Forced Marriage and Child Brides

CHILD MARRIAGE- whereby child are given in matrimony before marriageable age. Girls as young as 8 are married to men, often much older, for a variety of reasons. If present trends continue, 142 million girls will marry over the next decade.

• One in three girls in developing countries will probably be married before they are 18
• One out of nine girls will be married before their 15th birthday
• Over 67 million women 20-24 years old in 2010 had been married as girls
• Half of these marriages occurred in Asia

Where does this happen? Today such customs are fairly widespread in parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America. This blog will focus on the marriages that occur in Asia.

Child Marriage Hot Spots and % of girls married before 18

1. Mali 55%
2. Niger 75%
3. Chad 72%
4. Bangladesh 66%
5. Guinea 63%
6. C.A.R. 61%
7. Mozambique 52%
8. Malawi 50%
9. Madagascar 48%
10. Sierra Leone 48%
11. Burkina Faso 48%
12. India 47%

Why? Child marriage happens for a variety of reasons. Often it is due to the cultural history of the area, where importance is placed upon female virginity, the perceived inability of women to work for money, and to women's shorter reproductive life relative to men's. Further, parents are often poor and use the marriage as a way to make her future better, especially in areas with little economic opportunities. They also will gain considerable property for her bride price, such as cattle or other goods. 

Consequences? Girls who marry earlier in life are less likely to be informed about reproductive issues, and therefore pregnancy related deaths are known to be the leading cause of mortality among married girls between 15 and 19 years of age. These girls are twice more likely to die in childbirth than girls between 20-24. Girls younger than 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth. Infants born to mothers under the age of 18 are 60% more likely to die in their first year than to mothers over the age of 19.

Young girls in a child marriage are more likely to experience domestic violence in their marriages as opposed to older women. The International Centre for Research on Women conducted a study that demonstrated that girls married before 18 are twice as likely to be beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands and three times more likely to experience sexual violence. Young brides often show symptoms of sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress.

Child Marriage perpetuates a further cycle of gender inequality and sickness. Young girls who lack status, power, and maturity are often subjected to domestic violence, sexual abuse, and social isolation. Early marriage almost always deprives girls of their education and ability to learn job skills, therefore perpetuating poverty and leaving them vulnerable if their husband dies or leaves them.

And there are stories of the abuse that child brides suffer. A 13 year old Yemeni girl, Ilham Mahdi al Assi, died in April 2010 from internal injuries four days after a family-arranged marriage to a man almost twice her age. In September 2009, a 12 year old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth.

Child Marriage in Asia

Child marriage is particularly prevalent in India, where more than one third of all child brides live. According to a report published by UNICEF, 47% of girls are married by 18, and 18% are married by 15. Indian Law has made child marriage illegal, however it is still widely practiced.

In Bangladesh  in 2005 45% of women then between 25 and 29 were married by the age of 15; According to the "State of the World's Children-2009" report, 63% of all women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18

In Yemen, roughly half of the girls are married before 18, some by the age of eight, even though Yemeni law set the minimum age for marriage at 15. However, tribal customs often ignore the law, and in 1999 the minimum marriage age of fifteen was abolished, and the onset of puberty was set as a requirement for consummation of marriage. However, conservatives have interpreted that age to be 9 in some cases.

In Saudi Arabia, Saudi cleric have justified the marriage of girls as young as 9, with sanctions from the judiciary

HOWEVER, the girls are fighting back

Nada al-Ahdal is an 11 year old girl from Yemen, who posted a a powerful appeal against child marriage on YouTube. Nada ran away from home in order to avoid being married to a much older man.

Humaiya, a 16 year old form Bangladesh, was saved from being a child-bride by her mother, who refused to let her father marry her as a child bride. Her mother and a group of advocates intervened to prevent the marriage. Humayiya became an advocate against child brides and for child rights issues through World Vision.

Sally as-Sabahi, who was married at age 10 to a 25 year old cousin, managed to win a divorce from her cousin. Her story made headlines in local media and polarized the country.

