Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
allAfrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/201011081210.html
Kenya:
Children Fighting Somalia's Wars
Samwel Kumba and Zamzam Tatu
6 November 2010
The secretary-general's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy, told the Sunday Nation that a majority of the children had been enlisted in militia groups fighting the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
However, Dr Coomaraswamy could not establish the exact number of children involved.
Dr Coomaraswamy, who had earlier met with Somalia's new Prime Minister, Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed in Mogadishu, said the TFG had pledged to put an end to the recruitment of children. She hoped that the militia groups, including the al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, would follow suit.
"Unfortunately my office has no access to the insurgent groups, but we hope that they will abide by international humanitarian law and release all children within their ranks," she said.
She urged states who have influence over the groups to press for the protection of children by asking the insurgents to release child soldiers.
Persistent violator
The TFG and militias allied to it, have been on the secretary-general's "shame" list for recruitment and use of children in war for five consecutive years, earning the tag "persistent violator".And in a meeting with the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), Dr Coomaraswamy raised concerns over the killing and maiming of civilians, including children, through indiscriminate shelling.
Relevant Links
Meanwhile, Amisom has announced plans to train more than 800 Somali police officers as it seeks to extend its control of Mogadishu.
The programme is also aimed at providing the transitional government with a professional police force in line with international standards.
For a country that has been in political turmoil for nearly two decades, the entire peace keeping process will have to get a new face in dealing with armed opposition groups.
Through Amisom's training programme, the officers will be mentored on community policing, human rights, logistics and management.
allAfrica.com
Somalia:
Children Facing the Worst, Says UN
4 November 2010
Nairobi — Armed groups in Somalia have continued recruiting children to fight and engage in piracy, and girls have found themselves facing increasing risk of sexual violence, a senior UN official says."In some areas, Al-Shabab leaders are asking parents to give [them] a child. I heard of people hiding their children to escape recruitment," Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Children and Armed Conflict, told a news conference on 3 November following a mission to Somalia and the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland.
"Children are expressing the difficulty of living in Mogadishu," she added. "As they walk past checkpoints they are told your ankles are showing, wear something long. Then later they cross the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] checkpoints and are told they are Al-Shabab due to their [clothing]. It is the reason they are going to Puntland."
Sexual- and gender-based violence, Coomaraswamy said, was on the increase, according to child protection partners, with fast, quick marriages, killing and maiming of concern. "These young boys [fighters] are marrying young girls, and then moving on to others - forced marriages are making a comeback," she said.
A nine-year-old girl told Coomaraswamy: "My greatest fear, besides thieves, is that men will come and do violence to women and girls in the night."
The Special Representative also said children were held alongside adults as pirates in Bosasso Central Prison. "The adults are not separated from the children and there are complaints of abuse," she said. "The frontline [pirate] troops now are increasingly children and youth. The big pirates do not go out, they have become businessmen; it is the young children [15-17-year-olds] who are sent out."
Armed groups, she added, were "exploiting [the fact] that children have a less developed concept of death and tend to be fearless fighters. Children are susceptible due to notions of romantic death."
She said the new Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, had pledged to stop the recruitment of child soldiers.
Relevant Links
She said there were two schools of thought regarding TFG recruitment of child solders - one that the TFG-proper was not doing the recruiting but its allies were, while "others say that even the checkpoints are run by the TFG itself.
"In 2008, I said the African child suffers the most but I think the Somali child suffers even more," she said.
IRIN
MADAGASCAR: Fighting a rising tide of sex tourism
Andoany, 26 November 2010 (IRIN) - Community-based resistance to sex tourism on Nosy Be, an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar and its busiest resort, is holding the line against child sex work, but the country’s declining economic fortunes are making a tough fight even tougher.
Officially, the population of Nosy Be is 109,000, of which 12 people are HIV positive; unofficially, no one really knows to what extent migrating sex workers have increased the numbers.
"Girls from all 22 regions [of Madagascar] come here because of tourism and the opportunity to have a white husband," Jean Claude de Bikiny, the island's deputy administrator, told IRIN. "We have been fighting this problem [sex tourism] since 1990."
He thought about eight percent of people on Nosy Be could be sex workers, but this probably ebbed and flowed in synch with the high and low tourism seasons. There are frequent and direct flights from Europe to the 300 sq km island, and regular ferries cover the 8km distance from Madagascar.
According to UNAIDS about 0.2 percent of the sexually active population are infected with HIV/AIDS, in a country with about 20 million people.
"Twenty years ago it was unimaginable that women would become prostitutes," Antoinette Djaotoly, an educator at Foyer Social, a community-based training centre in the Nosy Be capital Andoany - formerly Hellville - told IRIN. The centre provides training in life skills and a variety of trades, from manicurist to car mechanic, enabling sex workers to seek alternative employment.
What went wrong?
Two events in 1990 laid the foundations for sex tourism: the effects of a structural adjustment programme were beginning to be felt, resulting in large-scale retrenchments in pursuit of economic growth; and the government awarded a tuna fishing contract to a Japanese company, bringing more than 20 trawlers to the rich waters off the island.
"In Nosy Be a lot of women had come to work in a shrimp factory, and when the factory started shedding labour, the unemployed became prostitutes. The Japanese fishermen had money and that's when big prostitution started," Jocelyn Gabriel, a member of the protection network that discourages sex work, told IRIN.
The economy was based on small-scale fishing, ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata, also known as the perfume tree), coffee and sugar cane, which has suffered since the island's largest employer, a rum distillery, closed its doors in 2008.
"About 1,300 people lost their jobs [when the distillery closed] and if you estimate that each worker has five or more dependents, you can see the effect," Gabriel said.
