Man Sells Foster Daughter Into Prostitution

Pimps can be strangers to their child victims, but they are often someone the victim trusts, like a boyfriend, a parent, or a family member. In a case out of Maryland recently, Shelby Lewis sold his 12-year-old foster daughter, along with three other girls, into prostitution — the price of the “rent” he charged them for living in his home. This case is an excellent case study of what domestic minor sex trafficking looks like in the U.S., since it has a number of very common factors present.

* First, the victim was a part of the foster care system. It’s common for American girls who are eventually trafficked by pimps to have been in foster care at one point in their lives. The connection between foster care and trafficking is due to both the vulnerability of young people without stable homes and the dysfunction of many foster care systems in the U.S.

Second, the pimp was someone the victim knew as a protector. While pimps can be strangers, they often approach victims first as boyfriends, friends, stepfathers, family members, etc. They groom the victim to rely on them and then claim, as Lewis did, that the cost of their protection and love is prostitution.

Third, the victims started in their early teens. Lewis first began pimping his foster daughter out when she was 12. He also sold three other girls, who he began exploiting at 13, 14, and 16. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12-14 in the U.S., so the ages of the victims in this case are typical.

Fourth, one of his victims was registered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It’s not unusual for children who are reported missing, either as runaways or as kidnapping victims, end up in the hands of pimps like Lewis.

Lastly, child pornography makes an appearance in this case, as it does in many others. Lewis had pictures of his victims tied to beds in sexual poses at his apartment. Pimps can earn money by selling pornographic images of the girls they exploit in addition to selling the girls themselves.

While one of these factors might not be present in all cases of domestic minor sex trafficking, they are certainly present in a number of them. This case is an example of how the issue of child trafficking in the U.S. is deeply connected to the need for reform of the foster care system and better education for girls. The questions this case begs are much broader than just those related to human trafficking: Why are foster youths so susceptible to trafficking? Why are men buying girls so young for sex? It’s a reminder that we must always view trafficking within the context of social issues pimps utilize to help them traffic girls.



source: http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/man_sells_foster_daughter_into_prostitution

TED Case Studies: Trafficking of Burmese Women and Children into Thailand

This study is 12 years old, I posted it so the public can see this problem isn’t a new one.

Trafficking of Burmese Women and Children into Thailand

Case Number: 426
Case Mnemonic: MYANSEX
Case Name: Myanmar Sex Trade

A. IDENTIFICATION

1. The Issue

Trade in human beings for sex industry work and the continued
trafficking of women and children into Thailand from Myanmar is a
major human rights violation and also a serious health issue. In
a given year, thousands of Burmese women and children are bought
and sold as commodities, destined to become prostitutes. In
Thailand, ever younger girls are being lured and abducted into
forced prostitution, because they are thought to be safe from AIDS
(acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The expansion of the sex
market to include this safe commodity (young girls) has resulted in
the creation of activist groups against the exploitation of
children. These local and international groups, particularly
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), have been effective in
informing the world about the problem of trafficked women and
children.

