Diana Scimone

Coming to the US to study or work? Here's how to avoid being trafficked.

Here are 2 facts:

1.  Human trafficking happens in the US.

2.  Many victims are foreigners who arrive in the US legally--and walk right into the arms of traffickers.

The US State Department just put out a new pamphlet that's designed to prevent this from happening.

It lists the rights, protections, and resources available to everyone applying for certain non-immigrant visas, such as those arriving for employment and to go to school. Remember, many immigrants come from countries where they have limited rights, so they have no idea that in the US:

• It is illegal for your employer to take your passport away from you.
• Your temporary work visa does not mean you have to continue to work for your employer if the employer is abusing or exploiting you.
• You don't have to sign anything you don't understand.

The pamphlet clearly spells out these and other rights for visa holders:

• Your right not to be retaliated against
• Your right to be paid for all the work you do
• Your right not to be discriminated against
• Your rights as a woman worker
• Your right to a healthy and safe workplace
• Your right to leave an abusive employment situation

It also lists the signs of human trafficking--and what to do if you think you're being trafficked. Here are 2 important hotline numbers listed in the pamphlet:

• National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline:  888.373.7888 (24 hours)

• Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line: 888.428.7581 (weekdays 9 am-5 pm ET)

Every US embassy and consulate in the world will get copies of the pamphlet, and hopefully they'll include one with every visa they give out.

You can download the pamphlet here. Right now it's available only in English, but is being translated into Spanish, Filipino (Tagalog), Indonesian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sinhala, and Ukranian. 

Hold On to This List (You May Need It)

Let's say you're traveling to Vietnam or Paraguay on business.  Or France or Samoa on vacation. 

Let's say you spot something suspicious--someone who looks like they're being trafficked.  Or about to be.

What do you do? 

If you've bookmarked this website on your laptop, iPhone, or Blackberry, you'll be ready: the Global Hotlines List.

The list includes phone numbers in 80+ countries from Albania to Zimbabwe that you can call to report cases of suspected human trafficking.

Here's the hotline number for the US (which is strangely not on the list): (888) 373-7888.

Don't know what to look for?  Here and here are signs that someone may be trafficked.

Remember:  Most victims are rescued because ordinary people like you and me saw something that didn't look right and reported it. Keep your eyes open--and not just when you travel abroad.  Human trafficking happens right here in the US, too.

So What's Going on in YOUR Neighborhood Middle School?

How about child trafficking? 

How about recruiters roaming the halls looking for kids?

How about kids themselves serving as recruiters?

It's happening--not just in schools in far-away countries but in your city and mine.

Yesterday I went to a meeting sponsored by the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Most of us who attended consider ourselves pretty informed about trafficking. After all, stopping the traffic is our passion.

We were in shock at what we heard from the Klaas Kids Foundation and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

• Child-trafficking recruiters work not only in colleges and high schools looking for kids, but now in middle schools--in your city and mine.

• Recruiters also work in malls, parks, and on playgrounds--in your city and mine.

• Once a child is enslaved, they can be forced to become recruiters in their own schools.

• The average age of a child who enters prostitution in the US is now 12 (down from 14 a few years ago). Remember, if 12 is the average age, there are kids even younger than that.

• The process traffickers use to ensnare kids and prepare them for sex slavery is called grooming. It's elaborate, calculated, manipulative, and (sadly) gets results.

• Domestic sex trafficking of minors involves organized rings of recruiters, groomers, security, trainers, watchers, and connectors.

• Human traffickers have very organized in-service training. There are national meetings with award ceremonies for pimps--often sponsored by well-known music artists.

Does that make you angry? Good. Get angry, please.  

Now here's what you can do about it:

1. Google "child trafficking" and your state. Find out who's making a difference and get involved.

2. Call your local newspaper and TV stations and ask them to do an investigative series on what's happening in your state or city. Ask them to focus not just on one story--but on child trafficking rings and how they operate.

