Immigration Operatives on Guard for Human Trafficking

By Tetch Torres

From the Inquirer:

MANILA, Philippines -- Immigration operatives are on guard at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) following attempts by international syndicates to use Manila and Kuala Lumpur as transit point for human smuggling.

Immigration chief Marcelino C. Libanan ordered the NAIA-BI operatives to be vigilant after five passengers from Malaysia bound for Vancouver and Amsterdam were found to be carrying fake travel documents in a span of three weeks.

Libanan said "there is a pattern in the syndicate's movements and the frequency is rising that it would not escape notice."

"We are sending advisories to our Malaysian counterparts on this string of arrests of passengers that slipped their area," he said, adding that international cooperation is essential to combating human trafficking.

On Saturday, NAIA-BI personnel intercepted three Sri Lankans with bogus Malaysian and Singaporean passports as they were about to board a Royal Dutch Airlines flight for Amsterdam hours after they arrived as transit passengers from Kuala Lumpur.

One of the passengers, identified as Vengtespura Rao Appalanaidu, managed to escape while his passport and those of his companions were being examined at the airline counter. But airport authorities found Vengtespura Monday still inside NAIA. Vengtespura and the three Sri Lankans were sent back to Malaysia.

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BBC special on child slavery

BBC World is re-airing the special, Child Slavery with Rageh Omaar.

Around 8.4 million children around the world are enslaved today. Now, in a remarkable journey across three continents, five of them tell their stories. This documentary is presented by reporter Rageh Omaar.

Mawulehawe

Twelve-year-old Mawulehawe has been sold by his mother to a local fishermen in Ghana for $40 (£25). He may not see his mother again for many years.

She will use the money to buy cooking oil to fry the fish she sells on the shore at Ada, a small fishing town a couple of hours drive east of the capital, Accra.

The fishermen to whom Mawulehawe is sold, Aaron, will take him away to serve a three-year apprenticeship. Mawulehawe, like many others in the region, is being sold to help alleviate his family's poverty.

He has several brothers and sisters and has had some schooling, but there is not enough money for him to continue. It is now his younger brother's turn to go to school instead. Mawulehawe insists he is happy with the deal. Fishing has always been part of his life. And his family toast the "sale" with a strong drink, it is clear he sees his new life as a new adventure.

While many of the children working on Lake Volta go enthusiastically, most have no idea the dangers that lie ahead.

The long, unregulated hours and dangers such as getting tangled in the nets underneath the water's surface can lead to accidents and fatalities.

Ali

Six-year-old Ali was picked up by the Saudi authorities for begging on the streets of Jeddah. He was smuggled into Saudi Arabia from Yemen in order to beg.

Ali says he ended up begging after physical abuse involving metal wire attacks on his back. He says he was beaten up when he said he did not want to beg all day.

Ali is one of thousands of Yemeni children sold to gangs and forced to beg each year. These children are often sold by families who are duped into believing their offspring will get a better life.

Many of the children who are smuggled over the Saudi/Yemen border are beaten and sometimes even mutilated to become better, more effective beggars.

It is hard to be exact about figures, but in 2005 the Yemeni Ministry of Social Affairs acknowledged that about 300 children were crossing the border every month.

Rahul and Amit

The Kumar cousins - Rahul, 12 and Amit, seven - thought they were leaving their remote village in the north east of India to go to school and learn a trade. They had no idea their parents had sent them to one of the most populated cities in the world - Delhi - to work in a sweat-shop.

The boys hated sewing beads on fabric for 18 hours a day.  They lived, worked and slept in the same tiny room and only saw daylight when they were allowed out on Sunday under the supervision of a minder. Their hands are blistered and their feet deformed because of the repetitive nature of the work. They were beaten and had little food.

Children like Rahul and Amit who work in the zari units are classified as "bonded labourers", often working to clear obscure debts usually incurred by their families. "Bonded labour" has been illegal in India since 1976 but legislation is largely unenforced and charitable organizations have taken on the burden of investigating illegal labour.

