ICE gives voice to victims of human trafficking in U.S.

“Hidden in plain sight” theme shines a light on the problem of thousands estimated being held as modern-day slaves in the U.S. 

From: The Daily Citizen 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a media initiative to inform the public about the horrors and the prevalence of human trafficking, which is modern-day slavery.

As part of our continued efforts, ICE has unveiled an outdoor public service announcement campaign, “Hidden In Plain Sight,” to draw the American public’s attention to the plight of human-trafficking victims in the United States. The campaign message explains that human trafficking includes those who are sexually exploited or forced to work against their will.

Posters, billboards and transit shelter signs were rolled out last month bearing the slogan “Hidden in Plain Sight.” They are displayed in the following cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Newark, New Orleans, New York, St Paul, San Antonio, San Francisco and Tampa. The campaign’s goal is to raise public awareness about the existence of human trafficking in communities nationwide, and asks members of the public to take action if they encounter possible victims.

By going directly to the American public, ICE is hoping to root out the heinous criminals associated with human trafficking. As the largest investigative agency in the Department of Homeland Security, ICE is poised to target individuals and companies suspected of using people as modern-day slaves.

“Most Americans would be shocked to learn that slavery still exists in this day and age in communities throughout the country,” said John Morton, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for ICE. “Because this heinous crime is extremely well-hidden, we need to help educate members of the public about human trafficking, and encourage them to keep alert for possible human trafficking victims.”

It is estimated that 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked around the world each year. These victims are trafficked into the commercial sex trade, and into forced-labor situations throughout the world. Many of these victims are lured from their homes with false promises of well-paying jobs; instead, they are forced or coerced into prostitution, domestic servitude, farm or factory labor, or other types of forced labor.

The greatest challenge in combating human trafficking is victim identification. Surprisingly, many people are unaware that this form of modern-day slavery occurs every day in the United States. These victims may end up in a foreign country. They are often unable to speak the language and have no one to advocate for them. Traffickers often take away the victims’ travel and identity documents. They tell their victims that if they attempt to escape, their families back home will be either physically or financially harmed.

ICE is asking for the public’s help to remain alert to recognize and identify victims of modern-day slavery who are in our midst. They are domestic servants, sweat-shop employees, sex workers and fruit pickers who were lured here by the promise of prosperity. Ultimately, they are forced to work without pay and are unable to leave their situation. ICE is committed to giving them the help they need to come forward and help us end human trafficking with vigorous enforcement and tough penalties. As a primary mission area, ICE has the overall goal of preventing human trafficking in the United States by prosecuting the traffickers, and rescuing and protecting the victims.

One example that demonstrates the horrors of human trafficking is regarding a family of four in Newark, N.J. Lassissi Afolabi, Akouavi Kpade Afolabi, Derek Hounakey and Geoffrey Kouevi were all indicted in the District of New Jersey on numerous charges, including: Visa Fraud, Forced Labor, Trafficking, Transportation of a Minor Across State Lines with Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity, Smuggling and Harboring Aliens for Commercial Advantage and Financial Gain. Their scheme involved smuggling young African women into the United States under assumed identities, and forcing them to work in hair-braiding salons in the Newark, N.J., area. The women worked six to seven days a week, eight to 12 hours per day. They were not allowed to keep the money they earned. Some of the victims were also subjected to physical and sexual abuse, and were held in servitude for more than five years. Ultimately, all the defendants were convicted or pleaded guilty to the charges and are awaiting sentencing.

In Atlanta, Ga., Amador Cortes-Meza, Francisco Cortes-Meza, Raul Cortes-Meza, Juan Cortes-Meza and Edison Wagner Rosa-Tort were indicted for adult and child sex trafficking. They physically abused young women and girls, some of whom were as young as 14 years of age; they held them against their will, and forced them into prostitution. To force them to work as prostitutes in the Atlanta area, some of the victims were beaten, threatened, or their families in Mexico were threatened.