Sally as-Sabahi and her Family

What is being done about this?

The UN and NGO's have initiated efforts to combat child marriages. Steps taken are

• framing laws against child marriages
• increasing access to girls' education
• changing harmful cultural norms
• supporting community programs
• maximizing foreign assistance
• providing young women with economic opportunities
• addressing the unique needs of child brides
• evaluating programs to determine what works

Further, there does exist legislation to combat child marriage. However, why does child marriage still happen? Part of it is the majority of these laws are International Convention; meaning there is very little way to concretely enforce these provision unless brought before the ICJ. Second is domestic legislators are fighting against thousands of years of cultural tradition, therefore making laws harder to enforce. And since often parents are the ones marrying off their daughters, it is hard for officials to identify cases of child bride and prevent them. Existing legislation:

• India's Child Marriage Restraint Act
• India's National Plan of Action for Children 2005
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• the Convention on the Rights of the Child
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• The Convention on the Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriage
• International Convention on Civil and political Rights
• International Convention on Economic and Cultural Rights
• The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices
• The WHO Constitution

The Worst Form of Child Labor: Child Soldiers

Child Soldier in Burma

The Myanmar Armed Forces discharged 42 children from its ranks on July 7th, due to pressure from the United Nations. The UN hailed this action as a positive step for the country towards its integration into the International Community and compliance with human rights standards. However, this is a small step compared to Myanmar's history of use of child soldiers. Myanmar is the only country in the region in which the government run armed forces forcibly recruit child soldiers into the army; children between the ages of 12-16 year old. Johnny and Luther Htoo, twin brother who jointly led the God's Army Guerrilla group, were estimated to have been ten years old when they began leading the group in 1997. According to Human Right's Watch,  as many as 70,000 boys serve in the national military, the Tatmandaw, which children as young as 11. Further, there are 5,000-7,000 children serving in ethnic opposition militias.

Girl Soldier in Burma

What is Child Soldering?

Child Soldiering is a manifestation of human trafficking when it involves the unlawful recruitment or use of children through force, fraud or coercion, as combatants or for labor or sexual exploitation by armed forces. The perpetrators of human trafficking are government forces, paramilitary organizations, and rebel groups. 

Children are abducted from their homes and villages to be used as combatants, porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, and spies. Girls are often forced to marry or have sex with male combatants. Orphans, refugees, and other displaced children are particularly at risk. They are brutally indoctrinated in order to ensure complete loyalty, threatened with death or dismemberment if they do't fight, and forced to kill friends who try to escape.

Over 300,000 children are serving as a child soldiers. According to the Asian Wall Street Journal, a third of those children are in Asia. The reason that children are used as soldiers is because their age lends them to be 

Child Soldiers in Filipino Rebel Force

extremely obedient. They can be forced to become dependent on the military, they are young enough to be brainwashed, they are cheaper to feed than regular soldiers, and are often more fearless than their older 

counterparts, and therefore willing to risk more in battle. Further, opposing armies are less likely to harm children.

In the Philippines, children are recruited by rebel forces for service in the army, most notably for the new People's Army, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the Moro National Liberation Front. An estimated 13% of the 10,000 soldiers in the Moro National Liberation Front are children.

In Sri Lanka, thousands of children are thought to be  in the ranks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elem 

(LTTE), a rebel group categorized as a terrorist organization by most of the world's government. Sri Lankan 

soldiers nicknamed one of LTTE's units the Baby Battalion, due to the amount of child soldiers serving in its 

ranks. Thanks to international pressure, however, the LTTE promised to discharge all soldiers under 18 by 2007. However, Karuka Group, a splinter group, now has begun recruiting child soldiers. 