A non-governmental organisation helped the Kumar boys to escape and return home... but the welcome they received was not quite what they were expecting.

Dalyn

When Dalyn was only 12 years old, she was tricked and forced into prostitution. She recalls now how she was approached by a woman who asked her if she would like to work at a garment factory in Kompong Cham.

But when she arrived, she was sold to a brothel in Cambodian capital Pnomh Penh for $150 (£78). Locked up in a cage with others underneath the brothel, she was starved, beaten and threatened at gun point until she agreed to service clients.

Many of the children at the shelter where Dalyn is, became infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases after being sold into sexual slavery, and all have been severely traumatised.

Dalyn was rescued by the police and an aid agency but it is only now, at 17 years old and after substantial amounts of therapy, that she feels able to tell her story. 

Aid agencies are only able to scratch the surface of the problem of child sex slaves in Cambodia. In the first six months of last year, of the 186 raids carried out on brothels by the agency, only two resulted in convictions being made. And in South East Asia alone, Unicef says one million children are involved in the commercial sex trade.

There are more stories on the link, and the show goes into more detail about each of the above stories with interviews with these children. Rageh Omaar also wrote an article in The Somaliland Times discussing the meaning of slavery and the purpose behind the documentary. 

Raising A Stop Sign To Human Traffic

From Science Daily:

Trade in people is not a new phenomenon, but the modern manifestation of slavery, according to US researchers. However, writing in the Journal of Global Business Advancement, they point out that human trafficking and trade in human organs has intensified with increased globalization. They hope to raise awareness of the issue among the business research community with a view to finding solutions.

It is a tragic fact of life that the world's most disadvantaged people are often the most easily exploited. Seeing greener grass on foreign shores, many are willing to risk everything with a people smuggler and to spend their life savings to be transported across borders with counterfeit documents. They often leave family behind, hoping to send money home, but more often than not end up beholden to the smugglers' associates and enslaved in a lowly job with little pay and poor accommodation, constantly on the look out for the shadow of immigration officials over their shoulder.

Now, Patriya Tansuhaj of the Department of Marketing and International Business Institute at Washington State University, in Pullman and Jim McCullough of the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, suggest that international human trade is essentially the dark side of international business. They claim that the problem has been largely ignored by the international business research community. "International business academicians can no longer leave the understanding of this phenomenon in the hands of political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists," they assert, "We must be actively involved in providing a more systematic explanation with a clear set of recommendations to governments and the global business sectors."

The researchers suggest there has been a widespread assumption that globalization can only have a positive impact on individuals and societies around the world. This world view is far too simplistic and unrealistic, the researchers say, and ignores the dark side of international business to the detriment of legality and ethics. They cite the example of young Laotians looking West across the Mekong River to Thailand and dreaming of an escape that will give them and their loved ones a new life outside the poverty trap. Illegal crossings facilitated by criminals who trade in people is common here and across borders in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

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Nigerian police crack illicit baby trafficking ring

From Reuters:

By Ijeoma Ezekwere

Enugu, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian police said on Thursday they had broken a major baby trafficking ring, arresting a doctor believed to have brought infants from pregnant women and sold them at a profit for more than 20 years.

Police in the southeastern city of Enugu arrested Kenneth Akunne along with 20 pregnant women aged 18-20 during a raid last week on his Uzuoma Clinic.

"The doctor, is notorious and has been in the trade of selling babies for over 20 years now," Desmond Agwu, Enugu state commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, told Reuters.

The arrests were made after officers stopped a taxi during a routine search and found a woman with a day-old baby she said she had bought for 340,000 naira (1,483 pounds) from Akunne's clinic.

Uzuoma Clinic is one of the scores of illegal "baby farms" in southeastern Nigeria, where infants are sold to people desperate for children and ready to pay to avoid the red-tape of the country's adoption laws.