At least one of the co-defendants was always present in the home where the women lived to monitor them and direct the prostitution work. None of the victims were allowed to leave the house unaccompanied. The victims often had to service 20 to 30 men each night. Some of the $25 prostitution charge went to the drivers who transported the young women to the “johns.” However, the majority of the money was kept by the traffickers. Earlier this year, four of the six defendants pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, which carries a minimum 10-year sentence; another pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. The last defendant is pending judicial action. All other defendants are pending sentencing.

Anyone who knows or suspects that someone is being forced to work against their will should contact the ICE tip line anonymously at 866-DHS-2-ICE. You can also view or download the video Public Service Announcement at www.ice.gov.

Zimbabwe Still Exporting Blood Diamonds

Amanda Kloer

The folks over at the Kimberly Process certification scheme, the main body responsible for certifying diamonds as “conflict-free”, have threatened to suspend Zimbabwe’s participation in the program for six months. It appears Zimbabwe is still seeing a great deal of human rights abuses, exploitation, and slavery in the diamond industry.

The Kimberley Process (KP) is a coalition of governments, diamond industry representatives, and civil society stakeholders, which was created to stem the flow of conflict diamonds from countries in Africa to global markets. Rough diamonds have been used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments, and the diamond industry has become notorious for exploitation and slavery, especially of children. The trade conflict diamonds has fuelled devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone and resulted in the abuse of thousands of workers and children. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) imposes extensive requirements on participating members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free’.

Zimbabwe’s eastern diamond fields are the areas currently being questioned by the KP. Human Rights Watch has accused the military of killing a number of diamond diggers in the area and using the gems recovered from the dead diggers to line their own pockets. Zimbabwe is also accused of not having stringent enough regulations in place to prevent abuse in the diamond industry. A KP inspector recently recommended that Zimbabwe be barred from importing or exporting rough diamonds within the Process for at least six months “until such time as a KP team determines that minimum standards have been met.” Such a ban would be a huge blow to the diamond industry in that country, but might also allow KP members to put the additional regulations in place to help prevent exploitation in the industry.

It’s comforting to know the folks at KP are actively monitoring all of their members, and that they aren’t hesitating to call one out for failing to live up to the rigorous standards KP insists on. But it’s still important to know where the diamonds you buy have come from and how or if they are certified. You can find a wide selection of Fair Trade diamond and gold jewelry at Brilliant Earth’s website.

Photo credit: swamibu

The Ugly Truth about Prostitution

This post is written by Olivia, a teen abolitionist and blogger. You can read more of here thoughts and posts at her blog www.nobody416.blogspot.com. Olivia, God Bless and keep up the good work. 

By Olivia 

So what’s the big deal about prostitutes? I mean, aren’t they all those Marilyn Monroe types that are in it for the fun? At least that’s how most people see the whole issue of prostitution. It’s called a “victimless crime” and it’s claimed that it’s a civil agreement where both parties get what they want and no one gets hurt. But is that the case?

The Statistics show otherwise. Let’s take a look at some statistics starting with age:

• Average age of entry for a prostitute: 14 – 16 yrs
• Average mean age: 31
• Average years in prostitution: 11
• Percent younger then age 18 at entry: 42%

The most shocking of those stats is that average entry age. I just turned fourteen last week. Most of my friends are 15, 16, and 17. It’s so sad and scary to think of so many of my peers being in prostitution. Also, it is not legal and should not be. Most juvenile prostitutes are runaways and are (obviously) not doing so with parent’s permission.

Violence in Prostitution:

• Threatened with a weapon: 78%
• Physically assaulted: 82%
• Raped: 82% (note from Annie Lobert: many prostitutes are confused by the definition of rape and so the numbers are suspected to be higher then this.)
• Raped more than 5 times: 73%
• Current or past homelessness: 84%
• As a child, been beaten by a caregiver until injured or bruised: 49%
• Sexually abused as a child: 65-95%

Victimless crime, huh? Hollywood and pop culture has glamorized it when the facts don’t show that glamour, in fact, they show horror and evil. Prostitution also gives great opportunity for slavery and many women in prostitution as being held there against their will, either with threats and fear of their pimps, substance addictions (that they now have to get money for the only way they see possible), or debts that they are told need to be paid.

