Let us uphold the dignity of the Nigerian woman

In the fight against the commercial trade in Nigerian women as sex slaves in the Netherlands I have met opposition from the human traffickers who are fighting a battle of their lives to remain in their multi-million euro human trafficking business. However, unexpectedly another area where opposition is brewing is from the Dutch Police and the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie). They find it very uncomfortable that a Nigerian man is exposing the illegal trade in Nigerian women and the lapses of security agencies in checking this inhuman commerce.
Moreover, as part of my activism against the buying and selling of Nigerian women as sex slaves in the Netherlands I have made several calls and sent letters to the office of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, the Dutch Parliament and Ministry of Security and Justice, as well as to the Mayor of Rotterdam and the Public Prosecution Service in Rotterdam.
Putting the reasons for their opposition into perspective, one can easily discern a desperate need to cover up their lapses and lack of commitment to the fight against human trafficking, which have led to the death of Nigerian girls in the hands of human traffickers in the Netherlands and Europe in general.
Therefore, in order to put an end to this inhuman trade in Nigerian girls, I call on all Nigerians, students and civil society groups to rise up and take a stand against the buying and selling of Nigerian women all over the world, because like Martin Luther King jr., “deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome”.
Aluta Continua (the struggle continues)

Fight against sex slavery in the Netherlands has been an illusion

Dutch Police and Dutch organizations such as COMENSHA http://www.comensha.nl/ pretend to fight against human trafficking in the Netherlands, whereas what goes on behind the scenes can best be described by the phrase is George Orwell's Animal Farm "all animals are equal but some are more equal than others".
These institutions do not care about the enslavement of black Nigerian women as they pretend to show to the outside world. The staff are only working in these organizations to collect monthly salaries. While in most cases, they are racists and just love to watch black women beign bought and sold into a miserable life of sex slavery in the Netherlands.
These staff are known to patronize the vaious sex outlets such as the red light districts where sex slaves are showcased by their madams and pimps to have sex with men and women.
The Dutch Ministry of Justice need to do more to overhaul these agencies and stop funding organizations prentending to fight against human traffickng when they are instead promoting slavery.

The Netherlands: Trapped by fear: The journey into sex slavery

Many girls and women trafficked into the sex trade find that even when they have paid off their 'debts' to their traffickers, there are few options for escape available to them [GALLO/GETTY]


Some journeys start with 'boyfriends', others with organised gangs - most end up on the streets of Western cities.

This is the story of Toos Heemskerk-Schep of 'Not for Sale Amsterdam'

In 1995, I began working with an organisation that offered social and spiritual assistance to sex workers in the Netherlands. I had previously learnt Portuguese while working with street children in Brazil, so was able to communicate with the many South American women working as prostitutes at that time.

Prostitution had not yet been legalised in the Netherlands, but it was largely tolerated. Back then, the topic of human trafficking was rarely spoken of and, although there were in fact many victims of it, it was difficult for the typically liberal Dutch to believe that it was taking place in their red-light district.

The first victim of human trafficking I got to know was a Dutch girl whose boyfriend had coerced her into prostitution. She told me her boyfriend was a 'loverboy'. It was term I had never heard before. She shared her story with me, revealing the psychological game her so-called boyfriend had played with her - first telling her how beautiful she was and making her feel as though she meant everything to him, but then gradually playing with her emotions and building within her a fear so great that she felt afraid to leave him even as he drew her into prostitution.

I met many other girls with similar stories - all of them too afraid to leave prostitution and the relationship that initially drew them into it.

There was one girl I remember particularly clearly. It was 1998 and she was 17 years old. She told me how she would work from noon until four o'clock in the morning. Her 'loverboy' had three other girls working for him and wanted her to pay 2,500 Dutch guilders (about 1,500 euros or $2,000). The girl was desperate and, with the help of the police, eventually managed to escape. But she had been traumatised by her experience.

It was her story that inspired me to bring the topic to the attention of the Dutch media and society. We also started a prevention programme, which is still running today.

No money, nowhere to go, nobody to ask for help

I gradually began to notice increasing numbers of women who had been trafficked to the Netherlands. A large number were from Nigeria and had been brought to Europe with promises of work abroad. I learned that many of them had made contracts with a madam and a voodoo priest and that all of them started out with a debt of $40,000. When they had eventually managed to pay this off, they were 'free' and could go on their way - but with false papers and no money to make their way home, few of them had anywhere to go to.

Grace had come to the Netherlands from Edo State in Nigeria. She had paid off her debt, but with few options available to her was growing increasingly depressed. She was staying with a client who had offered to put her up while she decided what she wanted to do next. She called us to ask for help and through a process of careful thought and consultation eventually decided to go home to Nigeria. She felt that it was better to return to poverty than the sex trade.

Today, the majority of the women working in the red-light district are from Eastern Europe, with an estimated 70 per cent thought to come from countries like Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The dramatic decrease in employment opportunities in urban and rural areas of Eastern Europe has been responsible for driving many women into the sex industry in the Netherlands and other parts of Western Europe.

Why women choose sex work can vary from one case to the next, but a desire to escape poverty and low standards of living, false expectations about making 'easy money', low self-esteem as a result of childhood abuse or rape and deception are among the most common reasons.

Debt is often one of the ways in which a woman becomes a target for human traffickers. To give an example, the penalty for prostitution in Romania is 120 euros ($160). For an impoverished woman this sum is too great to pay off. As one woman told me: "I got fined almost every night. I could never pay the fines and the rent and now my child maintenance. Eventually I ended up in jail."

Another factor that increases the vulnerability of some is the tendency to adopt Western values and lifestyles, with young women leaving their families early in an attempt to attain financial independence.

The fascination with making money by working abroad - as models, dancers or waitresses - has led many girls into the traps set by human trafficking networks. These networks, which have been active in Romania since 1989, have been the starting point for many young women on their journey into the sex industry.

Attempts to escape from this environment are, in most cases, abandoned due to the lack of other opportunities available. Sex workers have nowhere to go and nobody to ask for help; they are often condemned and stigmatised by the community in which they live and their efforts to build a new life are usually undermined by their past. The situation is, of course, even worse when the sex workers attempt to escape human traffickers - something that results in severe punishment.

In search of solutions

The Netherlands legalised prostitution in 2000, in the hope that it would lessen some of the complications surrounding the industry. But after 11 years, reviews of the legalised system suggest that this move has, so far, been unsuccessful.

The opening up of the European Union has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish those women who have been trafficked or exploited from those who have 'chosen' to work as prostitutes. A woman from Eastern Europe, for example, might have the right papers but could be afraid of telling the police that she has been trafficked or exploited because she has been warned that the police cannot be trusted.

The fight against human trafficking cannot be one-dimensional; there are many factors that must be addressed. These include the root causes - poverty, psychological problems, a lack of economic opportunities, somebody's family situation and so on.

