Investments/Leadership/Coach/Humanitarian/Artist: SEXUAL TRAFFICKING REPORTS

RESOURCES IN AMERICA FOR VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE 2011
http://www.mariska.com/resources/

Helpful Organizations

Whether you have been sexually assaulted, suffer from depression, are considering suicide, or just have a question, you are not alone. Here's a list of organizations that I trust and consider excellent resources. If you think you can relate to a subject below, I strongly urge you to seek the help you need. Remember: never, ever be afraid to ask for help.

Rape/Sexual Assault

Rape Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN)

Search for counseling centers by zip code.
website: http://www.rainn.org/

National Sexual Assault Hotline

Free. Confidential. 24/7
telephone: 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673)

Safe Horizon
website: http://www.safehorizon.org/
telephone: 800-621-HOPE (800-621-4673)

Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Program (SAVI)-NY only
website: www.mssm.edu/SAVI

Joyful Heart Foundation

My non-profit dedicated to helping victims of sexual assault through dolphin-human therapy.

*Please note that this is not a crisis/counseling center, but it is a good source of information.
website: http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/

National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
website: http://www.nsvrc.org/
telephone: 877-739-3895

Domestic/Relationship Abuse

National Domestic Violence Hotline
website: http://www.ndvh.org/
telephone: 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) / TTY: 800-787-3224

Break The Cycle

Break the Cycle's mission is to engage, educate and empower youth to build lives and communities free from dating and domestic violence.
website: http://www.breakthecycle.org/

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

National Institute of Mental Health
website: www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/ptsdmenu.cfm

Depression/Social Anxiety Disorder

National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
website: http://www.nmha.org/
telephone: 800-969-6642 / TTY: 800-433-5959

American Psychological Association (APA)
website: http://www.apa.org/
telephone: 800-374-2721

Cutting/Self-Mutliation

Self-Abuse Finally Ends (SAFE)
website: http://www.selfinjury.com/
telephone: 800-DONT-CUT (800-366-8288)

Suicide

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
website: http://www.afsp.org/
telephone: 888-333-AFSP (888-333-2377)

National Suicide Hotline
telephone: 800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433)

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)
website: http://www.save.org/
telephone: 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255)

Eating Disorders

National Eating Disorders Association
website: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD)
website: http://www.anad.org/
telephone: 847-831-3438

Anorexia and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
website: http://www.anred.com/

Sex/Pregnancy

Planned Parenthood
website: http://www.plannedparenthood.com/
telephone: 800-230-PLAN (800-230-7526)

Candies Foundation
website: http://www.candiesfoundation.org/

Emergency Contraception Hotline
telephone: 888-NOT2LATE (888-668-2528)

Sex, etc.

A web site for teens by teens.
website: http://www.sexetc.org/

Drug/Alcohol Abuse

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
website: http://www.nida.nih.gov/

The Cool Spot (for teens)
website: http://www.thecoolspot.gov/

Alcoholics Anonymous
website: http://www.aa.org/

National Clearing House for Alcohol & Drug Info
website: http://www.health.org/
telephone: 800-729-6686

The Alcoholism and Addictions Resource Guide
website: http://www.soberrecovery.com/

AIDS/STDS

The American Social Health Association
website: http://www.ashastd.org%20or%20www.iwannaknow.org/

National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention
website: www.cdc.gov/std
telephone: 800-HIV-0440 (800-448-0440)

The Well Project

For Women with HIV or AIDS
website: http://www.thewellproject.org/

Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative
website: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/

Gay/Lesbian

Gay and Lesbian National Hotline
website: http://www.glnh.org/
telephone: 888-THE-GLNH (888-843-4564)

LAMBDA

A non-profit, gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender agency dedicated to reducing homophobia, inequality, hate crimes, and discrimination by encouraging self-acceptance, cooperation, and non-violence.
website: http://www.lambda.org/
telephone: 208-246-2292

Other/Misc

Teen Line Hotline Help Center
website: http://www.teenline.org/
telephone: 714-NEW-TEEN (714-639-8336)

Go Ask Alice!

Columbia University's health Q&A internet service which provides readers with credible, accessible information so that they can make better decisions concerning their health and well-being.
website: http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/

Girls, Inc.

