Dugard story one of many stories of sex slavery in America

By Mike Masten

President, Project Exodus

People all around the United States were horrified earlier this week when it was discovered that Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy had been keeping South Lake Tahoe resident Jaycee Lee Dugard captive and in a cage for 18 years in their Antioch backyard.

Garrido, a registered sex offender, kidnapped Dugard in June 1991 as she was walking to her bus stop in her South Lake Tahoe neighborhood. Dugard was 11 years old at the time.

According to reports, Garrido and his wife Nancy had kept Dugard in a shed hidden in a "backyard within a backyard" and had even fathered two children with the girl. Garrido and his wife have since been charged with kidnapping and rape.

Rightfully so, the Garrido story has been extremely disturbing for the majority of Americans, arousing feelings of sickness and deep anger at such an immoral injustice. However, even as disturbing as the Garrido story is, for modern day abolitionist it is not unique.

According to The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking published by Shared Hope International, at least 100,000 American juveniles victims of domestic minor sex trafficking annually. This number does not include the tens if not hundreds of thousands of children trafficked into the United States from overseas annually.

What these numbers show us is clear: while particularly disturbing, the Garrido case is only one of hundreds of thousands of similar cases happening in the United States at the moment.

So why don't we know about this? Why aren't alarms being sounded from every steeple and bell tower? Why isn't society up in arms about the other 99,999 victims of child sex trafficking in the United States?

One reason may be that there is a massive denial of the issue in the American public. This can be clearly seen in how the Garrido case is being handled. According to the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the crime of human trafficking is defined as:

A. The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age, or

B. The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

In the Garrido case, not only was Dugard held against her will and never allowed to leave the property, but she was also forced to commit sexual acts against her will and at a young age. For abolitionists, this is a clear case of domestic minor human trafficking. To the public however, it is not.

Instead of calling what happend to Dugard as it is, ie slavery, the Garrido case has been labeled a "kidnapping and rape" incident. While these charges are of course quite serious on their own, they fail to name the true nature of the crime.

By charging Garrido and his wife with kidnapping and rape instead of with domestic minor sex trafficking, not only are authorities making this incident out to be an isolated event, they are also continuing to deny the fact that the same thing is happening to an additional 99,999 children as well.

The result? America will be horrified and stirred up at "the most evil man of the moment" but eventually will go on living their happy peaceful lives thinking he is locked away, ignorant of the fact that, in reality, Garrido is really only one of hundreds of thousands of sex offenders doing the same thing to American children all across the states.

Sadly, Garrido is just the tip of the iceberg. How many more Jaycee LeeDugards will we have to find before we finally realize it?

Sex trafficking ring taken down in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES--A sex trafficking ring involving teenage girls has been broken up and four Guatemalan women have been sentenced to multi-decade prison terms.

Federal prosecutors say the impoverished victims from Guatemala were lured to the Los Angeles area and forced into prostitution. Some were forced to have sex with as many as thirty men a day or face beatings if they tried to escape.

Thom Mrozek in the U.S. Attorney’s office says international sex trafficking is new in Southern California.

“We don’t know how prevalent this activity is. We have a human trafficking task force that is active throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties and the Inland Empire working with local law enforcement to determine if there are any victims out there, how quickly we can spring into action and take these women out of their misery.”

Sentencing of the four women and a man ends a two-year investigation that began in the MacArthur Park area of Los Angeles.

Original story from Inland News Today

Fighting trafficking in Orange County

Yvette Cabrera

Columnist

The Orange County Register

ycabrera@ocregister.com

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of columns on human trafficking in Orange County.

Clickity click, clickity click. High heels tap the sidewalk in a pedicured staccato that sweeps across this forgettable Garden Grove shopping center. Curious onlookers can't help but stare from nearby storefronts.

The clatter comes from nine Vietnamese women who hastily walk out of a chiropractic office, their chic slip-ons shimmering in the hot afternoon sun. Dressed in form-fitting jeans and summery tank tops, the women climb into a waiting van that will deliver them to the Westminster Police Department.

They've just been caught in a police raid inside a chiropractic office that officials allege was a front for a brothel.

"This is the biggest one I've ever seen by far, locally," says Westminster police Lt. Derek J. Marsh, of the Aug. 7 sting operation.

Yet, rather than arrest the women for prostitution, Marsh says they were charged with being in a house of ill-repute, a lesser offense. Marsh also made sure the women were treated courteously, weren't handcuffed, and were given access to victim advocates and services.Why the special treatment?

The answer – and reason for this carefully orchestrated operation – lies with Marsh, who knows that what you see is not always what it appears to be: A brothel can also be a prison without bars for women trafficked illegally into Orange County, enslaved by pimps and forced to prostitute their bodies.

We may not see them, but victims of human trafficking live anonymously among us in our sunny cities, sexually exploited in residential brothels, or ferried to shopping centers where sex is sold alongside coin-laundries, cell phone shops and dry cleaners.

Human trafficking is a growing problem worldwide that experts say has worsened as the global financial crisis deepened this year. The federal government estimates that annually between 14,500 and 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States, Marsh says.