We must also focus on education and prevention - alerting people to the strategies traffickers use and helping those who might be vulnerable to them to understand that the golden dream of working in the West often comes with a huge price tag. Crucially, the issue of demand also must not be ignored.

It is an expansive problem and the solution cannot be over-simplified. But, critically, this means that there are many ways in which each of us can begin to make a difference.

Prayer for an End to Trafficking

O God, our words cannot express what our minds can barely comprehend and our hearts feel when we hear of women and children deceived and transported to unknown places for purposes of sexual exploitation and abuse because of human greed and profit at this time in our world.

Our hearts are saddened and our spirits angry that their dignity and rights are being transgressed through threats, deception, and force. We cry out against the degrading practice of trafficking and pray for it to end.

Strengthen the fragile-spirited and broken-hearted. Make real your promises to fill these our sisters and brothers with a love that is tender and good and send the exploiters away empty-handed.

Give us the wisdom and courage to stand in solidarity with them, that together we will find ways to the freedom that is your gift to all of us.

Prayer composition: S. Gen Cassani, SSND
www.lifewaynetwork.org

AFP news: Nigerian 'sexual slaves' evacuated from Mali

The National Agency For The Prohibition of Traffic in persons (NAPTIP) in Nigeria has been very effective in the fight against human trafficking. According to a recent news reported by AFP. They rescued a number of Nigerian sex slaves from Mali including babies.
More of the story below:

Nigeria has evacuated from Mali 104 of its citizens, mostly women, either made to work as "sexual slaves" or suspected of involvement in human trafficking, officials said on Tuesday.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) evacuated 93 alleged victims of human trafficking, nine suspected traffickers and two babies, the agency's head, Beatrice Jedy-Agba, told reporters.
The babies, aged between six months and a year, were born in Mali, she added.
Jedy-Agba said they were brought back home on Saturday after investigations by the agency showed that "Nigerian girls are sold for about two million naira ($12,600, 9,200 euros) each and made to work as sexual slaves."
The investigations started in September last year, she said.
Many brothels in the capital Bamako and the cities of Mopti (centre), Kayes (west), Sikasso (south) and Gao (northeast) were populated by mostly Nigerian girls, victims of human trafficking, aged between 14 and 17 years, Jedy-Agba explained.
NAPTIP found out that thousands of Nigerian citizens have been deceived and transported to the francophone west African nation on the pretext that they would be taken to Europe.
"Some of them in their hundreds are deported from Algeria and Morocco back to Mali after failed attempts to cross to Europe," she stated.
The agency has started the process of their rehabilitation and reintegration into the society for the victims, while the suspected traffickers would be prosecuted after their interrogation.
One of the suspected traffickers is a man, she said.

Inside a Nigerian prostitution bust (CNN)

Nigerian mafia- human trafficking and voodoo practice

Support our awareness campaigns

Imagine a girl Esohe from Nigeria, kept inside a brothel in the Netherlands, and forced to have unprotected sex with up to thirty men a day. She fears being killed or beaten if she doesn’t comply, and she is scared to go to the Police because all her identification documents have been confiscated and she has no proof of who she is and the lives of her family back in Nigeria is at stake. Public enlightenment campaigns to educate people on how to recognize when slavery is taking place in their neighborhood and contact social services could be her only life line to get out of this inhuman condition. When she has a chance to flee, and she has no idea of where to go, an anti-human trafficking awareness campaign she comes across could provide her with the free 24 hours telephone number she can call for urgent help.

Support us to begin our anti-human trafficking awareness campaign in the Netherlands and all over the world to rescue trafficked girls out of sex slavery.

Donate today:

Stichting Center for Development and Cultural Interchange
Lodewijk Pincoffsplein 13
3071 AT, Rotterdam

ING Bank
Account number 5831558

500 True stories

According to a research done by Isoke Aikpitanyi a former trafficked victim in Italy, the Nigerian mafia collaborates with the Italian mafia in the trafficking of Nigerian women.
In her book titled '500 storie vere (500 true stories), she claimed that Nigerian girls who rebel against their madams (traffickers) are murdered or disappear without trace, and that there is a continious inflow of trafficked Nigerian girls some of whom are underage children into Italy daily.
These trafficked girls are forced to pay an average of 80,000 euros, and in order to pay this amount the girls are forced to have sex with as many men as they can find everyday. Even when they are sick, during heir menstrual period or pregnant, and regardless of the weather as they stand in the streets during winter to look for clients.
In addition, the girls are forced to have unprotected sex with clients against their will, and when pregnant the traffickers forcefully aborts the pregnancies against the will of these girls. These abortions are performed underground as the girls are not allowed to go to registered hospitals, so they are forced to go through painful abortion procedures that puts their lives at risk.
The book is a compilation of the stories of 500 trafficked victims in Italy, and according to the research, about 10,000 Nigerian female pimps or traffickers currently live in Italy, the largest in Europe compared to other countries.
Additionally, the traffickers force the girls to live underground and this makes it difficult for the trafficked girls to get assistance from social workers, and those that ever escape have been helped by their clients who had pity on them.


To order a copy of this book visit http://www.ediesseonline.it/catalogo/materiali/500-storie-vere

The Nigerian Mafia in Europe - Video by Al Jazeera

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed... I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land". (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Horrible life of Nigerian girls in Europe

This article is a must read, it tells of the horrible life of Nigerian girls in Europe.

By Flore-Murard Yovanovitch

Who among us has not seen? The roadside, with bras and stiletto heels. But behind these bodies, those who know their stories? Not free, but forced labor, prostitution, but is not chosen. “Prostitution”, not prostitutes; Nigerian deceived, enslaved, thrown on the sidewalks. Isoke Aikpitanyi, a former victim of trafficking and co-author of “The Girl in Benin City,” has created a national survey on the reality of Nigerian girls underwater: debts, traffickers and mafia networks that make possible today than slavery in Italy. From eyewitness accounts to create this beautiful book denouncing 500 true stories. On the trafficking of African women in Italy (Ediesse), with contributions from Roberto Saviano, Michael Nyman and musicians David McAlmont, former customers who now fight trafficking in the Association of Isoke.

In Benin City, hell began with the TV , a can of worms that propagate the myth of paradise European colonizing the African imagination. Poor girls, with families dependent on them, you are fooled by the promise of easy money, when they are not sold directly from fathers and relatives to Italos and bad Nigerian. If some of them “know”, the vast majority believes instead that Italy will find a real job. By contracting a debt between 40 and 80 thousand euros with the traffickers, they land in our town after traveling by desert, sea or air. Upon arrival, the wait for “Maman” , a misleading name to indicate the real pimp women: women who exploit the body of other women. Their passports confiscated and thrown in the street. The logic of overwhelming debt, the ramifications of the extended control of “slaves” of communities and associations Nigerian el’omertà do the rest. Even the churches “black” are complicit! When no direct gang leaders, pastors are corrupt, through the manipulation of traditions and voodoo , keep those girls subjugated. Threats, reprisals and terrible punishment, often fatal, are the ultimate deterrent. Nigerian women are terrified to rebel.

