ATEST/CNN Forum on Human Trafficking

ATEST and the CNN Freedom Project hosted a forum on human trafficking in Washington, D.C. on June 23, 2011. Moderated by CNN anchor Jim Clancy, participants included Mira Sorvino, Congressman Chris Smith, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, CNN International's chief Tony Maddox, survivor and advocate Rani Hong, human trafficking expert Kevin Bales, and Humanity United's David Abramowitz.

Kids Talk About Slavery

What happens when you ask a bunch of kids to define slavery? Free the Slaves visited the Agape International Spritual Center and asked the children: What is slavery? The answers were very enlightening.

She's 10 and May Be Sold to a Brothel

Nicholas Kristof has been writing articles for The New York Times regarding human trafficking for years. His most recent article highlights the personal side of the internationally lucrative business.

From The New York Times on 1 June 2011:

M. is an ebullient girl, age 10, who ranks near the top of her fourth-grade class and dreams of being a doctor. Yet she, like all of India, is at a turning point, and it looks as if her family may instead sell her to a brothel.

Her mother is a prostitute here in Kolkata, the city better known to the world as Calcutta. Ruchira Gupta, who runs an organization called Apne Aap that fights human trafficking, estimates that 90 percent of the daughters of Indian prostitutes end up in the sex trade as well. And M. has the extra burden that she belongs to a subcaste whose girls are often expected to become prostitutes.

M. seemed poised to escape this fate with the help of one of my heroes, Urmi Basu, a social worker who in 2000 started the New Light shelter program for prostitutes and their children.

M., with her winning personality and keen mind, began to bloom with the help of New Light. Both her parents are illiterate, but she learned English and earned excellent grades in an English-language school for middle-class children outside the red-light district. I’m concealing her identity to protect her from gibes from schoolmates.

Unfortunately, brains and personality aren’t always enough, and India is the center of the 21st-century slave trade. This country almost certainly has the largest number of human-trafficking victims in the world today.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Touching Base

Dear HTP Community,

You may have noticed we haven't updated the site in a while.  That's because we are currently figuring out HTP's next steps, and in the meantime are taking a brief reprieve from posting content.

Don't worry though, we will be back in the swing of things by August!

And for all of you who have gotten in touch about wanting to help but haven't heard back from us, apologies for the delay and expect a response from us this week.  If you are interested in lending a hand but haven't yet sent us an email, here's your chance.

Thank you for your support,

The HTP Team

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.

EEOC Makes Headlines with Labor Trafficking Suit

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has brought formal charges against labor contractor Global Horizons Manpower, Inc, in what is being deemed the largest case of labor trafficking in the United States.

The EEOC is alleging that the California based contractor recruited hundreds of Thai workers from 2003 to 2007 to work on several U.S. farms under false pretenses of a better life. Upon arrival in the U.S. the workers were physically abused by their recruiters, deprived of food and water and had accrued a debt by the traffickers which would have been impossible to pay off. With their passports confiscated and under constant watch by body guards, they had little hope of escape, until one worker made their way to a nonprofit agency and told their story.

Global Horizons has been recruiting workers from around the world since 1989. Their website states that they “…understand the aspirations of countless workers who dream of having better jobs in better places, but who wish to return to their country of native origin when they've completed the job.” While the words are inspirational, the actions of Global Horizons have turned these “aspirations” for hundreds into a living nightmare.

As of now, back wages are being sought for each of the workers.

While the media attention surrounding this case is rare, labor trafficking itself is a lucrative business for traffickers in the United States. Currently, there are an estimated 10,000 victims of labor trafficking in the U.S.

What About American Girls Sold on the Streets?

Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times

When we hear about human trafficking in India or Cambodia, our hearts melt. The victim has sometimes been kidnapped and imprisoned, even caged, in a way that conjures our images of slavery.

But in the United States we see girls all the time who have been trafficked — and our hearts harden. The problem is that these girls aren’t locked in cages. Rather, they’re often runaways out on the street wearing short skirts or busting out of low-cut tops, and many Americans perceive them not as trafficking victims but as miscreants who have chosen their way of life. So even when they’re 14 years old, we often arrest and prosecute them — even as the trafficker goes free.

In fact, human trafficking is more similar in America and Cambodia than we would like to admit. Teenage girls on American streets may appear to be selling sex voluntarily, but they’re often utterly controlled by violent pimps who take every penny they earn.

Read the full article here.