Written by Tony Edike
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
ENUGU—THE National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) yesterday expressed concern over the increasing number of maternity homes that engage in illegal sale of babies in the South-East in spite of theillegal sale of babies in the South-East being waged against the illicit business.

Zonal Director of NAPTIP, Mrs. Ijeoma Okoronkwo who spoke with reporters in Enugu said her organization has continued to uncover such illegal activities of maternity home operators in recent times, lamenting that the operators of the illegal baby factories have continued to sell babies to interested parties under the guise of operating foster homes within the five states of the South- East.

She disclosed that Abia State was the worst hit of such criminal activities, adding that everywhere the officials of her organization have visited in the state, the issue of illegal baby sales in the name of adoption was common among the people.

Okoronkwo particularly named Ohafia, Obi-Ngwa and Bende among the areas in Abia where the issue of baby sales was rampant.

According to her, the worst scenario was that people do not see anything wrong in paying to have the babies from the foster homes, adding that it was criminal for people to resort to buying babies in the name of adoption.

She revealed plans by NAPTIP to set up a monitoring group in all communities in the five states of the South-East to ensure that no foster home is involved in baby sales racketing.

Explaining that there was a great difference between adoption of babies as enshrined in the laws of the country and outright purchase of babies from foster homes, the NAPTIP zonal Director noted that what could be alarming was that in all the states, except Enugu, the much talked about Child Right Act has been passed yet there has been no reduction in the illicit trade.

She said that with this law now in place in some states in the zone, the Ministries of Women Affairs were expected to prosecute such offenders but regretted that much has not been done in this regard.

“The law provides that people can adopt babies or children if they wish. But there are processes. Adoption does not cost money.

But in the cases of these maternity homes, the babies are paid for, which is what we want to stop. We are going to all the states to establish monitoring groups to check these homes, because we cannot do it alone, we need information we can work on and through the monitoring group, we can go after these homes and prosecute any of them involved in sale of babies”, Okoronkwo said..

Apart from setting up monitoring groups, the zonal director disclosed that her organization was reaching out to the Ministries of Women Affairs in the states to ask them to rise up to their responsibilities in prosecuting any cases of child abuse.

Kære Bodil

Hjælp er et sjovt begreb i denne sammenhæng. Den hjælp som du foreslår i form af et forbud i lighed med Sverige, mener jeg ikke kan betragtes som en hjælp, faktisk tvært imod. Ifølge den svenske socialstyrelses egen undersøgelse (http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/Publicerat/2007/9843/2007-131-48.htm) har forbuddet besværliggjort det opsøgende arbejde – dette er både socialarbejdere og politi enige om. De prostituerede føler sig ikke hjulpet. De føler sig forfulgt. Desuden er efterspørgslen ikke faldet!

Første skridt, hvis man ønsker at hjælpe, må være at snakke med dem det handler om og jeg vil derfor anbefale dig at kontakte Sexarbejdernes InteresseOrganisation, www.S-I-O.dk, for at høre hvad de mener. Personligt tror jeg vi skal lade os inspirere (ikke kopiere) af New Zealands måde at hjælpe på. Her har man i samarbejde med prostituerede fået skabt nogle fornuftige rammer så prostituerede har bedre forhold. Du kan læse meget mere om New Zealand her: http://www.seksualpolitik.dk/new_zealand.html.

Vedr. kvindehandel, så er vi ganske enige om at der bør gøres mere. I Belgien har de et rigtig godt system, som jeg meget håber vi kan få herhjemme også. I grove træk fungerer det således:

Fase 1:

Ofrene for menneskehandel bliver fundet, de får information om deres rettigheder og tilbudt krisehjælp. Det er typisk politiet, som finder ofrene, og de belgiske politistyrker bliver jævnligt trænet til opgaven for at sikre, at ofrene bliver fundet. I tre specialiserede centre modtager ofrene både psykologisk støtte og hjælp samt medicinsk behandling.

Fase 2:

Offeret får 45 dage, hvor hun kan beslutte sig for, om hun vil samarbejde med myndighederne om at knalde sine bagmænd og bryde med det kriminelle miljø. Gør hun det udløser det en opholdstilladelse på tre måneder, hvor hun blandt andet bliver tilbudt en midlertidig arbejdstilladelse. Her bliver der arbejdet intenst på at få ofrets rigtige historie frem og dokumentere den, så præcist som muligt.

Fase 3:

Hvis offeret har afsløret sin bagmand og denne er blevet dømt samt en række andre forhold er på plads kan offeret få en permanent opholdstilladelse. I andre tilfælde kan offeret få forlænget sin opholdstilladelse et halvt år af gangen. Opholdstilladelse kan også gives, hvis anklageren har påvist, at der er tale om en person, der er blevet handlet, men at det ikke er muligt for offeret at identificere sig selv i Belgien.

(fra BT 2008).

På Det Radikale Landsmøde i september stiller jeg et resolutionsforslag, der går på at vi bør styrke indsatsen mod trafficking og at bevislige (jævnfør ovenfor) ofre herfor skal have opholdstilladelse. Uanset om det bliver vedtaget på landsmødet eller ej, så håber jeg, at der bliver gjort noget på dette område.