You can not escape the market. To repay their terrible debt, and growing, they are forced to undergo at least 3000 sexual performance (a single performance standard car costs 25 euros). In a daily life because of violence and insults like “nigger”, “now I get settled,” “That’ll teach ‘… Italian decent, real rapists pay. The body of the weak woman, black and otherwise, the outburst of all diseases and sexual deviancy, the brutal combination of sexism and racism. And off beat, torture, tortures, the simple reading of those pages is monstrous.

Rape is a constant, in the “trade”: there is a girl who has suffered not one, but the rapes (including group) unreported and unpunished. As summarized Isoke, with a paradox: “Every African is raped saved an Italian.” Their skin shows bruises and cuts, signs of belt and cigarette burns, said perforated uteruses craft and abortions (50% of them had an abortion at least once at home), because in the absence of treatment, for fear of repatriation, the emergency room only if we end up half dead. Injuries underground, underwater.

But the deeper are the scars of the mind. As Angela says, “we end up getting sick in the head.” And even those who manage to leave then have great difficulty in returning to live their sexuality as pleasure and play, in stable relationships. The devastation is added to the effects of childhood sexual mutilation and drama, which often occurs, they had to abandon their babies in Nigeria or in Italy.
It takes courage, time, and dare to challenge the racketeering complaint. So are stories of real rebellion. How to Isoke, reduced in a coma for a punitive expedition. Or Erabor to that, he denounced his captors, was massacred, literally “scalp”. Other, simply because he said no, we have brought to the skin: their bodies abandoned in the suburbs and landfills. Every year dozens of women (200 in the last two years) disappear, but they are not even a clandestine black spot on the front pages of newspapers.

Yet, more and more girls who, thanks to Isoke in his book and the Association victims and former victims of trafficking are ways out. There is a growing perception that the use of rituals voodoo mafia is a lie, that maman are criminals and traffickers to be sent to jail, and that, with complaints and a path to membership in homes, we can finally deliver. Coming to conquer and defend those “rights that the Italians do not want to defend,” Saviano writes.

The ex-slaves, immigrants, are now active players, they know the solutions to their problems and can offer real support to victims, help at times most effective of Italian associations and social services, which might allow the release of hiding, but not by the mechanisms of trafficking. Meanwhile, a real alternative is the work of self-awareness and awareness of customers, key link in the chain of consumption / exploitation, which could lead to a halving of the victims suffered, that in Italy today are about at least 20,000 and younger and younger ages. That men read this book. What to read it all.

How human traffickers use Nigerian girls as sex slaves (undercover photos)

African girl forced to work 18 hours a day seven days a week without pay

A woman says she was held in this mansion by the owners in slave-like conditions. A court date has been set for next week.

An African girl who was forced into slavery has been rescued by the Canadian Police in Vancouver. The girl was promised a hair Salon job in Canada, but as soon as she arrived in the country her passport was ceased and she was locked up in a house, where she was made to work for 18 hours daily, seven days of the week without pay.

For more on the story visit: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Human+trafficking+charge+laid/5208703/story.html

France is a destination country for women and girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation

France is a destination country for women and girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation from Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Malaysia and other Asian countries. Men, women and children continued to be trafficked for the purposes of forced labor, including domestic servitude, many from Africa. Often their “employers” are diplomats who enjoy diplomatic immunity. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009.

For more of this news visit: http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/France.htm

The State does not help trafficked victims

I found this news from the Netherlands Helsinki Committee website, http://www.nhc.nl/. It's about a report done by a ASTRA, a Serbian NGO.

For trafficked victims the hell does not end when they get out of the trafficking chain. According to extensive research that has been done for the last 10 years by Serbian anti-trafficking NGO ASTRA budgetary allocations for victim assistance do not exist when putting aside salaries of the employees in the institutions that should be working on improvement of the aid for trafficking victims. ASTRA recently published a Ten-Year Report on Human Trafficking in Serbia which concluded that the Serbian government does not provide sufficient, efficient, nor systemically organized support to trafficking victims.
The Report covers the period 2000-2010 and explains that one of the greatest problems that is faced by trafficking victims is insufficient physical safety and the impossibility to find a job after getting out of the trafficking chain and thus provide for themselves and their families. Trials against traffickers are too long, making it difficult for victims to rebuild their lives after the traumatic experience they have survived.
According to ASTRA victims are under great pressure since they are expected to recover instantly from everything they have survived, testify against the traffickers and make them go to jail. One of the recommendations in the Report is to simplify the procedure for victims’ for obtaining financial social assistance and to improve their access to health care.

Source: www.astra.org.rs/eng/?p=893

ASTRA is currently implementing a 3-year MATRA project called 'Promotion of the Rights of Trafficked Persons in Serbia with Emphasis on Legal Support – A Human Rights Based Approach', together with the Netherlands Helsinki Committee.
Through this project the project partners aim to improve the human rights of trafficked persons in Serbia by timely informing the victims of their rights as victims and witnesses. The project also aims at proper representation of victims in criminal and civil procedures.
One of the activities is an intensive training for a group of 30 lawyers from all over Serbia in proper representation of trafficking victims in criminal, civil and other proceedings before domestic and international courts.

Human traffickers responsible for the death of 25 African migrants

Italian officials began questioning Tuesday six suspected human traffickers in connection with the deaths of 25 African migrants who suffocated on a refugee boat off Lampedusa, news reports said.
The six men, who are Moroccan, Syrian and Somalian nationals, were allegedly in charge of the boat which left Libya over the weekend carrying around 300 people, the ANSA news agency said.
The bodies of the 25 victims - all men - were discovered in the vessel's engine room by Italian coast guard officials who intercepted it early Monday morning.
At least two of the bodies bore marks of beatings and other signs of violence which are believed to have caused their deaths, prosecutor Renato Di Natale was quoted as saying by ANSA.
According to reports from some of the 271 survivors who were taken ashore to Lampedusa, those who died had been prevented from reaching the deck after the air down below had become unbreathable due to engine fumes.
When the men tried to get out they were allegedly beaten by the five suspects. Investigators were also looking into reports that the five also threw one of the migrants overboard.
Most of the migrants hailed from sub-Saharan Africa.
In April, more than 250 migrants died in a shipwreck some 39 nautical miles (72 kilometres) off Lampedusa.
Italy, and mainly Lampedusa, which is only 130 kilometres off the Tunisian coast, has again become a main destination of refugees and migrants since the start of the revolutions in North Africa earlier this year.
Since January, 33,000 people have arrived on the island of just 20 square kilometres

