Diana Scimone

Part 2: If you're buying children online, buyer beware

Yesterday I was in a meeting with one of the detectives responsible for the arrests of 40 men this week in central Florida for attempting to buy children online. (You can read about the arrests in yesterday's post: If you buy children online, we will post your name online.)

He spoke to us about internet crimes against children. I wanted to wash in Clorox after he finished.

Here's what he told us:

• Of the 40 arrrested, only 1 was a registered sex offender.

• Two years ago in the same county where these 40 men were arrested, traffickers targeted 11 kids at a local karate school.

• Child traffickers are professional. He showed us the cover of a professionally produced booklet--a how-to guide for buying children and what to do once you have them. [Bring on the Clorox.]

• Most of the men arrested were once victims themselves of childhood sex abuse.

• Investigators use sophisticated computer programs that monitor who is trading images and videos of children online. Think Google maps, but click on the red pins and instead of all the nearby Starbucks, voila--the name, location, and IP address of everyone looking for children online. All in real time.

• Law enforcement in numerous states worked together on the 40 arrests--members of Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a nationwide network of 3,000 federal, state, and local agencies.

• Since 2009, his local department has helped with 188 arrests in state and out of state including:

~High-level executive at a national insurance company
~High-school teacher
~Pastor of a 1,500 member church
~Father of 4, including a child who was the age of the child he was propositioning online
~Federal corrections officer
~Youth pastor
~Doctor

• Buyers use a complicated grooming process to lure children and teenagers via Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, and other sites.

• Parents can minimize risk by actively and strategically monitoring their children's social network usage.

• In a few days I'll post some of the resources he shared.

If you're new to this blog, our goal at The Born2Fly Project is to reach kids before the traffickers do. We do this through an awareness and prevention program that we're testing in 5 countries. You can read more at www.born2fly.org. And you can donate to our work on that site, also.

I know this is not easy reading. Thanks for not turning away.

 

 

 

 

If you buy children online, we will post your name online

This is Part 1 of a 2-part post.

Yesterday the Sheriff's Office of Osceola County, Florida,  arrested 40 men for attempting to buy sex with children.

The arrests include a swim coach, a professional golfer on the Senior PGA Tour, an 8th-grade teacher, business professionals, 8 college students, and many others.

I just came from a meeting with one of the detectives involved in the sting and I'll report on that tomorrow. I'm still processing the mind-boggling information he shared.

Meanwhile, to the men buying children, here is our promise: If you buy children online, we will post your name online. And here you are--all 40 of you including your photos and occupations.

(This information is publicly available on the Osceola County Sheriff's Office website here, along with more information about each person arrested.)

1. Frederick David Adams, Naples, FL. Occupation: High School Student
2. Samer Japer Al-Hubaydi, Daytona Beach, FL. Occupation: Student, Embry-Riddle
3. Jason Bacchus, Winter Garden, FL. Occupation: Sales Representative, Cell Phone Distributor
4. Christopher Baker, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
5. Christopher Batman, Wesley Chapel, FL. Occupation: Self-Employed
6. Marvin Alfonson Bell, Valrico, FL. Occupation: College Student
7. Dennis Bluemke, Clermont, FL. Occupation: Fencing
8. Charles James Buffington, Deltona, FL. Occupation: Construction
9. Sergio Cardenas, Auburndale, FL, Occupation: Unemployed
10. Lucas Bartholomew Clarke, Winter Park, FL. Occupation: Student, Golf Academy of America
11. Shane Daniel Cousins, Kissimmee FL. Occupation: Soldier, U.S. Army Reserves
12. Gary J. Durso, Palm Coast, FL. Occupation: Areole Technician
13. Josean Javier Gaston, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Student
14. Carlos Gomez, Winter Park, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
15. Justin Joseph Hall, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Student
16. Dell Rio Highsmith, DFargo, GA. Occupation: Retired Bee Keeper
17. Cornellus Eugene Hunt, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Student
18. Phillip Dale Jones, Winter Haven, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
19. Roger Dale Mathews, Lakeland, FL. Occupation: Plant Manager
20. Joseph Matz, Williamstown NJ. Occupation: Unemployed
21. Carl David Brooks Newsome, Fairhope, AL. Occupation: Unknown
22. Ryu Nolin, Edgewater, FL. Occupation: Personal Trainer
23. Craig Alan Parsel, Jr. Occupation: Warehouse Clerk
24. Eric Dennard Payne, Jr., Orlando, FL. Occupation: Dispatcher
25. Ahmidullah Popal, Flushing, NY. Occupation: Wholesale Dealer
26. Nigel Rattan, Mt. Dora, FL. Occupation: Self-Employed
27. Milton Benjamin Richardson, Palm Bay, FL. Occupation: Engineer
28. Kegan Ritchie, Port Orange, FL. Occupation: Student
29. Alexander Roy, Port St. Lucie, FL. Occupation: Eighth Grade Teacher
30. Kenneth Sinisi, South Daytona, FL. Occupation: Unemployed
31. Andrew Louis Skinner, Windermere, FL. Occupation: Vendor
32. Jay S. Soni, Orlando, FL. Occupation: Sales Representative
33. Frederick Charles Spreng, Windermere, FL. Occupation: Manager
34. Warren Lee Staples, St. Cloud, FL. Occupation: Public Works
35. Winston Alexander Stephens, Shreveport, LA. Occupation: Student, Full Sail University
36. Christopher Stewart, Kissimmee, FL. Occupation: Truck Loader
37. Ryan Stickle, Sammamish, WA. Occupation: Consultant
38. Samuel Dean Straitiff, Deland, FL. Occupation: Information Technology
39. Stephen Wesley Thomas, Meridian, MS. Occupation: Professional Golfer
40. Bryan Allan Woodward, Gainesville, FL. Occupation: Head Swim Coach, Gator Swim Club

Please check back here tomorrow when I'll post Part 2 -- a report on the meeting with one of the undercover investigators involved in the sting. Or subscribe to this blog by using the "Get email updates" button in the upper left.

 

 

 

The dream is still alive

"Administer justice every morning and deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor" (Jeremiah 21:12).

Today is a national holiday in the US to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I wrote this post a few years ago about how he inspired me in my fight to stop child trafficking.

* * *

Five decades ago, my sisters and I set up a little store in the playroom of our house in New York. When we invited our parents to come and shop (i.e. to spend their money), they were aghast to see the sign we had hung in our store:

"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."

My parents explained to us the meaning of this sign, which we must have seen in a real store, and why it was wrong--that it was racial discrimination designed to keep out blacks. (As Italian-Americans, my parents had their own encounters with injustice and discrimination, particularly my father.)

I had no clue. I went through the 1950s and, I regret to say, the 60s and still had no clue.

What was happening in the south didn't seem to affect me--Little Rock, Birmingham, Memphis, the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. It was all something on the pages of newspapers, but didn't really involve me.

When I was 17, I moved to Washington to attend college during the years when race riots scarred the streets. The events of the day began to get a little closer to home.

A decade later, I moved to Alabama and met people personally affected by injustice. The struggle for justice got closer.

Then I moved to central Florida, where one morning I looked out my window and saw five men cloaked in white sheets protesting outside the Jewish Community Center across the street, claiming the Holocaust was all a myth. Now the struggle for justice was just outside my front door.

Yet another decade later, I was co-writing a book called The Dream Is Alive about the struggle for racial justice within the Christian church. The title, of course, refers to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. While researching information for the book, I read his speech on the internet and listened to scratchy on-line recordings of many of his other speeches--and they powerfully impacted me. Now the struggle was right at the tip of my fingers.

Today, five decades after taking down that sign, I think I'm finally getting it. Injustice has many forms and faces, and they're all ugly. In my travels, I've seen the injustice of child trafficking face to face--girls in cages, boys sold on streets, and more. As I took down that sign 50 years ago, now I'm working to take down a different form of injustice through The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

Dr. King's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds, along with his profound words that documented it, are part of the inspiration that has propelled me.

Here are some of his words from his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." I hope they inspire you the way they inspire me.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed."

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."

"Was not [the biblical prophet] Amos an extremist for justice? 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream' [Amos 5:24] . . . So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?"

--excerpts from "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To read and hear more:

• "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963 (audio clips)
• "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963 (text and audio versions)
• "I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech, April 3, 1968, the night before Dr. King was killed (text and audio versions)
• The King Center

 * * *

A few more great quotes (hat tip @charlestlee):

“A minister cannot preach the glories of heaven while ignoring social conditions in his own community that cause [people] an earthly hell.”

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of a conforming majority but from the creative maladjustment of a transformed minority.”

 

 

13 things I learned about child trafficking from an undercover operation

Wednesday, January 11, is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

In honor of this day (which I hope we soon don't have to commemorate), I want to tell you about my recent experience as part of an undercover operation in a large US city. 

Our focus was Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST). These are minors (under 18) and US citizens.

It was an eye-opening, two-day operation. Here's what I learned, in part from Giselle Rodriguez, state outreach coordinator for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, who trained us, and in part from my own experiences on the street:

1. We were not in the "bad" part of town but in a area popular with tourists and families.

2. We worked with undercover investigators who regularly monitor DMST happening throughout the city.

3. We saw at least one minor being trafficked, right in the open. We knew there were many more we couldn't see.

4. We talked to hotel owners about DMST and watched their varying reactions. Some said they'd seen girls being trafficked and reported it to the police. Others denied ever seeing anything--but their body language and quick, furtive glances told us otherwise. 

5. Girls are controlled by a network of pimps, handlers, and others who are watching her at any given moment from hidden locations. (This is why we were told NOT to try to rescue girls we saw but to get as much information as possible and report to the investigators at our control center.)

6. We must see these girls as victims. They are doing what they do because of force, fraud, and coercion--not because they've made a lifestyle choice.

7. 2,500 children go missing every day--in the US alone. That's 1.6 million a year. Not all of them are trafficked--but they are all at-risk for trafficking.

8. Within 48 hours of running away, a teenager will be approached by traffickers. Most runaways don't bring cash, lunch, or other necessities, so they are easy pickings for traffickers who offer all that and more.

9. Today the average age of a trafficked person is 12 years old. That's the average age, so many are much younger. Traffickers are going after younger and younger children because they are easier to manipulate.

10. One of the common recruiting locations that trafficking recruiters frequent are the halls outside juvenile justice courtrooms.

11. Trafficked children don't call their controllers "pimps" but rather "Daddy" or "Boyfriend." And that's how they really see them. Traffickers work to create a feeling of family because who isn't looking for a family to belong to? Children will ignore the abuse, violence, and control because trauma bonding is so strong. In fact, if you try to rescue a victim of DMST, she will fight you because you have just ruined what she sees as a perfect world.

12. Victims of DMST are trained to lie for their pimps, to take the fall for their "knight in shining armor," and to distrust everyone else (that would be you and me).