Drug and Alcohol use:

• Drugs: 75%
• Alcohol: 26%

Another sobering statistic. From what I’ve read of personal stories and such, pimps will get their women addicted to drugs in order to make them stay and keep earning money. No working. No drugs.

The Most Shocking Statistic:

• 87% of prostitutes say they would leave prostitution.

Now that is a HUGE number! There are an estimated 100,000 prostitutes in America.  That means that around 87,000 prostitutes want to get out of the trade. That shatters all our preconceived ideas that we have about prostitution, or at least it has shattered mine.

My journey that lead to this burden on my heart started with my passion to end modern day slavery. At first the whole issue that some slavery involve forced prostitution made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn’t sure if I should even share that when mentioning slavery. Then as I learned more about sex slaves and eventually about prostitution in general, God really laid on my heart a burden and a boldness to do what I can to help and to bring awareness of this issue to others.

I hope to share a little about the after effects of prostitution on our culture and upon the Western world in the next post. The issue with prostitution lies deeper then just with the women. Ultimately, it effects almost everyone in America and Canada to some degree or another.

(Note: Statistics provided by Annie Lobert via powerhouse-ministry.org. Annie was a former prostitute and now follower of Christ as well as founder of Hookers for Jesus. The estimate of prostitutes comes from bayswan.org/stats.html)

[Disclaimer about statistics... they are almost always estimates and can usually be spun whatever way you so chose too. I was careful about who I took my statistics from and made sure it was a reliable source. In this case that's a former prostitute who now works with prostitutes.]

10 Things Seniors Can Do to End Slavery

by Amanda Kloer 

Human trafficking may sometimes seem like the issue dejour for students and young people, but retired people and seniors have a tremendous capacity for contributing to the abolitionist cause. Activism can help older adults stay engaged in their communities both physically and mentally and leader happier, healthier lives. Here are 10 ways for seniors to get involved in the fight to end slavery.

1. Share Your Skills: Anti-trafficking organizations can benefit from a host of skills that older people may have developed. Whether you were an accountant for 30 years or an opera singer, chances are your skill set is valuable to those organizations fighting human trafficking. Get in touch with your local anti-trafficking organization, or even a national one, and find out how your skills can be put to work

2. Inspire Your Community: Reach out to your peers and educate them about human trafficking. Invite friends or family over for a movie night about human trafficking or bring a speaker to your place of worship or community center. By getting other people you know talking, you can help inspire even greater activism.

3. Volunteer: If you’re retired an looking for a worthy project, why not volunteer at an anti-trafficking organization? I used to work at one that had a huge number of retired people on call to do emergency fund raising. They were fantastic fund raisers and had a great time doing it.

4. Mentor a Young Activist: Do you know someone, perhaps a grandchild or other young person, teetering on the brink of activism? Be the one who tips them over the edge and helps them cut their activist teeth. You have so much knowledge and experience to share.

5. Change Your Consumption Habits: I don’t care how long you’ve been buying a certain product, it’s never too late to change. Take a good, hard look at what you buy and where it comes from, and try to make better decisions about what products to support. After all, every time you make a purchase, you vote for that product. And no one wants to vote for slavery.

6. Record History: Human trafficking may be a new movement, but it’s not a new phenomenon. Have you had experiences with what we now call human trafficking before it was known as that? Record those experiences, so we can learn from the past and not repeat its mistakes.

7. Support the Next Generation of Women: Females disproportionately become victims of human trafficking because in many countries (including the U.S.) they lack the same educational and economic opportunities given to men.  There are a number of international microeconomic development programs which give opportunities to girls and women, as well as U.S. organizations like the Girl Scouts which can help low-income girls afford college.

8. Raise Funds: Money still makes the world go round, and human trafficking victims need it now more than ever. Work with your community to host a fundraiser using your skills and interests and donate the money to a local anti-trafficking organization.

9. Get Active: If you’re in good enough health, get out and get active by joining a community walk against human trafficking or other such event. If you’re not able to walk, consider working at a water station or check-in table.