2. Description

Although the illegal trafficking in women and girls
possesses distinct characteristics in each country or region where
it occurs, certain patterns have emerged that cut across
geographical boundaries. In a typical situation, a women or girl
is first recruited by an agent who promises a good job in another
country or province. In the case of Thailand, the common practice
is to lure young Burmese women to Thailand with promises of
employment as a waitress or domestic servant — but instead, the
girls are tricked into working as prostitutes.
As part of their recruitment or abduction, the women and girls
are controlled through debt bondage. The initial debt is usually
a payment to the woman’s family at the time of recruitment, which
she must repay, with interest, by working in a brothel. This debt
also includes the brothel owner’s normal charge of food, clothes,
medicine and other expenses. Escape is virtually impossible
without repaying the debt. Leaving the brothel without repayment
puts the woman at risk of punishment by the brothel owner, or
pimps. Also retribution against the prostitutes’ parents and other
relatives for defaulting on her debt is not uncommon. To make
matters worse, police can and do arrest the trafficked woman on
illegal immigrant charges. The distance from home, lack of
familiarity with local language or dialect, and inability to find
local support networks further reinforce the women’s and girls’
dependence on the brothel owners and pimps.
Many thousands of women and children from Myanmar are lured,
abducted or sold into brothels in Thailand. They are bartered at
prices that vary depending on their age, beauty and virginity.
Women and children who have been trafficked can rarely escape, and
are victims of exploitation. While it is true that heavy
trafficking of persons, particularly women, has taken place from
the Shan State in Myanmar for an extended period, the present
situation sees women from all over Myanmar being lured into
prostitution because of economic difficulties.
The number of Burmese women and girls recruited to work in
Thailand brothels has soared in recent years as an indirect
consequence of political repression in Myanmar by the ruling State
Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and because of improved
economic relations between Myanmar and Thailand. After the 1988
crack down on the pro-democracy movement by the Burmese military,
many countries around the world responded with economic sanctions
and withdrawal of foreign aid, resulting in the shortage of foreign
capital and exchange for Myanmar. Desperate for foreign exchange,
SLORC turned to Thailand which offered a range of economic
concessions. Such economic links led to official openings along
Thai-Myanmar border, allowing both Thai and Burmese citizens to
cross the common border easily (1).
This opening of trade and border crossings has facilitated the
rise in trafficking of men, women and children from Myanmar. The
same routes which are used to transport drugs and goods are now
also used to transport people. Although trafficking in women and
girls has become a lucrative and expanding cross-border trade,
which routinely escapes effective national and international
sanctions. This is due to corruption among police and immigration
officials at borders who aid the illegal passage of traffic in
persons.
A border boom brought about by the increased trade with
Myanmar, coupled with the profitable tourist industry in Thailand,
has increased the demand for women in the sex industry, especially
for younger girls. Tourism in Thailand generates some US$4 billion
annually, and sex is one of its most valuable sub-sectors(2).
Combined with the tourist demand for prostitutes, the local demand
is also high and helps sustain the sex market in Thailand. It is
estimated that 75 percent of Thai men have had sex with prostitutes
(3).
In addition to economic ties with Thailand, Myanmar’s
suppressive military regime has led many members of ethnic minority
groups to become economically desperate enough to be recruited into
prostitution. Myanmar continues to be ruled by a highly
authoritarian military regime, (SLORC), which is widely condemned
for its serious human rights abuses. There continues to be
credible reports, particularly in ethnic minority areas, that
soldiers commit serious human rights abuses, including
extrajudicial killing and rape. Disappearance continues, and
prison conditions remain harsh, with the members of security force
randomly beating or otherwise abusing prisoners. Arbitrary
arrests and detention continue for expression of dissenting
political views, resulting in a few thousand students and
dissidents remaining in exile in Thailand.
According to a US Department of State Report on Myanmar,
approximately 90,000 people were residing in ethnic minority camps
along the Thai-Burma border, among these are thousands of new
arrivals driven out by army attacks in the ares controlled by the
Karen and Karenni ethnic minorities.(4) SLORC is suppressing
ethnic minority groups that are fighting for autonomy, and
consequently, women belonging to these groups, such as the Karen,
face difficulties because of militarism and the resulting economic
hardship. Discrimination against women and ethnic minorities,
violence against women and child prostitution, as well as
trafficking in women and girls in border areas remains a serious
problem.(5) Many women and children of the ethnic minority groups
in border areas, and particularly in the Shan State, were forced or
lured into working as prostitutes in Thailand.
The main center for trafficking in Eastern Myanmar is
Kengtung, in Shan State, Northern Burma. Thousands of Burmese
women of Akha, Lisu, Wa, Shan, Tai Yai and Burman ethnic origin are
bought, recruited and then sent on to Northern Thailand.
The following factors help to encourage the trafficking of
women from the Eastern Shan State. Shan women face severe
economic, physical, religious, cultural and political
discrimination. They are expected to find work that will support
their parents and families, as well as to work the fields and do
the house work when at home. Religious discrimination takes place
in the context of Theravada Buddhism. Shan women are not
considered pure enough even to enter the temples in central pagoda
areas. At an official level, there is little participation of Shan
women in the local decision making process.
The adverse socioeconomic conditions in Myanmar increase the
likelihood that women and girls will be lured into forced
prostitution. Notably in rural areas, women and girls have little
education and few economic opportunities. Myanmar is a poor
country, with an estimated average per capita income of US$200 to
US$300 per year on a cash basis or about US$600 to US$800 on a
purchasing power parity basis.(6) The complete lack of development
in the Eastern Shan State have also contributed to migration. In
many areas there are no roads, let alone cars, schools or clinics.
The vast majority of Shan women never had the opportunity to go to
school. Those who decide to cross the border into Thailand often
know nothing about AIDS. It is widely understood that prostitution
is an employment option where they can raise more money than
through any other work, given their limited education. Thus, the
burgeoning trade in women and girls is linked fundamentally to the
women’s unequal status.
Disturbingly, some of these agents who recruit young women for
the brothel gangs in urban centers in Thailand are ordinary people
who are known by the women. Sometimes trusted villagers and townsþ
people or even friends and relatives have been known to lure
unsuspecting women to leave their homes with promises of jobs with
high wages, such as waitressing, in Thailand.
Once they arrive in Thailand, these victims rarely stay in
one location. While some women stay in one brothel for a year or
more, many are frequently moved around by the owners to avoid being
caught or found by the womenþs family members who want them back.
Many Burmese women end up in brothels in Ranong province which are
usually owned by Thai businessmen and employ both Thai and Burmese
women. Brothel owners use a combination of threats, force, debt
bondage and illegal confinement to control the women and girls, and
force them to work in deplorable conditions. This eliminates any
possibility of escape. In many cases, the women especially those
from Myanmar are forced to work in conditions which amount to
nothing short of slavery. Most of them are confined to their rooms
and only occasionally allowed to go out under the guard of a pimp.
For example, one brothel from which prostitutes were freed was
surrounded by barbed wired and an electrified fence (7).
Procurement and trafficking for the purpose of forced
prostitution are not only widespread in Thailand, but in many
instances occur with the direct involvement of the Thai police or
border guards. Police and immigration agents at the border not
only aid in the passage of Burmese women and girls, police
involvement extends to maintaining forced prostitution after the
women and girls enter the brothel. Brothels in Thailand are
officially illegal, but they continue to flourish. Brothels
routinely operate with police knowledge and police protection. For
instance, the Crime Suppression Division of the police force raided
houses suspected to be brothels in Bangkok and found account books
listing protection payments to Thai government officials (8).
Furthermore, police also are frequent clients at brothels.
Women and girls from brothels in the Ranong area who are
arrested as illegal immigrants are normally deported back to
Myanmar by Thai police and immigration officials. In most
deportations, many victims are met by agents offering to take them
to Bangkok for sex work, again (9). Or, the deported victims go
straight into the arms of SLORC officials who, in turn, charge them
of illegally leaving Myanmar and send them to prison.
The young women who are trafficked internationally are
especially victimized because of the language barrier in their
destination country. This creates a situation where they are
easily exploited by customers, are at the mercy of brothel owners,
are at disadvantage seeking help if they run away, are unaware of
laws that might protect them. Besides being forced to work off
their debt, which can take years, the women are charged for all
their expenses at the brothel. It is believed that some 20,000
women from Myanmar are presently in Thai brothels, with 10,000 new
recruits each year. The total number of prostitutes in Thailand is
estimated between 800,000 and 2 million (10).
Victims of forced prostitution are particularly exposed to
health risks, especially sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),
including AIDS, because they are not allowed to negotiate the terms
of sex. Aside from the risk of infection through sexual
intercourse with many clients, the growing popularity of
contraceptive injections in brothels also contributes to the spread
of disease, since brothels owners often use the same and possibly
contaminated needle several times. Other women have become
infertile due to STDs and, thus, unmarriageable. This is a great
stigma in cultures where the primary purpose of marriage is
procreation (11). Upon returning to Myanmar, these victims are
shunned by SLORC for being both minority ethnic members and
prostitutes and many are thrown into jails allegedly for illegal
migration to Thailand. Some are forced to return to prostitution
back in Thailand in order to support themselves. Many Burmese
prostitutes, who were known to have AIDS, are murdered by Burmese
soldiers when upon returning to Myanmar (12).
A report from the United Nations International Drug Control
Program states that 74.3% of all tested drug users, 9% of the
prostitutes, 0.5% of blood donors and 1.4% of pregnant women in
Myanmar were HIV-positive (13). The AIDS virus is spreading at an
extreme pace among prostitutes in Asia. Thailand could have up to
800,000 people infected with the virus, and Myanmar — where
condoms were banned until 1992 and are still rare — has some
400,000 infected people (14).
In Thailand, which has a high prevalence rate of HIV, the
clients fear of infection has led traffickers to recruit younger
women and girls, sometimes as young as ten. Many come from remote
areas in neighboring countries which are perceived to be unaffected
by the AIDS pandemic. This ensures their “purity” or virginity
which increase their value (15). Child prostitution in Thailand
refers to children under fourteen. Although pedophiles have always
sought out young children, the AIDS scare has escalated the use of
children by all consumers. Young children are sometimes marketed
as ‘virgins’ in order to attract customers who believe that
children are not exposed to AIDS, and thus can provide safe sex.
Moreover, virgins are in great demand among Chinese from
Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Chinese men prize sexual
intercourse with young girls for the rejuvenating properties they
believe to be associated with the act. According to O’Grady,
“there are surprisingly large number of aging and wealthy Chinese
businessmen who believe that they must deflower a virgin at least
once a year to gain the energy needed to be successful in their
business enterprise and have a long life”(16). However, the idea
that a child is safer than an adult in terms of transmitting STDs
and AIDS is only fallacy. In fact, children are at greater risks
because of youth: their vaginas and anuses are easily torn,
creating sores and bleeding that permit the AIDS virus to spread
quickly.
Dr. Werasit, director of AIDS research at the Anonymous Clinic
run by the Red Cross and World Health Organization (WHO) in
Bangkok, completed his tests of prostitution in the Chiang Mai area
in December of 1992. Four out of five prostitutes tested in the
Chiang Mai area were HIV-positive. He estimated that 50 to 80
percent of prostitutes in Thailand are infected. According to the
WHO, between 125,000 and 150,000 Thais will have died from AIDS by
1997. The Population and Community Development Association of
Thailand estimates that AIDS could infect as many as 5.3 million by
the year 2000, with more than a projected million dead from AIDS
(17). Thailand, as a developing nation, does not have the health-
care infrastructure to deal with an epidemic of this impending
size. It will be easy for prostitutes to become part of a
disposable population that receives little, if any, health care.
The epidemic could eventually throttle the country’s economic
boom, which has exported its way to an annual growth rate averaging
7.5 percent over the last decade. Since rapid economic growth has
already created a shortage of technically skilled Thais, losses
from AIDS will add a still greater cost to the work force. “The
center of gravity of the AIDS epidemic in the world is moving to
Asia,” says David E. Bloom, professor of economics at Columbia
University in New York (18). The gravity of the AIDS crisis has
begun to wake up Western transnational and Asian corporations.
These companies facing a scarcity of skilled labor in many parts of
Asia could face more problems if they suddenly began to lose
experienced staff to AIDS.
Health-care costs are sure to skyrocket, a labor shortage will
emerge, and foreign investment could dry up. Treatment for AIDS,
excluding expensive drugs, costs $1,000 a year, or 50 percent of
the annual income for an average family. Each death due to AIDs,
which usually strikes victims in the peak of their productive
years, equals a loss in future earnings of $22,000 per person.
This is compounded by the slacking off of the $5 billion tourism
industry, in part from the impact of AIDS (19).
The virus spreads rapidly from country to country in part
because of trafficking of prostitutes across borders, but also
because customers tend to hop from place to place. Sex tours
started in Japan, allowing groups of men to visit brothels in South
Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Now South Korean and Taiwanese men
are prosperous enough to travel on sex tours of their own to places
like Bangkok or Manila.
Southeast Asia is now the world’s number one destination for
tourists looking for sex.(20). Many sex tourists are from the
West, but a great number of Japanese and Chinese are also drawn by
the low prices, easy access to prostitutes of either sex at any age
and the lack of enforcement of laws. Without doubt, the rising sex
tourism is contributing to the spread of AIDS everywhere. It is
also true in Thailand that prostitutes who use condoms with their
clients do not necessarily use them with men whom they are have
personal relationships, and, hence, intimate relationships
currently present a great danger in contracting STDs and AIDS (21).
At the same time, those Thai men who frequently visit prostitutes
also present the same danger to their wives and girlfriends at
home.
Sex tourism in Asia is fed both by the use of local women and
children and by international trafficking in persons. Sex tourism
is closely tied to economic development in Thailand. The enormous
increase in sex tourism in Thailand in the 1970s and 1980s is
directly tied to the Vietnam War. Bangkok became a major center
for Rest and Recreation (R & R) leave, commonly known the by GIs as
I & I (Intoxication and Intercourse).(22) A large and steady
stream of dollars entered the local economy through the sex
industry. When the war ended, the Thai government, the military,
and business, needed to continue the flow of foreign exchange
earnings. To this end, they promoted sex tourism, to such an extent
that a group of high-ranking military generalþs wives created a
travel agency to organize the tours. After the war, many Americans
chose not to go home. The saying was that there were no MIA in
Vietnam; in reality they were all MIBs — Mischief in Bangkok.(23)
From 1965 to 1993, the number of tourists grew from 250,000 to over
5 billion (24).
Tour agencies in industrialized countries, especially Japan,
Australia, Europe, North America, and recently, Korea, organize
tours to major sex industry centers for men explicitly for sexual
activity. Cities and resort areas specialize in particular types
of sex or certain nationalities of men. For example, a city in
northern Thailand is a noted homosexual center. Various areas in
Bangkok are set up to serve men from different countries. Patpong
is the famous area for Western tourists. Several island resorts in
Thailand are specifically for pedophiles, and their remote nature
makes them that much more difficult to be found in order to protest
their acts.
The exploitation of boys and girls exemplify the single most
unsavory element of the worldwide growth in the sex trade: an
explosion in child prostitution, driven in part by the fear of
AIDS. Since 1985, child prostitution has escalated dramatically
worldwide. In the developing world the number of child prostitutes
are staggering: an estimated 800,000 underage prostitutes in
Thailand, 400,000 in India, 250,000 in Brazil and 60,000 in the
Philippines.(25) The newest international sites for child
prostitution are Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China and the Dominican
Republic.
In recent years, religious groups, and feminist organizations,
and nongovernmental organizations have begun to press for an end to
sex tourism. For example, in Thailand, the recent government
efforts to curb the sex industry can be viewed, in part, as
facilitated by the growth of female tourists, new social movements
against women and child prostitutes, and of the increasing
awareness of AIDS.
Example of the newly emerged social movement group is The End
Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), founded in 1990 by
Asia-based Christian groups, now has offices in 14 nations and
extensive links with religious and social organizations around the
world dedicated to fighting child prostitution. Pressure by ECPAT,
and groups like it has already had some impact; in 1992 the
Philippine government adopted a Child Protection Code to guard
against child abuse.
Another effective fighter against sexual exploitation of
children is the Task Force to End Child Exploitation in Thailand,
a coalition of 24 government and private agencies dedicated to
exposing links between Europe and the child sex trade in Bangkok.
In 1991, the group disclosed the existence of a Swiss network of
airline-ticket agencies catering to European pedophiles.(26)
Local, regional and international nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) have been at the forefront of efforts to raise
awareness of trafficking and to press for accountability. NGOs,
particularly local groups, are carrying out desperately needed
programs to warn girls and their families of the dangers of
trafficking, shelter those who have managed to escape, provide
urgent medical and psychological care, assist in repatriation, and
press governments to strengthen domestic laws against trafficking.
The work of NGOs has filled the gaps left by government
inaction and, at times, has led to governmentsþ improving their
behavior. For example, in Thailand, NGOs working alone find that
after they rescue girls and send them back to their country, they
often come back again, especially those from Myanmar and the border
areas, where the ongoing political conflict meant there was no one
to take care of the children sent back across the border. Thus,
NGOs have sheltered Burmese women and girls and found safe,
undisclosed ways to return them home over the borders. In
addition, Thai NGOs have advocated that their government adopt the
necessary legislation and ratify the relevant international
instruments to improve projections for trafficking victims.
From the international level, according to the American-based
human-rights group, Asia Watch, the Thai government turns a blind
eye to the traffic in women and girls brought from Myanmar to
Thailand in forced prostitution.(27) Furthermore, the border
controls that exist between Thailand and Myanmar are evaded by
corrupt police on both sides. According to the Asia Watch, despite
clear evidence of direct official involvement in every stage of the
trafficking process, no Thai officer has been prosecuted, except in
one highly publicized case of murder.(28)
Due to the NGOs demand, in March 1994 the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights adopted Resolution 1994/45 calling for
the elimination of trafficking in women for the purposes of
prostitution. The appointment of a U.N. Special Rapporteur on
Violence Against Women and the work of the U.N. Special Rapporteur
on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography,
in particular, have helped put pressure on the U.N. and its members
to recognize the seriousness of the trafficking problem. U.N.
Specialized agencies, including UNICEF, UNDP and WHO, have begun to
analyze the issue of trafficking and prostitution in relation to
their education, development, and relief work. The International
Police Organization (INTERPOL) has also held several conferences on
trafficking and has attempted to coordinate cross-border efforts of
law enforcement agencies to curb trafficking in children, as
mentioned earlier.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) launched a program
to combat the trafficking of children and their exploitation in
prostitution and sweatshops in Asia in the beginning of 1997. In
Southeast Asia, Thailand appears to be the center of the problem
according to ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child
Labor (IPEC) for Asia. In addition to prostitution, surveys by ILO
and NGOs found foreign boys and girls, mainly from Myanmar, in
factories, construction sites, gas station and sweatshops in
Bangkok and across the country.(29) Economic progress and
development in Thailand may have actually contributed to the flow
of children from other countries of the Mekong River region, where
many face poverty and underdevelopment, political instability and
civil war.