13. Once a child is trafficked, her average life expectancy is 7 years.

It is very difficult to rescue a trafficked child--not to mention help them heal. That's why our goal at The Born2Fly Project is to reach kids before the traffickers do. Our goal is to cut off the supply line of kids by educating them ahead of time about the lies that traffickers tell.

My other goal is that some January in the future we will not need a Human Trafficking Awareness Day. My goal is that one day the world will be free of child slavery.

 

 

 

Life in prison for child trafficker--in suburban Washington DC

If you still think child trafficking happens in other countries, here's your wake-up call:

In suburban Washington DC, a man was just sentenced to life in prison for prostituting a 12-year-old girl to clients throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Jose Ciro Juarez-Santamaria, 24, an illegal alien from El Salvador, would take this little girl to locations where customers would be lined up waiting for her. And there's lots more horror that I won't even go into.

Remember, this didn't happen across the globe but across the street And this is by far not an isolated event. He just got caught.

The healing process begins

“With today’s sentence Mr. Juarez-Santamaria will spend the rest of his life behind bars," said Neil MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, "while his child victim will spend the rest of her life working through the pain he inflicted.  

"Through aggressive efforts by the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force, we’re working together to fight this reprehensible form of exploitation," MacBride added.

Hats off to the coalition of law enforcement and non-profit agencies that got the job done--"the aggressive efforts by the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force."

My organization, Born to Fly, is a member of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, and I know firsthand what a powerful combination it is when local law enforcement, non-profits, faith-based organizations, children's agencies, and just plain interested citizens all work together.

You can read the Department of Justice report here: MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex Trafficking a Child.

Child kidnapped, beheaded in village where B2F anti-trafficking program being taught

When I tell you that child trafficking is organized crime, I'm not kidding. Trafficking is very, very lucrative with very few risks. Organized crime has made it the 2nd-highest grossing illegal industry on the planet.

So what happens when you threaten the traffickers' livelihood?

Let's say you want to cut off the supply line of kids...

Let's say you start to teach the Born2Fly anti-trafficking program to kids and parents, and you teach them how to stand up to traffickers...

And let's say you do this in an area where kids are regularly kidnapped and trafficked...

What happens?

This is what happened in a village in the Philippines where our brave partners have been openly teaching the B2F Project anti-trafficking curriculum to children and their parents.

First, our Philippines director was attacked by a trafficker who broke one of her ribs. (He was arrested.)

Then this happened, as reported by the Philippines director:

"One of the children who we have worked with for over a year was kidnapped this week and later returned with all his organs gone and head cut off.

"His mother is obviously traumatized and is uncertain where to go from here and to be honest I just don’t have answers for her. My heart is breaking and I feel angry all in one breath.

"We have had so many children taken from our village in the last couple of months that our team is in shock and the government is searching for answers and help.

"Our course is set to expand whether we are ready or not. Prevention is what we are aiming for."

I am outraged and shocked by the murder of this child and I condemn it in the harshest possible terms. This was a warning shot from the traffickers. No traffickers bother to return a body; they did it as a warning to the team to stop interfering with their livelihood.

Did it work? Has the team pulled back?

Here's what the Philippines director emailed me a week after this child was murdered:

"After many setbacks physical and emotional, being run off the road and vandalism, we are still standing and focused probably more than even before. Our team members are more determined than even before to protect these children and youth especially.

"Two weeks ago I was involved in a [trafficking] intervention, which saved several young girls and was an exceptionally rewarding experience.

"Our most recent test of Born2Fly is going great. The kids are loving it and the teachers and parents numbers are increasing too. Thank you, blessings and strength to you as you spearhead this movement. We are with you all the way."

What an absolute honor to partner with brave warriors such as this director and her team who are standing up to the despicable actions of these traffickers.

Please keep this team in your prayers as they continue to fight on the front lines. They are my heroes.

"Sometimes we must interfere."

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. May we never forget.

Here are the words of survivor Elie Wiesel at his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1986. As you read them, think how they apply to the attrocity of child trafficking. I don't know if the boy he is talking about is himself or another child, but it doesn't matter. Weisel's words are as provoking and moving in 2011 as they were in 1986.

"[The boy] asked his father: 'Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?'

"And now the boy is turning to me. 'Tell me,' he asks, 'what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?' And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.

"And then I explain to him how naïve we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

"Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must--at that moment--become the center of the universe...

"What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs...

"Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately."

Sometimes we must interfere. Child trafficking is a very good place to do that.

 

Human trafficking at Super Bowl XLV: How to stop the traffic

I love football and the Super Bowl and I'm thrilled my 2nd-favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers (2nd only to the Washington Redskins) will be playing in Dallas on Sunday, February 6.

I'm not thrilled, however, about what will also come to Dallas the same week:  A huge increase in human trafficking.

I spoke with Tomas Lares (right) about efforts to stop the traffic surrounding the event.

Tomas is president of Florida Abolitionist and was part of the team that trained volunteers and worked with law enforcement to stop human trafficking during the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowls in Tampa and Miami. He partners with Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking and Orlando Rescue and Restore Coalition, which he co-founded. (Born2Fly is a member of both.)

Here's my interview with him:

* * *

Diana Scimone: What are some of the results of the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowl outreaches that you were involved in?

Tomas Lares: There were immediate results—the rescues we made during the Super Bowls. And there were rescues that came later that were a direct result of the outreaches. For example, at last year’s training and outreach:

• 163 trained volunteers came together to participate during the street outreach.
• 6 missing children were recovered.
• 2 girls were removed from potentially dangerous situations.
• 3 girls were removed from situations where they were in the process of being recruited by a pimp.
• 14 leads were generated regarding missing children.
• 4 leads were given regarding potential child sexual exploitation activity.
• 4 instances of “direct intervention” resulted in 2 females removed from potential dangerous situations.
• 3 females were prevented from potential pimp recruitment.

Law enforcement officers in Miami arrested 84 people in a three-day Super Bowl sweep aimed at finding underage girls who were forced into prostitution, including a trafficker from Hawaii. [See Man Charged With Child Trafficking in Miami for Super Bowl.]

Diana: There’s so much more attention this year on the connection between human trafficking and major sporting events like the Super Bowl. Many new groups are now involved with the fight to stop the traffic. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Tomas: Awareness is always a good thing and Change.org has done a great job bringing awareness about the huge increase in human trafficking surrounding the Super Bowl.

My concern, however, is for other groups that have taken it upon themselves to conduct their own rescues apart from working with law enforcement who are trained and know what to look for and how to respond. There are individual groups sending out news releases announcing they’ll be rescuing victims. You don’t announce that you’re going to do a sting operation ahead of time. That would be like telling drug dealers that you’re planning on doing a sting on a certain time and place.

There’s a fine line between awareness and letting the traffickers know what you’re doing. When we did the Super Bowl outreaches the last 2 years in Miami and Tampa, there was a media blackout because we didn’t want the traffickers to take their operations underground. That only hurts the victims of trafficking.

Diana: Is training taking place prior to the Super Bowl this year?

Tomas: Yes. It’s in connection with law enforcement and the volunteers they already know and work with in the fight. Human trafficking is organized crime so people who don’t know what they’re doing put themselves and the whole team in danger when they don’t know how to approach potential victims. It’s dangerous for themselves as well as the victims.

For the past two Super Bowls we were able to keep the operation under the radar, but it seems like this has been exploited by some people and groups who have their own agenda and are not keeping in mind the safety of the victims. 

Diana: What are some of the constructive ways we can increase awareness about human trafficking at the Super Bowl?

Tomas: There are many positive things that can be done. You can inform businesses in the city and visitors coming to the Super Bowl about what to look for and what to do if they spot someone they think is being trafficked. That was part of our past outreaches—to train volunteers to let visitors know the signs and the hotline to call to inform law enforcement: 888-3737-888.

Diana: We know that very young children are trafficked during national sporting events such as the Super Bowl, as well as teenagers and adults. Obviously the children are there through force, but what is your response to people who say that teenagers and women voluntarily go into prostitution?

Tomas: There are people who volunteer to go into escorting, but there are also a great many who have not gone into it voluntarily. Not everyone who is prostitituting is a victim, but definitely the ones who are minors are victims. In fact under the law now, minors are automatically considered human trafficking victims. One of our concerns is that victims are under-identified and seen as just promiscuous. And there are many adults who are forced into it as well.

Diana: Change.org has commended Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for publicly stating, “The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States.” But Change.org says the Super Bowl host committee itself has refused to get involved.

Tomas: The bottom line for the host committee and businesses is revenue. The Super Bowl can be a very prosperous time for them and I'm sure their stand is they don’t want to scare away customers. And there’s also the situation of even admitting there is a trafficking problem in connection with these events. But that is a sad commentary that you would allow someone to be trafficked at your hotel or in your city and turn your head away just to gain financially.

That’s why we’re encouraging people to sign the Change.org petitions. This is an example of a positive awareness campaign that can make a difference.

The dream is still alive.

Today is a national holiday in the US to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I wrote this a few years ago about how he inspired me in the fight to stop child trafficking.

* * *

Five decades ago, my sisters and I set up a little store in the playroom of our house in New York.  When we invited our parents to come and shop (i.e. to spend their money), they were aghast to see the sign we had hung in our store:

"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."

My parents explained to us the meaning of this sign, which we must have seen in a real store, and why it was wrong--that it was racial discrimination designed to keep out blacks.  (As Italian-Americans, my parents had their own encounters with injustice and discrimination, particularly my father.)

I had no clue.  I went through the 1950s and, I regret to say, the 60s and still had no clue.

What was happening in the south didn't seem to affect me--Little Rock, Birmingham, Memphis, the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr.  It was all something on the pages of newspapers, but didn't really involve me.

When I was 17, I moved to Washington to attend college during the years when race riots scarred the streets.  The events of the day began to get a little closer to home.

A decade later, I moved to Alabama and met people personally affected by injustice.  The struggle for justice got closer.

Then I moved to central Florida, where one morning I looked out my window and saw five men cloaked in white sheets protesting outside the Jewish community center across the street, claiming the Holocaust was all a myth.  Now the struggle for justice was just outside my front door.

Yet another decade later, I was co-writing a book called The Dream Is Alive about the struggle for racial justice within the Christian church.  The title, of course, refers to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.  While researching information for the book, I read his speech on the internet and listened to scratchy on-line recordings of many of his other speeches--and they powerfully impacted me.  Now the struggle was right at the tip of my fingers.

Today, five decades after taking down that sign, I think I'm finally getting it.  Injustice has many forms and faces, and they're all ugly.  In my travels, I've seen the injustice of child trafficking face to face--girls in cages, boys sold on streets, and more.  As I took down that sign 50 years ago, now I'm working to take down a different form of injustice through The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

Dr. King's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds, along with his profound words that documented it, are part of the inspiration that has propelled me.

Here are some of his words from his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." I hope they inspire you the way they inspire me.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor.  It must be demanded by the oppressed."

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.  Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.  We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."