Endelig vil jeg lige henvise din opmærksomhed på følgende link http://www.europaportalen.se/index.php?newsID=24564&page=7009&more=1. Her kan det læses at:

"att de allra flesta fallit offer för slavliknade tvångsarbete och inte prostitution. (...) Tre fjärdedelar av traffickingoffren har hållits i slavliknade arbetsförhållanden inom jordbruk, byggsektorn och tiggeri.”

Mange hilsner

Linda Kristiansen

Folketingskandidat for Det Radikale Venstre

www.lindakristiansen.dk

“The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) mobilizes State and non-State actors to eradicate human trafficking by: (a) reducing both the vulnerability of potential victims and the demand for exploitation in all its forms; (b) ensuring adequate protection and support to those who do fall victim; and (c) supporting the efficient prosecution of the criminals involved, while respecting the fundamental human rights of all persons.

Download here.

A common complaint I've been hearing as I've been talking with artist is that they've been burned. They would submit art and a "gatekeeper" will say it is not good enough or it doesn't fit. When art is so attached to a "Me", egos and feelings are hurt. Bitterness and Resentment starts to grow. Thoughts like, "What does he/she know anything about art?" or "Who are they to judge art?"

Now let me spit this thought out to ya. What if art was created in a communal group of creatives that are creating for a common cause. What if we created a fashion line, where proceeds go toward funding an orphanage, or have a film festival where proceeds go to help bring awareness of human trafficking, or a cook off, yes cooking is an art, where the money can go towards building shelters for the homeless. Will we really be hurt, when we lessen the "Me" element and increase the "Cause Element". Can someone really be burned when there is a bigger picture.

Maybe that is what it is all about. The great sacrifice of an artist is the "ME". Tony Kim, Creative Arts Pastor at Newsong Church, said "Great Beauty comes from Great Sacrifice".

I believe the Great Beauty can come from Great Sacrifice,... Me.

Apart from the 'this is my own review... blah blah... no offence to anyone living or dead...blah blah...' The fact is, I usually watch age old movies <in reputation/award winning/reputation/ranking etc...> only when I get the time. Happened to watch this movie yesterday.

For starters, It features Denzil Washington. Who is one of my fav actors. His performance in Crimson Tide got me started. Plus, The movie features bits and pieces of the Vietnam War. A very nicely done Gangster-Mafia movie. The story follows the rise and fall of a Black man <Frank Lucas> in the Heroin trade. Gathering Heroin from South East Asia, He uses US millitary planes to get them shipped into America. And so the story goes.

My takes:

There not much of Gang war or bad inter-mafia relationships shown in the movie. Its neatly done, depicting the law enforcement vs the crime family vs corruption.

The name Frank is very common in movies. The last time I heard the name, it was... 'I'm Frank Abbegnale Junior' :)

Only in the end I realised, It was a Ridely Scott movie... BRAVO!!

Even though heroin production is maxed out in Afghan, I never knew that South East Asia was a major source of poppy.

US soldiers serving in Vietnam were getting under the influence. WOW, thats news to me. Seems, like the war machine cant check in-house abuse of drugs and stuff. Tell me, if there's ever been one place <invaded by the US> which dint have any material usage...Like oil, gas, drugs, minerals ??

Nicely done movie.

Executive director of African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Tanzania Chapter Peter Mwangosi said in Dar es Salaam that the number of children being trafficked to other countries has increased dramatically.

Mwangosi told journalists that research carried out by his organisation in different regions has attributed child trafficking to poverty, ignorance, cheap labour and lack of national policy for guiding children.

He said that data collected from the research, indicated that a number of children were trafficked to Kikumbaa and Nairobi, in Kenya, and others to Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Dodoma and Moshi.

``Poverty contributes a lot to child trafficking. Many parents allow their children to cities and other countries in exchange for money, small gifts and other promises from the traffickers. On the other hand, children leave their homes to look for better life in the cities,`` he explained.

He added that ignorance, cheap labour and lack of clear national policy and laws to prevent trafficking were among major causes.

Mwangosi explained that ANPPCAN worked with individual children to educate them on their rights and responsibilities.

It provided uniforms, books and clothes for those in need, he added.

ANPPCAN`s National Coordinator, Christine Kyaruzi, concurring with the executive director said ignorance was the key factor contributing to child trafficking in the country as well as other African states.

Kyaruzi said that most people in the community did not report such cases to responsible authorities because they do not know child trafficking was a crime.

She said the report shows children taken to cities were used as cheap labour in businesses and also as domestic servants at low wages.

Liaison Officer of KULEANA, a non-governmental organisation in the country, Abdallah Ibrahim, said that training of journalists was necessary for them to educate people on child trafficking and assist the government in combating the illegal practice.

``We have decided to embark on training because the majority of journalists in both rural and urban areas are not aware of child trafficking,`` he said.

Child trafficking is defined as a process of transportation, transfer, recruitment, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of threat, or use of force, or other forms of coercion. It is also a process of abduction, fraud and deception of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability.