3. Donate. Local organizations such as FCAHT and global organizations such as Born to Fly need money to stop the traffic. Without it, we might as well fold up shop.

4. Keep your eyes open. Most of the time when a child (or adult) is rescued from trafficking, it's because an ordinary citizen saw something that didn't look right and called the trafficking hotline: 888.3737.888.

5. Pray.

If you'd like to partner with Born to Fly to help stop the traffic, contact us at info (at) born2fly (dot) org.

"A Global Partnership for the Abolition of Modern Slavery"

A few years ago I was in northern Thailand visiting a safe house filled with women rescued from human trafficking.

The director of the home told me that the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act--and the annual TIPS  (Trafficking in Persons) Report that accompanies it--has made an enormous dent in the multi-billion dollar industry of human trafficking.

This morning the US State Department released the 2009 TIPS Report.  This is the 9th annual report.

As always, it ranks most countries of the world into 3 tiers according to their efforts to stop human trafficking within and across their borders. 

You can see the list of countries here or download the entire report, which includes extensive sections about each country on the list.

Tier 1 countries are doing a good job:

This year there are 28 countries in Tier 1, from Australia to the UK.

Last year there were 29; Hong Kong, Hungary, and Madagascar have sadly moved to Tier 2. Mauritius, Nigeria have thankfully moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1.

Tier 2 countries are making some efforts to deal with trafficking, but not enough:

76 countries are on this tier (last year there were 70), including Afghanistan, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, and others.

Tier 2 watchlist countries are in danger of moving to Tier 3 unless they take immediate action:

The 52 countries on this year's watchlist include Cambodia, China, Guatemala, India, Russia, Venezuela, and others.

Last year there were 41, so a significant number have been added to the watchlist, while many have moved off it (either up or down).

Tier 3 countries are doing virtually nothing to stop human trafficking that is rampant within their borders:

This year there are 17 countries in this ranking (up from 14 in 2008) including Burma, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.

New this year are Eritrea, Malaysia, Mauritania, Niger, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

Gone are Algeria, Moldova, and Qatar, which all moved to the watchlist.

As always, the TIPS Report includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. It features stories of heroes who work to stop the traffic and gives examples of excellent programs in various places around the world that are doing a great job to rescue victims and bring traffickers to justice.

The report also includes heartrending stories of people who were trafficked--and escaped or were rescued to tell their story.

In her remarks before the TIPS report release, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rightly stressed that trafficking occurs in all countries--including the U.S. She announced that the US Department of Justice was releasing its own report, which covers trafficking in the US. 

It's not pretty reading, but my philosophy has always been if people can endure being trafficked--especially children--the least I can do is acknowledge what they've been through by hearing their stories.

"This report is their story," writes newly appointed Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  "It is the story of governments, organizations, and individuals who give such survivors a chance for freedom. It is on their behalf, and in the spirit of a common humanity, that we seek a global partnership for the abolition of modern slavery."

Amen.

UPDATE: You can listen to the remarks of Secretary of State Clinton and Ambassador CdeBaca, who both spoke this morning to introduce the new report.

100 Million Girls

That's a lot of girls.  And that's the number of underage girls involved in child labor around the world. 

Young girls are at a greater risk of being trafficked than boys, according to Mukatimui Chabala, national programme coordinator for the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

Young girls are told they're going out of the country for education and employment opportunities, Chabala said, but end up being sold into prostitution and other forms of slavery and child labor.

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor. It focuses on both boys and girls, of course, but girls are particularly vulnerable to the most terrible forms of child labor, according to the ILO:

• Large numbers of young girls labour in agriculture and in the manufacturing sector, frequently working in dangerous conditions. 
• A major sector of employment for young girls is domestic work in third-party households. 
• Oftentimes this work is hidden from the public eye, leading to particular dangers and risks. 
• The extreme exploitation of girls in the worst forms of child labour includes slavery, bonded labour, prostitution and pornography. 