"Was not [the biblical prophet] Amos an extremist for justice?  'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream' [Amos 5:24] . . . So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.  Will we be extremists for hate or for love?  Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?"

--excerpts from "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To read and hear more:

"Letter From a Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963 (audio clips)

"I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963 (text and audio versions)

"I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech, April 3, 1968, the night before he was killed (text and audio versions)

The King Center

* * *

A few more great quotes (hat tip @charlestlee):

“A minister cannot preach the glories of heaven while ignoring social conditions in his own community that cause [people] an earthly hell.”

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of a conforming majority but from the creative maladjustment of a transformed minority.”

What do you think of when you think of "Orlando"?

Ask any kid about "Orlando" and you'll hear about Mickey Mouse, Disney World, Sea World, Universal, and other kid-friendly places. 

Who thinks of child slavery happening in the "happiest place on earth"?

But children are trafficked right here in Orlando (where I live) just as in cities all over the world.

That's why I'm part of Orlando Rescue and Restore Coalition, a partnership of non-profits, government agencies, faith-based organizations, corporations, and concerned citizens all working together to stop human trafficking in our borders.

Join us this Sunday for our 3rd annual Freedom Rally (where yours truly will be speaking):

Freedom Rally
Join the fight against human trafficking
Sun., Jan. 16, 2011
1-5 pm (Rally at 3 pm)
Walt Disney Amphitheater at Lake Eola
195 N. Rosalind Ave.
Orlando, Florida

Map

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs will issue a Proclamation Against Human Trafficking and several abolitionists will speak.

You'll also hear from human trafficking survivors from central Florida who'll tell their stories.

I always say that whatever I know about domestic human trafficking, I learned at Orlando Rescue and Restore Coalition meetings. ORRC is a model for other anti-trafficking coalitions throughout the US--a partnership of groups like these all working together to stop human slavery in our area:

• Non-profits like The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking and many others
• Local law enforcement like Orlando Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol
• State agencies like Department of Children and Families
• National agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• International organizations such as embassies and consulates based in Florida
• Faith-based organizations
• Corporations like The Body Shop
• And many more

The Born2Fly Project will have a booth, along with my fellow abolitionists Leah Wiedemer with the Fair Trade Mission, and Jane' Gautier~Shadoin with the Butterfly Project.

Join us this Sunday as we proclaim "freedom" over Orlando. For more information: OrlandoRRC@gmail.com, (407) 495-5846, Facebook.

 

I hope I don't have to do this again...

...Be part of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, that is. That day is today -- 1/11/11. Here are some sad facts about why we need such an event:

1.2 million
Number of children trafficked each year for sex around the world. (UNICEF)

11
Average age of sex workers around the world. Some are as young as 5 years old. (CIA)

100,000
Number of children and young women who are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11. (FBI/ABC News)

200,000
Number of U.S. children at risk for commercial sexual exploitation. (US Department of Justice)

$9.5 billion
Amount of money generated annually by human trafficking. (FBI)

2nd
Ranking of human trafficking among all income-generating syndicates (illegal drugs are #1; illegal arms are #3) (Stop the Traffic)

We can change these statistics.

“Given all the power and resources that God has placed in the hands of humankind," writes Gary Haughen, president of International Justice Mission, in his book Terrify No More, "I have yet to see any injustice of humankind that could not also be stopped by humankind."

My goal is to work myself out of a job.

I really don't want to be fighting this horror the rest of my life. The only way that will happen is for all of us to work togther to end it now. 

Audacious, you say? Yes, it is. In the words of my fellow abolitionist Rob Morris, director of Love 146, "Ending human trafficking is not idealistic or naive. It is audacious. And it is people of audacity who change the world." 

So on this day, 1/1/11, I ask you to be a world-changer and work to stop human trafficking in your city. If we all do that, we won't have to have a Human Trafficking Awareness Day ever again.

* * *

To learn what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop child trafficking, visit www.born2fly.org.

Here's a guest post I wrote for Safe4Women about how I first learned about child trafficking: The Day My Life Changed.

 

US Senate passes domestic minor anti-sex trafficking bill

The US Senate unanimously approved the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act.  The bill would aid victims of modern sexual slavery and give law enforcement the tools to investigate and prosecute sex traffickers who exploit underage girls and force them into the sex trade. 

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives.

Sponsored by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act would create a 6-state pilot program to help law enforcement crackdown on pimps and traffickers and create shelters, provide treatment, counseling, and legal aid for  underage girls who are forced into sexual slavery. 

According to the FBI, more than 100,000 underage girls are exploited for commercial sex in the U.S. each year--including underage girls who are forced into the sex trade.


“Senator Cornyn and I have long believed that sex trafficking is modern day slavery and the poor young women forced into the sex trade are victims of the real criminals--the pimps and traffickers,” Wyden said.  “Today, the United States Senate agreed with us.  Not only will this bill create a working model to help these young women break the cycle of exploitation for good, it will provide new tools for law enforcement and prosecutors to put these modern-day slave owners behind bars.”

Added Senator Cornyn, “Our nation must remain committed to ending the scourge of human trafficking. This legislation will provide valuable assistance to state and local governments on the front lines of battling organized criminal syndicates and violent gangs that traffic humans for labor and sex.”

The Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act would authorize block grants to 6 locations deemed to have significant sex trafficking activity, require a workable plan to provide comprehensive, wrap-around services to sex trafficking victims--including the establishment of a shelter facility--and require demonstrated participation by all levels of law enforcement, prosecutors, and social service providers.

Each grant will be funded at $2-2.5 million per year with the option of renewal for 2 more years. Some of the items that can be funded by these block grants include:

• A shelter for trafficking victims
• Clothing and other daily needs to keep victims from returning to the street
• Victims' assistance counseling and legal services
• Education or job training classes for victims
• Specialized training for law enforcement and social service providers
• Salaries for police officers and prosecutors
• Investigation expenses--wire taps, expert consultants, travel, other technical assistance expenditures
• Outreach, education, and prevention efforts, including programs to deter offenders

The bill will help encourage and boost prompt reporting of missing and abducted children to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. With the help of more timely reporting, law enforcement will be able to identify repeat runaways who are statistically more likely to be lured into prostitution.

"Now it’s time for the House of Representatives to go to work and not leave Washington before this job is done," said Sen. Wyden. "I’m calling on all of you to contact your Congress member as soon as possible and let them know that they need to stand up for all the children who are being exploited for sex.

"Tell them not to leave Washington without passing the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act (S. 2925)," he adds. "Call 202-224-3121 or email your member. Sex trafficking is slavery pure and simple. Let’s end it now."

You + 1 phone call = help for victims of child trafficking

What happens when a child is rescued from human trafficking in the US? 

If they're foreign, there's funding to help them and places for them to heal.

If they're US citizens, however, there's almost nowhere for them to go and no money to help them.  In fact, in the entire US there are only 80 beds available for domestic minor sex trafficking victims.

Each year in the US at least 100,000 children are victims of commercial sex exploitation--some as young as 5.

You have an opportunity to help these children today with a simple phone call.  Today is the National Call-In Day to urge Congress to pass the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and Victims Support Act (H.R. 5575). It would provide child victims of human trafficking access to services and shelters, and also provide grants to train law enforcement and increase investigations.

Here's how you can help:

1. Go to www.house.gov and find your congressional representative; just type your zip code in the top left “Find Your Representative” section.

2. Call the House switchboard TODAY to support the bill at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with your representative's office. Once connected, tell them you'd like to urge your congressional rep to support H.R. 5575.  Here's an example of what you can say, courtesy of the Polaris Project:

"Hi, my name is________ , and I am a constituent living in [town/city]. I'm calling to urge Congress(woman/man)______ to co-sponsor and support H.R.5575, a bi-partisan bill that seeks to combat and address the sex trafficking of children in America.  I'm very concerned about this issue because children are being trafficked across the U.S. by the thousands each day and there are only a handful of beds and shelters in the country to serve their many needs as survivors of such a heinous crime. It's time for Congress to act. Will the Congress(woman/man) co-sponsor and support this important legislation?"

I called my congressman, and sadly I must have been the first because the person I talked to was not aware of this legislation--although as he put it, who could be against it?

It took about 5 minutes. Even if you read this after the call-in date, your phone call will still be effective. Please call today.

DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk is this Saturday

Countdown to the big anti-trafficking march in Washington DC this Saturday:

Sat., Oct. 23, 2010
National Mall - Constitution Gardens
Constitution Avenue and 19th St. NW
Washington DC

www.walk.stopmodernslavery.org
walk@stopmodernslavery.org

The SMS Walk is a united effort to bring attention to the fact that human trafficking is the 2nd-largest illegal industry on the planet--and to raise fund for organizations that are working to stop it. 

The Born2Fly Project has a "virtual" team for the walk. You can join us without having to walk a step. :-) Just go here, scroll down the list of teams til you find Born2Fly, and make a donation to "walk" with us. 

The SMS Walk is organized entirely by community volunteers who are passionate activists. 100% of the contributions go directly to organizations in the US that combat human trafficking and care for victims:

• Provide emergency, short-term, and long-term care and services for victims of human trafficking
• Create, strengthen, and implement anti-trafficking laws
• Operate the national human trafficking hotline
• Train law enforcement to identify victims
• Rescue victims
• Raise awareness about all forms of human trafficking

For more information or to help sponsor this event, check out www.walk.stopmodernslavery.org or www.meetup.com/wdcsms. And don't forget to join the Born2Fly Project "virtual" team; just go here, scroll down the list of teams til you find Born2Fly, and make a donation to "walk" with us.

Blog Action Day: The link between water and child trafficking

October 15 is Blog Action Day when thousands of bloggers all over the world write about the same subject.  This year it's water.

And you're wondering how in the world I'm going to connect water with child trafficking.  Oh yes, there is a connection.

About 5 years ago when I knew Born to Fly wanted to get involved with the fight to stop child trafficking, I talked with Rob Morris, head of Love 146. Rob told me about some villages on the border of Cambodia and Thailand where little girls walk a long distance from their village to the nearest well.

Child traffickers know their routes. It doesn't take much planning to find a little girl walking by herself. And voila--another innocent child joins the worldwide trafficking trade. Her destiny is to be raped for profit 30 or 40 times a night for the rest of her life. All because she had to walk to find water.

Rob told me how Love 146 was working to dig wells in these high-risk villages so that little girls didn't have to walk far to get water. In the villages where they'd dug wells, the rate of trafficking was going down. And girls could spend time in school instead of lugging water jugs.

No water = child trafficking.

Water = No child trafficking.

This isn't just a problem on the Thai/Cambodia border, of course, but all over the world.

There are so many things we can do to help stop child trafficking. Who knew that digging a well would be one of them?

Now you do.

UPDATE from Rob Morris at Love146: "Thanks Diana. The children in those communities are now in school & getting an education. No longer prey for traffickers." Pretty awesome!