Inspiring girls to be STRONG, SMART, & BOLD. Read about a Girls' Bill of Rights!
website: www.girlsinc.com/gc

Girls on the Run

A non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.
website: http://www.girlsontherun.org/

Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty

Dove believes all girls deserve to see how beautiful they really are and is committed to raising self-esteem in girls everywhere.
website: www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

ARCHIVES
FEBRUARY STORY 2011

CIA REPORTS

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2196.html

Field Listing :: Trafficking in persons:
Background info. Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded, or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. The International Labor Organization (ILO), the UN agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues, estimates that 12.3 million people worldwide are enslaved in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude at any given time. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat, depriving people of their human rights and freedoms, risking global health, promoting social breakdown, inhibiting development by depriving countries of their human capital, and helping fuel the growth of organized crime. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), reauthorized in 2003 and 2005, which provides tools for the US to combat trafficking in persons, both domestically and abroad. One of the law's key components is the creation of the US Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which assesses the government response (i.e., the current situation) in some 150 countries with a significant number of victims trafficked across their borders who are recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Countries in the annual report are rated in three tiers, based on government efforts to combat trafficking. The countries identified in this entry are those listed in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report as Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 3 based on the following tier rating definitions:
Tier 2 Watch List countries do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so, and meet one of the following criteria:
1. they display high or significantly increasing number of victims,
2. they have failed to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, or,
3. they have committed to take action over the next year.
Tier 3 countries neither satisfy the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking nor demonstrate a significant effort to do so. Countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions.

Country Trafficking in persons:

Algeria current situation: Algeria is a transit country for men and women trafficked from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude; criminal networks of sub-Saharan nationals in southern Algeria facilitate transit by arranging transportation, forged documents, and promises of employment
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Algeria is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List because it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however, it is making significant efforts to do so; in January 2009, the government approved new legislation that criminalizes trafficking in persons for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation representing an important step toward complying with international standards; despite these efforts, the government did not show overall progress in punishing trafficking crimes and protecting trafficking victims and continued to lack adequate measures to protect victims and prevent trafficking (2009)

Azerbaijan current situation: Azerbaijan is primarily a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; women and some children from Azerbaijan are trafficked to Turkey and the UAE for the purpose of sexual exploitation; men and boys are trafficked to Russia for the purpose of forced labor; Azerbaijan serves as a transit country for victims from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Moldova trafficked to Turkey and the UAE for sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Azerbaijan is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, particularly efforts to investigate, prosecute, and punish traffickers; to address complicity among law enforcement personnel; and to adequately identify and protect victims in Azerbaijan; the government has yet to develop a much-needed mechanism to identify potential trafficking victims and refer them to safety and care; poor treatment of trafficking victims in courtrooms continues to be a problem (2008)

Bangladesh current situation: Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; a significant share of Bangladesh's trafficking victims are men recruited for work overseas with fraudulent employment offers who are subsequently exploited under conditions of forced labor or debt bondage; children are trafficked within Bangladesh for commercial sexual exploitation, bonded labor, and forced labor; women and children from Bangladesh are also trafficked to India and Pakistan for sexual exploitation
tier rating: Bangladesh is placed on Tier 2 Watch List because it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so, including some progress in addressing sex trafficking; the government did not demonstrate sufficient progress in criminally prosecuting and convicting labor trafficking offenders, particularly those responsible for the recruitment of Bangladeshi workers for the purpose of labor trafficking (2009)

Belize current situation: Belize is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; the most common form of trafficking in Belize is the internal sex trafficking of minors; some Central American men, women, and children, particularly from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, migrate voluntarily to Belize in search of work but are subsequently subjected to conditions of forced labor or forced prostitution
tier rating: Belize is placed on Tier 2 Watch List because it does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; despite efforts to raise public awareness of human trafficking and provide protection services for trafficking victims, the government did not show evidence of progress in convicting and sentencing trafficking offenders last year (2009)