In honor of World Day Against Child Labor, the ILO has issued a new report called Give Girls a Chance: Tackling child labour, a key to the future.

The ILO's Chabala stressed the urgent need for increased public awareness about human trafficking, particularly involving children. That's what Born to Fly International is preparing to do through the B2F Project--which will help stop all forms of child slavery, including child labour.

When kids and parents get awareness training, the rate of all forms of child trafficking plummets. There's just not enough training available, nor in the language of most at-risk kids. That's the hole the B2F Project is designed to fill.  If you'd like to partner with us, visit www.born2fly.org or contact us at info (at) born2fly (dot) org.

They Know the Laws--and How to Get Around Them

Human traffickers know the laws--and how to get around them.

Now there's a great new resource to help law enforcement agencies find traffickers, arrest them, and  make sure they get behind bars. It's called The Crime of Human Trafficking: A Law Enforcement Guide to Identification and Investigation.

You can download the training guidebook in English and Spanish.  There's also a 3-part training video.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police produced the training guidebook and video. These comprehensive resources provide a wealth of information:

• Definitions of human trafficking
• Difference between trafficking and smuggling
• Dynamics of trafficking and the traumatic effects on victims
• Strategies to identify and help victims
• Methods for effective response and investigation
• Avenues for legal assistance and visa provisions under federal law
• Myths and misconceptions about human trafficking
• Forms of human trafficking
• How traffickers control their victims
• Protocol for interviewing victims
• Working with social services and others to provide assistance for victims
• Other federal and state resources

To order free copies of the guide and training video, contact stopviolence@theiacp.org or visit www.theiacp.org. (Hat tip to @cfpdx on Twitter for pointing me to these great resources.)

Can We Please Find Something Else to Laugh About?

I'm always amazed when someone finds humor in human trafficking.

A few weeks ago Alec Baldwin joked about getting a mail-order bride from the Philippines--and then apologized for the "perceived insensitivity of that remark." 

Uhhh, "perceived insensitivity"?   

Earlier this week when I was in California, I spotted this sticker on the hostess station of an otherwise great restaurant: 

And this is funny why?  Today 1 out of every 6 kids on the planet is a slave. So the threat on that sticker is not only not funny, but it's also kind of ironic considering it was in a Vietnamese restaurant.  Vietnam has a huge problem with child trafficking. (See 1 Miraculous Rescue + 1 Miraculous Escape = Good News.)

Can we please find something else to laugh about? Seriously, child trafficking just isn't all that funny.

One Person: Art and the Fight to Stop Child Trafficking

Can the beauty of art destroy the ugliness of child trafficking? Can one person--one artist--make a difference to help stop this global crime?

Oh yeah. 

In fact, beautiful artwork is at the center of the Born to Fly Project to stop child trafficking:  a wordless book with delightful illustrations by artist/illustrator Leah Wiedemer. 

Thanks to Leah's wonderful illustrations, anyone anywhere in the world will be able to "read" the book--no matter what their language, age, or culture. 

Called Born to Fly, the book is an allegory about learning to follow your dreams in a safe and secure manner.  Picture by picture, Leah's artwork warns parents about the ploys that traffickers use, and tells kids of all ages, "You were born to fly; don't settle for less."

Social (He)Art, the artists blog, just did a great profile on Leah. Read what Leah says about using her art to fight for social justice. It's inspiring.

Leah and I have collaborated on other children's projects, including the Adventures With PawPaw children's book series, which Leah illustrated and I wrote. You can see more of Leah's work (including her portraits from old family photos) on her blog, website, and CafePress store, and you can follow her on Twitter at @RoamingArtist

Very soon you'll get a sneak preview right here of Leah's illustrations for our wordless book.  We're keeping them undercover for now...but watch this space for the grand unveiling!

1 Miraculous Rescue + 1 Miraculous Escape = Good News

Yesterday police in Vietnam arrested a 22-year-old man who sold a mother and her 2-year-old son (below) to a human trafficking ring in China.