* * *

A big thank-you to everyone who donated to the 10/10/10 Twitterthon to stop child trafficking. We've raised more than $5,600. Even though 10/10/10 has passed, you can still donate by clicking the orange "ChipIn" button above (or here if you're reading this by email).

 

 

Thanks Diana. The children in those communities are now in school & getting an education. No longer prey for traffickers.

One Day, One Place, One Voice: DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk

If you're in Washington DC in October, make plans to be part of the DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk:

Sat., Oct. 23, 2010
National Mall - Constitution Gardens
Constitution Avenue and 19th St. NW
Washington DC

www.walk.stopmodernslavery.org
walk@stopmodernslavery.org

The SMS Walk is a united effort to bring attention to the fact that human trafficking is the 2nd-largest illegal industry on the planet--and to raise fund for organizations that are working to stop it. 

It's organized entirely by community volunteers who are passionate activists.  100% of the contributions go directly to organizations in the US that combat human trafficking and care for victims:

• Provide emergency, short-term, and long-term care and services for victims of human trafficking
• Create, strengthen, and implement anti-trafficking laws
• Operate the national human trafficking hotline
• Train law enforcement to identify victims
• Rescue victims
• Raise awareness about all forms of human trafficking

For more information or to help sponsor this event, check out www.walk.stopmodernslavery.org or www.meetup.com/wdcsms.

UPDATE:  The Born2Fly Project has a "virtual" team for the walk.  You can join us without having to walk a step. :-) Just go here, scroll down the list of teams til you find Born2Fly, and make a donation to "walk" with us. Pretty cool, huh?

Craigslist: The evidence just keeps coming

A few weeks ago I wrote about how Craigslist is involved with child trafficking: 

Dear Craig: Quit selling sex with kids

Craig himself (Craigslist president Craig Newmark) read my post and immediately tweeted me to "please stick with honest info."

CNN's special investigation unit has a story on this connection: 

Sold on Craigslist: Critics say sex ad crackdown inadequate
By Steve Turnham and Amber Lyon, CNN Special Investigations Unit
August 4, 2010

This video of Craig squirming silently in the face Amber Lyon's questions--and then finally walking away--is priceless. And it says more than any words could say:

Not surprisingly, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster also denies any connection:

Craigslist vigilant in barring child sex ads
By Jim Buckmaster, Special to CNN
August 4, 2010

So what do you think? Share your comments here.

* * *

UPDATE #1:  Took only 30 minutes after I posted this to get a Twitter response from @craignewmark himself:  "Folks, get honest, help stop traffickers!" with a link to Jim Buckmaster's article above. 

Uhh, gee, Craig, I think that's what we're trying to do.

UPDATE #2: Another tweet from Craig Newmark to me:  "Folks, please check facts & honestly help children!"

Uhh, you mean like you're doing? Help them by selling them on your site?

"How can I stop child trafficking?"

I hear that question a dozen times a week. 

People think they have to travel overseas to a 3rd-world country and raid a brothel to rescue kids.

You can if you want, but really -- just look in your own community.  Kids are waiting to be rescued around the corner from your house.

In my city of Orlando, Florida, for example, our unfunded human trafficking task force, the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), just had its first successful domestic trafficking prosecution using Florida Human Trafficking State Law.

It involves a young woman and her 5-month-old child--both of whom were rescued. I've posted the details below if you want to read them and be inspired.

So what can YOU do to stop child trafficking? 

Google the name of your city and "human trafficking" to see if you have an anti-trafficking coalition, like the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking that helped with the recent rescue, arrest, prosecution in Orlando. 

If you find one, get involved.  If you don't find one, start one.

It doesn't take experts.

"A lot of people sell themselves short," stresses Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director of the US State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking. "They say, 'I'm not the attorney general, so I can't put together a task force in my state.'  You can do a lot more than you think."

Read the case below...be inspired...and then go help rescue someone. 

You can do it. 

Really.

* * *

Lori's Story

Here are the highlights of the case involving an underage woman and her 5-month-old child. Remember, the rescue and prosecution were done with the help of a city-wide task force that included not just police officers but individuals like you and me who chose to get involved.

This case involves a college-educated young woman we'll call Lori and her child.

Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation and the Osceola County Investigative Bureau conducted a joint prostitution/escort detail in Orlando.  They called out an escort advertising on either Craigslist or Backpage and made a prostitution case on Lori. 

During the interview with law enforcement, Lori told them she'd borrowed some money from a man (we'll call him Greg) to help her fix her car.  She was slowly paying him back when she got arrested for shoplifting.  She called Greg to help bond her out and he did -- but he said she had to work for him to pay him back.

Greg already had a juvenile whom he had been prostituting.  Now he posted Lori on the internet and sent her to prostitution calls.

To make sure Lori would comply, Greg and his "colleagues" made her drop off her 5-month-old child to them as collateral while she went on prostitution calls.

At the end of the day, she had to bring the money to them and they would return her child to her.

Lori felt she had no choice but to comply with Greg and the other men.

Once she told law enforcement officers her story and showed them text messages confirming it, they set up a team at the hotel where the suspects were staying.  The men noticed something was wrong and told Lori not to come, but she convinced them to meet at a Walmart parking lot to exchange the money for the child. 

Agents set up in the parking lot, arrested the suspects, and rescued Lori's child.

Lori, who was a victim of force, fraud, and coercion (the signs of human trafficking), was not arrested.

Greg and the other men were charged with sex trafficking. One of them was a juvenile himself and made a plea deal for lesser charges.

A jury found Greg guilty of sex trafficking. Lori chose to speak at sentencing. The state prosecutor asked for least 5 to 8 years time for the crime, but the judge was so moved by Lori's testimony that he sentenced Greg to 12 years.

B2F in DC

Last week I was in Washington DC where I met with a number of people about child trafficking and what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop it.

Here are some quick quotes from some of them:

"The whole issue of human trafficking is not taken seriously by governments. They ratify the treaties but don't follow through and do anything. The US is the only country with an ambassador heading their anti-trafficking office. More countries need to do that."

-- Baroness Mary Goudie, abolitionist and member of the House of Lords

"Many countries have a very 1880s view of what human trafficking is. For them it simply means 'moving prostitutes across borders.' The US and UK focus on the exploitation nature of human trafficking. You can't just relegate women to be prostitutes. These women are exploited."

-- Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director, Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking, US State Department

"Corporations must recognize there is a real vulnerability if they don't recognize these issues. They can be trailblazers on these issues."

-- Mark Lagon, former ambassador-at-large with the Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking, US State Department; now consultant to corporations

"The exemplar of this is Avon [and their foundation to stop domestic and gender violence]. We must build a message that philanthropic goals are going to shape a corporation's name, brand, and profits. It's doing well by doing good."

-- Paula Stern, former chairwoman of the International Trade Commission

I also met with Amy O'Neill Richard at the State Department, one of the authors of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report; Julie Stricker at the State Department, who works with international programs fighting human trafficking; and Dr. Laura Lederer, former head of the Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking and now director of Global Centurion, which works to stop the demand side of trafficking.

Laura invited Born to Fly to join Triple S Network (Stop Sex Slavery), a coalition of 100 anti-trafficking organizations. (We accepted, of course!)

I've had some follow-up conversations with Baroness Goudie, and she'll be guest-posting on this blog (and graciously invited me to write for hers).

"We must keep writing articles and blogging about human trafficking," she stressed. "That is the place to make changes." 

Amen. Thank you for reading this blog and wanting to make changes.

Dear Craig: Quit selling sex with kids.

Who hasn't bought something from Craigslist?

I'm sitting on a chair I bought on Craigslist. I even bought a Christmas tree one year from this popular site.

You can buy anything on Craigslist. Even a person. Even a child. In fact Craigslist is one of the top sponsors--and benefactors of--human trafficking.

This video by the Rebecca Project describes how young girls are lured into prostitution and how Craigslist has become the primary marketplace for trafficking.

I've written about this in the past (here, here, here, and here) and have stopped patronizing Craigslist. The company claims to monitor the site, but anyone can easily find children (and adults) to abuse.

"It's just like Ebay--only it's a human being."

I hope you're as outraged as I am by Craigslist's continued refusal to do anything to stop their flagrant trafficking of women and children.  Later this week a massive coalition of 75 anti-trafficking organizations and other groups will protest in front of Craigslist headquarter in San Francisco:

Thursday, July 8, 2010
Craigslist headquarters
1381 9th Avenue (Between Judah and Irving Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94122
12:00 – 2:00 PM

More info here.

“Craigslist continues to cynically profit by functioning as an online pimp,” says Norma Ramos, executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, one of the organizers of the event.

“Craigslist is the new stroll where pimps traffic, johns buy, and Craigslist profits,” adds Melissa Farley, executive director, Prostitution Research and Education.

Massive money-maker for Craigslist

According to statements released by organizers of this week's protest:

• Craigslist is projected to realize a 22% increase in revenue--an estimated $36 million in 2010--largely because it functions as a virtual red light district for pimps/traffickers and johns.
• Craigslist displays a reckless disregard for human rights by increasingly becoming a part of the sex industry.
• Craigslist could act to create a sex trafficking free internet by no longer hosting prostitution ads and thereby setting an industry standard.

What you can do about it

Here's what the Rebecca Project recommends:

1. Read the Dear Craig letter from two survivors who were trafficked on Craigslist.

2. Place a free ad on Craigslist and include this message: "Dear Craig: Don’t turn your back on young girls. They should be safe, not sold. Shut down the Adult Services section."

3. Post this message on your Facebook page: “Don't let Craigslist put profit above protection. Tell Craig to quit selling sex with kids" and put a link to Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster on Facebook

4. Post a personal message to Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster on Facebook urging them to close the Adult Services Section of Craigslist.

5. Tweet the same message to Craig Newmark: http://twitter.com/craignewmark

This is my 5th post about Craigslist and this horrendous subject. I hope it's the last.

* * *

UPDATE:  I tweeted #5 above and a few moments later received a tweet from Craig Newmark telling me to "please stick with honest info."

 

There's a person behind each statistic

Here are some insights from the 2010 TIP Report (Trafficking in Persons), released earlier this week by the US State Department.

Remember that behind each statistic is a person.

12.3 million: Number of adults and children in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world. [Note from Diana: This is less than half the number usually quoted--27 million--but there is no way of obtaining an accurate number, of course.]

56%: Victims who are women and girls

49,105: Victims identified worldwide (59% increase over the last reporting year, 2008)

4,166: Successful trafficking prosecutions in 2009 (40% increase over 2008)

335: Successful prosecutions related to forced labor

49,105: Victims identified

8.5%: Ratio of convicted offenders to victims identified, as a percentage

0.4%: Ratio of victims identified to estimated victims, as a percentage

62: Countries that have yet to convict a trafficker under laws in compliance with the Palermo Protocol

104: Countries without laws, policies, or regulations to prevent victims’ deportation

1.8 per 1,000 inhabitants: Prevalence of trafficking victims in the world

3 per 1,000 inhabitants: Prevalence of trafficking victims in Asia and the Pacific

23: Countries that received upgraded rankings in the 2010 TIP Report

19: Countries that were downgraded

2: Countries ranked for the first time in the 2010 TIP Report--United States and Kiribati

$32 billion: Annual trade for the traffickers

To read more:

2010 TIP Report (pdf)

2010 country-by-country tier rankings

2010 heroes

US Secretary of State Clinton: "Human trafficking is not someone else's responsibility."

