Stories from the Comfy Chair

2005-11-27T21:24:00.000-08:00

Week 9 Analysis

The further I investigated the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation, the more concerned I had with the foundation's other agendas. With all due respect to Mr. Nassif, I feel a little uncomfortable with his political stance on related issues. His approach seems to come the mindset of an "us" and "them" attitude. This attitude leads to a narrow perspective on the issue of human trafficking that leads to pity. Pity is not the answer nor the correct approach to the problem. Yes, we should have compassion on the victims of human trafficking, but more often than not pity comes from a perspective that we are somehow better than those we are pitying.

As Jesus followers we should approach these issues as servant leaders with complete humility. We should look to empower people as we share Christ's love with them. In my opinion if we make them completely reliant on us, it can lead to another more subtle form of enslavement, more psychological than physical.

All this to say, I believe that there are very few faith-based organizations out there that are coming from an approach that empowers rather than pities. I hope that I am proved wrong in this. There is a secular organization that I've mentioned in the past, Coalition To Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), that is based in Los Angeles. They provide training to various organizations including faith based organizations in addressing slavery and trafficking from a human rights perspective. Just the other night, a CAST representative was interviewed on a local television station for a story on Los Angeles brothels that held poor southern Mexican women as sex slaves.

CAST has a shelter that houses individuals, but if the number of trafficked people the purport to have housed on their website is true, there is much work to be done. Finding transitional housing for former trafficked peoples is one way in which the church could respond. Housing that is not permanent, but helps a person find stability and start a new life is one way in which the Church could respond. There are inherent dangers in doing this - the criminals who enslaved these people may come looking for them for one - but we are talking about trying to actually make systemic changes, changes to the powers of existence, redemptive changes. We are talking about the type of changes that only happen when God is working through his people.

2005-11-20T00:57:00.000-08:00

Week 8 Analysis

As I have explained before, I am on a listserve called "Dignity" run by a professor out of Rhode Island named Donna Hughes. Each day I recieve at least 5 emails related to human trafficking. Some of these emails are local news reports from various locations around the country and world, but many of them are abstracts of larger, extensive articles or websites dealing with human trafficking. It is an impressive undertaking. While I could not find any statement of faith by Ms. Hughes in her emails or on her webpage, I feel as if it is her faith that is the driving force behind her endeavors. I will use one of the emails I received over the weekend as an example.

The email was a quick summary of a speech by the keynote speaker of a seminar on human trafficking held here in Los Angeles on November 9. The keynote speaker was Tony Nassif, president and founder of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation. Most interesting is who Nassif calls to to address the problem of human trafficking:

He points to the reality that the Church offers the greatest hope to effectively deal with the problem for three basic reasons: 1. The Church is the largest grass roots organization ever known or will be known. It cannot be replicated because its inception and creation was supernatural. 2. The Church is the most cost effective. Administrative cost is fractional compared to the federal government. 3. The Church is motivated by a heart passion rather than a job. (bold and italics added)

Nassif himself is a politcal conservative and while I may disagree with some of his political views, I must give him credit for organizing this conference and for funding various organizations that combat human trafficking. He points out a reality of human trafficking that I had not thought of before. Seeing most of the trafficked persons as victims, I had not thought about the fact that many criminals may be trafficked into the country in the same way - under the radar. One of Nassif's concerns and the coincidently the concern of our fair government is the possible effectg this may have on our national security. While I believe teaming up with the government makes for strange bed-fellows, I can see that Mr. Nassif is trying to do so. In his conference he was clearly concerned more for those people trafficked in for sexual slavery and other abusive situations.

So two things to think about: 1) We can look at Donna Hughes and what she has done as a simple yet effective means of making people aware of the scourge of human trafficking. 2) Examining Nassif's organzition through the lens of a faith-based non-profit attempting to work with the government even with slighlty different agendas.

The email in full is below

PREVENTING ABUSE CONFERENCE---GREAT SUCCESS

On November 9, 2005 in Los Angeles California a number of high profile speakers address an overwhelming number of attendees at the PREVENTING ABUSE CONFERENCE on human trafficking and child abduction hosted by Tony Nassif President and Founder of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation.

The impressive list of speakers included Dr. Laura Lederer from the State Department, Homeland Security (ICE), Steve Wagner from HHS, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Los Angeles and California government officials, anti prostitution spokeswoman Anne Bissell, Noreen Gosch a mother who discovered human trafficking in America when she tried to find her kidnapped son -- in the 1980s. As she said, now there is a name for it: Human Trafficking.

The response to the conference was so overwhelming that Nassif is planning a series of conferences in California and the nation.

During the conference, Nassif spoke strongly that human trafficking and child abduction is not a political issue. He said: "Conservatives, take your politics outside the door. Liberals, take your politics out the door. Moderates, make a decision." He went on to say: "Human trafficking and child abduction is not a political issue. It is a human one. Even now, as we sit in this room listening to these great speakers, women and children are crying in real time for deliverance. Will we hear? Will we act?"

