Florida: door to door sales is an emerging trend of trafficking young people

This is a great and informative article as it shows that U.S Citizens can be exploited in other ways than just the sex industry. Unfortunately no one has taken the time to research Americans in trafficking. Well there has been research but it has all been on American teen girls that are forced into prostitution. Yet there are other things happening than just the teen girls that are forced into prostitution. For example, why has there not been any research done on American boys that are also forced into prostitution?

Did you know that in Florida there are two cases that were successfully prosecuted at the Federal level that involved African-American males? These two cases showed that there men, who were all homeless when recruited, were taken to various farms throughout Florida, enslaved and exploited. Most people picture undocumented migrant workers in the agricultural industry but never in a million years would they picture an American. We know that our homeless population is vulnerable and easily recruited, so how come no one has bothered doing research on this issue either.

This article sheds light on “a new trend in Florida.” I don’t believe this is new, I just think that people are finally seeing it for what it is.

A couple of years ago, three young men in a clean suit knocked on my door. Though bit annoyed as it was a distraction from finishing my homework, their speech certainly warmed my heart. These young men said that they were from inner city schools in Georgia and trying to go to college by collecting donations from the neighborhoods. They also said that I could either contribute some money for them or buy a subscription to a magazine which would help out inner city kids like themselves. But, little did I know then that these three young men might have been forced into door to door sales by their traffickers after being tripped of their identifications as runaways or missing children. 

Door to Door Sales; the new growing trends of human trafficking

This morning, one local  news report in Palm Beach, Florida, reported that the residents are experiencing the same incidents of children or young people selling magazines subscription. One local advocate says that it is a story that she is very well aware of and familiar with.  According to the advocate, if the young people are not selling enough subscriptions, they are subject to punishment like physical abuse or starvation. One female victim, according to the report, was locked into a car for three days because she failed to meet her daily quota. The advocate also said that most of these young men and women are runaways or missing children. What’s more, many of theses victims do not return from the tour. Instead, they are either sold to sex industry or even overseas, according to the advocate.  

Take Action 

The advocate therefore encourages the residents to ask these victims what and where they are about or how long they are going to be in town. Also, the advocate encourages the residents to contact law enforcement or outreach programs. 

 Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.

Twilight star Kristen Stewart to set up halfway houses for teen prostitutes

After receiving a $25 million paycheck for her role as Bella in the upcoming Twilight film Breaking Dawn, Kristen Stewart plans to put her fortune to good use. In an interview with Vogue, Kristen Stewart revealed plans to fund a network of halfway houses to help teenage prostitutes forced into the sex trade underworld get back on their feet. 

Kristen Stewart’s role as a teenage prostitute in the 2010 film Welcome to the Rileys inspired the 20-year-old actress to help others recover from the bleak sex trade underworld. In the film, she plays a teenage runaway and stripper who slips into the world of prostitution.

Courts and law enforcement are treating teen prostitutes as child abuse victims and their pimps as human traffickers; New York laws requires teen prostitutes to be sent to rehabilitation programs instead of juvenile detention. Statistics show teen prostitutes tend to have been victims of sexual abuse in their childhood. 

Kristen Stewart hopes her charity will help the young women. “That would be amazing. Right now it’s the thing I feel most connected to.”
 

CNN’s Amber Lyon investigates teen trafficking in America

Amber Lyon Reports for ‘Selling the Girl Next Door’ for Sunday, Jan. 23 at 8:00pm ET & PT on CNN/U.S.

Selling the Girl Next Door takes viewers into the world of underage American girls caught up in the violent sex trade.  Hundreds of thousands of girls under the age of 18 are ensnared into lives of prostitution annually, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.  Many are runaways or “throwaways” trapped in “the oldest profession” by pimps who sell them using modern sales and marketing techniques.

In a year-long investigation, CNN correspondent Amber Lyon reveals the devastating realities of the business of underage sex – speaking to a young teen runaway sold online from a Las Vegas hotel, the men that obsessively seek Internet sex connections, and women long into careers as sex workers who were trafficked as teens or children.

Selling the Girl Next Door debuts Sunday, Jan. 23 at 8:00p.m. ET and PT on CNN/U.S.  Selling the Girl Next Door will debut on CNN International on Saturday, Feb. 5 (please check local listings for airtimes).

Along the way, Lyon interviews well-known brothel owner Dennis Hof.  Hof’s sex workers describe their own dark pasts and the frightening underworld of underage sex trafficking.

