Sending love to rescued trafficking victims in Greece

Justice Warriors: A group of creative friends get together to make valentines for rescued trafficking victims in the A21 Campaign's Greek Shelter for Valentine's Day. If you want to be a part of something like this email me at Malikacox@ymail.com.

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month: Organizations

NGOs and Non-Profits

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Here is some information on organizations making a difference in the fight against modern day slavery. Non-government organizations and non-profit organizations are making a huge difference in the fight. World Vision has been serving the poor and oppressed since 1950. Their mission is to fight poverty on many realms and human trafficking is one of them (2009, Stearns). The Salvation Army has been fighting sex trafficking since 1865 and is still fighting it today. The Salvation Army provides training, task forces, and service to victims (2009, www.salvationarmyusa.org).International Justice Mission is a Christian NGO out of Washington that works to secure justice for victims of human trafficking and oppression. Founded in 1997 by a group of lawyers and human rights professionals, they work with government officials to expose crime rings, protect victims and prosecute criminals (www.ijm.org). The A21 Campaign is an effective abolitionist movement to stop human trafficking in Greece. This group discusses the newest rise in trafficking of Eastern European women and raises awareness and provides shelter for the victims (2010, http://thea21campagin.org).

Human trafficking is modern day slavery and it exists all over the world. Education, awareness and accountability are working to a degree to bring about prevention, victim advocacy and protection and perpetrator persecution. More must be done to ensure liberty for trafficking victims around the world .  Get informed, get involved and make a difference for those trapped in a life without hope. 

Signs a person is being trafficked: Get Informed, Get Involved, Change the World

Signs that Indicate a Person is being Trafficked

There are important signs that indicate a person is being trafficked. Some of the signs are as follows: A person who is not able to freely come and go. A person who is constantly watched. A person who owes a large debt to their employer. A person who is not in control of their Immigration documents. A person who works where there is high security, bars on the windows and high security measures. A person who exhibits poor mental health, abnormal behavior and fear and paranoia. A person who does not know where they live, have any understanding of pop culture and a person who is so timid that they can’t look another person in the eye. Anyone under 18 who is working in the commercial sex trade is a trafficking victim.

Human Trafficking Awareness: Get Informed-Get Involved-Change the World!!

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month:  Continuing on Human Trafficking Awareness, one problem that arises in trying to help trafficking victims is something called “forced repatriation”. This happens when the countries, where the act of trafficking takes place, deport the victims back to the country of their origin as quickly as possible. This may seem as though they are acting in the victim’s best interest, however there are major problems with repatriation. It does not allow the victims access to immediate psychological, medical and financial assistance. It also could allow for the perpetrator to be waiting for the victim once they return to that country. Also this hurts any chance the victim has to gain financial retribution or to see their perpetrators prosecuted. Many trafficking victims have actually been jailed for violating immigration policies when they have been rescued. Laws in the U.S. are beginning to be passed that are giving trafficking victims including non-citizens access to shelters, finances and legal aid. With more organizations and advocacy rising on the scene, some of the laws are beginning to change (2010, www.state.gov).

In the United States we routinely criminalize trafficking victims. The following text is from a blog from last year regarding minors in the United States who are prosecuted for prostitution instead of being rescued from traffickers and helped.

Dec. 11th 2010: Girls as young as 9 or 10 are picked up by ruthless traffickers. These men are often older men somewhere around thirty to forty years of age. The classic scenario goes as follows: an older man may befriend a young girl, age 9 or 10. He may fill in some father figure role. He convinces her he loves her and wants to take care of her and that he will take her away from the abuse. He then systematically destroys her identity, and any self-esteem left with physical and emotional abuse and drug dependency. He finally has complete control over her. Remember this is a child. These girls can be found here being trafficked on 1-40 or at truck stops and neighboring motels here in Oklahoma City.

The victims are subject to psychological trauma, abuse, disease, social ostracism, drug dependency, unwanted pregnancy, forced abortion, malnutrition and poor mental health. Often these girls are murdered or commit suicide.

Or, the girls are picked up for prostitution. They are prosecuted and serve time. They are stigmatized for being prostitute even though they are not even legally able to consent to sex.

According to the Polaris Project, largest anti-human trafficking organization in the world, and the U.S. State Department, any person under the age of 18 caught in the commercial sex trade is considered a trafficking victim.

So why isn't that a reality in this country?  Hopefully it will be, if people like you will continue to raise their voices to help the oppressed.

Get Informed-Get Involved-Change the World!!!

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month- Global Statistics

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Here are Global Statistics according to the U.S TIP Report and the Polaris Project.

Human trafficking statistics are difficult to attain because of the illegal nature of trafficking. However the U.S. State Department annually puts out the Trafficking in Persons Report. According to this report 32 billion dollars are generated in income by human trafficking. There are 12.3 million adults and children in forced labor, bond labor, and forced prostitution around the world. In 2009 there were 4,166 successful trafficking prosecutions. 49,105 victims were identified. There are 104 countries with laws that do not prevent victims’ deportation. In the world there are 1.8 human trafficking victims per 1000 people. In Asia it is 3 out of 1000 victims of human trafficking (2010, www.stage.gov).

According to the Polaris Project statistics, the world’s biggest anti-human trafficking organization, there are 27 million people trapped in human trafficking, that is more than double the TIP reports estimates. One million of those are children that are exploited by the commercial sex trade. 80% of transnational victims of human trafficking are women and girls. 70% of women trafficked are in the commercial sex industry while the remaining 30% are trafficked into forced labor. Those in forced labor will likely suffer sexual abuse (2010, www.stage.gov).  

