A Passion to Understand: Trafficking / slavery

Sunday, 11 December 2016

Book Review: The Chibok Girls by Helon Habila

On the evening of 14-15 April 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 female students from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria. The girls became known the world over as the 'Chibok Girls' yet surprisingly little is known about who they are, what their families are going through or the context in which this crime occurred. To date, in December 2016, almost 200 of the original abductees remains missing and the little that we do know is that their lives with Boko Haram are ones of untold horror, violence and sexual slavery.

Helon Habila is a Nigerian born author and professor of creative writing at George Mason University, Washington, D.C. In early 2016, he returned to Nigeria to take a road trip to Maiduguri and Chibok to speak to people not only about the events on that fateful evening in 2014, but about the long wait for the girls to return home and the present climate of war and strife in the region.

Habila has produced a chronicle of his time in Nigeria in the short but incredibly insightful The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria.

The book begins with accounts of the events of 14 April 2014 from parents and relatives of the girls who were taken and those that escaped. The residents of Chibok had received warnings that the town would be targeted that day and they had every reason to believe it. Massacres, assassinations and terrorist attacks have become ever more prevalent in what locals have begun to call the war with Boko Haram.

Just 9 months before the abduction of the girls from Chibok, Boko Haram militants entered a secondary school in Mamudo, Yobe State and killed 42 people, most of them students.

After spending time in Chibok, Habila moves on to Maiduguri and the heart of Boko Haram territory. He speaks of the effects of the civil war and how a divide was created between Christians and Muslims as successive governments misused state resources, culminating in the declaration of Sharia law in the area in 1999. Perhaps most chilling is the description of the rise of Boko Haram from a modest force to one to be reckoned with following the Boko Haram uprising in June / July 2009.

Moving back to Chibok, Habila collects yet more first-hand accounts of the fears and devastation of a community who have lost their daughters, sisters and friends.

Woven throughout the book is the story of the girls and the accounts of those who have escaped. Perhaps to be expected with the youth of the girls and the horrors that they experienced, there is very little in the book about their time with Boko Haram. Indeed, with so few escapees (and being that the book was in production at the time 21 girls were released in October 2016), we are but depending on the narratives of a handful of very traumatised girls.

Confronted with their reticence in the face on ongoing questions about their experiences, Habila notes the following:

Hauwa, Ladi, and Juliana were ordinary girls, young enough to be my daughter, who had been raised to almost mythic status by their extraordinary experience – Helon Habila, The Chibok Girls

Insightful, powerful and intimate, The Chibok Girls: The Boko Haram Kidnappings and Islamist Militancy in Nigeria is highly recommended for those interested in gaining a more in-depth perspective of the lives and people effected by Boko Haram activities.

The book is out in the States and will be released in the UK on 15 December 2016.

A discussion with Stephanie Hepburn, author of Conversation With My Daughter About Human Trafficking

The reality of human trafficking is often so horrific that it remains one of the most difficult subjects to discuss with children. How does one get into a conversation with children about how individuals are tricked, extorted and enslaved without exposing them to ideas that may be too mature for them, such as sexual exploitation, rape and the murder of their loved ones? How do we impress upon them that this is not just something that is happening in a far away country but something that is happening in our own city?

These are questions that Stephanie Hepburn was confronted with. After a decade of working in the realm of human trafficking and releasing the book Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight, Stephanie had a conversation with her daughter about human trafficking and realised that other parents would no doubt have this conversation too.

In Conversation With My Daughter About Human Trafficking, beautifully illustrated by James Guthman, Stephanie takes us through some of the questions that her daughter asked and the answers that she gave. The book is an excellent starting point for discussions on this difficult topic and will be of great use in classrooms and homes to get children talking and thinking about human trafficking and how they can identify, understand and prevent this phenomenon in their own environments.

We caught up with Stephanie to discuss the book and her experience in the field of human trafficking.

How did you become interested in human trafficking?

The impetus was my move to New Orleans in February 2006, not long after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and Gulf Coast region. The infrastructure was destroyed and there was a sudden demand for low cost labor, which allowed opportunity for unscrupulous people to step in. This was compounded by the decrease in law enforcement in the city and also federal under-enforcement of temporary work visas.

I saw red flags of exploitation and human trafficking all over the city and it made me realize that it can happen anywhere, not just somewhere far away. I began digging deeper and adding more nations as I went along. I ended up compiling my findings in Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight, which was published by Columbia University Press in 2013.