Lyon also goes undercover herself, posting an online ad, and taking calls from solicitors – and Internet pimps – to understand more about how girls are victimized by traffickers.

An interactive map on http://www.cnn.com/siu, posted after Wednesday, Jan. 20, will share Lyon’s coast-to-coast journey – from Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and Nevada – trailing runaways, finding their families, meeting sex workers, and visiting a “Johns’ school” where convicted solicitors are forced to face the social and criminal consequences of their actions.

Selling the Girl Next Door was produced by Steve Turnham.  Courtney Yager was associate producer.  Kathy Slobogin is managing editor for CNN’s Special Investigations and Documentaries unit.  Scott Matthews is the executive producer for the unit.

Contact: Jennifer Dargan: jennifer.dargan@turner.com; 404.885.4638

More Resources Needed to Stop Human Trafficking

By Jonathon Emord

The United States Department of State estimates that there were approximately 12.3 million adults and children in slavery worldwide in 2010. The children were compelled to engage in labor, prostitution, involuntary domestic service, and soldiering against their will.

But because of the clandestine nature of the trade in humans, estimates of the numbers of adults and children in captivity vary widely. Despite the millions enslaved, there were only 4,166 successful prosecutions of traffickers in 2009.

Human trafficking occurs in almost every country, yet governments worldwide are failing to do what is required to combat the practice, and some are complicit in it. There is a dire need for greater resources to combat the evil, including far greater reliance on police decoys who pose as victims and as customers to ferret out the traffickers and bring them to justice.

Life Terms for Traffickers

In addition, penalties for trafficking need to be raised substantially, so that life terms become common for those who enslave others and for those who physically abuse adults. Severe punishment should be meted out for those who rape adults and children and for those who physically abuse children.

The United States is one of the principal destinations for traffickers.

 

In 2000, the United Nations adopted its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children (the so-called Palermo Protocol). In that same year, the United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. While those actions have increased awareness of human trafficking, they have not caused arrests, prosecutions, and convictions to reduce significantly the incidence of human trafficking.

Sophisticated organized crime operators move large numbers of people into human trafficking weekly. Many respond to false employment ads for maids, waitresses, and other low-salary positions, only to be kidnapped and compelled into labor or prostitution.

Others voluntarily become involved in prostitution only to find that they cannot escape the illicit practice because pimps or gang members threaten them or their relatives with injury or death if they do. Still others, children, are kidnapped or sold by their parents to traffickers and then end up as forced domestic servants or sex slaves.

Related Articles

• Human Trafficking in the US, a Growing Problem
• Chinese Regime’s Approach to Human Trafficking Critiqued

Trafficking destinations include the United States, Europe, South Korea, Canada, Australia, the Persian Gulf states, and many other countries worldwide. Women and children are often obtained from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, the Baltic States, and Mexico, among other poorer nations, and are then sent to service wealthier clients around the world. Children as young as three have been kidnapped and sold by parents in Pakistan and Bangladesh to be used as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The United States is one of the principal destinations for traffickers. Cases document human trafficking in women and children from Honduras to Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Latvia to Chicago; Mexico to Florida; Korea to Michigan; Japan to Hawaii; Cameroon to Maryland; Taiwan to Seattle; India to California; and Vietnam to Atlanta.

Greater Efforts Needed

Toronto International Airport has become a hub for moving international trafficking victims into U.S. and Canadian cities. Near the Canadian border, Toledo, Ohio, ranks fourth in the United States in arrests, investigations, and rescues of child sex victims (behind Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; and Las Vegas, Nevada).

There is perhaps no greater offense to human dignity and worth than slavery, and there is no more vile and destructive practice than the sexual abuse of children.

Consequently, each nation should invest substantially in means to ferret out, capture, and punish those engaged in this trade. Prosecutions should be high profile events and, upon convictions, should lead to stiff sentencing.

Without the investment of substantially greater efforts, particularly through the use of decoys to identify traffickers and through their prompt arrest, prosecution, and conviction, this scourge is likely to grow. Additional resources, public and private, need to be devoted to the care and nurturing of victims, helping to restore them to good health and security.

Jonathan Emord writes the column ‘Inside Washington’ for Troy Media Corporation. Copyright Troy Media Corporation.