Nassif continued by making a strong point that the he and the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation take a stand against legalized prostitution or even its decriminalization and further discourages support of any organizations that do. He also says that those caught in prostitution need to be shown a way out to a better life.

He points to the reality that the Church offers the greatest hope to effectively deal with the problem for three basic reasons: 1. The Church is the largest grass roots organization ever known or will be known. It cannot be replicated because its inception and creation was supernatural. 2. The Church is the most cost effective. Administrative cost is fractional compared to the federal government. 3. The Church is motivated by a heart passion rather than a job.

The conference covered a broad cross section of the human trafficking and child abduction dynamics from the demand to the rescue and restoration.

2005-11-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

Week 7 Analysis

With the growth and evolution of globalization, labour is in a constant flux relative to competitive markets. Held, McGrew, Goldblatt, and Perraton hold that technology has adverse effects on labor when technology is diffused internationally and therfore the advantage lies in who relative amount of supply. Many developing countries have taken to specialization which is reliant on trade and the international economy to be effective. It can work short term to boost a developing country, but if the market they are specializing in dries up, it can spell disaster for the economy. A developed country with its abundance of skilled labour (a supply) holds advantage over a developing country who likely pool of skilled labour is much, much smaller. The World Trade Organization was supposedly designed to protect international free trade agreements, but is in need of much repair as an organization.

So what does this mean for the individual? Well, in developing countries that specialize, an economy can dry up overnight if the industry they are a part of takes a downturn. On a macro-level, an economist would analyze it as a natural and possible expected trend that will eventually correct itself. But is it enough as Christ followers say that there will eventually be a turn around? No. We are called to look things both at the macro-level and at the micro-level. We are called to minister to the individual as well as the community. The effects of a short term (when put in historical perspective) downturn in an economy can be utterly devastating at the invidual level and even at the community or small country level. What happens to a people who's main source of income is pulled from beneath them in a systemic way that cripples even the larger economy of the community or state? People are forced in tremendously dangerous and compromising situations. It is here that many people become relucant, but "willing" participants in human trafficking. Driven by the need for the basic necessities of life for themselves and their families, many people are forced to sell the one last thing they own - themselves or if available, their children. They have suddenly become the commodity. Cheap labor, property to be used and then thrown away. As Christ-followers, we are called, and I mean this in the strongest sense of the word, to care for these people. We must throw away the pity model that solves the issues short term and see Christ in the poor so that we as his followers are reminded of their humanity and dignity as God's creation.

2005-11-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Week 6 Analysis

Empires to Modern States in relation to Human Trafficking

Looking specifically at the history empires of Europe and the constant flux that tribes and people groups had to face, I cannot help but think that life must have been somewhat cheap. As Storey points out, empires lacked the administrative means to control all of the territories they called their own. Both from the controlling empire's perspective and the neighboring empire vying for land and power, the rights of the individual were probably rarely thought of if at all. So when a tribe who lived on the outskirts of the empire was invaded by another group and enslaved, the empire from which they were taken were more concerned about numbers and the control of territory more than anything else. It was more about the depletion of a resource both monetarily and also for future military to fight the invading neighboring empire. In a sense, other people groups or tribes were treated asa commodity rather than as human beings made in God's image.

This mentality continued into early modern Europe with strong nationalistic identities replacing tribal identities. National interests were placed above the interest of anything else. There were tenuous ties between tribes in close proximity. Most recently, the tenuousness nature of these ties became evident after the break of the Soviet Union. Once they had pulled out of Eastern Europe, many of these tribal disputes came to the surface again, leading to divisions and tribal wars. Certain tribes were on the verge of genocide as others were bent on their total destruction. Mass killings were the norm as were mass graves.

It is no wonder that enslavement of captured peoples in this environment was accepted and that people were considered the spoils of war. This disregard for the sanctity of human life is still evident in much of the world, not just Europe. Over and over again throughout history, when one country or tribe invades another, there are stories of the capture and enslavement of the invaded. Whether it was the Israelites in Babylon, the Comfort Women in Japan, or the Native Americans in the early United States, the invaders have treated the weakened group as less than human.

It is a sad fact that at many times throughout Western history, the Church has been complicit if not specifically responsible for the degradation of humans in tribal and nationalistic wars. We need look only back to events such as the Holocaust of World War II and the Crusades for two prominent examples. This stain on the Church still has repercussions for us today and therefore requires the Church to redeem itself.

The same mentality of the dominant powers that traffic humans today evolved from this wartime mentality that devalues human life for the sake of their own needs. We look at other groups of people and dehumanize them so that we may exploit them and assuage our guilt.