How did the idea for your book Conversation With My Daughter About Human Trafficking evolve?

After pulling my head out of the research world and talking to people about my book, I was able to learn what everyday people think about the issue of human trafficking. Adults are often wary of looking uninformed so these conversations, while useful, often seemed indirect. Eventually, I would figure out the piece (or pieces) of the puzzle they were missing and I could address it, but it took a while to get there.

Children are the opposite. They are unabashed in their curiosity and they say what they think and aren't overly concerned about seeming informed, so misunderstandings and areas of confusion are easier to identify. Kids are also awesome little people who are our future, so figuring out how to talk to them is essential for the future of humanity. Getting them to understand what to look out for and what red flags to identify in traffickers and victims creates an entire generation of eyes and ears that are way ahead of where we are now.

In your experience, which aspect of human trafficking is the most difficult for children to comprehend?

I think for my daughter the challenge is understanding why someone wouldn't just run away. Physical chains are something she can understand but the concept of psychological chains is more difficult.

How do you envisage that the book should be used?

I hope that parents read it and, when they think it's right, share the topic with their children. It's a difficult topic and my objective was to create an easy how-to guide on how to talk about it. The language is written in a way that parents can read it to their children. The graphics were created for that reason as well. That way parents can use it in multiple ways, whether as a tool for ideas on how to approach the topic or as a book to read with their children.

What feedback have you received so far?

The feedback has been overwhelming and positive. I have come to a point where preaching to the choir (advocates and others involved in the anti-trafficking realm) just isn't enough. Real impact will happen when your average person has a greater understanding on the topic. That said, reaching your audience is always the challenge. In this case it has worked and people are reading it and passing it along. I feel extremely happy about that.

The book is beautifully illustrated by James Guthman. Can you tell us a little bit more about his illustrations and how you came to work with James?

A colleague recommended him and sent a few pictures of his paintings and illustrations. He's very versatile and was able to capture the look I wanted for the book. It was important to me that the book contains a universal feel to it since human trafficking happens everywhere. So often this issue is unintentionally represented as happening to people in only a few parts of the world, based on the visuals used in tandem when the issue is reported. As a result, we chose a color pallet that does not indicate a specific race or region of the world, and to create vignettes when people are depicted in the story. The color pallet also had to mirror the tone of the book without being too visually depressing. It's a hard subject, so striking the tonal balance was important, and he did a really great job with it. You can check him out on Instagram at www.instagram.com/jamesguthmanart

Are there plans to release the book in paperback or hardcover or will it remain an ebook?

For now it will just be an ebook. I don't know what the future holds. Paperback would be fantastic!

**Together with Rita J. Simon, you've written another book about human trafficking Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight. Can you tell us a bit more about that?**

I talked a bit about the impetus above. The book took exhaustive research and time. In many ways it was my education on how to get one-step closer to communicating with the mainstream population on this topic. It contains narratives, which I find essential because people relate to stories. It also contains meaty statistics, which help to create perspective on the prevalence of human trafficking. It really is a great book for those who have been introduced to the topic and want to know more. I would say it's step two in reading after Conversation With My Daughter About Human Trafficking.

This was actually your second book with Rita, the first being Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over (Global Perspectives on Social Issues). That sounds really interesting. Can you tell us a bit about the issues you covered in that book?

This book was a turning point for me. I was in law school at the time and sick of my female peers having a negative knee-jerk reaction to the term feminism. Many of my friends would start off a conversation with "I'm not a feminist or anything but..." They worried they wouldn't be taken seriously if they were thought to be a feminist, which somehow has become synonymous with extremism. It isn't. It just means that the person believes women and men to be equal. That's it. Anyhow, I decided to write a paper, for one of my law school classes, that was just based on law and empirical data to illustrate where women actually stand in the U.S. My professor Rita J. Simon asked me if I wanted to turn it into a book. I did and I added on 25 other nations. It was eye-opening for me as I hope it was for readers. We have a long way to go.

What are you up to next?