10. Change the Laws: Retired people are a powerful voting bloc. Find out if the local anti-trafficking laws in your area need some help and ask local politicans to change them. Politicans may listen to you more than other groups, and actually do something.

Photo credit: aflcio2008

3 sentenced for recruiting Chinese women for prostitution

ICE Press Release

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The ring leader and two others who ran a massage parlor scheme that recruited women from China to work as prostitutes in the U.S. were sentenced in federal court this week. These sentences resulted from a joint investigation conducted by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the FBI, the Overland Park (Kansas) Police Department, the Independence (Missouri) Police Department, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Ling Xu, aka “Cherry,” 48, was sentenced Oct. 14 by U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Western District of Missouri, to eight years and two months in federal prison without parole. Xu was sentenced for leading and organizing a criminal scheme to coerce her employees, whom she recruited from China, to engage in prostitution. Her co-conspirators Zhong Yan Liu, aka “Lucky,” 37, and Cheng Tang, aka “Tom,” 23, were each sentenced Oct. 13 by Judge Gaitan to five years in federal prison without parole.

The court also ordered each defendant to forfeit $452,500 to the government, which represented the proceeds of the unlawful activity. An additional $60,497 seized by the FBI during the execution of federal search warrants at the defendants’ residences and businesses was also ordered to be forfeited.

Each defendant pleaded guilty to coercing persons to travel across state lines to engage in prostitution and illegal sexual services. They also pleaded guilty to money laundering by wiring more than $500,000 from the proceeds of that unlawful activity to China. Xu also pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft for using the passports and identification of her female workers in order to make most of those wire transfers.

After Xu was arrested, she discussed plans to have any worker who testified against them killed. Xu stated that she was going to have Liu kill a female worker and her family for $5,000 upon his release from custody (she did not yet realize they would be held without bond).

Xu and Liu are married to other persons, with whom they have limited contact, and were living together with Xu’s son, Tang. Xu, Liu and Tang were involved in operating “China Rose Massage” and “China Villa Massage/Lin Dynasty” in Overland Park. At the time charges were filed, they were preparing to open “Victoria Square” in Overland Park and a new location in Wichita, Kan. They also operated a nearby residence that was used for prostitution. Xu headed these businesses, and was the lead owner and operator. Xu also employed and paid Liu and Tang for their work and assistance in committing the offenses.

Xu, Liu and Tang recruited female Asians to travel to the Kansas City area to work as masseuses. They facilitated the women’s travel, including, but not limited to, booking and purchasing their flights. They flew the women into the Kansas City, Mo., International Airport and then transported them to the businesses. As managers of the businesses, Xu and Tang signed massage therapy license applications for the women to obtain massage therapy licenses with the city of Overland Park.

Xu, Liu and Tang worked the female Asians from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. The female workers, who were not paid, lived inside the massage parlors, where they performed sexual services on male patrons in exchange for money. Xu, Liu and Tang also used a nearby apartment, within walking distance of one of the massage parlors, to have the female Asian workers provide extended sexual services to some male patrons. Xu, Liu and Tang operated surveillance cameras inside the massage parlors to monitor the female Asian workers.

Xu, Liu and Tang used businesses, such as “888 Market” and “Ho’s Oriental Market,” to wire at least $452,500 in proceeds from the prostitution businesses, via Western Union, to several locations in China. Xu wired at least $343,600 in this manner between 2005 and 2006. Of this amount, Xu wired $318,600 by illegally taking and using the female workers’ passports and identification. Liu wired at least $74,500, and Tang wired at least $34,400.

When the search warrants were executed on her massage parlor, Xu locked herself in the bathroom and began flushing evidence down the toilet. Three law enforcement agents had to physically remove her from the toilet to stop the destruction. Officers salvaged as much as they could from the toilet stool and dried it. The documents included the Western Union receipts and ledgers used to document and maintain the profits made from the customers of the female workers.

“These sentences send a strong message that ICE continues to work closely with our law enforcement partners to dismantle human trafficking organizations that seek to profit from others’ misery,” said Gilbert Trill, assistant special agent in charge of ICE’s Office of Investigations in Kansas City. “Although we can’t erase the suffering and humiliation experienced by these victims, we pledge that we will continue to identify and protect the victims, and prosecute their captors.”