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 TIP (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 2010 TIP Report, which ranks 170+ countries  according to their efforts (or lack of effort) to eliminate human trafficking within and across their borders.  

There are 3 tiers and a "watch-list" tier--Tier 2 countries that are in danger of being demoted to Tier 3 unless they make substantial efforts to get rid of trafficking within their borders.

US now ranked

This is the 10th annual report--and the 1st one that includes a ranking of the United States. Thankfully the US is in Tier 1. That is not to say we don't have a trafficking problem in the US.  We do, but efforts are being made to eliminate it.

"[The US ranking is] based on the same standards to which we hold other countries," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this morning when the 2010 TIP Report was released. "The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America.

"This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it," she emphasized. "Human trafficking is not someone else's responsibility."

Heroes in the fight

I was in tears watching the live event online this morning when Laura Germino of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers was honored as one of the heroes of the fight to stop human trafficking.  She talked about forced field labor in the US. 

When she began the fight 20 years ago, things were so bad that "there was nowhere to go but up," she said. "It takes a whole community to fight slavery. It is our collective fight to wipe slavery off the face of the earth. We are fighting for tier zero."

Trafficking follows disasters

One of the additions to the 2010 report is a section on the need to quickly mobilize to prevent human trafficking (particularly child trafficking) following natural disasters.

As you know if you read this blog regularly, the earthquake in Haiti was a prime example of the need for this kind of strategy. (See February post here.)

Child traffickers were in Haiti before the ground even stopped shaking, and they quickly scooped up children and carted them around in wheelbarrows selling them to the highest bidder.  (I wish I were making this up.)

Hopefully this report, and the many "best practices" that it spotlights, will do more to eliminate that kind of disaster-related trafficking--as well as many other forms of it.

Links if you want to read more

I'll have more to share with you as I peruse the 372-page report.  Meanwhile, here are links if you want to see the report yourself:

2010 TIP Report (pdf)

2010 country-by-country tier rankings

2010 heroes

Global law enforcement data

Video of June 14, 2010, release of 2010 TIP Report

MTV: Good News and Bad News

MTV has a great anti-trafficking campaign called Exit -- End Expoitation and Trafficking. 

Since MTV launched the EXIT campaign in 2004, it's created programming that's informed millions of young people from source and destination countries about trafficking and empowered them to take action within their communities.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that you can watch EXIT programming all over the world EXCEPT in the US, where MTV doesn't air it. 

Instead MTV US airs a lot of programming that actually promotes sex trafficking of children and adults.  

The Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking just launched a petition drive to encourage MTV to air EXIT in the US and be a little more responsible about what else they do air.

You can sign the petition here. It takes about 30 seconds. (Warning: The video clip with the petition is graphic.)

Twitter helps rescue 2 girls from sex slavery

This is why I love Twitter. (Please take note, people who think all we tweet about is what we eat.)

A few days after the earthquake in Haiti last January, I saw a tweet from someone standing outside an orphanage in Haiti where traffickers were soliciting orphans. The person was desperately tweeting for someone to send law enforcement or media to stop what was happening.

I knew my colleague Pat Bradley, prez of International Crisis Aid, was already on the ground in Haiti.  Pat has rescued kids from slavery in many countries; you may remember what I wrote about him in Begging last year. 

As soon as I saw that tweet, I retweeted it (forwarded it) to Pat in Haiti and he got back to me within moments.  His team was understandably overwhelmed at the orphanage where they were already helping kids--and sadly could not get to this one.

Side note: Someone did get some international media attention on what was happening at the original orphanage--all thanks to Twitter.

Flash forward to this week. Here's what Pat emailed me:

Hey Diana

Since you sent me an email in Jan regarding trafficking in Haiti it never left my mind. Please read below, you are responsible for this happening.

Bless you
Pat

Well I'm not sure if I'm responsible, but here's what happened:

Dear all

Dennis and I just found a red light district that is as bad as Addis [Ethiopia], if not worse. We saw several small girls also.

The place is located on the road to the orphanage in Leogane, Haiti.

Girls are paid $1.00 for services, there are several hundred girls. To say these are horrible conditions is a gross understatement.

Not sure what we will do about it yet because we just now left the place BUT WE WILL DO SOMETHING.

The experience was like I had in Ethiopia. I felt led to ask about sex trafficking/prostitution and we found ourselves right in the middle of it.

Pray for wisdom that we know what to do and resources to do it.

Bless you
Pat

Then the next day:

Dear all

We went back to the red-light district yesterday and gave out the gift packs to about 200 girls. They told us it was the first time anyone did something nice with no strings attached. It went very good.

Today we returned with a group from Trinity Fellowship from Amarillo Texas. While walking around I felt God point 2 different girls out to rescue.

We are going to set them up with a roadside kiosk selling a variety of different products. We explained that if they are successful it will make it possible for us to rescue others from this horrible situation. I also explained to them that God picked them out specifically to be the first ones that He is rescuing. We explained that His heart breaks for them and all the other girls and He wants them to be set free to live His plan for their lives.

So all that to say we now have a Safe Campaign in Haiti. I had no plans to do this but God saw differently.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this possible.

Pat

Pretty amazing, huh? You can read more here:

ICA's blog
Follow Pat on Twitter: @IntlCrisisAid
Follow me on Twitter: @DianaScimone
Learn how Born to Fly International works to reach kids before the traffickers do: www.born2fly.org

"You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so people can no longer terrify them" (Psalm 10:18).

You = you. And me. Thank you for making stories like this possible.

Demi Moore: "It's like the dirty little secret."

"It's not a popular [issue]," said actress Demi Moore. "There isn’t anyone who disagrees that it's unacceptable [but] people don't treat it like a top priority. In general, it's like the dirty little secret."

Moore was talking about child trafficking — "the dirty little secret." 

She spoke yesterday in Washington DC at a panel discussion at the US Capitol and said sex trafficking of US children is a domestic issue that should be viewed with a greater sense of urgency.

When she said, "We are focusing on the effect and not the cause," I wanted to cheer.  Yes, we need to rescue kids who are already trafficked — absolutely. But at the same time we need to stop the pipeline that feeds it.

That's what The Born2Fly Project does. Our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do. 

In January, Moore and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, launched the Demi and Ashton Foundation to bring attention to the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

"We've bought into the myths," Moore said, "I think, collectively as a society that the girl is choosing it, she likes it, she's making a lot of money. And, I tell you, you go into a room of 13-year-old girls and ask them to raise their hands if they want to be a prostitute and then tell me if they're gonna choose it, and I guarantee you that none of them will be raising their hands."

The panel discussion was organized by the DNA Foundation and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights.

12 things child traffickers don't want you to know

1. Child traffickers have recruiters in your kids' schools--yes, even in the US.

2. Recruiters are other kids.

3. Child traffickers monitor Facebook, Flickr, and other social media sites looking for vulnerable kids.  

4. They work in malls all over the US, including in your city.

5. There's money to be made buying and selling children. Each year more than 100,000 kids are trafficked for sex and labor slavery in the US.

6. Human trafficking is organized crime.  It's the second most lucrative illegal industry on the planet (after illegal drugs) and rapidly becoming the top one.

7. These are not "bad" kids, just vulnerable ones.

8. Most kids are rescued because someone saw something that didn't look right and knew where to call. 

9. Warning signs you can look for

10. What to ask if you think someone is being trafficked

11. Your city probably already has an anti-trafficking task force. 

12. There's plenty of information on the web to keep you aware and help you protect your child. Your child does not have to be a victim.

* * *

Don't tell the traffickers, but here's the information they don't want you to have: 

For #2, 3 and 4 above: More information is here.

For #8: In the US, call the National Trafficking Resource Center hotline (888) 373-7888; in other countries, call one of these hotlines. 

For #9 and 10: Warning signs

For #11: Google the name of your city and "human trafficking task force."

How to Tell If Someone Is Being Trafficked--and What to Do About It

Last night, in the space of about an hour, 2 people on opposite sides of the planet emailed me to ask what to do about suspected cases of human trafficking.

One is a friend teaching English in Asia. She went to a respectable spa for a massage, but felt something more was going on behind the scenes and that the massage therapist who helped her was being trafficked.  What were the signs, my friend wanted to know, and what should she do?

A few minutes later another friend emailed me about a suspected case of trafficking--this time in the US.  Was there a number she could call?  Someone to report it to? (Yes; read on.)

A few years ago I wrote a post for this blog about how to tell if someone is being trafficked--and what to do about it.

That post has received more hits from all over the world than anything I've written on this site. With so much in the news about trafficking, people are keeping their eyes and ears open--which is great.

I'm re-posting the information here. You may never need it, but just in case, you'll know where to find it.  Meanwhile, please forward this to others so they'll be aware, too.  You can send them to this link: http://bit.ly/aoFdn0

*  *  *

Some slaves are kept out of the public eye. Others are right in front of you--waitresses, nail salon workers, kids in your neighborhood, laborers you see every day. I'm not talking about illegal immigrants, but actual slaves.

How can you tell if someone is a victim of human trafficking and slavery? What do you look for?

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, here are clues to help identify a trafficking victim:

• Accompanied by a controlling person or boss; not speaking on own behalf
• Lack of control over personal schedule, money, I.D., travel documents
• Transported to or from work; lives and works in the same place
• Debt owed to employer/crew leader; inability to leave job
• Bruises, depression, fear, overly submissive

Asking the right questions will help to determine if the person is a victim of trafficking. Here are key questions to ask:

• What type of work do you do?
• Are you getting paid? Anything taken out of your pay?
• Can you leave your job if you want to?
• Can you come and go as you please? Are you afraid to leave? Why?
• Have you or your family been threatened?
• What are your working and living conditions like? How are you treated?
• Do you have to ask permission to eat/sleep/go to the bathroom?
• Are there locks on your doors/windows so you cannot get out?
• Has your identification or documentation been taken from you?

In the US, if you think someone might be a trafficking victim, call the National Trafficking Resource Center hotline at (888) 373-7888. It's open 24/7.  In another country, call one of these hotlines.

To learn what Born to Fly International is doing to stop child trafficking, visit www.born2fly.org.


Photo: Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department

In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States

Guest post by Julie Taylor Shematz
Director, Beauty From Ashes

Note from Diana:  I asked my colleague and fellow red-headed abolitionist Julie Taylor Shematz if she would guest post here about yesterday's Senate hearing on domestic minor sex trafficking.  Julie has a perspective that most of us do not--because she was trafficked in the US herself.