My objective to bring awareness on labor exploitation and human trafficking to the mainstream world triggered me to open Good Cloth, an online ethical clothing shop, this past October. During the media junket of Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight I quickly realized that people wanted to know how to purchase ethically and to ensure that no one was harmed in the process. They, in essence, wanted to vote with their dollars for ethical change and corporate responsibility. Fashion is an ideal arena for informing people about human exploitation and positive changes they can make. People don't like feeling helpless, which is easy to feel when you hear about the horrors of human trafficking. This is a way for people to make positive decisions in their day-to-day life that actually make an impact. It makes the customer feel great and does a great deal for starting the dialogue about corporate responsibility and spotlighting designers who are taking excellent measures to protect workers and the environment.

Through the shop and my journalistic pursuits I will continue to try to reach the mainstream audience about this important topic.

About Stephanie Hepburn

Stephanie Hepburn is an independent journalist whose work has been published in the Guardian, Huffington Post, Americas Quarterly and the journal Gender Issues. She is a weekly and monthly contributing writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the Washington College of Law at American University, she integrates her legal and journalism backgrounds to create pieces that are highly informative and have a human tone. Her book with Rita J. Simon, Women's Roles and Statuses the World Over, was named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice. Her second book Human Trafficking Around The World: Hidden in Plain Sight was published by Columbia University Press in 2013.

Conversation With My Daughter About Human Trafficking is available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

Mimi Chakarova: Sex Slavery from the Inside

Mimi Chakarova is the Bulgarian director who is working tirelessly to investigate sex trafficking and to education and inform people about this practice. Many people are not aware that sex trafficking is rife in developing nations, that women are repeatedly tricked into working abroad as waitresses and then kept captive as sex slaves.

If you can, catch a screening of Mimi Chakarova’s documentary The Price of Sex (it is showing at the Frontline Club tonight) or visit the website, priceofsex.org.

The video below gives the first ten minutes of Mimi Chakarova’s presentation “Sex Slavery from the Inside” and you can watch the remainder of the video by clicking on the link in the screen “watch full program”.

It is an eye opening and shocking presentation that features case studies, explains how sex trafficking works and how widespread the problem is.

Frontline Club presents The Price of Sex (screening)

The Frontline Club in London are presenting a screening of Mimi Chakarova’s incredible documentary The Price of Sex. The screening is taking place tomorrow, 11 July 2011, at 7pm and the film is 73 minutes long. The screening costs £10 and is followed by a Q&A session with the director.

I’m really hoping to go but will have to make a final decision tomorrow afternoon.

My Dangerous Loverboy: Stop Sex Trafficking - The Official Music Video

I mentioned the My Dangerous Loverboy project yesterday in my post on the Feminism in London 2010 conference: Women in Public Life. The My Dangerous Loverboy campaign is a cross-platform film project to raise awareness about sex trafficking and more specifically, the phenomenon of “internal trafficking”. Many young girls are targeted by older teenage boys or men who then sell them into prostitution and exploit them.

This song is really catchy and I urge people to share the video to help raise awareness of a crime that is happening in modern, urban and often prosperous cities.

As you can see from the snapshot below, there is lots to see on the My Dangerous Loverboy website and many ways in which to get involved.

Breaking News: Young Girls Exploited for Sex in the UK

Link: Revealed: The horrific trade in British children for sex [Independent.co.uk]

This story has been in the news all week and this article is one of the less racist or alarmist pieces I have read on the matter. It is surely an alarming matter when school girls are lured from their homes by charming older men who groom them and then share them amongst their friends as sex slaves; it is just a pity that it took this case involving a schoolgirl from Manchester to convince the public that slavery and sexual exploitation of children is alive and well in the United Kingdom.

Actually, I wonder if even this case, as widely reported as it has been, will bring sufficient attention to the matter. You just need to look on the resources page for the National Working Group for sexually exploited children and young people to see that they have been trying to draw attention to the matter of child sexual exploitation and pimping for some time now. So why has this case drawn attention? No doubt it is the racial element, the fact that in this case, Asian men abused a white girl. That simply does not help. Child abusers come from all walks of life and they prey indiscriminately on children and young people. The victims just have to fit one profile and that is to be young, innocent and vulnerable.