Culled from: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1654480.php/Human-traffickers-suspected-in-deaths-of-25-migrants-off-Lampedusa

Scientist ‘kept girl of 21 as a slave’

www.thesun.co.uk
A SCIENTIFIC researcher used a 21-year-old she flew in from Africa as her unpaid slave, a court heard yesterday.
Rebecca Balira is alleged to have forced Methodia Mathias to cook, clean and wash for her while using her as a nanny to her three kids.
The Tanzanian had been promised a £96-a-month salary, but was never paid, London's Southwark Crown Court heard. Jurors were told she was punched when she displeased her boss.
The court also heard that Ms Mathias was stripped off here passport and banned from contacting her family or friends.
Her six-month ordeal only ended when she eventually opened up to a friend and police were called in to investigate.
Caroline Haughey, prosecuting, told the court: "She was required to get up at 5am in the morning and prepare both breakfast and lunch for Mrs Balira, then upon Mrs Balira's departure she was required to wake and tend the children, take the two eldest to school, look after the youngest, clean the house, take the youngest to nursery in the afternoon, wash the clothes by hand, collect the children, cook the evening meal for the children, and then separately for Balira.
"She would then finish the housework going to bed late into the night often 11.30 or midnight.
"During this time Ms Mathias did not receive a penny for her work nor did she have a day off work save on Sunday mornings when she was permitted to attend church."
The court also heard that Ms Mathias had to walk home after the service while Balira and her kids to the bus.
Balira, 47, of Thamesmead, South London, is studying at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She denies trafficking a person for exploitation and holding another in servitude. Case continues.

Human trafficking: A profitable enterprise

Ranking behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking, human trafficking is estimated to be the third largest international crime industry, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It is believed to generate profits of an estimated $32 billion, according to a 2005 report from the International Labour Organization. Of that number, $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries.

Culled from http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/

Human trafficking update Rotterdam-The Netherlands

Today i finally received a letter from the Mayor of Rotterdam regarding the trafficking of Nigerian girls in the City of Rotterdam and the Netherlands in general.
The letter was in Dutch and so it took me sometime to finally understand it. I then realised how important it is for me to learn the Dutch language, and then it dawned on me how powerful human traffickers are in the Netherlands, as they have forced me to stop my Dutch classes which i use to attend on mondays and tuesdays.
This also made me realise how important it is for me to continue the the fight against slavery and educate other people on the need for them to take a stand to stop this inhuman and evil practice of buying and selling of Nigerian girls into forced prostitution.

89 Babies for sale in China rescued by the police

The Police in China rescused 89 babies who were kidnapped from their parents in Vietnam and taken over the border to China for sale. According to the news story, most of the babies were sedated with drugs to sleep and were still sleeping when the police rescued them.

For more of this news visit: http://www.china.org.cn/china/2011-07/27/content_23078028.htm

Drug Maffia's have take over human trafficking

It is no longer news that drug trafficking cartels have taken over the buying and selling of women and children into prostitution. This is a very dangerous trend and if not properly tackled could spell doom for the fight against human trafficking.
The story is the same every where, from Europe to Asia, North and South America and even Africa. Drug cartels are now very involved in human trafficking because of the low jail term involved. In Mexico for example, drug cartels are said to be involved in smuggling women and children into the United States for forced prostitution. It is claimed that this women are kidnapped or in some cases, migrant girls who in their bid to enter the United Sates end up being imprisoned by Mexican drug cartels who then use them as sex slaves.

For more of this story visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/mexican-cartels-move-into-human-trafficking/2011/07/22/gIQArmPVcI_story_1.html

Thai Police rescued eight trafficked kids

The Police in Thailand rescued eight trafficked children from human traffickers after raiding their one room hideout. The children were stolen from their parents, and were regularly beaten and forced to beg on the street.

For more of this story visit: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07/26/national/8-kids-rescued-from-trafficking-suspects-30161216.html

Over a thousand people arrested for human trafficking in Mexico

The Mexican anti-human trafficking war was taking to another level this past weekend with the arrest of more than one thousand people. According to CNN 500 men and 530 women suspects were arested, and twenty female minors were rescued.

For more on this story visit: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/25/mexico.human.trafficking/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Don't be fooled : New USA government advert against human trafficking

The television adverts intends to draw the attention of the public and the victims of human trafficking who are already in the US on the evils of human trafficking, and to encourage people to report cases to a dedicated hotline ( 1-888-3737-888 ).
According to Bradley Myles, the executive director of the project, "We want to involve the American public in ending this abomination, we need your help. We know and are confident that when citizens become aware of what human trafficking looks like, they will step forward to report it."

For more on this story visit: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/19/us.human.trafficking.campaign/index.html?

Nigeria: Stakeholders unite to fight human trafficking

A meeting was held recently in Lagos-Nigeria by stakeholders involved in the fight against human trafficking. This is a welcome development considering that different Nigerian security agencies and foreign governments are coming together to find a solution to the problem.

NEWS:

Human trafficking is the third most lucrative business after hard drug and trading in arms and ammunition.
The modern day slavery poses a great threat to the future of the youths and even the economy of any nation, whose youths are trafficked to other countries for forced labour, prostitution or had their vital organs like, kidney, liver removed for transplant purposes, among others.
The social implications of the illegal act is innumerable. Nigeria and Nigerians are victims of human trafficking and child labour and this explains why the Federal Government, in a bid to check the menace, established the National Agency for the Prohibition and Traffic in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP).
The agency, with the collaboration of international bodies, have made significant progress in fighting against human trafficking and child labour. But as the government tries to curb the crime the more those behind the business devise new methods of beating the agency, donors and security agencies to it.
But NAPTIP is not relenting in the fight against human trafficking and child labour. Not even staunch supporters of the agency like the United Nations Office on Drugs Crime (UNODC), are ready to back off the fight.
As part the efforts to find solution to the modern day slavery, NAPTIP, UNODC, with the support of the governments of Finland, Switzerland and Norway, organized what it called, town-hall meeting where issues and evils of human trafficking were discussed extensively.
The programme, which took place at Ikeja Airport Hotel on July 18, 2011, was attended by representatives of the Lagos State government and ministries, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, State Security Services (SSS), Federal Road Safety Commission and National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
Others are, youth corps members, market women/men, Lagos State Motorcycles Association, Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), teachers , students, National Human Right Organisations (NHRO).
The media, among others
In his keynote address, the Executive Secretary of NAPYIP, Mr. Simon Egede, disclosed that the programme was to create awareness, train and sensitize relevant stakeholders of the Nigerian society on issues bordering on human trafficking.
According to Egede, the town hall meeting and sensitization workshop were a deliberate strategy to sensitize, educate and inform participants about the ills of trafficking in persons and its adverse consequences on the children and women.
“It is also designed to further rub minds on the best ways of collectively addressing these daunting challenges,” he said.
He described trafficking in person, particularly, women and children, for all forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation, as one of the worst violation of Human rights and called for its condemnation by all.
He said: “It erodes our quest for sustainable human capital and economic development. Our gathering this morning is a further attestation to our avowed commitments to nip the matter in the bud in the interest of the present and future generation of Nigerians. I, therefore, enjoin all to oncrease and sustain our commitments by ensuring that all hands are put on deck to checkmate this assault on human dignity.”
The executive secretary said that Nigeria retained its Tier 1 status in the United States Government 2011, Annual Global Rating in the fight against trafficking in persons due to the country’s sustained efforts in combating trafficking in persons through compliance with minimum standards for the elimination of the crime.
He commended UNODC, donors and the Embassies of Finland, Norway and Switzerland for supporting the implementation of the project.
Delivering his goodwill message, the representative of UNODC Nigeria Country Office, Mr. Oliver Stolpe, said the international body, which had been in Nigeria for over 20 years, had been partnering with Nigeria in the fight against drugs and crime, including the struggle to end trafficking in the country and the world at large.
Stolpe, who was represented by UNODC’s Coordinator, Anti-Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants, Ms. Mumbi Njau, said the collaboration with NAPTIP was directed at ensuring that the youths and young people do not fall prey to traffickers. “… If they do, we have in place, necessary apparatus to catch the traffickers, prosecute them and eventually punish them through jail sentences and/or property seizures, while at the same time, support the victim to return to a normal and fulfilled life, through various support programmes and mechanism,” he said.
He said UNODC was encouraged by the efforts made so far, especially in prosecution and supporting trafficked victims to return to normal life.
“We remain committed to supporting NAPTIP and other actors, especially civil society organisations, as they reinvigorate their activities in combating trafficking in persons,” he said.
He said UNODC looked forward to working in critical areas, like strengthening NAPTIP’s capacity to do more, increasing capacities at the state levels through collaborative efforts and partnership with state governments and civil societies, among others.
He also commended the Lagos State Government for being among the first in UNODC’s awareness-raising activities.
In a keynote address delivered on his behalf by the Director of Child Development, Mrs. Alaba Fadairo, the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Princess Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, assured that a communiqué adopted by the participants would serve as working document for the state government in combating the crime.
Participants identified lack of employment opportunities, bad governance, poverty, poor parental upbringing and care, large family size, poor family planning, eroding morals, inadequate awareness at the grassroots, among others, as the causes of human trafficking.
They, therefore, recommended among others, access to education, teaching of morals and cultural values to children and wards, sensitization on birth control, enforcement of ban on street hawking/trading and establishment of guidance and counseling centres at all levels of government.

United States Custom and Border Protection launches awareness campaign

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have launched human trafficking awareness campaign to educate the public.

News:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today launched two public service announcements as part of the “ Don’t Be Fooled” campaign—a public awareness campaign designed to educate citizens and encourage public vigilance to combat human trafficking within local communities, and invite others to join the fight against this form of modern-day slavery.
The two public service announcements entitled “Masquerade” and “Bird Cage”, will begin airing July 25 in three key media markets: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and the Washington D.C. metro area.
All announcements will provide a phone number citizens may can call to report suspicious activity.
“Death, disappearance, and enslavement—these too often are the futures that await illegal immigrants who mortgage their lives to human smugglers” said CBP Deputy Commissioner, David V. Aguilar.
“These evils are what CBP and our partner agencies within the Department of Homeland Security began to target with last year’s ‘No Te Engañes’ campaign and that we continue to combat with our new ‘Don’t Be Fooled’ efforts”.
“Trafficking victims live under a crippling fear under the control of their traffickers who’ve filled their minds with lies”. said U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Kumar C. Kibble. “Through CBP’s ‘No Te Engañes ’ (Don’t Be Fooled) public service announcement, we hope to reach and rescue the victims who’ve endured much pain and suffering at the hands of callous criminals.
ICE is committed to arresting human traffickers and bring them to justice by ensuring that they feel the full weight of the law”.
“Raising awareness and educating people about the crime of human trafficking and the recruitment methods of traffickers is a vital area of work in the overall anti-trafficking fight”, said Bradley Myles, Executive Director and CEO of the Polaris Project.
“In the United States’ 3-P approach of Protection, Prosecution, and Prevention, new prevention-focused initiatives are needed, and this campaign ensures that people are more equipped with tools to prevent human trafficking before it starts”.
In February 2010, CBP launched the first phase of the “No Te Engañes” public awareness Spanish language campaign in Central America and Mexico to underscore the dangers of the two most common types of trafficking: sexual slavery and forced labor.
In July 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched the Blue Campaign – a first-of-its-kind campaign to coordinate and enhance DHS’s anti-human trafficking activities.
It leverages the authorities and resources of DHS to deter human trafficking through a three-pronged strategy of prevention, protecting victims, and prosecution.

Source: http://www.laredosun.us/notas.asp?id=17359

UK: Introduces new laws to stop human trafficking

The United Kingdom's government plans to stop human traffickers from bringing in potential victims into the country, by stopping them right from their country of origin using intelligence network. However, some people think the law is focused on border control. But i think its a good way to stop human trafficking. What do you think?

News source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14200576
Human trafficking strategy targets foreign networks

10 burdens of a trafficked Nigerian girl in Europe

1. A trafficked Nigerian girl is worthless than a dog in Europe as she has no rights. A dog in europe has legal rights and they are more protected.
2. The victim is susceptible to all forms of inhuman acts such as sex slavery, constant physical abuse and psychological torture.
3. She carries the stigma of being a sex slave within the Nigerian community in Europe, as she is constantly called 'Akaosa' (debtor).
4. She has no hiding place due to the connections among trafficking gangs within the European Union.
5. Help is only a pipe dream, as even pastors of African churches advice the girls to pay the traffickers, because they are friends with the traffickers who are influential members of the African churches. Therefore, most pastors never preach against human trafficking in Europe
6. A trafficked Nigerian girl cannot have a boyfriend, until she has completed the payment of 50,000 euros to her traffickers.
7. When pregnant she is forced to undergo abortion against her will.
8. She is forced to engage in sexual acts with an average of five men or women daily for 365. days of the year, even when sick or under her menstrual period.
9. She may spend her whole life under slavery.
10. She cannot seek redress under the law.