2005-10-31T00:45:00.000-08:00

Week 5 Resource List

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002545187_prostitutes07m.html

This is a link to a Seattle Times article that exposed a prostitution vice squad engaging in certain sexual acts with prostitutes with the okay of their commander. The squad and commander have come under fire and the commander seems unapologetic saying that the officers didn't engage in real sex, either oral or intercourse. It is a ridiculous argument and these officers took advantage of the women who were no doubt in a vulnerable situation.

An article from the Law News Network about my hold neighborhood, San Jose. A number of "massage parlors" were raided and the owners arrested. Many of the women were being held against their will. Just another example of how this problem is everywhere.

Federal and state law enforcement investigators yesterday arrested five
defendants and searched 14 alleged brothels and residences as part of “Operation
Bad Neighbor” ... According to the complaint, all five defendants operated
brothels that masqueraded as unlicensed, underground massage houses in South Bay
residential neighborhoods. The brothels were located in the cities of San Jose,
San Mateo, and Santa Clara. The defendants allegedly harbored illegal alien
women from Asia at the houses of prostitution. In order to conceal their illicit
businesses from law enforcement detection, the defendants allegedly bribed
undercover officers, who posed as crooked police officers, for “protection” of
the brothel sites. The undercover investigation was initiated by the San Mateo
Police Department in the fall of 2004, when one of the defendants, Shen,
allegedly sought to bribe a police officer for the dismissal of local pimping
and pandering charges against co-defendant Song. Thirty-one women found at the
brothel locations are being interviewed as potential material witnesses in
connection with the investigation. The women are being provided with appropriate
medical care and victim-witness assistance while in custody. Investigators are
interviewing the women in order to determine whether any of the women were
forced to engage in prostitution or were the victims of human trafficking. As
alleged in thecomplaint, during the course of this investigation, law
enforcement officers received anonymous tips suggesting that some of the women
may have been the victims of sex trafficking. According to one anonymous
complaint made by a woman claiming to have worked for defendant Song, Song
offered women assistance in fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship in exchange
for money. The anonymous complaint alleged that the women would work off their
debts by engaging in prostitution and that Song threatened to withhold the
women’s immigration papers until their debts were re-payed.

An article in the Christian Post that talks about the exposure human trafficking will get due to the Lifetime film and also to a conferene here in Los Angeles on Nov. 9. We should go to this...

Lifetime Television's Human Trafficking, a new miniseries that premiered Oct.
24, bared the devastating activity of commercial sexual exploitation that has
been occurring in America to millions of viewers. Human trafficking, also termed
as modern day slavery, has been ranked as the third largest money making
industry next to gun running and drugs. Some 2 million women and children are
sold each year with 800,000 of them forced across international borders...Tony
Nassif, president and founder of the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation,
commended Lifetime for bringing light to the "devastating evil" of human
trafficking, said a released statement.On Nov. 9, Nassif will be hosting The
Preventing Abuse Conference on human trafficking and child abduction in Los
Angeles. The conference serves to educate the public, spread awareness, and
build stronger coalitions in battling the trafficking market. Noreen Gosch,
mother of a kidnap victim, is scheduled as a featured speaker.

An Associated Press article from October 24, 2005 that tells the story of locally trafficked person. An interesting focus of this article is the examination of what the writer calls an "unusual coalition" of differen organizations that have come together to fight human trafficking:

LOS ANGELES --Florencia Molina's personal hellhole was a dressmaking shop on the
outskirts of Los Angeles. She worked there up to 17 hours a day, seven days a
week, and lived there, too, without the option of showering or washing her
clothes.Other victims of American-style human trafficking have had very
different venues for ordeals just as bad or worse -- brothels in San Francisco,
bars in New Jersey, slave-labor farm camps in Florida, a small-town tree-cutting
business owned by a New Hampshire couple.Trafficking is a stubborn problem and a
staggering one worldwide, affecting an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 victims a
year. Federal officials say 14,500 to 17,500 of them are trafficked to the
United States, where the myriad forms of modern-day slavery present an elusive
target for those trying to eradicate it...Aligned against the traffickers is an
array of federal, state and local government agencies, teamed up with an odd
coalition of private groups that include Christian conservatives and
left-of-center immigrant-rights advocates. The result is perhaps the most
far-reaching anti-trafficking campaign of any nation, yet some victim support
groups are questioning its effectiveness...

Another Associated Press article on the Vatican's recognition of the problem of human trafficking as dire:

PROSTITUTION: POPE, SLAVE TRADERS ARE BACK(AGI) - Vatican City, Oct. 28 -
Benedict XVI has pointed his finger athuman trafficking, and above all that of women, who go to somewhere theycan improve their lives, or just survive.The Pope
gave a very tough message on the World Day of Migration, saying that the great poverty in the countries of origin make it easy for the trafficker to offer his services to the victims, young women who often have no idea of what they are facing - exploitation as slaves and in the sexindustry. He called for a rescue programme...

From the Australian, Oct. 30, 2005: This is just sad and shows both the
depravity of man and what people will be driven to out of hunger and
desperation.