Joanne, because she is now 18, is no longer of any interest to her former pimp, says her mother. The teenager is mentally scarred, homeless and drug addicted. "She's not a child any more, so they're not interested. They've used her up and thrown her out. One of them said to her: 'In five years' time you'll be a crackhead out on the street and I'll be cruising with another 14-year-old.' Five years down the line, she is on drugs, on the streets. He – like he told her – is cruising with another 14-year-old." – Independent.co.uk, 15 August 2010

Book Review: Enslaved: The New British Slavery

The year 2007 may have marked the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery but the reality is that many people around the world are living in conditions of forced labour or slavery. In her book Enslaved: The New British Slavery, Rahila Gupta gets in contact with five modern day slaves and convinces them to share their stories. These are heartbreaking and shocking tales that expose the hidden and invisible world of modern day slavery. All of these testimonies were obtained in England so this is not simply a "third world problem" that we can sweep under a rug; it is happening in our neighbourhoods.

The book includes the testimonies of five modern day slaves:

Farhia Nur was from Somalia. She told the story of how she was subjected to the most severe type of female genital mutilation, infibulation, when she was only eight-years-old. She was just seventeen years of age when war broke out in Somalia and she found herself unable to return home from her place of work where she helped out with household chores. Once dependent on her employers, they stopped paying her and one of the men in the family began to sexually assault her. She was eventually trafficked to England and began a long process of seeking asylum while repeatedly being subjected to further exploitation and unpaid labour.
Natasha Bulova originally came from Samara in Soviet Union. Natasha responded to an offer to work abroad and was trafficked to Brussels via Frankfurt. On arrival in Brussels she was sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution. When she tried to leave, she was informed that she was deeply in debt with her pimp for the costs of her transportation, visas and passport. After a particularly vicious attack by a client, she was sold to a pimp in London who also assaulted her repeatedly and forced her to work as a prostitute. Eventually she is caught in a police raid and begins the process of seeking asylum.
Naomi Conte was just ten-years-old when war broke out in Sierra Leone and she found herself homeless and alone on the streets of Freetown. After living on the streets for eighteen months, she was taken in by a family and made to look after their children for no pay. She was trafficked to England and made to work as an unpaid domestic servant and subjected to incredible abuse. She eventually escaped with a man to Birmingham but he soon began to prostitute her and took all of the money too. She eventually made it back to London where she discovered she was pregnant and began the long process of applying for asylum.
Liu Bao Ren tells the horrific story of his persecution as a Fujianese person in China and his gruelling and shocking journey as he was trafficked across Asia and Europe by a triad gang. He arrived in England quite by accident and began a process of working for near slave wages as he attempted to pay back the triad gang. He tells the story of paying exorbitant rentals for rooms that housed several men, cockle-picking on the coast and falling out of favour of the triads.
Amber Lobepreet from the Punjab in India was married young and the demands of the groom’s family almost ruined her own family’s financial standings. It seems that the couple were in love at first but Amber soon found herself abused by the mother and sister. They all moved to England where Amber was made to do all of the cooking and cleaning in the home and where her husband took on a lover. Amber was subjected to the most horrendous treatment before being rejected by both her family and that of her husband and finding herself all alone in England.

The five stories were very well told and were aided by competent interpreters. It is nearly impossible to put the book down as you try to come to terms with the fact that these are true stories that happened to real people and that some of the worst of these people’s experiences occurred within the borders of one of the most powerful nations on the planet.

In the last third of the book, the author takes an in depth look into why people migrate and the differences between trafficked victims and economic migrants. She goes into some detail in analysing the financial impact of immigration and seeks to dispel the myth that immigrants cost tax payers huge amounts of money. In fact, Gupta states, migrants constitute ten per cent of the population in the United Kingdom and produce eight per cent of the wealth. She reminds the reader that asylum seekers do not get free medical care and are extremely limited in their recourse to public funds. Gupta calls for wide-ranging reforms in immigration policy as she asserts that it is this policy which fuels situation in which slavery, forced labour and trafficking can occur. Such arguments might be especially pertinent now with the Conservative and Liberal Democrat alliance in power as both of these parties called for a tightening of immigration controls and more stringent conditions to be imposed on refugees.

This is a very good book that will dispel the myth that modern day slavery does not exist. I would certainly recommend it for any reader seeking to expand their knowledge of trafficking, slavery and the plight of asylum seekers.

You can click here to buy the book from Amazon.co.uk.

Combating Human Trafficking and Illegal Immigration Africa Summit 2010

Combating Human Trafficking

There is a three day summit taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa this week on Combating Human Trafficking and Illegal Immigration.

