Survivor of child prostitution met with further injustice

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

October 17, 2010

 

I WRITE in regard to the woman you identify as Jessica, who was abused and forced into prostitution, and is now in recovery and trying to put her life back together (“ ‘ People need to know what these guys have done,’ ’’ Page A1, Oct. 10). You write that she “was the first young prostitute to share her story with investigators and one of the terrified young witnesses whose court testimony was key to the convictions’’ of six Boston pimps. And yet, she still finds herself in a cycle of blaming the victim.
Jessica, who had been arrested for prostitution, has been discharged by the National Guard and had to switch universities as a result of her arrest record, as if she were a predatory streetwalker selling herself for personal gain. On the contrary, Jessica was a sex slave, forced into her role by unprincipled gangsters who abused her sexually and physically and confiscated the money she received.
Where is the justice in the holier-than-thou attitude that a young woman who was abused as a teenager should be shut out of the mainstream because of a life over which she had no control? It’s about time that all police and prosecutors recognized exploited youths as victims. We should be working to change the callous state law that allows for the arrest and conviction of child prostitutes.
Harry S. Westcott
Wellesley

69 child prostitutes freed in sweep

November 09, 2010|Associated Press

WASHINGTON — More than five dozen child prostitutes have been found in the last three days as part of a nationwide crackdown on the sexual exploitation of children, the FBI said yesterday.
FBI spokesman Jason Pack said that 69 children were removed from prostitution and that 99 suspected pimps were arrested in 40 cities in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Authorities arrested 785 other adults on a variety of state and local charges, Pack said.
All the children found in the last three days have been placed in protective custody or returned to their families.
The children were found during Operation Cross Country V, a three-day roundup targeting child traffickers and pimps.
The largest group of child prostitutes, 24, was found in and around Seattle, the FBI said.
Shawn Henry, the FBI’s executive assistant director, said the children found ranged in age from 12 to 17.
Authorities are working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to confirm their identities.
Henry said child prostitutes are often recruited by loose-knit groups that seek out children who may be involved in drugs or runaways looking for a “responsible adult’’ to help them.
“There are groups of people out there preying on naive kids who don’t have a good sense of the way of the world,’’ Henry said.
“Sometimes there’s a threat of force, threats of violence.’’
In a separate case in Minneapolis, 29 people were indicted in a sex-trafficking ring in which Somali gangs allegedly forced girls under 14 into prostitution in Minnesota, Tennessee, Ohio, and other places, according to an indictment unsealed yesterday.
Since 2003, about 1,250 child prostitutes have been located and removed from prostitution.

Senate should move ahead on greater penalties for pimps

EDITORIAL | Globe Editorial

June 21, 2011

HISTORICALLY, THE burden of the state laws to curb prostitution has fallen on prostitutes themselves, who can serve up to a year in prison if convicted. But a greater harm to society comes from pimps who profit from trafficking troubled young people into what amounts to sex slavery. Recognizing that, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed sensible legislation recently that would outlaw human trafficking — which technically isn’t a crime under current state law — and also bolster resources for prostitutes who are trying to get out of the trade. After making slight tweaks to the legislation, the Senate should follow suit, and Governor Patrick should sign the bill.
The measure, pushed by Attorney General Martha Coakley, would bring Massachusetts in line with more than 40 other states where pimps are subject to human-trafficking laws. The need for such reforms was jaw-droppingly clear last month, when a Dorchester man was arrested and accused of abducting a 15-year-old girl and forcing her into prostitution. The problem was also in evidence last fall, when Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley was approached in the busy Back Bay MBTA station by a pimp who offered her a job making $5,000 a week. Boston police sent an undercover officer to the station in response, and the plainclothes policewoman was solicited as well — but by a different pimp altogether.
The House legislation would help tighten law enforcement’s grip on pimps by upping the maximum penalty for selling the sexual services of adults from two to 15 years. Anyone selling a minor would face life imprisonment. Significantly, minors who are caught on prostitution charges would be treated more like victims than criminals.
The Senate’s version of the bill should keep a measure that would provide new services to prostitutes who wish to leave the sex trade, and help pay for it with money seized from pimps. Another worthwhile measure would create a task force to study the extent to which human trafficking occurs in Massachusetts. But the Senate should resist the House’s push to lengthen potential prison sentences for johns from one year, the current maximum, to two and a half years. While exposing those who use prostitutes to the threat of some prison time is necessary for deterrence, they shouldn’t be tying up prison space that could go to violent offenders.
When taken together, these changes should create an environment that is more hostile to those who organize the sex trade and more helpful to those who get trapped within it.