"Quake Orphans Being Sold into Prostitution"

Aisha loves the clothes her new guardian has bought for her, what she
doesn't realise is this woman just bought her for $1500 and intends to make her
into a prostitute. Other children in the area are being bought up by pimps who
will pay twice that.The woman, who claims she is a distant relative who bought
the girl from her grandmother, says the girl's virginity could rake in as much
as $4700 once she reaches puberty and if the girl won't work for her she will
sell her to a pimp.According to welfare agencies many orphans are being targeted
by gangs who want to turn them into beggars or prostitutes. The govt. of
Pakistan is so concerned it has placed armed guards at hospitals and placed a
ban on adoptions.

From the Boston Globe, Oct. 27, 2005: A great article profiling a woman, a Catholic nun in fact, who gives a voice to victims of sexual slavery.

"Voice given to sexual slavery victims"

One of the guiding mottoes of Sister Helene Hayes's religious order is,
''One person is of more value than a world." It's a phrase Hayes has taken to
heart as she works on a book that aims to give voice to women and girls who were
manipulated into believing their value was not as human beings but as
merchandise.Hayes, who lives at the Sisters of the Good Shepherd's community in
Marlborough, has spent the past year and a half in seven countries chronicling
the stories of sexual slavery around the world. She is now back in the United
States hoping to do a round of interviews in this country.Between 14,500 and
17,500 people in the United States and 600,000 to 800,000 worldwide are victims
of the slave trade, according to Department of Justice estimates. These men,
women, and children are unwillingly part of a $7 billion global industry that
exploits human sexuality, and are deceived, coerced, or kidnapped into a life of
prostitution.''They are voiceless, they are dispossessed, they are nameless. My
intent is to write a book that opens up the experience of the women and the
service providers that work with them," said Hayes, after giving a lecture on
her work to a group of local women gathered at the Waltham Public Library last
week.At the end of her talk, Hayes showed the film ''The Fields of Mudan," a
fictionalized story about a young Asian girl who is sold to a brothel in the
United States.So far Hayes has interviewed 55 women in Sri Lanka, Thailand,
South Korea, the Philippines, Belgium, France, and Italy. Hayes is working with
local service agencies to document the experiences of 10 women in the United
States as well.

2005-10-30T21:19:00.000-08:00

Wess pointed out that I never listed my week 4 resources so here they are:

http://www.thefactis.org/default.aspx?control=ArticleMaster&aid=252&authid=11

This is a link to an article that expose a connection between an Indian NGO that exploited underage prostitutes and the United States Agency for International Aid. While USAID did not knowingly fund an agency that practiced sexual exploitation, the agency was slow in acting on cutting funding to the Indian NGO even when informed of the practices of it.

http://www.lifetimetelevision.com/movies/originals/humantrafficking.html

Lifetime Television network aired a two-part mini-series titled "Human Trafficking" on Sunday and Monday of last week. While it is a dramatization and takes liberties with the story, according to a number of reviews, the movie does not gloss over the darkness and evil of human trafficking. It sheds light and exposes a larger segment of the population to the problem. An unfortunate side-effect of airing on Lifetime might be that it is treated like the issue of the week until the next mini-series comes along.

http://www.ktuu.com/CMS/templates/master.asp?articleid=753&zoneid=1

Story about Alaska forming a human trafficking task force after a couple of business were caught both illegal holding people who were trafficked in and also being a part of the process of trafficking the people to Alaska.

http://i-newswire.com/pr48549.html

Article about an NGO in the UK that helps Thailand women and children break free from prostitution. The article does not hide the fact that this organization is Christian. There is some interesting discussion on teaming with other organizations to combat child prostitution holistically. Here's the NGO's website: www.hand-in-hand.co.uk

I signed up on a listserv that looks at sex crimes and human trafficking so some of the following articles are taken from emails that I received. I will give only a portion of the article and will give the full text upon request. I will list the source when possible.

A moving, if not distrubing article on the work of an undercover agent who goes into undercover brothels to try and free young girls caught in the web of prostitution. The article is somewhat graphic. From the Seoul Times, October 18, 2005

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest countries and notorious for child
sex trafficking, making it a big destination for paedophiles and other sex
tourists. Geoff is sitting on a small, hard bed in a Cambodian brothel, his
heart thumping fast. He is 49 years old, a retired Australian diplomat with a
wife and two grown-up children. After a long, tense wait, a grinning teenaged
boy opens the door and pushes in two young girls. One says she is seven years
old. The other is nine. The younger one seems as nervous as Geoff, breathing
heavily, as the boy explains exactly what she will do for $60. Geoff sits back
on the bed, a deliberately casual move, but it enables the top button on his
shirt to point directly towards the girls' faces. Hidden within that button is a
tiny video camera and microphone...Geoff, not his real name, is an undercover
investigator wading through the depravity of Cambodia's paedophile industry. He
works for an international organisation dedicated to fighting injustice. "The
adrenalin is always pumping," he says, "no matter how many times you do it."
More often that not, the girls are drugged. One of them described it to Geoff as
feeling "like you're not really there." Some get an injection before each
client.