The objectives of the summit are to:

Brainstorm on effective strategies, proactive and pragmatic approaches
To reduce and prevent human trafficking
To raise awareness on the harmful effects of human trafficking
Provide an opportunity to share information, ideas and experiences on best practices to combat and monitor human trafficking more especially with Africa now hosting World cup Soccer in 2010
To expose the antics of human traffickers and address the issues of victim support services
To sensitize the government on the need to devote sufficient resources and the political will to combat human trafficking

Debbie Beadle from ECPAT UK has gone down this week to speak at the conference.

The topics for discussion are as follows:

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Keynote Address: International Policy Priorities to Combat Human Trafficking;
Human Trafficking in Member Regions: Developing Integrated Action;
Harmonising means of combating illegal immigration and illegal employment and improving the relevant means of control;
The Human Trafficking Experience in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa;
Comparative Case Study: Regional vs. National Approach towards Human Trafficking in Africa

Thursday 25 March 2010

Keynote Address: Protecting Victims of Human Trafficking: Raising Awareness of International and Cross-Border Issues;
Communicating Human Trafficking: From understanding to action;
Child Trafficking: Impacts and Safeguarding children trafficked to Europe;
Monitoring the implementation of instruments adopted by the Council concerning illegal immigration, readmission, the unlawful employment of the
third-country nationals and cooperation in the implementation of expulsion orders;
The threat represented by the Soccer World Cup to Women and Children in South Africa;
Evaluation of anti-trafficking and victim rehabilitation programmes;
Panel Discussion: Discussion on the Economic Recession and its impact on illegal immigration

Friday 26 March 2010

Workshop: Human Trafficking: Enhancing Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and International Cooperation

I would love to go to one of these summits one day. I guess I need to keep an eye open for when they are taking place in London.

MTV: End Exploitation and Trafficking (EXIT)

I have newfound respect for Lucy Liu and Angelina Jolie today. I hadn’t heard of MTV’s EXIT campaign before but the work that they have done here, along with other campaigners and celebrities, is incredibly valuable.

EXIT stands for “End Exploitation and Trafficking” and it is a multi-media initiative to increase knowledge of slavery and help in its prevention. The initiative has been produced by the MTV Europe Foundation which is a charity that uses the MTV brand to increase social awareness in young people.

These are links to just three of the videos on the MTV: EXIT site. They are incredible powerful and well produced short films that will open your eyes to the world of slavery and human trafficking around us. It is not as complex or as far away as we think and each one of us is a link in the chain of human trafficking. They are all quite short at 23 minutes in length.

Warning: the videos linked to below may upset sensitive viewers.

Inhuman Traffic: Angelina Jolie

This fast-moving and compelling documentary is narrated by Angelina Jolie. It tells the story of two women that were trafficked in Europe. Anna, from Romania, was trafficked by her neighbour and sent to Serbia and Macedonia where she was forced into prostitution for 2.5 years and Tatiana was sold by her boyfriend into prostitution in Amsterdam’s Red Light District.

Traffic: Lucy Liu

Traffic is equally powerful and is presented by Lucy Liu. This documentary focuses on trafficking in the Asia-Pacific region and tell the story of three victims. Ana was trafficked from the Philippines at the age of 17 and forced into prostitution; Eka from Indonesia was trafficked into forced domestic servitude in Singapore and Min Aung was trafficked to Thailand along with his pregnant wife and imprisoned for two years in a factory, sometimes working 17 hour days.

Sold: Lara Dutta

This gut-wrenching documentary is narrated by Lara Dutta, an Indian actress and UNFPA Ambassador. This time the focus is on South Asia and on children. Pramila was tricked into moving from her village in Nepal to a brothel in Pune when she was just 18; Afsana’s parents were approached by a woman from their own village who offered them money and told them they would get her a good job, she was then trafficked from her village in Bangladesh and forced into domestic servitude in Calcutta and and Zakir was sold by his own aunt and taken to work as a slave in a factory when he was just 11.

I would highly recommend these excellent and important videos. You can also read more of what I have discussed so far on Human Trafficking and Slavery.

Book Review: Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld by Tony Thompson

It occurred to me that I should begin to review some of the books and texts that had the most impact on me in my effort to learn more about the world around me. The reviews should post about once a twice a month. Many of the reviews will be from notes I took at the time I read the books and I have expanded where relevant.

Gangs by Tony Thompson

Published 2005 / Topic: organised crime, gangs, human trafficking

This book is absolutely phenomenal. It reads like the Sunday papers, but you won't put these papers down until you've finished.