Children in the LTTE in Sri Lanka

Ramifications

There are significant ramifications for child soldiers. Often, when arrested, children are charged as adults and treated as war criminals, despite the age that they had been when they committed many of the war atrocities. Beyond legal ramifications, there are significant emotional and physical consequences of child soldiering. Child soldiers are often wounded, disfigured, or killed. They suffer significant emotional trauma, and are often unable to adapt to the ordinary world. Further, many times they had missed out on education and opportunities to develop social and communication skills. They have often been exposed to HIV/AIDS, and in the case of the girls, pregnancy, and early motherhood.

Legal Instruments in Place

The International community has passed a significant amount of legislation to combat child soldiering. Some legislation are:

Optional Protocol to the Covenant on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict: Prohibits the forced recruitment of children under the age of 18 into governmental armed forces. Also requires Parties to criminalize the recruitment of children by non-state armed groups, such as rebel or separatist militias

ILO Convention 182: Defines he forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict as 'one of the worst forms of child labor'

Kimberly Process: An international effort to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the market; children are often used to protect and mine these diamonds.

Paris Commitment and Prevention on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups: A pledge from the international community to stop the forced recruitment of children into armed forces and to support their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Jasmine

Intern

The Economics of Trafficking: The Kachin and Burma

Human Trafficking is a lucrative business. The United States estimates that per year, 600,000-800,000 persons are trafficked across international borders. It is though that 2.5 million people are being trafficked around the world at any given time. This generates an estimated annual global profit of $32 billion dollars. It is the third largest illegal industry in the world after drugs and armed sales. In this post, we examine the economic and social factors motivating the human trafficking of one particular population: the Kachin.

The Kachin

Kachin women in traditional garb

The Kachin is a population that has been a target of human trafficking, due to the nature of their situation. The Kachin people are a group of ethnic peoples who inhabit the Kachin Hills, from which the population derives its name, in northern Burma and neighboring areas of China and India. This population has been greatly effected by the conflict between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army. The Burmese government has attempted to expel this population group, therefore rendering them extremely vulnerable. actors that have proved dangerous to the Kachin. Since June 2011, when the Burmese military ended a 17 year ceasefire and launched an offensive against the Kachin Independence Army, there have been 24 documented instances of trafficked individuals; however, those are only the documented cases. The Kachin Women's Association-Thailand (KWAT) published a report stating that Kachin women and children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking, and it is an extremely lucrative business for the traffickers.

Fast Facts

• Between 2004-2007, there were 133 verified trafficking cases, involving 163 women and girls
• A quarter of those trafficked were under 18, with girls as young as 14 forced to be brides
• The continuing high incidence of trafficking indicates that the regime's new anti-trafficking legislation is failing to have any impact
• The Kachin population are vulnerable due to
• forced migration
• lack of recognition from government
• lack of governmental power

Why Are the Kachin So Vulnerable?

Part of the problem is the way they are treated in Burma. As the government has attempted to expel them from the country, they have no official governmental recognition, therefore rendering them extremely vulnerable as there are no programs in place to protect them, nor records of individuals when they go missing. Further, due to the conflict, approximately 100,000 people have been uprooted in the last two years and are now living in displacement camps. The Burmese government has also barred international aid organizations from accessing refugee camps housing the Kachin, and China has refused to provide assistance to Kachins who are seeking refuge across the border. In August 2012, the Chinese government even forced thousands of Kachins who were seeking shelter in the country back into Burma. "Push tens of thousands of people to China's doorstep, deprive them of food and status, and you've created a perfect storm for human trafficking," said KWAT spokesperson Julia Marip.

Kachin Women's Association-Thailand

Who is Trafficked?