From the Denver Post, October 23, 2005

Denver police raided 18 Asian massage parlors and arrested 35 people in the
past six months in a massive effort to curtail prostitution. The arrests in what
police say is a $20 million a year local industry have also led investigators to
believe that the massage parlors are part of an international effort to traffic
in women who often are forced into prostitution to pay off those who brought
them into the country. In Denver, no traffickers have been charged, but
authorities said some of the women here indicated they had not joined the sex
industry willingly. Arrested were prostitutes, madams and johns on charges
including prostitution, solicitation and keeping a place of prostitution, Denver
vice Sgt. Mark Fleecs said. Sixteen of the businesses are now closed. The busts
also have revealed stories of human trafficking from women in the massage
parlors described by police as too frightened to cooperate. "We'll continue to
be very aggressive in addressing this disturbing problem," said Dave Fisher,
division chief of investigations. Fleecs said his unit will keep the pressure on
the illegal operations as well as pursue trafficking cases when they hear about
them from the women involved. The problem, he said, is that the women are not
willing to testify because those who control their lives in massage parlors have
alleged ties to organized crime, such as the Korean mob.

From the Seoul Times, October 18, 2005

The child-sex tourism industry that caters to pedophiles preying on the world's
poorest children is slowly being chipped away at through tougher laws in the
United States and new efforts worldwide to pull back the curtain on this
underground network. Although trafficking in children has plagued countries such
as Cambodia, Thailand, and Costa Rica for decades, in the past year a synergy
has developed between the US, NGOs, and the UN to curb the part of the
multibillion-dollar sex-tourism industry that targets children. And their
efforts are beginning to show results. In the US, pedophiles who regularly
traveled abroad for cheap, abundant child sex are being prosecuted. In other
countries where poverty and lack of education drive the sex trade, new sobering
advertising campaigns will start warning potential offenders of the consequences
of buying sex with a child. Wednesday a campaign called the Code of Conduct for
the Protection of Children From Sexual Commercial Exploitation in Travel and
Tourism, or simply "the code," was launched at the UN...

From the Orlando Sentinel on October 23, 2005

An article on an underground system of brothels run out of inconspicuous mobile homes in immigrant farm communities. Authorities admitted that they would have never found out had it not been for immigration catching wind of the brothels.

DAVENPORT -- The inconspicuous mobile home on Powerline Road doesn't seem
inviting -- given its fenced yard, gated driveway with "no trespassing" signs and overgrown landscaping.But federal law-enforcement officials said the Davenport home has been a hot spot for Central Florida's migrant farmworkers looking for a good time.That's because a brothel has been operating out of the house, the U.S. Attorney's Office recently said...Law-enforcement officials said brothels are not uncommon in migrant farmworking communities, but arrests for such activity are
infrequent."Really, they are probably not that rare," said Polk County sheriff's Chief W.J. Martin. "They pretty much fly under the radar because the clientele are all the illegal immigrants."Because many of the people living in the migrant areas are illegal residents, they are reluctant to report crime or ask for help from police, Martin said.

2005-10-23T00:28:00.000-07:00

This week my resources are a number of articles on human trafficking particularly as it applies to the sex trade. Most of these articles I received from signing up for a listserv of a professor out of a school in Rhode Island. Her name is Donna Hughes and the name of her organization/listserv is DIGNITY. It collects articles on issues dealing with a whole range of topics on the sexual exploitation of women around the world. Most articles are on prostitution, but some look specifically at the problem of human trafficking of women and children for the purpose of prostitution. It is a great service. Sometimes she interjects her own opinion into the article in the form of an editorial comment which is a little annoying, but you cannot deny the amazing work she does in collecting these articles.

Two things in particular struck me this last week. One was an article sent by the DIGNITY listserv that showed a direct link between the U.S. government and a NGO offering legal advice to underage prostitutes in India that in actuality was fronting for a prostitution ring. This NGO supported by U.S. funds was altering the birth certificates of these underage girls so that they woud appear to be eighteen in the eyes of the court. This to me is extremely problematic on a number of levels. First, the U.S. governmental ageny, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) only did further investigation after they were pressed by other NGOs in India concerning the practices of this other NGO (SANGRAM). USAID has specific standards of compliance for any NGO that they send funds to, but cleary SANGRAM was not following the rules of compliance. Yet they continued to receive funding. USAID basically deflected blame [a common practice in this administration...] and acted on it only when pressed. The other troubling aspect of this story is the actions of the NGO, SANGRAM. While I feel USAID is partially to blame for not checking and auditing more carefully, it worries me that certain NGO both domestically and abroad might be so corrupt that they actually support the very thing they are supposed to be fighting. I don't know much about SANGRAM, but my worry is that more organizations that are unscrupulous will slip through the cracks and possibly hinder progress on the battle to end child prostitution.