The practice, according to experts, involves giving or receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another for the purpose of exploitation.

ANPPCAN Tanzania Chapter is a not for profit organisation under the umbrella of Pan African Organisation with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and is concerned with the status of children especially those in need of protection from various forms of maltreatment.

http://ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2008/07/28/119360.html

Science Daily, Cocaine Addiction Linked To Voluntary Drug Use And Cellular Memory, Study Shows
Voluntary use, memory, and predisposition to use again—active choice matters, and from there, a short jump to meaning (why choose drugs…)

Alexis Madrigal, Memory Disruption Could Aid Addicts
Blocking associative memory in rats works. Are people next?

Hal Arkowitz and Scott Lilienfeld, Do-It-Yourself Addiction Cures?
Self-change happens, and it can work

Reuters, Feeling Poor Spurs Lottery Ticket Purchases
Research confirms what the lottery business already knows—feeling subjectively poor makes it more likely to buy that ticket to a quick-fix dream

Pure Pedantry, Ricardo Ricco & Epo Abuse and Heptaminol? Where Do They Even Find This Stuff
The scientific low-down on performance-enhancing drugs in the Tour de France

Jane Brody, Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions
Coffee and your health—sorting out the myths and the realities

Henry Fountain, It’s Always Happy Hour for Several Species in Malaysian Rain Forest
Alcohol-swigging small mammals like their fermented fruit

Mark Kern, The Seductiveness of Bad Habits
Health and unhealthy habits and addiction

Carla Johnson, Rapid Rise Seen in Fatal Medication Errors at Home
“Deaths from medication mistakes at home increased from 1,132 deaths in 1983 to 12,426 in 2004. Adjusted for population growth, that amounts to an increase of more than 700 percent during that time.”

Dirk Hanson, Ten Drug Myths Exposed
A great list, taken from Carlton Erickson’s book The Science of Addiction.

Jason Schwartz, Three Months
Brain adaptations during the first 90 days of recovery

Science Daily, Why Dopamine Freezes Parkinson Patients And Drives Drug Addicts
Two different brain systems and differential effects of dopamine—interesting though still too simplistic

Science Daily, Why Some Smokers Become Addicted With Their First Cigarette
Dopamine gets the too-easy blame, but there are some interesting experimental results

Vaughan Bell, Why There Is No Such Thing as Internet Addiction
A category error made popular—addiction is to activities, not to mediums

Society

Martha Rosenberg, Big Pharma Pushes Drugs That Cause Conditions They Are Supposed to Prevent
Creating new markets for new drugs—the social manufacture of risk and disease

Eugene Raikhel, Grandma’s Little Helper
The marketing of pharmaceuticals in the 1960s—an historical perspective on Big Pharma

Patrick Abbott & Duane Chase, Culture and Substance Abuse Impact of Culture Affects Approach to Treatment
Nice overview of culture in relation to addiction and recovery, with lots of good citations

Michael Merzenich, Drugs for Children with Bipolar Disorder
Just how off-label is the increasing usage of drugs in children? It’s bad

Furious Seasons, Baseball’s Other Drug Problem: ADHD Drugs
Do attention-deficit drugs help over a 162 game season?

Vaughan Bell, Don’t Get High on Your Own Supply
Addiction in anesthesiologists through analyzing their hair samples

Randolph Ramsay, Australia Bans Fallout 3
Guess what, the drug injecting stuff was too real and functional, and the comments erupt

Science Daily, Energy Drinks Linked To Risk-taking Behaviors Among College Students
A new industry, new social identifications, and plenty of caffeine

Mind Hacks, Mainlining the Active Ingredients of Cannabis
Injecting cannabis as part of a documentary—balanced considerations on “Should I Smoke Dope?”

Carla Johnson, After Combat, Citizen Soldiers Turning to Alcohol
US National Guard and Reserve troops show higher rates of alcohol abuse upon return from service abroad—less training and less post-combat support highlighted as problems. Results from the first major study of returning combat troops.

Patrick Healy, After ‘Osage’ Accolades, Time to Make Doughnuts
Playwright Tracy Letts mining pain and pathos, through familial addiction and his own alcoholism

David Carr, Me and My Girls
The writer and former coke addict traces his rise to redemption through becoming a father

Policy

Donald McNeil, Billionaires Back Antismoking Effort
Entrepreneurs turn their money to the world’s #1 preventable health problem

Dirk Hanson, Gates, Bloomberg Target Cigarettes
“Billionaires pledge $500 million, but will it do any good?” A contrarian take, plus a great graphic.

April Dembosky, More Smokers Seek Help With Quitting Since Latest Cigarette Tax Took Effect
Big price increases, and more people who want to quit completely—but does that lead to sustained effort?