Burma current situation: Burma is a source country for women, children, and men trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; Burmese women and children are trafficked to East and Southeast Asia for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor; Burmese children are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Thailand as hawkers and beggars; women are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to Malaysia and China; some trafficking victims transit Burma from Bangladesh to Malaysia and from China to Thailand; Burma's internal trafficking remains the most serious concern occurring primarily from villages to urban centers and economic hubs for labor in industrial zones, agricultural estates, and commercial sexual exploitation; the Burmese military continues to engage in the unlawful conscription of child soldiers, and continues to be the main perpetrator of forced labor inside Burma; ethnic insurgent groups also used compulsory labor of adults and unlawful recruitment of children; the regime's widespread use of and lack of accountability in forced labor and recruitment of child soldiers is particularly worrying and represents the top causal factor for Burma's significant trafficking problem
tier rating: Tier 3 - serious problems remain in Burma, and in some areas, most notably in the area of forced labor, the Government of Burma is not making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, warranting a ranking of Tier 3; in other areas, particularly with regard to international sex trafficking of women and girls, the Government of Burma is making significant efforts (2010)

Cameroon current situation: Cameroon is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; most victims are children trafficked within country, with girls primarily trafficked for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation; both boys and girls are also trafficked within Cameroon for forced labor in sweatshops, bars, restaurants, and on tea and cocoa plantations; children are trafficked into Cameroon from neighboring states for forced labor in agriculture, fishing, street vending, and spare-parts shops; Cameroon is a transit country for children trafficked between Gabon and Nigeria, and from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia; it is a source country for women transported by sex-trafficking rings to Europe
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Cameroon is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking in 2007, particularly in terms of efforts to prosecute and convict trafficking offenders; while Cameroon reported some arrests of traffickers, none of them were prosecuted or punished; the government does not identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations nor does it monitor the number of victims it intercepts (2008)

Central African Republic current situation: Central African Republic is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; the majority of victims are children trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, street vending, and forced agricultural, mine, market and restaurant labor; to a lesser extent, children are trafficked from the Central African Republic to Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo; rebels conscript children into armed forces within the country
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Central African Republic is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in 2007; efforts to address trafficking through vigorous law enforcement measures and victim protection efforts were minimal, though awareness about trafficking appeared to be increasing in the country; the government does not actively investigate cases, work to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, or rescue and provide care to victims; the government has not taken measures to reduce demand for commercial sex acts (2008)

Chad current situation: Chad is a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; the majority of children are trafficked within Chad for involuntary domestic servitude, forced cattle herding, forced begging, forced labor in petty commerce or the fishing industry, or for commercial sexual exploitation; to a lesser extent, Chadian children are also trafficked to Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Nigeria for cattle herding; children may also be trafficked from Cameroon and the Central African Republic to Chad's oil producing regions for sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Chad does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making any significant efforts to do so; although facing resource constraints, the government has the capacity to conduct basic anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, yet did not do so during the last year; it showed no results in enforcing government policy prohibiting the recruitment of child soldiers; Chad has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2009)

China current situation: China is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor; the majority of trafficking in China occurs within the country's borders, but there is also considerable international trafficking of Chinese citizens to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America; Chinese women are lured abroad through false promises of legitimate employment, only to be forced into commercial sexual exploitation, largely in Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan; women and children are trafficked to China from Mongolia, Burma, North Korea, Russia, and Vietnam for forced labor, marriage, and prostitution; some North Korean women and children seeking to leave their country voluntarily cross the border into China and are then sold into prostitution, marriage, or forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - China is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of punishment of trafficking crimes and the protection of Chinese and foreign victims of trafficking; victims are sometimes punished for unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of their being trafficked, such as violations of prostitution or immigration/emigration controls; the Chinese Government continued to treat North Korean victims of trafficking solely as economic migrants, routinely deporting them back to horrendous conditions in North Korea; additional challenges facing the Chinese Government include the enormous size of its trafficking problem and the significant level of corruption and complicity in trafficking by some local government officials (2008)

Congo, Democratic Republic of the current situation: Democratic Republic of the Congo is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking for the purposes of forced labor and forced prostitution; the majority of this trafficking is internal, and much of it is perpetrated by armed groups and government forces outside government control within the country's unstable eastern provinces
tier rating: Tier 3 - Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government did not show evidence of progress in prosecuting and punishing labor or sex trafficking offenders, including members of its own armed forces; providing protective services for the vast majority of trafficking victims; or raising public awareness of human trafficking; in addition, the government's anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts decreased during the reporting period (2010)