How Facebook is used for Human Trafficking in Indonesia

This is an interesting article and very well written. However one thing that we at FCAHT want to point out is that this is something that just happens in Indonesia. This is an issue that we are also dealing with here in the U.S. It is known that recrutiment is also taking place on Facebook, Myspace, Hi Five and many other social network websites that are children frequent. This is an issue that is affecting the world.

We are FCAHT urge you all as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or mentors to take the time and educate our children on the issue of no just human trafficking but other crimes that often involve children. Too many of our children trust what they see or who they meet via internet. Too much personal information is accessible to traffickers, pimps and pedophiles. We need to make sure that our children stay safe and learn not to trust any person they meet online.

 Facebook can be used for social causes, connecting with friends or even market a product virally. But in Indonesia, Facebook is used as a channel for human trafficking.

Chief of Crime and Investigation, Toni Surya Saputra, said that based on the suspect’s confession, all victims are put to the market through Facebook.

Besides having a large group of Indonesian on Facebook, the social network also has applications like Photos to ease the trafficking procedures.

The client looks through the photos and contacts the “agent” once he decides to buy one of the girls. Even though we believe the group was created only for private members, the choice of using Facebook still shock us.

Indonesia is a huge social media nation. It houses over 33 million Facebook users and is the second largest Facebook nation, only falling behind the U.S. Interestingly, there are only about 40 million Internet users in Indonesia. In other words, 75 percent of the entire Internet Indonesian population are on Facebook. The social-networking site has become one of the most important online tools for marketers in Indonesia. Although using a platform as open as Facebook for trafficking is suicidal, the culprit confessed that this activity has been ongoing for two years.

“We’re still fighting the human trafficking in Indonesia. Our country has one of the highest human trafficking issues in Asia,” said Andi Primaretha, an Indonesian based in Jakarta.

On the contrary, there are groups formed on Facebook to fight Indonesia’s human trafficking problem. A Facebook group titled “Stop Human Trafficking Di Indonesia” has over 700 likes. As Facebook becomes more popular in Indonesia, it places stress on the police to monitor and trace down any vice activities conducted on the social network. Users could also report the issue directly to Facebook. A ‘report page’ option can be found at the bottom left of the site.

 

‘Worst form of child labor’ reported in Philippines

By Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:27:00 01/21/2011

Filed Under: Labor, Children, Poverty

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is one of over 120 countries where the “worst forms of child labor” continue to exist, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and often denying children the chance to attend school and learn the skills they need to become productive adults, according to a US Department of Labor report.

The exploitation of an unspecified number of Filipino children in prostitution, pornography and the sex tourism industry, as well as agriculture, domestic work, drug trafficking and child soldiering, is a “significant problem,” said the report which was posted on the US Embassy website.

US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis submitted the report “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor” last Dec. 15 to US Vice President Joseph Biden and the US Congress.

Seven pages of the 753-page report containing profiles of 125 countries, are devoted to the child labor situation in the Philippines.

Primarily girls

Three other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members—Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia—also figured in the report. No mention was made of child labor in Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.

According to the US labor department, Filipino children, “primarily girls, are trafficked from rural to urban areas for forced domestic service and commercial sex exploitation.”

While there are no reports of children in the military, child soldiering is a problem among anti-government and terrorist organizations, it said.

The secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front “has made commitments to stop the recruitment and use of children as child soldiers, but the current status of children in its ranks is unclear,” according to the report.

It said both the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group and communist New People’s Army, “both terrorist organizations, continue to recruit and use child soldiers.”

The report also said that many Filipino children are exploited in agriculture, “where they often work long hours, perform physically arduous tasks, use dangerous tools, and face a high risk of occupational injury.”

“Children are also commonly employed as domestic servants. Many child domestics work long hours and their isolation in homes makes them susceptible to sexual harassment and physical abuse. Domestic workers are sometimes subjected to forced labor.”

Children are involved in compressor mining to extract gold, which requires them to dive into pools of mud using an oxygen tube, and in deep-sea fishing where they dive from platforms to cast and retrieve nets in deep waters, which can result in falls, drowning and injuries.

Work at home

Some Filipino children also “work in home-based manufacturing industries that range from making fireworks to fashion accessories” which can be harmful because children work longer hours with no supervision, the report said.

The report noted government efforts to strengthen its legal and policy framework to combat the worst forms of child labor by creating anti-child pornography legislation and granting labor inspectors the authority to close businesses violating child labor laws.

However, it said “significant gaps remain in child labor law enforcement efforts (while) existing social protection programs are not sufficient to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labor