Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Northern Ireland in bid to outlaw paying for sex
Paying for sex could become illegal in Northern Ireland if proposed changes in the law are introduced. The crackdown on prostitution is part of a range of measures contained in draft legislation aimed at tackling human trafficking and exploitation in the region. While activities such as kerb-crawling, pimping and brothel-keeping are illegal in the UK, selling or paying for sex is permitted.

Nepalese foreign work ban for young women
Many women worldwide leave their homelands for domestic work in other parts of the world. In the case of Nepal, an estimated 1,000 women make such journeys from their homes to the Middle East. However, due to cases of pregnancy, sexual abuse, rape and other forms of violence, the Nepalese government has instituted a ban that prohibits women under 30 from leaving the country in search of domestic work. Though the intent to protect these women is good, some fear that backlash will result in the form of lies about actual age, false passports, or other ways around the ban. 

Four men sent to prison for trafficking in women
Four men were sentenced to between eight and 14 years in prison for their involvement in 13 cases of human trafficking in which 14 women and one child were sold, Shanghai Xuhui District People's Court announced [August 17th]. A Yunnan Province Man, Huang Debin, was sentenced to 14 years for luring women to Suqian, Jiangsu Province, where they would be sold to men who had trouble finding wives, according to a news release from the court.

City lacks resources to help trafficking victims
Even after nearly a year of a statewide awareness campaign about human sex trafficking, there aren't resources in Chattanooga to help victims of the crime. During a news conference in Chattanooga in October, state officials, including Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn, called for action after a joint study with Vanderbuilt University revealed that 85 percent of Tennessee counties had reported a human trafficking case. Chattanooga had as many as 100 cases, according to figures released at the news conference.

Money laundering and human trafficking
The U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) recently launched Project STAMP (Smuggler Trafficker and Assets, Monies, and Proceeds) to combat human trafficking, and other illegal activities through anti-money laundering regulations. The project relies on stringent regulations and collaboration with private financial sectors to combat human trafficking int he U.S. Money laundering is a crime where perpetrators conceal the source of profits obtained through illegal activities like human trafficking. To continue carrying out illegal activities, traffickers often commit money laundering to disguise profits acquired by exploiting women and children.

By Whitney Joseph

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Wed and Tortured at 13, Afghan Girl Finds Rare Justice    

In Afghanistan, 13 year old Sahar Gul was forced to marry her husband, 30 year old Ghulam Sakhi, illegally. She was beaten, tortured, and thrown into a dark cellar at the hands of her husband and in-laws after declining to prostitute herself or have sex with her husband. Sakhi and his family were not unaccustomed to using violence to force action; his first wife was beaten because she had not beared children. Sahar Gul's husband and in-laws were each sentenced to 10 years in prison; she is now at a shelter in Kabul.

Donyel Pier Dove of Manassas, Va. Sentenced for role in gang-led prostitution of H.S. girls
Donyel Pier Dove, the member of a the Underground Gangster Crips (UGC) based in Fairfax Virginia, was sentenced to 276 months in prison and 5 years of superised release. Dove served as a bodyguard and and driver for the UGC's prostitution ring, and even paid for advertisements of such commercial trafficking on Backpage.com. Five other members or associates of UGC were also convicted of the sex trafficking of juveniles.

Traffickers force more men into servitude
A Salvadoran man, who has not been identified because of beliefs that he is a victim of a sex crime, escaped a remote ranch after being forced to work without pay, picking vegetables; he endured beatings, rapings, and cigarette burns. In Houston, Texas there has been an increase in human traffficking cases involving men. Houston is popular for human trafficking because of its diversity and proximity to the Mexico border. Investigators have been unsuccessful in locating the ranch; the investigation remains open. Compiled By: Whitney Joseph

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Canadians fight global sex trafficking on their soil
Human rights advocates are enraged after an announcement made by the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada (AEAC) declared they will be recruiting high school and college students to fill the demand for sex workers after the government banned visas allowing foreign workers to work in the industry.  The AEAC insists the industry is safe to work in, yet Joy Smith, a member of Parliament, argues "many Canadians do no realize that prostitution, strip clubs...are were the majority of victims of human trafficking are found." Canada is a gateway for many Asian and Eastern European victims.

Appeals court reinstates Vermont prison forced labor case
After an appeal made Friday, a three-judge panel decided that Finbar McGarry, a man who claims he was forced to do manual labor while pending trial, has the right to argue that he was under threat to work in a prison laundry.  He was waiting trial for domestic disturbance when he says he was forced to work up to 14 hours three days a week washing laundry for 25 cents/hour.  He will be arguing for $11 million in damages.