In Gangs, Thompson takes the reader through a fascinating journey of Britain's underworld. There are chapters on armed robbery, human trafficking, kidnapping, drugs syndicates, money laundering, gun running and more.

The most incredible thing is that this is investigative journalism at it's best. It's not some toff sitting behind his desk and speculating. Thompson actually goes in there and meets these people, he goes into prisons and travels to Jamaica, he chats to men who are proud and men who are frightened for their lives, but mostly, he just listens... as is evident by the stories he relays.

If you've ever watched (and enjoyed) Trainspotting, Snatch or Layer Cake, I recommend you read this book. It's as close to the real thing you're going to get. But this is also an absolutely brilliant book that I recommend to anyone who wants to know more about what really goes on in the seedy underworld of organised crime.

Invisible Children: Legacy Tour

It is at times like this that I wish (more than usual) that I lived in the US.

They are no longer children but they are no longer invisible: former child soldiers, abductees, street children and orphans will be touring the US from February 17, 2010 and May 7, 2010 sharing their experiences and inspiration to audiences around the country.

Visit the Invisible Children website to learn more or download the PDF file of their proposed Spring 2010 Tour Routes and Dates.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Slavery Still Exists

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the United States. many people worldwide, like myself, have chosen to draw awareness to this day as slavery and human trafficking is a worldwide problem.

In my travels today, I have come across a great many links that I would like to share with you.

1) Blog: Stop Child Slavery

Link: Make someone aware of human trafficking today

I don’t think Jeff’s efforts have been anaemic. I think he has an amazing and important blog and recommend that everybody spend some time going through his articles and learning about the spectre of child slavery worldwide. Jeff is among the growing number of people who makes me want to be a better blogger and activist.

2) Organisation: Polaris Project Action Center

The Polaris website states that slavery is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world. They remind us that it is happening in our midst and give information on human trafficking and modern-day slavery and they also advise on how to make a direct impact in the lives of victims and survivors.

One of the greatest featured of their website is a Recommended Reading List on the topics of slavery and human trafficking. I can’t wait to get my hands on some of those books!

3) Twitter list: Demi Moore’s ‘End Slavery’ list

The more I hear about how Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore work to raise awareness about important issues, the more respect I have for them. I respect all celebrities who take part in social awareness projects an pursuits.

Click on the wonderful sites in Demi Moore’s list and spend the afternoon learning about slavery and reading up on the various topics and issues.

4) Twitter list: Missus Emm’s ‘activism’ list

You can also subscribe to my ever-expanding list of Twitter users promoting activism. If you’d like to suggest links to me, simply reply to @missus_emm.

5) Organisation: End Slavery Now

The website for End Slavery Now has a very simple format telling people how they can Learn - Tell - Report – Act.

6) Article: 40 Ideas for Action

Change.org is a fantastic website and Amanda Kloer is an amazing writer.

40 Ideas for Action on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day: From Facebook to Legislation is a must read article.

7) My personal tip: Don’t buy pirated DVDs.

If I had to think of one change that any normal person could make it would be to stop buying pirated DVDs.

The Guardian ran a piece last year titled: Fifth of Britons unknowingly aid child trafficking and the British anti-pirating body F.A.C.T. has also drawn links between human trafficking, the drug trade and pirated DVDs on its news page. Never, ever, ever buy pirated DVDs and report the crime to the police. Who knows, you may free that vendor from forced labour too.

Recommended Blog: alenow.org

Abolish - Liberate - Emancipate NOW is the simple message behind the blog alenow.org. Run by Matthew Jack, a Federal Agent in Washington DC, the blog “intends to provide news, discussions and resources on social justice topics such as, Human Trafficking, Sexual Exploitation, Modern Day Slavery, Holocaust Issues and Genocide”.

The blog is frequently updated and is full of relevant news from both America and the international arena. One of the biggest messages from this blog is that human trafficking is not just something that happens in third world countries, it is alive and well right inside urban, first world America.

This blog is one of those that I have discovered that has immediately made me want to be a better blogger. It is a truly inspiring blog that makes me realise that I can make a difference and there are people out there in the world who want to make a difference too. Not only does Matthew give you the news and the lowdown on human trafficking, he tells you exactly how you can make a difference too:

5 Steps to Fight Human Trafficking with a Movie Night

10 Things Teens Can Do To End Human Trafficking

I’d certainly recommend adding alenow.org to your RSS feed reader today.