3. Related Cases

THAIAIDS case
CIGAR case
THAITOUR case
CANALTH case
TEAK

Keyword Clusters
(1) Trade Product = HUMAN beings
(2) Bio-geography = TROPical
(3) Environmental Problem = Health

4. Draft Author: Kalaya Chareonying (April 3, 1997)

B. LEGAL Clusters

5. Discourse and Status: DISagreement and ALLEGation

6. Forum and Scope: Thailand and REGION

7. Decision Breadth: 2 (Myanmar, Thailand)

8. Legal Standing: Law

Thailand historically has addressed the problem of
trafficking of women by adopting several international laws
concerning this issue. Thailand ratified three international
agreements that ended the sanction of prostitution by the
government. These three agreements are:
1. The international Agreement for the Suppression of the
White Slave Trade of 1904.
2. The International Convention of the Suppression of the
Traffic in Women and Children of 1922.
3. The International Convention for the Suppression of the
Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of
Others of 1950.
Under the terms of the third agreement, state parties “agree
to punish any person who, to gratify the passions of another,
procures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution,
another person…”(30) Furthermore, Article 5 of the Traffick
Convention requires state parties to sanction any person who runs
or finances a brothel.
Additionally, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) also reiterated the
state parties to take all appropriate measures to suppress the
traffic in women.(31)
Despite the passage of the Suppression of Prostitution Act,
the Thai governmentþs commitment to eradicating prostitution was
called into serious question with the introduction of the
Entertainment Places Act of 1966 (the R & R treaty). This act
regulates nightclubs, dance halls, bars and places for massage or
steam baths which have women attend to customers. This law
basically allows prostitutes to operate under the disguise of those
entertainment establishments. Thus, Thailand has contributed to
both the trafficking of human beings and forced prostitution by not
enforcing laws that it has ratified.

C. GEOGRAPHIC Clusters

9. Geographic Locations

a. Geographic Domain: Asia
b. Geographic Site: Southeast Asia
c. Geographic Impact: Thailand and Myanmar

10. Sub-National Factors: NO

11. Type of Habitat: TROPical

D. TRADE Clusters

12. Type of Measure: Regulatory Standard

13. Direct vs. Indirect Impacts: INDirect

14. Relation of Measure to Environment Impact

a. Directly Related: YES Human beings
b. Indirectly Related: NO
c. Not Related: NO
d. Process Related: YES Health

15. Trade Product Identification: Entertainment

16. Economic Data

With the existing law enforcement officials, Thailand already
has the human resources to carry out the Anti-Trafficking Law,
given those involved are not corrupt. In addition, Thailand has
the economic resources generated from the tourism industry to carry
out anti-child prostitution and anti-AIDS campaigns. However, the
alarming data about the possible number of AIDS cases by the year
2000 has worried not only the Thai government, but also foreign
investors who must rely on a good standing labor force for economic
progress of the country.

17. Impact of Measure of Trade Competitiveness: HIGH

18. Industry Sector: Services

19. Exporter and Importer: Myanmar and Thailand

E. Environmental Clusters

20. Environmental Problem Type: Health

21. Species

22. Impact and Effect: HIGH and REGULatory

23. Urgency and Lifetime: HIGH and about 60 years

24. Substitutes: Ecotourism

F. OTHER Factors

25. Culture: YES

A double-standard code of conduct reinforces and reflects the
demand for prostitution. In Thai society, while strict rules of
sexual conduct are applied to women, men can maintain their sexual
freedom, and in many cases promiscuity is taken as proof of
manhood. A demonstration of heterosexual orientation by having sex
with a female prostitute is an important rite of passage for some
groups of Thai men.(32) For example, it is a common practice for
second-year university students to take freshmen to the local
brothel.(33) One study has shown that many Thai men, around 73%,
have their first sexual experience with a prostitute.(34) In
addition, according to Harvard researcher Hnin Hnin Pyne, 75% of
Thai men frequently visit prostitutes (35).
Furthermore, many Thai people accept as the norm sexual non-
restraint for males. In a recent study by Deemar Corporation, 80%
of the males and 74% of the females responded that it was þnatural
for men to pursue sex at every opportunityþ (36). Many Thai men
continue visiting prostitutes after marriage and their spouses
accept this as an alternative to having an affair. Since divorced
Thai women end up alone, many are forced to stay with their
irresponsible husbands. Thus, the promiscuity of Thai men and the
mentality that leads to this promiscuity are key reasons for the
enormity of the prostitution problem.

26. Trans-Border: YES

Trafficked victims are not only sent to Thailand for
prostitution, but Thailand is also used as the main route for
sending prostitutes to other countries.