Yesterday the Senate Human Rights and Law Subcommittee had a hearing on domestic minor sex trafficking entitled "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States."  

It was NOT filibustered and absolutely demanded the undivided attention of anyone watching.  They not only addressed the lack of resources for specialized, comprehensive victim services, but they also went into detail why existing government funded foster care and group homes are high recruitment areas for pimps and traffickers.

Evidence was presented why domestic violence and youth programs are NOT working for these victims and what is needed to get the victims stabilized in order for them to be key witnesses.  They even discussed why we should NOT separate the adult victims from the minors [see more on this below] and that 70-90% of adult victims were sexually exploited as children. 

Additionally, they addressed the demand and the need to arrest and prosecute johns -- versus arresting the victims (prostituted children) and treating them as criminals.  Currently 80% of victims arrested for prostitution versus 20% of johns. 

Here is a link to the entire hearing including the 4-minute video they opened with called "Playground." [Warning: graphic content.)

* * *

I asked Julie for more information on her comment above that we should not separate adult and minor victims of human trafficking.  Here's her reply:

They discussed how when a minor is a victim of sex trafficking, they are embraced [and helped] by the adult victims while in captivity and once they are rescued. When we separate them (after rescue), it is not in either of their best interests.  Restoration services, shelters and safe homes need to be created that allow them to remain together (if the relationship is not going to hinder their healing process) throughout their healing journey.

This is EXACTLY what I have learned from working with both the minors and adults. It's advantageous to put them together for healing and restoration. They relate and can support one another like NO ONE ELSE CAN. Placing a minor who has been raped for profit 8 to 30 times a day for only God knows how long, into a home with typically "rebellious, bratty and cruel" minors is NOT an environment that will be conducive to their healing. 

I remember a 15-year-old international victim of sex trafficking with 2 children of her own (one was 3 days old and the other 1 year old). Because this victim was only 15, we had to remove her from the women's shelter she was placed in and relocate her to a teen pregnancy home.

A Department of Children and Families investigator said to me, "That is too bad she has to be removed from a loving environment with adult women that embraced her and her children, to be placed into an environment filled with rebellious, bratty and cruel minors." 

I asked him what he meant by that. As he explained how mean children are to other children, I just cried as his comment sunk in. 

The model we have developed includes allowing minors to coincide with adults for their restoration journey. 

Julie and the BFA team have done a fantastic job working to abolish sex slavery in the United States and to provide the holistic services needed to restore the victims. They are in the process of building a specialized emergency shelter, long-term safehome, and walk-in resource center that will serve domestic victims of trafficking in the US.

I encourage you to read more on her website, www.BeautyFromAshes.org. You can follow her on Twitter @JulietheArtist1 and @BeautyFrmAshes.

Man Charged With Child Trafficking in Miami for Super Bowl

2011 UPDATE: Human trafficking at Super Bowl XLV: How to stop the traffic

* * *

We're starting to hear reports of the results of the week-long anti-trafficking campaign in Miami leading up to last Sunday's Super Bowl. 

On Sunday federal officials arrested a man from Hawaii and charged him with prostituting an underage girl in Miami Beach. Fred Quinton Collins brought the girl with him from Hawaii, booking her air travel under a false name, paying for her hotel, and directing the prostitution operation. 

Collins was charged with transporting and causing a minor to engage in commercial sex acts, according to the U.S. attorney's office--aka child trafficking. If convicted, he faces 10 years to life in prison.  You can read the Department of Justice report here.

If you want to know how human trafficking is a sad part of Super Bowl week, please read Joy Engdahl's blog, Binding the Broken.  Joy was there all week as part of the coalition of anti-trafficking organizations.

She had some pretty horrific encounters--including seeing a number of underage girls on the streets. Her blog posts are very enlightening about the not-so-super-side of the Super Bowl, how organized crime is involved, and how some major corporations indirectly promote trafficking.

I'm sure we'll hear more results from the week-long outreach. Stay tuned. 

* * *

UPDATE (Feb. 11, 2010) Law enforcement officers in Miami arrested 84 people in a three-day Super Bowl sweep aimed at finding underage girls who have been forced into prostitution, according to the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (@FreeAllSlaves).

 

Haiti: Getting Kids Off the Streets and Away from Traffickers

A few hundred feet over my head the planes keep coming--all day and all night. They're cargo planes arriving from Haiti and so far they've brought more than 8,000 people to Orlando--orphans, injured, and more.

My first thought when the earthquake hit was "child trafficking."  Haiti has always had a huge problem, and when disaster strikes, the traffickers flock to the rubble for easy pickings.

I've gotten report after report of kids being openly trafficked--even a hospital that was selling kids.

That's why I personally have supported 2 organizations that are getting kids off the streets and into safe houses.

These are not high-profile organizations that get the big bucks from telethons or Hollywood celebs. They're just laboring away doing good work without a lot of attention or fanfare--and are very effective at it.

If you're looking for places to give, I highly recommend these 2:

Danita's Children

Danita has long had a presence in Haiti, where she set up an orphanage that until January housed 75 orphans. It was not damaged by the earthquake, thankfully, and has since been taking in many more kids and getting them off the streets. 

Danita can use your support and I can attest that her organization is a good one to invest in.

International Crisis Aid

I've known ICA founder Pat Bradley for 12+ years and wrote about him in my post called Begging.  As soon as the earthquake hit, Pat was on a plane and has been there ever since.

His small team has single-handedly repaired a totally destroyed orphanage and got it going again.  They're working with the US Marines, who wrote this to Pat:

Your ability to locate the people in need and get them the supplies they so desperately needed has been nothing short of remarkable.  The partnership that our Marine unit [has] formed with ICA has become the blueprint for success in this devastated region. 

Our ability to bring the resources ashore and provide the necessary security, coupled with your complete devotion to an efficient, honest and timely distribution has saved thousands of lives and will positively shape and influence generations in Haiti.

I would be remiss if I didn't beg ICA to remain in Haiti for the foreseeable future and continue to set the example for the other NGOs.

You can read the full letter from the Marine sergeant on ICA's blog--where you can also donate.  Follow ICA on Twitter @crisisaid and get Pat's real-time updates. Here's a story that NPR did about ICA this afternoon.

Whether kids are orphaned or not, whether they get adopted or not--the critical and immediate need is to get them off the streets and away from the hands of traffickers.  Thank you for helping these 2 organizations do that.

[photos: ICA]

 

Super Bowl's Not-So-Super Side: Human Trafficking

2011 UPDATE: Human trafficking at Super Bowl XLV: How to stop the traffic

* * *

I love football and am thrilled the Super Bowl is just around the corner. 

I’m not at all excited, however, about what will come to Miami the same week:  A huge increase in human trafficking.

"Every time we have a big event like the Super Bowl," says Anna Rodriguez, founder of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT), "you have pimps that move people across the nation to where there is a large activity and a quicker way to make a lot of money."

Human trafficking is the 2nd most profitable crime on the planet, after illegal drugs. You can sell a drug once but you can sell a human being over and over again. 

Traffickers know there’s money to be made so when there's an international sporting event like the Super Bowl or World Cup, they show up in force.

Remember, we're not talking about voluntary prostitution.  Human trafficking involves force, fraud, and coercion. Women and girls are forcibly trafficked to cities where events like the Super Bowl are held.

There's nothing voluntary about it. It's human slavery.  And in some cases child slavery.

The human trafficking industry may be getting ready, but so are abolitionists and law enforcement.

Anti-trafficking organizations are mobilized to reach out to Miami hotels and business owners who might come in contact with victims of commercial sexual exploitation. They'll also reach out to minors in areas known for commercial sexual exploitation.

These organizations include:

Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking
KLaasKids Foundation
Global Child Rescue
Stand Up for Kids
Kristi House
Free International
Florida Abolitionists
Local, state, and national law enforcement

Last year a similar coalition provided 13 leads to law enforcement—one of which turned out to be the “Treasure Island” case in St. Petersburg, Florida. Six pimps were arrested and 4 domestic victims were rescued.

This year’s outreach in Miami includes a week of training and outreach for team members and volunteers along with an army of people praying for their success.

Want to join them? Contact anna@stophumantrafficking.org.

Let's see if we can set some captives free--and put some traffickers behind bars.

 

The Dream Is Alive

Today is a national holiday in the US to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I wrote this a few years ago about how he inspired me in the fight to stop child trafficking.

* * *

Five decades ago, my sisters and I set up a little store in the playroom of our house in New York.  When we invited our parents to come and shop (i.e. to spend their money), they were aghast to see the sign we had hung in our store:

    "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."

My parents explained to us the meaning of this sign, which we must have seen in a real store, and why it was wrong--that it was racial discrimination designed to keep out blacks.  (As Italian-Americans, my parents had their own encounters with injustice and discrimination, particularly my father.)

I had no clue.  I went through the 1950s and, I regret to say, the 60s and still had no clue.

What was happening in the south didn't seem to affect me--Little Rock, Birmingham, Memphis, the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr.  It was all something on the pages of newspapers, but didn't really involve me.

When I was 17, I moved to Washington to attend college during the years when race riots scarred the streets.  The events of the day began to get a little closer to home.

A decade later, I moved to Alabama, and met people personally affected by injustice.  The struggle for justice got closer.

Then I moved to central Florida, where one morning I looked out my window and saw five men cloaked in white sheets protesting outside the Jewish community center across the street, claiming the Holocaust was all a myth.  Now the struggle for justice was just outside my front door.

Yet another decade later, I was co-writing a book called The Dream Is Alive about the struggle for racial justice within the Christian church.  The title, of course, refers to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  While researching information for the book, I read his speech on the internet and listened to scratchy on-line recordings of many of his other speeches--and they powerfully impacted me.  Now the struggle was right at the tip of my fingers.

Today, five decades after taking down that sign, I think I'm finally getting it.  Injustice has many forms and faces, and they're all ugly.  In my travels, I've seen the injustice of child trafficking face to face--girls in cages, boys sold on streets, and more.  As I took down that sign 50 years ago, now I'm working to take down a different form of injustice through The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking.

Dr. King's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds, along with his profound words that documented it, are part of the inspiration that has propelled me.

Here are some of his words from his "Letter From a Birmingham Jail." I hope they inspire you the way they inspire me.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"Justice too long delayed is justice denied."

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor.  It must be demanded by the oppressed."

 "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.  Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.  We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."

"Was not [the biblical prophet] Amos an extremist for justice?  'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream' [Amos 5:24] . . . So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.  Will we be extremists for hate or for love?  Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?"

--excerpts from "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To read and hear more:

"Letter From a Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963 (audio clips)

"I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963 (text and audio versions)

"I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech, April 3, 1968, the night before he was killed (text and audio versions)

The King Center

* * *

A few more great quotes (hat tip @charlestlee):

“A minister cannot preach the glories of heaven while ignoring social conditions in his own community that cause [people] an earthly hell.”

