes and quotes from ordinary people who may be affected by human trafficking, emphasizing the fact that the crime does not discriminate based on age, race, gender or ethnicity. These ads are accompanied by a new Human Trafficking website, launched earlier this month, where concerned citizens can go to learn more about modern-day slavery and how to prevent it. . . All too often human trafficking is seen as a foreign problem, one that exists only in corrupt and impoverished countries whose commitment to human rights is wavering. This campaign exists to let you know that modern-day slavery is occurring right now in our own neighborhoods. Click here to read the full press release.

I am excited to see cities around the US launch campaigns to raise awareness about trafficking in their own communities, to mobilize action to address this exploitation, and to call attention to the fact that the US is far from exempt from trafficking problems. With the pending release of the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report, the first report to evaluate the US, it is a useful time to reflect on the reality of trafficking throughout the US and to promote efforts to address it.

SHI Awareness Campaign - Chicago

Shared Hope International is coordinating a campaign in Chicago this June to get the message out that "Kids Are NOT for Sale in Chicago!" If you are in the Chicago area, they would love to have your participation and help in spreading the word. The events will include a rally, a "Voices for Justice" event for survivors and activists, and Truck Stop Campaign rallies. Students are also needed to host "One Night, One Voice" campus awareness nights. For more information about the events, please click here.

Oregon Senate Passes Bill to Help Create Awareness

The Oregon Senate approved HB 3623 on February 19, 2010. Once signed by the governor, the bill will allow the Polaris Project to include stickers with the national hotline number in routine mailings from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to restaurants, bars, and other places that serve or provide alcohol. Business owners will be encouraged to display the stickers on windows in order to raise awareness and provide a number to call for those who are victims or who may know of a victim.

According to The Oregonian, during a one-night nationwide sting last year, Portland police officers picked up more sex trafficking victims than any other of the 29 cities involved, except Seattle.

More information on HB 3623 can be found here.

Interview: Buying Sex is Not Sport Part II: Anti-human trafficking campaign prior to the Olympics in Canada

In this interview, Shae Invidiata, the event coordinator of Buying Sex Is Not Sport (BSNS) panel in Toronto continues to share the significance of the event and anti-human trafficking advocacy on personal level.

What has it been like working on this event?

I feel very honored to have been approached to director and bring this panel to Toronto. This is a message that could not come at a better time in Canada-right before the Olympics. This awareness and importance of the campaign is crucial to our nation. This event has been a ton of work to pull together, and as we are now one week away from the and a few weeks away from the Olympics, it is paramount that this message, “the demand for paid sex fuels human trafficking” get out to the nation of Canada but also to our visitors during the Olympics. I was praying with a few people the other weekend RE human trafficking, and one lady was joining us via skype in Germany, and in her prayer she said, that she has seen the devastating effects that legalizing prostitution has done to her country. This lady in prayer said, “the legalization of prostitution is the eternal destruction of a nation.” I guess one of the purposes for the event as well, and why it has been so great to work on this event is that we can ensure that people are going to hear this message and begin to understand, if they don’t already, why prostitution should not be legalized.

How did you first learn about human trafficking?

When I was 18 I moved to Honolulu, HI to pursue my university education (I know what you are thinking- yes I did actually go to class, not all the time, but I did ☺ ). The street I first moved onto was Kuhio Avenue, which I learnt quickly was commonly known as Candy Lane. Candy Lane was where all the prostitutes walked at night. During my time in Hawaii I began to reach out to these women and girls (which over the years of living there, I kept noticing younger faces on the streets). I lived in Hawaii for 3 years years before I moved to Vancouver in 2006; it was around this time that I began to expand my knowledge of a ‘prostitute’ to a ‘prostituted’ woman/girl/child, to which the words “human trafficking” became a part of my knowledge and vocabulary.

How have audiences responded to it?

We have not had the panel yet, so this is a post question I think. But in terms of when we have gone out to tell people about the panel and that it is coming to Toronto-majority of people, regardless of age are supportive and relatively shocked that this is happening in Canada and around the world (today!).

What does being able to work on a project like this mean to you?

This is my heartbeat in life, so to work on an event like this, drives my passion and fuels my soul to keep pressing in. This injustice is soo massive that sometimes it can be overwhelming to try to see the end the slave trade, working on an event like helps you to re-focus for a particular moment in time, to just worry about reaching 1250 (both venue capacities combined) people, to raise up activists, and to send out a ripple effect. In line with my heartbeat, working on a event like this reminds me of the unique calling on my life, and that I have been called for such a time as this to bring forth this message, the abolition of the modern day slave trade. From a professional perspective this has been a great opportunity to gain further experience in event planning and directing. More importantly this event has allowed me to grow and strengthen my network and contact database—some great partnerships have been birthed through the happening of this panel, and I know that this is just the beginning—the best has yet to come!

What about this event’s efforts do you think makes it a particularly effective means of raising awareness of trafficking?