27. Human Rights: YES

It does not matter whether trafficked victims are men, women
or children, with or without STDs or AIDS, they are human beings,
and thus deserved to be treated as human. Many victims who carry
the AIDS virus are shunned by society and the government and are
left to die.

28. Relevant Literature.

(1) “New Border Checkpoints Open,” Bangkok Post, 7 October 1992.

(2) Steven Schlosstein, Asiaþs New Little Dragon (Chicago:
Contemporary Books, 1991), 196-197.

(3) Aaron Sachs, “The Last Commodity: Child Prostitution in
the Developing World,” World Watch (July/August 1994), 28.

(4) “Burma Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996,”
Department of State Human Rights Country Reports (1997 U.S.
Department of State, February 1997).

(5) Ibid.

(6) Ibid.

(7) “An International Trade in Sex Slavery,” Bangkok Post, 18
July 1991.

(8) “89 Suspected Call-girls Arrested,” The Nation (Thailand), 28
July 1993.

(9) Bertil Lintner, “Immigrant viruses,” Far Eastern Economic
Review, 20 February 1992, 31.

(10) “The Slaves from Myanmar,” Economist 330, 5 February 1994: 32.

(11) “Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and
Consequences,” U.N. Document E/CN.4/1995/42, (Geneva: United
Nations, 22 November 1994), 50.

(12) Michael S. Serrill, “Defiling the Children,” Time, 21 June
1993, 53.

(13) Bertil Lintner, “Burma: Plague Without Borders,” Far Eastern
Economic Review 157, 21 July 1994: 26.

(14) Nicholas D. Kristof, “Children for Sale — A special report;
Asian childhoods sacrificed to prosperity’s lust,” New York Time,
14 April 1996.

(15) Marlise Simons, “The Sex Market: Scrounge on the World’s
Children,” New York Times, 9 April 1993.

(16) Ron O’Grady, The Child and the Tourist (Bangkok, ECPAT: 1992),
80.

(17) Steven Erlanger, “A Plague Awaits,” New York Times
Magazine, 14 July 1991, 24.

(18) Ibid., 54.

(19) Joyce Barnathan, “The AIDS Disaster Unfolding in Asia: Nations
are Ill-equipped to Manage the Onslaught,” Business Week, 22
February 1993, 53.

(20) “The Lost Children,” Asiaweek, 7 February 1997, 36.

(21) Cleo Odzer, Patpong Sisters (New York: Blue Moon Books,
1994).

(22) Ibid., 2.

(23) Ibid.

(24) Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific, Economic and
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Bangkok: United Nations,
1994).

(25) Michael S. Serrill, “Defiling the Children,” Time 21 June
1993, 52-56.

(26) Ibid., 52.

(27) A Modern Form of Slavery: Trafficking of Burmese Women
and Girls into Brothels in Thailand (New York: Human Rights Watch,
1993).

(28) Ibid.

(29) “ILO Program to Combat Child Prostitution and Trafficking,”
Agence France Presse, 6 December 1996.

(30) Trafficking Convention, Article 1.

(31) CEDAW, Article 6.

(32) Steven Erlanger, “A plague awaits,” New York Times
Magazine, 14 July 1991, 26.

(33) “Thailand: Sense about sex,” Economist, 8 February 1992,
33.

(34) Tawesak Nopkesorn, Suebpong Sungkorom, and Rungkan Sornlum,
HIV Prevalence and Sexual Behavior among Thai Men aged 21 in
Northern Thailand (Bangkok: Thai Red Cross Society, 1991).

(35) Aaron Sachs, “The Last Commodity: Child Prostitution in the
Developing World,” World Watch (July/August 1994), 28.

(36) Deemar Corporation, Presentations of Findings. Knowledge,
Attitudes and Practices. Study on AIDS in Urban Thailand
(Bangkok: Deemar, 1990), 2; quoted in Mark J. Vanlandingham,
“Sexual activities among never-married men in northern Thailand,”
Demography 30 no. 3 (August 1993): 297-311.
May, 1997

source: http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/MYANSEX.HTM

At The End Of Slavery

This documentary “At the End of Slavery”is important for the public to see. It’s very shocking to see the young children exploited. Young boys and girls being forced into slave labor and sex trafficking. The children range from such young ages,some as young as four years old. Daily we see where more and more sex traffickers are being taken down one by one and these young victims are set free. I hope this film raises awareness about human sex trafficking and modern day slavery.

Slavery is not a thing of the past. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Awareness is key! It’s what fills us with hope of stopping this horrific crime. 30 million men, women and children are are enslaved by violence. You can’t just leave when you want. Torture, severe beatings if you try to run sometimes even death. Please join in International Justice Mission’s battle to fight modern day Slavery. Remember it could be your sister your brother,mother or it could be YOU!


source: http://cjaye57.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/at-the-end-of-slavery/

Ellison receives Journey of Hope Award

The Advocates for Human Rights announces that staff attorney Mary C. Ellison has been recognized by the Battered Women's Legal Advocacy Project (BWLAP) with the 2009 Journey of Hope Award. Gloria Fressia, managing partner at BWLAP, says Ellison received the award "for her outstanding and dedicated legal advocacy on behalf of victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking in Minnesota and around the world."

BWLAP presented the award to Ellison on Oct. 15, at the third annual Journey of Hope, a benefit event for BWLAP. During the last three years, BWLAP has been presenting the Journey of Hope Award to three professionals (Advocate, Attorney, Community Server) whose achievements have shown a major commitment to BWLAP's mission and values. Fressia says that she is "convinced that domestic violence and human trafficking is a continuum of the same reality abuse of the most vulnerable."

With this award, BWLAP wants to "appreciate Mary's extraordinary achievements researching the reality of sex trafficking in Minnesota, collaborating in the publishing of The Advocates For Human Rights' report Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota, and getting legislation passed in Minnesota that increases substantially sex trafficking offenders' penalties while protecting the victim."

Freesia said, "Mary does all that work while educating advocates, attorneys, judges and prosecutors worldwide on the issues of battered women and victims of sex trafficking."

About Mary Ellison

Mary is the daughter of Toby and Marian Ellison of Menomonie. She graduated from Menomonie High School and, in addition to her law degree, holds a bachelor of arts degree from St. Olaf College and a master of arts degree from Colorado State University.

She is a published poet and essayist and the editor of two oral history collections. Prior to law school, she was a consultant to Columbia University's development office, a principal gifts fundraiser for St. Olaf College, and the manger of training services at SunGard BSR, Inc.

Ellison is a staff attorney in the Women's Human Rights Program at The Advocates. She received her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in June 2007 and is admitted to practice in Minnesota.

Since joining the Women's Human Rights Program, Mary co-authored the "Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota;" assisted in conducting two days of meetings in Yerevan, Armenia in June 2008 on "Advocacy and Lobbying for a Domestic Violence Law in Armenia;" advocated for and passed amendments to Minnesota's Sex Trafficking Law in May 2009; and visited Astana, Kazakhstan to deliver a presentation entitled "Best Practices in Legal Reform on Domestic Violence" in June 2009; among other accomplishments.

About The Advocates

The mission of The Advocates for Human Rights is to implement international human rights standards in order to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law. By involving volunteers in research, education, and advocacy, The Advocates builds broad constituencies in the United States and around the world. To advance that purpose, The Advocates has worked with hundreds of members of the Minnesota legal community to protect human rights in our communities. The Advocates appreciates the many dedicated individuals who have offered pro bono services in the form of research and legal representation for asylum seekers, immigrants, and others whose rights are at risk.

About the Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project

The Battered Women's Legal Advocacy Project is a Minnesota statewide organization, founded 13 years ago to be the voice of battered women and children, particularly those who are the most vulnerable because of race, origin, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, isolation, age, and disability. The mission of BWLAP is to promote justice for battered women and children. BWLAP achieves its mission by advocating for system change, advocating to secure access to justice for all, and advocating to improve the legal systems response to battered women and children.




source: http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2009/11/06/variety/doc4af4b10bbee17341607412.txt

Conference for Potential Bidders

Luis CdeBaca
Director, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Dean Acheson Auditorium
Washington, DC
November 5, 2009

Remarks as prepared

Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our third annual bidders’ conference. Before Jane and her staff review with you this year’s solicitation, I wanted to take this opportunity first to thank all of you for the important work you are doing around the world to fight modern-day slavery. You, and groups like yours, have been at the heart of the anti-trafficking movement for more than a decade.

It’s encouraging to see so many familiar faces, and better yet, so many new faces in this room. It’s evidence of how much we’ve grown, and how this issue has captivated more and more people to actively stand up to meet the global challenge of human trafficking. More than 100 organizations confirmed for today’s conference, our largest to date by far.

As we look forward to the next decade and beyond, I want to take this time to share with you broadly some of our policy priorities and objectives which have direct bearing on our international anti-trafficking funding and programming. Since the signing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 by President Clinton, and over the past eight years under the Bush Administration, we have accomplished much using our three “P” paradigm of prevention, prosecution, and protection as a guide.