Congo, Republic of the current situation: Republic of the Congo is a source and destination country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; girls are trafficked from rural areas within the country for commercial sexual exploitation, forced street vending, and domestic servitude; children are trafficked from other African countries for domestic servitude, forced market vending, and forced labor in the fishing industry
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Republic of the Congo is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons in 2007; struggling to recover from six years of civil conflict that ended in 2003, the Republic of the Congo's capacity to address trafficking is handicapped; the government neither monitors its borders for trafficking activity nor provides specialized anti-trafficking training for law enforcement officials; the government does not encourage victims to assist in trafficking investigations or prosecutions, and has not taken measures to reduce demand for commercial sex acts in the Republic of the Congo (2008)

Cote d'Ivoire Cote d'Ivoire is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; trafficking within the country is more prevalent than international trafficking and the majority of victims are children; women and girls are trafficked from northern areas to southern cities for domestic servitude, restaurant labor, and sexual exploitation; boys are trafficked internally for agricultural and service labor and transnationally for forced labor in agriculture, mining, construction, and in the fishing industry; women and girls are trafficked to and from other West and Central African countries for domestic servitude and forced street vending
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Cote d'Ivoire is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking in 2007, particularly with regard to its law enforcement efforts and protection of sex trafficking victims; in addition, Ivoirian law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking, and Cote d'Ivoire has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Cuba current situation: Cuba is principally a source country for children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically commercial sexual exploitation within the country; the scope of trafficking within Cuba is difficult to gauge due to the closed nature of the government and sparse non-governmental or independent reporting
tier rating: Tier 3 - Cuba does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; in a positive step, the Government of Cuba shared information about human trafficking and its efforts to address the issue; the government did not prohibit all forms of trafficking during the reporting period, nor did it provide specific evidence that it prosecuted and punished trafficking offenders, protected victims of all forms of trafficking, or implemented victim protection policies or programs to prevent human trafficking (2010)

Dominican Republic current situation: the Dominican Republic is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; a large number of Dominican women are trafficked into prostitution and sexual exploitation in Western Europe, Australia, Central and South America, and Caribbean destinations; a significant number of women, boys, and girls are trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude
tier rating: Tier 3 - for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in terms of not adequately investigating and prosecuting public officials who may be complicit with trafficking activity, and inadequate government efforts to protect trafficking victims; the government has taken measures to reduce demand for commercial sex acts with children through criminal prosecutions (2008)

Equatorial Guinea current situation: Equatorial Guinea is primarily a destination country for children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and possibly for the purpose of sexual exploitation; children have been trafficked from nearby countries for domestic servitude, market labor, ambulant vending, and possibly sexual exploitation; women may also be trafficked to Equatorial Guinea from Cameroon, Benin, other neighboring countries, and China for sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Equatorial Guinea is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking, particularly in the areas of prosecuting and convicting trafficking offenders and failing to formalize mechanisms to provide assistance to victims; although the government made some effort to enforce laws against child labor exploitation, it failed to report any trafficking prosecutions or convictions in 2007; the government continued to lack shelters or formal procedures for providing care to victims (2008)

Eritrea current situation: Eritrea is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; each year, large numbers of migrant workers depart Eritrea in search of work, particularly in the Gulf States, where some likely become victims of forced labor, including in domestic servitude, or commercial sexual exploitation; thousands of Eritreans flee the country illegally, mostly to Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya where their illegal status makes them vulnerable to situations of human trafficking; the government remains complicit in conscripting children into military service
tier rating: Tier 3 - the Government of Eritrea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the Eritrean government does not operate with transparency and published neither data nor statistics regarding its efforts to combat human trafficking; it did not respond to requests to provide information for this report; the government made no known progress in prosecuting and punishing trafficking crimes over the reporting period and did not appear to provide any significant assistance to victims of trafficking during the reporting period (2009)

Fiji current situation: Fiji is a source country for children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and a destination country for a small number of women from China and India trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Fiji does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government has demonstrated no action to investigate or prosecute traffickers, assist victims, take steps to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts, or support any anti-trafficking information or education campaigns; Fiji has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2009)

