Good Outreach Idea?

Hikers raise money for sex trade victims

Samantha Bozel

Issue date: 4/21/09 

On April 19, Outdoor Adventure Experience (OAE) sponsored Loyola’s first Hike-A-Thon on Maryland’s NCR trail to raise money for women who have been rescued from the sex trade in the red light district of India. The seven-mile walk provided support for Friends of Maiti Nepal, who provide support, recovery and care for women and girls who have been trapped in brothels throughout India.

OAE leader and sophomore at Loyola Mary-Kate Johnson participated in the hike and is making a conscious effort to spread the awareness of human trafficking. “I just want people to know their story,” said Johnson.

Johnson first saw the documentary The Day My God Died in high school, which gave her immediate concern for the girls and children being trafficked and exploited. She said that these women and children have lost hope and faith. “Once you hear it, it becomes your responsibility. I just want people to take the issue to heart,” Johnson continued. The documentary is a film focused around the child sex slave industry. It was shown this past February and again on April 15.

“Just because I was moving on [to college] didn’t mean I could stop caring,” reminisced Johnson. She became involved with Free the Children, a group focused on fighting child sexual exploitation, shortly after viewing the documentary.

Human trafficking is an industry. It is the trade of human beings performing forced labor. Often times, these people are transformed into sex slaves. The traffickers force women, children and even men into prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation.

What Johnson found most shocking was the age of the people being trafficked. The average age of girls in the sex trade is 13. These girls are kidnapped and taken to brothels. She was astounded to find that not many people realized that sex trafficking inside the U.S. borders.

Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal activity. Global slave trade presently holds twenty-seven million people in bondage. Between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders. Of this, 70% are female and 50% are children. The majority is forced into commercial sex trade. From 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. The majority of people being trafficked into the U.S. come from East Asia and the Pacific, making up of 5,000-7,000 victims. An estimated 3,500 to 5,500 victims are imported from Latin America, Europe and Eurasia.

The numbers alone show how severe the issue truly is. Johnson stated, “Not enough people know about it, and what scares me is people hear about it and move on.” The goal for Johnson and OAE club is to spread awareness and have the community at Loyola become more involved with the issue of human trafficking.

“Stop talking, start doing” said Johnson. Her hope for the Loyola community is to get people involved long-term. The Hike-A-Thon was the start of Loyola’s involvement in supporting the awareness of human trafficking.

Report reveals exploitation of migrant women

Check out the newest article posting about the sex trafficking situation in Ireland!  Click on ‘Human Trafficking Articles’

Child Labor-Cheap Labor

Child Labor-From “The Social Voice”

by Itzel

There is a cycle that goes on in every human being at some point. The cycle is simple. People work in order to get money. They use the money to buy food. They need the food to live and they need to live to work. Without that cycle it would be difficult to survive . Today there are a variety of jobs all around the world. Each job is unique but the outcome is always the same , you get paid money for your work. Today the age by law that you can start working is eighteen years or older, but it wasn’t always that way.

Not that long ago, kids ranging from four years old and older were used as workers. Parents were tricked into giving their kids to ” school.” The kids were taken to work in factories. Most kids didn’t really have a real idea as to where they were going , they never expected they were off to work . their chances of ever returning were slim.

At the factory, the kids were put to do a variety of jobs. Some kids were put to collect grapes and other fruit from fields. This wasn’t exactly easy or fun, on its worse the blazing sun would bring scorching heat to the kids below. The kids were at risk of heat stroke with the temperature that high , other risks include thorn scratches and bugs. Another job was milking animals . This was also a safety hazard for kids with no animal experience. The main job was working with machinery , the poor unfortunate souls that worked on the machinery risked their lives .

The sad and unfair consequences for these kids were terrible. The kids weren’t fed or offered a drink that often. Those working in the fields suffered severe thirst. The fate of those caught stealing food or drinks was worse. Those working with the animals could end up with a serious injury if the animals decide to strike. For the kids who end up one arm or finger less are lucky to be alive .

Child labor had been around for many years. Child labor only brought life threatening situations for innocent kids. Thankfully child labor is gone today, because people fought for justice and changed the laws. Although adults’ percentage of getting hurt on the job is no more or less than kids’ again by law kids can’t work until eighteen or older.

Despite this reality in America, child labor continues around the world. Kids are taken as virtual slaves in diamond mines, shoe factories and underground sex trafficking. They are victims of a system that turns a blind eye to justice. Kids are the future of this world, is there really a point in risking their futures and everyones’ futures just for labor? Is it worth it for cheap shoes?

Abu Dhabi and human trafficking?

Check out the latest article on the blog about Abu Dhabi’s new efforts on combating human trafficking. It seems their Human Rights Dept. is finally stepping in.

“This is the department’s first activity to stamp out human trafficking,” said Col Ahmad Mohammed Nekhaira, the head of the human rights directorate for Abu Dhabi Police. “The symposium is two-fold: it will explore the nature of human trafficking and its dimensions, and explore the role of national institutions in fighting the issue.”

Men Need to Take Responsibility Too!