Usually events are dictated by the venue location, in that if the venue is in Toronto then the invitees are those who are in the area of the venue. However, because trafficking knows no boarders, and is not limited to districts or boundaries, I took the same approach when deciding where the word would go out. Of course people in the surrounding area of the venue were important to invite, but this also stretched to beyond the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), from the Niagara region to Waterloo from Toronto across to Vancouver, to New York, NY and Virginia the word has gone out that this panel is taking place. The unique part of this, is even though people in these more distant places may not come to the panel, a seed has been planted and a conversation may birth around the issue of paid sex and human trafficking because of hearing about this panel. The first step to STOP Human Trafficking is raising awareness and starting a conversation. The other effective aspect was not limiting age groups to this panel-so I involved high schools, colleges, universities, businesses, churches, organizations.

Is there any follow-up being planned for this event?

This campaign “Buying Sex Is Not A Sport” will continue into the Olympics and there is talk about keeping the campaign going afterwards- but there has not been a concrete answer yet on this. At the panel people will be able to provide feedback from the panel and also ask to receive more information on updates on human trafficking and other events/fundraisers.

How can people support the event and its initiatives?

People can support the event first by coming, and bring a friend with you! And to not just stop there, but take at least one piece of information that was heard and tell someone about the injustice of human trafficking, start a new conversation. Donations can be given towards the campaign. People can also sign up for the email update, where they will receive how they can be involved in small and larger way to fight human trafficking-to get connected with others who are fighting for the freedom of women and children around the world.

What can people find more information?

People can find out more information for the panel by going to http://www.free-them.net on that website they can also sign up to receive updates on human trafficking issues and events.

Also, visit: http://www.embracedignity.org/?page=buyingsexisnotasport

Interview: Buying Sex is Not Sport Part I: Anti-human trafficking campaign prior to Olympics

Everyone is excited about the Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, this month. Sports fans around the world are excited just as Canadians are. But, anti-human trafficking advocates are worried that the event will increase sex trafficking in Toronto. indeed, the news reports on big sports events like the Olympics, World Cup, or Super Bowl, in the past demonstrate that they are coupled with an increase in sex trafficking or child prostitution. HTP posted an article on advocates taking a preventive method against increase in sex trafficking prior to the Super Bowl game in 2008.

Currently, Canadians are faced with the same problem, but the scope of the challenge is greater than others. The Canadian government, other than deporting some immigrants, has not been very proactive on addressing the root causes of sex trafficking as human trafficking and child prostitution are poorly regulated. As a result, some traffickers in the past could get away with spending a few weeks in jail for sex trafficking of teenagers. [1]

To make the matter worse, the prime minister called for prorogation, which prevented the pending Canadian anti-human trafficking bill from becoming enforceable during the Olympics. [2]

This is why Buying Sex Is Not Sport (BSNS), the campaign against human trafficking in Canada before the Olympics, is significant. Unlike the reluctant effort of the Canadian government, the Canadian citizens themselves are taking the initiative to fight against human trafficking in their country. In this interview, Shae Invidiata, the event coordinator of BSNS panel in Toronto, introduces her campaign and the problem of sex trafficking in Canada.

Tell us about this event:

Listen Up TV was doing a series on Human Trafficking in Canada; and from the grant that the station was given, Listen Up TV had enough funding to bring Buying Sex Is Not A Sport (BSNS) out to Toronto to have a public panel. Lorna Dueck approached me through a mutual contact to see what my thoughts were on doing a panel that would address the issue of paid sex and human trafficking, and what it would look like if we brought out BSNS to Toronto.

Listen Up is a weekly, half-hour, independently-produced television program. Our program presents "news that takes you deeper," exploring news and current affairs stories from a Christian world view. Journalist and host Lorna Dueck and the Listen Up team dig behind the headlines to investigate those points at which news and spirituality converge, to illuminate God's involvement in the issues and events of our day.

Who is the intended audience?

The intended audience is to really see people from all different ages to come out including as many political figures as possible. This is not a Christian issue, a Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Agnostic, or Atheist issue, it is not a black or white issue, nor is it a conservative or liberal, Canadian or Indian issue, this is not just a male or female issue...this is GLOBAL HUMAN ISSUE, and if you happen to fall in that category, it should demand your attention; but further it should compel our hearts, minds and souls to learn more and take action against this injustice. We need our political figures to change our laws, and we need the people of Canada to tell them we want change.

What is the purpose or goal of this event?

The purpose of this panel is to bring people to the first step to the end of Human Trafficking- and that is becoming aware. Becoming aware of this horrific injustice is the first step to the abolition. The second purpose of this panel is give people an opportunity to help STOP Human Trafficking that day- such as signing the petition that will be at the panel for the audience to sign, for people to subscribe to newsletters that will keep that person in connection with event/fundraiser and other ways to raise awareness and get people actively involved to stop human trafficking, such as signing up to raise money and walk to Stop Child Trafficking (this walk will be taking place in October 2010- I am the Toronto Community Ambassador for Stop Child Trafficking Now). The goal is to have both venues packed out – one venue holds 900-1000 people (walmer road Baptist church) and the other holds 250 (room at the university of Toronto). Another goal is to have David Miller, the Mayor of Toronto in attendance, along with other political representatives.

Do you utilize volunteers and, if so how do you recruit volunteers and who are they?

Yes volunteers are always needed in events like these, they are the blood line to the event-without them, things would take 5 times longer to get things done and over double the cost to get it done. I have a great team that I have personally recruited.