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month- Get Informed

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. The next few blogs will be over Human Trafficking, What is it, How do victims fall prey, Global Statistics, Victims Advocacy, Signs of a Trafficked person and the growing modern day abolitionist movement around the world.

Modern day slavery exists all over the world. Today slavery is called Human Trafficking. It is especially prevalent in the regions of Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and parts of South America. These traffickers prey on the most vulnerable. Modern day anti-trafficking organizations face new challenges but are making advances in prevention, victim protection, and perpetrator persecution.

How Victims Fall Prey to Traffickers

Victims are often lured into human trafficking by deception. Traffickers will promise a better way of life convincing them to leave to a safer and more democratic society, for economic opportunity. Once these victims arrive at their destination, their freedom is at the will of others. Other traffickers befriend their victims, often drugging their drinks, then the victim wakes up in a brothel or work camp. Other victims are actually kidnapped by criminals and forced into labor (2010, Clifford).

U.S. traffickers will lure runaways and throwaways, girls as young as 9, by befriending them. These girls have often chosen to live on the streets rather than be abused at home. Many of the girls are from the foster care system. The pimps convince these girls they are in love with them and systematically take away their identity and hope. They get them hooked on drugs and eventually convince them to prostitute themselves. Girls who are found prostituting themselves in the U.S. have been prosecuted as criminals instead of being classified as trafficking victims. The federal Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act states that all minors found in the commercial sex trade should be considered a trafficked victim (2010, Elam). Unfortunately that has not been enforced yet in most places in the United States (2010, A.U.S.J.).

 Escaping poverty is one reason some families are willing to sell a child. Parents that have no food for their family, can easily be convinced to take money from a trafficker under the rouse that their daughter is going to the city to learn a trade such as sewing. The reality is the girl is going to a brothel (2010, Clifford).

Defining Human Trafficking

It is important to define human trafficking. Transportation does not have to happen for a person to be trafficked. According to the Trafficking in Persons report by the U.S. State department, human trafficking is “when one person holds another person in controlled service”. Other terms that are associated with human trafficking are involuntary servitude, slavery, forced bondage and debt labor. A person can be considered a victim if they are born in human trafficking, coerced, tricked, or even committed a crime voluntarily at first and then forced into servitude (2010, www.stage.gov).

 Luis CdeBaca, the director of the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, believes that human trafficking is a crime that is akin to murder, rape, and kidnapping (2010, Corydon).

There are different types of human trafficking, such as forced labor, sex trafficking, child trafficking, bonded labor, involuntary domestic servitude, child soldiers, debt bondage among migrant workers and forced and child marriage (2010, www.stage.gov).

Forced labor is when unscrupulous employers exploit workers through debt and coercion. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable. Women who are in forced labor are often sexually abused and exploited (2010, www.stage.gov).

Sex Trafficking happens when a person is tricked, coerced, or deceived into prostitution. Girls can be born into prostitution and debts can be held over women to be prostitutes as well. Many women are held through psychological threats or force. Sex trafficking victims are subject to devastating psychological trauma, abuse, disease, social ostracism, drug dependency, unwanted pregnancy, forced abortions, malnutrition, suicide, murder and overdose(2010, www.stage.gov).

Child Trafficking happens when children are sold or held in debt by traffickers. Many children are trafficked for forced labor while some children are trafficked into the commercial sex trade (2010, www.stage.gov).

            Bonded labor happens when workers fall victim to recruiters who use debt to entrap them. These workers try unsuccessfully to work off their debt. In South Asia people are trapped in bonded labor all their life trying to work off an ancestor’s debt. Bonded labor is illegal in the United States and the Palermo Protocol calls it criminal(2010, www.stage.gov).

Involuntary domestic servitude is a form of human trafficking, which is hard to detect. Often the victims live in isolated quarters where they are away from public scrutiny. Many of these people, often women, are subject to sexual abuse as well (2010, www.stage.gov).

Child soldiers are another group of victims of human trafficking. This happens when children are unlawfully recruited by fraud, coercion, or force to serve as soldiers, or supporting roles as cooks, medics, guards, transporters, wives or sex slaves (2010, www.stage.gov).

Migrant workers are not necessarily victims of trafficking, but they often are. When migrant workers arrive and are forced to sign new contracts and/or have their immigration documentation confiscated, they are likely to become trafficked. Employers will often charge workers hidden costs that occur debt and this can lead to abuse and debt bondage (2010, www.stage.gov).

Forced marriage and child marriage happens when children are married through force, coercion or deceit. These marriages happen for many reasons such as paying off a debt, dowries, settling disputes, and poverty. This often leaves the woman or girl very vulnerable to the new family, which can lead to abuse, exploitation, domestic servitude and sexual slavery (2010, www.stage.gov). 

To be continued in the next several blogs. 

Reference

 A.U.S.J, (2010) http://www.istoptraffic.com/HTinfo.html

 BBC, (2010), Historic Figures, William Wilberforce, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml

 Cornell, (2002) Abolitionism in America, http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/abolitionism/abolitionists.htm

 Corydon, I. (2010)The Harvard Gazette, Slavery in America http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/02/slavery-in-2010/38560/

 IJM.org, (2010), http://ijm.org

 Oath Coalition, (2010), http://oathcoalition.org/

Polaris Project, (2010), http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/images/nhtrcdocs/human-trafficking-statistics2.pdf

http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/images/nhtrcdocs/human-trafficking-statistics2.pdf

Salvation Army, (2010), Human Trafficking, http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/8081a4079639d55a802573e000530965?opendocument

TheA21campaign.org, (2010), http://www.thea21campaign.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132&Itemid=305&lang=en

 Www.biblegateway.com, The Holy Bible, New International Version, (2010), http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+8:1&version=NIV

 www.state.gov, (2010), http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2010/