Dawson calls for men to prevent rape

By Lindsey Anderson on 4/16/09

Media Credit: LINDSEY ANDERSON / THE EAGLE EMPOWERING MEN – In the National Conference on the Primary Prevention of Men’s Violence Against Women on Tuesday, actress Rosario Dawson encouraged men to be involved in preventing sexual assault. Men are in the position to end rape but rarely exercise this power, she said.

Men should be equal participants in the fight against sexual violence, actor and activist Rosario Dawson said during the National Conference on the Primary Prevention of Men’s Violence Against Women on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency in D.C.

“For so many years in this work, I have wondered why ending rape is ‘women’s work,’ for 95 percent of the violence inflicted on women is done by men,” Dawson said, reading from a message by Eve Ensler, the writer of the popular play “The Vagina Monologues.” “We don’t rape ourselves.”

Both Ensler and Dawson are board members of V-Day, an organization that seeks to end violence against girls and women.

The conference, sponsored by the international organization Men Can Stop Rape, Inc., aimed to discover how men and women could work together to prevent violence against women. The conference addressed themes such as sex trafficking, sexual assault in the military and dating violence.

Ending sexual violence can start with small actions, said David Roth, a board member of Men Advocating Change, during a workshop on promoting the issue among college students. A good start to activism could be something as small as talking with a roommate about the derogatory comments he makes about girls, he said.

Performances like “The Vagina Monologues,” events like Take Back the Night and groups such as Men Against Violence Against Women also have an impact, said Ashwini Hardikar, an organizing trainer for Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER).

“It’s about changing the entire culture of what is acceptable and what isn’t,” said Richard Saenz, another SAFER trainer.

The conference’s panelists and speakers stressed the need to change the perceptions and attitudes toward sexual violence when one in three women in the world will be raped, killed or beaten, according to Dawson.

“What allows a man to undress a woman when she is completely intoxicated with no ability to give consent or even know what is going on, and stick himself into her?” she read from Ensler’s speech.

It is time for men to “break the secret code of dudes” and speak up against violence against women, Dawson said.

“The majority do not stand up and say or do anything about the violence that is going on to their mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, wives, grandmothers,” Dawson read. “They remain silent and passive, and the silence consolidates their loyalty and solidarity in the circle of men … To stand up as men against violence against women is to break the secret code of dudes.”

Dawson invited all men in the audiences to stand up and affirm their commitment to advocacy against sexual violence.

Other men are beginning to take action against violence against women, including Vice President Joe Biden, who helped push the Violence Against Women Act through Congress in the 1994.

“The Obama administration is a vagina-friendly administration,” Dawson said.

Men hold most of the positions that allow them to legislatively condemn sexual assault, yet most activists against sexual assault are women, she said.

“Fifty-two percent of the human population is women, and yet they are the ones who are suffering the most violence, and that’s really not going to change unless men become a part of that conversation,” Dawson said.

The conference addressed the prevalence of sexual assault from the widespread rape of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo to domestic violence incidents involving celebrities, such as the Chris Brown-Rihanna case.

Brown is accused of hitting girlfriend Rihanna in February – an incident Dawson said should be a platform to talk about dating violence issues.

“There are so many violent acts that we can quote inside the media,” she said.

“I think it’s really important to use those opportunities to really talk in the greater whole.”

You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.

Trafficking in Lubbock, TX

Lubbock man gets life in prison for global child porn trafficking
By Walt Nett | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Story last updated at 4/16/2009 – 1:36 am

A Lubbock man is among six people sentenced Wednesday in a federal court to life in prison for their involvement in a global child pornography trafficking ring.

The sentences were announced by the U.S. Attorney’s office for Northern Florida following a six-day trial in Pensacola.

The defendants were Daniel Castleman of Lubbock; Gary Lakey of Anderson, Ind.; Marvin Lambert of Indianapolis; Neville McGarity of Medina; Stepan Bondarenko of Philadelphia; and Ronald White of Burlington, N.C.

Five of the defendants were convicted following a six-day trial in January on multiple charges, including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising child pornography; transporting child pornography; receiving child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Five additional U.S. defendants also indicted in the case were sentenced on March 10.

According to evidence introduced at trial, the defendants were members of a highly-sophisticated international network. The group was a well-organized criminal enterprise whose purpose was to proliferate child sex abuse images to its membership during a two-year period.

The defendants were found guilty of participating in an illegal organization that utilized Internet newsgroups – large file-sharing networks where text, software, pictures and videos can be traded and shared – to traffic in illegal images and videos depicting prepubescent children, including toddlers, engaged in various sexual and sadistic acts. Specifically, an Australian constable who infiltrated the group in August 2006 testified at trial about how group members employed a complex system of pseudonyms, screening tests for new members and sophisticated encryption methods to avoid detection. He also testified that the group traded more than 400,000 images and 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse before it was dismantled by law enforcement.

Castleman; Lakey; Lambert; and McGarity, a registered sex offender, were all found guilty following a six-day trial on six counts relating to their criminal activities as a member of the child exploitation enterprise. The charges alleged in these counts included engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising child pornography; transporting child pornography; receiving child pornography and obstruction of justice.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg of the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of CEOS. The case is being investigated by the Innocent Images Unit of the FBI and the Queensland, Australia, Police Service, with the assistance of the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Child Pornography Unit in Germany and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in the United Kingdom.