Women and children are profitable income sources for traffickers. Women are either sold as brides or into brothels or massage parlors. China's one-child policy has created a particular market for trafficked Kachin women. Currently in China there are 117 men for every 100 women, and by 2020 there will be 30 million men looking for brides among 24 million women. Kachin women are considered favorable brides due to the lightness of their skin and proximity to the border. Kachin women are also thought of as fertile and excellent child bearers. They are sold for around $6,5000. Traffickers either kidnap women who are either migrating to the city from their villages, or will go into villages and refugee camps and offer families a dowry, playing on traditional customs. Chinese businessmen form a significant portion of the clientele. Lower income Chinese men pay brokers to fetch women from Myanmar families. Other women are trafficked into Thailand's sex industry; trafficked sex workers are often raped, and are sold from $300 upwards to the prostitution industry

Kachin Refugee Camp in Burma

Children are also viewed as highly sought after commodities by traffickers as well. Children trafficked to Thailand are occasionally rented out from parents. Brokers offer around $100-224 a month for children; children can earn from $15-100 a day working as beggars or shop assistants. Owners often beat children who are working as beggars so they appeal more to alms givers. Children also make excellent assistants as they can be paid less, are less likely to attempt to escape, and are more subservient in general; the favored age by traffickers are 3 month old toddlers to children under ten years of age. Young children are also sold to fuel Thailand's growing adoption rackets; others are sold into the child prostitution industry. Traffickers use the Internet to dodge international forces against child proposition. Recently, NGOs' efforts and stricter Thai laws have created a crack down on child trafficking, therefore increasing the demand for child trafficking as the supply dwindles.

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

Colorado Man Convicted of Trafficking Filipino Nurses

One of the common misconceptions about labor trafficking is that it only pertains to agriculture, restaurant work, or other low paying jobs. But anyone at any level can be labor trafficked; in fact, according to the US Trafficking in Persons report, skilled laborers such as engineers and nurses are at high risk of being trafficked as well.

One such example is the case in Colorado. Kizzy Kalu of Highland Ranch,Colorado was convicted of human trafficking on Monday. Of the 94 counts that Kalu was charged with, he was convicted of all but 6 of them.

Kalu posted an advertisement online and sent letters to Filipino nurses inviting them to obtain nursing degrees in the US at Adams University. Although he told them that they would be nursing instructors and receiving 72,000 a year, they were to apply for student visas. The reason he gave the nurses for this duplicity was although there are limits on how many visas the US hands out, there is no set limit on higher education student visas. The nurses paid around 6,500 to obtain a visa.

However, there was no such university as Adams University; the picture on the website was of a building of another Colorado University, and there was no such institution at the location that Kalu posted on the website. Furthermore, when the nurses arrived, Kalu had them work for nursing home and other extended care facilities, at significantly lower rates than he had promised. At first, Kalu was paid directly from the nursing homes and only gave a small portion to the nurses. However, when the government started asking questions about his income, Kalu had the nursing homes pay the nurses directly, from which Kalu would take a significant portion of their wages. The nurses were required to pay at least 1,200 a month to Kalu, or else he threatened to report them to the Department of Homeland Security for visa fraud. One nurse refused to pay Kalu, and was subsequently deported.

Jay Moskowitz, who owned one of the nursing home company who hired several of the women, was one of the companies that brought the case to the authorities' attention after the nurses told them that they were not receiving all of their wages from Kalu.

This case highlights the vast reaches of labor trafficking. Many misconceptions of labor trafficking are that 'It doesn't happen here' and 'it's only on farms and in factories'. But labor trafficking can come in many different forms.

Facts about Labor Trafficking

• According to the US Trafficking in Person's Report
• In 2012 there were 1,153 labor trafficking prosecutions and 518 convictions around the world
• In North and South America there were 369 prosecutions and 107 convictions in 2012
• Traffickers control their victims in many different ways
• Recruitment Debt- traffickers charge their victims large fees for travel and visa expenses, and the victims are forced to work long hours with little pay to pay off their debts
• Hold on to important documents such as visas or passports
• Threaten to go to the authorities to have victims arrested and deported
• There are many 'legal' recruitment agencies that participate in labor trafficking; as brokers are paid according to the amount of employees they recruit, they are often unethical or don't follow up after persons are placed

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

Natural Disasters Render Children Especially Vulnerable to Human Trafficking

Today, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights wrote to Uttarankhana, India Chief Minister Vijay Bahung to ensure that calamity hit children in don't fall prey to trafficking. Uttarankhana is currently experiencing horrific flooding that started over ten days ago. The flooding has killed at least 822 people and forced tens of thousands to relocate. National disasters have always been a favorite hunting ground for child trafficking as children are confused, lost, often either separated from their parents or have been orphaned. The children don't know where to go, and children without supervision are more likely to fall into a trafficker's hands. There is also considerable confusion, whether it is children attempting to reach a refugee camp, or in the camps themselves. Traffickers take advantage of this confusion, as it is easier for children to slip through the cracks and therefore be exploited.