Margaret, Wente, The Globe and Mail, Four Part Series on Drug Policy, in particular attacking the increasing use of harm reduction in Canada
Sick of Watching People Die
We Still Await the Scientific Proof of Harm Reduction’s Success
Europe’s Approach to Drugs Is More Enlightened… It’s Tougher
Legalization in Disguise

Jason Schwartz, More on Prohibition
Nice excerpts from the work of Mark Kleinman, one of the best thinkers in the field

Drug Reporter, Video: Is the War on Drugs Really Protecting Our Kids?
Ethan Nadelman talks policy, harm reduction, and alternatives to the drug war in a short clip

Trafficking

Simon Romero, Cocaine Sustains War in Rural Colombia
Despite recent advances, the same dynamics still work in trafficking’s favor, and the money leads to guns, violence and more

Thomas Schweich, Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?
Poppy and opium bring wealth and problems

David Samuels, Dr. Kush
“How medical marijuana is transforming the pot industry”
In-depth New Yorker reporting brings us context and people in stead of knee-jerk reactions

Alfredo Corchado, Mexico's Drug War Shows a Virulent Feminine Side
Women and drug trafficking in Mexico

The local police are completely in cahoots with these thugs and have in fact registered cases against the NGO ! Please take a few moments and fill this petition to be sent to the Chief Minister, district magistrate, UP's Chief of police and other officials (this has worked in the past).

Many of them have heart-wrenching stories that words can’t begin to describe. Like 18-year-old Lakshmi*, who was once happily married in Bangladesh and had a two-year-old daughter. Her husband’s business partner killed him, took her child, and sold her to a brothel.

Or like 17-year-old Tara*, who was trafficked twice from Bangalore. At the age of 14, her sister-in-law sold her for 50,000 rupees ($1300) to a brothel in Mumbai, and after she was repatriated to Bangalore, she returned within six months, this time drugged and sold by a stranger at a train station. She arrived at the protective home in Mumbai three months pregnant both times, just in time to have legal abortions.

Despite all the painful stories, what strikes me most about my time with these girls is that never before has my life been filled with so much laughter. Especially on the days we celebrated Holi, the color festival, four times because once just wasn’t enough. Or the time when I released two giant toads into the room where they were watching TV. Or the endless water fights we’d have, dragging one girl at a time under the shower until all fifty girls were thoroughly soaked. Or even when everyone took turns throwing cake at me on my birthday!

Perhaps their musthy and laughter are only external covers for the pain that resides deep within each soul. Or perhaps they are this happy not despite, but because of, their histories – they are constantly admonishing me, their cherished didi, that life will slip away if I don’t laugh more often. I feel exceedingly privileged to share not only their grief on a daily basis, but also their laughter – their only source of healing. I couldn’t possibly ask to spend my life with more precious sisters…or former prostitutes!

____________________________________________

Robin Chaurasiya has been wandering the globe since her first trip to India at the age of three. Since then, she has worked, volunteered, and studied in countries throughout Europe, Central America, South Asia, East Africa, and the Middle East. In pursuit of her lifelong goal to make the world a just place for women, she is currently pursuing her MA in Gender Studies at the Central European University in Budapest.

____________________________________________

Prostitution har traditionellt erbjudit en möjlighet för lågproduktiva kvinnor att bidra till samhälsekonomin genom att sprida trivsel och komfort i vardagen för oss herrar.

Samtidigt skriver henrik alexandersson, som har mitt fulla stöd då han polisanmälts i sin kamp mot FRA lagen, något liknande på sin blogg

Att förbjuda vuxna människor att ingå ett avtal där man byter pengar mot sexuella tjänster är förmynderi och att idiotförklara vuxet folk. Det är brott utan offer.

Det är en ny syn på människor att prostituerade inte är offer.

Det är samtidigt klassiskt nyliberalt, att anse att det inte är ett problem att fattiga, hungriga kvinnor i sin desperation för överlevnad söker att sälja sina kroppar, utsätta sig själva för risken att dödas, samt att få könssjukdomar.

Samtidigt ser jag vissa problem i lagen som den ser ut just nu, då folk kommer tvingas sälja sina kroppar oavsett om den existerar eller ej. Problemet är att vi, trots det fantastiska välfärdssamhälle som vi har, accepterar att vi har hungriga, desperata människor i vårt land som tvingas till diverse brott. Samtidigt rör det sig oftast om invandrare samt människor som inte har fått tillstånd att stanna i sverige men som stannar kvar då de inte har något annat alternativ.

Vi behöver ta hand om dessa människor.

Det handlar inte om att det är fult att ha sex, det handlar om att det är fult att utnyttja människor. Bland annat borde prostituerade få ökat rättsligt stöd, samt en anonym hjälptelefon de kan ringa till ifall de behöver stöd.

Annars avläser alliansfritt sverige på göran pettersons(m) blogg. Badlands hyena pratar om hur underbart det är med diktaturer. Marlene börjar bli lite less på regeringens välfärdsslakt och Jakop Dalunde skriver på sin blogg om muf's skepsis mot utbyggd tågtrafik.