A slowing economy - even in the tourism sector, which Bikiny said had been damaged by the island's reputation for sex tourism - lowered average wages for hotel workers from US$40 a month to $30, for instance.
Sex workers are regarded as opportunists from elsewhere. "Girls from Nosy Be don't work as prostitutes, as everyone knows each other and there is a shame for being known as a prostitute ... Without prostitution, Nosy Be would grow [economically], because there are a lot of other things to do," Lawrence Velonkasise, an administrator at Madagascar's education department on Nosy Be, told IRIN
Sex worker "success"
Schools in Andoany have life skills classes warning against sex work, but "if it takes the line that girls should not go with whites, it can be seen as racism," Velonkasise said.
 Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN  |
| Fixing nets in the Nosy Be village of Ambatozavavy in Madagascar |
They came to Nosy Be from as far south as Toliara, capital of Toliara Province, but Gabriel believed that about 80 percent came from the Antsohihy district of the Sofia Region in Mahajanga Province, an area of onion, bean and rice farmers nearest Nosy Be on mainland Madagascar.
There were about 8,000 long-term foreign nationals resident in Nosy Be, mainly French and Italian, Gabriel said. Property laws required foreign investors to have local partners, and Malagasy women were often partners in property purchases, with the usual place of business a bar.
"There may be some who think a 55-year-old man having a relationship with a young Malagasy woman is not right. But then, what if after a lifetime of work, the man's wife leaves him?" a French national, who declined to be named, told IRIN.
"His children have already left the home. Should he sit alone in [France]? Why cannot he come here and meet beautiful women? The man has a new life, and the women and their family benefit from it too."
Oriel, 26, a sex worker from the port city of Mahajanga, told IRIN she had become a sex worker after the father of her two young children moved to Nosy Be to establish a business, which failed. He then went to Mayotte, a French island in the Mozambique Channel, and she was left to fend for herself and the children.
She cruises a beach-front strip with numerous bars and restaurants in Ambatoloaka, a fishing village with an official population of 4,461 about 7km from Andoany, which at night teems with sex workers offering their services.
Chatian Andriamahasolo, a municipal councillor in Ambatoloaka, started monitoring sex workers in 2008, "as I have a daughter and I do not want her to become like [those] other girls."
Madagascan citizens are required to carry identity cards and a group of about eight volunteers patrol the streets; if a girl is found to be under 18 years of age, or without identification, she is escorted to the police station.
Community initiatives
"In 2008/09, in one night we used to find about 10 to 15 girls without IDs [identity documents] and some of them were under-age. These days it is one or two [without IDs] - people know they are obliged to carry ID cards," he told IRIN.
Many hotels in Ambatoloaka and other parts of Nosy Be allowed patrons to bring sex workers to their rooms at no extra cost, but Andriamahasolo said management were obliged to check their IDs to ensure the women were over 18 years old, and community patrols were permitted to check hotel rooms if it was suspected there were under-age girls inside.
"Foreigners give a bad image to Nosy Be, but we need foreigners to bring in money [to the island]," he said.
Community attempts to close bars at midnight have been thwarted by the owners. When applications to extend bar hours to 3 a.m. were refused, owners got special dispensation from Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar. "It's a big problem, I won't lie to you," Andriamahasolo said.
Tourists making their way to the national park on Nosy Be in search of lemurs rather than sex workers, does not mean that sex tourism has left Ambatozavavy, a small fishing community of 1,000 people about 18km from Andoany, untouched.
The 50-year-old village school used to cater for children only up to the age of 13 years, after which they would have to finish their schooling in Andoany. "There is psychological abuse in Hellville [Andoany] for the children - they see nice women, nice cars and money. Boys look for jobs, and girls for easy money, especially prostitution," school director Edouard Rasolofo told IRIN.
The impoverished community have expanded the classes at their own expense, and donors pay seven of the 10 teachers, allowing villagers to delay sending their children to Andoany until they are 16 years old, which has had a remarkable effect on pass rates despite the size of classes increasing.
Previously, of the 30 students from Ambatozavavy going to Andoany when they were 13 years old, 10 would pass the year. Of those 10, four would pass the grade at 14 years old, two of those would pass the next year, and finally, one would pass at 16. Since building the extra classes, 56 of the 60 students aged 13 at school in the community passed, 52 of those passed the next year, and 50 of the 15-year-old students passed the following year.
 There is psychological abuse in Hellville [Andoany] for the children - they see nice women, nice cars and money. Boys look for jobs, and girls for easy money, especially prostitution |
"Those from the village who become prostitutes don't come back after they drop out of school. They send money back to the village with other people, as they are ashamed to be here in person," Rasolofo said.
In response to sex tourism, a social protection network has been set up. It includes representatives from the police, judiciary, NGOs, doctors, schools and the tourist industry, and meets at least once a month to review and devise strategies.
Djaotoly, a trainer at Foyer Social - a skills centre established in 1972, but which has mainly focused on providing sex workers with a second chance since 1990 - told IRIN that apart from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), all other international donors had stopped funding since a coup-style change in government in March 2008.
During 2010 about 60 former sex workers, some as young as 16 years, received training. The tourist industry recruits receptionists, secretaries and other personnel from Foyer Social.
"It's not a question of less money - we don't have money," Djaotoly said. "It is very difficult to work in this type of environment."
go/he
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Human Rights Examiner
Global human trafficking roundup (November 24, 2010)
Georgia: A man was jailed after attempting to sell a migrant to local business for labor. According to police, he allegedly brought the migrant with a false promise of job, and upon arrival, he was planning on selling the migrant to a local restaurant.