Mass. Senate OKs measure to curb human trafficking

July 01, 2011|By Colleen Quinn, State House News Service

The state Senate unanimously passed a bill to crack down on human trafficking yesterday, approving legislation that differs significantly from a House proposal and putting Massachusetts closer to adopting new tools to deal with horrific sex- and labor-trafficking cases.
The Senate bill would increase the mandatory minimum sentences for human trafficking from 15 to 20 years, add new criminal penalties for organ trafficking, and impose fines up to $1 million on businesses found engaging in human trafficking.
Senator Mark C. Montigny, the lead sponsor of the bill, said he was pleased to see the legislation advance “after years of frustration and pessimism.’’ He said he was confident it will become law.

Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat, has filed the bill for the past six years. It has passed in the Senate before, but never made it through both branches. Senators said it will probably go to a six-member House-Senate conference committee, which would be charged with producing a single bill.
“I really think for the first time both branches are determined to get this done,’’ said Montigny. “I feel very strongly we won’t have a break down in conference.’’
In June, the House unanimously passed a bill to give prosecutors new tools to target prostitution and forced labor networks. Attorney General Martha Coakley applauded passage of the bill, saying, “Today’s vote is another major step toward ending the exploitation of victims for sexual servitude and labor in our Commonwealth.’’
During debate in the Senate yesterday, Montigny said he felt sad for the victims of human trafficking that it is taking so long to pass a bill. He said it is time for Massachusetts residents to realize that human trafficking occurs in this state so more people can be vigilant about stopping it.
“We need to convince people in every neighborhood of this Commonwealth that this is going on,’’ Montigny said. “Some of the most horrendous cases have been in wealthy suburbs.’’
The Senate adopted an amendment to impose a $1,000 fine on so-called Johns convicted of a first-time offense.
Both versions of the bill include provisions that would allow juveniles under 18 to avoid prosecution in certain cases if a judge determines they were victimized by trafficking.

Belfast police close in on human traffickers

Irish Central

Indian woman’s slave plight only tip of the iceberg

By

CATHAL DERVAN

,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Friday, July 1, 2011, 8:30 AM

Updated Friday, July 1, 2011, 8:30 AM

 

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Police in Belfast want to extradite suspected human traffickers from India after a woman was rescued from life as a domestic slave in the City

Police in Belfast want to extradite suspected human traffickers from India after a woman was rescued from life as a domestic slave in the City.

The Indian victim, a young woman in her 20s, was freed by chance after neighbors in an upmarket suburb found her locked out of a nearby house.

The victim was only partially clothed when the neighbors were alerted to the woman wandering around looking for help in the middle of the night.

The police called to the scene subsequently discovered that the woman was being held as a domestic slave.

The Indian family living in the property where she was held have since fled back to their own country and are now wanted by Northern Ireland police anxious to charge them over the way the woman was treated.

Her case is just one of 23 human trafficking investigations currently under investigation by Belfast police.

The details of this particular case were revealed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris.

He spoke as the PSNI’s Organized Crime Task Force confirmed that 23 victims of human trafficking were rescued in Northern Ireland last year.

Of the 23, 18 were forced to work in the sex trade with the remainder subjected to manual labor or domestic servitude.

Harris outlined police fears of other slaves being held in secret in Northern Ireland in light of the fact that the Indian woman was only rescued by chance.

“That was only uncovered because she was locked out of the house in the cold weather and had no protective clothing and neighbors reported this as being suspicious,” said Harris.

“It was an Indian family and this person was being treated as, in effect, an indentured servant with no pay, her passport held and all of that.”

The victim is now recovering from her ordeal and has been provided with educational and job opportunities by local authorities in Northern Ireland while the police continue to pursue her captors.

“They went back to India but we haven’t given up on it,” said Harris. “It`s just a long process. We know where they are in India and that will just take it`s time, but we do hope to get them back.

“There are other victims here, many of them in the food industry. These people are in dire straits in terms of just being imprisoned in fast food restaurants, in the upper stories of fast food restaurants.

“Their life is just working in this fast food restaurant for no pay and no money at all and being required to work, being told they are ‘going to work like this for 18 months or two years to pay off the debt you owe us (the traffickers) for getting you here’.