Gabon current situation: Gabon is predominantly a destination country for children trafficked from other African countries for the purpose of forced labor; girls are primarily trafficked for domestic servitude, forced market vending, forced restaurant labor, and sexual exploitation, while boys are trafficked for forced street hawking and forced labor in small workshops
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Gabon is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking in 2007, particularly in terms of efforts to convict and punish trafficking offenders; the government has not reported the convictions or sentences of any trafficking offenders; the government did not take steps to reduce demand for commercial sex acts (2008)

Guatemala current situation: Guatemala is a source, transit, and destination country for Guatemalans and Central Americans trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; human trafficking is a significant and growing problem in the country; Guatemalan women and children are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation, primarily to Mexico and the United States; Guatemalan men, women, and children are also trafficked within the country, and to Mexico and the United States, for forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for a second consecutive year, Guatemala is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons, particularly with respect to ensuring that trafficking offenders are appropriately prosecuted for their crimes; while prosecutors initiated trafficking prosecutions, they continued to face problems in court with application of Guatemala's comprehensive anti-trafficking law; the government made modest improvements to its protection efforts, but assistance remained inadequate overall in 2007 (2008)

Guinea current situation: Guinea is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; the majority of victims are children, and internal trafficking is more prevalent than transnational trafficking; within the country, girls are trafficked primarily for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation, while boys are trafficked for forced agricultural labor, and as forced beggars, street vendors, shoe shiners, and laborers in gold and diamond mines; some Guinean men are also trafficked for agricultural labor within Guinea; transnationally, girls are trafficked into Guinea for domestic servitude and likely also for sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Guinea is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking over 2006; Guinea demonstrated minimal law enforcement efforts for a second year in a row, while protection efforts diminished over efforts in 2006; the government did not report any trafficking convictions in 2007; due to a lack of resources, the government does not provide shelter services for trafficking victims; the government took no measures to reduce the demand for commercial sexual exploitation (2008)

Guinea-Bissau current situation: Guinea-Bissau is a source country for children trafficked primarily for forced begging and forced agricultural labor to other West African countries
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for the second year in a row, Guinea-Bissau is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons, as evidenced by the continued failure to pass an anti-trafficking law and inadequate efforts to investigate or prosecute trafficking crimes or convict and punish trafficking offenders (2008)

Guyana current situation: Guyana is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; most trafficking appears to take place in remote mining camps in the country's interior; some women and girls are trafficked from northern Brazil; reporting from other nations suggests Guyanese women and girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation to neighboring countries and Guyanese men and boys are subject to labor exploitation in construction and agriculture; trafficking victims from Suriname, Brazil, and Venezuela transit Guyana en route to Caribbean destinations
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for a second consecutive year, Guyana is on the Tier 2 Watch List for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking, particularly in the area of law enforcement actions against trafficking offenders; the government has yet to produce an anti-trafficking conviction under the comprehensive Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act, which became law in 2005; the government operates no shelters for trafficking victims, but did include limited funding for anti-trafficking NGOs in its 2008 budget; the government did not make any effort to reduce demand for commercial sex acts during 2007 (2008)

India current situation: India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; internal forced labor may constitute India's largest trafficking problem; men, women, and children are held in debt bondage and face forced labor working in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories; women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage; children are subjected to forced labor as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups; India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; Indian women are trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation; men and women from Bangladesh and Nepal are trafficked through India for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in the Middle East
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - India is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a fifth consecutive year for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking in 2007; despite the reported extent of the trafficking crisis in India, government authorities made uneven efforts to prosecute traffickers and protect trafficking victims; government authorities continued to rescue victims of commercial sexual exploitation and forced child labor and child armed combatants, and began to show progress in law enforcement against these forms of trafficking; a critical challenge overall is the lack of punishment for traffickers, effectively resulting in impunity for acts of human trafficking; India has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Iran current situation: Iran is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude; Iranian women are trafficked internally for the purpose of forced prostitution and for forced marriages to settle debts; Iranian and Afghan children living in Iran are trafficked internally for the purpose of forced marriages, commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude as beggars or laborers to pay debts, provide income or support drug addiction of their families; press reports indicate that criminal organizations play a significant role in human trafficking to and from Iran, in connection with smuggling of migrants, drugs, and arms
tier rating: Tier 3 - Iran did not provide evidence of law enforcement activities against trafficking, and credible reports indicate that Iranian authorities' response is not sufficient to penalize offenders, protect victims, and eliminate trafficking; some aspects of Iranian law and policy hinder efforts to combat trafficking including punishment of victims and legal obstacles to punishing offenders; Iran has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2009)

