The RETURN of AATOP!

IOFA is excited to announce the re-launch of the Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP) with generous support from Help for Children/Hedge Funds Cares.

AATOP will build upon the pilot project’s efforts to raise awareness, engage the Asian American community and build capacity of AA serving providers to identify, refer and respond to the needs of survivors of human trafficking in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways.

AATOP’s Beginnings:

The International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA), created AATOP as a one year pilot project with funding from the Asian Giving Circle in 2012.  Its goals were to build capacity of Asian American service providers to identify, refer, and respond to survivors of human trafficking from Asian American communities.  AATOP also worked to increase Asian American service organizations to participate in anti-trafficking coalitions and task forces.  AATOP reached these goals by partnering with various Asian American service providers to hold trainings and community events.

AATOP’s Pilot Program Key Outcomes and Accomplishments: 

• reached out to and built relationships with around 25 API-serving social service, legal, research, community, leadership, and educational institutions and organizations
• hosted a general community forum with a variety of service providers
• hosted a meet and greet for attorneys with the Asian Pacific Legal Advocacy Network (APLAN)
• conducted a human trafficking training for attorneys with the Chicago Bar Association (CBA)
• developed a mental health specific training for clinicians working within these communities
• hosted a Filipino-specific community forum with Filipino project partner CIRCA Pintig
• had staff teach as a guest lecturer at University of Illinois Chicago’s Asian American Studies Program.

AATOP’s Relaunch:

With support from Help for Children/Hedge Fund Cares (HFC), AATOP’s 2016 activities will focus on connecting with social service providers serving Asian American children and youth.  AATOP will work in collaboration with these programs to increase their capacity to identify trafficked children and/or youth and refer them to culturally and linguistically appropriate trauma informed services.

AATOP Project Goals:

• Engage and educate Asian American communities across Chicago to create a coordinated response to human trafficking.
• Train a cadre of health, mental health and other social services professionals serving Asian American communities across Chicago to identify and assist trafficking survivors.
• Implement culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach activities and campaigns to to raise awareness of human trafficking in Asian American communities across metropolitan Chicago.
• AATOP’s outreach and training activities will be guided by a Community Advisory Board whose members will represent the diverse Asian American community.  The community advisory board will assist AATOP connect to resources and give input to ensure activies are as culturally and linguistically appropriate as possible.

The Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP) aims to fill a critical gap that currently exists in outreach efforts to potential victims of human trafficking in Asian American communities. Many Asian countries are listed as sources of trafficked labor according to the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report. Vulnerable Asian immigrants in Chicago are susceptible to human trafficking in massage parlors, restaurants, factories, and other low-wage, unregulated industries that rely heavily on undocumented labor.  Young people within Asian communities are uniquely vulnerable, as they may be dealing with social pressure and stigma related to their adult development, in addition financial hardship.

Although victims of trafficking have the right to services and benefits under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, Asian American victims of this crime face significant obstacles in accessing services in the Chicago metropolitan area to which they are entitled. To date, little has been done to adapt training and outreach efforts to the Asian American community. The need for sensitization within the community regarding victim-centered service and treatment has also been noted by community-based researchers. IOFA’s initial survey of agencies serving human trafficking victims found that while agencies received significant numbers of clients of Asian descent, Asian American-focused organizations remain underrepresented in anti-trafficking coalitions and task forces.

This project seeks to address mental health needs within Asian American communities and promote safe environments and improved service delivery to human trafficking victims and those at risk within this population.  The inclusion of Asian American serving organizations in anti-trafficking efforts in Chicago, coupled with training and technical assistance, will provide organizations working in Asian American communities with resources they need to successfully identify and serve human trafficking victims.

Follow us on social media!

Facebook: AATOP CHICAGO
Twitteer: @AATOPCHICAGO
Instagram: @AATOPCHICAGO
Blog: aatopchicago.blogspot.com

For more information, contact Project Coordinator, Jody Haskin at jhaskin@iofa.org 

or Jae Jin Pak, AATOP Community Advisory Board Chair at jpak@iofa.org

Learn more about IOFA and AATOP at http://iofa.org

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

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

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!

Reception Wednesday to Meet Nonprofits Helping Asian Human Trafficking Victims: RSVP Today!