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of a conforming majority but from the creative maladjustment of a transformed minority.”

Girls That Vanish

This is why I launched  The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking--and why I am pressing through against all odds to get our awareness materials into the hands of girls like Maria:

Maria described how at the age of 16 she was lured off the streets by a young man who promised the world, but delivered nothing but pain.

She was raped, drugged and sold for sex. "They took a gallon of gasoline and started pouring it over a girl," Maria said.

"One of the men told me if you don't do as I say I will do the same to you.

"I wanted to look away, but they didn't let me. Even though the girl was on fire they kept hitting her and they were laughing as if they were enjoying what they were doing."

The report describes a cross-border trade between Mexico and the US--a trade in children and babies.  Please understand these babies are not for adoption.  They are part of the child sex trade.  Yes, babies.

You can read more in CNN's excellent report, Human Trafficking in Mexico Targets Women and Children.

Oh yeah, for anyone who tells me--again--that these girls ask for it or know what they're getting in to, please watch this:

(If you can't see the video, click here.)

Child sex tourism: They're kids, not tourist attractions

Little-known fact about Diana:  The very first thing I ever published was a travel article. 

It was way back in the 1970s (I was 2 years old at the time, of course), and it was a newspaper article about the week I spent eating fantastic foods while visiting relatives in Sicily. 

The Washington Star graciously published it (and I suspect my atrocious first attempt at writing contributed to the demise of the Star a few years later). 

I still love to travel (41 countries and counting).  There are many things I do not like about travel, however:

1. Jet lag
2. Tummy trouble
3. Child sex tourism

You can guess which one this blog post is about. 

This is about organized tours that you can book on the internet so you can fly to a another country—or another city in the US, like Atlanta—and pay a few dollars to repeatedly rape a little girl (or boy).

Why would anyone want to do that? How's this for justification:

"On this trip, I've had sex with a 14-year-old girl in Mexico and a 15-year-old in Colombia. I'm helping them financially. If they don't have sex with me, they may not have enough food. If someone has a problem with me doing this, let UNICEF feed them."

--Retired U.S. school teacher (via US Department of Justice)

This Monday, January 11, is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. (Actually all of January has been set aside in the US as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.) 

Since I love to travel, I’m commemorating the day and month by writing about the not-so-nice side of travel:  child sex tourism.

The facts

• More than one million children worldwide are drawn into the sex trade each year. (ECPAT)
• They service 10-40 customers a night.
• Some are just 4 years old.

According to World Vision:

"Some Americans take advantage of prostituted children while traveling to impoverished countries for business, tourism and other legitimate reasons. Others travel abroad specifically for a 'sex tour.'

"Sex tourists travel to countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil, expecting anonymity, low-cost prostitution, easily accessible children and impunity from prosecution.

"Notably, it is estimated that one-third of the prostitutes in Cambodia are children.
The United States has laws that prohibit sex with minors in other countries and has greatly increased government efforts to combat this problem. Under the Protect Act of 2003, United States citizens or residents who engage in sexual activity abroad with a child under 18 can face 30 years in a U.S. prison. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now actively investigating American sex tourists abroad and making arrests.

"Sexually exploited children are severely wounded physically and emotionally. Many acquire diseases such as HIV and AIDS, and almost all experience rejection by their families and communities in addition to fear, shame and despair."

Under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2423), it is illegal for a U.S. citizen to travel abroad intending to engage in sexual activity with a child younger than 18 that would be illegal if it occurred in the U.S.  Individuals who commit these crimes are subject to prosecution in the U.S. even if the crime was committed on foreign soil. (National Center for Mission and Exploited Children)

You don’t have to fly around the world to find child sex tourism. It happens in the US, probably in your city. The documentary Playground reports on this horror in Atlanta. (Warning: graphic content.)

Traveling? Here's what you can do about it:

1. Whatever your profession or interest, here’s a comprehensive list of what you can do: www.endslaverynow.com (hat tip blogger Emily Bain Murphy at Season of Light).
2. Call or e-mail your representative to voice your support for the Child Protection Compact Act (HR 2737).
3. Report an American sex tourist if you have information regarding someone who has sexually exploited a child. E-mail the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Operation Predator: operation.predator@DHS.gov
4. If you’re planning an international trip, look up your destinations in the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report and learn about the child sex tourism industry there.
5. See where your destination country ranks in the fight to stop child trafficking.
6. Take free anti-trafficking brochures, posters, info cards with you (available in many languages).
7. Watch US Immigration and Customs Enforcement awareness videos.
8. Learn what to ask if you think someone is trafficked.
9. Carry a copy of Global hotlines to report child trafficking in other countries.
10. In the US, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center to report a trafficking victim: (888) 373-7888.

If you're in the travel industry:

• Thecode.org:  What the tourism industry is doing to stop child trafficking
• Fact sheet about child sex tourism (ECPAT)
• U.S. law on child sex tourism (World Vision)
• Information about the Protect Act (World Vision)
• Young Person’s Guide to Combating Child Sex Tourism (ECPAT)
• Child Sex Tourism Prevention Project (World Vision)
• www.slaverymap.org
• How India is cracking down on the tourism industry for promoting child sex tourism
• Google “human trafficking awareness day.”  There are more than 1.5 million entries listing events, resources, and stories.
• Google “how to stop child sex tourism.”
• Google “what hotels are doing to stop child sex tourism.”
• Google "Olympics child trafficking."
• Google "World Cup child trafficking."

Travel blogger Pam Mandel (@nerdseyeview) has a great post on BlogHer about her own experiences in Cambodia seeing the horrors of child sex tourism all too up-close-and-personal. I'd love to see more travel writers cover this not-so-nice side of travel. (If you do, leave a link in the comments.)

Thanks for reading this extra-long post.

 

Could Shaniya's Death Have Been Prevented by a Simple Law?

Today came the tragic news that little Shaniya Davis' body was found.  The 5-year-old had been trafficked by her mother--not in some far-away country but in North Carolina.

Police charged her mother with human trafficking and felony child abuse, saying Shaniya was offered for prostitution.

Could her death have been prevented? Could someone have kept her from being trafficked?

For 3 years, KlaasKids Foundation has been pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve a proposal that would unleash major resources to help recover missing children and adults--at no cost to government.

The proposal would set up an independently run system (ie, no government funds) that would quickly publicize missing children and adults via a TV network at truck stops all over the country.

It would enable drivers--who are out on the roads and at highway rest stops, convenience stores, gas stations, and fast food restaurants where persons on the run frequently go--to receive news flashes, special reports, and full-length programming about unresolved missing person cases from local television stations, national cable and satellite channels.

The case has suffered from prolonged delays, and KlaasKids is asking everyone to contact the FCC and push for approval.

You can read more here: www.klaaskids.org/pg-truckerTV.htm  Just click the orange "reply" button at the bottom of that page and you can send an email to the FCC urging passage of this proposal.

Could Shaniya's trafficking and death have been prevented? No one knows...but we do know that enacting this proposal would definitely prevent other children and adults from the same tragic end.

"They are merchandise because they are just pounds of meat."

That lovely thought is from the mouth of a human trafficker, talking about his victims.

He mentions it a number of times in Lives For Sale, a documentary that traces the story of 2 young women who cross the US/Mexico border illegally and end up being trafficked--one in California and the other in Florida.

Lives For Sale shows the strong connection between immigration and human trafficking, and why immigrants are willing to risk everything--even slavery--for the American dream. Many, of course, have no idea they are signing up to be slaves.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Human trafficking is the 2nd most profitable illegal industry on the planet, after illegal drugs. You can sell a drug once, but you can sell a person over and over again--and that's what happens to the women in Lives For Sale.

Here are some of the notes I scribbled in the dark while I was watching the film:

• There is an increasing "feminization of immigration."  54% of immigrants around the world are women--and many pay their way with their bodies--willingly or unwillingly.

• One young woman in the film was brought from Mexico to Phoenix to Los Angeles.  When she arrived at a dark and dirty home, she was asked, "Do you know why you are here? To work.  This is a brothel." To which she replied, "What is that?" This innocent young woman was forced to work as a prostitute.

• Another young woman was held hostage in a home in a middle-class neighborhood in the US--which was actually a brothel.  A neighbor noticed what was going on and called the police, but it took many calls before anyone believed her and rescued the young woman and others held hostage in the same house. "Finally someone believed my story," the neighbor said.

• Quote from a state attorney in the US who prosecutes traffickers:  "One of the first things I have to do is convince a jury that slavery actually exists."

• 500,000 undocumented people enter the US illegally every year.  70,000 of them will be trafficked. Desperation and crushing poverty lead them to believe the lies of traffickers who promise them the moon. 

Whatever you think about illegal immigration, no one deserves to be a slave.

The film showed two programs in Guatemala that help people out of poverty -- which means they are less likely to become illegal immigrants and be trafficked:

One program gives kids economic incentives to go to school and stay in school. This is particularly important for girls. 80% of women in Guatemala are illiterate.

Another program--a coffee co-op--gives farmers a place to sell their coffee beans, make money, feed their families, and get out of poverty. 

BTW, this excellent documentary has been shown on television only a handful of times.  In Florida where much of it was shot, it was shown on a Sunday night at 12 midnight--not exactly prime time. 

Why?  Why don't more media show this type of film and expose the horror that is going on in our backyards?

To learn what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop child trafficking, click here.

Update on 52 Kids Rescued From Prostitution

Yesterday the FBI announced it had rescued 52 children over the weekend from child sex trafficking throughout the US.

Today we have more information. The youngest child was 10 years old--sold into prostitution by her mother. Her customers were migrant workers.

The investigations typically target places where minors are likely to be sold for sex, including truck stops, casinos, public streets, and Internet websites.

According to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, these are the cities and numbers of children rescued:

 Atlanta - 2

Chicago - 4

Cleveland (Toledo) - 7

Dallas - 2

Houston - 3

Las Vegas - 4

Los Angeles ( Riverside) - 2

Miami - 1

New York City - 5

Portland - 4

Sacramento - 4

San Diego - 3

Seattle - 9

Tampa - 2 

Remember, there are still more than 100,000 children enslaved in the US. Let us work and pray for them to be rescued, too--and for millions more never to enter this nightmare world.

52 Kids Rescued From Prostitution in the U.S.

How was your weekend?

It was pretty good for 52 children who were rescued from prostitution all over the United States.

The FBI conducted a 3-day undercover operation that rescued children in 36 cities around the U.S.

Surprised? Don't be.

“Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes-against-children task forces,” notes Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.

“These kids are victims,” adds Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which partnered with the FBI to rescue the children.  "They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st-century slavery.”

You can read more about the rescue operation here, and read more about child trafficking in US schools here and here.

Can you guess how many other children and young women are trafficked in the US each year? 

100,000

They range in age from 9 to 19.  Their average age is 11.