All three defendants are Chinese nationals residing in Overland Park, Kan. and are subject to deportation after they complete their prison sentences.

In a separate case resulting from this investigation, the owner of two Johnson County massage parlors has pleaded guilty to inducing women to travel across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Wei Li Pang, also known as Linda, 39, a Chinese national and U.S. permanent resident residing in Overland Park, will be sentenced on Oct. 26. Pang co-owned and operated “Asian Massage Health Center” in Olathe, Kan., and owned and operated “Oriental Massage” in Mission, Kan.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia L. Cordes, Western District of Missouri, is prosecuting this case.

More Than 50 Children Rescued During Operation Cross Country IV

FBI Press Release

Over the past 72 hours, the FBI, its local and state law enforcement partners, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) concluded Operation Cross Country IV, a three-day national enforcement action as part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative. The operation included enforcement actions in 36 cities across 30 FBI divisions around the country and led to the recovery of 52 children who were being victimized through prostitution. Additionally, nearly 700 others, including 60 pimps, were arrested on state and local charges.

“Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces,” said Kevin Perkins, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “There is no work more important than protecting America’s children and freeing them from the cycle of victimization. Through our strategic partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies, we are able to make a difference.”

Task Force operations usually begin as local actions, targeting such places as truck stops, casinos, street “tracks,” and Internet websites, based on intelligence gathered by officers working in their respective jurisdictions. Initial arrests are often violations of local and state laws relating to prostitution or solicitation. Information gleaned from those arrested often uncovers organized efforts to prostitute women and children across many states. FBI agents further develop this information in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and file federal charges where appropriate.

To date, the 34 Innocence Lost Task Forces and Working Groups have recovered nearly 900 children from the streets. The investigations and subsequent 510 convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences, including multiple 25-years-to-life sentences and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in assets.

“It is repugnant that children in these times could be subjected to the great pain, suffering, and indignity of being forced into sexual slavery for someone else’s profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, “but Cross Country IV has shown us that the scourge of child prostitution still exists on the streets of our cities. The FBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and all the state and local law enforcement agencies that contributed to this operation are to be commended for their dedication to this cause. We will all continue to work tirelessly to end the victimization of innocent children.”

In the spring of 2003, the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, in partnership with the Department of Justice’s CEOS and NCMEC, formed the Innocence Lost National Initiative to address the growing problem of children forced into prostitution.

“Child trafficking for the purposes of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale or trade,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st century slavery. We are proud to have worked hand-in-hand with the FBI and Justice Department in a partnership that is unprecedented, historic, and working.”

This program brings state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers all from around the country to NCMEC, where the groups are trained together. In addition, CEOS has reinforced the training by assigning prosecutors to help bring cases in those cities plagued by child prostitution.

The FBI thanks the 1,599 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers representing 112 separate agencies who participated in Operation Cross Country and ongoing enforcement efforts.

The charges announced today are merely accusations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

For more information on Operation Cross Country and the Innocence Lost National Initiative, visit www.fbi.gov, www.justice.gov or www.ncmec.org

Genocide + The Internet: The Good, The Bad, The Questionable

by Martha Heinemann Bixby

The internet.  One of the best things about it is that anyone with a connection and a computer can use it to spread ideas, learn and connect with other people.  One of the scariest things?  Anyone with a connection and a computer can use it to spread ideas, learn and connect with other people.

Michelle recently highlighted some of the innovative ways that people are harnassing the internet to map conflict to better study and prevent it.  (That’s the good).

On the other end of the spectrum, the “Balloon Boy” national fascination late last week took a particularly odd and nasty turn when it revealed that instead of floating away with his father’s experiment, the boy had instead been hiding in the attic.  Thousands upon thousands of Twitter users repeated a short “joke” turning the other recent national fascination, Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift, into variations on:

“Yo, Balloon Boy. I’m really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Anne Frank had the best hiding place of ALL TIME!”