Around the world, new partnerships between police and NGOs have resulted in the prosecution of thousands of trafficking cases, and a new focus on victims’ rights has resulted in assistance for many thousands of victims. A majority of the world’s countries now have criminal legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons, and global awareness has been immeasurably raised.

But there is still much to do. We need to do more particularly in identifying and addressing the root causes of trafficking. This includes reforming practices that contribute to the trafficking of vulnerable populations. Whether it is young girls denied schooling, ethnic minorities denied citizenship, and migrant workers denied basic protections under the law. Our success in the coming years will be measured by our ability to identify these causal factors and encourage governments to implement relevant reforms. It also includes the need for government leaders to begin to address not only the structures that enable slavery to persist—but to actively build new structures to combat it. That means prosecutions and victim services to be sure, but also a more holistic approach to ensure tax, trade, immigration, and agricultural policies are not contributing to the problem.

As Ambassador, one of my goals is to ensure that every country has the laws and systems in place to stem the tide of slavery. And that they incorporate the issue of slavery into all of their policy decisions. It’s not just a women’s issue, or a children’s issue, or even a human rights issue that can be dusted off from time to time. It is an issue that touches virtually every aspect of society. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat. The destructive effects are far-reaching and impact all of us. To not make necessary changes is a threat to the stability and prosperity of every nation, as modern slavery fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and undermines the rule of law.

As part of our comprehensive effort to tackle this problem in all its facets, Secretary Clinton announced at the release of this year’s TIP Report a fourth “P” in our anti-trafficking strategy: partnership. This includes partnership between governments; between law enforcement and NGOs; between federal, state, and local agencies; and between the public and private sectors. It also means partnership between government and civil society.

This is where many of you come in. Our office is looking for innovative partnerships to enhance our core competencies because we recognize that government can’t do it alone. These partnerships include working with NGOs and international organizations. But it also means engaging lawyers, medical professionals, researchers, and corporations. We are committed to working with you to build sustainable programs. Because together we can help people escape and recover. Together we can attack the root causes of this crime to prevent the enslavement from happening in the first place.

Since FY2001, the USG has committed over $600 million in international anti-trafficking funds. I am proud to say that the United States is currently funding 190 anti-TIP programs in nearly 70 countries. And I am impressed by what our limited amount of funding has been able to accomplish. The programs I am about to mention in particular give us reason for hope and optimism that we can make a difference in punishing traffickers, providing proper treatment and care to victims, and pushing governments to enact proper laws and policies that prevent exploitation and abuse.

In Nepal, the American Bar Association (ABA) is working to enhance the government’s ability to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases. This is done by building the capacity of the key actors in the country. This includes the Nepal Police Force, Women and Children Service Center, and the Human Rights Commission. They are also working on training of judges through the judicial academy, and at the grassroots level through the Kathmandu law school.

In Burundi and the DRC, the Heartland Alliance is providing critical services for the rehabilitation, recovery, and reintegration of sex trafficking victims, including women and children trafficked in armed conflicts. The services include counseling, psychosocial support, and vocational training.

It’s worth mentioning that the Heartland Alliance will also be establishing the first NGO-run TIP shelter in Iraq. Their work, and the work of many who assist trafficking victims, is what enables victims to become survivors. And it is the strength I see in these survivors that motivates me to work on this issue.

Taken together these programs are just a few examples of how we can target our assistance to produce results that make a real difference in the trafficking problem around the world.

In closing, much remains to be done in this fight. There are still countless victims we haven’t reached. Together we have to face the unfinished work of ending slavery in our time. Each of you is an important partner in this work. It is imperative that we build on our common interests of justice and human dignity to attack this phenomenon in partnership. I look forward to hearing from many of you in the coming month.




source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/rm/2009/131464.htm

Not everyone is equal in Canada: aboriginal teenage sex trafficking victims unprotected by law

When thinking about Canada, he or she thinks of well protected environment, animal rights, and humanitarianism. Still, there is a group of people who falls outside of that protection by the Canadian society, and their rights are still neglected.



Aboriginal people are neglected



According to the research, the UN Human development index ranked Canadian aboriginal group has ranked in 68th while Canada ranked in the 8th. Further, the Canadian government only spends $7000-$8000 on aboriginal people while spending $15000-$16000 on Canadians. Furthermore, though the Canadian Health and Social Transfers provision is growing at an average rate of 6.6.%, the budgets have declined by 13% for aboriginal people. Lastly, in 2001, the unemployment rate for Aboriginal people was 19.1% when it was 7.4% for the total population in Canada.



Aboriginal teenagers are the targeted victims of sex trafficking



Aboriginal women continuously become victims of violence, including human trafficking, which demands particular attention from the government. According to the limited data available on the sex trafficking of aboriginal women and children, more than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada over the last few decades. Michael Cettleburgh, a Canadian gang expert, testified that 90% of the teenage urban prostitutes in Canada are aboriginal population. Moreover, roughly 75% of Aboriginal teenage girls are sexually abused. And, 50% of these population are under the age of 14 and a quarter of them are under the age of 7. Experts also testified that the Aboriginal teenagers are in the age between 12 and 14 are prostituting in the north Winnipeg. They are pimped by gang members and selling their bodies for 20 dollars per sex.

Ironically, Canadian socialist parties oppose child trafficking bills to protect these victims



According to a news report in Canada, Canadian socialists refuse to impose harsher crimes on child trafficking offenders. They are according to the report, firmly supported by the criminals and are generally soft on crime. They also believe that 'law-abiding victims of crime are actually responsible for criminal behavior, and that criminals are the real victims of crime.' Even those who are convicted of sex trafficking in the past spent less than five years in jail since their prison time during the pre-trial custody counts as part of sentencing time. For instance, Micheal Lennox mark, a sex trafficking offender, only spent a week in jail for sex trafficking 4 teenagers victims.



?Canadian legislation needs to take sex trafficking more seriously



It was only last May 2008 that the first conviction of human trafficking case in Canada was held. Toronto Sun earlier this year exposed the lack of legal mechanisms to prosecute minor domestic trafficking in Canada. Though 14 years old girl had sexually abused by her pimp, the police could not prosecuted the pimp because she said he was her boyfriend and that she was in love with him. The case is similar to a typical domestic minor trafficking in the U.S., in which the pimp will be dealt severely for pimping a minor regardless of her consent. Perhaps, one is better off if he or she were born as a friendly animal to Canadians or a tree in one of their backyards than an aboriginal teenager in Canadian soil.




source:http://www.examiner.com/x-24740-Norfolk-Human-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d6-Not-everyone-is-equal-in-Canada-aboriginal-girls-vulnerable-to-sex-trafficking

St. Louis man indicted for alleged sex trafficking of children

A 58-year-old man was indicted Thursday on charges of sex trafficking and enticement of children, Acting US Attorney Michael W. Reap said.

According to an affidavit filed in court, law enforcement officers were engaged in an undercover operation to find and arrest people attempting to purchase children or their services, for commercial sex. On July 29, officers received an email in response to an advertisement that young female minors were available for sex.

That email was from James Patrick Grady, who inquired more about the ad and, over the course of exchanging several additional emails, made arrangements to meet with and presumably have sex with a 16-year-old girl. Grady was arrested shortly after arriving at a prearranged location by undercover officers.

A federal grand jury indicted Grady on one felony count of sex trafficking of children, one felony count of coercion and enticement, and one felony count of possession of child pornography. Grady was also charged with a forfeiture count which would require him to give up property that was used to facilitate the criminal activity.

If convicted, each count of sex trafficking and coercion/enticement carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, plus fines up to $500,000. Possession of child pornography carries a penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a fine up to $250,000.


source: http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/997350.html

Operation Twisted Traveler

A Norwalk man and two others landed at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday and walked straight into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Erik Peeters, 41, of Norwalk, Ronald Boyajian, 49, of Menlo Park, and Jack Sporich, 75, of Sedona, Ariz., were the first three men charged with sexually exploiting children in Cambodia under a recent federal enforcement initiative called Operation Twisted Traveler.

Although other Californians have been caught and tried for sex crimes in Southeast Asia before, the three are the first snared under the new program.

The three men, who have been previously convicted of sex offenses in the U.S., face up to 30 years per charge if convicted. The trio are charged under the 2003 PROTECT Act, which strengthened laws related to predatory crimes committed by Americans outside of the United States.

The three were arrested by the Cambodian National Police and were detained before being expelled and placed under the supervision of ICE agents.

They are scheduled to appear in federal court today.

While Cambodians arrested for crimes in the United States are subject to prosecution and sentencing here before expulsion, an agreement between Cambodian and U.S. authorities allows the men to be sent to the U.S. for prosecution.

This is important because, according to Jeffrey Blom of the International Justice Mission, a nongovernment organization
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that helps gather evidence against sex criminals in foreign countries, some foreigners convicted of crimes in Cambodia have been able to bribe their way out of prosecution or sentencing.