There are many examples of children being trafficked after natural disasters.

• Authorities noted a marked increase in instances of human trafficking in countries such as India, Thailand, and Indonesia following the 2004 Tsunami
• US customs officials arrested 20 registered pedophiles who booked flights to affected countries soon after the Tsunami
• After the 2007 Bihar floods in India, Save the Children Foundation estimated 3,000 children were trafficked from the state

How Does this Happen?

There are many ways that traffickers are able to gain access to children. Often, traffickers enter refugee camps under the guise of aid workers and collect children that way. Another issue is that governments often prioritize rescuing survivors rather than disseminating information about and combating human trafficking. Child Right activist Rajmangal Prasad of Pratidhi stated that although they agreed that rescuing survivors should be of the utmost priority, security forces should be alert to the possibility of child trafficking. By the time the rescue effort is completed, it is often too late to prevent children from being trafficked. In regards to the recent flooding, Kushal Singh, chief of the National Commission for Protection of Child's Rights, expressed concern that the Uttarakhed government was more concerned with rescuing survivors.

What Can People Do?

Activist say that government nee to make sure that there is significant protection for children in place after disasters. There should be no unauthorized persons allowed in the camps, officials and law enforcement should be on the lookout at bus and train stations for suspicious individuals travelling with children, and there should be a concerted effort to put up flyers and posters warning about the dangers of human trafficking.

On a global level, Anthony Sappter, Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist UNICEF, called for more buy in to the UN's Charter and Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction, launched last May at the 3rd Global Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva.

There are several countries that have policies in place to prevent trafficking after natural disasters. After the 2004 Tsunamis, Australia passed legislation to prevent any register sex offenders from entering the country. Japan has one of the best disaster-preparedness infrastructure in the world, therefore minimizing the window that traffickers had. Google created Google Person Finder, which enables people to look up relatives in effected area, which might aid in keeping track of children and preventing them from being lost and trafficked.

Other Ideas

1. Counter-trafficking interventions must start in the emergency phase of disaster relief
2. Significant support from the Government and other institutions to ensure sustainability of action
3. Engagement and education of local populations
4. Attention needs to be paid particularly on the most vulnerable populations
5. Governments should assess existing vulnerabilities and attempt to rectify them before the next disaster

It all comes down to how prepared a country is before the disaster in order to prevent bad things from happening after the disaster. However, in the case of India, the disaster is happening now. Hopefully, with the attention that NGOs and local organizations are drawing to the dangers of orphaned and lost children, they will be able to take steps to prevent the children from being trafficked.

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

Official Complicity with Human Trafficking

Although actions must be taken at all levels, it is crucial to any anti-human trafficking movement to have strong governmental support and action. However, according to the U.S. State Department's report on trafficking around the world, there are many governments whose officials who comply with, or even aid, traffickers. For example, NGOs in Malaysia have reported that the police often will not investigate complaints that employers are confiscating passports, travel documents, or withholding wages as possible trafficking offenses. Furthermore, in 2010 the government did not report any prosecutions of employers who subjected workers to conditions of forced labor, nor were any government officials convicted of trafficking related complicity, despite numerous reports of collusion between police and trafficking offenders. Police collaboration is a common thread throughout many countries; local law enforcement officials are willing to take bribes to look the other way when presented with cases of human trafficking, or, at the most extreme, are the ones perpetrating human trafficking themselves.

