CNN has been investigating the flourishing world of human trafficking for some time now, particularly Amber Lyon. You may have seen her latest investigation this past Sunday on CNN "Selling the Girl Next Door." She investigated how the prevalence of escort classifieds have moved from Craig's List to Backpage.
Many people have misconceptions regarding these girls who have classifieds listed on these websites. Many believe they are whores, prostitutes, etc... Little do they know that often their ads are posted by pimps who are selling these underage girls for profit. The girls often receive little or none of their wages. This is how the modern day slave trade works.
And what about the men purchasing these girls?? It could be your neighbor, a family member, friend, colleague, etc... Men of all walks of life are participating and perpetuating the slave trade. The may think of it as their guilty pleasure, but maybe they should think about what they are doing to the females they are abusing. Some men say the females are obviously willing, they just responded to an ad. Well if that female is under the control of a trafficker, then the ad was not posted of her will, nor is she sleeping with men for pleasure.
While Craig's List has taken off it's escort services section, the problem has just moved to a different site; Backpage. On Backpage, escort ads can be posted for as little as $5. With words such a youthful and innocent, one can clearly discern underage females are being sold.
When confronted, the CEOs have little to say about the escort services listed on their sites. Craig's List was supposedly filtering all escort ads posted, but when investigated, it was revealed to be untrue. It is a shame incidences like the Craig's List killer must occur from greedy businesspeople to realize lives are at risk in such an industry.
It is said Backpage is gaining millions from profiting off the extra escort ads posted on their site since Craig's List has taken off its escort services section. The proliferation of this horrendous crime will continue until we have another 'Craig's list killer.' What happened to making an honest wage? The CEOs of these companies which allow escort classifieds are clearly profiting from these girls who are being put into danger every day they spend in the control of their pimps and traffickers.
When is it going to be enough? Prostitution is prohibited in the United States, except in Nevada. Should we not have laws regulating this online? It would be unheard of to open the Sunday paper and see escort services advertised, so why is it acceptable online? There has been much talk of how to regulate online activities, but maybe now is the time to stop talking, and start doing.
28 January 2011
23 June 2009
Recession Boosts Global Human Trafficking, Report Says
WASHINGTON: CNN: 16 June 2009 - The global financial crisis has increased the worldwide trade in trafficked persons, says a State Department report released Tuesday.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report also says trafficking has increased in Africa and slaps six African nations on a blacklist of countries not meeting the minimum standard of combating trafficking.
The report, mandated by Congress, features data and statistics from 175 countries around the world regarding the amount of human trafficking that goes on within their borders.
The report cites the International Labor Organization, which estimates that at least 12.3 million adults and children are victims of forced labor, bonded labor and sex slavery each year.
"This is modern slavery. A crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she announced the report. "With this report, we hope to shine the light brightly on the scope and scale of modern slavery, so all governments can see where progress has been made and where more is needed."
The report says the global economic crisis is boosting the demand for human trafficking because of a growing demand for cheap goods and services.
"A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution," it says.
It predicts that the economic crisis will push more businesses underground to avoid taxes and unionized labor, which will increase the use of forced, cheap and child labor by cash-strapped multinational companies.
African countries Nigeria and Mauritius are praised in the report for making strong efforts to combat trafficking.
But six African nations -- Chad, Eritrea, Mauritania, Niger, Swaziland and Zimbabwe -- were put on the report's "Tier 3" blacklist of countries whose efforts to combat trafficking are inadequate.
Most of the countries are "source" and "destination" countries, the report says, meaning trafficking victims both come from and are sent there. Most are trafficked throughout Africa, but many end up in the Middle East, it says.
Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria remain on the blacklist for another year, with the report saying they often become a destination for trafficked persons who are sold into domestic servitude. Other repeat offenders on the list include North Korea, Myanmar and Fiji.
The State Department also put Malaysia in the Tier 3 list, because of its trafficking of Burmese refugees.
The report cites information that Malaysian immigration officials sold refugees to traffickers operating along its border with Thailand. When the victims were unable to pay a ransom demanded by the traffickers, the report says, they were sold for labor and commercial sex exploitation.
The blacklisted countries are subject to U.S. sanctions if they don't make greater efforts to fight trafficking.
The Philippines, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan were added to a "watch list" because of what the report calls a worsening trafficking record in those countries. The 52 countries on the watch list have failed to to meet the minimum anti-trafficking standards but are making efforts to do so.
For the first time, countries that have been on the watch list for two years -- including China, Russia, India, Sri Lanka and Egypt -- will automatically be moved to the Tier 3 blacklist next year without a presidential waiver if they fail improve their trafficking record, the State Department said.