Lastly, Lifetime has a two-part miniseries on the human trafficking of women and children for sexual slavery. The plot line seems a little far fetched, but I have read that the movie is true to life when it comes to showing how these women and children are captured and kept. It also holds no punches in terms of pointing out that this problem will take a lot of work to solve. I doubt that it attempts to make any connection between the economic divide between the women's countries of origin and that of the United States.

2005-10-17T00:41:00.000-07:00

Week 3 Analysis

We have begun to narrow down the problem and split our group into two. Tabitha and I are focusing on human trafficking and particularly on the sex trade. We have not picked a country out yet, but there are so many to chose from.

I continue to think that we need to show not only how our economy forces many of these women and children into making decisions against their better judgment. Last weekend, we screened a movie on the AIDS crisis in Africa. Something that the head of an orphanage said in his interview struck me as a huge battle that we will face in any third world country that is struggling with human trafficking. He spoke of young girls who are basically starving and are forced to decide between giving themselves sexually over to man who has promised to clothe and feed them (at least for that night) or spend another day with an empty stomach. Hunger forces them to compromise and give in. If we step back from looking only at how evil this manipulation of a child was by the adult, we cannot ignore the other factors that led to this child being so absolutely hungry that they would willing to sell themselves for a meal.

This week there is a link to a speech given by Dr. Mohammed Mattar, the Executive Director of the Protection Project. The Protection Project is an organization that helps promote human rights around the world, much like Amnesty International. This speech by Mattar was on human trafficking and in particular looking at how various bills both in Europe and the United States had gone beyond even the demands of the United Nations Act on human trafficking. In particular I was interested in how victims in the United States could apply for a certain type of visa called the T-Visa. It is a visa giving a person residency status and a trafficked person has the right to apply for it. While Mattar puts the yearly number of persons trafficked into the United States at 50,000, the number of visas offered to trafficked persons is only 5,000. And of that 5,000 only 700 were given out since 2000. One must ask why we have such a disparity both in the number of trafficked people and the number of visas available and the number of visas available compared to the number that were applied for. Something is amiss. The fact that only 700 visas were rewarded between the year 2000 and now in the year 2005 is a sad testimony to the effectiveness of our government to get the word out about this offer. Lack of communication is a huge factor that many traffickers rely on to get away with their deeds. In one respect, traffickers desire poor communication between agencies of the government who could be working together to address the issue effectively. On the other hand, traffickers who have “imprisoned” humans can easily avoid the weak campaign the government does when addressing the problems. So the exploited continue to be oppressed, hidden, and afraid.

2005-10-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Week 3 Resources

www.ecpatusa.org

ECPAT-USA works to stop the involvement of Americans in the child sex trade. We do this through research, education and advocacy on the following issues: Child Sex Tourism, Child Prostitution in the United States, Child Trafficking, and US Military Involvement with Child Prostitution.Child Sex Tourism - Although child sex tourism mainly occurs in areas such as South East Asia and Latin America, most of the demand for child sex comes from the Western world. Reports indicate that up to 25 percent of child sex tourists are American. In 1994, partly as a result of lobbying by ECPAT-USA, a federal law was finally passed making it a crime in the U.S. to sexually abuse a child in another country.

http://www.iofa.org/

The trafficking of young people for forced labor and prostitution is a serious and growing global problem. In response to this burgeoning problem, IOFA is working to educate and empower young people who are at risk for human trafficking in both destination and receiving countries. This organization is partnering with ECPAT to combat human trafficking within the U.S.

http://www.ltsc.org/

The Little Tokyo Service Center (downtown LA). According to the website www.humantrafficking.org, the "Little Tokyo Service Center provides emergency housing for victims of trafficking in Los Angeles. It works closely with Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking on the "Enhanced Crisis Response Project" and both organizations have received a grant from the Office of Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice." I couldn't find anything on their website that said they did this and that may be left out on purpose. It might be interesting to contact them.

http://www.castla.org/

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. Mission Statement: "To assist persons trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and slavery-like practices and to work toward ending all instances of such human rights violations." The Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST), established in 1998, has been a pioneer in the anti-trafficking movement in the United States and works exclusively with trafficked persons. CAST is a multi-ethnic human rights organization whose mission is to assist persons trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and slavery-like practices and to work toward ending all instances of such human rights violations. CAST has provided training and technical assistance to thousands of NGO and government personnel and represented the United States at international events on human trafficking. CAST is a grantee of the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services and, as one of the leading anti-trafficking organizations in the U.S. , has extensive expertise to deliver quality training to participants.

http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2005/Sep/26-687070.html

U.S. to Deny AID to Five Countries Under Anti-Trafficking Act.
Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela still allow human traffickingThe White House has determined Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Venezuela should be sanctioned under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. In a memorandum to the secretary of state, President Bush directed that the United States deny assistance -- ranging from participation in educational and cultural exchange programs to certain nonhumanitarian, nontrade-related funding -- to these five countries until their governments comply with the act's minimum standards to combat trafficking or make significant efforts to do so.

www.bsccoalition.org/BSCC/

Mission Statement: To preserve the dignity and well being of commercially and sexually exploited women and children through prevention, intervention, and education.