[Stock photo; child was not trafficked.]

News Flash: This is happening in your schools. (Yes, yours.)

A few days ago, a high-school girl was put in prison for recruiting other girls for child trafficking. 

It didn't happen in some far-off country, but in Phoenix, Arizona.

Sadly, the only unusual part of this story is that she got caught. All over the US, this is happening in schools in your neighborhood and mine.

Earlier this year, I wrote that child-trafficking recruiters are working in our MIDDLE schools.

I tell people this over and over again, and I know they don't believe me.

I've called investigative reporters to ask them to cover this, and can just about hear the yawns through the phone.

Here's the response I got from the editor of a large magazine in the US (3,000,000 circulation): "Child trafficking? Oh, we covered that last year."

Then to further dig himself a hole, he added, "It's all about timing in this business."

As if I had missed it.

Shouldn't we be shouting it from the rooftops that child trafficking is going on in our MIDDLE schools?

Interview with Ambassador Luis CdeBaca--Part 2

Here's more of my interview this week with Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, director of the US State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  (You can read Part 1 here.)

 In this excerpt, he refers to two important trafficking reports that the US government recently released:

• The State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), which assesses the efforts of 173 countries to stop trafficking within their borders

• The US attorney general's report, which looks at trafficking within the US and the efforts to stop it

Question:  When you and Secretary of State Clinton released the 2009 TIP Report, you said you'd like to add a 4th "P" to the categories of fighting trafficking--partnership.  [The other Ps are prosecution, protection, and prevention.]  What was behind that suggestion?

Ambassador CdeBaca:  A lot of countries see the TIP Report as the US coming to them and saying how bad they are. We wanted to make it very clear by releasing the US government self assessment at the same time that we have people still in bondage right here in the US.  They're in our agricultural fields; they're in prostitution; they're in many places. 

We realize we have to work in partnership with those around the world who are working to stop human trafficking. When President Obama was in Ghana recently, he gave a speech to the parliament and talked about trafficking heroes.  He mentioned a journalist in that country who went undercover and helped bring down a trafficking ring. 

While the president was in Ghana, I was in Nigeria meeting with cops who work to stop trafficking and with nuns who operate a shelter for trafficking victims.  When they heard the president speak, even though he was talking about what was happening in a different country, they felt it was recognizing what they are doing and how hard they are working.

These are the trafficking heroes and we want to work in partnership with them and others who know their own affected populations.

***

Those of us in the non-profit sector (I'm president of a non-profit--Born to Fly International) were thrilled to hear about the 4th P because, as the ambassador said in the excerpt I posted yesterday, it recognized the important work we do and emphasizes the partnership between all parties working to stop the traffic.

By the way, the State Department announced recently that next year's TIP report will include the US among the countries assessed.  This is definitely a needed addition. The Department of Justice report is excellent, but we need to be included in the TIPS Report to give more credibility to the otherwise excellent report and to stop any appearance of finger-pointing. 

Later this week I'll post one more excerpt from my interview with the ambassador, in which he answers some of the questions posed to him on Twitter.

An Interview with Ambassador Luis CdeBaca--Part 1

This afternoon I spoke with Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, new director of the US State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking of Persons. A portion of the interview will appear in an article I'm writing about the fight to stop child trafficking, which will be in Charisma magazine this fall. 

Here's some of what we talked about:

Question:  It was just 2 months ago that you started working at the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking of Persons. What's your vision as the new director?

Ambassador CdeBaca:  One of the main things we're trying to do, speaking for myself, Secretary Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama, is to have a sustained anti-trafficking movement that harnesses all the voices of folks moved to do something about modern-day slavery--and then take that to the next level.

In January 2001, the work of the Clinton administration was continued and intensified by the Bush administration. That's one of the things we're hoping to continue--to harness that activity and commitment on the part of civil society. That can be human rights groups, mission groups, folks in the community, worker organizers, women's groups--all of those groups, each of which brings something to the table. At the end of the day, we're talking sustainability and intensity.

Q: How have things changed since you first got involved?

CdB: I think about the first case I did in Florida in the mid 1990s as a civil rights prosecutor. To the degree that we even knew about this thing called human trafficking, we could have had a meeting of all the people who were involved in the fight back then and met in a mini van.  Maybe a Volkswagen. 

Today there is this [understanding] that folks in the non-government sector are just as important to the fight as any dedicated cop or prosecutor. It really has grown past those of us who started working on it [15 years ago].  We're in a good position now, that we're able to tap into the real energy coming not from people who've been working at this for a decade, but people who are just getting involved in the fight.

Q: What do you tell people who hear the horror stories and want to do something about it, but say, "I can't rescue a child from a brothel. What can I possibly do to help?"

CdB:  A lot of people sell themselves short. They say, "I'm not the attorney general, so I can't put together a task force in my state." You can do a lot more than you think. You can go to the AG or your mayor, and say, "Our state should be addressing the root causes of trafficking in our borders. We should be doing something to reduce the demand. We should be helping the newly arrived and vulnerable immigrants, or the street people who are written off as disposable. We not only want, but we demand that trafficking victims be treated professionally."

That's when you start seeing shelters go up, when you start seeing victims being helped and put into places where they can receive help. 

There are lots of different ways to get engaged on a grassroots level. Put together a house party and ask people to bring clothes they're no longer wearing so that women and men who are rescued can have something to wear for a job interview. When someone flees through a window, they don't have anything but the clothes the traffickers were making them wear. Having a sweater and a decent skirt can make a difference to them.

* * *

Right before I interviewed the ambassador, I asked my fellow abolitionists on Twitter if they wanted to ask him any questions. A number of people responded, and I posed some of their questions to the ambassador (who was pretty excited to answer tweeted questions). In coming days I'll post his answers to the questions--along with more of my interview with him.

America's Prostituted Children: When kids are slaves

Does trafficking of children happen in the US?  Oh yes, and now we have documentation.

Today Shared Hope International presented a landmark report to Congress.  It's The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America's Prostituted Children. 

Try to get your head around these facts:

• The average age of entry into pornography and prostitution in the US is 12. 
• 2.8 million kids live on the streets--in the US. 
• Within 48 hours of leaving home, 1/3 of kids are lured into prostitution.
• Minors can be sold 10-15 times a night, 6 nights a week.

Remember, we are talking 12 year olds here. And if that's the average age, many are even younger.

Very often I've heard people rationalize that these kids have run away and either get what is coming to them and go looking for it. 

Oh really?

"While these kids may leave home voluntarily," said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, "while they may be runaways or any one of a variety or variations on a theme, they are seduced, they are tricked, they are lured into this practice and then they lose the ability to walk away. These kids literally become 21st-century slaves."

I'm all about prevention and awareness, so here are some of the warning signs to look for:

• Homelessness
• Presence of a boyfriend
• Signs of violence and/or psychological trauma
• Masking charges such as curfew violations, truancy, and other status offenses
• Travel with an older male who is not a guardian
• Chronic running away (3 or more times)
• Tattoos that serve to mark the victim as property of a pimp
• Multiple sexually transmitted diseases
• Substance abuse
• Access to material things the youth cannot afford

Remember, when a trafficking victims is rescued, it's usually because someone like you or me noticed something wrong. If you see a child exhibiting more than a few of these signs, call the National Human Trafficking hot line: 888.373.7888.

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.)

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!

The Artwork of Modern-Day Slaves

I can't wait for Monday evening.  I'm going to an exhibit of artwork created by men and women who've been rescued from slavery in Florida.

That's right...rescued from modern-day slavery not in some faraway country but in Florida.

Just like every state in the US (including yours), Florida has a mega problem with human slavery and other forms of trafficking. 

The Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT) partnered with law enforcement officials around the state to rescue these men and women, who'll share their stories and their art with the world:

Freedom of Expression:
The Artwork of Modern-Day Slaves
Rollins College
Darden Lounge
1000 Holt Avenue
Winter Park, FL
Monday, April 13, 2009
6:00 - 9:00 pm

These men and women are free, but another 27 million people are still enslaved around the world--a number higher than all the years of the Atlantic slave trade combined. That's not to lessen the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade, but rather to show the magnitude of the current-day situation.

If you don't believe human trafficking is happening in your state, take a moment to Google "trafficking" or "human trafficking" and the name of your state.  Surprised? 

How 1 US City Helped Shut Down an International Sex Slave Ring

It happens all the time.  Carla (not her real name) thought she was was signing up to be a housekeeper in the US.  She signed all the papers, paid her money, did all the right things--and assumed the people helping her would do the right thing, too.

They didn't.

Like millions of other women each year, Carla got sucked into the dark world of human trafficking. 

Only it didn't happen in some faraway country.  It happened right here in the US. 

Thankfully the Clearwater (Florida) Task Force on Human Trafficking and local police agencies worked together to rescue Carla.  They didn't stop there, however. They continued the investigation and managed to shut down the international sex slave ring that held Carla and many others hostage.

It's a great example of how local community organizations can work together with law enforcement agencies to stop the traffic.

You can read the story in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times.  Just remember that Carla's saga is not unusual; it happens all the time in the US. That ring was just one of many still operating throughout the US.

How to Tell If Someone Is Being Trafficked--and What to Do About It

A few months ago on Human Trafficking Awareness Day, I wrote something about how to tell if someone is being trafficked--and what to do about it.

That post has received more hits from all over the world than anything I've written on this blog. With so much in the news about trafficking, people are keeping their eyes and ears open.

I'm re-posting the information here. You may never need it, but just in case, you'll know where to find it.  Meanwhile, please forward this to others so they'll be aware, too.  You can send them to this link: http://tinyurl.com/amohqv

*  *  *

Some slaves are kept out of the public eye. Others are right in front of you--waitresses, nail salon workers, kids in your neighborhood, laborers you see every day. I'm not talking about illegal immigrants, but actual slaves. 

How can you tell if someone is a victim of human trafficking and slavery? What do you look for?

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, here are clues to help identify a trafficking victim:

• Accompanied by a controlling person or boss; not speaking on own behalf
• Lack of control over personal schedule, money, I.D., travel documents
• Transported to or from work; lives and works in the same place
• Debt owed to employer/crew leader; inability to leave job
• Bruises, depression, fear, overly submissive

Asking the right questions will help to determine if the person is a victim of trafficking. Here are key questions to ask:

• What type of work do you do?
• Are you getting paid? Anything taken out of your pay?
• Can you leave your job if you want to?
• Can you come and go as you please? Are you afraid to leave? Why?
• Have you or your family been threatened?
• What are your working and living conditions like? How are you treated?
• Do you have to ask permission to eat/sleep/go to the bathroom?
• Are there locks on your doors/windows so you cannot get out?
• Has your identification or documentation been taken from you?

If you think someone might be a trafficking victim, call the National Trafficking Resource Center hotline at (888) 373-7888. It's open 24/7.

To learn what Born to Fly International is doing to stop child trafficking, visit www.born2fly.org.

 

Photo: Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department