Global Human Traffiking Watch

Israeli rabbi arrested for repeat rape

2012-03-01T20:38:00.002-08:00

A photo released by Israel’s Ynet news website shows Rabbi Yigal Krispel as he appeared before the court over sexual assault charges.

Thu Mar 1, 2012 4:29PM GMT

An Israeli rabbi has been charged with repeated sexual assault on students in a girls’ school in a city north of Tel Aviv where he used to work as principal.

Rabbi Yigal Krispel, 47, was arrested last week after two former students at a school for Haredi (Orthodox Jewish) girls filed complaints against him saying he had sexually assaulted them.

The Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court has extended the remand of the Netanya rabbi, who has also been accused of raping a young teacher.

The family of the 20-year-old teacher complained that Krispel had abused his power to have sexual relations with her.

Israeli authorities said the prominent Netanya figure was now suspected of indecent acts, sodomy, sexual misconduct, nonconsensual sex and rape, involving both minor and adult victims.

Despite the rabbi’s denial, Judge Miri Ben Ari said the evidence yielded reasonable suspicion and sufficient grounds for arrest.

Some details of the affair surfaced last year when a Netanya resident who helps Haredi girls filed a police complaint based on what the girls told her of the abuse.

Israeli police, however, decided to arrest her for impersonating a psychologist and later dismissed one of the cases.

MRS/JR/IS

The African story, told the African way

2012-02-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

AL Jazeera English

Africa Investigates

"We were two black Africans doing a job that was normally done by white foreign correspondents."

Africa Investigates Last Modified: 17 Nov 2011 10:05

The African story, told the African way - Africa Investigates - Al Jazeera English

By Stanley Kwenda

I have just finished doing something I never thought I could do. In the past, I have worked as a fixer for foreign journalists in Zimbabwe; used to running around at someone else's beck and call rather than being the 'action man'. For a long time, I wanted to be able to tell the story of my country and my continent on television but never had an opportunity to do so.

After struggling with this for many years, I have now finally had the chance to tell that story in front of the camera. This is unique to me, as like most African journalists, I have become used to our stories being told by foreigners, some with little or no knowledge of the local landscape or culture.

Often they came with a pre-conceived story idea which they were then forced to change when they were on the ground. And although an experienced journalist in my own right (I have tried several times before to do a story for international broadcasters), they have often been happier to have the story told by their man, and for them to be in control. They fly in reporters, cameramen and producers from Western capitals and use me merely to set up meetings or arrange interviews, to be their driver or even just to act as a human GPS, telling them where to go.

But now, I have finished making my first television documentary for Al Jazeera and I cannot even express the excitement that I feel. I cannot wait to get my career in this business off the ground and to make another one. And Africa has a lot of untold stories. These are no ordinary stories; they are powerful tales about real people in real situations that can change the world and my continent for the better. That is why I shall always be grateful to Al Jazeera for showing confidence in African investigative journalists and giving people like me an opportunity.

Apart from being able to tell the story of my continent in my own words and encouraging democracy, I have learnt a great deal about broadcasting and gained skills which I can use in the future. I know it is a defining moment not just in my career but can also be an inspiration to others like me who never thought they could do it.

It all started in June when I was invited to visit to an Al Jazeera workshop in Accra, Ghana. At first, the journey seemed to be more of a holiday, an adventure in the African jungle, rather than a business trip. I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. That week was to be a turning point in my life. In Accra, I met some of the best in the broadcasting industry. Although it took some time to find my feet, it was during this week that I was commissioned to do my first television project, a film called Zimbabwe's Child Exodus - about the difficulties and dangers tens of thousands of children face every year when trying to cross the border from Zimbabwe to South Africa.

Back in Zimbabwe, I was paired with Kenyan television producer/director Peter Murimi. When I drove to the airport to welcome him, I assumed I would meet a bossy man who would make me run around. But there he was: an African like me, quite eager to learn from me, despite the fact that I was a mere green horn who knew nothing in this business.

The following three weeks were to be the most defining moments of my career as a journalist. It was a joy to work with Peter because he understood exactly where I was coming from, since he had also travelled the same road. We faced many hurdles, but somehow we made things work, going through a dozen retakes to get a sequence exactly right or escaping from some of the dangerous situations we encountered.

Peter was patient with me and took me through the tiniest of details in this business, helping me to understand how and why things were done. And him being an African helped a great deal in developing the story that we were following, in understanding the deeper issues behind it. We were two black Africans doing a job that was normally done by white foreign correspondents. But there we were giving our own account in a way which we knew and understood was more genuine.

It happened because Al Jazeera took a gamble on me and threw me into the deep end. They believed in me and kept telling me: "The secret about this business is that there is no secret." And indeed I have learned there is no secret other than believing that you can do it and working hard to tell your own stories.

This series, Africa Investigates, has opened doors for me. Had it not been created, then my dream of being able to tell Africa's story on international television would have remained unfulfilled. But I am not alone. It is a platform to showcase African talents and there are many other fine journalists whose films will feature in the weeks ahead. The fact that Peter and I did this one together is clear testimony that as Africans we can give a global audience an inside perspective that foreign correspondents would never be able to give.

Africa's story has often been about crises, about war, poverty and hunger but Al Jazeera has established a means through which other stories about Africa can be showcased. Those stories may be about Africa's problems too, but in telling them ourselves it shows that we understand them and can work to find our own solutions.

Death of Calif. girl after fight ruled homicide

2012-02-27T20:03:00.001-08:00



Students and parents arrive past a memorial, left, outside Willard Elementary School for student Joanna Ramos, 10, in Long Beach, Calif. on Monday Feb. 27,2012. Ramos, who died Friday night after a fight with an 11-year-old in an alley near their elementary school underwent emergency surgery for a blood clot on her brain before her death, her sister said Monday. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press – 28 Feb 2012

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — What began as an after-school fight between two young girls over a boy exploded into a homicide investigation Monday, when authorities said a 10-year-old died of a head injury after the confrontation with an 11-year-old classmate.
The finding rattled the already shaken school community at Willard Elementary, where Joanna Ramos attended the fifth grade. She died Friday, about six hours after a brief fight with another girl in an alley near the school in a working-class neighborhood in the port city of Long Beach.
Joanna, who would have turned 11 on March 12, underwent emergency surgery for a blood clot on her brain late Friday after she began vomiting and complained of a headache, her older sister, 17-year-old Vanessa Urbina, told The Associated Press.
Investigators have not detailed what might have led to such an injury. A blow to the head could have caused a deadly trauma, though the circumstances in this case are exceptionally rare.
Punches to the head can often lead to delayed bleeding if a vein is torn, and that can lead to a clot when blood collects on the surface of the brain, said Dr. Keith Black, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"This is rare, in that I've never seen it in a female, certainly not in a female adolescent," said Black, who was not involved in Joanna's medical care.
Black sees such injuries all the time among older patients and said a blow to the head from one young girl to another could "absolutely" be sufficient to cause enough trauma to lead to death.
Joanna was unconscious by the time she arrived at the emergency room, but hospital staff revived her three times before she went into surgery for the clot, Urbina said.
"After surgery the doctor said she was still alive, and then a few minutes later he comes back and tells us that her heart stopped and they couldn't bring her back," Urbina said, crying as she sat on the steps of the school near a memorial of flowers and balloons.
Police said they have made no arrests and were conducting an investigation that will be presented to prosecutors when it's completed. Coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said Ramos died of blunt force trauma to the head, but he didn't immediately have further details about her injuries.
Worried parents lingered as they dropped off their children Monday in a light rain and wondered aloud how the school, tucked a few blocks off a major city street, could have become the scene of such unexpected violence.
Victoria Pyles said her daughter started classes at the school last week, after the family moved to the neighborhood. Her daughter likes the school, Pyles said, but now she isn't sure whether to leave her there.
"I'm just so confused at this moment, thinking should I take my daughter out of this school," Pyles said. "If this is what is going on, I don't like it. It's very scary."
School officials believe the fight occurred near the school in a 15-minute window between the time school let out and the start of Joanna's after-school program at 2:30 p.m., said Chris Eftychiou, a spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District.
Joanna didn't have any visible injuries or show any signs of distress for about an hour, but she eventually told staff she felt unwell and was picked up by a relative, he said.
Urbina, the older sister, said Joanna's cousin picked her up. After he mother retrieved her, Joanna vomited in the car all the way home and told her mother she felt sleepy and wanted to go to bed.
Symptoms — such as headache, nausea, lethargy — may not set in for hours and people can mistakenly think that they're fine, Black said.
Typically, he said, the hit to the head would have to be fairly significant to cause a blood clot and often involves the head hitting walls or the ground, but a punch is enough.
"You can certainly get enough of an impact to get enough movement in the brain by a fist to tear a vein, if it's in the right location," Black said.
Police have said the fight lasted less than a minute, did not involve weapons, and no one was knocked to the ground. Detectives interviewed family and friends of both girls, but there was no indication that Joanna was bullied. Seven witnesses to the fight were being interviewed.
A friend of Joanna's saw her as she reported to the after-school program after the fight and said she had blood on her knuckles from wiping at a bloody nose, said Cristina Perez, the friend's mother.
Perez said her daughter, who is 10, heard about plans for the fight during recess earlier in the day and knew to stay away from the alley after school.
"We've just got to pay more attention to our kids too, not just dropping them off at the school. I'm always on my daughter, always," Perez, 30, said as she gathered with other concerned parents outside the school Monday. "I tell her, 'You see a fight (and) you stay away from it.'"
Perez and other mothers said their children told them the fight was over a boy.
"They took off their backpacks, and they put their hair in a bun, and then that's when they said 'go' and that's when they started hitting each other," Joanna's friend and classmate Maggie Martinez, who watched the fight, told KNBC.
Martinez and other friends said they tried to stop the fight but were held back by boys who were watching and wanted it to continue.
Urbina said her sister was a happy child who liked to sing, dance and watch soap operas and loved having her hair curled. She had asked her parents to take the whole family to an amusement park to celebrate her birthday.
Joanna also helped Urbina care for her infant son and would get up in the middle of the night to fix him his bottle, Urbina recalled.
"She was so young for this to happen," Urbina said. "She was so happy and so many people loved her."
Fights involving young children, including girls, are increasing nationally, in part because of the wired world children now live in, said Travis Brown, a national expert on bullying and school violence.
Children used to have a disagreement at school and would have a night or a weekend to cool down, but social media and text messaging mean students can continue their dispute 24 hours a day, he said.
Social media sites also allow other students to weigh in and amplify the pressure to settle things in a public way, said Brown, who runs the website nobullyingtour.com.
"There was a time when a kid had a way to escape the things at school, but now there's no escape," he said. "That stuff just escalates to a point where it gets out of hand. This is an everyday occurrence."
Associated Press writers Robert Jablon, Alicia Chang and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Death of Calif. girl after fight ruled homicide
Newsday - 42 minutes ago
Coroner rules homicide after California girl dies from injuries in school fight
Fox News - 8 hours ago
Girl, 11, dies within hours of after-school fight
msnbc.com (blog) - 16 hours ago

