Congratulations to the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking for being voted the 2011 Non Profit of the Year for Polk County!
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Lost Boys: New child-sex-trafficking research demolishes the stereotype of the underage sex worker
This article that was recently featured in the Miami Times has caused quite a commotion with agencies that focus on domestic minor sex trafficking. Many of these agencies are questioning the manner in which the research was conducted. A majority of these agencies are angry due to the results of this research. I have heard many people defend their program and point out the numerous girls that they have assisted. However one thing that many of these agencies have failed to realize is that this article does not say that “underage girls are not forced into prostitution”. It is simply stating that they also found boys involved in this. The number the research states is that 45% of the kids that were interviewed were males. If this is true this shows that the numbers of boys being victimized is almost as much as the number of girls. This study also talks about the difference between girls who are forced versus girls who are doing this in order to be able to provide for their needs. This is an interesting study and it is one that should be looked into. What if these numbers are accurate? What if they are not? At this time no one has any accurate number on how many children are victimized and forced into the commercial sex industry. This is something that has caused great debate among Anti Trafficking Organizations and the media. This is an issue that although has been happening for several years has recently been looked into.
So here is the study. Let’s us know what you think.
Sex trafficking: Orlando man enslaved girl into prostitution, feds say
By David Breen, Orlando
SentinelAn Orlando man faces federal sex-trafficking charges after authorities say he
forced a teenage girl into prostitution.
SentinelAn Orlando man faces federal sex-trafficking charges after authorities say he
forced a teenage girl into prostitution.
Benson December Coriolant, 29, was arrested late last month by federal agents
in the Tampa area, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern
District of Louisiana. He faces a senctence of up to life in prison if
convicted, as well as a $250,000 fine, and the possibility of lifetime
supervision if he were ever released.
Coriolant is charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children,
sex trafficking of children, coercion and enticement of an individual to engage
in prostitution, and coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal
sexual activity.
According to the indictment against him, Coriolant recruited the teen to work
as a prostitute beginning in 2009 in the Orlando area, giving her alcohol and
drugs and taking the money she earned. The girl was about 14 years old at the
time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Coriolant then arranged for the girl to work in the New Orleans area, using a
classified-advertising website to advertise and find clients, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office said. After working as a prostitute out of a hotel in Kenner,
La., the girl was arrested and returned to live with relatives in Orlando.
Coriolant later sent back the girl back to Louisiana and prostitution.
The FBI is investigating the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort to
combat child-sex trafficking that was launched in 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office said.
Records show Coriolant has a history of arrests in several Florida counties
on drug and other charges.
Cambodia convicts US paediatrician for sex abuse
An American paediatrician has been sentenced by a
Cambodian court to four years in prison for sexually abusing a 15-year-old
boy.
James D’Agostino, 56, was found guilty of purchasing child prostitution.
D’Agostino, a volunteer doctor at a children’s hospital in the capital Phnom
Penh, denied the charges even as he was sentenced.
The former pediatric emergency doctor will be deported after serving his
prison term.
“I don’t agree with it. I am innocent,” he told AFP news agency after the
verdict.
D’Agostino was arrested in February 2011 after the boy told authorities about
the abuse. The teenager had stayed in the home of the doctor, who paid for his
tuition.
Since 2003, Cambodian police and courts have increasingly targeted sex
offenders, in an attempt to shake off the country’s reputation as a haven for
foreign paedophiles.
Marco Rubio uses Senate platform to call attention to human trafficking
Alex Leary, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — In Immokalee, a dozen Hispanics spent long days in the fields then were forced to sleep in a rental truck. In Boca Raton, Filipino workers pulled grueling shifts at country clubs then returned home as captives, fed rotten chicken and denied medical attention.
Stories such as these from recent years in Florida are chilling examples of human trafficking — an issue officials say is growing but often overlooked.
“It’s a much bigger problem than I think most people are aware of and Florida, unfortunately, plays a role,” said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The state, in fact, is considered one of the hotbeds for human trafficking in the United States, where each year as many as 20,000 people are brought against their will or under false pretenses and forced to work or held captive.
Rubio said he wants to use his Senate platform to call more attention to the issue. The problem is most associated with prostitution, but forced labor is more common in Florida. A year ago in Pinellas County, FBI and local officials found 27 people living in two homes and suspected they were being forced to work at a Country Super Buffet. The case is still under investigation.
“People think slavery is something that happened 150 years ago and to the extent it’s happening, they think it’s happening halfway around the world, which it is,” Rubio said in an interview. “But it’s also happening here.”
Rubio addressed the issue during a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, saying he was shocked to learn the extent of the problem when he first got interested late last year.
Rubio said he’d work with colleagues to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which updates a law passed in 2000 and enjoys bipartisan support (Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is a co-sponsor.) The measure supports international efforts to identify the sources of trafficking and strengthens enforcement measures.
Rubio’s interest began with his wife, Jeanette. Last year, she saw a TV miniseries about the subject and began to study the issue. Mrs. Rubio has met with advocacy groups and sat in meetings of her husband’s staff.
Rubio’s office said the lawmaker is raising the issue during nomination hearings for ambassadors and in meetings with foreign officials. He is also a member of the Helskini Commission, a Congressional panel that works on global human rights causes.
During a hearing Wednesday, a leading advocate, Martina Vandenberg of Freedom Network USA, said challenges include a failure to protect victims, which contributes to what she deemed an “abysmally” low number of prosecutions.
“Many victims come from countries where corruption is utterly rife and they assume that the United States is no different,” Vandenberg told Rubio. “And indeed, that’s what the traffickers have told them. The traffickers have told them time and time again, that once they are captured by U.S. law enforcement they will be detained.”
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