Despite being the world's eighth-biggest exporter of crude, most people in Nigeria live on less than $2 a day. Apart from the illicit trade in babies, Nigeria also faces the problem of domestic and international trafficking in women and children.

Many in Africa's most populous country see childlessness as a curse, boosting demand for the illicit baby trade.

Nigeria's anti-human trafficking agency NAPTIP said Akunne paid the women 35,000-50,000 naira (151-216 pounds) to give up their babies. Boys are more expensive than girls.

"When we spoke to the doctor, he claimed that he was only helping the ladies, taking care of them and relieving them of their unwanted babies," Ijeoma Okoronkwo, NAPTIP's Enugu director, told Reuters.

"They are all very young girls wanting to hide away from the shame of adolescent pregnancy and the doctor provided a safe haven for them," she said, adding Akunne was a qualified medic.

Some of the women, who said they went to the clinic because they did not want to keep their babies, accused Akunne of physical abuse.

Authorities in Nigeria suspect some people buy babies to use their body parts in rituals by witch doctors who they believe can make them instant millionaires. Others have been trafficked to Europe -- especially the United Kingdom -- where they are used in welfare fraud schemes, rights groups say.

Cuba Rejects Its Inclusion on US List of Countries Not Fighting Human Trafficking

From International Herald Tribune:

Cuba on Sunday rejected U.S. claims that it does not do enough to combat human trafficking, saying that Washington "has a lot to learn" about life on the island.

U.S. authorities "are unfamiliar with and distort" Cuban reality, the Foreign Relations Ministry said in a written response to the U.S. State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report," released Wednesday. The report tracks human trafficking for the sex trade, coerced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers, outlining efforts to fight it, including prosecution, sentencing and programs to help victims.

Listing Cuba among the world's worst offenders, the report said poor women and children on the island are often forced into prostitution by family members. But it also noted that human trafficking cannot be properly measured in Cuba, given the government's refusal to cooperate with independent observers. Cuba said it maintains a "firm" policy against human trafficking and prostitution and noted that its communist system provides for the basic needs of all citizens, making such

"Cuba does not see any value in the State Department's report," the Foreign Ministry's statement said. "The government of the United States has a lot to do in its own country to combat the rampant phenomenon there of prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced labor and the trafficking of people."

"The government of the United States has a lot to learn about Cuba and is not in a position to judge anyone," it said.

Turkish Takeaway

By Ayesha Ahmad

In the UK, the weekend night routine is very much the same in cities North, South, East and West of the small island. People rush off to clubs and pubs after a week’s work and swap their spirits with the alcoholic kind. By closing time, there are groups of tired friends jumping into taxis or stumbling their way through town.

Stopping off at the local takeaway (that's "take out" for you non-Brits) is customary at the end of a long night to indulge in a variety of gastronomic treats, chief among them the infamous kebab- a recipe for a heart attack, but what else is hidden in the takeaway that the British love so much?

But how would we react if modern day slavery was kebab's number one ingredient?

Enter a typical Turkish takeaway in a quiet Cathedral city. Six or seven Turkish men hurry to serve and complete orders. One could assume that their tired faces and disengagement from the rowdy laughter and chatter of the customers is from the late and busy hour.

Outside a police car pulls up, its driver and his colleague on a break and ready for a snack. Everything passes by; the greeting and serving of the customers. People stand around, cash in hand waiting to be fed, before returning home to their families. The whole scenario appears so normal, so ordinary.

So equal.

When a person is enslaved, often the only power they have is in their mind. The person can retreat to their mind and be free to think of their home or their family or the life they dream of having; however, slavery breaks even the mind and the person performs each task empty of their spirit and personality.

Perhaps some of these Turkish migrants are thinking of their wife and children in Turkey, whom they are working half the legal wage for to feed, clothe and provide education for their children at the expense of being apart from their family. Perhaps others are too tired and are just working because they need the shelter their “boss” provides above the takeaway shop for him and the other “staff.”