"No one wants to face the facts that those types of things exist. If they know about it, it's 'not in my backyard' so I don't have to worry about it," says Marsh, co-director of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, created in 2004.

"…But the reality is it's there. It may not be as prevalent as the government estimates; it may be more prevalent."

Sandra Morgan, the task force's administrator, says Orange County has become a destination for sex traffickers because of the county's wealth. And while most of the county's cases have involved sexual exploitation, Morgan says the demand for labor in sectors such as the hotel and restaurant industries, has also made them magnets for traffickers.

Story continued....

Heart of Darkness: the modern-day African slave trade

Original Article By Ruona Agbroko

www.234next.com

Standing just outside the town hall in Egor local government council, Edo State, Caroline Osasu did not allow NEXT talk to her daughter. This is not surprising. Mrs. Osazu mumbles in pidgin English that she agreed to this interview in the first place, only because the ‘fixer’ was her close friend.

“I can explain a little. I cannot just explain everything because...” she stops midway, as her eyes fill with tears. Fair-skinned, with some wrinkles, beautiful, though impoverished, this mother of seven won’t even look me in the eyes as we speak. She often retreats into a shell of silence; quite like the big snails she sells at Egor market for a meagre living.

Mrs. Osasu was approached by a family friend who said she wanted to “help” her 22-year-old daughter ‘travel out’. Her first child, whose name she did not reveal, worked for 10 months in Spain as a prostitute before she was deported two months ago.

She is just one of thousands of Nigerian females trafficked into the international sex trade yearly. According to the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons, (NAPTIP), about 10,000 Nigerian girls, aged between 13 to 17 years, are either in jail or held captive by sex-slave lords in Morocco and Libya, with a high percentage of them being indigenes of Edo State.

About that same number of females are also reportedly living and working in Italy as prostitutes. Adefunke Abiodun, Head, Benin zone of NAPTIP, said that within Africa, Nigeria is the largest single source of trafficked women to Europe and Asia. “It is a lucrative business for the trafficker, their recruiters... in fact, everyone, except the girls concerned”.

Mrs. Abiodun said although some girls were willing to get involved in the trade, they had no choice regarding which country they would end up in—or how life-threatening and lengthy their journeys would be. Only few go by air. And even then, they do so after going by road to other African countries (Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and South Africa) and may reach Europe by train.

Click here for the rest of the article....

Chinese government offering migrants classes on avoiding human trafficking

BEIJING- Migrant workers are getting free classes warning them about the dangers of child abduction and human trafficking, said an official with the Ministry of Public Security.

In an exclusive interview with China Daily, Yang Dong, deputy chief of the criminal investigation department, revealed that free classes on protecting children would be offered to migrant workers.

"Only a few missing persons cases would turn in to trafficking cases if we could get more cooperation from the community and if migrant families could provide more information to help trace the children before they are too far away," Yang said.

From 30,000 to 60,000 children are reported as missing every year, but it is hard to estimate how many trafficking cases that includes, he said.

The pilot project, launched yesterday with the assistance of the National Federation of Women and Children (NFWC) and the United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF), will be conducted in the villages of Kunming, Yunnan province and Dongguan, Guangdong province.

Landlords and factory owners have been enlisted to inform workers about the classes, because transient families are typically hard to reach.

The classes are part of a national crackdown on human trafficking launched in April, and if successful, they will be rolled out across the country.

"I might have lost my 4-year-old twins if I decided to work full time," Guo Caiyun, a 35-year-old housewife who moved to Kunming of Yunnan province months ago, told China Daily yesterday.

"I want to earn more money to support my husband to finish his postgraduate study in Yunnan University, but I changed my mind after participating in the community lessons," she said.

Guo is among the increasing number of migrants in the country whose children face a greater risk of abduction.

"Isolated living conditions in big cities cause urban people not to care about the floating population of migrants living in neighboring houses people do nothing even if they have doubts about strangers who talk with neighbors' children," said Guo Ye, the chief of the division of complaints and appeals under the NFWC.

"In rural areas the situation gets worse, as people don't always cooperate with police," he said.

Lei Meihua, a senior official with the provincial department of NFWC in Guangdong, told China Daily more than 60 percent of the population in Dongguan are migrant workers, and most work for local factories.

"That's why we need to encourage local entrepreneurs to join in our program," she said.

Bi Yonghong, a 39-year-old landlord in Shageng village of Kunming, told China Daily yesterday she promised to cooperate with the program.

"A missing child is a tragedy for any family, so I have the social responsibility to do a favor for my tenants if they are unaware about children's safety," she said.

To combat child trafficking, the Ministry of Public Security also set up a DNA database to link all the country's 236 DNA laboratories so they can share information.

The database includes DNA of missing children, given by their parents, and samples will be taken from children suspected of having been abducted or vagrant children with an unclear history.

"The national DNA database is particularly helpful for the big migrant population," lawyer Zhang Zhiwei, a volunteer with grassroots NGO Baby Come Home, told China Daily.

Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved

Filipino diplomat possibly killed for work in anti-human trafficking

MANILA- Police are looking into the possibility that Philippines Embassy social attache Finardo G. Cabilao was killed because of his work against human trafficking.