Peeters is accused of engaging in sex with at least three Cambodian boys, including a 12-year-old, since his arrival there in May 2008.

Boyajian allegedly had sex with a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl in a notorious sex-trafficking area outside of Phnom Penh called Kilo-11. And Sporich is alleged to have sexually abused at least one Cambodian boy.

A joint effort by ICE and the Department of Justice working with Cambodian police and nongovernment organizations in Cambodia, Operation Twisted Traveler seeks to identify and prosecute so-called “sex tourists,” who travel to Cambodia and Southeast Asia to engage in sex with children.

Calling Cambodia “ground zero” for sex tourism, U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien said with the help of Cambodian officials the United States was providing a new emphasis in the country.

Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for ICE, said the cooperation with Cambodian police is a new and unprecedented development, and Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for ICE, said the cooperation has allowed the U.S. to take a proactive stance in seeking out sex offenders in Cambodia. He added that the U.S. has been working with local officials on investigation and evidence-gathering techniques that will strengthen cases in U.S. courts.

In Long Beach, the news of the arrests was well-received.

Sara Pol-Lim, executive director of the United Cambodian Community, said many Cambodian immigrant parents in the United States worry for their minor children who had to stay behind for various reasons.

Zeshan Khan, who is part of the Stella Link Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit that works to fight the exploitation of Cambodians for illicit sex, said he hopes events such as Monday’s announcement will help continue to shine light on an ongoing problem in Cambodia.

John Morton, Homeland Security assistant secretary for ICE, issued a warning to would-be sex tourists.

“To those American travelers who abuse other people’s children, no matter where you go, we will follow you to the ends of the earth if need be,” he said. “We will find you, and we will prosecute you.”

source:http://www.presstelegram.com/crime/ci_13242466

Women the new pimps in human sex trafficking trade

WOMEN are emerging as the pimps of the global trade in humans with a third of countries reporting more female traffickers than male, a United Nations study shows.

The first international report into the scope of human trafficking, published yesterday, found a disproportionate number of female perpetrators, more than in any other crime, selling other women into slavery in countries including Australia.

With demand for cheap goods and services rising with the fall of the world economy, experts fear labour exploitation will grow.

Sex slavery accounts for 79 per cent of all human trafficking, most victims being women and girls, says the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Global Report On Trafficking In Persons.

It used data from 155 countries to establish patterns in trafficking and what individual nations were doing to fight it.

The office's executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, was alarmed by cases in which victims went on to become ringleaders in the trade. "We need to understand the psychological, financial and coercive reasons why women recruit other women into slavery," he said.

After sex, the second most common trade was in forced labour. These victims were harder to identify than sex slaves, whose work was highly visible and concentrated in cities and along major roads, the report said. By contrast, forced labourers worked in mines, factories and in private homes as domestic slaves.

"Their numbers will surely swell as the economic crisis deepens the pool of potential victims," Mr Costa said.

The view was echoed by Jennifer Burn, the director of the Anti-Slavery Project at the University of Technology, Sydney. She said Australia's visa system was open to exploitation. "We have a visa system built around the idea that we have a skills shortage," Professor Burn said.

Trafficked people could arrive as students and temporary skilled workers, and more sophisticated methods of protecting and detecting these people were needed, she said. Increased public awareness of modern-day slavery was necessary to snuff out the demand for it, she said. Instances of trafficking were under-reported, and often victims did not identify as such.

"They know they've been held in an exploitative and harsh work environment, but they don't put that into the legal definition of trafficking," Professor Burn said. Most reported cases were of women from Thailand, South Korea and China, she said.

In Australia, the UN report found eight people were convicted from the 34 charged with trafficking-related offences in the five years to 2008. According to the Department of Immigration, 17 trafficking victims had been granted three-year temporary witness protection visas. To date, none have qualified for a permanent version of that visa. No trafficked children had been detected since 2003, the department said.

Yesterday the Federal Government proposed new obligations for employers of temporary skilled overseas workers on 457 visas. These included market pay rates and co-operation with inspectors.


source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/women-the-new-pimps-in-human-trafficking-trade-20090212-85zr.html

From: USA-TIP@googlegroups.com [mailto:USA-TIP@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Melissa Snow
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 9:40 AM
To: USA-TIP@googlegroups.com
Subject: [USA-TIP Listserv] Congressional Briefing - American Children are being Sold



A Congressional Briefing: American Children are being Sold for Sex



American children are being sold for sex to American men in the hundreds of thousands every single day. This is child sex trafficking – the victimization of a child through prostitution, pornography or sexual entertainment. It happens in every state, every day. It’s time to face the crisis that is stealing the lives of our nation’s children.

Shared Hope International will publicly release The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America's Prostituted Children on July 21, 2009, at a Congressional Human Trafficking Briefing sponsored by the Caucus on Victims’ Rights and the Caucus on Human Trafficking. The findings and recommendations from Shared Hope International's National Report will be revealed at the Briefing on July 21. The magnitude of the problem will be brought to light, as America’s modern-day slavery is exposed in the faces of children.



**The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking will be made available for download on Tuesday. Check www.sharedhope.org to download your copy.



Schedule for Tuesday:

Congressional Human Trafficking Briefing July 21, 2009
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Rayburn 2226
Audience: Open to the public

10:00-10:30am Ambassador Louis C. de Baca, U.S. Department of State, Office to

Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons: Overview of 2009 TIP

Report
10:30-10:50am U.S. Department of Justice Panel Discussion

*Andrew Oosterban, Criminal Division, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

*Robert Moosey, Civil Rights Division, Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit

10:50-11:00 am Q&A

11:00-11:45am NGO Panel Discussion

*Congresswoman Linda Smith (1994-98), Founder and President,Shared Hope International

*Ernie Allen, President and CEO, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

*Brad Myles, Deputy Director, Polaris Project

11:45-noon Q&A




Melissa Snow

Director of Programs

SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL

1501 Lee Highway

Suite #101

Arlington, VA 22209

Phone: 703.35.18062


email: melissa@sharedhope.org

www.sharedhope.org

12-year-old girl took money in exchange for sex

A runaway 12-year-old girl received money in exchange for sex with at least two men at a Clearwater apartment, police said Tuesday.

Arrested late Monday on charges of lewd and lascivious battery were Victorino Panzopanzo, 37, and Abel Calihuamacuixtle, 30. They share the same address — 2690 Drew St., Apt. No. 841 in Clearwater.

Police say an ongoing investigation likely will yield further arrests.

Panzopanzo and Calihuamacuixtle are being held in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

During the course of the investigation, police said, 23-year-old Jorge Texmotle-Calihua also was arrested for obstruction for providing a false name to police.

Police say Panzopanzo and Calihuamacuixtle admitted in interviews to having sex with the girl, who isn't being identified because of the nature of the crime.

According to police, the 12-year-old had consensual relations with several men, the exact number of whom was not released Tuesday. Under Florida law, a girl that young cannot legally consent to have sexual relations.

The girl ran away from home on Sunday, police said, and was found Monday at an undisclosed Clearwater apartment. Authorities declined to say how much she was paid in exchange for sex.

Neighbors of Calihuamacuixtle and Panzopanzo at the MacArthur Park apartment complex said Tuesday they were previously suspicious of the two men.

Tameka Pope, a mother of two boys, said she didn't know either of the men involved, but previously complained to the complex's management about the number of people coming and going from the apartment.

Five or six men seemed to always be on the unit's front porch, Pope said.

"Now I don't want to let my kids out there," she said.

Pope originally thought the police who gathered outside the apartment Monday night were there on a drug-related visit. But when Pope's friend Dionne Smith saw a forensics van, they "knew it was something else."

Another neighbor, Moises Cerda, said he saw three girls go into the apartment on Friday. He had never seen the girls before.

The complex's property manager declined to comment Tuesday and wouldn't say whether the men arrested were legally registered to live there.

Police provided few details on the case, but said it did not appear to be part of a larger human trafficking ring.

The girl has been reunited with her family, police said. They declined to say whether she could face charges of prostitution.


source:http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1018288.ece

For educational purposes only

Schoolchildren given sex lessons... in what's available at the local brothel

Picture posed by model showing a prostitute sitting on the edge of a bed, wearing red stockings, counting her earnings

Pupils as young as 14 are listening to a brothel owner reel off a menu of sexual services as part of lessons on sex trafficking.

At least 15 schools have hosted lessons featuring the tape recording of a madam explaining the attributes of the girls she has on offer.

Critics have condemned the tape as inappropriate for its audience of teenage boys and girls aged 14 to 17.

The recording is part of a lesson devised by campaigners who visit secondary schools and colleges to raise awareness of sex trafficking.

The 40-minute presentation usually takes place during school citizenship lessons.

One mother said her daughter had been 'more than a little upset' by the graphic classes, which have been given in recent weeks around Croydon, South London, said to be home to more than 50 brothels.