Islamic culture in a non-Muslim state

2012-02-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

Opinion | Columnists

A Saudi cleric contends that what Americans practise are religious principles that are ignored in his own country

By Tariq A. Al Maeena, Special to Gulf News
Published: 00:00 February 26, 2012

Image Credit: Illustration: Luis Vazquez/Gulf News

This is a true story that revolves around a Saudi student who went to the United States to work on his MBA. He was accompanied by his wife and two children, a daughter aged eight and a son who was six years old. The family initially settled in Richmond, Virginia not far from where the husband had to pursue his studies.
It was not long after that the husband's abusive nature towards his wife began to manifest itself. Initially it was verbal abuse, but it wasn't long before it turned to physical assault. On more than one occasion it caused bodily harm.
The wife's cry for help during such times would invariably draw the attention of their Saudi neighbours, who would try to intervene and play the role of peacemakers, appealing to the husband to refrain from such violence towards his wife.
After completing one semester at his present institution and to avoid what he felt was the bothersome meddling of his Saudi neighbours in his private affairs, the husband then moved his family to an isolated house in a suburb in a city in Ohio where he had enrolled in another university for the remainder of the term. The change in location however did not provide any relief to his forlorn wife.
The verbal abuse and the physical battering continued, only this time there weren't any sympathetic neighbours around. After one such incident where he had left her in pain, she called her father and brothers in Saudi Arabia, only to be told that she had to sort this out with her husband, and that a wife had to put up with her fate, whatever it was. Alone and desperate, it was then that she mustered up enough courage to call the local police.
Within minutes, five police patrol cars were around the house. After the cops were satisfied that this was indeed a case of domestic violence and the husband was an unrestrained abuser, they decided to take him into custody. They also moved the wife and children to a nearby hotel where they would not be isolated.
As the wife could not drive and had no means to sustain herself, the next day, the police arranged for one of the patrol cars to take the children to school and back. They even arranged with the social welfare services to provide food, some spending money and other necessities for the family while the husband was being held for questioning.
The Saudi mission in Washington soon arranged for the bail of the student who was ordered by the police to stay away from his wife and children until the judge had made his ruling. The wife was advised to appoint an attorney to represent her interests. When she found out it would cost over $6,000 (Dh22,020), she simply broke down. She had no money, her family back home was unsympathetic to her requests for help, and she did not want to lose her children.
Divorce granted
Two attorneys who happened to be in the building upon hearing of her plight volunteered to fight her case. The trial affirmed her allegations of abuse and the judge granted her request for a divorce from her husband and full custody of her children.
The social services soon moved the family to a small house in a pleasant neighbourhood. Her children were exempt from paying tuition fees. Soon after that, helping hands arranged a job for her that paid her $3,000 per month, enough to sustain herself and her two children. Based on her request, her visa was then changed to immigrant status to enable her to obtain US citizenship if she so pleased.
Saudi cleric Ayedh Al Garni, once a hardliner now turned reformist, had sometime back written a piece titled I wish I was American on the plight of this particular Saudi woman caught in an abusive marriage and far away from home. He contends that what the Americans practise are the principles of Islam that somehow we choose to ignore in our own country.
In his piece, he expresses surprise that the codes and ethics ingrained in their laws are so similar to the doctrines of Islam. He refers to the many cases in Saudi Arabia involving domestic violence that are so often ignored by families or social services and the plight of abused women is swept under carpet or dusted away, contrary to what is practised in that non-Islamic society.
Some 1,400 years ago, Omar Bin Al Khattab, the second of the four khalifas (Caliphs) of Islam upon hearing of domestic abuse by a husband went with his sword to the culprit's house and rescued the hapless woman, threatening the husband to straighten up his ways or else! In a land that gave birth to Islam, one wonders where such people are today. And are such noble deeds only to be found in America?
Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Waging peace not war in Somalia

2012-02-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Opinion | Columnists

With the backing of the people and global community, this year will witness progress towards a more stable nation

By Augustin P. Mahiga, Special to Gulf News
Published: 00:00 February 27, 2012

Image Credit: Illustration: Nino Jose Heredia/©Gulf News

An important high-level conference on Somalia in London on February 23, sponsored by the British government and attended by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, presented an unprecedented opportunity to take stock of — and reinvigorate — the international community's engagement in Somalia. These are momentous days in the Horn of Africa.
In early December 2011, Ban travelled to Somalia and announced that the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) would move its headquarters to Mogadishu. There was no shortage of doubters, but I am pleased to say that my office has now relocated from Nairobi, and for the first time since 1995 a Special Representative of the Secretary-General is based in the Somali capital.
This encouraging sign caps a year of remarkable progress and transition in the Somali peace process. Continuing attacks by Al Shabab, as well as piracy and kidnappings, may dominate the international news, but for the first time in many years, Somalis have a real reason to hope for a better future — that is, if the international community and the Somali authorities can capitalise on this moment of opportunity.
First of all, I could move here from Nairobi because Mogadishu is now relatively safe. After years of fighting, the brave African Union (AU) peacekeepers (known as Amisom), assisted by the armed forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, pushed Al Shabab out of most of the city. Unfortunately, the militants have resorted to terror tactics, and their suicide attacks have claimed many innocent lives.
This month, the UN Security Council is expected to approve an increase in Amisom's force strength. This would allow the troops to expand their areas of operation outside Mogadishu and bring soldiers from Kenya, who are battling the militants in the south of the country, under the same umbrella.
Consolidation on the security front will be critical to sustainable progress, and I call on the Security Council to approve the requested increase and give the AU forces the resources they need to finish the job that they have so ably started.
In September 2011, the Somali authorities adopted a "roadmap for ending the transition," which commits the Transitional Federal Government to a series of concrete tasks and fixed benchmarks to be accomplished by the end of August 2012. The roadmap focuses on security, constitutional reform, reconciliation, and good governance, and its implementation will be critical in moving forward in a transparent and inclusive manner.
Probably the most important task is to finalise the draft constitution by May 2012 in consultation with all Somali stakeholders, and to adopt it provisionally through a Constituent Assembly until conditions permit a referendum. The other main task will be to select a new parliament, which will then choose the new leadership. Somalia deserves and requires a representative government.
Sustained relief
I hope that my presence in Mogadishu will also encourage more members of the international community to re-establish a full-time presence here. The complete engagement of international and regional actors and donors will remain a central component of progress for the foreseeable future.
Being permanently based here allows us to be closer to all of the stakeholders — the Transitional Federal Institutions and other administrations, NGOs and other civil-society groups, business leaders, journalists, and the Somali people in general.
As a result, it will be much easier to communicate, exchange ideas, and take important decisions quickly during this crucial period. I saw great interest in Somalia at the African Union's recent summit in Addis Ababa, and at a meeting in Djibouti of more than 40 governments and regional groupings that belong to the International Contact Group on Somalia. The region is engaged and behind our efforts.
Of course, after two decades of conflict, Somalia's problems will not be solved overnight. There are still hundreds of thousands of people affected by the drought and famine who require urgent and sustained help, and we must work to prevent such a disaster from recurring. The insurgents continue their efforts to undermine the peace process, and political wrangling and discord threaten to paralyse the fragile institutions of governance.
I truly believe that this time, with the backing of the Somali people and the global community's engagement and political will to see the process through, this year will witness real progress towards a more stable and prosperous future for the country.
The world is watching, and we will need the expanded participation and contributions of all stakeholders if we are to capitalise on this hard-earned moment of opportunity.

Augustin P. Mahiga is the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia.

HORN: Poor rains again this season?*

2012-02-27T09:37:00.000-08:00

humanitarian news and analysis
a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Photo: Kate Holt/IRIN

Families queue for food at a feeding point in Mogadishu last year

JOHANNESBURG, 10 February 2012 (IRIN) - The climatic conditions linked to the drought in the Horn in 2011 have persisted, and some early warning officials say the aid community should brace themselves for a possible re-run of last year's food crisis.

However, in their forecast, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says they expect the impact of the La Niña to wane over March to May 2012, which is the major rainfall period for pastoral and agricultural areas of northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, and most of Somalia, accounting for 50 - 60 percent of annual rainfall.

“That is the official line, but the latest modeling suggests that the conditions seem quite similar to 2011,” said an early warning official. “The message out there is to be prepared to respond before it is too late.”

La Niña occurs when the surface of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean - the world’s largest body of water - cools, and has a climatic impact in other regions of the world.

According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), recent analysis has also identified a relationship between sea surface temperature and rainfall in the western Pacific, and rainfall in East Africa.

“The western Pacific is currently exhibiting a sea surface temperature and rainfall pattern which is similar to patterns experienced during the drought years of 1984, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011. This analysis suggests that if these conditions persist, eastern Kenya, southern Somalia, and southeastern Ethiopia may experience dry conditions," FEWS Net said in its latest report.

But the current La Niña is “relatively weaker” than the one recorded in 2011, said Rupa Kumar Kolli, chief of the World Climate Applications and Services Division at WMO.

He noted that the WMO forecast was a global outlook, and various local factors would come into play when looking at the event’s impact regionally. “For instance conditions [temperature and rainfall patterns] in the Indian Ocean would be a factor that would influence rainfall patterns in the Horn.”

The Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum, which monitors such local conditions, is meeting from 27 to 29 February in Rwanda and will provide greater forecast clarity, said both Kolli and FEWS NET.

jk/oa

* This article was amended on 13 and 14 February Theme (s): Aid Policy, Early Warning, East African Food Crisis, Food Security,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

SOMALIA: Military emphasis at conference “puts more civilians at risk”

2012-02-27T09:35:00.002-08:00

humanitarian news and analysis
a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Photo: Kate Holt/IRIN

Somalia needs more than a military solution

LONDON, 24 February 2012 (IRIN) - The London Conference on Somalia ended with a seven-point plan aimed at boosting humanitarian aid and support for African Union troops, and tougher action on piracy, but “fell short on the measures required to address the risks faced by civilians”, said Amnesty International.

“The recent surge in military operations increases civilians’ vulnerability to attacks and displacement, and brings more arms into a country already awash with weapons,” said Benedicte Goderiaux, Amnesty International’s Somalia researcher.

“This is a lethal mix that could fuel further human rights abuses. At this conference we hoped to see more efforts to improve the safety of the Somali population.”

Delegates to the 23 February conference included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the African Union and Arab League and regional presidents, a small Somali team including the president, prime minister and speaker of the Transitional Federal Government – as well as new players, such as Qatar and Turkey.

One speaker after another urged Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to sort out the political situation, and quickly. Clinton said: “Time is of the essence and I want to be clear, the international community will not support an extension of the TFG's mandate beyond the date set in the roadmap, 20 August... It is time – past time – to buckle down and do the work that will bring stability to Somalia for the first time in many people’s lives... Attempts to obstruct progress and maintain the broken status quo will not be tolerated.”

Turkey is now very active in Somalia, and its foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, urged his colleagues to be less fearful. “We have to be visible and present on the ground. We cannot have conferences distant from Somalia. All of us, we have to be present there... And here we call on all participant countries to open embassies. This is psychologically very important to give the impression that things will be getting normalized in Somalia.”

Talking to Al-Shabab?

The Qatari minister, Dr Khalid bin Mohammed al Attiyah, implicitly called for Al-Shabab to be part of the process of boosting confidence and inclusion among all Somali parties. “The exclusion of any party at this stage will disrupt these efforts,” he said, “and render any talk about security and stability unrealistic and inconsistent with the realities on the ground in Somalia.”

But Clinton “adamantly opposed” any engagement with Al-Shabab, although there were signs that not all America's European partners would be as absolute. Italy's foreign minister, Giuliomaria Terzi, pointed out that the insurgents still controlled more than a third of Somalia and added, “Their capacity to control that territory does not lie solely in coercion.”

The main emphasis of the meeting, however, was on military solutions, worrying for humanitarian agencies trying to work on both sides of the lines in the south and centre of the country. TFG Prime Minister, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, endorsed the idea of targeted air strikes on those he described as part of Al-Qaeda.

AMISOM mandate

There was a general welcome for the Security Council resolution extending the mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with its promise of more stable funding, extra equipment and more troops. The Kenyans already operating in Somalia (although not their Ethiopian colleagues) will now be “rehatted” as part of the AMISOM forces.

President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia both made much of their troops' successes in recent days, the capture of Baidoa and the extension of what they see as liberated areas in the south. The host of the meeting, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, announced the creation of a Stability Fund for these areas now on the transitional government side of the lines, to which Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates would contribute.

“This is absolutely vital,” said Cameron, “for those areas which have been freed of Al-Shabab control, to help people build safer, better governed areas, and show those people in the areas still held by Al-Shabab that there is a better alternative.”

Help for refugees

These areas are also being eyed by Kenya, which is chafing under the burden of hosting the vast Dadaab refugee camp near its eastern border with Somalia. Kibaki said: “Kenya expects this conference to map out firm and durable solutions, including the return of these populations to their home country... The humanitarian actors should now take advantage of the areas secured from Al-Shabab to settle these populations. This is a matter of utmost urgency, as Kenya can no longer continue carrying the burden occasioned by this situation.”

However, Rahma Ahmed, coordinator of the Somali Relief and Development Forum, told IRIN: “We believe that neither the sharp deterioration in the security situation in Dadaab, nor the changing, but unstable situation within Somalia – including areas identified by the government of Kenya for repatriation – are conditions which might trigger a repatriation programme which would comply with international refugee and human rights law.”

Britain will give three-year support packages to help with the refugees – more than US$56 million to Kenya and more than $23 million to Ethiopia. A spokesman for Britain’s Department for International Development told IRIN this was not intended as money for repatriation; it was meant to be spent in the refugee camps, where it was hoped that it would improve conditions.

eb/am/mw

Theme (s): Aid Policy, Economy, Governance, Security,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

SOMALIA: Could London Conference mark a turning point on road to peace?

2012-02-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

humanitarian news and analysis
a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague at a consultation on Somalia, Chatham House, London

LONDON/NAIROBI, 21 February 2012 (IRIN) -
World attention is on the war-torn Horn of Africa nation once more, with analysts saying the London Conference on 23 February could mark a turning point in the country's quest for peace and stability.

A delegation from the self-declared autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland is expected to attend the conference, hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, together with heads of state, the UN and Arab League.

Al-Shabab is not invited, but countries such as Turkey and Qatar, which have urged engagement with the militia, will be there.

Regional analyst Nuradin Dirie, once a presidential candidate in Puntland, says "success" for this meeting would be the achievement of a better international coordination of help and support for Somalia.

"We also need a better focus on the international engagement in Somalia, not just seeing it through the eyes of security, but through reconciliation and strengthening what is already succeeding in Somalia. But it all depends on how Somali leaders will respond to this opportunity."

Rashid Abdi, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, told IRIN, "[Somalis are by and large] wary of foreign-led peace initiatives. The current scepticism about London on the Somali streets is understandable considering past failures. However, there is hope too that London can be different and must be different. That is the only way to restore Somali faith in the internationally led peacemaking and state-building processes."

Timing

The UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has called the conference a "moment of opportunity". He recently told a gathering of Somalis living in the UK there were "compelling reasons why the time was right for a major push": the success of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in taking control of Mogadishu, the pressure exerted on Al-Shabab, the progress against piracy and the fact that the mandate of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was due to end soon.

Somalis are by and large wary of foreign-led peace initiatives. The current scepticism about London on the Somali streets is understandable considering past failures. However, there is hope too that London can be different and must be different

"The current transitional institutions in Mogadishu run out in August. After seven years of minimal progress, they must not be extended. The Somali political process must become broader and more representative," Hague said.

The agreement signed in Garowe, Puntland, on 18 February means there is a now a proposed framework for what could succeed the TFG.

The deal foresees a role for the semi-autonomous Somali regions, something likely to be welcomed in London, where preliminary meetings have emphasized the need to build on the successes achieved by these quasi-states.

Piracy and Al-Shabab

One of the suggested ways to use these regional islands of relative stability is to encourage them to become more involved in the battle against piracy.

Participants will consider plans for internationally supported special courts to try pirates in Mauritius and the Seychelles and special prisons in Puntland and Somaliland where they will serve their sentences.

The meeting takes place against the background of a new offensive against Al-Shabab in the south of the country. People who took part in preliminary meetings say Britain hopes to persuade the UN Security Council to agree to an increase in AMISOM troop numbers, which would allow the Kenyan soldiers already in Somalia to be join them, with new contingents from Djibouti and Sierra Leone. Along with that would go pledges of more financial support, to put AMISOM funding on a more sustainable basis.

Funding

The various initiatives on the table will cost money, but this is not a pledging conference, despite the Somali Prime Minister's optimistic call for a "Marshall Plan", with a trust fund and a complete reconstruction programme.

Nor is it primarily about humanitarian funding, although there will be a side-event about these issues. But NGOs will not be involved.

This distancing of the humanitarian issues is a relief to those organizations struggling to work on both sides of the lines, especially since Al-Shabab has made its hostility towards the London Conference very clear. A representative of one such group told IRIN it had been worried about being co-opted into the political- and security-based agenda of the meeting.

Roger Middleton, who leads Somali policy for Oxfam, told IRIN there were still huge needs in Somalia, and it was important that the international community recognized that and did not do anything to compromise it.

"There are some things we are very clear about. We are not calling for the international community to negotiate on our behalf in terms of access. We are not calling for military support for our humanitarian actions. It's very important that we continue to operate, as we do operate at the moment, as impartial actors, neutral to any side in the conflict, and deliver aid to the people who need it, when they need it and where they need it."

eb/ah/mw Theme (s): Aid Policy, Conflict, Governance, Security,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Seychelles And Somaliland Taking Steps Towards Prisoner Transfers

2012-02-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

London-Seychelles President James Michel and President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo of the Republic of Somaliland have discussed, in a meeting in London today, the transfer of convicted Somali pirates currently in prison in Seychelles, to Somaliland to serve their sentences.
The meeting was attended by the British Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, Seychelles Minister Home Affairs, Environment, Transport and Energy, Joel Morgan, Seychelles Minister for Foreign Affairs ,Jean-Paul Adam, and the British High Commissioner to Seychelles, Matthew Forbes, the Somaliland Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohamed Andillahi Omar, as well as the UNODC Counter-Piracy Programme Coordinator Alan Cole.
The two leaders signed a joint statement to recognize their joint concern about the serious impact piracy has on the region and on international security, and agreed that it is vital to ensure pirates are brought to justice.
President Silanyo confirmed that both the Council of Ministers and Somaliland Parliament had now approved and passed the piracy and prisoner transfer legislation to allow the transfer of convicted pirates.
“This commitment between the Seychelles and Somaliland represents an important step forward in the development of a sustainable regional justice mechanism, that will see suspected pirates apprehended by naval forces at sea, prosecuted by regional states, and if convicted, imprisoned in the region,” said the statement from the two leaders.
President Michel and President Silanyo have also committed to securing the first transfer of 19 convicted pirates from Seychelles to Somaliland by the end of March 2012, in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding agreed between the Republic of Somaliland and the Government of Seychelles, and based on Somaliland’s prison capacity in dealing with pirate transfers.
“ Somaliland is an important partner in the fight against piracy as it remains a pirate-free area of stability. We commend the Somaliland government for achieving this stability and for its efforts to share the burden of incarcerating the pirates,” said President Michel following the meeting.
Source:statehouse.gov.sc