That one person wrote this — let alone that so many people decided that something like this was worth repeating — is clearly the bad.

And the questionable?  Last week the Polish authority that manages Auschwitz created a Facebook page for the memorial. A spokesman said:

“If our mission is to educate the younger generation to be responsible in the contemporary world, what better tool can we use to reach them than the tools they use themselves?”

And the page itself isn’t necessarily the problem.  The motivations behind it clearly make sense, and the dialogue on the page (which is closely monitored) is mostly respectful memories of visiting the memorial and exhortations to “never forget”.

Perhaps it’s the Facebook terminology that’s most troubling – it’s hard to want to become a “fan” of Auschwitz.  And the general setting of Facebook – with its “what Mad Men character are you?” quizzes and birthday party invites – might not be the most appropriate for such a complicated and weighty topic, as Sinead Gleeson points out in the Irish Times.

What makes me most nervous, though, is that although the page is supposedly closely monitored and the comments to date are civil, the page is open to anyone on Facebook.  And Facebook is open to anyone on the internet.  And the internet is open to anyone with a computer and a connection.  Which isn’t a problem until people stop thinking and start inanely retweeting jokes about Anne Frank.

Emma Thompson, Featured in Fatal Promises, Speaks Out on Human Trafficking

by: Marcia G. Yerman New York based writer focusing on women’s issues and the arts.

The anti trafficking exhibit The Journey is opening to the public in NYC on 11/10 at Washington Square for free! Do not miss it! This will really move you. To find out more please visit www.helenbamber.org

Human trafficking…the statistics are overwhelming. Approximately 800,000 people are illegally trafficked through international borders annually. 1.39 million people are trafficked into sexual exploitation. There are 16,600 people trafficked into the United States yearly, with America being one of the top ten destinations. New York City serves as a major portal for this activity.

A new film documentary, Fatal Promises directed by Kat Rohrer, will be screening from September 16th – September 24th at the Cinema Village in Manhattan. Rohrer partnered with her mother, Anneliese Rohrer, a 30-year veteran of Austrian journalism, to examine the various facets of human trafficking. The film, four years in the making, follows the stories of five people — three women and two men. They relate how they were lured by promises of employment, and lacking opportunitie,s sought job solutions abroad. Their harrowing nightmares ended in relief brought about by rescue or through escape. Their personal narratives fulfill the need to put a face to an issue that is perceived as overwhelming. As Gloria Steinem points out in her on-camera comments, “What we need are stories.”

In tandem with these visceral accounts are interviews with activists, government officials, and legislators. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of UNODC, discusses the “moral imperative” of getting human trafficking on the political agenda, positing that the world is “dismissing [a] tragedy of enormous dimension.”

The culmination of a seven-year effort to push through legislation that became the New York State Anti-Trafficking Law is shown as Eliot Spitzer signs the bill into law. The follow up scene is his resignation as Governor, after being exposed as a patron of a prostitution service. The juxtaposition exemplifies the dichotomies in a culture that is rife with contradictions and subtexts about sex.

Prominently featured in Fatal Promises is actress and activist Emma Thompson. In addition to making powerful public service announcements, Thompson is the co-curator (with Elena, a trafficking survivor), of the interactive art installation Journey. The work puts the viewer directly into the experience of a sexually trafficked woman. Journey traveled to Vienna, where it was showcased outside the 2008 U.N. Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking conference. There is a mordant episode in the documentary conveying the limitations of the U.N. gathering where 2,000 “official” participants met. The price tag of the four days comes to a cool $2,9000,000. It is noted that the conference was “proudly” sponsored by the United Arab Emirates — a country that is listed with the United States Department of State as being on the “Tier 2 Watch List” of nations (The tier structure is examined in one of the film’s interviews.).

A frustrated Thompson speaking on-camera asks, “What is the point of us all traveling to Vienna if we haven’t got a plan?” While recruitment is accomplished on a person-to-person basis and individuals are translated into goods and services, corruption is rampant — from law enforcement officials to the visa process. Thompson emphasizes, “There needs to be a real chain of decision, command, and action.”