(Just nu läser jag för övrigt George Orwells 1984 i samband med FRA-lagen, Att förstå makten av Noam Chomsky, samt Naomi Kleins chockdoktrinen och Richard dawkins illusionen om gud. Har hunnit cirka hundra sidor i varje, om ni undrar :P)

Läs även andra bloggares intressanta åsikter om 1984, jakop dalunde, muf, välfärd, prostitution, trafficking, människohandel, noam chomsky, chockdoktrinen, george orwell, fascism

Malaysia has the dubious distinction of being in the Tier 2 Watchlist and can be found on page 39 of the report.

Malaysia is a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and men, women, and children for forced labor.

Download ( H - Z ) here.

Download full report (49Mb) here.

Saat ini TPPO tergolong kejahatan kriminal internasional (Trans National Organised Crime), sebagai salah satu bentuk komitmen negara dalam penghapusan perdagangan (trafiking) orang, khususnya perempuan dan anak, pemerintah menetapkan Keputusan Presiden RI Nomor 87 Tahun 2002 tentang Rencana Aksi Nasional (RAN) Penghapusan Eksploitasi Seksual Komersial Anak dan Keputusan Presiden RI Nomor 88 Tahun 2002 tentang Rencana Aksi Nasional (RAN) Penghapusan Perdagangan (Trafiking) Perempuan dan Anak.

Tidak cukup dengan menetapkan RAN, keseriusan komitmen pemerintah untuk memberantas pelaku kejahatan perdagangan orang, khususnya perempuan dan anak, semakin diperkuat dengan ditetapkan dan diberlakukannya Undang Undang RI Nomor 21 Tahun 2007 tentang Pemberantasan Tindak Pidana Perdagangan Orang (UU PTPPO),

Lahirnya UU PTPPO merupakan wujud dari keinginan negara Indonesia untuk mencegah dan menanggulangi tindak pidana perdagangan orang yang didasarkan pada nilai-nilai luhur, komitmen nasional, dan internasional untuk melakukan upaya pencegahan sejak dini, penindakan terhadap pelaku, perlindungan korban, dan peningkatan kerja sama. Kita harus memahami bahwa upaya pencegahan sejak dini perdagangan orang sama pentingnya dengan upaya penindakan terhadap pelaku, perlindungan terhadap korban, dan peningkatan kerja sama antar stakeholders. Secara khusus Bab VI UU PTPPO mengatur mengenai pencegahan dan penanganan. Pasal 56 UU ini menyatakan bahwa pencegahan tindak pidana perdagangan orang bertujuan mencegah sedini mungkin terjadinya tindak pidana perdagangan orang.

Pedoman umum PTPPO ini adalah memberikan alat kerja bagi aparatur negara, pemerintah, kelompok-kelompok kemasyarakatan serta organisasi sosial yang bertanggung jawab menyiapkan Rencana Aksi Pencegahan TPPO tahun 2008-2013.

dari: Dept Pendidikan

One of the things to remember about human trafficking, and I've said this before and will say it again: many people are betrayed into it. And women are often just as complicit as men (this piece mentions a "she-pimp" who operated in Dubai, for example). It's also true that many people enter the sex-trade aspect of human trafficking knowing that they will be prostitutes. But that makes them no less deserving of help, no matter WHAT anyone says (and seriously, another person who will make the opposite claim to my face might get bitch-slapped). It's also important to note how trafficking relates to other phenomena: widespread corruption, particularly within law enforcement, is just one example. Too many times, when we talk about trafficking, we reduce it to the rape, the humiliation, the dehumanization. Obviously, these things are as real and as horrible as those on the outside can imagine, and sometimes more so. But this is not the whole picture. Financial motives must be discussed. Networks must be mapped. The psychology of the perpetrators and their enablers must be probed.

This is why I like the New Yorker piece by William Finnegan: he speaks about the practical side of trafficking as well as the emotional side. Far too many writers and activists and agitators just don't want to "go there," I have noticed. We don't want understand this phenomenon from all angles, because we fear that in doing so, we might somehow legitimize it. But that's not what usually happens, and it's not what I see in Finnegan's piece at all. Understanding something is not the same as excusing it.

Sure enough, Finnegan mentions s e x work. He doesn't do a whole lot of editorializing on the subject, but I think it is rather counter-productive to repeatedly conflate s e x work and trafficking. Obviously, the phenomena do overlap, but that doesn't mean that they are always one and the same. At the very least, not in my opinion. I suspect Finnegan might agree, or he may not. Either way, this is a great piece.

On a random note - Stella Rotaru's name reminds of pop-star Sophia Rotaru, except, you know, with a job that saves lives (although Sophia is no slouch herself - by reputation a very charitable and intelligent woman).

"We do not have absolute numbers - no one knows exactly how many people work in the sex industry in Israel - but police reports, as well as accounts gathered from volunteers and working women, indicate a steep decline in the number of trafficked women," said Leah Gruenpeter-Gold from the Toda'a Institute, an Israeli non-governmental organisation (NGO) conducting research on trafficking and commercial sex workers.

"This has pushed up the number of Israeli prostitutes on the streets to feed demand," she said, adding that in 2007 her group provided a report [http://www.macom.org.il/2007_SHADOW_REPORT.pdf] on these issues to the UN Human Rights Council .