India

One such example is India. The report stated "Official complicity in trafficking was a serious problem that remained largely addressed by the government. Corrupt politicians, police, and border security forces on both sides of the India-Bangladesh border reportedly recognized a token used by human traffickers to evade arrest if caught at the border." Some corrupt law enforcement officers facilitated the movement of sex trafficking victims, protected suspected traffickers and brothel keepers from enforcement of the law, took bribes from sex trafficking establishments and sexual services from victims, and tipped off sex and labor traffickers to impede rescue efforts. Many owners of brothels, rice mills, brick kilns, and stone quarries who engaged in human trafficking were politically connected and therefore immune from prosecution.Further, of the Anti-Human Trafficking Units established by the government, many were criticized as being ineffective or only existing on paper and not in practice. Furthermore, there was significant complicity of some governmental officials in human trafficking. Many sources noted that the Indian central government approached anti-trafficking measures in an uncoordinated and piecemeal manner, therefore allowing for greater instances of corruption.
One highly publicized case of sexual and physical abuse, including both sex and labor trafficking, of women and children in Apna Ghar shelter for mistreated victims in the state of Haryana, demonstrates the pervasiveness of official compliance with human trafficking. Not only was the shelter run by the state, but police officers reportedly raped some of the inhabitants and destroyed evidence once an investigation into the home commenced.

Burma

Burma is one of the highest offenders in regards to official complicity in human trafficking. The Military is the main perpetrators. Internally, there are several different ways in which the military implements human trafficking. The military engages in the unlawful conscription of child soldiers. Boys as young as 10 years are forcibly recruited to serve in the Burmese army and ethnic armed groups through intimidation, coercion, threats, and violence. Children of the urban poor are at particular risk of involuntary conscription; UN reports indicates that the army has targeted orphans and children on the streets and in railway stations, as well as young novice monks from monasteries for recruitment. It also continues to be the main perpetrator of forced or compulsory labor inside Burma. Military and civilian officials target minors of ethnic minority groups, and use men, women, and children for forced labor for the development of infrastructure and state-run agricultural and commercial ventures, as well as forced portering for the military. 

An NGO study published in 2010 found an acute problem in Chin State, where a survey of over 600 households indicated that over 600 households indicated that over 92% experienced at least one instance of a household member subject to forced labor; the Burmese military reportedly imposed two-thirds of these forced labor demands. Children are often subjected to forced labor in tea shops, home industries, and agricultural plantations. Exploiters traffic girls for the purpose of prostitution, particularly in urban areas. There are also reports that Burmese officials kidnapped Rohingya women from Sittwe and subjected them to sexual slavery on military installations. There were also reports that victims deported from Thailand into Democratic Karen Buddhist Army controlled areas of Burma continue to be extorted and retrafficked by DKBA elements, in collusion with Thai officials.

How can the military do this? There are many causes of human trafficking in Burma. The military regime's climate of impunity, gross economic mismanagement, and the acceptance of child soldiers as a method of recruitment remain top causal factors. Further, the authorities refuse to recognize members of certain ethnic minority groups, such as the Rohingyas, as citizens and provide them with identification documentation, which make them a prime target.

Vietnam

The Vietnamese government is complicit in human trafficking as it has certain programs in place that human traffickers can easily utilize to gain access to their victims. For example, Vietnam is a source country for men and women who migrate abroad for work opportunities. Many of the migrants are process through state-affiliated export companies which coerce migrants to sign contracts in languages they cannot read, and charged exorbitant fees, sometimes as much as $10,000. This has forced Vietnamese migrants to incur some of the highest debts among Asian expatriate workers, making them highly vulnerable to debt bondage and forced labor. Also, there has been a significant lack of prosecution of perpetrators of human trafficking; many NGOs claim that government officials are often willing to turn a blind eye towards trafficking in return for bribes.