Private firm flouts UN embargo in Somalia

2012-02-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

SomalilandPress

Eight months after SA-linked private military company Saracen International was fingered in a UN Security Council as the “most egregious threat” to peace and security in the failed state of Somalia, Saracen continues to run and train a private army in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Saracen, one of a cluster of shadowy private military contractors born from the ashes of the SA/British mercenary outfit Executive Outcomes, after nearly 18 months of military activity in the region, has yet to secure permission to operate as a security provider in a region so volatile Somalia has not had a functioning central government for upwards of 20 years.
Tlali Tlali, the spokesman for the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, confirmed that neither the SA arm of the Saracen operation, nor any of the individuals associated with the Somali adventure had applied for accreditation as legitimate security contractors.
UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) co-ordinator Matthew Bryden confirmed the company had failed to seek or secure authorisation from the international authority to operate as a private military contractor in Somalia after being fingered in the Monitoring Group’s June 2011 report.
We understand that the UN is in possession of compelling evidence that Saracen has continued with military training and deployment in defiance of the UN’s general arms embargo. The continuing violations of UN Resolutions 1973 and 1976 are expected to be addressed in detail in the SEMG’s forthcoming annual report at midyear.
Saracen’s operation in Somalia is headed by Executive Outcomes stalwart and – until the mercenary outfit was disbanded – holding company director, Lafras Luitingh. Luitingh is also a director of Australian African Global Investments (AAGI) the company primarily involved in logistical supply and procurement for the operation.
The Saracen operation, funded by anonymous donors in the United Arab Emirates, has also been linked to US private military contractor Erik Dean Prince, formerly head of the notorious Blackwater, now operating out of Abu Dhabi as Xe Services. A third shadowy connection uncovered in respect of the Saracen programme is to former Mogadishu CIA bureau chief Michael Shanklin.
Originally contracted under the auspices of Somalia’s fragile Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to train up an anti-piracy task force, and to take care of presidential security, Saracen has since early 2011 been exclusively contracted to the administration of Abdurahman Farole, “president” in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, and based near the Puntland port of Bossaso.
The transfer of base and allegiance followed the cancellation of the TFG contract in the wake of allegations of violations of the UN arms embargo in February 2010.
Shortly before the TFG deal was cancelled, a flight chartered by Saracen was grounded by the authorities in Somaliland – another of the semi-autonomous regions that make up the failed Somali state – and an unauthorised cargo of combat uniforms, military webbing and other materiel impounded. The cargo – enough to equip more than 500 soldiers- was vaguely detailed in the flight manifest as “safari equipment”.
At the present time, Saracen controls, on behalf of Farole, what is estimated to be the largest military presence in Somali territory with the exception of the nearly 20 000 strong Amisom peacekeeping force.
Photographs in the possession of Independent Newspapers show that its troops are equipped with state of the art hand-held light machine guns, as well as heavier machine guns mounted on turrets fitted in armoured vehicles and AK47 assault rifles.
Earlier, as highlighted in the SEMG report, Saracen’s trainers complained that weapons already available from Puntland’s armouries were inadequate, and proposed that new weapons be accessed by “other channels”.
Warned by the UN they would be closely monitored and that such imports would be in flagrant violation of the general arms embargo enforced under UN Security Council Resolutions 1973 and 1976, Saracen apparently backed down, saying they would rely on what the Farole administration could legitimately access on Somali markets.
However, sources close to the UN in Somalia told Independent Newspapers that while the UN mission had not been in a position to scrutinise all deliveries, many of the weapons in the possession of the Farole forces were not available on internal markets in Somalia.
After being fingered for “egregious violation of the arms embargo” and “representing a threat to peace and security in Somalia” in June 2011, Saracen undertook to suspend all operations, but said it would maintain a presence to secure equipment already inside Somali territory and to perform humanitarian functions like building clinics and delivering famine relief in rural areas.
However, Independent Newspapers investigations have revealed that Saracen has routinely exceeded its avowed brief, and appears to have been pursuing different and shadowy agendas.
At present the Saracen base outside Bassaso has capacity for an estimated 1 500 soldiers – three times the number of soldiers trained by the time Saracen agreed to suspend operations.
Moreover, in the course of the past year, according to sources close to the UN operation, Saracen is known to have brought 15 000 tons of materiel into Puntland in defiance of the UN arms embargo, and without the UN being in a position to execute inspections.
Other intelligence in the possession of Independent Newspapers indicates that in the second half of 2011, the Puntland port was closed off to normal control mechanisms for a period of 10 days while Saracen materiel was unloaded. It remains unclear exactly what the cargoes were.
Meanwhile, in the current frame, Saracen has deployed forces to a military command centre at Qow in the Puntland hinterland, according to sources on the ground. There is also evidence that Saracen is operating at least four helicopters in Puntland – after UN monitors blocked the unloading of two Alouettes on a vessel linked to Saracen and its shadowy associates in the early part of 2011. In addition the operation is suspected to have access to at least six ocean-going vessels as well as several inflatable attack vessels.
Funded to the tune of some $50 million (R380m) a year for an initial period of three years – the figure excludes the cost of military hardware – the avowed purpose of the Saracen operation was to train up an-anti piracy force on behalf of the Puntland administration. However, even in the June 2011 SEMG report the concern is expressed that “there were early indications that the Puntland authorities may have had alternate objectives in mind for the force”.
Some of those “alternate objectives” could be highlighted in a letter dated 6 December 2010 and addressed to the UN by the “president” of the Galmudug region of fractured Somalia. Here reference is made to a “massacre” of “innocent nomads” carried out by Puntland security forces explicitly identified as having been armed and trained by Saracen. In one of a series of actions conducted by troops in armoured vehicles equipped with heavy weapons, the Galmudug leader says 35 people were killed, and 46 wounded, many of the casualties inflicted on women and children.
While the direct involvement of Saracen in the incidents referred to has been questioned, sources close to the UN monitoring group said there were indications that Saracen could be equipping and advising militias loyal to Farole in ongoing civil conflict with Bedouin clans in the Puntland domain.
Especially targetedare clans with an allegiance to the militant religious leader Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom – who has emerged as one of the major targets of US interventions in Somalia.
Avowedly linked with the militant Al Shabaab, Atom, as well as other clan leaderships in the area are also highly resistant to the exploitation of mineral resources in their territory.
Ironically, little activity is on record or has been alleged involving anti-piracy actions on the part of Saracen.
Meanwhile the stakes have risen higher in troubled Puntland. With a concerns growing that Farole intends to secede from the fragile Somali federation, drilling has begun on two oil concessions in the territory held by Canadianmining company Africa Oil. With huge reserves already identified – and initial surveys indicating even more extensive offshore resources, Puntland is poised to become a major player in the horn of Africa.
Against this backdrop, intelligence sources indicated that Saracen’s operatives, backed by Mohamed Farole – son of and designated advisor to the president – have sought to insert themselves into an oil security operation that to date has operated with UN accreditation and in co-operation with the international authorities.
This would give Saracen a foothold in the resources-for-arms trade that characterised Executive Outcomes’ military adventures in Angola and Sierra Leone among other troublespots in the 1990s.
Contacted for comment, Luitingh said he could not speak at that moment and failed to answer calls later.
Source:The Independent

In Somalia, children are taken out of School to Become Soldiers

2012-02-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

26/02/2012 - Reports are surfacing that Al Shabaab is taking Somali children out of schools to be used as soldiers and human shields.

According to a recent report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW), entitled "No Place for Children," outlines how, while the use of child soldiers is not new in Somalia, the scale and violent nature of these abductions has reached unprecedented levels.

The locations in which abductions take place have expanded as well, as they are increasingly including schools and playgrounds.

A HRW researcher who worked on the report claimed that "Over the course of the last two years, Al Shabaab has increasingly been forcibly abducting children — not only from their homes, but also from their schools and playing fields. The majority of children being forced to join Al Shabaab are between 14 and 17 years old, but some are as young as 10."

Most children who are are captured spend time in a 'training camp,' where they are subjected to harsh domestic work, taught how to use weapons, and witness murders and brutal assaults as a way to desensitize them for their use as soldiers.

Somali youths are targeted for purposes that are not limited to fighting, especially for girls. Forced marriage and rape are now commonplace for captured children.

Most of the information from the report has been compiled by over 164 interviews with young Somalis — including 21 who had escaped from Al Shabaab forces.

Islamic extremists have targeted schools for a myriad of purposes other than recruitment. The reported mentions that soldiers have used students and teachers as "human shields" against artillery fire from Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and African Union (AMISOM) forces.

Because schools have become such visible targets, many have shut down. Children and teachers who have not fled often fear attending school, and those that attend are no longer receiving an adequate education.

Human Rights Watch criticized the TFG using child soldiers themselves in response to Al Shabaab.

The report also highlights that the emphasis on the treatment of captured child soldiers needs to be shifted from detention and punishment to rehabilitation and protection.

In response to the allegations, Al-Shabaab has brushed aside the accusations from Human Rights Watch, saying that Islam considers people to be adults from the age of 15.

Islamic scholars consider a boy becomes a man at 15, or even younger if signs of puberty appear before then.

Human Rights Watch said this week that children as young as 10 are increasingly targeted by Al-Shabaab targets to replenish its ranks.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/News/News/child-charity-news/Pages/Somalia-children-are-taken-out-School-to-Become-Soldiers-818.aspx

Trafficking in Mozambique: 'Every minute was the worst'

2012-02-26T01:16:00.000-08:00

The CNN Freedom Project

February 20th, 2012

08:00 AM ET

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By Brent Swails, CNN

The mansion sits in the heart of Maputo, Mozambique. From the street it looks abandoned. Its walls are crumbling, the windows are broken and overgrown shrubs and trees hide the once grand entrance.
But inside there are signs that this place is still a home. The ceiling is black from cooking fires. In the bedrooms, mattresses line the floors and pages torn from magazines decorate the walls.
Local anti-trafficking activist Katie Magill often visits the mansion and other squatter housing in the city. She says its residents are at an age where they idolize the singers and actresses pictured on the pages. But they are much too young for the work they’re forced to do every night.
Many here say that Mozambique’s label of “the land of prawns and prostitutes” is well deserved. Prawns dominate trade by day, and at night, it’s Mozambique’s girls that are for sale.
Early last year police identified a network that trafficked up to 40 women and girls each month through Mozambique’s border with South Africa. They were allegedly being sold for $1,000 (US).
Inside Mozambique’s borders, buying girls for the trade can cost as little as $2 and the victims often know the perpetrators.
Ofelia says she was sold into prostitution at age 12. Four years ago, she escaped and found safety in Magill’s organization, Project Purpose. “I always had hope I could leave,” Ofelia said. “I feel good knowing that you can actually do it.”