Attorney Naomi Levenkron from the Hotline for Migrant Workers, an expert on the trafficking of women, said there had been a decline in the number of trafficked women brought into Israel in the past two years.

Researchers and volunteers say street workers provide their services for the equivalent of about US$30 in some cases. In other cases women are working for a paltry $2.5 - constantly at risk of violence, including rape and muggings. Most of the women in the sex industry work for pimps, according to the police and the NGOs.

Many of these women - estimated in the hundreds - are addicted to hard drugs, and have only one option for respite - a unique shelter, optimistically named The Door of Hope, in Tel Aviv's most run-down neighbourhood of Newe Shaanan.

The sex workers can go there to eat, shower and sleep for a few hours with nothing expected in return, a rarity for these women. They can also choose clean clothes from donations the organisation receives. About 100 women use the shelter on a regular basis; 20-30 go six days a week, according to volunteers.

A., aged 37, who emigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union, said she has been working the streets for several years. In her former homeland, she alleges, she was a gymnast.

"I won many championships," she recalled, although her now emaciated body indicated that her heroin addiction was strong.

Another woman, N., aged 53, said she was a grandmother of three, but no longer had contact with her family after working as a commercial sex worker for many years. She said she mostly slept at a homeless shelter in Tel Aviv, but wished she could stay at The Door of Hope.

The Door of Hope is only open from 1700 to 2200. It cannot operate at night for fear of retribution from organised criminal groups which run nearby brothels.

"They're all someone's mother, sister, wife, grandmother. They're not trash, despite the fact that society treats them as such," a volunteer worker at the centre told IRIN.

While he and the other volunteers try to focus on the success stories - specifically, three women whom they helped get off drugs and off the streets - most cases do not end well.

"Occasionally one of [the women] disappears and then we see her photo in the paper in the 'Jane Doe' [dead and unclaimed] section," said another volunteer.

The Israeli Health Ministry said it operates a free clinic in Tel Aviv for sex workers that provides medical care, condoms and needle exchanges.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/938e056375a4967572395e0a0de48f3c.htm

"The root of the problem is poverty, but in some areas - like that district [child protection agencies have asked that its name not be revealed] in West Java - prostitution is accepted. It's the culture," explains Arum Ratnawati of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, with people so poor they are forced to sell or send their children into commercial sex work to earn income for the family.

In a country with high unemployment and over 4 million school-age children unable to go to school, it is not difficult to understand how trafficking can thrive. The latest government estimates in 2004 put the number of children trafficked for prostitution at 21,000 for Java and 70,000 for the whole of Indonesia. But the ILO says this is just the tip of the iceberg as trafficking is notoriously difficult to track.

In seedy parts of Jakarta, these girls can be found in cafes offering customers off-menu items or trawling the streets to find men willing to buy Teh Botol (bottled tea) which they sell for around triple its actual price – IDR 50,000 (about US$5.50) - and in return the men fondle the girls from the waist up.

In the Batam Islands, 45 minutes by ferry from Singapore, and on the beaches of Bali, ILO says thousands of girls have been trafficked to service foreigners. Elsewhere, locals are the customers. Dolly and Jarak in Surabaya, the main seaport city in eastern Java, are now considered the biggest red-light districts in Southeast Asia, Ratnawati told IRIN.

The stories are usually the same: poor, uneducated girls who do not know how to protect themselves are preyed upon by people they trust, including relatives or neighbours, who promise to give them jobs in the city or abroad. They end up working in brothels, forced to pay off the IDR500,000 or IDR1 million ($55 or $110) the trafficker paid their parents.

NGOs such as Bandungwangi, however, struggle to prevent more trafficking and to rescue victims. "It is very, very difficult to get women out of prostitution," executive director Anna Sulikhah told IRIN.

While they conduct awareness-raising activities and provide skills training, these NGOs find that many prostitutes do not want to be rescued. "Out of 500 children we tried to rescue over the past four years, only around 150 really want to quit prostitution," says Ratnawati. "They give up their rights because of their economic situation. They need the money."

Exacerbating the problem is that a third of children in rural areas have no birth certificate, and passports are easily forged in Indonesia. "They can just go to the village leader to ask for a letter that says they are 21 years old," adds Ratnawati. This allows children to cross borders for work.

In the northeastern district of West Java, the problem goes even deeper than poverty and inefficiencies in the system. "In this district, girls are treated like 'assets' because they can marry several times or become prostitutes," explains Sulikhah. "It is the culture of the area." Sheer poverty and the lack of income-generating opportunities have made commercial sex work a norm in this district. In fact, some of the girls they rescued and returned home were sent back to Jakarta by their families.

The local government tries to stem the tide of girls leaving their district by refusing to issue letters that guarantee they are of working age, knowing they will end up in brothels around Indonesia or abroad. But the families tell them: "Who is going to feed us then?"