“That’s happened with Bangladeshis in particular.”

Assistant Chief Constable Harris described the human trafficking as modern day slavery.
He added: “There`s no money, there`s no personal freedom so it`s as good as slavery.

“You’re not being paid, you`re working off a debt and you have no personal freedoms at all, so you can`t communicate with family or friends, you`ve no freedom of movement because you have no passport so you are locked down, so you haven`t the means to actually escape your situation.”
 

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Indonesian migrant worker endured years of abuse

By Anantha Natalegawa, Greg Hughes and Kathy Quiano, CNN

July 2, 2011 -- Updated 0204 GMT (1004 HKT)

Indonesian domestic helper Rosnani Matsuni says her employers abroad ignored her basic human rights.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Indonesian domestic helper Rosnani Matsuni says she suffered years of abuse abroad
• She says her employers in Persian Gulf ignored her human rights and she was beaten
• Indonesia imposed moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia after worker executed
• Matsuni is pleased moratorium but sees a need to create new jobs at home

(CNN) -- Indonesian domestic helper Rosnani Matsuni holds traumatic memories from her years working abroad, claiming she was beaten, threatened with her life and "treated like an animal" by her employers.
Having worked for most of the past decade in and around Saudi Arabia, she identifies with the case of fellow Indonesian migrant worker Ruyati bin Satubi, who was executed there by beheading on June 16 for killing her employer's wife, who she says abused her.
Saudi Arabia is suspending the issuance of visas to domestic workers from Indonesia starting Saturday, the latest move in a tit-for-tat game of economics and human rights. The statement came days after the Indonesian government declared it will refuse to allow its citizens to go to Saudi Arabia until human rights conditions there improve. Indonesia issued its moratorium policy, effective August 1, after the Gulf kingdom beheaded Satubi.
Saudi Arabia suspends visas to Indonesian domestic workers
The case puts the spotlight on migrant Indonesian domestic helpers like 48-year-old Matsuni, who first left her home in Banjarmasin, Kalimantan for Saudi Arabia in 2001. She shuttled between the states of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia after leaving home five times --- each time hoping for better luck with a new placement.
During these stays, she worked for five different employers, each of whom she says ignored her basic human rights. "At first they treat us like kings but as days pass, they change," she said, "They treat us like slaves and things that they think they can buy".

 

Fighting for rights of workers

 

I was treated like an animal, forced to work 22 hours every day. I only had time to eat or pray.
--Rosnani Matsuni, domestic helper.

Matsuni explains that in 2009 she traveled to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to seek work. Once there, she was immediately transferred to Al Ain, a smaller city 160 kilometers east of the capital, where she found the work too demanding.
After ten days, Matsuni quit her job and was subsequently sold by the agency that brought her to the Middle East to another employer so they could recoup their expenses.
"It was like a shop. There was a glass window and prospective employers would look through. If you're picked, only then can you go out to talk to them. If you get along, then you can go with them. If not, you can't leave [with the prospective employer]," Matsuni said, when asked to recall where she was sold.
Matsuni was brought and taken to Oman, where she lived for the next two years. It was there that she says she endured her worst treatment. "I was treated like an animal, forced to work 22 hours every day. I only had time to eat or pray. I was beaten up all the time," she said.
She says her employer withheld her passport and confiscated her phone SIM card so she couldn't contact her family and threatened to kill her when she asked to leave. Upon reaching her breaking point, Matsuni paid for her own return to Jakarta in April 2011.
Matsuni now lives in a shelter run by Migrant Care in East Jakarta, a non-governmental organization that provides temporary shelter to returning workers. She spends her days waiting to receive health insurance payments owed to her by the agency which sent her abroad. She is still under medical treatment for a neck injury she claims she sustained after being beaten by her last employer.
At the shelter she engages in English lessons provided by volunteers and shares the company of other Indonesians who have returned following mistreatment abroad.