Another former victim, Tachina, says she lost hope when she was trafficked for sex at the age of 15. “They’d do horrible things to you and then not give you money. Every minute was the worst. Only, when you’re in that situation, you can’t always see that,” she said.
The U.S. State Department’s annual trafficking in persons report notes an improvement in the Mozambique’s government’s efforts to end the trade. There have been several successful prosecutions since an anti-trafficking law was enacted in 2008. But enforcement remains difficult in this resource-strapped country.
A unit recently set up to deal with trafficking has only seven members charged with policing the entire country. Mozambique also lacks a national plan and a coordinating body. CNN requests for an interview with police went unanswered.
For now the fight against traffickers can’t do without people like Magill. Her organization rehabilitates young victims, many of them mothers, providing shelter for their children.
But she says it’s the ones she wasn’t able to bring to her safe house that continue to haunt her. “I cry now just thinking about the people who should have been in these buildings, the kids who should have a chance to live like that.”
Bras help former slaves

Post by: CNN's Brent Swails

Indian baby's case opens doors into a dark world

2012-02-26T01:08:00.003-08:00

By Moni Basu, CNN

February 11, 2012 -- Updated 1451 GMT (2251 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Baby Falak is fighting for her life in a New Delhi hospital
A teenage girl brought her there with severe injuries
A police probe is unearthing a possible human trafficking ring
10 people have been arrested in a case that could be huge

(CNN) -- In a New Delhi hospital, a two-year-old girl is fighting for her life after a teenager brought her there three weeks ago, unconscious with severe head injuries and bruises, fractured arms and human bite marks covering her tiny body.
All of India began following her ordeal through newspapers and television. Doctors operated on the toddler, opened up her airways and placed her on a ventilator. They named her Falak, which means sky.
Her condition remains critical, said Dr. Sumit Sinha of the India Institute of Medical Sciences. No one knows whether she will survive or if she does, whether she will live with permanent brain damage.
But that's just the tip of the story. With each day, it becomes more sordid.
Once police began investigating Baby Falak's back story, they unearthed a suspected ring of human trafficking. The details sparked new outrage among authorities and the public alike, who say the case raises a host of questions about child abandonment, exploitation and the poor treatment of girls and women in the world's second most populous nation.
"This has turned out to be one of the biggest sex rackets involving minors and child prostitution and sale of women for marriage," said Raaj Mangal Prasad, head of India's Child Welfare Committee. "This shows this is a classic case where the magnitude of trafficking has come to light."
Indians came to know of Baby Falak after a distraught teenage girl, only 14, brought the baby to the hospital, claiming to be her mother.
On the night of January 17, the baby just kept crying and crying, the teenager told the Child Welfare Committee in New Delhi. Angered by the tantrum, the girl slapped the baby three or four times -- and bit her.
A while later, she said, the baby slipped on a wet bathroom floor and fell on her face. The girl tied a bandage around the baby's head but the wound began to swell. The next day, when the baby did not wake up, the girl took her to the hospital.
The doctors said Baby Falak was bruised the color of eggplant and beets. She was in a coma. They did not believe the girl's story. Nor that she was Falak's biological mother.
"My personal opinion would be that it doesn't look like a simple case of falling down," said Dr. Deepak Agarwal, a neurosurgeon at the hospital.
She was referred to a juvenile center for counseling and police launched an investigation.
South Delhi deputy Police Commissioner Chhaya Sharma formed five teams to fan out across India to track down Falak's real family.
What police learned in the subsequent weeks was shocking.
The teenage girl ran away from home last June to escape abuse from her alcoholic father. The father failed to pay rent, his landlady told CNN's sister network CNN-IBN. A neighbor described him beating his daughter so hard that her red welts were readily visible.
"I have seen with my own eyes how her father used to beat her up with a stick," Vikram told CNN-IBN.
But her escape led the teenager to more trouble.
She told authorities two people, Sandeep and Arti, forced her into a life of prostitution; that Sandeep allegedly raped her first for three days before he found her customers, according CNN-IBN. Months later, the girl met a man named Rajkumar and the two began living together in a New Delhi slum. Police suspect he, too, was sexually abusing the girl.
The girl told authorities that Rajkumar brought Baby Falak home in November. It's unclear whether the baby was abused then but on that January night, Falak almost died.
"Once victim hurting another victim because there is no sense of hope, sense of survival they can see for themselves," psychiatrist Achal Bhagat told CNN-IBN.
In the western state of Rajasthan, police eventually tracked down Munni, 22, the woman believed to be Falak's biological mother. She had been abandoned by her first husband and sold off in marriage when she was 16 to a young man from a Rajasthani village, Sharma said. She was valued at $6,000, according to The Times of India.
Munni left her three children behind.
"The family life was very disturbed," Sharma said. "She was convinced that she would not be able to raise Falak on her own."
While Munni's youngest fought for her life in the hospital, police found her other daughter in the state of Bihar, many miles from Delhi and Rajasthan. Her son's whereabouts are still not known.
Police scored a breakthrough in the case Friday when they were able to nab Rajkumar, the man they believe is central to the possible trafficking ring. He was caught absconding at the New Delhi train station, Sharma said at a news conference.
In all, police have arrested 10 people so far who are believed to have profited greatly from their crimes.
They are still probing. No one knows how many babies were abandoned, how many women were married off for a price or how many girls were forced to sell their bodies.
The case prompted India's home ministry to review police reports and consider action and reignited national debate on a serious problem in India.
A 2011 TrustLaw danger poll ranked India as the fourth most dangerous place on earth for women, behind Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Pakistan.
The survey said 100 million women and girls are involved in prostitution and 50 million are "missing" in the last century because of female feticide and infanticide. Almost 45% of girls are married off before they reach adulthood.
Prasad of the Child Welfare Committee called the problem "huge." He said India needs more comprehensive laws on the books and stronger enforcement.
This sort of thing happens all too often, Prasad said, and sadly, flies under the radar of a majority of India's 1.2 billion people.
But now, a hapless child fighting very publicly for her life has thrust an ugly side of Indian society into the national spotlight.

Rochester Man Arrested for Sex Trafficking in Western New York

2012-02-25T10:55:00.000-08:00

12:13 AM, Feb 25, 2012 | 0 comments

Written by

Sarah Hopkins

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Thomas Cramer, 40, of Brighton, N.Y. is facing federal charges for sex trafficking minors.

BUFFALO, N.Y.- A Rochester area man is facing federal charges for sex trafficking minors, allegedly enticing them into prostitution that took place at several hotels in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, as well as his home.
40-year-old Thomas Cramer, of Brighton, N.Y. Is facing a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life, a $250,000 fine, or both.
Cramer's alleged victims are six teenagers, most of whom are from Western New York, according to U.S. Attorney William Hochul, Jr.
One of the hotels listed in the complaint is the Holiday Inn on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo.
Hochul says Cramer enticed the girls to become prostitutes. The complaint alleges at least one was as young as 15, and that the customers were charged between $150 and $220 an hour to engage in sexual activities with the teenagers. Cramer received a portion of the proceeds.
One victim in the complaint said she was "influenced" and "forced" because she was never able to make her own appointments, and she didn't have the option to accept or deny them.
"On some occasions Mr.Cramer went to some social media sites that teenage girls happen to be on and then would engage in texting," said Hochul. "One allegation involving one young girl indicates that there might have been as many as 125 different text messages from Mr. Cramer to the young victim trying to get the victim to engage in conduct."
Hochul says there are claims Cramer threatened the girls physically if they tried to go to police.

It is a story that is all too common in Western New York, according to Deputy Elizabeth Fildes, who heads up Erie County's Human Trafficking Task Force. Fildes says this is just the latest example of a disturbing trend here: a crime that is both misunderstood and often misidentified.

"People seem to have an idea that it's about people in other countries," said Fildes.
But while many of the 200 people she's helped rescue in the past few are foreign nationals, Fildes says there are some victims born and raised here, as well as trafficked here.
"{They're} showing up in Grand Island, showing up in Cheektowaga, showing up in Buffalo, New York in some of the finer hotels," said Fildes. "Yes, it's here, and very much alive."
She says law enforcement looks for three things when identifying potential victims: Force, fraud and coercion.
"I think we've just scraped the surface," said Fildes of the victims rescued in this area. "We're not anywhere near what could really be found if we started to really dig."
Human trafficking also includes forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Additional Resources:
*The United Nations has a definition of human trafficking.
*For information for victims of human trafficking, contact the International Institute of Buffalo.

‘Conviction of human traffickers very low’

2012-02-25T10:49:00.002-08:00

Andhra Pradesh

Last Updated: Saturday, February 25, 2012, 20:45

Tags: conviction, human traffickers, children, women

Hyderabad: Even though more number of human traffickers were being booked, the number of convictions secured has remained dismally low, a senior Home Ministry official said here on Saturday.

"More number of children and women are getting rescued from clutches of traffickers and the registration of cases in trafficking has seen a rise...but the trafficking convictions still remain dismally low," Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs B Bhamathi said today.

Addressing prosecuting officers of southern states at the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy here at a programme, she called upon the officers to consider themselves as important change agents and see that more convictions (for traffickers) are secured.

Human trafficking victims recovering well

2012-02-25T10:48:00.000-08:00

February 25 2012 at 12:37pm
By Tanya Waterworth

Comment on this story

INLSA

Parents of missing girls scan pictures provided by police - police set up the exercise to help reunite children rescued from human traffickers with their families. Photo: Puri Devjee

Her face lit up as she described how much she was enjoying sleeping on a soft bed and enjoying three healthy meals a day.

That was one of the 15 victims who were rescued in a massive anti-human trafficking raid carried out by specialised police units in the Point area of Durban last week.

This week, the girls, all of whom are minors, were recovering at safe houses and receiving the necessary medical treatment and counselling.

The Umgeni Community Empowerment Centre (UCEC), the NGO which took over the care of the girls once they had been checked in hospital, confirmed all the girls are doing well.