This year, the Justice Department also put out a report on U.S. efforts to combat trafficking efforts at home. In 2008, the FBI opened 132 trafficking investigations, made 139 arrests and obtained 94 convictions.
Clinton invited to Tuesday's event members of Congress who are active on the issue, as well as global advocates for trafficking victims, in an effort to give the issue a higher profile and shine a spotlight on the need to combat it.
Calling for a renewed worldwide partnership between countries and non-governmental organizations to combat trafficking, Clinton said, "Trafficking thrives in the shadows, and it can be easy to dismiss it as something that happens to someone else, somewhere else. But that's not the case.
"Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on Earth, and that includes our own," she said, calling trafficking a "grave problem" in the United States.
For the first time, she said, the United States next year will rank its own efforts at combating trafficking along with the rest of the world. She expressed hope that it will be on the Tier 1 list of countries that are making robust efforts.
The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report also says trafficking has increased in Africa and slaps six African nations on a blacklist of countries not meeting the minimum standard of combating trafficking.
The report, mandated by Congress, features data and statistics from 175 countries around the world regarding the amount of human trafficking that goes on within their borders.
The report cites the International Labor Organization, which estimates that at least 12.3 million adults and children are victims of forced labor, bonded labor and sex slavery each year.
"This is modern slavery. A crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she announced the report. "With this report, we hope to shine the light brightly on the scope and scale of modern slavery, so all governments can see where progress has been made and where more is needed."
The report says the global economic crisis is boosting the demand for human trafficking because of a growing demand for cheap goods and services.
"A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution," it says.
It predicts that the economic crisis will push more businesses underground to avoid taxes and unionized labor, which will increase the use of forced, cheap and child labor by cash-strapped multinational companies.
African countries Nigeria and Mauritius are praised in the report for making strong efforts to combat trafficking.
But six African nations -- Chad, Eritrea, Mauritania, Niger, Swaziland and Zimbabwe -- were put on the report's "Tier 3" blacklist of countries whose efforts to combat trafficking are inadequate.
Most of the countries are "source" and "destination" countries, the report says, meaning trafficking victims both come from and are sent there. Most are trafficked throughout Africa, but many end up in the Middle East, it says.
Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria remain on the blacklist for another year, with the report saying they often become a destination for trafficked persons who are sold into domestic servitude. Other repeat offenders on the list include North Korea, Myanmar and Fiji.
The State Department also put Malaysia in the Tier 3 list, because of its trafficking of Burmese refugees.
The report cites information that Malaysian immigration officials sold refugees to traffickers operating along its border with Thailand. When the victims were unable to pay a ransom demanded by the traffickers, the report says, they were sold for labor and commercial sex exploitation.
The blacklisted countries are subject to U.S. sanctions if they don't make greater efforts to fight trafficking.
The Philippines, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan were added to a "watch list" because of what the report calls a worsening trafficking record in those countries. The 52 countries on the watch list have failed to to meet the minimum anti-trafficking standards but are making efforts to do so.
For the first time, countries that have been on the watch list for two years -- including China, Russia, India, Sri Lanka and Egypt -- will automatically be moved to the Tier 3 blacklist next year without a presidential waiver if they fail improve their trafficking record, the State Department said.
This year, the Justice Department also put out a report on U.S. efforts to combat trafficking efforts at home. In 2008, the FBI opened 132 trafficking investigations, made 139 arrests and obtained 94 convictions.
Clinton invited to Tuesday's event members of Congress who are active on the issue, as well as global advocates for trafficking victims, in an effort to give the issue a higher profile and shine a spotlight on the need to combat it.
Calling for a renewed worldwide partnership between countries and non-governmental organizations to combat trafficking, Clinton said, "Trafficking thrives in the shadows, and it can be easy to dismiss it as something that happens to someone else, somewhere else. But that's not the case.
"Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on Earth, and that includes our own," she said, calling trafficking a "grave problem" in the United States.
For the first time, she said, the United States next year will rank its own efforts at combating trafficking along with the rest of the world. She expressed hope that it will be on the Tier 1 list of countries that are making robust efforts.
11 June 2009
Officials Want More Pressure on Human Trafficking
The NY Times: 10 June 2009 - WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration and Sen. Chuck Schumer want to step up pressure on human-trafficking operations by taking away their safe houses.
Schumer announced plans Wednesday to propose legislation to allow federal agents to seize houses if they can prove the buildings were used by smugglers to shelter illegal immigrants temporarily.
Under current law, the home owner must be convicted of a smuggling-related offense before prosecutors can seize the safe house.
Officials say taking safe houses out of play could disrupt many smuggling operations. Federal law allows prosecutors to seize houses in drug cases, money laundering and child pornography, but not for human smuggling.