Torture and denial of rights for drug addicts locked in Asian camps
Hundreds of thousands of drug users in China and across Southeast Asia are held in camps where they are subject to physical and sexual violence in order to be "cured".  These centers have received financial support from donor countries and UN agencies yet they deny people their rights.  The lack of liberty can last up to 5 years and involve the homeless, mentally ill and street children.  Joe Amon, a director at Human Rights Watch, insists that "beatings, forced labor and humiliation" are not part of the prescribed therapy.

Tanzania: Dar es Salaam Leads in Human Trafficking

The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) reported that Tanzania has a higher rate of internal trafficking than transnational trafficking. Internal trafficking often occurs among the family and friends of victims who, as with other forms of trafficking, are given empty promises of employment, education, and otherwise. Many victims are subjected to being domestic workers, barmaids or prostitutes. The case study was done on the city of Dar es Salaam; the top five cities where human trafficking is found are Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro, Singida, and Dodoma, respectively.

Food cart gives human-trafficking survivors a new life on the street

Non-profit organization doma is helping human trafficking victims in Franklin County Ohio by allowing women to run their food cart, Freedom a la Cart. Stationed Downtown, the women, who learn skills such as kitchen prep and business management, also provide catering services and every “meal served comes with a pamphlet on human trafficking. All proceeds go to helping victims.”

DOJ suspiciously dismissed human trafficking case, says watchdog group

Watchdog group Judicial Watch claimed that the Department of Justice suspiciously dismissed a case in which three defendants “who worked for the Los Angeles-based labor recruiting company in question -- Global Horizons Manpower, Inc. -- pled guilty to [human trafficking-related] charges…” Bruce Schwartz pled guilty to conspiring to commit forced labor, while Sam Wongsesanit and Shane Germann pled guilty to conspiring to commit document servitude. However, other watchdogs argue that the prosecutors were unable to prove the admitted guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Compiled By: Elyse Elder and Whitney Joseph 

Forced Labor in Chinese Laogai Prisons in Tibet

In 1959, when China's Communist Party Liberation Army invaded Tibet, no family was left untouched.  Other than the very old and the very young, the majority of the Tibetan population was arrested at one moment or another.  Either for owning a picture of the Dalai Lama, or participating in peaceful protests, Tibetans have been, and continue to be, arrested, subject to hard labor and torture and even death.  Out of the 6 million people living in Tibet, 1.2 million have died as a result of their time within the Chinese Laogai prison system.  On Friday, June 8th, BTFF had the privilege to attend the Laogai Foundation's Conference on the sufferings of the Tibetan people in Chinese prisons.  We heard passionate speeches by Representatives Chris Smith and Frank Wolf, both of who have visited these prisons and their appalling practices, and the representative of the Dalai Lama.  However, perhaps the most moving part of the three-day event were the testimonies by seven survivors who were eventually released from the Laogai prisons and finally escaped from China's authoritative rule.  Here are excerpts from just a couple stories heard:

Thupten Khetsun is now 70 years old, but in 1959 at least five of his family members, including himself, were arrested.  While his mother was subject to political "reeducation" outside of confinment, Khetsun was placed into Drapchi prison for two years.  He and other political prisoners were required to either break open large stones or make bricks while only sustaining on barley soup.  "While I was at Drapchi prison, huge loads of clothes of dead prisoners from Chang Tsa-la-Kha were delivered.  There were enough winter jackets in there for half the prisoners of Drapchi.  I believe that the tortures and sufferings Tibetan political prisoners faced under China are comparable to those of Jews under Nazi Germany."

Ghan Lhamo gave her testimony on specific female political prisoners who suffered in the Laogai prisons.  One woman is called Phuntsok Zomkyi and was formally a Buddhist nun.  Between 30 and 40 nuns were arrested, including Lhamo, and received sentences between 4 and 8 years.  They were not allowed to go out, except for the occasional grave digging assignment and when she was finally released, Zomkyi fled to India.  "These female prisoners faced an extreme bout of torture and physical abuse in prisons and forced labor camps.  They were often tied up, handcuffed and thrown into seclusion cells.  A great number of female political prisoners were Buddhist nuns and were often sexually assaulted by the military police."

Since 2001, there have been 38 self-immolation by Tibetans as a direct protest to the authoritarian rule of the People's Republic of China.  The Laogai Foundation is an organization dedicated to gaining justice for these prisoners and spreading human rights around this part of the world.  They work through research and documentation to gain evidence against not only the Laogai prison system, but China's one-child policy and unauthorized organ harvesting as well.  Visit their website or the Laogai Museum in Washington, D.C. to learn more about this issue and what you can do to support these survivors and how to join their fight in eradicating human rights violations in China.