Ohio: A nail salon woman was arrested forcing South Asian women into labor. He was charged with "complicity to commit fraud, a third-degree felony." He allegedly forced the victims to obtain fraudulent cosmetology licenses to exploit them with labor.
District of Columbia: A 36 year old man was convicted of sex trafficking women and children into the U.S. According to the U.S. attorney, he lured the victims with the promise of better life with marriage and job opportunity and forced them into prostitution. Nine out of ten victims testified at the court that he used physical abuse, intimidation, and beatings to force them into prostitution after bringing them from Mexico to the U.S.
ASIA
Vietnam: Authorities said that more than 12000 victims of human trafficking were discovered during a two month crackdown on Wednesday. Police also made 221 arrests and rescued 77 victims. Most victims are females who are lured into coming to the border providence and ended up being sold by traffickers. Authorities also stated that human trafficking in Vietnam has not been improved.
Thailand: The Labor ministry announced its plan to impose birth control among migrants working in Thailand. According to the report, many children who were born to migrant workers are at potential risk of being trafficking victims because of their lack of legal status in the country. Local advocacy group, however, opposed the Labor ministry's new program arguing that it is a human rights violation of migrant workers residing in Thailand.
AFRICA
Uganda: Nine Ugandan children are rescued from a child trafficker in Kenya. Police at Kwale district in Kenya received a tip that the children are not mingling with other local children. The children are in the age between 7 and 13. Currently, the victims are in police custody.
Human Rights Examiner
Global human trafficking roundup (November 23, 2010)
Florida: A Ford Mayer father shares the story of his daughter. She was a chronic runaway and had four pimps who forced her into prostitution. She was arrested more than 20 times and now is detained in juvenile residential center. Her father, however, believes that the environment in juvenile center makes her psychological and physical scars worse.
Massachusetts: A man was sentenced 25 years in jail for teenagers from Main to Florida. He was "convicted last year of one count of conspiracy and two counts of transporting a minor across the state lines to engage in prostitution." Though he was the last man of six men who were convicted of the crime, the case shed light on child trafficking in Boston.
New Jersey: A Newark man was sentenced to 20 years in jail for sex trafficking charges. He operated a prostitution ring in several cities in New Jersey. He also admitted to recruit and transport seven minor girls and nine women for prostitution. He also admitted beating them and profiting from their prostitution.
ASIA
Taiwan: U.S. representative urged the Taiwan government to increase labor protection over migrant workers. He also pointed out that many migrant workers running away from employers' abusive environment and become even vulnerable by losing their legal status. Particularly, he said that caregivers and housemaids fall outside of legal protection in Taiwan.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Human Rights Examiner
Somali gang runs sex-slavery ring in U.S.
When Americans think of Somalia and its people, usually the crime of piracy or Islamic terrorism come to mind. Well, in the U.S. Somali nationals are involved in sex trafficking and child exploitation.
On Friday, 29 Somali individuals associated with a sex trafficking ring were arrested and charged by federal and local law enforcement officers in Saint Paul, Minnesota, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
The suspects transported girls -- many underage -- across state lines and forced them to have sex in exchange for small amounts of marijuana and liquor. Allegedly, they also filmed the sexual acts and transmitted them via cell phones for others to view.
Charges in this case stem from an initial investigation conducted by the Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Office of Homeland Security Investigations and the St. Paul Police Department.
The two agencies had reason to believe that a Somali gang was forcing young girls into prostitution. Working off a tip, the investigation led the agencies to Tennessee where a possible victim -- a runaway from Minnesota -- was located. Agents confirmed that the victim was one of four underage girls being transported across state lines for prostitution.
"Imagine being stripped of everything you know, transported between states and forced to have sex with strangers. No, this isn't a nightmare; these are details from a recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation. Four girls - some younger than 14 years old - were forced into a life of prostitution by a Somali-run Human Trafficking Organization," said one of the agents involved in the case.
"Human trafficking is dark, dirty and secretive. The victims are often voiceless, scared and hidden in plain sight. ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) investigate many federal crimes, but human trafficking - especially that of children - is one of the most egregious. Lives are compromised. Productive futures are destroyed," he said.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a columnist for Examiner.com and New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer and columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.
To subscribe to Kouri's newsletter write to COPmagazine@aol.com and write "Subscription" on the subject line.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
joy online.com
INQUIRER.net / GLOBAL NATION
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COLOMBO—A Sri Lankan housemaid has accused her Kuwaiti employer of hammering 14 nails into her body, in the second such incident in the past few months, a local doctor said Saturday.
The woman, identified only as Lechchami, 38, underwent surgery to have the nails removed after returning home to Sri Lanka, the director of the hospital in the northwestern town of Kurunegala said.
"We have removed nine out of the 14 wire nails that showed up in X-rays," hospital director Soma Rajamanthri told AFP.
The doctor said the woman had told surgeons that her Kuwaiti employers drove the nails into her hands and left leg – some as long as 3.5 centimetres (1.5 inches) – when she asked for her salary after working for six months.
"We can't verify her story, but she said the husband-and-wife couple who employed her did this to her," Rajamanthri said.
A police spokesman said the case was under investigation.
In August, another housemaid complained her Saudi employer drove 24 nails into her arms, legs and forehead as punishment. Most of them were removed by surgeons at Sri Lanka's Kamburupitiya hospital.
The Saudi government and private sector officials in Riyadh have questioned the credibility of the woman's allegations.
Some 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad, of whom 70 percent are women. Most work as housemaids in the Middle East while smaller numbers work in Singapore and Hong Kong, seeking higher salaries than they would get at home.