AATOP and one of our legal partners, The Asian Pacific American Legal Advocacy Network (APLAN), invite you to a Meet and Greet this Wednesday, May 8, 2013 to learn about human trafficking in the Asian American community in Chicago and meet other legal professionals who are interested in making helping trafficking victims! RSVP today! Join Us for a Reception to Learn About Groups Assisting Asian Human Trafficking Victims Space is Limited-RSVP Today! Meet and Greet: APLAN and IOFA Have you wondered how you can help human trafficking victims?  Did you know that a large percentage of human trafficking victims in the United States are Asian?  We invite you to learn more about two nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping Asian Pacific American trafficking survivors in the Chicago area the Asian Pacific American Legal Advocacy Network (APLAN) and theInternational Organization for Adolescents(IOFA).  Date and Time May 8, 2013 (Wednesday) 6 PM-8 PM (*PLEASE NOTE NEW START TIME OF 6 PM, NOT 5:30 PM*) Chicago Bar Association 321 S. Plymouth Court Chicago, IL  FREE OF CHARGE  Hors d'oeuvres compliments of Chicago Bar Association  Soriya: Domestic Servitude Labor Trafficking Thirteen year old Soriya was told by her parents she was moving to the U.S. with family friends who would allow her to receive an education and learn English.  Born and raised in a small village in Cambodia, Soriya's family was struggling to pay the school fees for their children's education and welcomed the opportunity for Soriya to receive an education in the United States. Shortly after she arrived in the US, the father she was living with began to physically and sexually abuse the young girl, creating a constant environment of fear for Soriya. For the next six years Soriya was forced to clean the house, wash clothes, cook, and care for their three children, often working 18 hours a day while receiving no form of payment. She was never allowed to enroll in school as the family had promised, go outside, or even use the phone. RSVP TODAY! Click here APLAN The Asian Pacific American Legal Advocacy Network (APLAN) is a legal, human, and civil rights organization that promotes equality and social justice for Asian Americans. APLAN envisions a society where Asian American communities are empowered to fully realize their rights and have access to culturally informed services.  More about APLAN: aplanchicago.org IOFA The International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA) is dedicated to improving the lives of young people by addressing critical and emerging issues affecting vulnerable adolescents around the world. More about IOFA: iofa.org AATOP    The Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP) aims to fill the current gap in services and outreach for API victims of human trafficking by partnering with API-serving organizations to build their capacity to identify and serve victims of human trafficking. More about Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP):  aatopchicago.blogspot.com

October 2012 Community Forum Outcome Document

AATOP Community Forum Outcome Document

October 24, 2012

The Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP), a program launched by the International Organization of Adolescents (IOFA) held its first community forum on October 24, 2012 at the Hull House Museum. This forum was the first meeting to connect organizations from the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community of Chicago that have interest and expertise in the issue of human trafficking. Over forty attendees ranging from college students to professionals in the fields of advocacy, health, legal, education, and social services came together to hear about AATOP and contribute to the discussion about outreach to victims of human trafficking in underserved API communities.

IOFA provided a general introduction to the initiative, explained the scope of human trafficking in the United States and Chicagoland area and provided guidance on how to identify trafficking victims. Shelby French (IOFA Executive Director) and Sehla Ashai (IOFA Anti-Trafficking Program Specialist) segued into a description of AATOP’s goals and target activities. Esther Liew (IOFA AATOP Program Development Intern) presented research from IOFA that demonstrated little evidence that API trafficking victims are being identified or provided support by a sample of API-serving organizations in Chicago. Using this as a launching point, Shelby invited the attending organizations and individuals to partner in AATOP efforts at various levels of participation. Both IOFA and participating organizations will bring together expertise from different fields with the goal of effectively reaching API trafficking victims and agencies that serve this demographic.

We proceeded to a discussion session that addressed these questions:

• Do you believe that human trafficking is a critical issue facing API communities?
• Do you think human trafficking is being addressed adequately in API communities?
• What are the challenges to building public awareness and concern about human trafficking?
• What are the opportunities?
• Which API communities are at greatest risk?
• Who needs to be involved to ensure success and sustainability of AATOP efforts?
• What are the specific challenges and opportunities in relation to outreach into this particular community?
• What are some culturally appropriate models or methods of outreach to victims of similar crimes?

The discussion explored attendees’ understanding of the challenges to serving trafficked victims and generated suggestions of how they themselves can contribute to AATOP efforts.

Feedback points included:

Human trafficking is a critical issue facing API communities

• Psychological coercion of human trafficking can be damaging.
• Service providers in attendance have spoken and worked with trafficked individuals but have not realized it.
• Trafficking is a big problem in the Vietnamese community. The Vietnamese American Community of Illinois has received calls eliciting support for trafficked victims. It has also conducted anti-trafficking programs for the Vietnamese community.