''This policy needs to be fixed right away,'' Schumer, D-N.Y., said after a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. ''It can put a serious dent in the operations of the Mexican cartels that deal in human trafficking.''
Richard Stana, director of Homeland Security and Justice programs at the Government Accountability Office, said he doesn't know why the administration and Congress hasn't made this a priority in the past.
Stana said that in dealing with human smuggling operations, the goal is to take away the tools used to carry out the operation -- specifically the houses where illegal immigrants are hidden by their smugglers.
In Florida, a high (-tech) eye on smugglers
Los Angeles Times: 21 May 2009 - A new computer system and camera installed in government aircraft can study a wide stretch of ocean, zoom in on a single vessel, and track courses for easy interception by the Coast Guard.
Off The Florida Coast — They can spot the smile on a suspected smuggler's face from 10,000 feet in the air, record full-color video of his run for shore and simultaneously track 5,000 ships spread over hundreds of miles of ocean.
Flying above the Atlantic about halfway between Florida and the Bahamas, the latest addition to the government's anti-smuggling arsenal can track the trajectory of a boat leaving Cuba and compare it -- in seconds -- to every filed course plan for vessels on the water. And if the boat seems suspicious, the computer will calculate course, speed and relative positions to tell the nearest Coast Guard vessel the bearings to follow to intercept it.
"With the old system, you were looking through a straw for a quarter on a card table," said Michael Ringgold, an air interdiction agent who worked with the engineers to develop the new system. "Now you're looking with your eyes open at the whole room."
Only two airplanes -- both belonging to the United States -- carry this combination of smuggler-spotting equipment and computer software. One belongs to the Miami office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The new computer can identify and filter out hundreds of legitimate cargo ships or boats within minutes. With the old system, it could take up to 10 minutes for a radar operator to manually identify a single vessel. The computer also matches the outline of any unidentified craft against its database to determine what type of vessel it is -- a freighter, sailboat or yacht, for instance. The time saved allows operators to concentrate on other suspicious targets.
"In a sense, you have an air-traffic control system for the ocean," said Blake Page, a Dallas-based radar expert.
The system proved itself while it was still in development last May, flying test missions aboard a Customs twin-engine turboprop Bombardier Dash 8 while engineers worked out kinks in the computer code.
Ringgold used the system's powerful camera to spot and record a boat near Cay Sal, Bahamas, with a suspicious tarp covering the back. With three clicks of a mouse, he was able to give the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Chandeleur the coordinates to intercept the boat, which carried 20 Cubans. On April 14, a Key West federal jury convicted Ricardo Espildora on 22 counts of human smuggling charges in the case.
Human trafficking raids
BBC: 29 May 2009 - Six women have been rescued from human traffickers who were forcing them to work as prostitutes in brothels run by the Chinese mafia here.
Three people were arrested in the searches that took place in five different locations - Belfast, Londonderry and Newry in Northern Ireland, and Birmingham and Kidderminster in England.
Our Home Affairs Correspondent, Vincent Kearney, was there when the Belfast raids took place.
Human trafficking - Belfast raid
Twenty women have now been rescued from human traffickers here in just over a year.
In the north west, where another search took place, Women's Aid welcomed the police action and urged women who are being abused in any way to come forward.
This from our north west reporter, Keiron Tourish.
Human trafficking raid - Londonderry
10 June 2009
MPs warn of 'slave trade' in UK
BBC: 14 May 2009 - Britain is the destination for what amounts to a modern-day "slave trade", the Home Affairs committee has warned.
The cross-party group of MPs, which is tasked with scrutinising the Home Office, said there are at least 5,000 human trafficking victims in Britain.
The committee said most are women and children who are forced to work in the sex trade or as beggars.
MPs criticise a lack of safe-house places and "major gaps" in awareness at the UK Border Agency.
The committee also warned that some 60% of trafficked children held in council homes go missing and are never found.
'Enforcement patchy'
The report states that some homes are used by traffickers as "holding pens" for their victims until they are ready to pick them up.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz said there was a lack of understanding of the situation among authorities.
He said: "This is not immigration crime and cannot be dealt with as such. What we are seeing is in effect a resurgence of a type of slave trade.
"Yet we have no good information on the scale of the problem, enforcement is patchy, prosecution rates are low and there is little protection for victims."
Missing children
Mr Vaz's comments come a week after Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to investigate reports that trafficking gangs have targeted a children's home next to Heathrow airport.
According to the Guardian newspaper, a report from the UK Border Agency showed more than 80 Chinese children have gone missing from the home since 2006.
The report, which was marked "restricted", said the centre had become a "clearing house" for international gangs.
It says Chinese children who arrive alone at the airport are taken into local authority care, and in two thirds of cases vanish within a week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