Pupils initially heard a first-person account from 'Katerina', a Romanian prostitute who told how she came to Britain after being promised a job as a waitress.

When she arrived she was taken to a flat and gang raped before being forced into prostitution.

They also heard a recording of an undercover investigator's phone call to a brothel madam in Croydon.

The woman lists a string of services available along with prices. She also gives the vital measurements of prostitutes on offer and their ethnicity.

Staff from campaign group Croydon Community Against Trafficking came up with the lessons. One of its volunteers said Year 11 pupils were the best age for such a graphic presentation.

'It can be difficult, boys especially have an attitude - they don't care,' she said.

'Then we say what if it was you? Or your sister? Some of them are shocked to learn there is a brothel on the road they live in.'

A CCAT spokesman said: 'We might when we are doing our lessons be talking to boys - or girls - who might in the future visit a prostitute, or consider it on their stag dos.

'One of our main aims is to raise awareness in the community about human trafficking and particularly sexual exploitation.

'What better place to go than into schools where young people are going to be adults in the community?'

Hugh McKinney, chairman of the National Family Campaign, said: 'The question has to be asked if this is an appropriate topic for young boys at a vulnerable stage of development to hear in the classroom.'

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199420/Schoolchildren-given-sex-slave-lessons--including-graphic-recording-menu-brothel.html#ixzz0LFA6W1PH&D

For educational purposes only

Child-sex trade flourishing in Winnipeg, says expert

Benjamin Perrin, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, spoke with CTV News on Sunday, July 12, 2009 about his findings.


Kayla Duck spoke with CTV News on Sunday, July 12, 2009 about her experience as a prostitute. She started selling sex at age 14, when her boyfriend got her hooked on crack.



An activist against human trafficking has given Winnipeg a dubious distinction: He says it's the worst Canadian city for child sex crimes.

Benjamin Perrin, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, has said that as many as 400 teens -- mostly aboriginal girls -- are being sold for sex in the Manitoba capital.

"There were girls as young as 12, 13 years old openly on sale for sex, waiting for men to come by and pick them up," Perrin told CTV News.

And it's not only happening on the streets -- human trafficking has gone online.

The UBC professor has found more than 300 advertisements for Winnipeg girls and women on Craigslist, despite a disclaimer outlawing human trafficking.

Perrin said that children are essentially being bought and sold on the website.

"This is a free, efficient and profitable way to offer these victims for sale, and so it needs to be investigated," he said.

Last week, Perrin spoke about the issue during a two-day forum on preventing human trafficking, put on by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Aboriginal leaders have recognized the problem with online classified ads.

"Many of our women and children are being victimized by it," said Grand Chief Ron Evans from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. "It's a problem that needs to be dealt with."

Aboriginal women and girls are at a particular risk of being exploited, due to poverty. According to the "Stop Sex With Kids" website, between 70 and 80 per cent of children and youth exploited in Manitoba are of Aboriginal decent.

However, finding and prosecuting the traffickers has been a difficult battle, as young girls tend to be threatened and are afraid to come forward to the police, making it difficult for police to gather information.

Between March 2006 and February 2007, five people were convicted of the crime, according to the UN report on trafficking persons. In the past year, 13 charges have been laid involving cases of alleged trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Back in 2007, Jacques Leonard-St. Vil of Longueuil, Que., was the first person in Canada to be charged with human trafficking. He admitted to trafficking a woman in Mississauga, Ont. He was sentences to 36 months in prison.



source:http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090712/winnipeg_trafficking_090712/20090712?hub=TopStories

For educational purposes only

Brittanee Drexel Sold into Sex Trade?

IS PETER BROSWICK NOT TALKING BECAUSE HE SOLD BRITTANEE DREXEL INTO HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING?

Myrtle Beach, SC– Brittanee Marie Drexel, 17, has been missing since the evening of April 25th. Drexel was last seen, according to witnesses at the Motel she was staying in, against her Mother’s protests, at 8:15PM.
There have been few leads in the disappearnce of Brittanee Drexel, 17, who was last seen April 25 while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Her family and friends say they fear the worst.


Brittanee

Police have named Peter Broswick, the person last seen with Brittanee, a person of interest in her disappearance. Dawn Drexel, Brittanee’s Mother did not grant her permission for the Spring Break trip, but she had maintained regular contact with the sparkling blue-eyed beauty.


peter broswick & friends

Broswick has retained a local attorney and attempts to reach him for a statement have not been returned to blinkoncrime.com.

Mrs. Drexel became worried when she was unable to reach her daughter Sunday after she told her she would be returning that evening.

Dawn called a family friend in North Carolina to file a missing persons report after Brittanee did not come home on Sunday as promised.
Stationed at Camp Lejeune, John Hahn, a family friend for 8 years and Marine, drove the 2.5 hours from base to S.C. to file a missing persons report at the request of Drexler.

“Then I called John Grieco back, Brittanee’s boyfriend. He proceeded to tell me, nobody’s gone looking for her. Of the friends she was down at Myrtle Beach with, nobody had gone looking for her. I don’t know what kind of friends those are, but that’s not right,” Hahn said.

Hahn went on to say Brittanee’s boyfriend, John Grieco, first informed him of Brittanee’s disappearance in the early hours of Sunday morning through a text message from Rochester. Hahn says Brittanee was staying in a room at the Bar Harbor hotel with three friends – two females and a male.

According to Hahn, Broswick left S.C for Rochester, his hometown, when he learned Police wanted to speak to him and Hahn was on his way to speak with detectives.


Peter Broswick

When Hahn arrived in Myrtle Beach, he was immediately concerned.

Hahn found all of Brittanee’s belongings still inside her hotel room, he also found Drexel’s clothes and liquor inside Broswick’s hotel room.

Broswick and friends also left behind a $100 deposit at the front desk

The assault on the web community commences, note who gives an obvious Broswick supporter a voice:

BrittaneePostInsessions-1

Broswick, the 20-year-old who is reportedly the last one to see Brittanee, has hired defense attorney John Parrinello.

Parrinello says his client is fully cooperating with investigators and hopes the young lady is okay.

Apparently his well wishes do not include mentioning “the young lady”, Brittanee Marie Drexel, by name.

In an interview with WHAM, Brittanee’s Mom, Dawn Drexel said:

” Peter, we need to know what’s going on. “Brittanee is very special to us. We need to know what is going on. We need to know why the authorities weren’t called. We need answers and we’re not getting them,”


source:blinkoncrime.com
For educational purposes only

Possible Case of Human Sex Trafficking? Brittanee Drexel

I have a strong feeling Brittanee Drexel was taken and has been sex trafficked. She has blonde hair just as Jessie Foster and Lindsay Harris, along with several others. Her eye color and the frame of her body. All the girls where small in frame. Could this be a case of human sex trafficking? Has Brittanee Drexel been sold into the sex slave trade?

There has been no sign of Brittanee Drexel. There have been dozens of leads and sightings. None have panned out.

Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Drexel, has been in South Carolina since the beginning. She is determined as ever, but she told News 10NBC by phone she’s emotionally spent.

“This is very, very difficult because you don’t know, you just don’t know if she’s still here with us…or she’s not….But we’re trying to keep hopeful that we can find her still,” Drexel said.

Drexel has traveled to Charleston and points in between, talking to people, handing out flyers. This weekend, Brittanee’s story will air on “America’s Most Wanted.” That gives Dawn Drexel hope.

“I’m trying to get her on national television and keep her face out there so if somebody did see something or heard something, that they would come forward.”

Drexel hopes to stay in South Carolina until she finds Brittanee, but that may be dependent on the generosity of others. That’s what has kept her there this long.

She says the police are still actively involved in this case. She says some leads are coming in, they’re just not turning up anything. She’s pinning big hopes on the “America’s Most Wanted” broadcast.

While the search continues in South Carolina, work is going on here in Rochester.

“I’m continuing at the pace that I was five weeks ago,” Brittanee’s boyfriend John Grieco said.

Grieco had to come home after weeks of searching. He’s working to make enough money to go back. He’s also put together a major fundraiser for June 26. It’s three parties in three locations at the Dome Arena that he hopes will raise money and keep Brittanee’s story alive.

“If people stop searching, I’m going to continue to search for the rest of my life, honestly,” Grieco said.


For educational purposes only

Source: cjaye57.wordpress.com

Craigslist and police partner to stop sex-trafficking

Craigslist is teaming up with Canadian law enforcement to try to stop the sale of sex with children that one expert says has turned the popular online classified service into a modern-day "kiddie-stroll."

Over the past two months, Craigslist has been consulting with the RCMP's national human-trafficking centre, the North Vancouver division of the RCMP, and the Peel Regional Police outside Toronto, in an effort to stop the "blatant, in-your-face" advertising for sex on the site.

"Craigslist is the new kiddie-stroll for men who are seeking to pay for sex with children," said Prof. Benjamin Perrin, a law professor from the University of British Columbia. "It's free and anonymous and well-known."