War against the use of Nigerian girls as sex slaves in the Netherlands

With the support of millions of Nigerians who have vowed to fight against all forms of slavery and oppression, i am committed to the struggle to end the buying and selling of Nigerian girls all over the World. To this end the struggle against slavery has began from my doorstep (Rotterdam in the Netherlands). In this city the buying and selling of Nigerian girls is done with impunity, as the human traffickers seem to be above the law.
To stop this evil and inhuman buying and selling of Nigerian girls as sex slaves for prices ranging from between 10,000 euros and 15,000 euros, i sent a letter to the Mayor of Rotterdam Mr. Ahmed Aboutaleb on the 28th of July, 2011. It has been more than 16 working days and i am still waiting for his response. As soon as i receive it i will update everyone.
It is time for Nigerians and people all over the world to rise up and say no to slavery, as it denigrates us as a people.

A 62 year old Vietnamese woman pimp charged to court in Denmark

A 62-year-old Vietnamese woman in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been arrested and charged with trafficking and pimping.
The woman was arrested on Tuesday 12 July 2011 in connection with an action against a Thai brothel in Vesterbro in Copenhagen.
Wednesday the woman will face the court, in a procedure required for further detention.
The 62-year-old woman is charged under Penal Code chapter on human trafficking and pimping. The clause targets also individuals involved in the organization of foreign prostitutes working in Denmark.
And it was precisely the foreign prostitutes, the police officers met when they showed up at the brothel without any warning.
Four women of Thai origin were present. Two of the Thai women will also be charged in the case.
The charges against them will be for working without recidence permit in Denmark.
Tuesday afternoon police were still engaged in the operation, which involved several raids in the greater Copenhagen.
According to police, the brothel involving the arrested Vietnamese national has been investigated for some time.

Source: http://www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?coun_code=vn&news_id=9143

Gang arrained for trafficking Nigerian girls in the Netherlands

NEWS: from www.dutchnews.nl

Five men accused of trafficking in under-aged girls will appear again in court in Zwolle on Tuesday, the Telegraaf reports.
The five were arrested following a major investigation into the disappearance of dozens of girls from refugee centres in the Netherlands.
According to the public prosecution department, the gang recruited the girls in Nigeria, promising them jobs if they came to the country as unaccompanied refugees. They also used voodoo to control the girls, the department says.
The case is being reheard after lawyers claimed undue pressure had been placed on the girls to testify.
Another gang was jailed on similar charges in 2009

More than Twenty thousand (20,000) Nigerian girls are under slavery in Mali en-route to Europe

I saw this very disturbing news at www.leadership.ng, a Nigerian news website, and i wonder why the authorities and non-governmental organizations are not showing concern to the plight of these girls. If they are not rescued soon, they will be forced to undertake the dangerous journey across the sea by boat to Spain, and this may lead to the death of most of them.

NEWS:
"It has been a year since the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) lamented its inability to rescue tens of thousands of Nigerian girls in Mali and neighbouring African countries. According to the NAPTIP, there are over 20,000 Nigerian girls trafficked to Mali and held against their will in slavish conditions and forced to work as prostitutes.
Following increasing reports from preachers and aid workers over the plight of these girls, NAPTIP sent a fact-finding mission late last year and discovered that the situation was far worse than was reported".

Human Trafficking in the News: United States of America / Japan

From Polarisproject.org:

GEORGIA
7/7/2011 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Cops: Norcross man tried to pay for child for sex for a year
A Georgia man was arrested and charged with sex trafficking for making arrangements to keep an underaged girl in his possession for sex for a year.
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/cops-norcross-man-tried-1003864.html

ILLINOIS
7/5/2011 The Chicago Tribune Northfield police make prostitution arrest
A Chicago woman was charged with prostitution after Northfield detectives allegedly discovered an illegal massage parlor less than a half-mile from the police department.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-massage-parlor-busted-in-northfield-20110705,0,3022489.story

MISSISSIPPI
7/5/2011 WDAM (NBC) Three Lamar County businesses busted in prostitution sting
An undercover police operation busted three Lamar County businesses Friday on charges of prostitution.
http://www.wdam.com/story/15028245/3-lamar-county-businesses-busted-in-undercover-prostitution-sting

NORTH CAROLINA
7/6/2011 abc11.com Mother of Shaniya Davis indicted
A North Carolina woman was indicted for human trafficking, child abuse, sexual servitude, and murder for selling her daughter to pay a drug debt in 2009.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8234936

OHIO
7/5/2011 LifeNews.com Sex Trafficking Victim Escapes, Was Forced to Undergo Abortion
A young teenage girl who was recently found after spending more than a year as a sex trafficking victim is an example of the kind of concerns pro-life advocates presented earlier this year about Planned Parenthood aiding sex traffickers to force victims to seek abortions.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/05/sex-trafficking-victim-escapes-was-forced-to-undergo-abortion/

TENNESSEE
7/3/2011 knoxnews.com Knoxville teen plays role in nabbing of alleged pimp
An 18-year old from Knoxville was kidnapped, hauled to Memphis and forced into prostitution. Now she will testify against her former pimp.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/03/knoxville-teen-plays-role-in-nabbing-of-alleged/

VIRGINIA
7/6/2011 fredericksburg.com Slavery reborn
Last week, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Scott Brown, R-Mass., and John Kerry, D-Mass., introduced a bill to extend America's decade-long campaign against human trafficking until 2015. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act enhances the diplomatic tools available to the State Department in its campaign to goad other nations to end the scourge. The bill, which includes a block grant program designed to help fund victim-assistance programs, follows hard on the heels of the State Department's annual Trafficking in Person Report.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/072011/07062011/637298

WISCONSIN
7/7/2011 Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel Pimp gets 20 years for slaying
A Milwaukee pimp was given 20 years for killing another pimp whom he believed was trying to recruit "his" prostitutes.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/125183799.html

INTERNATIONAL
7/1/2011 The Mainichi Daily News Women's needs and concerns deserve more attention in post-disaster recovery efforts
In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear crisis that they triggered, power shortages have brought darkness over city streets and large numbers of people are being forced to live together. Under such circumstances, nurses and women's support groups, including Polaris Project Japan, are trying to bring attention to the need for shelter management and reconstruction assistance that reflect the needs and concerns of women.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20110701p2a00m0na019000c.html

Human Trafficking facts and figures

Human Trafficking has many different faces. Sometimes referred to as ‘modern-day slavery’, essentially it can mean recruiting, transporting or harbouring people and exploiting them by force or deceit.