The Indonesian government last year passed an anti-trafficking law and appointed as focal point the Ministry of Women's Empowerment. It remains to be seen if this is enough to address the culture of prostitution, however, according to analysts.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/845391f0f6c0f790b26cc831b2374fa9.htm

Working as farmers in Takeo province the four men were unable to earn enough money to support their families and previous attempts to seek work in neighboring villages were unsuccessful. A broker and relative of one of the men asked them whether they would consider working in Thailand. Attracted by the promise of well paying jobs they agreed to travel with the broker to Thailand.

The Journey
The broker escorted the men to Banteay Meanchey province in Cambodia's North West and here introduced them to another Cambodian man who smuggled the men into Thailand through the Malai border entrance. Once they arrived through the forest, another Cambodian broker was waiting to pick them up. The men were then driven to a guesthouse just outside of Paknam, Samut Prakan on the coast of Thailand. Here they were locked in a room for five days before being taken to the fishing boat.

At this point the men still believed that they were able to secure a well paying job. The Cambodian broker told them that they would be paid between 4000 to 5000 Baht/month (USD$120-150) and would be able to send money home to their families every seven months. They were also told that they could borrow USD$250 to send back home before boarding the boat. The men agreed to this however they subsequently found out that no money was ever sent to their families.

On the boat they were forced to work day and night without adequate rest or food, going some days with only one or two hours sleep. The Thai captain constantly threatened to beat or throw anyone over board who disobeyed his orders. The men also found that the rest of the Cambodian crew were also being exploited and had been trafficked by Cambodian brokers.

The Escape
In early 2008 the boat began illegally fishing in Malaysia waters, however after sometime the captain decided that it was too risky and docked at a port in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak to apply for a fishing permit. The fishing boat had always remained at sea so the four men took advantage of this opportunity and on 21 March 2008 they were able to escape from the ship. Once on land the men hid in the forest and stayed hidden there for several days for fear of being arrested by the Malaysian police. They only ventured outside at nighttime in search of food.

One night while they scavenged for food, they coincidently met another Cambodian fisherman from Battambang province. The man also a victim of trafficking had apparently escaped three months earlier from another Thai fishing boat. That man had a mobile phone, and he allowed four men to contact their families in Cambodia. The families upon hearing of their situation immediately approached LICADHO for assistance. The families had long suspected that the men may have fallen victim to a trafficking ring, however only now had they received confirmation.

The Rescue
LICADHO was then able to directly contact the five Cambodian men in Malaysia and also alert its regional partners, to provide case information for the Malaysian authorities to identify the men. In cooperation with the Malaysian authorities, UNIAP (The United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region), Tenaganita and the Cambodian Embassy, the five men were transferred back to Cambodia safely on 19 April 2008. UNIAP providing the cost of flying the five men back to Cambodia. Once in Cambodia LICADHO was able to provide food and clothing for the men and arranged for their safe return to their respective provinces.

Last month the UNIAP and LICADHO followed-up with the trafficked men with an aim to identify the route and location of the border crossing and the guesthouse in Thailand used by the traffickers. The initial broker who convinced the men to work in Thailand however has yet to be apprehended and is suspected to be living somewhere along the Thai-Cambodia border. For now the four men from Takeo have managed to find work as farmers and fishermen in their home town. However, the man from Battambang decided to go back to work in Thailand in a brick factory.

Source: LICADHO

This is the Department of Justice's commentary on the bill.:

TITLE I-COMBATING INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING TN PERSONS
Section 107(a)(2) of the bill establishes an integrated human trafficking database. The Department opposes the requirement to create a database "combining all applicable data collected by each Federal department and agency represented on the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking." The database would contain law-enforcement sensitive information, which would prevent the data from being accessible to non-law enforcement agencies, many of which are a part of the interagency task force.

Furthermore, such a database would be difficult to create, particularly within the time frame provided in the statute, because it would require information from multiple agencies that collect data in varying forms and levels of specificity. In addition, this provision as written would not provide sufficient protection for certain data which is to be included in the database. For example, the legislation does not protect data covered by the Privacy Act nor information that would identify victims.

TITLE 11-COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN THE UNITED STATES
Sections 201(a)(I), as well as section 212(a)(l), provide immigration status to human trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement, excepting from cooperation those victims "unlikely or unable to cooperate with a request... due to physical or psychological trauma." We offer one technical suggestion: strike the words "unlikely or". The term "unikely" calls for speculation as to the victim's ability to testify in the future, something that is difficult to define or assess.

Section 203(e) of the bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to give immigration status to any worker holding an A-3 or G-5 worker visa who "files a complaint" regarding a violation of the terms of his or her contract, or any violation of law governing the terms of his or her employment or visa. This section does not, however, require a law enforcement assessment that the person is a victim of severe form of trafficking as defined in the statute, as is presently required for a Continued Presence visa in accordance with Section 7105(b) of Title 22 of the U.S. Code. Furthermore, the phrase "files a complaint" is overly broad and vague. The bill should define the term "complaint" in Section 203(a), specifying what constitutes a complaint and with whom the complaint must be filed.

Without such specificity, DHS has little guidance on what action would trigger the protections of Section 203(e). That being said, DOJ defers to the expertise of DHS with respect to this particular matter. Finally, the phrase "Attorney General" in Section 2113(e) should be struck, as the Attorney General has no statutory role in issuing employment documents.