Perrin has studied the problem across Canada and the U.S., and he has been instrumental in trying to get measures in place to try to stop the Craigslist sex-trafficking trade.

Last fall, Craigslist brought in preventive measures in the U.S. to identify missing children, with stricter filters to verify users' identification. Attorneys general from about 40 states signed on to last year's agreement, said Perrin.

"At the time, they said they didn't add the same measures in Canada, because law enforcement wasn't interested in working with Craigslist," said Perrin, who was involved in the process.

"Now, what we see in Canada is a growing number on Craigslist using it to advertise minors and . . . what we're told is the numbers in most Canadian cities are spiking."

Perrin said the number of ads in the U.S. has dropped dramatically since the new security measures were enacted by Craigslist last year.

Cpl. Nilu Singh, with the RCMP Human Trafficking National Co-ordination Centre, said the Internet has become a way for underage sex-traffickers to reach from coast to coast.

"Investigations have been made into advertisements across the country," she said. "The Internet can be used anywhere, any time, by anyone."

Craigslist has 47 individual sites for cities across the country, and advertises things as harmless as old clothes and used cars, to the more risque, such as popular and sexually explicit personal ads.

"You can't say stuff in the old newspaper ads that you can say online," said Det. Mike Viozzi of the Peel Regional Police vice squad. "People say exactly what they want, in pretty graphic detail."

Viozzi said his division uses Craigslist frequently to investigate advertisements they find suspicious, setting up stings where they often find girls as young as 15 or 16 being controlled by much older pimps.

Last month, North Vancouver RCMP warned parents and other members of the public that a small group of individuals within the community were pressuring women as young as 16 to prostitute themselves online, often using Craigslist. The problem came to the unit's attention in November, when staff at a North Vancouver school heard that former students — young men now in their early 20s — were pimping current class members.

Singh said the discussions with Craigslist are still in the preliminary stages, but she said the company has been very forthcoming and co-operative in trying to stop the illegal trade on its site. She said the company is looking to law enforcement to provide suggestions as to what it needs to do.

In the U.S., Craigslist has added features such as phone verification and credit-card verification to make it easier for police to track users of the site.

Singh said the RCMP is also reaching out to police forces across the country about joining the Craigslist discussions.

On Thursday, the Winnipeg Police Service said it was willing to join in the Craigslist consultation, said Perrin.

Winnipeg is a major centre of sex-trafficking in Canada, said Perrin, a keynote speaker this week at a forum on the sexual exploitation of aboriginal women and children hosted by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

"In Winnipeg, there were more than 300 ads (for children and women) in the last week alone," he said Thursday.

Looking forward, Perrin said he is optimistic about the partnership with Craigslist.

"It is important in helping to stop online sex-trafficking, as law enforcement deal with 21st-century technologies," he said.

With files from Carol Sanders, Winnipeg Free Press



source:http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Craigslist+police+partner+stop+trafficking/1779594/story.html

For educational purposes only

The Triad's human trafficking trade

Between 14,500 and 17,500 individuals mostly woman and children are trafficked into the U.S. annually, according to The United States Department of State.
Charlotte FBI special agent and Representative of the North Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force, John Price, explained that human trafficking cases are not discovered as frequently as homicide or robbery cases. We may come across three or four a year; but in the same breath, we don't know exactly how much of it is out there. It's a crime that is so under the radar and is so out of the public view that most people may see it every day but not report it. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Hispanics comprise the largest percentage of human trafficking victims, while Asians comprise less than half of the victims.
According to the U.S. Department of State, an increase in human trafficking is partly due to the rise in unemployment. The economy is definitely having an impact on human trafficking because predators are preying on those who are the most vulnerable, said Sandra Johnson, founder and president of Triad Ladder of Hope. She noted that victims are not always from other countries, they also include women and children from the U.S.
Triad Ladder of Hope is a faith based non-profit organization dedicated to ending human trafficking in North Carolina and the Triad. Statistics don't matter, said Johnson, because if one person is a victim, then that is one too many. She said very few victims are identified because people are not aware of what human trafficking is, and it could be happening right in ones own neighborhood.
So, what is human trafficking? It is defined as the recruitment, harboring, obtaining, and transporting of persons by use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is tied with illegal arms as one of the largest criminal industries in the world; only falling second behind drug trafficking.
The Human Trafficking Reporting System, a program established by The U.S. Department of Justice to record information on human trafficking incidents, tallied more than 1,200 alleged incidents from January 1, 2007 to September 30 2008, the first 21 months of operation. Growing poverty is making more people vulnerable to both labor and sex trafficking, boosting the supply side of human trafficking all over the world, The U.S. Department of State noted in its June 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report. Although the incidents reported in the Triad are small, Price believes there are many cases that go unreported, There are state laws against human trafficking so people can contact any law enforcement agency if they suspect someone of human trafficking, said Price.
Lisa Thompson, National Liaison for the Abolition of Sex Trafficking for the Salvation Army explained that the purpose of training is to show the broad range of needs for victims such as culturally appropriate counseling, job skills training, food and shelter. We need to be more on the lookout and view it as a duty as a citizen, to be aware of whats going on in your neighborhood.
Triad Ladder of Hope is currently looking for volunteers to assist with its Victim Partnership program which allows people to donate money every month to help provide a human trafficking victim with food, shelter, clothes and more.
Triad Ladder of Hope is sponsoring a series of human trafficking training events open to the public. Anyone interested can register at www.triadladderofhope.org.

Wednesday, July 15,
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Daystar Christian Fellowship
908 Westover Terrace Road
Greensboro, N.C. 27403

Thursday, July 16,
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Hope Outreach Center
2800 Westchester Drive
High Point, N.C. 27262

Friday, July 17,
9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Peace Haven Baptist Church
3384 York Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27106


source:http://www.carolinapeacemaker.com/News/article/article.asp?NewsID=97595&sID=4

For educational purposes only

Child Sex Trafficking in America: Pimp Control

Shared Hope International has conducted field research on child sex trafficking across the U.S. This research found underage girls are the bulk of victims in commercial sex markets - this includes pornography, stripping, escort services, and prostitution. There are three main manifestations of child sex trafficking in America: pimp-controlled prostitution, familial prostitution, and “survival” sex. Melissa Snow, Director of Programs for Shared Hope International, will be bringing you periodic updates from the field: the reality of child sex trafficking in America.

It’s happening across the U.S.- from Maryland to Minnesota, Iowa to Utah, American children as young as 12 years old are being sold by pimps in prostitution. By law, any child in prostitution is a victim of human trafficking. And how can such rampant sexual exploitation of America’s youth exist? Pimp control. We use “pimp control” to refer to the targeting, recruiting, and maintaining of a person for commercial sexual exploitation- in many cases, a child.

Here in America, the average age a child is targeted and recruited into sex trafficking is 13 years old. Pimps prey on the innocence of youth because it provides them with a target that can be romanced, tricked and then brutally forced into the sex trafficking market. Pimps use a variety of techniques to target and recruit a child into prostitution, from immediate force and violence as demonstrated in the case of two underage girls from Toledo, to the more common “loverboy” or boyfriend approach.

With either approach, pimps prey on and target girls who project a low self-esteem, or who have run away from home due to familial physical or sexual abuse. This provides the pimps with the opportunity to fill the gap of the lover or caretaker role as both “daddy and boyfriend”. The pimp will invest as much time as necessary into securing the trust and loyalty of his victim. He will fulfill all his promises, buy her nice things and say all the caring words that she has been longing for - biding time to turn the seemingly caring relationship into one of sexual exploitation and torture.

Mickey Royal, a self-proclaimed pimp who has written a book “The Pimp Game: Instruction Guide” explains the process:

“This is the first step in getting her to totally depend on you. You’ll start to dress her, think for her, own her. Her family will become her No. 1 enemy and she’ll attack them with all she has because they are trying to keep her from that which brings her joy - You. If you and your victim are sexually active, then slow it down. Once a week is fine. After sex, take her shopping for one item. Hair and/or nails are fine. She will develop a feeling of accomplishment. The shopping after a month will be replaced with cash. The love making turns into raw sex. She’ll start to crave the intimacy and be willing to get back into your good graces. After you have broken her spirit she has no sense of self-value. Now pimp, put a price tag on the item you have manufactured.”

Once she is locked in to this exploitation, it is extremely difficult to get out. The pimp controls every movement both physically and psychologically. He tells her what to wear, how much to charge, and who to serve. She is often not allowed to come home until the full quota of clients is met. All of the money is handed over to the pimp each night.

While the statistics of child sex trafficking in America are daunting it is clear from the recent arrests of child sex traffickers that awareness is leading to victim identification and response. We must applaud this aggressive action and encourage more awareness. Sex trafficking of children in America is real. It’s happening here, and we can take action to stop it.


source: http://www.zimbio.com/Humaning+Trafficking+Awareness/articles/67/Child+Sex+Trafficking+America+Pimp+Control

For educational purposes only