Non-governmental organizations report frequent cases of employer abuse of maids who work abroad.
The woman, identified only as Lechchami, 38, underwent surgery to have the nails removed after returning home to Sri Lanka, the director of the hospital in the northwestern town of Kurunegala said.
"We have removed nine out of the 14 wire nails that showed up in X-rays," hospital director Soma Rajamanthri told AFP.
The doctor said the woman had told surgeons that her Kuwaiti employers drove the nails into her hands and left leg – some as long as 3.5 centimetres (1.5 inches) – when she asked for her salary after working for six months.
"We can't verify her story, but she said the husband-and-wife couple who employed her did this to her," Rajamanthri said.
A police spokesman said the case was under investigation.
In August, another housemaid complained her Saudi employer drove 24 nails into her arms, legs and forehead as punishment. Most of them were removed by surgeons at Sri Lanka's Kamburupitiya hospital.
The Saudi government and private sector officials in Riyadh have questioned the credibility of the woman's allegations.
Some 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad, of whom 70 percent are women. Most work as housemaids in the Middle East while smaller numbers work in Singapore and Hong Kong, seeking higher salaries than they would get at home.
Non-governmental organizations report frequent cases of employer abuse of maids who work abroad.
INQUIRER.net / GLOBAL NATION
Human trafficking of Filipinos in Haiti
MacArthur Corsino, the Philippine ambassador to Cuba, said that the 11 jobless OFWs, who were part of a group of at least 21 victims of human trafficking, have been left to fend for themselves in Haiti since March 2010 by their recruiters.
The Philippine embassy in Havana has jurisdiction over Haiti.
“The question is why the illegal recruiters—despite our reports and despite their being exposed in the news—are still able to continue their evil recruitment after so many months, and so are able to continue victimizing hapless Filipinos,” Corsino said.
Corsino decried the continued illegal trafficking of Filipino workers who end up being a burden to the embassy and the small Filipino community that takes them under its care.
“Imagine, it’s essentially the same story [we get] from the victims since March 2010 up to now. That is, the victims each shell out around P500,000 to the recruiters who promise them jobs of $3,000 a month in Haiti, then end up stranded and penniless in Port-au-Prince without the said jobs at all,” he said in an email.
This supposed placement fee is even higher than the P300,000 (equivalent to almost $6,500) collected from each of the alleged victims of human trafficking now stranded in Los Angeles.
The alleged traffickers were identified as Marla Consolacion, who also uses the aliases Marla Wong and Marla Habas, and her assistant named Roma Maning, whose father Leo works in Haiti.
These alleged recruiters claim to have international connections through a certain Luzviminda Maning of New York who allegedly operates with an American partner.
The stranded workers said that they were made to believe that the recruiters have connections at the Haitian embassy in Manila who help facilitate travel documentation, including visas.
Haiti has a consulate in the Philippines.
Members of the small, closely-knit Filipino community have opened their homes to the stranded workers and helped them find jobs, which are not easy in a country still reeling from a devastating earthquake that flattened most of Port-au-Prince about a year ago.
“Yes, members of the [community] are trying to help them, but we can only do so much,” said Dolor Bagadiong, wife of Filipino community president Frankie Bagadiong, on Wednesday from the Haitian capital during a live chat via Yahoo! Messenger.
“But jobs are scarce and hard to find here, so I find it very strange why the Department of Labor and Employment is still allowing the deployment of workers to Haiti,” she added.
Bagadiong cited the case of Jess Laurenaria, who told the Filipino community and Philippine embassy officials how he was duped into paying P550,000 to the recruiters because they assured him that he would get a managerial job that pays $3,000 a month.
It was too late for Laurenaria to discover upon reaching Port-au-Prince that the company that was supposed to hire him did not exist, forcing him to seek shelter with fellow Filipinos in Port-au-Prince.
“Talamak talaga yang illegal recruitment dito (Illegal recruitment is widespread here),” Bagadiong said in Filipino.
Laurenaria, one of those who opted to stay and look for a job, was helped by a member of the Filipino community and eventually got hired by a local plastics company but the salary was only a portion of the $3,000 he was aspiring for.
Corsino said that the Philippine embassy, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, has referred reports and complaints of illegal recruitment in Haiti to the Philippine labor department and law-enforcement authorities.
YLE.fi
News
Image: Pekka Sipilä/YLE
The Southwest Finland District Court has sentenced a Somali-born man from Sweden to a 60-day conditional prison sentence for trying to illegally smuggle a woman into Finland. The man, born in 1989, attempted to bring the young Somali woman from Stockholm to Turku.
The court says the man was working for a human trafficking organisation.
The man and woman were taken into custody at Turku harbour in October. The woman was travelling without identification. She immediately registered as an asylum seeker.
During questioning, the woman said she flew to Stockholm via Dubai with forged papers. She also paid 10,000 dollars to smugglers.
The man claimed he met the woman by chance at the harbour terminal. However, surveillance cameras show a third person paying for the tickets. Furthermore, the man was travelling without a jacket. A border guard testified that he was likely planning to return to Stockholm on the same ship.
The district court reduced the man’s sentence by one month. He was taken to West Finland prison, where he was later released.
The man and woman were taken into custody at Turku harbour in October. The woman was travelling without identification. She immediately registered as an asylum seeker.
During questioning, the woman said she flew to Stockholm via Dubai with forged papers. She also paid 10,000 dollars to smugglers.
The man claimed he met the woman by chance at the harbour terminal. However, surveillance cameras show a third person paying for the tickets. Furthermore, the man was travelling without a jacket. A border guard testified that he was likely planning to return to Stockholm on the same ship.