Korea, North current situation: North Korea is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; the most common form of trafficking involves North Korean women and girls who cross the border into China voluntarily; additionally, North Korean women and girls are lured out of North Korea to escape poor social and economic conditions by the promise of food, jobs, and freedom, only to be forced into prostitution, marriage, or exploitative labor arrangements once in China
tier rating: Tier 3 - North Korea does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government does not acknowledge the existence of human rights abuses in the country or recognize trafficking, either within the country or transnationally; North Korea has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Kuwait current situation: Kuwait is a destination country for men and women who migrate legally from South and Southeast Asia for domestic or low-skilled labor, but are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by employers in Kuwait including conditions of physical and sexual abuse, non-payment of wages, confinement to the home, and withholding of passports to restrict their freedom of movement; Kuwait is reportedly a transit point for South and East Asian workers recruited for low-skilled work in Iraq; some of these workers are deceived as to the true location and nature of this work, and others are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude in Iraq
tier rating: Tier 3 - Kuwaiti government has shown an inability to define trafficking and has demonstrated insufficient political will to address human trafficking adequately; much of the human trafficking found in Kuwait involves domestic workers in private residences and the government is reluctant to prosecute Kuwaiti citizens; the government has not enacted legislation targeting human trafficking nor established a permanent shelter for victims of trafficking (2009)

Libya current situation: Libya is a transit and destination country for men and women from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Libya is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking in persons in 2007 when compared to 2006, particularly in the area of investigating and prosecuting trafficking offenses; Libya did not publicly release any data on investigations or punishment of any trafficking offenses (2008)

Malaysia current situation: Malaysia is a destination and, to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and men, women, and children for forced labor; Malaysia is mainly a destination country for men, women, and children who migrate willingly from South and Southeast Asia to work, some of whom are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude by Malaysian employers in the domestic, agricultural, construction, plantation, and industrial sectors; to a lesser extent, some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, are trafficked abroad for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, despite some progress in enforcing the 2007 comprehensive anti-trafficking law; it has yet to fully address labor trafficking in Malaysia; there are credible allegations of involvement of Malaysian immigration officials in trafficking and extorting Burmese refugees; the government did not develop mechanisms to effectively screen victims of trafficking in vulnerable groups and condones the confiscation of passports of migrant workers by employers (2009)

Mauritania current situation: Mauritania is a source and destination country for children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation; slavery-related practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continue to exist in isolated parts of the country; Mauritanian boys called talibe are trafficked within the country by religious teachers for forced begging; children are also trafficked by street gangs within the country that force them to steal, beg, and sell drugs; girls are trafficked internally for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation; women and children from neighboring states are trafficked into Mauritania for purposes of forced begging, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 3 - the Government of Mauritania does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government did not show evidence of overall progress in prosecuting and punishing trafficking offenders, protecting trafficking victims, and preventing new incidents of trafficking during the past year; progress that the previous government demonstrated in 2007 through enactment of strengthened anti-slavery legislation and deepened political will to eliminate slavery and trafficking has stalled; law enforcement efforts to address human trafficking including traditional slavery practices decreased (2009)