Fear of removing self from trafficked situation

• Some victims come to the U.S. not knowing anybody.
•  They get minimal provisions in the trafficked situation, but if they leave, they are stepping out into the unknown where there may receive no protection at all. It is scary to be in a trafficked situation, but scarier not to know what is out there, so not many trafficked individuals leave.
• A shelter living situation is not incentive enough for victims to leave.

Building a connection between organizations that potentially serve API trafficking victims

• If staff do not know how to identify a trafficking situation, they will not know what to do when confronted with it.
• Benefit of having a coordinated network: direct service providers builds relationships with victims and with other collaborating organizations. Victims will choose service providers that they trust to advocate for them. They will be less fearful of presenting their trafficking situations to a police or lawyer if they have a professional who supports them.
• Organizations serving trafficking victims should know how to connect and coordinate with organizations in victims’ home countries in case repatriation is necessary.

Labor trafficking

·         The difference between trafficking and labor exploitation is blurry. What constitutes as exploitation in one culture is not the same in another; what is “normal” in one culture is not in another.

• Some people do not understand the difference between labor exploitation and trafficking, so we need to be clear when explaining the distinction between the two.
• Outreach work into labor violations and employment issues face resistance because victims and social service organizations do not want to go against businesses. Victims may deny that there is a problem.
• Some of the largest labor trafficking cases have involved Asian workers. Labor trafficking preys on the language gap of victims. There is success when workers are organized to advocate for recognition of labor trafficking. However, it is difficult to organize domestic workers because they are isolated from each other.
• There is currently no law association with whistle blowing or “qui tam” (a writ whereby a private individual who assists in a prosecution is entitled to a percentage of the recovery of the penalty as a reward for exposing wrongdoings) to empower workers to advocate. There is little incentive for victims to challenge labor trafficking employers because of the burden of litigation and re-traumatization. Using litigation for outreach has not been successful, but has been successful when used for compensation.
• If there is an affluent defendant, the case will go to trial because reputation is at stake.

AATOP’s priority

• AATOP’s priorities are threefold: identify victims, gather services so they are accessible to victims, and train organizations. Victims face a dilemma if there is nowhere they can receive services. Connections are currently non-existent, so we must put a network together.

Recommendations for moving forward

• Victims or people who have identified a human trafficking victim can call the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-3737-888) for assistance.
• Members of the AATOP network can also call IOFA at 773-404-8831 if a victim is identified and wants to be connected with law enforcement and/or legal and social services in the area.
• It will take awhile to get the API community used to the concept of trafficking outreach, so relationship-building with participating organizations and specific communities is very important.
• Have conversations with the API community to familiarize them with human trafficking.
• Organize community leaders to provide a safe space for victims to meet and talk
• Survivor participation: we want to hear from survivors, ask them questions, and receive direct feedback to inform our programs.
• For those working with older refugee/non-US citizen girls under pressure to get jobs/are working, have conversations with them about work: work hours, language barriers, fear of being fired, what has raised questions for you, etc.
• AATOP is in the process of translating trafficking outreach tools into culturally appropriate terms so agencies can use them.

• AATOP can use resources from Look Beneath the Surface, a culturally appropriate trafficking campaign.
• Divide up by target ethnic communities and by expertise to contribute to AATOP efforts: legal, social service, capacity building, etc. For example, the Chicago Bar Association can help with the legislative portion.
• Strength in numbers:  the more organizations we get to come on board, the more the issue will be moved to the forefront.
• Positive peer pressure: launching point for a shift in thinking and beliefs of other organizations.
• Train law enforcement to identify API trafficking.
• College students can be advocates on campus with their student organizations.

Next steps for AATOP

• Send out a survey inquiring the interest and participation level of potential member organizations
• Maintain open communication with member organizations through the AATOP blog, listserv, and quarterly newsletters
• Compile a list of member organizations
• Have phone calls or meet with member organizations to check in on AATOP progress on their part, then provide help where necessary
• Recruit for the AATOP steering committee
• Recruit more AATOP member organizations by reaching out to more API-serving organizations in Chicago and inviting them to participate in AATOP
• Recruit non-organizationally affiliated community members to be supporters of AATOP
• Hold ethnic-specific meetings with community members and interested organizations
• Awareness building and public education
• Victim outreach
• Training and capacity building of existing organizations and resources
• Ongoing technical assistance to organizations
• Enhance legal and social services for victims
• Establish and coordinate cultural competent referral networks
• Research and evaluation of target activities