The district court reduced the man’s sentence by one month. He was taken to West Finland prison, where he was later released.
YLE
Human Rights Examiner
Global human trafficking roundup (November 16, 2010)
NORTH AMERICA
Florida: A woman who was prostituted by her father was sentenced to five years probation after pleading no contest to a charge of incest. Her father was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of incest, one count of living off of the earnings of prostitution, and 52 counts of possession of child pornography. The case against them began after an undercover detective answered an ad for an escort on Craigslist in December 2008. Investigators said that the father placed the ad and was pimping out his daughter as well as having sex with her himself. LATIN AMERICA
Fiji: A man pleads for leniency on sentencing after being convicted of one count of human trafficking and other crime. He was convicted of bringing women from India into Fiji with a false promise of food packing jobs in New Zealand. But because none of the victims were exploited, his lawyer pleaded court for a lenient sentence. Currently, he is facing maximum 12 years in jail. EUROPE
Finland: A Somali born Swedish national was sentenced 60 days in jail for attempting to smuggle foreign women. He attempted to bring young Somali women from Stockholm to Turku. While woman testified that she paid smuggling fee to the man to come to Finland and traveled without identification, the man claimed that he met her by chance at the airport.Romania: Increasing number of Romanian women are working as prostitutes in Finland. Romania is one of the biggest hub of human trafficking in Europe, according to the report. One advocate in Finland says that as the number of women who are in sex slavery is increasing, the average of their age is becoming younger.
ASIA
Philippines: Immigration officers caught six Indian nationals who were heading to Malaysia. During the interrogation, they admitted that the human trafficking ring based in India facilitated their trip to Malaysia. The Immigration authority said that none of the Indians possessed proper documents. The Indians also will be deported immediately.Cambodia: A journalist investigates Cambodia's child prostitution with a British police. When they walked into the bar and asked for younger girls, the madam brought three or four girls in the age between 12 and 13. And when they asked for children that are even younger, the madam said that she could arranged something with 6 or 7 year old off the premise.
AFRICA
South Africa: The Congress of South African Trade Union discovered a Chinese labor trafficking operation in South Africa. According to the report, 16 Chinese workers are working illegally for a Chinese subcontractor company. The authority also raised the concerned that this is only a tip of the iceberg. In Cape Town, a 72 year old suspected child pornographer was granted bail on Monday. He was arrested after the law enforcement searched his residence and found many evidences of child pornography.Monday, November 15, 2010
Russia Today
Children in Nigeria branded witches and abused
Published: 02 July, 2009, 18:02
Edited: 13 February, 2010, 18:06
Religion is one of the biggest industries in Akwa Ibom. Due in large part to the work of charities, the connection between religion and a profitable form of child abuse is being pushed into the public spotlight.
One Sunday, after losing his job, Jerry’s father returned from a prayer session demanding to know why the boy had bewitched him. Jerry claims that since he had no answer his father doused him with petrol and set him on fire.
Jerry’s face and part of his body were burned. But his father was not fulfilled. Jerry was put into a dark room and deprived of food. Weeks later, his father bought more petrol. His mother warned if he didn’t give up witchcraft he would be burnt to death.
Jerry ran away and was discovered in the bush by a woman. He was eventually turned over to the Child’s Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), which runs a camp and academy for abandoned and abused children.
“Widespread violations are taking place on a daily basis,” says Stepping Stones Nigeria, another charity that protects Nigeria’s “witch” children.
Experience has shown that suspected “witches” are being abandoned by their parents/guardians, taken to the forest and slaughtered, bathed in acid, burned alive, poisoned to death with a local poison berry, buried alive, drowned or imprisoned and tortured in churches in order to extract a “confession.”
Stepping Stones Nigeria’s award winning documentary, Saving Africa’s Witch Children, introduced the world to one religious perpetrator who employs such tactics—Bishop Sunday.
The Bishop claimed the power to exorcise evil spirits. Not only did he do this by abusive means, he also blatantly admitted, "I killed up to 110 people who were identified as being witches.”
The fee for Bishop Sunday’s services started at about $270, an exorbitant amount compared to the average income.
Saving Africa’s Witch Children made infamous another film, End of the Wicked, produced by prophetess Helen Ukpabio.
In one part of her film, a child wizard summons the spirits of sleeping children which disappear through bedroom walls to join a satanic meeting. An adult leader orders the children to take things from their parents and bring them to the gathering so that the adults can be tormented.
Later, a child wizard with deformed skin and hook-like fingernails asks a boy what he has to offer the gathering. He replies, “I brought discharges from the eyes and ears of my father.” The spirit of his father is summoned and a spell forces his eyes to pop out and when he awakes he is really blind.
Critics say that such films and books that concentrate on witchcraft reinforce the exploitation of superstition that takes place in the churches.
In an interview, Ukpabio said, “It is surprising that nine years after, somebody is having a problem with a film that has saved a lot of families.”
Although she admits spending thousands of dollars for mass healings of thousands of witches, she denies charging fees or branding children as witches.
Ukpabio says her video shows “children who were greedy and were contaminated by other children who were witches in the school.”
She insists witchcraft is alive in Nigeria and around the world, “So I will not join the campaign that says there is no witchcraft, because that is the devil speaking. And when the devil speaks, he makes a lot of people powerless and intimidates them,” she says.
“I have 149 churches in Nigeria and over 50,000 members. I will make sure that I fight witchcraft in Akwa Ibom until I deliver the witches.”
A paper commissioned by United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) confirms “that witchcraft accusations lead to violence and persecution…”
Jeff Crisp, of UNHCR says "accusations of witchcraft constitute some of the most serious refugee protection problems encountered by UNHCR."