Being an illicit, clandestine trade, accurate statistics are notoriously difficult to come by. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, has published these figures relating to its research.
– Sexual exploitation, usually forcing a person into prostitution, is the most widespread form of human trafficking, making up 79 percent of all recorded human trafficking cases. (source: UNODC, 2009)
– Forced labour is the second most recorded form of human trafficking, accounting for 18 percent of recorded cases. (UNODC, 2009)
– The International Labour Organisation estimates there are 2.4 million people throughout the world who are lured into forced labour. (ILO, 2005)
– 22,000 victims were detected worldwide in 2006. (UNODC, 2006)
– At any given time more than 140,000 victims are trapped in human trafficking in Europe, with no sign of that figure decreasing. (UNODC, 2010)
– Up to one out of every seven sex workers in Europe is thought to be enslaved into prostitution through trafficking. (UNODC, 2010)
– In Europe, 32 percent of victims come from the Balkans, 19 percent from former Soviet states, 13 percent from South America, 7 percent from Central Europe, 5 percent from Africa and 3 percent from East Asia. (UNODC, 2010)
– One in five victims are children; two thirds of victims are women. (UNODC, 2009)
– Conviction rates are low. In Europe on average there is less than one person convicted of human trafficking per 100,000 inhabitants. In Hungary, the rate is 0.24 per 100,000 inhabitants. In comparison, conviction rates for rare crimes such as kidnapping in Denmark stand at 3.14 per 100,000 inhabitants.

www.euronews.net

Recognizing the Signs of Human Trafficking

The following is a list of potential red flags and indicators of human trafficking to help you recognize the signs.

Common Work and Living Conditions: The Individual(s) in Question

Is not free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes
Is under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts
Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp / manager
Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips
Works excessively long and/or unusual hours
Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work
Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
High security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)
Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior
Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid
Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement
Avoids eye contact
Poor Physical Health
Lacks health care
Appears malnourished
Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture
Lack of Control
Has few or no personal possessions
Is not in control of his/her own money, no financial records, or bank account
Is not in control of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport)
Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating)
Other
Claims of just visiting and inability to clarify where he/she is staying/address
Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in
Loss of sense of time
Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story

For further information visit: http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/national-human-trafficking-hotline/contact

3 voices: How to end modern-day slavery – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery - CNN.com Blogs

3 voices: How to end modern-day slavery – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery - CNN.com Blogs

Man Setenced to 20 years for Trafficking Two Nigerian Girls out of the UK

A Nigerian man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the trafficking of two underage Nigerian girls who were recruited from villages in Edo State-Nigeria. The girls were threatened with Juju and brought into the UK.

I hope other European countries will be as strict as the UK in passing out judgement on the traffickers in order to dissuade other traffickers from the buying and selling of Nigerian girls.

You can read more from BBC News - Trafficked girls controlled by Juju magic rituals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14072824

Living in the UK and need help call Freephone 0800 783 2589

Email Note that led to the Rescue of a Sex Slave in Copenhagen

A young Lithuanian woman being held as sex slave manages to send email that leads to her rescue. Read more at; http://www.cphpost.dk/news/crime/155-crime/51867-police-rescue-sex-slave.html

CNN: The Prostitution Problem in Catalonia

Put on Your White Band

TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, A ROMAN SENATOR SUGGESTED THAT ALL SLAVES PUT ON A WHITE BAND TO BETTER IDENTIFY THEM…“No, said a wiser Senator, if they see how many they are, they may revolt”.

It is time for trafficked persons to put on their white band and revolt against their oppressors because they are more than the oppressors.

De Exodus movement supports all trafficked persons who decide to take this bold step and say no to slavery.

ALUTA CONTINUA (The Struggle continues)

La Toya Jackson, Speaks of How her Husband offered her to Mike Tyson for $100,000 to have Sex

Anyone can be sold, it does not matter your status in the society. This is the story of Latoya Jackson (sister of late Micheal Jackson).

From www.dailymail.co.uk

La Toya Jackson claims her abusive ex-husband once offered her up to have sex with boxing champion Mike Tyson for $100,000.
Michael Jackson's sister made the bizarre revelation during an appearance on CBS's The Talk where she was promoting her new autobiography 'Starting Over'.
It tells of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband and manager Jack Gordon, who she says also 'hated and despised' her legendary entertainer brother.

La Toya, 55, accused Gordon of beating and threatening to kill her during their tumultuous marriage.
Audiences on the daytime talk show gasped when the former model told how Gordon, who died in 2005, once attempted to charge Mike Tyson the hefty sum to sleep with her.
She also claimed he forced her to take part in group sex against her will and to pose for twice Playboy magazine.

'Mike Tyson later told my mother and father and some other friends that he (Gordon) had told him that if he wanted to sleep with me he has to pay $100,000,' she told the show's panel.
'I was in brothels and everything. He put me(it was) everything I was against. He made me do Playboy twice and had me sit on the stage and say 'Oh no, it was all my idea'.
'And I had to do that because I knew what he said he would do, he would do it.'

La Toya added: 'I wrote this book for women. It was very difficult for me, because when he (Gordon) took me, at that time I was a strict Jehovah's Witness and I knew nothing about the world whatsoever.

'I was 29 and one of those over the top religious people. I was mentally 16 because of not knowing the world and what people do, not everyone was honest and I believed everything they said.'

Offered: La Toya claims that Tyson told her parents he was offered sex with her in return for money

During the interview, La Toya also told of her shock at witnessing the scene of her brother Michael's death, at his Holmby Hills home in June 2009. She said she was taken aback when she arrived because his bedroom appeared to have been ransacked as though someone was 'looking for something.'

'It was about 12 hours until we got there. Michael had passed away that morning.
'When we got there, I had the people walk us through the room and it was a total wreck.
'Everything was turned over, upside down, it was like 'who has been looking for what?'
'I know the cops and other people had been through there but there was no reason for that. It was just a complete mess.

'I have no clue (who it was). Whoever it was they were looking for something.
'There were suitcases, everything was just dumped inside out. The drawers were all open.
'I don't know why but it hurts.'

LaToya told how her tragic brother - 50-years-old at the time of his death - had left notes around the house spelling out who he no longer wanted in his life.
She said: 'Notes were posted everywhere of what he felt and mentioning the people that he had mentioned to me that he felt that was going to do this to him.
'He had notes stuck everywhere about them, saying 'I don't want this person around me' or 'Keep them away from me'.
'The kids were telling me their dad just kept saying 'Call grandpa, call grandpa' because grandpa would do something, he could help him.
'The book 'Starting Over' is a book I wrote a long time before Michael passed and it's about trying to get out of an abusive relationship or a relationship that someone is controlling you and there are people that come into your life and surround themselves around you.
'They control your finances, everything that you do you have absolutely no say so whatsoever.
'In the last days, I found my brother being in that same situation as I was in. I was fortunate enough to get away and start over but unfortunately he was not. It was really heartbreaking.'

Sunitha Krishnan Speaks on Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking Video from Frankfurt-Germany

Human Trafficking Video from Benin City

Undercovers crack slave labor gang

Police in Spain after several years of undercover investigation finally succeeded in dismantling a slave camp.

Culled from CNN Freedom project;


They wear football jerseys, t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. They look like ordinary customers having a beer at the corner pub but that ability to blend in is also key to their role in the fight against human trafficking.