Human Trafficking Defined

Image source: Human trafficking, slavery and the sex trade

I found this fantastic table on the US Department of State website and I do hope it is acceptable to reproduce it here for purely educational purposes. The chart was developed by the Solidarity Center and is meant to be a simplification of the 2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.

In order for an a situation to be considered an act of human trafficking, it must have at least one the elements listed below in each of the criteria of process, ways / means and goal.

This is especially significant as the ways and means generally refer to an element of force and imply that the individual is a non-willing participant and the goal speaks to the perpetrators’ nefarious and illegal intentions. When we speak of human trafficking in the current sense, we are not talking about refugees banding together to boat their way into a safer country. These are people who are tricked or coerced during the process and are forced into slavery, prostitution or bonded labour on the other side in order to “buy” their freedom or simply save their own life or the lives of their families.

Process

Way/Means

Goal

Recruitment

Transportation

Transferring

Harboring

Receiving

Threat

Coercion

Abduction

Fraud

Deceit

Deception

Abuse of Power

Prostitution

Pornography

Violence/Sexual Exploitation

Forced Labor

Involuntary Servitude

Debt Bondage
(with unfair wages)

Slavery/Similar practices

Source: US Department of State: Human Trafficking Defined

Child Sexual Exploitation: Silence is Acceptance

There is a fantastic photo essay on the UNICEF site entitled Silence is Acceptance. It has a really powerful message to tell about the proliferation of child sexual exploitation worldwide and is accompanied by photographs and personal stories of a number of victims and survivors.

UNICEF does a number of thought provoking photo essays and other titles include: Building a world fit for children, The rights of the child - Part I and The rights of the child - Part II. Their site is certainly worth a visit; in fact, the “rights of the child” photo essays gave me goosebumps over every single part of my body. It is a chilling and poignant reminder of how precarious the state of our world’s children that we had to codify and implement such a rights charter.

The Horror of 21st Century Sexual Slavery

Whilst there are legitimate forms of human trafficking, in recent years the term has come to represent the practice of recruitment, transportation, harbouring or receipt of human beings. These people can be willing participants (for example, refugees wanting passage to another land) but they are often abducted or taken by force. Once in the hands of the person receiving them, they are often forced into prostitution or slavery (sexual or otherwise), debt bondage or other kinds of forced labour and involuntary servitude.

"Human trafficking is the second largest organized crime in the world, it has become a larger business than drug trafficking and has generated over US$9.5 Billion/year" - United States Department of State

In his column, New York Times journalist Nicholas D. Kristof wrote a piece called The Evil Behind the Smiles. In it, he discussed the experience of Sina Vann, a girl who was kidnapped at age 13, drugged, used for sexual slavery and beaten and tortured repeatedly.

“I had heard about torture chambers under the brothels but had never seen one, so a few days ago Sina took me to the red-light district here where she once was imprisoned. A brothel had been torn down, revealing a warren of dungeons underneath.

“I was in a room just like those,” she said, pointing. “There must be many girls who died in those rooms.” She grew distressed and added: “I’m cold and afraid. Tonight I won’t sleep.”” - The Evil behind the Smiles [New York Times]

Following this piece, Kristof heard from several readers doubting that conditions were so abusive and saying that many women go into prostitution willingly. There is a huge difference between prostitution and sexual slavery. Prostitutes are paid, slaves are not.

I must admit though, I was also quite naive about sexual slavery and human trafficking at one stage. I was naive about a lot of things until I read Gangs: A Journey into the Heart of the British Underworld by Tony Thompson. My review of the book can be found here. The biggest thing I learned from his book is that crime is not fun or exciting or entertaining. It is destructive and horrible and things like sexual slavery do happen and they destroy the lives of thousands of people.

So I would never pass judgement on people for their naivety, for not being about to comprehend such evil. The video below is by Kristof too. It is mildly upsetting and may offend sensitive viewers but it is not too graphic.

“Barack Obama’s presidency will symbolise a victory over the long legacy of 19th century slavery. I hope that his administration will do more to tackle 21st century slavery” - Nicholas D. Kristof in The Face of Slavery

Next week I will feature some of the great organisations that are working to overcome sexual slavery and help victims to recover.