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

Asian American Woman Awarded for Anti-Trafficking Work

 Minh Dang, a Vietnamese American woman from Berkeley, California, is being honored as a Champion of Change by the White House. In observation of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, this award goes to 15 Asian Pacific American (APA) women who are "doing extraordinary work to create a more safe, equal and prosperous future for their communities and the country." Minh Dang is the executive director of Don't Sell Bodies, an organization that advocate for human trafficking victims. You can watch the award event live here at 1pm Eastern today.

IOFA director speaking on human trafficking, April 11

IOFA's director, Shelby French will be speaking on human trafficking at a Niagara Forum tomorrow, April 11. You can get more information and RSVP for your ticket here. We hope to see you there!

Chong Kim Shares Her Trafficking Story

Chong Kim, a Korean American human trafficking victim, speaks out on her experience and the film, Eden, that is based on her story. She emphasizes the prevalence of domestic human trafficking - she was trafficked in Texas. It doesn't only happen when Asian victims are trafficked across international borders; it happens to Asian Americans too.

Recent News on Trafficking Within the Asian Community

Several stories have surfaced this past week surrounding human trafficking among Asian Americans. Here are two victories in our community:

347 Filipino teachers in Louisiana public schools were awarded $4.48 million because they were tricked into their teaching jobs. Read about the news story here. 

Tyron Van Tran, a 20 year old trafficker was arrested in Sacramento for trafficking an underage girl. 

Eden, a film about a sex trafficking ring set in the Southwestern part of the United States. The plot is loosely based on a real life story. In this movie, a Korean American teenager, played by Jamie Chung, is kidnapped into a sex den and it depicts how life could look like for trafficking victims. The film opens today. Perhaps Eden could help shed light on the trafficking of immigrants in the U.S. If you decide to see it, please leave us a comment below and let us know what you think about it!

Finally, watch this video story about how The Sold Project in collaboration with the Golden Triangle Elephant Foundation Thailand are trying to keep at risk girls from being trafficked through relationship building activities and conservation education programs. 

Do Super Bowls Attract More Sex Trafficking?

               The countdown to February 5 for the Super Bowl is on! While football enthusiasts will gather in New Orleans and in front of 72-inch TV’s to watch the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers settle the game on the gridiron, there is to be another kind of settling done in the city – the exchange of commercial sex. According to some reports from previous Super Bowls, large scale sporting events become attractive venues for human trafficking activities, given the presence of thousands of spectators and easy access to these major cities.

During the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa, a trafficker was sentenced to 20 years in prison for offering the “Super Bowl Special” on Craigslist in the form commercial sex with a 14-year old girl. Some reports highlighted the increased number of prostitutes or trafficked victims brought into host cities during the Super Bowl season. In 2011, Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, declared the Super Bowl “one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States”. With this statement, his human trafficking task force worked in partnership with law enforcement and local anti-trafficking organizations to crack down on trafficking activities during the 2011 Super Bowl in Dallas. During that same time, the Women’s Funding Network reported an 80% increase in Craigslist sex ads. Even the Indiana Attorney General, Greg Zoeller, prepared for the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis by supporting training for prosecutors, law enforcement, and advocates around this issue.

The draw of sex traffickers to highly populated cities and events make logical sense; however, some of the estimated numbers have been unfounded. For example, the Tampa Bay police department saw no increase in prostitution or sex trafficking cases during the 2009 Super Bowl. Even the FBI’s Dallas office reported saw no evidence of unusual increases in child sex trafficking cases as the host city in 2010.

The media and various anti-trafficking and human rights organizations have been called out for hyping up the incidence of trafficking during the Super Bowl. Their intentions were probably genuine – they wanted to bring attention to a serious issue in the U.S. that is destroying the lives of many young people, although their methods and strategies might have been misplaced by predicting an outlandish influx of trafficked persons into the cities. The media and such organizations have the power to rally and create fervent advocates out of previously uninformed people. Such topics that are easily sensationalized and that appeal to the human pathos need to be approached with caution. Check your facts!

I do have another point to make. In light of January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month and the Super Bowl-trafficking dispute, consider yourself at least a little more educated about human trafficking. Please do read more about it – both international and domestic, sex and labor – then educate others about it, too! Human trafficking happens every day, most likely in your city or surrounding regions, urban and rural. You might be surprised.

For more educational reading, here is a publication from the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women about the connection between sporting events and human trafficking.

Join IOFA's "Human Trafficking is OUR Problem" campaign to fight modern day slavery

Many people here in the U.S. still think that human trafficking is a problem that happens far away, to non-U.S. citizens, to the "other." Few realize how human trafficking directly affects us as individuals and how it is an issue the we all need to solve in our immediate communities. IOFA's "Human Trafficking is OUR Problem" campaign will aim to bring awareness about the most surprising details about the crime of human trafficking and engage people directly in getting this message out there. 

Would you like to be directly involved in building awareness of human trafficking? We need your help! Here are 3 easy steps:

1. Download and print out of of the "Human Trafficking is OUR Problem" signs. Click the "download" button below the signs and hit print.
Human Trafficking is OUR Problem signs 

 

2. Use your IPhone, camera, or computer camera to take a picture of you and anyone else you can fit in holding the HTIOP sign. Make sure that text on the sign is clear and visible.
 

3. Upload your photo(s) and send as an attachment via email to eliew@iofa.org

Here are some examples:

Your image will be included with hundreds of others in a new IOFA video to be distributed to the public and our anti-trafficking networks. Recruit your friends, family members, pets, and everyone who wants to end modern day slavery. Post the sign and these instructions to your Facebook and Twitter pages.

Let us all be part of this new generation that is fighting against modern day slavery. Human trafficking happens in OUR neighborhoods - the city, the suburbs, and the farmlands.

We look forward to your photos! Please let us know if you have technical difficulties or need assistance. Thanks for your support!