Moldova current situation: Moldova is a major source and, to a lesser extent, a transit country for women and girls trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; Moldovan women are trafficked to the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe; girls and young women are trafficked within the country from rural areas to Chisinau; children are also trafficked to neighboring countries for forced labor and begging; labor trafficking of men to work in the construction, agriculture, and service sectors of Russia is increasingly a problem; according to an ILO report, Moldova's national Bureau of Statistics estimated that there were likely over 25,000 Moldovan victims of trafficking for forced labor in 2008
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - The Government of Moldova does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; despite initial efforts to combat trafficking-related complicity since the government's reassessment on the Tier 2 Watch List in September 2008, and increased victim assistance, the government did not demonstrate sufficiently meaningful efforts to curb trafficking-related corruption, which is a government-acknowledged problem in Moldova; the government improved victim protection efforts, deployed more law-enforcement officers in the effort and contributed direct financial assistance toward victim protection and assistance for the first time (2010)

Niger current situation: Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation; caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continue in isolated areas of the country - an estimated 8,800 to 43,000 Nigeriens live under conditions of traditional slavery; children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging, forced labor in gold mines, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and possibly for forced labor in agriculture and stone quarries; women and children from neighboring states are trafficked to and through Niger for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, forced labor in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Niger does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making any significant efforts to do so; the government demonstrated marginal efforts to combat human trafficking, including traditional slavery, during the last year (2009)

Papua New Guinea current situation: Papua New Guinea is a country of destination for women and children from Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and China trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; internal trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude occurs as well
tier rating: Tier 3 - Papua New Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the current legal framework does not contain elements of crimes that characterize trafficking; the government lacks victim protection services or a systematic procedure to identify victims of trafficking; the government did not prosecute anyone in 2007 for trafficking; Papua New Guinea has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Qatar current situation: Qatar is a destination country for men and women from South and Southeast Asia who migrate willingly, but are subsequently trafficked into involuntary servitude as domestic workers and laborers, and, to a lesser extent, commercial sexual exploitation; the most common offense was forcing workers to accept worse contract terms than those under which they were recruited; other conditions include bonded labor, withholding of pay, restrictions on movement, arbitrary detention, and physical, mental, and sexual abuse
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the Government of Qatar does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; in February 2009, Qatar enacted a new migrant worker sponsorship law that criminalizes some practices commonly used by trafficking offenders, and it announced plans to use that law effectively to prevent human trafficking; punishment for offenses related to trafficking in persons remains lower than that for crimes such as rape and kidnapping, and the Qatari government has yet to take significant action to investigate, prosecute, and punish trafficking offenses; the government continues to lack formal victim identification procedures and, as a result, victims of trafficking are likely punished for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked (2009)

Russia current situation: Russia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for various purposes; it remains a significant source of women trafficked to over 50 countries for commercial sexual exploitation; Russia is also a transit and destination country for men and women trafficked from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and North Korea to Central and Western Europe and the Middle East for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; internal trafficking remains a problem in Russia with women trafficked from rural areas to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation, and men trafficked internally and from Central Asia for forced labor in the construction and agricultural industries; debt bondage is common among trafficking victims, and child sex tourism remains a concern
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Russia is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a fifth consecutive year for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking over the previous year, particularly in providing assistance to victims of trafficking; comprehensive trafficking victim assistance legislation, which would address key deficiencies, has been pending before the Duma since 2003 and was neither passed nor enacted in 2007 (2008)

Saudi Arabia current situation: Saudi Arabia is a destination country for workers from South and Southeast Asia who are subjected to conditions that constitute involuntary servitude including being subjected to physical and sexual abuse, non-payment of wages, confinement, and withholding of passports as a restriction on their movement; domestic workers are particularly vulnerable because some are confined to the house in which they work unable to seek help; Saudi Arabia is also a destination country for Nigerian, Yemeni, Pakistani, Afghan, Somali, Malian, and Sudanese children trafficked for forced begging and involuntary servitude as street vendors; some Nigerian women were reportedly trafficked into Saudi Arabia for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 3 - Saudi Arabia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government continues to lack adequate anti-trafficking laws and, despite evidence of widespread trafficking abuses, did not report any criminal prosecutions, convictions, or prison sentences for trafficking crimes committed against foreign domestic workers (2008)