While Thompson was in New York City to attend previews of Fatal Promises, I was able to interview her via proxy. Below are excerpts from the conversation.

What are the plans for the installation of Journey in New York City and America?

The plan is that we bring Journey over to New York on November the 9th until November 16th. I’m not entirely sure where it will be yet, because we haven’t yet chosen our site. But it means that it will be sitting there open to the public all of that time and I will be there, and Helen (Helen Bamber Foundation) will be there, and Michael Korzinski, the other director of the foundation, will be there. It [Journey] is immensely expensive to travel, so we’re hoping that we can get help from Homeland Security to take it to Washington next. That’s what we’re hoping for.

Do you see the film and art installation as having potential to make the problem of human trafficking more visceral and of higher visibility?

Of course, yes. I mean this is one of those problems that is going to have to be spoken about and talked about and shouted about for a long time to come. We’re not going to be bashing this out of existence just by producing a film and an installation. But what we can do is start to make it very clear that there is a big problem. The film is fantastically well researched and very interesting, and put together in such a way that you don’t feel as though you are being sort of hammered. You can really take in the information and walk away with it. It’s very cleverly done. The installation is an art installation, so it is a completely different kind of experience. But the two things together are pretty effective. After that, you know a lot…and you can go and get on and do something.

You have become an activist in this cause, but your frustration with the Vienna Forum was quite apparent. As you asked, “What is the point of us all traveling to Vienna if we haven’t got a plan?” Can you speak to the difference between the on-the-ground realities and the world of diplomats and legislation?

The world of diplomats and legislation is a highly bureaucratized, very slow moving thing — a bit like a glacier. Diplomats, and certainly home office civil servants and that type of personnel, are famously unbudgeable. So they’re the people I want to come to the installation, because it’s very important for people who work within the civil sector of society to see what’s going on and connect with it in a visceral way, rather than just receiving facts. There is a huge disconnect between what is understood by persons in authority about trafficking, and what actually occurs to people. It is getting better, but it is very, very slow. As for what politicians really understand about it? Unless they’ve made it a particular interest, it is not something I’ve found people to be very informed about at all…at all. So at the moment it is an issue that I think is very much sidelined and not put at the top of any agendas, which I think reflects very ill upon us. I think that to start the 21st century with a huge new slave trade flourishing does not reflect well on any of our governments. I mean, it is absolutely appalling that we have allowed this to happen — because we have allowed this to happen. We knew this was happening a long time ago and we didn’t take steps. We didn’t inform, we didn’t think to ourselves, ‘Oh, women are being bought and sold. What does that mean? I wonder if that means they are commodified. And what do we do about that?’ There’s been no rhetoric about that. There’s been no discussion even. It’s as though because prostitution is the oldest profession — blah, blah, blah — everyone thinks, ‘Oh, well. This is just another manifestation of that.’ And it’s not. It’s something quite else. It’s a new slave trade.

How do you respond to the irony that the conference was sponsored by the UAE, when they are on the list of offenders?

Well, you know, people will take money from anyone! (hearty laugh) The U.N. has become its own worse enemy. I think it’s bedeviled by bureaucracy. I think it’s been declawed in every conceivable way. And I think in its corridors misogyny holds tremendous sway — at least that’s what I’ve witnessed…I know what the problems are. Again, that’s a question of self-examination for the U.N. to say, ‘What can we do to become more effective?’

Is part of the problem that anti-trafficking activists are on a continuum, and they don’t agree with each other on core beliefs and strategies?