The agency is currently seeking a professional to perform a study on the issue.
Michelle Smith for RT
Russia Today
Mothers sold daughters’ virginity online
Published: 14 August, 2009, 17:43Moscow police have detained two mothers, who were selling their daughters’ virginity via the Internet.
The women decided to act after they had learnt that pedophiles are ready to pay thousands of dollars for children’s virginity, Life.ru reports.
One of them, Maria G. was impressed with the price offered for the “first night right” with her 16-year-old daughter – slightly over US$ 6,000. Even more was offered to Svetlana K. – over $12,000 for her 13-year-old.
“Yes, I understand that virginity is a commodity,” Maria G said. “If I wasn’t old, I would restore mine and sell it. If there are fools that are ready to pay for it, then I am ready.”
Maria said that she needed money to cover debts and the rest she wanted to save as her daughter’s future marriage dowry. The woman herself brought her 16-year-old daughter Polina to the “customer”.
In turn, Svetlana K. said that she hoped that her daughter Aliona “would sacrifice herself” to save the family from poverty.
Meanwhile, neither of the girls knew about the deal – they thought that their mothers were leading them to a photographer. Aliona, the source said, did not even know where children come from.
During the negotiations, the mothers posed only one condition – that the “customers” wore condoms.
An investigation led police to the organization, operating as a social network on the internet. Its members identify troubled families and offer to pay for the virginity of their daughters. They also find pedophiles who are ready to pay for them.
Published: 14 August, 2009, 17:43
The women decided to act after they had learnt that pedophiles are ready to pay thousands of dollars for children’s virginity, Life.ru reports.
One of them, Maria G. was impressed with the price offered for the “first night right” with her 16-year-old daughter – slightly over US$ 6,000. Even more was offered to Svetlana K. – over $12,000 for her 13-year-old.
The women said that they were shocked by the “offers” – they could never imagine that the first sex could be so “pricey”.
“Yes, I understand that virginity is a commodity,” Maria G said. “If I wasn’t old, I would restore mine and sell it. If there are fools that are ready to pay for it, then I am ready.”
Maria said that she needed money to cover debts and the rest she wanted to save as her daughter’s future marriage dowry. The woman herself brought her 16-year-old daughter Polina to the “customer”.
In turn, Svetlana K. said that she hoped that her daughter Aliona “would sacrifice herself” to save the family from poverty.
Meanwhile, neither of the girls knew about the deal – they thought that their mothers were leading them to a photographer. Aliona, the source said, did not even know where children come from.
During the negotiations, the mothers posed only one condition – that the “customers” wore condoms.
An investigation led police to the organization, operating as a social network on the internet. Its members identify troubled families and offer to pay for the virginity of their daughters. They also find pedophiles who are ready to pay for them.
Russia Today
Doctors charged with trafficking human eggs
Romanian prosecutors have shut down a private fertility clinic, and its owners – two Israeli doctors – are now facing up to ten years in prison for allegedly paying women to donate their eggs.The doctors, arrested last month, were released by the Bucharest court on bail on Monday.
They are forbidden from practicing medicine during the investigation. The clinic owners also cannot leave Bucharest or contact any other suspects in the case.
Sabyc Medical Centre in Bucharest has given many women what nature couldn’t: life to children and joy to parents. But now the Israeli-owned in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic has been forced to close amid allegations of trafficking human tissue.
Doctors have been accused of paying women for their eggs. Even though in some countries it is routine practice to give women compensation for the pain and inconvenience of donating eggs, in Romania it’s illegal.
It’s also claimed that the doctors failed to carry out sufficiently rigorous medical checks on donors, with poor or vulnerable or sometimes underage women becoming the main providers of eggs.
All these allegations have been denied, but Romania’s medical community remains angry.
“Medical activity is not like industrial activity or something else,” said surgeon Florin Chirculescu. “And you really should comply with the rules otherwise patients are in danger.”
More than 2,000 operations were performed over a period of 10 years, allegedly netting the doctors more than 20 million euros.
Ion Cazacu, the doctors’ lawyer, believes the charges have been highly exaggerated. He says no donor has ever been paid and the controversy stems from different standards in Romania.
“These doctors are well-known abroad, they are highly educated and good professionals,” he said. “Romania is not yet ready for this kind of medicine and that is where the misunderstandings come from. What the whole world already takes as normal is something of a science fiction for this country.”
Nineteen-year old Elena is one of the donors. While talking to RT, she refused to show her face on camera, saying lawyers advised her not to speak to the media. She also refused to say whether she was given any money.
“I just wanted to help other women to have a baby, as I can imagine how awful it is when you cannot be a mother, which is essential for all women,” she said. “But I didn’t know exactly what my participation would consist of. I was just told I had to face some medical procedure.”
Vasile Astarastoae, the head of Romania’s Medical College, the country’s main medical watchdog, has been monitoring the clinic since 2006. He says the investigation was delayed due to corruption.
“Huge money has been involved and a number of high-ranking officials were certainly taking part in it, sharing profit with these doctors,” he said. “So they’ve been well protected.”
Now the Sabyc clinic is closed, and the two doctors who were working in it – who claimed they were “helping women be women” – could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
It’s also claimed that the doctors failed to carry out sufficiently rigorous medical checks on donors, with poor or vulnerable or sometimes underage women becoming the main providers of eggs.
All these allegations have been denied, but Romania’s medical community remains angry.
“Medical activity is not like industrial activity or something else,” said surgeon Florin Chirculescu. “And you really should comply with the rules otherwise patients are in danger.”