Miraculously the child was rescued and reunited with his mother. (If anyone is rescued from traffickers, I consider it a miracle.)

The same man also sold a Vietnamese teenager to a brothel in China.

Miraculously she escaped and returned to Vietnam.  (If anyone escapes from of a brothel, I consider it a miracle.)

You can read more in Saigon GP Daily.

Imagine if we could have warned this mother ahead of time about the ploys that traffickers use. That's what the B2F Project is designed to do.

What if the teenage girl had seen a copy of our wordless book, Born to Fly--before she ran off with a trafficker promising her the world? What if her teachers had a copy of the curriculum we're writing to equip kids to say no to traffickers?

Two more horror stories that never would have happened.

That's why I'm so excited to finish the B2F materials and get them into the hands of parents and kids all over the world.  Want to help us?  Visit www.born2fly.org and click on "donate." Let's prevent more horror stories like these from ever happening.

Five Years of Rescuing Slaves in Florida

Happy Birthday to the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, which turns 5 this week.

My organization, Born to Fly International, is a member of FCAHT, and I'm thrilled to see the great work this non-profit is doing around the state.

Just since last year, FCAHT has found and rescued 82 victims of labor trafficking in Florida. The group also trains law enforcement officers, attorneys, state prosecutors, investigators, and health service personnel.  And it provides after care, counseling, and other services to rescued victims to help them heal from the trauma of trafficking.

I love this new FCAHT poster:

Human slavery happens everywhere--not just across the globe but also across the street. If you see something you think is not right, call the national hotline number on the poster: 888.373.7888.

Meanwhile, you call follow FCAHT on Twitter: @FreeAllSlaves

It's Follow Friday! Good Abolitionists to Follow on Twitter

UPDATE #1: I've added lots more names (and a new category) to the list. Keep 'em coming.

If you're on Twitter, here are some wonderful anti-trafficking tweeps (Twitter people) to follow. If I left you off or if you have someone to recommend, please leave a comment and I'll update the list.

And if you're not on Twitter, you should be! Twitter is a fantastic way to network with people literally all over the globe.  As a result of tweeting, I've been interviewed on Blog Talk Radio about Born to Fly, guest posted on blogs, networked for anti-trafficking awareness, and LOTS more.  (If you're on Facebook, let me say it's the exact opposite.  Facebook helps you connect with people you DO know.  Twitter opens up your world to people you don't know--but should.)

Just go to www.twitter.com and sign up.  It's free. Tip: Make your user name your real name. You want to reserve it so some spammer doesn't grab the rights to your name. (I'm @DianaScimone .)

In honor of "Follow Friday" on Twitter, when everyone shares good tweeps and tworgs (people and organizations) to follow, here are my Follow Friday recommendations. The first group are mostly anti-trafficking organizations:

@BenCooley (Hope For Justice)

@BuckUpCampaign
@DianaScimone (yes, that's me!)
@ecpatusa
@embassyofhope

@endchildslavery
@endhumantraffic
@endingslavery
@FredDouglassSon
@Freeallslaves
@freedomday

@Free_2_Work
@IJMcampaigns
@IJMHQ
@ijminstitute
@innocentjustice
@Justicecrazy

@klaaskids
@lovejustice

@mission4orphans
@Not_For_Sale

@notinmybackyard

@nowhere2hide

@nosilencenow

@OfficialLove146

@Polaris_Project

@ProjectExodus
@RedLightCC
@RefugeesIntl
@ROBLOVE146

@RunForFreedom
@Slaverymap
@socialheart
@SomalyMam

@STOPTHETRAFFIK
@thesoldproject

@Traffickfree
@trafficksucks
@Transitions_G
@VisionAbolition

These people are all involved on a personal level in the fight to stop the traffic and share great links, helpful info, etc.:

@AaronCohen777
@advancnonprofit

@AmberGlattSmith

@antitrafficking

@BeverlyHogue
@brandedphx

@cfpdx
@charlestlee

@cortneyr
@dhepburn

@DianeBeeler

@EBain

@ElCuso12

@fisher_david

@feleciacruz

@FreeChains

@just4one
@LaLaLives
@lwood15
@MaeSotShane

@maryhooke
@mathewhulbert
@MatthewBarnett
@mgjack

@michellecastle

@missdeneen
@monicabrand

@mrskutcher
@NatalieGrant
@northernchick
@NYTimesKristof

@ptrueman

@respres

@Rockwellraquel

@Setfreechat

@sethjohnson78

@somethingicando

@traffickjamming

Remember, if I missed you, please leave your Twitter name in a comment and I'll update the list. See you on Twitter!

UPDATE #2: I've added a new category to my Follow Friday list -- my own personal cheerleaders.  These are people who don't necessarily tweet 24/7 about human trafficking issues, but who regularly encourage me and support me in what I do to stop the traffic. So meet my own personal cheerleading squad. (Follow them and I'll bet they'll cheer you on, too.)

@AngelaMunizzi (Born2Fly board member)

@brokerkathy

@cfpdx

@DivinePurposeMV

@easton

@Ebain

@jeffpower

@JohnStanko (Born2Fly board member)

@jyl_MomIF (and the Mom It Forward moms)

@lucyannmoll

@lynnmosher

@northernchick

@RoamingArtist (artist who's illustrating the B2F wordless book)

Good News

It's always nice to post some good news in the otherwise dismal world of human trafficking--and there's lots of good news today:

In London early this morning, 7 women were rescued from sex trafficking.  The raids followed a 10-month investigation into organized crime rings that specialized in human sex trafficking.  Read more here.

In India, 8 girls were rescued from a brothel in Mumbai where they were regularly subjected to involuntary prostitution, brutality, sexual abuse, and prison-like conditions.  International Justice Mission worked with the deputy commissioner of police in Mumbai to free the girls and arrest the perpetrators. Read more here.

In Botswana, police recently broke up a human trafficking ring suspected of trafficking more than 1,000 people into Canada for slavery and sex exploitation.  Read more here.  

Great news!

Begging

I can't get a picture out of my head. Maybe you can help me. A few days ago my anti-trafficking colleague, Pat Bradley, was in town.  Pat is president of International Crisis Aid, which does great work rescuing trafficked kids in Cambodia, Ethiopia, and also in his home state of Missouri in the US.

So Pat shared a story with me.  He was in Ethiopia recently, where ICA has built some safe houses for the little girls they rescue from forced prostitution.

Pat and his colleagues were in the red-light district one night rescuing girls.  They could rescue only a certain number of girls because that's all the room they had in their safe houses.

But more girls showed up.  A lot of them. 

And this is the picture I can't get out of my mind:  They ran up to Pat carrying all their worldly possessions in little plastic bags--and they begged him to take them away from the horror.

And he had to say no.  I can't even imagine the pain in his heart at having to do that.  I've cried for 36 hours since he told me. I'm crying now.

You might say, "Why didn't he just take them all?  Figure out what to do once he had them."

Easy to say from your comfortable computer chair reading this.  Where would you take 100 traumatized little girls?  You can't just hail a cab. You can't just show up on someone's doorstep and say, "Can you take a girl or two?  Feed them, clean them, house them, heal them, love them?"

When Pat told me this story, we talked about another kind of begging--that we constantly feel like we're begging for money to fund our projects to help kids trafficked for sex.  I spend as much time fund-raising for Born to Fly as I do on the actual project.  It's sad but true.  He'd tell you the same thing.

Last year someone accused me of constantly begging for money for Born to Fly.  "Something must be wrong if you're always begging for money," this person graciously wrote in an email. "I'm going to ask God what's wrong in your life.  There must be sin somewhere that He's not blessing your efforts."

Ooookay.