Vision Statement: To live in a world where there is zero tolerance for exploitation and where women and children’s lives are protected and held in high esteem.

http://www.ecpatusa.org/child_sex_tourism.asp

Although child sex tourism mainly occurs in areas such as South East Asia and Latin America, most of the demand for child sex comes from the Western world. Reports indicate that up to 25 percent of child sex tourists are American. In 1994, partly as a result of lobbying by ECPAT-USA, a federal law was finally passed making it a crime in the U.S. to sexually abuse a child in another country. ECPAT-USA launched an education campaign to inform both American travelers and the travel industry about the problem of child sex tourism and the U.S. laws that can prosecute American child sex tourists.

http://www.stop-traffic.org/

This site has a nice collection of UN documents, statements and acts on human trafficking. They also have a great collection of documents or statements on human trafficking by the U.S. Congress, the INS, and the U.S. State Department.

http://www.protectionproject.org/bel.htm

Text from a speech titled "Trafficking in Persons: The European versus the U.S. Approach" given by Dr. Mohammed Mattar, Executive Director, Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Brussels, Belgium on May 11, 2005. The speech basically looks at the latest legislative developments concerning human trafficking in different countries in Europe and the United States. It is fair and balanced and full of important up-to-date statistics including summaries of three new bills be considered by Congress.

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/hughes.htm

Donna M. Hughes is a professor at the University of Rhode Island who has done extensive research on human trafficking. Hughes does research and writing on trafficking, sexual exploitation, violence against women, women's organized resistance to violence, and religious fundamentalism and women's rights. She also works on issues related to women, science and technology.

2005-10-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Analysis Week 2

The issue of human trafficking is a seemingly daunting one. It is a centuries old problem and one that few have tried to tackle and none successfully. What do we as followers of Christ do when it comes to this issue? Many unfortunately choose to ignore it or downplay the significance of it. This in my opinion is unacceptable. If we truly call ourselves followers of Christ then we are obligated to care for others even if that other is a stranger or enemy. It is never acceptable to look the other way or be indifferent when we see this kind of darkness and suffering forced upon persons who like us where wonderfully and beautifully made by God. A question: Do you believe this scripture to be true? If so, then how on God's green earth can we sit by while people made in his image are treated like a mere commodity - something that has only monetary value. How does are indifference communicate the love of God to those who do not yet no him.

As Christians, we are not only called to share Christ with others, we are called to be Christ to others. It is shameful for people to call themselves Christians to sit and do nothing about the multitude of real problems that face humanity. It waters down the Gospel message and makes it irrelevant to a whole population of people. Thankfully there are those out there on the front lines and behind the scenes working on the issue. My little diatribe is a general commentary, but is easily applicable to the crisis of human trafficking. Just in looking at the resources on line, the problem of human trafficking effects nearly every nation on this planet. It is not a problem of "those people over there." It is a problem that every country must face. It is a problem that we must face here in the United States. We traffic in human beings to work in sweatshops and for our unspoken of sex industry. We traffic in mothers, fathers, grandparents, even little children so that certain needs will be met. I am not saying that this is condone by our government or by the majority of Americans. Two different articles I listed under resources talk of Chinese women being trafficked through Europe into the United States. They are not being brought here by organizations looking out for these women's best interests. They are brought here to be slaves. Yes, slaves. We still have slavery here in the United States. Right here in Los Angeles they are prostitution rings that enslave women from abroad. There are men and women who have come here illegally and work under great duress and fear of being sent back home. In their home country they paid lots of money to be brought here only to find out that the wonderful life they had been promised in the U.S. was all a lie. Now there are here with no money and no way of notifying authorities without being sent back.

What got them to make this decision in the first place? It could be any number of reasons, but most boil down to the fact that they are coming from a place of severe poverty. Whether this poverty was caused by their country's corrupt government or by globalization we cannot say without further investigation. Further investigation. It is necessary. It is part of this project. It is a step in making a dent in a massive crisis for humanity.

2005-10-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Hello. My name is Nate and I am so pleased that you have come to my blog. Welcome. I suppose I should tell you a little bit about myself.