UCEC is a member of the KZN HPPB (Human Trafficking, Prostitution, Pornography & Brothel) Provincial Task Team,

UCEC spokeswoman, Joy Conradie, said on Friday that they are working closely with the Department of Social Development with regard to the welfare of the victims, including two girls who are pregnant.

“The two pregnant victims have been placed in a safe house facility that is especially equipped to tend to their medical needs.

“There they will receive counselling (and) medical attention, as well as full rehabilitation.

“None of these girls chose this as the lifestyle they wanted,” said Conradie.

“All of them want to go back to school, study and earn a living in a decent and reputable way now that they have been rescued from this nightmare and given a second chance in life.”

This week saw desperate parents of missing girls flocking to the offices of Durban’s Organised Crime Unit, after police called on the public for help in identifying the rescued girls.

One of the girls has been identified and reunited with her family.

SAPS spokesman Lt Col Vincent Mdunge said many of the girls did not want to reveal their real names, as they felt it would be too humiliating to admit to their families what had been happening to them.

Meanwhile, Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) has praised the NGOs involved with the task team, whose members often work long hours on the streets and has called on government to financially assist all NGOs involved in caring for the victims.

Four suspects who were arrested at the scene appeared for the second time in Durban Magistrate’s Regional Court on Friday morning, with charges being dropped against one of them.

The remaining three suspects, Sandile Zweni (37), Nonduzo Dlamini (23) and Babha Dubazani (29) appeared in court on a range of charges, including trafficking for sexual purposes, keeping a brothel and drug-dealing.

They are due to appear in court again on March 20 for a formal bail hearing. - Independent on Saturday

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/human-trafficking-victims-recovering-well-1.1242530

Bellingham police working to combat sex trafficking

2012-02-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

Written by Taylor Rubright

Friday, 24 February 2012 03:36

Western club to give presentation and screen documentary to educate people on the issue

Bellingham police are currently training to better handle the problem of sex trafficking in Whatcom County, said Shawn Aiumu, Bellingham Police Department's sergeant of family crimes.
“In Seattle alone, there’s between 300 and 500 youth who are being sexually exploited,” said Kali Rasmussen, an Access Freedom intern and member of Western's Students Against Slavery club. “If we took all of them off the streets at one time there’s no way we could get them into foster care or safe housing, because there’s not enough resources.”
Bellingham police officers recently had a training session on human trafficking so they can better identify signs and know what to look for, Aiumu said.
Follow-up care for human trafficking victims is where Whatcom County is falling a bit short, he said.
“We’re trying to work on that and find partners to deal with that, because it’s very intensive trying to break them away, especially when they’ve been separated from their family,” Aiumu said.
Whatcom County could be a hot spot for human trafficking, due to its close proximity to Seattle and the Canadian border, Aiumu said.
“In the Northwest, especially in the Seattle metro area, there’s been quite a bit of it popping up,” he said. “I’m sure there’s groups that are probably swinging through.”
Access Freedom and Western's Student's Against Slavery club will host a presentation, Monday, Feb. 27, and a viewing of “Sex + Money,” a documentary on sex trafficking in the United States.
Access Freedom is an organization based in Whatcom County that provides an education on domestic minor sex trafficking.
The documentary emphasizes how there is not enough safe housing for sexually exploited people, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen thought of the presentation when she contacted the Engedi Refuge Ministries in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Engedi Refuge’s goal is to provide safe houses for sexually exploited people. The organization currently has plans to open up a safe house in Whatcom County within the next year and a half, Rasmussen said.
After the documentary, there will be a Q&A session with members of Access Freedom, including Executive Director Anya Milton and Awareness Coordinator Robin Meyer.
“It’s a pretty powerful documentary,” said Stephanie Hawney, an Access Freedom intern and Students Against Slavery member. “We feel like people are going to really be moved by watching it and probably have questions.”
Raising awareness of human trafficking in Whatcom County is a major goal of the presentation, Hawney said.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize that this happens right here in our own homes,” Hawney said. “They think it happens abroad in Third World countries and poor villages, but that’s not always the case.”
The film will be shown at 6:30 p.m. on the day of the presentation, at Fraser Hall room 4. Admission is free.
“I started talking with [Engedi Refuge] and found out they had the rights to this documentary, and I said, ‘Well why don’t we show that on campus?’” Rasmussen said.
Aaron and Lea Newcomb, the founders of the Engedi Refuge, will also be at the Q&A session.
Hawney and Rasmussen hope the documentary and Q&A session get community members involved.
“We want people to feel like they can be a part of this, but we want people to work collectively,” Rasmussen said. “We can’t really support someone who wants to go out on the street and try to rescue children. We want people to do this in a way that is strategic and safe for everybody involved.”

The documentary “Sex + Money” will be shown Monday, Feb. 27 in Fraser Hall room 4. Admission is free.
http://westernfrontonline.net/news/14356-bellingham-police-working-to-combat-sex-trafficking

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Activists fight human trafficking

Human Trafficking Help Needed

2012-02-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

Career Changers

February 23rd, 2012
By Rich Figel

As part of the 808HALT coalition's mission to increase public awareness about human trafficking in Hawaii, we've been airing a new video on OC16 that focuses on farm laborers from Southeast Asia. In that piece, we share Samian's story -- but there are hundreds of other immigrant workers like him that have spent years away from their families because they were lured to America with false promises, then abandoned. You can see that segment on the current Career Changers TV show until next Thursday, or watch it on the 808HALT.com YouTube Channel by clicking her. Thanks to immigration attorneys and the Pacific Gateway Center, Samian's tale may have a much happier ending than most trafficking victims. The other major area of trafficking is the sex trade. Sadly, young people -- mostly women and girls -- are targeted and exploited. At a recent State Legislature hearing on bills related to this subject, I heard a mother tell how she thought her teenage daughter was a runaway... only to find out that she was being forced by pimps to perform sex acts for money. Her daughter sat beside her and talked about the trauma she must live with resulting from the abuse she suffered at the hands of men. We will be doing a video segment on new laws that are being proposed to help stop this growing crime, which is now only second to drugs in the amount of money being generated. In some ways, it's even more lucrative than drugs, for the simple reason that humans can be reused over and over.
If you're on the North Shore, there will be a special showing of a movie on this important topic, Friday night (Feb. 25). Jessica Munoz of Courage House Hawaii sent me the following info on "Sex and Money":
Where: Historic Haleiwa Gym
66-434 Kamehameha Hwy Haleiwa HI 96712 (across from Pizza Hut)
When: February 25, 2012 @ 6:30pm
Enjoy Special Music from Local artist Tyler Nakamura
About the Film:
Sex+Money: A National Search for Human Worth is a feature length documentary that follows a group of photojournalists as they travel in an RV on their second journey, this time across the United States, seeking to understand how the sexual exploitation of children has become the nation's fastest growing form of organized crime and what can be done to stop it.
Jessica's goal is to find a house somewhere in Oahu for treatment of juvenile victims. Here's what they are looking for:
"The point in which we are at now is finding a location for the home. Whether it be land that a home can be built on or a property with an existing house, we are looking for a donation, a generous price mark down, or land lease. This is where we hope you can help. Please forward this information on to anyone in a position that may be able to help us. The vision for Courage House Hawaii is a ranch style setting in a rural location. Safety is a concern for our girls. Courage House Hawaii will employ equine therapy, art and dance therapy, gardening, and other therapies that require land and open space. A rural setting with spacious land, aids in the healing process. We are interested in looking into any non-urban properties that can offer a safe and secluded environment for the girls we will be housing."
If you might be able to help, please contact Jessica. Her email address is jessica@justiceprojecthawaii.org.
********
You can still catch our Feb. CCTV show until next week! Check out daily viewing times at www.CareerChangers.TV, subject to change though because of high school sports this week.

USAID Announces Plan to Get Tougher on Human Trafficking

2012-02-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

The cover of USAID’s new "Counter-Trafficking in Persons Policy."

By Jane Morse
IIP Staff Writer,
Washington,
February 23, 2012
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced a plan to intensify its efforts to combat human trafficking.
At a February 23 press conference at the White House, Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator, announced the new agency policy that, among other goals, will:
• More closely scrutinize the activities of its employees, contractors and subcontractors for any involvement with human trafficking.
• Increase collaboration with government and nongovernment colleagues to combat human trafficking.
• More stringently evaluate the effectiveness of USAID countertrafficking programs.
• Employ technological advances such as mobile phones and social networks to reach trafficking victims and help them find help.
According to estimates provided by USAID, human trafficking for cheap labor and sexual exploitation ensnares anywhere from 12 million to 27 million people worldwide and represents a $32 billion criminal business. The most vulnerable to trafficking are the poor, uneducated, and people living in conflict-ridden countries.
To combat enslavement, the U.S. government since 2001 has provided approximately $528 million for countertrafficking assistance overseas. USAID has been a major part of this effort, providing more than $163 million in assistance to more than 70 countries.
USAID, an independent government agency, supports U.S. foreign policy goals by providing economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world. While USAID programs do reach vulnerable populations, the agency’s new policy seeks to have its missions overseas more deeply integrate countertrafficking efforts into every aspect of their work and develop cooperative programs with governments as well as nongovernmental and faith-based organizations, according to Shah.
USAID’s new policy, Shah said, “provides guidance on pursuing more effective, efficient and evidence-based approaches in countertrafficking.”

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USAID Counter-Trafficking in Persons Policy (PDF, 1.2MB)

U.S. Official Wants Stronger Action Against Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking a Growing Global Scourge

2012-02-24T20:01:00.000-08:00

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New America Media / SF Public Press, News Feature, Andrew Lam, Posted: Feb 24, 2012

On the 900-mile trek of mostly desert that stretches between Eritrea and Egypt, hunting for humans has become routine.

Eritrean refugees who have fled their homeland fall prey to Bedouin or Egyptian traffickers. The refugees are held for ransom. Those with relatives abroad who can pay for their release might survive. Those who do not are often killed. The United Nations confirms that some are harvested for their organs — their livers and kidneys sold on the black market — while others, the young and able, are sold off. One survivor told the U.N., “People catch us, sell us like goats.”

Slavery is alive and well in the 21st century. There are more people enslaved today than at any other time in history. The U.S. State Department says that estimates of those enslaved through human trafficking ranges from 4 million to 27 million.

Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal business in the world, according to the State Department. It ranks only second to drug trafficking in profitability, bringing in an estimated $32 billion annually. The majority of those trafficked are young adults between ages 18 and 24 — but children also make up a large part of it. Almost all have experienced either sexual exploitation or violence, often both, during their time being enslaved.

But the statistics can be disputed. The United Nations notes that “the lack of accurate statistics is due only in part to the hidden nature of the crime, and that the lack of systematic reporting is the real problem.” In other words, the number of those trafficked worldwide might be far greater than what is estimated.

What we do know is that traffickers practice the trade with relative impunity. In 2006 there were 5,808 trafficking prosecutions and 3,160 convictions worldwide, which would mean that one person is convicted for every 800 people trafficked.

Though most of those trafficked are exploited for their labor or are thrown into sexual servitude, the area that’s particularly grotesque is the organ trade. One human rights lawyer who did not want to give his name said cases involving the removal of human organs for transplantation are more miserable than those involving genocide.

“At one end someone is killed for their organs, which in some perhaps overly theoretical way is worse than murder,” he said. “In the latter, the victim’s death is at least a motive — the murderer seeks to kill a human being. In the former, the victim is merely a box containing an object, and the murder is merely the process of throwing out the box and wrapping.”

The international commodification of humans is becoming the new norm of our age. In Bangkok, Thailand, a “baby factory” was discovered last year in which more than a dozen Vietnamese women were impregnated (some were raped), and their babies were sold for adoption. Whether or not the babies — unregistered, non-existent in the eyes of the law — were truly adopted, raised to be slaves or farmed out for body parts is not known.

What is certain is that Vietnam, like many other impoverished countries with a growing population of young people, has become a major supply country, where vulnerable young women and girls are in high demand on the international market. In certain bars in Ho Chi Minh City, rural girls are routinely trucked in to parade at auction blocks. The girls are often naked except for a tag with a number on it, and in the audience are foreigners — South Koreans, Taiwanese and mainland Chinese are the main consumers — who call them down for inspection. They leave together under the pretense of marriage after the paperwork is done, but many end up in brothels or sweatshops instead.

Diep Vuong, executive director of Pacific Links Foundation, an organization that works to combat human trafficking by providing education to the poor in Vietnam, is pessimistic. Overpopulated and dwindling in resources, Vietnam is full of young, uneducated people.

“The only resource we have left in abundance are the humans themselves,” she noted wryly. “We’re moving toward the Jonathan Swift version of reality.”

While children of the poor are not being eaten as Swift sarcastically suggested, they are being abducted and enslaved. They work in the fields as slave laborers as in the Ivory Coast’s cocoa plantation where half a million children work and provide 40 percent of the world’s chocolate — something most of them have never tasted. Or they are abducted at ages as young as 5 in Uganda and forced to become soldiers. Or they work in the carpet and brick factories of South Asia, many shackled and branded by their masters. Those too weak to work are killed off and thrown into rivers.

Closer to home, border drug cartels have incorporated the lucrative human trade into their business, and in some parts of Mexico they have the tacit support of the local authorities. Mass graves were discovered last year full of migrants’ corpses. Their crime: They weren’t worth much alive.

The forces of globalization have only intensified the trade in humans. After the Cold War ended, borders became more porous. New forms of information technology have helped integrate the world market. Increasing economic disparity and demand for cheap labor have spurred unprecedented mass human migration. The poor and desperate fall prey to the lure of a better life.

Nongovernmental organization workers who battle trafficking often describe victims as being “tricked.”

In March 2004, eBay shut down sales when it discovered that three young Vietnamese women were being auctioned off, with a starting bid of $5,400. Their photos were displayed. The “items” were from Vietnam and would be “shipped to Taiwan only.”

“I was browsing on the Internet and this guy kept trying to chat with me,” one Vietnamese teenager rescued from a brothel in Phnom Penh recounted. “There’s a coffee shop in Cambodia. He said I could make money over there.”

They crossed the border from Vietnam to Cambodia, and she soon became enslaved. She was saved in a police raid, just as the traffickers were planning to move her again. The madam “was waiting for more girls to show up to ship us to Malaysia,” she said. Her fake passport had already been made.

The trafficking network is sophisticated and well organized, and if the lure of money and a better life elsewhere becomes the entrapment of the poor and vulnerable, the abundance of cheap labor coupled with an atmosphere of impunity becomes the seduction for others to become traffickers.

“A slave purchased for $10,000 could end up making her owner $160,000 in profits before she dies or runs away,” Siddharth Kara noted in a talk on sex trafficking at the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University. In fact, a child in Vietnam can be bought for as little as $400.

Slavery is not going away because the agony of human enslavement remains largely invisible in the public discourse. It is just as shocking that Eritrean refugees are hunted nightly by traffickers as it is that their story remains hidden in darkness.

NAM editor Andrew Lam is author of "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres," and "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora." His next book, "Birds of Paradise," is due out in 2013.
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/02/human-trafficking-a-growing-global-scourge.php

U.S. Attorney Talks About Brighton Sex Trafficking Arrest

2012-02-24T19:59:00.000-08:00

rochesterhomepage.net

By: Caroline Tucker

Updated: February 23, 2012

The U.S. Attorney says a Brighton man used social media to lure local girls into a sex trafficking organization.

Federal investigators say the crimes took place in Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse.

40-year-old Thomas Cramer is on federal sex trafficking charges.

These are some serious charges against Thomas Cramer.

If convicted, he could serve 10 years to life in prison.

Federal prosecutors say while human trafficking is common, a case like this hasn't been seen around here.

Court documents detail a life of selling at least six young girls for sex, ranging in age between 15 and 17 years old.

"We have not had many cases involving this size of criminal sex trafficking operation," said U.S. Attorney Bill Hochul.

The federal complaint says it began in 2008, at a home on Latta Road in Greece.

Investigators say Thomas Cramer was using a runaway Florida girl for prostitution at that location.

He was originally arrested and convicted locally for that crime.

But investigators say it didn't stop there.

"This is a case where just teen girls from western new york, one case Florida recruited and enticed over social media sites," said Bill Hochul, U.S. Attorney.

Prosecutors say Cramer would post on adult sites looking for young girls.

In some cases, they were runaways.

"Our federal investigation took a number of months, it began when missing persons report filed and one of girls was found," said Hochul.

The federal complaint says some of the girls lived with Cramer inside his Jefferson Road home.

It says they would get free rent and then act as prostitutes.

Prosecutors say Cramer would keep most of the money and in at least one case threatened harm.

Federal authorities say Cramer didn't live too far from some of the places he would take those girls.

In fact his home is right across the street from one of the hotels near Rochester's airport.

The complaint says Cramer visited hotels in Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse.

"What it shows us is that sex trafficking of minors can happen in any community," said Mary Whittier, Executive Director of the Bivona Child Advocacy Center.

Whittier says some people prey on young women.

"This is rape and sodomy and all sorts of horrible atrocities to children," said Whittier.

But they say there is help and a chance for these girls to move on.

"There is hope for this kids. Hope that able to get professional help," said Whittier.

Cramer is in the Monroe County Jail without bail.

His next court date in Rochester at the U.S. District Court could be as soon as next week.

http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=301942

Show against human trafficking

2012-02-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

Fashionunited

Friday, 24 February 2012

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) collaborated with international NGO youcanfree.us to raise awareness against human trafficking during the Wills Fashion Week last week. The show was inspired by an actual sex worker Alice (name changed), who was rescued by the NGO from GB Road, in New Delhi.

The show started off with a ballad performance by Nicolina, which reflected the emotions that a victim of sex trafficking goes through when pushed into the flesh trade. Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi and tennis ace Leander Peas also came out in support of the cause. Designers Manish Arora, Suneet Varma, J J Valaya, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna, Tarun Tahiliani, Shantanu and Nikhil, Ashish Soni, Lecoanet Hemant, Ravi Bajaj, Ritu Beri and Ashima-Leena gave a makeover to Alice through their outfits, while celebrity photographer Subi Samuel captured her in camera lens.

The show for a cause also saw models walk the ramp in the same outfits that were created by the 12 designers for Alice, whose photographs were displayed as a backdrop to the runway. The highlight of the show was Leander, who walked with Alice, while taking a final bow.

Youcanfree.us, founded by Sujo John, is an international movement that rescues women out of forced prostitution.

Chicago police taught to be more alert to signs of human trafficking

2012-02-24T00:16:00.000-08:00

Chicago Tribune

Pointers given at seminar; scope of problem in city, Illinois difficult to determine

Chicago police, attorneys and other law enforcement officials attend a training session Wednesday at Chicago Police Department headquarters designed to teach investigators how to be more alert to signs of human trafficking. Because Chicago is a hub for tourism and conventions, it is considered a main area for human trafficking in the U.S. by the FBI, officials said. (José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune / February 22, 2012)