I don't mind begging for money to help little girls like the ones I can't get out of my mind.

So while I need to be begging for money to fund my own project, I'm going to beg you for some to fund Pat's project--building a village of safe houses for these little girls in Ethiopia. So he won't ever have to say "no" to a little girl carrying all her worldly possessions in a plastic bag.

You can donate via the Born to Fly website and we'll send 100% of your contribution to ICA to build the village. Just click on "general fund" and indicate "Ethiopia" on the PayPal form. Or you can donate right on ICA's website.

Forgive me for begging...but if those little girls can do it, so can I.

Freedom of Expression: Art by Rescued Modern-Day Slaves

Last night I went to an exhibit of artwork by women (and some men) rescued from slavery in the state of Florida.  The exhibit was sponsored by the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), which partners with law enforcement officials to rescue men, women, and children all over Florida who've been trafficked into modern-day slavery. 

In coming posts, I'll share with you some of the information that FCAHT President Anna Rodriguez told us--but for now I just want you to see some of the artwork and let it speak for itself. 

This set of 7 mixed-media wall hangings was done by a group of Mayan women who were trafficked from small villages in Guatemala and brought to Florida, where they were forced into sex slavery. 

Their artwork takes you on a journey to experience their life at home, the trauma forced upon them, their rescue, and the road to healing and restoration. If you double-click on a photo, you can enlarge it to see the detail, particularly in the painted borders.

I've included my interpretations of each--but they're only my interpretations. You'll have your own, which I invite you to share, especially if you were at the exhibit.

#1:  The Girl in HueHue: Life at home before being trafficked

 

#2:  The Desert:  Her capture

#3:  Slavery:  In shame and humiliation, she's surrounded by her tears.  The handprints and footprints along the sides are fabric.

#4:  Healing from a Bird's Eye View: This is after she's been rescued, and now going through the healing process. I think she's giving honor to all the people who've helped her escape and heal.

#5:  Locked In:  She's on the other side of her captivity--and pregnant.  At first I thought this was out of order (reversed with #4), but it's not. Many sex slaves become pregnant and are forced to have abortions while in captivity.  This free woman chose to keep her child, though not without great sorrow at the reminder of her captivity. There are blood-stained tears in one of the border frames.

#6:  The Road to Recovery:  Her healing includes learning to trust and love again, including to love herself.  You can see her own hands on her shoulders.

#7:  Love:  Her new life with her baby and new family. (Sorry this photo is so fuzzy :-( I'll try to get a better one.)

I hope the emotions of these works of art move you as much as they've moved me.  Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Absolutely Nothing

I'm taking a break this weekend: I'm not posting anything about child trafficking. Instead I'm reprinting something I've posted for the past 2 years on Easter Sunday called "Absolutely Nothing."  Here it is--along with a question for you to answer at the end. 

***

I recently had an opportunity to spend 10 days in Israel to write two feature stories for Charisma magazine and to research Adventures With PawPaw: Israel (hopefully published soon).

Visiting a country with 6,000 years of history can be a dizzying experience, and I came home with a notebook full of information, sights, sounds, and quotes. One of the most memorable quotes was from the tour guide at the garden tomb:

"Millions of people come here from all over the world to see absolutely nothing."

Our tour guide spoke those words outside the tomb where Jesus' body was laid to rest.  Three days later on a Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead--and 2,000 years later the tomb is still empty.

I always wondered why friends who went to Israel all came home with the exact same photo:  a picture of themselves peeking out of the empty tomb with a big grin on their face. 

Now I know why; there's something about looking into that empty tomb carved out of the side of the hill and seeing the evidence of your faith.  It's empty!  It's true!  He is risen!

Naturally I had the same grin on my face, and had to have the same photo.  So here, direct to you from Jerusalem, is my Easter photo, along with my prayer that the hope represented by that empty tomb will fill your life with joy and meaning this day and forever.

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?'" (John 11:25-26).