I am a follower of Christ and currently trying to figure out all that this means.
I am a student at Fuller Theological Seminary. and I really like it here.
I am married. To a woman. To a wonderful woman.
I love art - music, dance, visual art, writing, photography.
I am skilled in only two of the aforementioned arts. Guess the correct two and you win a prize.
In the future, I want to work with teens, hopefully those that are from a marginalized or oppressed group, and give them the opportunity to express themselves and discover God through the arts.
I believe that marginalized and oppressed people still exist in the United States. and they most certainly exist around the world.
My favorite sushi is the "spider roll" - yummy.
If you looked at my CD collection, 10% of it is Christian artist whom I listen to 1% of the time; 70% is "secular" popular music (r0ck, folk, punk, techno, hiphop, electronic) which I listen to 97% of the time; 20% is classical which I listen to 1% of the time; 10% is jazz which I listen to 2% of the time. I like it ecletic.
I like the idea of modeling my future ministry after the missional work of Jesus. He is.

I look forward to this class and my small group. We are focusing on the Economic disparity between our culture and a 3rd world country. Here's a list of resources:

The Asha Forum: The Asha Forum operates as one branch of the larger organization, Viva Network. Since 1994, Viva Network has sought to develop a visible and functional global movement of Christians getting better help to more 'children at risk.' Today Viva Network is involved in developing and supporting 66 network initiatives in 43 countries around the world, linking 16,000 workers working in 4,000 projects reaching 160,000 children.

http://www.ashaforum.org/

Freedom Network (USA). About: Ensure that trafficked persons are treated as victims and not criminals, are able to have full access to justice, including the right to full compensation and restitution from the traffickers, and are provided with access to linguistically-appropriate and culturally-sensitive, victim-centered social, mental health, medical, legal, educational, vocational and other services.Increase public awareness of the crime of trafficking through education, research, training and community outreach and organizing for the purpose of preventing trafficking and supporting the rights of trafficked persons. Engage in advocacy at the local, national and international levels on behalf of trafficked persons and for full prosecution of all traffickers, including corporations and their subcontractors.Develop local and national networks in the United States and to link with international networks in order to carry out these above activities.

www.freedomnetworkusa.org

Human trafficking.com: the research and training center of the Polaris Project. About: Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. The third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world, trafficking is one of the most urgent human rights issues today. HumanTrafficking.com is your one-stop gateway to research and training to combat modern-day slavery, whether you are a professional, a researcher, or a concerned community member.

http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/

Globalrights.org. About: Our VisionThe work of Global Rights is motivated by our vision of a just society worldwide built on the fundamental principles of human rights.
Our Core BeliefsThe critical forces for achieving deep-rooted and sustainable change in societies come from within each nation. Human rights cultures are built from the ground up.
Our MissionGlobal Rights is a human rights advocacy group that partners with local activists to challenge injustice and amplify new voices within the global discourse. With offices in countries around the world, we help local activists create just societies through proven strategies for effecting change. We seek justice for victims of human rights abuses. We work to promote racial and gender equality and help people and communities feel empowered to change their societies.
We work through field offices in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and in the United States, partnering with local human rights advocates to strengthen their effectiveness in combating abuses in their countries. We focus on developing the skills of local activists that are essential to addressing human rights concerns and promoting justice such as: documenting and exposing abuses, conducting community education and mobilization, advocating legal and policy reform in countries and internationally, and using the courts to increase access to justice for disadvantaged populations. We help local activists to engage with the international community, including the United Nations, to further their human rights objectives at home.

http://www.hrlawgroup.org/initiatives/trafficking_persons/

Article from the Tuscon Citizen on human trafficking in Mexico. Summary: More than 16,000 child prostitutes live and work in Mexico's most popular destinations, including border cities such as Nogales, according to UNICEF. And Americans make up a high number of the tourists who cross the border to exploit them.

http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/client/view.aspx?ResourceID=731

Article from Agence France Presse on human trafficking through Europe in the U.S. Summary: Swiss and US authorities have managed to dismantle a trafficking ring which smuggled young southeast Asian women to the United States through Europe, Swiss police said on Thursday.

http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/client/view.aspx?ResourceID=332

Report on international trafficking in women into the United States. Summary: Provides an overview of the international trafficking of women into the United States.

http://www.cia.gov/csi/monograph/women/trafficking.pdf

Article from the Connecticut Law Tribune on human trafficking of women through Europe. Summary: Swiss police said Thursday they had smashed an international gang trafficking young Chinese women to the United States to be forced into prostitution.

http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/client/view.aspx?ResourceID=1430

Report on International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Menifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime. Summary: A Nov. 1999 Intelligence Monograph. This article finds that the trafficking of women and children "for the sex industry and for labor" is prevalent in all regions in the U.S. Tactics and techniques of traffickers.

http://www.cia.gov/csi/monograph/women/trafficking.pdf

Report on court case involving human trafficking. Summary: US Attorney Mervyn M. Mosbacker announced today that Sriwan Sakyai, 28, Houston, and Ratiporn Tantirojanakitkan, 30, Los Angeles, plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt to a conspiracy involving the importation and transportation of females from Thailand to the United States for prostitution and encouraging unlawful immigration.

http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/client/view.aspx?ResourceID=3162

2005-09-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

This will be my blog for the class Transforming Contemporary Culture taught by Ryan Bolger.