Thailand

Thailand's greatest issue is corrupt law enforcement. The majorities of networks that traffic foreigners into Thailand tend to be small and not high organized, those who traffic Thai victims abroad tend to be more organized and work in more formal networks and will collaborate with law enforcement officials. Also, as the Thai government has no official laws that address sex tourism, there remains greater leeway for sex trafficking. Broader issues in regards to the Thai government and trafficking are local police corruption, including direct involvement in and facilitation of human trafficking, biases against migrant laborers, lack of understanding among local officials and courts in regards to human trafficking, particularly labor abuse cases, and finally systematic disincentives for trafficking victims to be identified. Corruption is one of the largest issues as it is widespread among Thai law enforcement personnel, creating an enabling environment for human trafficking to prosper. There are reports that officials protect brothels, other commercial sex venues, and seafood and sweatshop facilities form raids and inspections. Furthermore, there are also reports that Thai police and immigration officials extort money or sex from Burmese citizens detained in Thailand for immigration violations, and sell Burmese people who are unable to pay labor brokers and sex traffickers.

Further, due to the refusal of the Thai government to grant legal status to Ethnic minorities from the northern Hill Tribes, these populations are at an extremely high risk for trafficking.

Cambodia

Cambodia has a significant history of human trafficking, due to the longtime civil unrest that created an unstable environment rendering many homeless; refugees are particular targets for human traffickers. Furthermore, there are reports that some law enforcement and government officials are believed to have accepted bribes to facilitate the trafficking and sex trade. There are other reports of government officials who are complicit in the trafficking by accepting bribes. Corrupt officials facilitate the transportation of victims across the border, or route migrants deported from Thailand to human traffickers. However, there have been several large-scale prosecutions of police officials for trafficking corruption charges. The former Deputy Director of the Police Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department was convicted for complicity in trafficking and sentenced to five years' imprisonment; two officials under his supervision were also convicted and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Another example was when police arrested two military officers and one member of the military police for running brothels and trafficking.

Jasmine Prokscha
Intern

7-11 Franchise Owners Arrested in Labor Trafficking Scheme

On Monday, eight men and one woman from Long Island were arrested with conspiring to commit wire fraud, with stealing identities of U.S. citizens, and with concealing and harboring illegal aliens employed at 7-Eleven Inc. franchise stores in Long Island and Virginia. The identities stolen included three deceased persons and one eight year old child. The arrests were made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General, the New York State Police, and the Suffolk County Police.

The defendants, who owned the 7- Eleven franchises, created a scheme in which they allegedly hired over 50 illegal aliens and gave them identities stolen from U.S. citizens. U.S. Attorney for the District of New York Loretta Lynch stated that the defendants allegedly forced the immigrants to work 100 hours a week and stole the majority of their pay by taking substantial portions of the paychecks that they received from corporate headquarters.

The defendants also forced their employees to live in and pay cash rent in unregulated and overcrowded boarding houses they owned. Lynch referred to this system as a "plantation system", which has allegedly been going on for more than 13 years. The defendants trafficked the workers from Pakistan or the Philippines, where they had roots, thereby enabling them to recruit from within their own ethnic communities.

Most surprising: there were no safeguards in place at the national 7-Eleven Inc. payroll office. Despite the fact that the defendants had put the same social security numbers for victims working in both Virginia and New York, checks were still sent to both of them. The case began two years ago when a 7-Eleven employee approached the new York State Police about not being paid for his work; later another worker contacted the Suffolk County Police.

This operation highlights several issues often seen in cases of labor trafficking. One, the ease in which people are able to perpetrate these crimes. There was no apparent connection between the two families, yet they both committed similar types of fraud. Second, the victims were classified by the state as "illegal immigrants". Although agents from ICE are currently treating the workers as potential witnesses and are not seeking to move to deport them, Ms. Lynch stated that she felt that the employees "were not innocent victims in this scheme" although "they had been abused". Further investigation is necessary, but in the meantime, these workers should be viewed as potential victims of labor trafficking, brought to the U.S. and exploited.

 ICE, however, did put this note on the bottom of their on-line report:

HSI encourages the public to report suspected labor trafficking, forced labor or the exploitation of undocumented workers through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 (from the U.S. and Canada), or from anywhere in the world at 1-802-872-6199, or online at www.ice.gov/tips.