More than 2,000 operations were performed over a period of 10 years, allegedly netting the doctors more than 20 million euros.
Ion Cazacu, the doctors’ lawyer, believes the charges have been highly exaggerated. He says no donor has ever been paid and the controversy stems from different standards in Romania.
“These doctors are well-known abroad, they are highly educated and good professionals,” he said. “Romania is not yet ready for this kind of medicine and that is where the misunderstandings come from. What the whole world already takes as normal is something of a science fiction for this country.”
Nineteen-year old Elena is one of the donors. While talking to RT, she refused to show her face on camera, saying lawyers advised her not to speak to the media. She also refused to say whether she was given any money.
“I just wanted to help other women to have a baby, as I can imagine how awful it is when you cannot be a mother, which is essential for all women,” she said. “But I didn’t know exactly what my participation would consist of. I was just told I had to face some medical procedure.”
Vasile Astarastoae, the head of Romania’s Medical College, the country’s main medical watchdog, has been monitoring the clinic since 2006. He says the investigation was delayed due to corruption.
“Huge money has been involved and a number of high-ranking officials were certainly taking part in it, sharing profit with these doctors,” he said. “So they’ve been well protected.”
Now the Sabyc clinic is closed, and the two doctors who were working in it – who claimed they were “helping women be women” – could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Russia Today
Disturbing organs trade in Italy
The struggle for cash is taking a sinister turn in Italy, as hundreds of desperate people are prepared to sell their own organs to raise money for their families.
The shop windows of the streets of central Rome – among the most famous shopping passages in Europe – are showing off their merchandise, but hide the reality of the economic crisis that is forcing many to desperate measures.
The crisis-stricken people of Italy are being forced to sell their cars, homes and businesses. But for many, even that is not enough. And the metaphorical cost of an arm and a leg has become a gruesome reality, as people exploit one of the darkest demands of the black market.
A typical announcement over the web sounds like this “I am a 48-year-old craftsman and father of three little girls. My job no longer brings in enough money. I need at least 50,000 euros to cover my debts. I am willing to sell a kidney, or a part of my liver. Help me, I pray of you.”
This story is one of many, as Italy's leading daily La Repubblica found out. Hundreds of ads can be found in blogs where Italians offer their organs as a last resort.
Despite the fact that selling organs is illegal in Italy, the trade is growing.
“We never knew there was an illegal offer for organs, in exchange for money. It’s a symptom of the economic situation, which is very dark. And we did not realize – our institution did not realize – that the situation is really this bad,” says Maurizio Torrealta, an investigative journalist for RAI 24.
But doctors across the country are convinced such a level of sales is simply impossible.
“There are many people who think they could sell parts of their body and they offer that, as it was described in the paper, and I agree with the journalists that this phenomenon is increasing, and probably is somehow connected with the crisis. But these are only proposals,” Alessandro Nanni Costa, chief surgeon of the National Transplant Centre stresses.
Doctors are coming across such cases more and more frequently.
“We receive mails twice a week, from people offering to sell us their organs, which are clearly illegal proposals. But these are people who need to be helped, since they are trying to do something which is impossible in Italy,” explains Alessandro Nanni Costa.
This is why willing donors travel to Eastern European countries like Bulgaria and Romania or sometimes, Israel and the Palestine to get the surgery done.
And with a kidney fetching up to €30,000, the supply of people willing to go to this black market as a way out of their financial troubles looks set to increase.
RT
Alleged organ traffickers charged in Kosovo
The indictment of a group accused of organ trafficking in Kosovo has revived sinister allegations made against the region's soldiers during the war.
In the latest case, seven people have been charged, with one suspect linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army which is alleged to have harvested organs of the captured Serbs during the 90s conflict.
The people charged are doctors and there is also a high level health official. They are suspected of being part of an organized crime group.
There are now growing concerns that with political instability and a weak justice system, Kosovo could become a breeding ground for criminal activity.
“Organ trafficking is unfortunately a big business. People who do it don’t do it on an ethnic basis. They do it because there is a lot of money in it and the opportunity to set it up in a lawless environment which has existed in Kosovo for pretty much the last ten years is of course something that they would welcome,” says Serbian political analyst Misha Gavrilovic.
The allegations focus on the Medicus center and first surfaced two years ago – forcing that center to close.
But some specialists named on the indictment have continued to work in other medical centers.
The indictments have put organized crime in Kosovo under a strong spotlight. Its government and Western countries are accused of turning a blind eye to the lawlessness that has been growing since it declared independence from Serbia nearly three years ago.
There are also many who accuse the ruling authorities of miscarriages of justice that date back to the war.
Links have been drawn between Medicus and the 'yellow house' case – the alleged murder and harvesting of the organs of Serbian war prisoners by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. But there was insufficient evidence to bring that case to court.
The families of kidnapped and killed people in Kosovo have been fighting red tape in the UN Mission in Kosovo and NGOs for a long time, but so far without any results.
The biggest problem is that those accused of the killings and kidnappings have changed their soldiers’ uniforms for the suits of MPs. They gained power in Kosovo overnight with the help of international institutions.
But the focus is now falling on whether the territory is up to fighting organized crime when so many can still so clearly recall the abuses of the past.
The indictment of a group accused of organ trafficking in Kosovo has revived sinister allegations made against the region's soldiers during the war.
In the latest case, seven people have been charged, with one suspect linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army which is alleged to have harvested organs of the captured Serbs during the 90s conflict.
The people charged are doctors and there is also a high level health official. They are suspected of being part of an organized crime group.
There are now growing concerns that with political instability and a weak justice system, Kosovo could become a breeding ground for criminal activity.