 

Indonesian govt. reacts to execution

She has monitored the government's reaction to the sudden, unannounced beheading of Ruyati in Saudi Arabia. Not wanting any migrant worker to suffer the way she did, Matsuni was pleased when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced the decision to impose a moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia, effective August 1st 2011.
Indonesia stops sending workers to Saudi Arabia
At the same time, she sees a need to create new jobs at home, believing that there would not be the same incentive to work abroad if steady work with good pay was available within Indonesia.
Indrayana Samaan, 34, another migrant worker now living in the shelter shares the view on the need to create jobs at home. Samaan was severely burned during a freak accident while working at a plywood factory in Malaysia in 2005. After more than a year spent recovering in wards ill-equipped to treat his injuries, he found that his injuries precluded him from continuing work in Malaysia and accepted an offer of 32,000 Ringgit (US$10,500) in compensation.
Needing most of that money to pay for hospital bills and food for his child, he now awaits additional compensation and help from the government to find stable work. That assistance may be on the way. On June 27 2011, Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa, announced the Indonesian government plans to spend 1.4 trillion rupiah (US$162.5 million) to create more jobs.
This may ease the effect of the moratorium, which the National Development and Planning Agency estimates will see the loss of 90,000 to 120,000 overseas jobs in 2011. The funds are dedicated to providing educational programs for women most likely to be affected by the moratorium.

Anis Hidayah, executive director of the migrant worker advocacy agency Migrant Care, told CNN that she was pleased with the government's decision to stop sending workers to Saudi Arabia but expressed a need for serious action beyond the creation of task forces given the responsibility of monitoring migrant worker protection overseas.
"Right now, Indonesia should use the momentum to immediately create a foundation of policies related to the protection of migrant workers. One of the possible ways to do this is the immediate ratification of international human rights organizations that are connected to the protection of migrant workers, whether it's the U.N. or even the ILO (International Labour organization)" Hidayah said.
"If this case of Ruyati passes and isn't used as momentum to improve policies in a serious manner, Indonesia will never be able to escape from its miserly migrant workers issues."

Though reform has yet to reach the level suggested by Hidayah, early signs indicate that serious steps are being taken. Residents of the small shelter in East Jakarta will be hoping that these steps come to include helping those who have already paid a hefty price for the abuse they say they endured abroad.

RELATED TOPICS

• Indonesia
• Immigration
• Saudi Arabia
• Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Cops beat, pepper spray and use Tasers on disabled boy

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Published: 30 June, 2011, 21:04

Cops beat, pepper spray and use Tasers on disabled boy

TAGS: Children, Conflict, Crime, Scandal, Accident, Politics, Human rights, Law, Corruption, USA, Culture

A 17-year-old mentally handicapped boy was opening the front door of his Dayton, Ohio home last week when police officers fired their Tasers at him before allegedly punching the disabled child in the chest and spraying him with mace.
The incident arose after Jesse Kersey was approached by police while on his bicycle on Saturday. The boy’s mother, Pamela Ford, says her son was stopped by Officer Willie Hooper, who tried to talk to Jesse and then mistook his speech impediment as disrespect towards the copper.
"Prior to the incident . . . Hooper knew Jesse and was aware that Jesse was mentally challenged,” his mom says in a statement, however.
Jesse became confused when Hooper began shouting, though, and began heading back to his house to have his mother help communicate for him. There on his front steps, two officers fired their Tasers.
In a civil complaint filed in Dayton County this week, Ford says that officers Hooper and John Howard entered the home and struggled with her son. She says Jesse was standing against a door with his hands in front of his face, pleading “Please quit, please quit.”
Then, she says, Jesse was “hogtied” and put into a police car and eventually jail.
Around 20 officers by then had reported to the scene.
Ford says that a neighbor tried to alert Officer Hooper that Jesse was disabled as he chased the boy home, but he was instead reprimanded and warned that, if he did not go back into his home, he would be arrested.
That statement also notes that "On numerous occasions, Ford and a family friend, Christopher Peyton, informed Officer Hooper that Jesse was mentally challenged/handicapped, and that Jesse did not understand what was happening.”
"At no point, even after being advised of Jesse's mental challenge/handicap by Jesse's family and numerous bystanders, did defendant Hooper, defendant Howard, or any other police officer present, attempt to communicate with Jesse or explain in terms he could understand as to why Jesse was being chased.”
Somehow the ordeal pinnacled with Jesse being booked for assault, resisting arrest and obstructing official business, but charges were dropped by the Montgomery County Juvenile Court after the boy was declared incompetent.
Now Ford and an attorney are seeking damages from Dayton and Hooper and Howard for false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, assault, battery, excessive use of force, infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy.
The plaintiffs have not yet specified how much they will be seeking, other than it should total at least $300,000. Richard Boucher, a Dayton attorney for over 23 years, will be representing the family.