The Phillipines Launches New Video Campaign Against Human Trafficking

The Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Philippines continued their effort to combat human trafficking by launching a new infomercial campaign designed to be a visual presentation of the dire effects of human trafficking on victims. The name of the campaign is called 'Iligatas Mo Ako', and the first infomercial was launched at the premier of Iron Man on Friday.

                                                       Sex Trafficking Iligatas Mo Ako Ad
 

This campaign is meant to address the serious issue of human trafficking in the Philippines by raising awareness. The campaign address both sex and labor trafficking, as well as organ trafficking.

According to IACA, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, there were 1,376 individuals trafficked in the Philippines in 2012. Furthermore, although there were 1,519 reported cases in 2011, only 100 convictions were reported.

The campaign will run for 6 months at various movie theatres across the nation, and will post hotline numbers for people to call if they have information regarding trafficked individuals.
 

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

Say Hello to our New Intern!

Hi, my name is Jasmine Prokscha, and I’m a rising second year law student at Loyola School of Law, Chicago. I’m originally from Connecticut and went to undergrad at Drew University in New Jersey. I’m very excited to work for the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA) this summer, as ending human trafficking is something that I am very passionate about. I first became aware of the issue of human trafficking through a research project on the Bosnian Genocide, where I learned that women, and quite a few teenage girls, had been trafficked to Western Europe. My concern over human trafficking further grew after interning at the United Nations, where I learned exactly how complex prosecuting human trafficking is, and the legal issues surrounding it such as how to prosecute international human trafficking rings, and the immigration issues that victims face once they escape their traffickers. I hope to pursue a legal career in which I can represent victims of human trafficking, and also help effect the legislation that deals with how to treat these victims.

I am very looking forward to work for IOFA and AATOP this summer!

Jasmine Prokscha

Intern

jprokscha@iofa.org

First Filipino Community Forum A Sucess!

Thank you for coming out to support us at the AATOP & CIRCA Pintig Filipino Community Forum and making it a success! We had almost 50 people in total attend the forums on both Friday and Saturday!

The CIRCA Pintig cast began with a short play about a young girl who was trafficked from her village in the Philippines to work in a massage parlor in Chicago. The play accurate depicts the role that the family may play when they send off their loved ones to live "better lives" and the manipulation of the traffickers. 

AATOP then presented an overview of trafficking in general and within the context of the Filipino community. 

Shelby French from IOFA talks about the Calimlims who were sentenced in 2009 for trafficking a Filipina woman in their home for 19 years

We ended with a rich discussion from the audience of questions regarding trafficking and bringing awareness to everyday people. Several individuals have already approached us and asked to be trained to identify and serve potential victims in their communities!

We look forward to more community forums this year!

Check out our project partner, CIRCA Pintig, and their summer arts events!

Come join AATOP for our first Filipino Community Forum May 31 or June 1!

IOFA Invites You to CIRCA Pintig's Summer Monthly Beat: Human Trafficking Human Trafficking in the Filipino American Community You know that human trafficking happens in the Philippines.  Do you also know that trafficking cases involving Filipinos have been documented across the United States? The majority of immigrant human trafficking victims are from Asia and the Pacific Islands. The Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project and CIRCA Pintig invite you to a drama performance, discussion, and overview about human trafficking in the Filipino American community.  Spread the word! Invite your friends and family! RSVP here! Friday, May 31, 8pm Saturday, June 1, 3pm Moooh Dulce 2602 W. Fullerton Ave. Chicago, IL 60647 The Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP), a project of IOFA, partners with API-serving organizations in Chicago to identify and serve victims of human trafficking.    CIRCA Pintig is a community arts organization that speaks to the Filipino American immigrant experience.  Learn more about us! IOFA: www.iofa.org  AATOP: aatopchicago.blogspot.com CIRCA Pintig: www.circapintig.com  STAY IN TOUCH           123 Street Name City, ST - 555.555.5555