Turkey has yet to join the European Union, which means that migrants fall into the trap of being dependent on gang masters who allow them to work in their businesses without official papers. Often migrants will work alongside local workers participating in the same work during the same hours yet only receive a fraction of the pay that the local workers receive.

In addition, the demand on migrants to work longer hours for less pay coupled with a low level of English language ability means they often remain segregated from the rest of society. Assimilation is difficult: making friends or feeling like a part of the community is a major challenge. The stress of their maltreatment also weighs on their expectations of earning a good living for their family. One Turkish immigrant working in the UK asked "how could my children understand that I had to leave my country, my home and their lives because of how much I love them?"

The decision to leave home, immigrate and enter a life where they will be potentially undocumented and exploited has changed the nature of modern-day slavery. People no longer need to be forced to leave their homes through displacement or kidnapping. Supplying counterfeit work permits and travel documents is big business. Droves of people across the world desperate to escape stagnant economies and unemployment and seek work abroad can now do so, even if it means pursuing illegal channels. In the end all it takes is money. Yet when they arrive, all many of them find is slavery and exploitation.

Modern day slavery does not necessarily require an active trafficker to coerce people into exploitation- the need to care for one's family, coupled with poverty and unemployment, often provide more than enough incentive for people to seek work away from home, whether in a major urban center in one's own country or relocating to another country entirely. In both cases, the migrant leaves home for another city or country and risks disappearing into the collective void of enslavement.

Chew on that.

For more information on migration and exploitation click here

Social Activism for the Cool Kids

From the Huffington Post:

Call it enduring a decade with a crazy Texan in the oval office, the never ending wars, global warming, the world food crisis, or the spiking price of oil, but now more than ever, we feel the urge to 'do good'. So we buy recycled Whole Foods bags and replace our lightbulbs. We chat about our carbon footprint, read up on Green fashion in Vogue Magazine (at the nail salon) and eat organic. We bicycle. We walk. As New Yorkers, we feel a burgeoning sense of responsibility on our shoulders. Yet still, we like our Bloody Mary's at brunch, our overpriced denim and designer shoes. Perhaps we carry guilt that we are not doing more.

Enter alldaybuffet, a "social awareness brand for the cool kids", created in 2007 with the idea of harnessing the creative energy of young New Yorkers and creating a platform to reconcile our busy lives (work hard, play hard) with our hearts' desire to do good. ADB functions as an event filter, party planner, think tank, blog, and social network with a community of five thousand people spread across eight US cities. An ADB member can share ideas, connect with like-minded individuals and organizations and make use of ADB's vast talent pool either virtually or in person at an event. Looking for a way of screening a film in a shantytown with no electricity? Need to set up a red carpet event for inner city New Orleans kids? Someone somewhere will have an answer.

Their most successful initiative, Cause for Drinks, is a monthly happy hour hosted simultaneously in several cities. $2 from every drink goes to that month's chosen cause. The best part? There is no overhead. alldaybuffet approaches bars with existing happy hours, boosts the price of the drink back to its normal cost and asks the bar for the difference. A Cause for Drinks in Austin recently raised $6000 in three hours. The evenings attract all kinds - the thirsty guy off the street, non-profits, friends, family, people that may like cocktails AND doing good. The basic premise is that not everyone can get up before dawn to feed the homeless or shell out $500 at a black tie charity event. So ADB seeks to broaden the community of social activists and shift the perspective of what it can mean to 'do good' and have fun!

"As an Internet based company, we see the power of bringing people and ideas together, both through digital and physical space," said Jerri Chou of alldaybuffet. "We're creating that kind of connection at this event for the social good and between people who don't connect enough -- we're bringing creatives, digital mavens and the social world into one room and seeing what they can do to change the world. We hope that after this, they'll want to meet more often."

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