Cabilao was found sprawled in a pool of blood in the living room of his apartment in Taman Maluri, Cheras, on Aug 7. He was described as a staunch defender of human trafficking victims who had been duped into the sex trade.

Kuala Lumpur deputy CID chief ACP Khairi Ahrasa told Malay Mail that it was one of the possibilities police were looking into.

"We are checking if his death is linked to his work or related to personal matters," he said.

"We are liaising with the Philippines Embassy in investigating the case."

He said police had also seized Cabilao's laptop, among other items, that were found in the apartment to assist in investigations into the case that has been classified as murder.

Khairi said several people, including Cabilao's friends and colleagues, have been called for their statements to be recorded.

Police also had a meeting with representatives from the Philippines Embassy to discuss developments in the case.

Police ruled out robbery as the the motive since Cabilao's cash and valuables were intact. There was no sign of forced entry, suggesting that the person who had killed Cabilao was known to him. Cabilao's fellow social workers said he had received work-related death threats.

It was learnt he was writing a book on the business and victims of human trafficking for prostitution in Malaysia prior to his death.

He was buried on Tuesday at the Manila Memorial Park. His death has received wide coverage in his home country and over the Internet.

Original Article by: MalayMail.com

More men victims of human trafficking

By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2009 Houston Chonicle

The soft-spoken Salvadoran man bears no resemblance to the iconic images of human-trafficking victims, young girls whose faces are plastered on billboards alongside 1-800 numbers to report crimes.

His jeans hide a cigarette burn on his thigh, and a jagged scar that runs up his shin. It is a reminder, he said, of the day he escaped a remote ranch in Texas where he was held captive by a group of four human traffickers.

He said he was forced to work without pay for five months, picking vegetables at gunpoint. He was beaten and raped and burned with cigarettes, he said.

“You had to do what they said, or they said they would kill you,” said the man, who the Houston Chronicle is not identifying because he is believed to be the victim of a sex crime. “They treated us like animals.”

After five months, he escaped and ran for days until he found help. In February, he was certified by the federal government as a human-trafficking victim — one of a growing number of men identified as such in recent years.

According to the latest U.S. State Department report on human trafficking, some 45 percent of the 286 certified adult victims in fiscal year 2008 were male, a significant increase from the 6 percent certified in 2006.

Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which certifies victims of human trafficking, said the increase in the percentage of male victims is due mainly to an uptick in labor-trafficking cases. Seventy-six percent of all human-trafficking victims certified in 2008 were victims of labor trafficking, he said, while sex trafficking accounted for 17 percent. Five percent of victims were subject to both forms of trafficking.

Maritza Conde-Vazquez, a special agent with the Houston FBI who specializes in human-trafficking cases, said there has been an increase locally in the number of male human-trafficking victims, primarily from Central and South America. The majority of the cases, she said, involve forced labor at construction sites or in agriculture. She said she could not discuss details of the cases, which are still under investigation.

“We’ve seen an increase in male victims in the human-trafficking arena, and it’s a trend that I don’t think is going to slow down,” Conde-Vazquez said. “It will be a bigger problem with each passing year,” she said.

Conde-Vazquez also attributed the growth in the number of male victims in part to an overall increase in human trafficking. The State Department estimates that 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year, but the vast majority are never identified as victims.

“Human trafficking exists because it is very profitable,” Conde-Vazquez said. “It’s a low-risk business for the traffickers because they are not dealing with merchandise they have to safekeep — they are dealing with human beings. In that sense, it’s lower risk than dealing with drugs or weapons.”

Recognition of the growing human-trafficking problem in Houston has spawned coalitions and task forces that include law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

Houston is considered a human-trafficking hub because of its diverse population and proximity to the border, authorities said.

Males may be under-reported

Maria Trujillo, executive director of Houston Rescue & Restore Coalition, which helps human-trafficking victims, said the actual number of male victims is most likely significantly higher than reported.

“Male victims are really under-reported,” Trujillo said. “I think there’s just a bigger stigma for men. Some see (reporting) it as losing face, or just take it as their lot in life.”

Under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, victims who cooperate with authorities on trafficking can stay in the U.S. legally, at least temporarily while the case moves through the court system. Some victims meet the qualifications for a “T-visa,” a trafficking visa, which also offers a path toward legal residency.

The Salvadoran man said he met a “coyote,” a people smuggler, at the Guatemala-Mexico border in the winter of 2008.

He promised to pay the smuggler thousands of dollars in exchange for safe passage to the U.S. Instead, he said, he was taken to the ranch, and forced to work at gunpoint until he found a chance to escape during a rainstorm, when his captors were distracted.

Sgt. Michael Barnett, an investigator with Texas Beverage and Alcohol Commission who worked with a Houston police detective on the case, said investigators have searched extensively for the ranch where the Salvadoran man was held, but have been unable to find it. He said the case is still open.

The man said that when he first settled into his Houston apartment, he had trouble sleeping and would wake up every few hours with nightmares. Lately, he said, he’s been doing better, but still struggles with what happened out on the ranch.

“Sometimes I ask myself,” he said, “‘Why did this happen to me?’”

Original Article: Houston Chronicle