A 2010 Illinois law that defined underage prostitutes as victims instead of criminals has spurred Chicago police to be more alert to signs of human trafficking, which experts say is second only to the drug trade as the biggest illegal business in the nation.
And because Chicago is a hub for tourism and conventions, it is considered a main area for human trafficking in the U.S. by the FBI, officials said Wednesday during a seminar for police.
Investigators learned to be alert for bruises, anxious and submissive behavior, and words like "daddy," slang for pimp. Officials say those clues might help identify victims of human trafficking.
In addition to new and strengthened laws, awareness of the problem is growing. Wednesday's training on prostitution and forced labor, at Chicago Police Department headquarters, was attended by about 300 law enforcement officials.
"Many people associate human trafficking with other countries," said Jennifer Greene, policy adviser at the Cook County state's attorney's office. "But it happens here in Chicago all the time."
The victims include children as well as adult women and men, often affected by psychological issues or factors like low income and homelessness. Those factors make them vulnerable to people who recruit them on the street or via the Internet, officials say.
"In our society, prostitution is often viewed as the oldest profession and as a choice," said Elyse Dalberg, volunteer manager at Salvation Army Trafficking Outreach Program and Intervention Techniques. "But they're not just prostitutes, they're victims."
The International Labor Organization estimates that at least 12.3 million adults and children worldwide are in forced labor, bonded labor and prostitution at any given time. But officials say it's hard to determine how many people are affected by human trafficking in Illinois or Chicago, because it's "very much still underground," Greene said.
A 2007 University of Chicago study estimated that about 4,400 prostitutes were active in Chicago in an average week. Another study, by the Center for Impact Research in 2001, said at least 16,000 women and girls were involved in prostitution in Chicago in any given year.
The 2010 Illinois Safe Children Act decriminalized the underage victims of prostitution, legalized the use of court-ordered wiretaps in human trafficking cases, and imposed harsher penalties for pimps and clients.
The Cook County Human Trafficking Task Force, set up in 2011 and made up of law enforcement and nonprofit organizations, also aims to identify and combat human trafficking, provide social services to victims and train police, Greene said.
Since 2009, 52 defendants in Cook County have been convicted on human trafficking or related charges, Greene said.
"And we're just scratching the surface," she said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-human-trafficking-20120223,0,6891681.storyhttp://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-human-trafficking-20120223,0,6891681.story

achachkevitch@tribune.com

Uganda: How Daughters Are Trapped in Human Trafficking

2012-02-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

By Philippa Croome, 23 February 2012

When 23-year-old Linda (not her real name) was approached by the grandfather of a friend and offered a job in Malaysia, she wanted to believe it so badly that she did.
For the sake of her young child and ill mother, she wanted to believe that there was an opportunity for her abroad where she could work in a shop, make Shs2.5m in a month, and send money home to her family.
Within 10 days from accepting the proposition, Linda had a visa in hand, a ticket purchased for her, and was on her way to China - what she was told would be a brief stopover on her way to Malaysia. She was met by a Ugandan woman she knew only as "Faith", who brought her to a hotel. There, she found a handful of others who fit the profile, just like her.
Her passport was taken from her, her questions went unanswered, and her movements were limited. And after two days, men started being sent into her room. They told Linda they had already paid her boss for her services.
Linda ended up spending one month at that hotel, where she was forced to sleep with multiple men in a day under threat of violence. "I was feeling so bad - so so bad. But I couldn't do anything," Linda says. "When you refused she (Faith) would slap us, and not give us food to eat."
One day, she tried to find a way to an embassy that might help her. Faith found out, and Linda and another woman were shipped off to Malaysia. Though under strict directions to say as little as possible to officials and wait to be picked up at the airport, the women were stopped at immigration and didn't make it through.
Malaysian immigration sent her back to China, which sent her straight back to Malaysia again. She was in immigration limbo, and with no one to pay for her ticket home, Linda was detained at the Malaysian airport for months. In that time she fell ill, was taken to hospital and told that she was pregnant. Linda later miscarried - and then found out that she had contracted HIV.
"I just wanted to get some good money so I can help my kid, I can help my mom. I never imagined..." Her voice breaks and as she looks down into her lap, tears fall onto her clasped hands.
Lost Ugandans
Linda is not alone. A steadily growing number of Ugandan women are being trafficked to Malaysia and forced into the sex trade there. Last week, Hajah Noraihan, the honorary Malaysian consul to Uganda said at least 600 Ugandan trafficking victims are currently in her country, with another 10 or more continuing to enter daily.
Uganda's Director of Interpol Asan Kasingye has confirmed the figure, as well as the International Organization of Migration (IOM) - which says it has returned 14 women so far.
Linda was one of the few to return - getting out was the one bit of luck in her tragic tale. She returned in December with Ms Noraihan, who along with IOM has been the driving force in seeing any of the girls return. "Because of my concern about what happened to the Ugandan girls in Malaysia, a lot of things happened," Ms Noraihan says matter-of-factly. "Because they themselves cannot move."
At least three Ugandan women have been killed trying to escape from forced prostitution in Malaysia, Ms Noraihan says, and she has the photos to prove it. This newspaper has seen gruesome pictures of the dead women, and Ms Noraihan has provided them to police.
For the few girls who have gotten out, getting travel documents in place and a ticket to come home is not easy. With no Ugandan embassy or consulate in Malaysia, papers have to be sent from the High Commission in New Delhi, which Ms Noraihan says she has been paying for out of pocket.
And while the IOM has been paying to bring women home, the agency is often bound by how much the victims will say. Having been intimidated or threatened by the traffickers, with some women even reporting rape and torture, their fear can override the need for a statement and clear expressed desire to return home - which the IOM needs to be able to act.
What's more, some girls actually choose to become traffickers themselves after seeing the potential income it can bring them, says Interpol's Kasingye. Malaysian immigration controls have been more stringent since last October, when police raided an apartment in Kuala Lumpur in which 21 Ugandan women were freed from forced prostitution.
Proactive visa raids have been going on since, and has landed 60 Ugandan women in Malaysian prisons, Ms Noraihan said. These kinds of raids are the only way to get an idea of the numbers involved, says IOM, as the rest can only be estimated by random border detentions.
Interpol says 300 Ugandan victims of trafficking are also in India, where the trafficking of body parts is rife. Mr Kasingye said no other numbers could be verified, but that Ugandan victims have been confirmed in Thailand, China, Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Fighting the scourge
Across the board, officials agree that preventing Ugandans from leaving in the first place is the only way to stop the scourge. "IOM has been working with the government to help victims of trafficking to rebuild their lives, but once the damage is done, it is hard to reverse," said IOM Uganda's Chief of Mission Gerard Waite in a statement.
But prevention is no easy feat. Hundreds of genuine migrants cross borders every day for employment purposes, and even irregular ones cannot be categorized as trafficked under they become bonded, have their passports withheld, or start being exploited.
Linda is still struggling to pick up the pieces. She knows she needs counseling to deal with what happened to her, but can't afford it on her own. And rehabilitating returned girls like Linda is key to prosecution, says Mr Kasingye. "Someone who has gone through counseling and psychosocial support can go through that, can testify," he says. "They need to overcome fear, they need to overcome the trauma."
Failed by the system
Uganda enacted its anti-trafficking law in 2009, under which traffickers can face from 15 years to life in prison. But it is yet to convict anyone under the legislation, despite at least 16 outstanding investigations.
According to the US State Department, in November 2010, two pastors and an alleged accomplice were charged under the law for transporting a 17-year-old girl from Soroti District to Kampala, obtaining her a fraudulent passport, and attempting to take her to the UAE. The suspects were granted bail pending prosecution, the report said.
In February 2011, another two suspects were charged in court for allegedly forcing two Ugandan women into prostitution in Malaysia, but remain in prison awaiting a verdict, the report said.
Ms Noraihan says she warned the government in 2008 when just 30 Ugandans had been trafficked to her country, but that nothing was done. But since human trafficking headlines made waves in parliament last week, a flurry of action has followed. A parliamentary committee will travel to Malaysia this month to better understand the issue at hand, while a taskforce of relevant Ugandan officials have begun meeting. It may be three years later, but Ms Noraihan says at least now there are signs that a coordinated approach might come to pass.
Interpol's Mr Kasingye says police too need a comprehensive overhaul of how it has been operating. While the recently created Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is now in charge of investigations at home, he says the information provided to them should have borne more fruit by now.
"The intelligence is there but there is something missing," he said. Mr Kasingye calls for a model much like one that already exists in West Africa to tackle the systemic drug trafficking problem there.
The West Africa Coast Initiative (WACI) allows for a dedicated unit in each affected country to share information - crucial in cracking down on traffickers known for moving between neighbouring countries to bypass immigration controls and fly victims out.
With Uganda, many victims are first taken to Rwanda, Burundi or Kenya and then flown to Asia or the Middle East for sexual slavery, Mr Kasingye said. The WACI-based Transnational Crime Units (TCU) would ideally work closely with prosecutors as well.
Last December, the American Bar Association under its Rule of Law Initiative relaunched its human trafficking program in Uganda. It oversaw the anti-trafficking law being enacted in 2009, but saw a need to return and oversee the implementation, its website says.
For Linda, testifying against the people who put her through the darkest time in her life will doubtless be a daunting task - she has even heard that her traffickers have been asking around about her. "I still fear, but I don't want this to happen to another girl," she said quietly. "Now, I am just looking for a job."

Tagged: Asia, Australia, and Africa, Children, East Africa, External Relations, Legal Affairs, Uganda, Women

Arab Spring could benefit human traffickers, say rights advocates

2012-02-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

Rym Ghazal

Feb 23, 2012

Save this article

DUBAI // Rights advocates fear that human traffickers could be taking advantage of the Arab Spring, by luring women from the conflict-ridden countries with false promises of a better future.

"Women have to be careful, the criminals are skilled at taking advantage of instabilities and vulnerable situations," warned Mohammed Hussein Al Hammadi, the secretary-general of the Emirates Human Rights Association (HRA), yesterday.
Without specifying nationalities, Mr Al Hammadi said three Arab women had approached the association at the end of last year, saying they had been tricked into coming to the UAE with promises of good jobs.
"They were lied to, they came here and found themselves victims of human trafficking," said Mr Al Hammadi, who is also a member of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking.
"We try our best to help the victims. We give them legal help for free, and cooperate with all the different sides, police, government and non-government," said Mr Al Hammadi. "Human trafficking is a form of slavery. The victims are robbed of their basic human rights to live freely."
He was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the HRA, titled "Together We Stand As One for a Future Free of Human Trafficking".
The seminar heard that poverty and debts were causing an increase in human trafficking internationally. There are an estimated 27 million victims worldwide.
"Between 40 to 50 per cent of the victims are children, and many of them from Asia," said Mr Al Hammadi.
One of the points stressed by Mr Al Hammadi and other experts attending the conference was that there were "no organised mafia or gangs" of human trafficking in the UAE, only individual cases.
Mr Al Hammadi said efforts to clamp down on human trafficking were shown in official figures. There were 10 recorded cases in 2007, 20 in 2008, 43 in 2009, 56 in 2010 and 58 last year.
"One of the biggest difficulties we encounter is from the victims themselves," said Ahmed Murad Ahmed, the head of the human trafficking team at Dubai's public prosecution, who spoke at the seminar.
"We have to explain to them that they are the victim, not the criminals, and they have laws and many rights to protect them."
rghazal@thenational.ae

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Human Trafficking a Growing Global Scourge

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U.S. Attorney Talks About Brighton Sex Trafficking Arrest

rochesterhomepage.net

By: Caroline Tucker

Updated: February 23, 2012

Show against human trafficking

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