“Organ trafficking is unfortunately a big business. People who do it don’t do it on an ethnic basis. They do it because there is a lot of money in it and the opportunity to set it up in a lawless environment which has existed in Kosovo for pretty much the last ten years is of course something that they would welcome,” says Serbian political analyst Misha Gavrilovic.
The allegations focus on the Medicus center and first surfaced two years ago – forcing that center to close.
But some specialists named on the indictment have continued to work in other medical centers.
The indictments have put organized crime in Kosovo under a strong spotlight. Its government and Western countries are accused of turning a blind eye to the lawlessness that has been growing since it declared independence from Serbia nearly three years ago.
There are also many who accuse the ruling authorities of miscarriages of justice that date back to the war.
Links have been drawn between Medicus and the 'yellow house' case – the alleged murder and harvesting of the organs of Serbian war prisoners by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. But there was insufficient evidence to bring that case to court.
The families of kidnapped and killed people in Kosovo have been fighting red tape in the UN Mission in Kosovo and NGOs for a long time, but so far without any results.
The biggest problem is that those accused of the killings and kidnappings have changed their soldiers’ uniforms for the suits of MPs. They gained power in Kosovo overnight with the help of international institutions.
But the focus is now falling on whether the territory is up to fighting organized crime when so many can still so clearly recall the abuses of the past.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Global human trafficking roundup (November 11, 2010) - National Human Rights | Examiner.com www.examiner.com
NORTH AMERICA
Arizona: A major human trafficking ring was busted after a year long investigation. According to the report, the human trafficking ring transferred thousands of illegal immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to all over the United States. Police also arrested nine people including seven Mexicans who are in the U.S. illegally and the 29 year old ring leader.
California: Police arrested 88 people during the raid on downtown night clubs in Los Angeles. Police also discovered drugs, alcohol, and a large amount of cash at more than 900 clubs in downtown. Police also found six employees with fraudulent identification cards.
Ohio: Senate says proposal on human trafficking might die in legislature's session. If the proposal is adopted, it would "create a felony-level offense of trafficking in people," and the measure will include "forced labor, and make it a first-degree felony to compel a person younger than 16 to engage in prostitution."
Georgia: A Mexican nationale is on trial for trafficking women and children from rural area of Mexico. A victim testified against him at the court that the defendant lured the victim into coming to the U.S. with sweet talk. Upon arrival, he took away her cell phone and money. He also placed her in an isolated place, where she couldn't communicate with anyone. The victim was forced to have sex with 10 to 40 men a night, six days a week.
Oregon: Portland City Council agreed to spend $285,000 to establish shelter and assistance program for victims of human trafficking. The money will be spent to pay for 8 beds in the shelter and two victim advocates. The city council also says that they aimed to prepare three beds ready to use for victims by January, next year.
LATIN AMERICA
Fiji: High Court finds the first conviction over a human trafficking case. A 62 year old Indian man was convicted of trafficking seven Indian migrants to Fiji for luring them into coming to Fiji after promising them a job in New Zealand. They each paid $3,400 New Zealand dollars to the convicted man.
EUROPE
UK: British and Chinese police are joining forces to target Snakehead to fight against human trafficking. The join force agreement will include information sharing and visits. According to study, Chinese victims make up the largest part of human trafficking in UK.
ASIA
Philippines: THe immigration officers arrested two men on the charges of human trafficking. They were arrested when they were attempting to escort six undocument migrants abroad. They allegedly were transporting the victims to Kaula Lumpur with forged identification cards. The victims also stated that they paid between P10,000 and P30,000.
Arizona: A major human trafficking ring was busted after a year long investigation. According to the report, the human trafficking ring transferred thousands of illegal immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to all over the United States. Police also arrested nine people including seven Mexicans who are in the U.S. illegally and the 29 year old ring leader.
California: Police arrested 88 people during the raid on downtown night clubs in Los Angeles. Police also discovered drugs, alcohol, and a large amount of cash at more than 900 clubs in downtown. Police also found six employees with fraudulent identification cards.
Ohio: Senate says proposal on human trafficking might die in legislature's session. If the proposal is adopted, it would "create a felony-level offense of trafficking in people," and the measure will include "forced labor, and make it a first-degree felony to compel a person younger than 16 to engage in prostitution."
Georgia: A Mexican nationale is on trial for trafficking women and children from rural area of Mexico. A victim testified against him at the court that the defendant lured the victim into coming to the U.S. with sweet talk. Upon arrival, he took away her cell phone and money. He also placed her in an isolated place, where she couldn't communicate with anyone. The victim was forced to have sex with 10 to 40 men a night, six days a week.
Oregon: Portland City Council agreed to spend $285,000 to establish shelter and assistance program for victims of human trafficking. The money will be spent to pay for 8 beds in the shelter and two victim advocates. The city council also says that they aimed to prepare three beds ready to use for victims by January, next year.
LATIN AMERICA
Fiji: High Court finds the first conviction over a human trafficking case. A 62 year old Indian man was convicted of trafficking seven Indian migrants to Fiji for luring them into coming to Fiji after promising them a job in New Zealand. They each paid $3,400 New Zealand dollars to the convicted man.
EUROPE
UK: British and Chinese police are joining forces to target Snakehead to fight against human trafficking. The join force agreement will include information sharing and visits. According to study, Chinese victims make up the largest part of human trafficking in UK.
ASIA
Philippines: THe immigration officers arrested two men on the charges of human trafficking. They were arrested when they were attempting to escort six undocument migrants abroad. They allegedly were transporting the victims to Kaula Lumpur with forged identification cards. The victims also stated that they paid between P10,000 and P30,000.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
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