Sure. All NGOs are on collision courses because they all need money, and they all need money from the same sources…In relation to prostitution or not prostitution, that’s a whole debate of its own. And it is of course connected, because what this is also about is our relationship to sex. Which is something we’re going to have to start talking about much, much more honestly and in much greater detail… We’ve got to find out why we have a huge customer base for this service. Why? What’s going on? What is it about us at the moment that makes us so keen to buy people? Those questions must be asked. As for prostitution or not prostitution — and everyone takes a view — it doesn’t really make any difference to the customer whether a woman has chosen to be a prostitute or not. So it’s not necessarily going to change the customer. And it’s certainly not going to change the experience of a trafficked person whether prostitution is legal or not in their country. So it’s not a question of saying legalize it all and that will make them safer because that does not work, actually. Prostitution is legal in Austria. Prostitution is legal in Holland. And in Amsterdam, they have one of the worst problems with trafficking imaginable. It’s just awful. So legalizing doesn’t necessarily stop trafficking…But in relation to this particular slave trade that is going on, the buying of people and selling of people, it doesn’t really matter whether you believe prostitution should be legalized or not. You’ve got to get behind a movement that stops people being sold for whatever reason they’re going to be sold. I think that’s probably where I stand on it.”

When I contacted Kat Rohrer by e-mail for a statement about the goals of her documentary she responded, “My film is about the survivors’ stories. I want the public to hear their anger. Their voices are too seldom heard on an international, or even local, platform. It is precisely because I understand that the world community is faced with a myriad of seemingly never-ending issues — from economic and environmental disasters to hunger and war — that I spent four years making this film. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. To ignore it is to ignore our humanity. How can we, as a conscientious society, tolerate slavery in 21st century? Simply put, we can not, we must not.”

Rohrer will be partnering with anti-trafficking organizations including Equality Now, Nomi Network, History Starts Now, CATW and NOW to get wider visibility for the topic. Panel discussions are going on throughout the film’s run, and plans are in the works to take the documentary to universities nationwide. There will be a DVD available in the future.

Those who have been “bought, sold, and discarded” will finally have listeners.

Former sex slave wins 2009 Freedom Award

By Jade Mak, The Phnom Penh Post 

SEX slave-turned-activist Sina Vann received the Frederick Douglass Award at the 2009 Freedom Awards in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Awarded to those who have survived a form of slavery and are actively helping the lives of others, the Frederick Douglass Award provides US$10,000 to help facilitate current work and another $10,000 as a personal reward.

A native of Vietnam, Sina Vann, 25, was kidnapped at the age of 13 and brought to Cambodia to work as a sex slave at a brothel.

Raped by 20 to 30 men daily and beaten if she hesitated to serve customers, Sina Vann was finally freed at the age of 16 after a police raid.

After being rehabilitated at a rescue shelter, she has since been working for the Somaly Mam Foundation as the leader of the Voice for Change initiative, an outreach program for sex slaves.

“We are happy that people not only see people like Sina as a victim but as an activist. This award shows that people understand her [positive] role in society,” said Lin Sylor, a spokesperson for the Somaly Mam Foundation office in Cambodia.

Porsche Investigates Forced Labor Under Hitler

by Amanda Kloer

With the galactically-high price tag that comes with a Porsche, you’d think each of the people involved in making one are being paid pretty handsomely. That might be the case today, but it wasn’t always so. Porsche has admitted to using forced labor in their factories during Hitler’s regime in Germany before and during WWII, and are now investigating the extent of the abuses.

Porsche has owned up to enslaving at least 50 workers during that period, but journalist and researcher Ulrich Viehoefer claims that up to 300 might have been enslaved during that period, and possibly more. 300 people might not seem like a huge number, but it represents over half of the workforce of Porsche at the time. Porsche has thus far paid 2.5 million euros in reparations to victims of forced labor in their factories, but the discovery of an additional 300 could increase that amount.

Why is it important that Porsche is investigating allegations of forced slavery over 60 years ago? For one, it sets a great precedent for companies that abused or enslaved workers in Nazi Germany and under other regimes with a general disdain for human rights to face up to their history.  The reparations especially could help pave the way for other companies to repay the individuals and families of those they have wrong. The investigation also practically puts a halo on Porsche’s head — so few corporations are willing to examine, much less address, serious human rights abuses in their past. The investigation has the potential not just to help Porsche’s former victims, but cement better labor practices for Porsche and it’s competitors.

So props to Porsche for taking on a hard but important task. Hopefully their initiative and focus on justice will help encourage other companies — you know who you are — to address historical human rights abuses. After all, if you can’t face the problems in your past, how can you face the problems in your present?

Photo credit: stephenhanafin