They are the men and women of an elite human trafficking unit in Spain's Catalonia region and they have to get key players in criminal gangs to trust them.
The region is a hot spot for traffickers. Barcelona - its biggest city and one of Europe's marquee tourist destinations - provides a cloak for traffickers who bring victims in on tourist visas.

Large scale criminal organizations from Eastern Europe, Africa and China are setting up shop; bringing people into Spain under the guise of giving them jobs, then keeping their passports and forcing them to work in nightmarish conditions, either in prostitution or labor exploitation.
It has kept the Mossos d'Esquadra undercover unit, which is formally called the Central Unit Against Trafficking of Human Beings, very busy.

Sub-Inspector Xavier Cortes helped form the unit in 2007, and he says taking on the massive criminal organizations is a complex mission.

"Research techniques are different than a regular criminal investigation, such as the solving of a robbery," says Cortes, the ranking officer in the unit who doesn't work undercover and is comfortable with CNN revealing his identity.

"To investigate criminal organizations, what one cannot do is solve the crime. You have to locate and dismantle the organization... You get to know who the members are, how they live, how they interact, and how the organization is organized. Where the money comes from and where it goes - all this from many, many hours of analysis and operative work."

Another challenge, Cortes says, is infiltrating the groups to learn more about them.
"Considering in the vast majority of cases, the criminal organizations doing the trafficking of people that operate in Catalonia are organizations from foreign countries, it is almost impossible to get agents to infiltrate them."

That's where the use of informants comes in handy. The unit's biggest bust - a Chinese forced labor case involving 80 alleged sweatshops - came from two men who were fed up with their working environment and decided to come forward. One had been stabbed in the hand as he tried to collect evidence.

What started with a complaint by two men ended in a case so vast, it took three years to unravel the massive, tangled web of exploitation, and is only now going before the Spanish courts.
"We went to the location of the shops they told us that there were assets, confirmed the existence of these workshops and from here we began an entire series of steps that would lead us to see if, as stated, there were links between all these workshops," Cortes explains.

The process was complicated. Eighty workshops, all allegedly tied to each other in some way.
The human trafficking unit needed to find out who was managing which workshop, and what was really going on inside. They began surveillance, first taping outside the workshops.

"So that we could see what was the pace of activity - how many hours workers were inside or if they could leave or not leave the workshops," Cortes said.

Undercover agents were sent inside posing as clients looking for cheap labor. They say they found some workers wearing next to nothing while they sewed clothes - the conditions inside the factories unbearably hot.

After several months of evidence-gathering, a judge was satisfied the unit had enough to move in and free the victims.

In Mossos d'Esquadra's biggest-ever simultaneous raid, 900 officers moved on the 80 workshops.
The conditions they found were shocking. Mattresses leaned against walls, ready for the few hours workers were allowed to sleep before returning to work. Some beds were hidden behind bookcases. In the worst cases, the workers ate, slept, worked, and sometimes used the bathroom - all in the same room.

Cortes said the operation freed 450 victims.

"One of the most important things we could get was that out of the 450 people freed as local workers, about 40 percent of them told us, by declaration, they were subject to the payment of a debt and that debt had a condition that forced them to work in these workshops," he said.
Yet freeing the victims wasn't the end to this case.

Cortes and his team then had to prove how all of the workshops were linked - who was paying the bills, who was directly responsible for violating the human rights of the workers. And who was at the top of the whole organization.

Cortes explained the complicated process. "We could see that the head of this workshop was at the time the owner of the van utilized by four workshops to carry their clothes. But at the same time, the policyholder of that vehicle was responsible for this other workshop, and in the same way that workshop was responsible for paying the water of three workshops over in another area of the town."

After three years of research and evidence-gathering, 150 people were arrested in all. The case is now in the trial phase, and everyone accused has pleaded not guilty.
As vast as the Chinese forced labor operation was, there are even more egregious cases for the human trafficking unit.

Prostitution is the Catalonia region's biggest problem, and it's led to some of the unit's most depressing cases.

Cortes says he has seen women seven months pregnant, forced to stand and prostitute themselves for 10 to 12 hours on the side of the road with no access to sanitation.

The worse case Cortes has ever seen involved a girl found near death on the street.

Investigators learned she'd been held in a room for two years, and had contracted hepatitis from constant, unprotected sex.

Her discovery led to the bust of an Albanian prostitution ring but it's the victims that drive Cortes and his undercover team.

They work all hours, sacrifice their home lives, and doggedly pursue evidence in long-running investigations.

It's a dedication that bonds the men and women together as they handle some of the toughest cases in organized crime.

With the traffickers quick to change their methods after each bust, the undercover officers have many more cases ahead of them, blending in, winning trust and securing convictions.

Carlos Tevez "I have got to leave City"

For football fans, Carlos Tevez has made up his mind to leave Manchester city because of family commitments. According to www.thesun.co.uk, his wife refused to moved to Manchester and Tevez claims he wants to be reunited with his daughters.

However, Real Madrid(Spain), Inter Milan(Italy) and Chelsea(England) are interested in the player. I wonder where he is going next and how his plans to reunite with his family will play out in relations to offers from these other clubs.

10 steps people can take to help combat human trafficking

I saw this write up by Siddharth Kara on CNN, its about the 10 steps people can take to combat human trafficking. However, i am not saying all the steps are perfect, it depends on your location, so user discretion is strongly advised.

1. Learn about the many signs that indicate a person may be a victim of human trafficking or some other form of forced labor.

2. Assemble a core group of individuals who will set up and manage your Community Vigilance Committee (CVC).

3. Recruit other community members to join your CVC, such as neighbors and local business owners. Make a plan that suits everyone on how and when you can meet to discuss your efforts.

4. Make contact with local law enforcement, especially a local human trafficking police unit if you have one, to set up a system of reporting to a point person should any member of your CVC witness a sign of human trafficking. Follow the guidance of local law enforcement on the best ways you can assist them.

5. Make contact with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that focus on human trafficking (especially shelters), to discuss your plans and set up a system of referral should you need to pass along information about a potential human trafficking victim in your area. Follow the guidance of these NGOs on how you can be most effective in assisting them.

6. If there are no relevant NGOs or shelters in your area, think about setting one up!

7. Create a website in which you share your progress and learnings, so that you can coordinate with other CVCs to expand your reach, and also learn from each other about how to be more effective.

8. Set up a “Google Alert” for human trafficking. This will help you stay on top of trends and developments in the field.

9. Make contact with your local and state lawmakers to learn more about what they are doing to combat human trafficking in your area. If you feel they are not doing enough, try to persuade them to do more.

10. Should any member of your CVC see something worrying from the list of signs of human trafficking - do not intervene in any way individually or as a group. Meet and discuss what you have seen and report to local law enforcement as soon as possible.