Section 212-Interim d4ssistancefor Child Victims of Trafficking
The Department opposes the change in subsection (a)(l)(A)(ii) which would remove the Attorney General's authority in stating whether a person's presence is necessary in ensuring an effective prosecution. As the agency that prosecutes cases of human trafficking, DOJ's involvement is vitally important.

The Administration recognizes the importance of including HHS at the initial stages for the purpose of facilitating prompt delivery of the full range of available benefits and services to trafficking victims but suggests several technical changes, however, that would clarify that the HHS designation would affect only the victim's eligibility for benefits and would not be a determination of victim status for purposes of a law enforcement assessment that a crime had, in fact, been committed, which is exclusively the province of law enforcement agencies.

While we always appreciate the views of NGOs, DOJ believes that only governmental agencies should be involved in the determination of whether an individual is the victim of a crime.

Section 2 12(a)(2),in new subsection (F)(ii) requires HHS to notify DOJ and DHS within 48 hours of making an interim eligibility determination only if there is evidence of an ongoing violation. We suggest that 48 hours be changed to 24 and that the phrase "if there is evidence of an ongoing violation" be struck. As DOJ has stated in the past, law enforcement must be notified as soon as there is any evidence that a crime may have been committed. The importance of law enforcement particularly in this process cannot be underscored enough in both protecting known victims and locating victims currently held in servitude by a trafficker.

These edits would also address concerns the Department has with the proposed new sub-paragraph (G) in subsection (a)(2), which would require both Federal and State law enforcement officials to inform HHS of the existence of a potential victim but not require HHS to inform at least Federal law enforcement of such a victim. The notification requirement should be reciprocal with respect to Federal agencies because the Attorney General and the Secretary of DHS bear responsibility for investigating and prosecuting instances of human trafficking at the Federal level.

Section 2 12(a)(2) also requires a federal official to notify HHS within 24 hours of identifying a potential child victim. This 24 hour requirement should also apply to State and local officials, who currently have 48 hours to make such notifications under the bill. Federal and State officials should have parallel requirements.

Section 213-Ensuring Assistance for All Victims of Trafficking in Persons
Section 2 13 of the bill authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to assist victims of severe forms of trafficking. While the Department supports grants for the provision of services for crime victims, the Department already has such authority and does so at a levels in excess of $250 million a year. Also, the authorization of another grant program runs counter to the Administration's proposal in the 2008 Budget to consolidate DOJ's more than 70 grant programs.

The Department also opposes the mandatory consultation with NGOs regarding the provision of services. This creates a conflict of interest since many of the NGOs will apply for and could receive grants under the program.

Section 221-Restitution of Forfeited Assets, Enhancement of Civil Action
The Department is significantly concerned that Section 22 l(1) would disrupt the existing remission process for distribution of forfeited funds to victims. We note that the language of the provision is very broad and does not apply just to victims of trafficking, the subject of S. 3061, but rather to victims of all crimes for which restitution may be ordered by a court. The Department currently has a process governed by regulation in which the Attorney General distributes those funds according to a set of well-thought out standards. Such a major revision to the process should be subject to greater discussion between the drafters of the bill and the Department.

Section 22 l(2) creates very broad civil liability for retailers, farmers, and others who knowingly benefit from participation in a venture that engages in a violation of Chapter 77. This would include a retailer who knowingly profits from clothes the retailer bought from a factory that made them, if that factory used slave labor--regardless of whether the retailer knew about the slave labor or not. We suggest that the language be qualified to ensure that only a person who knows of the use of slave labor be subject to liability. This could be accomplished by inserting the words, "he knows or should have known" after "a venture which".

Section 222-Enhancing Trafficking Offenses
We recommend that the definition of the term "abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal
process" be modified in Section 222 (b)(4) to mean "the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, whether administrative, civil or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not intended. in order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to take, or refrain from taking, some action."

In Section 222(b) and (c) -Proposed Section 1591 (d)(4) and Proposed Section 1589(c)(2), the definition of "serious harm" is amended to mean "physical or non-physical" harm. This is a useful change to cover all forms of harm to victims. However, for clarity's sake, we suggest that the definition of "physical or non-physical harm" also include "physical or non-physical harm, including, but not limited to, psychological, financial, or reputational harm ..."

Section 222(g) proposes to add to Title 18 a new section, 2429-Sex Tourism. The Department supports the goal of this section, and offers two technical suggestions. First, we would add the word "criminal" before the word "offense" to make the scope of the statute clear. Second, the crime does not have any mens rea requirement. That is, it does not require that the defendant acted knowingly. We suggest the insertion of the word "knowingly" before "arranges, induces, or procures".

Finally, in order to make the proposed new crimes, 18 U.S.C. $9 1593 and 2429, money laundering predicates, we suggest they be added to the money laundering statute 18 U.S.C. 1961(1). They are both financially based crimes, so money laundering charges would also be appropriate.

For more, visit the US Department of Justice.