Sri Lanka current situation: Sri Lanka is a source and destination country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of involuntary servitude and commercial sexual exploitation; Sri Lankan men and women migrate willingly to the Persian Gulf, Middle East, and East Asia to work as construction workers, domestic servants, or garment factory workers, where some find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude when faced with restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and debt bondage; children are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation and, less frequently, for forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for a fourth consecutive year, Sri Lanka is on the Tier 2 Watch List for failing to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of human trafficking, particularly in the area of law enforcement; the government failed to arrest, prosecute, or convict any person for trafficking offenses and continued to punish some victims of trafficking for crimes committed as a result of being trafficked; Sri Lanka has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Sudan current situation: Sudan is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked internally for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; Sudan is also a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women trafficked abroad for domestic servitude; Sudanese women and girls are trafficked within the country as well as possibly to Middle Eastern countries for domestic servitude; the terrorist rebel organization, Lord's Resistance Army, continues to harbor small numbers of Sudanese and Ugandan children in the southern part of the country for use as cooks, porters, and combatants; some of these children are also trafficked across borders into Uganda or the Democratic Republic of the Congo; militia groups in Darfur, some of which are linked to the government, abduct women for short periods of forced labor and to perpetrate sexual violence; during the two decades-long north-south civil war, thousands of Dinka women and children were abducted and subsequently enslaved by members of the Missiriya and Rezeigat tribes; while there have been no known new abductions of Dinka by members of Baggara tribes in the last few years, inter-tribal abductions continue in southern Sudan
tier rating: Tier 3 - Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; combating human trafficking through law enforcement or prevention measures was not a priority for the government in 2007 (2008)

Swaziland current situation: Swaziland is a source, destination, and transit country for women and children trafficked internally and transnationally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor in agriculture; Swazi girls, particularly orphans, are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, as well as to South Africa and Mozambique; Swazi boys are trafficked for forced labor in commercial agriculture and market vending; some Swazi women are forced into prostitution in South Africa and Mozambique after voluntarily migrating to these countries in search of work
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the government of Swaziland does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government believes that trafficking probably does occur, but does not know the extent of the problem; the government does not judge trafficking to be an "important" problem and chooses to direct its limited resources towards other issues, a judgment which significantly limited the government's current efforts to eliminate human trafficking, or to plan anti-trafficking activities or initiatives for the future (2010)

Syria current situation: Syria is a destination and transit country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; a significant number of women and children in the large and expanding Iraqi refugee community in Syria are reportedly forced into commercial sexual exploitation by Iraqi gangs or, in some cases, their families; women from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone are recruited for work in Syria as domestic servants, but some face conditions of involuntary servitude, including long hours, non-payment of wages, withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual abuse
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Syria again failed to report any law enforcement efforts to punish trafficking offenses in 2007; in addition, the government did not offer protection services to victims of trafficking and may have arrested, prosecuted, or deported some victims for prostitution or immigration violations; Syria has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Tajikistan current situation: Tajikistan is a source country for women trafficked through Kyrgyzstan and Russia to the UAE, Turkey, and Russia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; men are trafficked to Russia and Kazakhstan for the purpose of forced labor, primarily in the construction and agricultural industries; boys and girls are trafficked internally for various purposes, including forced labor and forced begging
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Tajikistan is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking, especially efforts to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence traffickers; despite evidence of low- and mid-level officials' complicity in trafficking, the government did not punish any public officials for trafficking complicity during 2007; lack of capacity and poor coordination between government institutions remained key obstacles to effective anti-trafficking efforts (2008)

Uzbekistan current situation: Uzbekistan is a source country for women and girls trafficked to Kazakhstan, Russia, Middle East, and Asia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; men are trafficked to Kazakhstan and Russia for purposes of forced labor in the construction, cotton, and tobacco industries; men and women are also trafficked internally for the purposes of domestic servitude, forced labor in the agricultural and construction industries, and for commercial sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Uzbekistan is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in 2007; the government did not amend its criminal code to increase penalties for convicted traffickers; in March 2008, Uzbekistan adopted ILO Conventions on minimum age of employment and on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor and is working with the ILO on implementation; the government also demonstrated its increasing commitment to combat trafficking in March 2008 by adopting a comprehensive anti-trafficking law; Uzbekistan has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Venezuela current situation: Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor; Venezuelan women and girls are trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation, lured from the nation's interior to urban and tourist areas; child prostitution in urban areas and child sex tourism in resort destinations appear to be growing; Venezuelan women and girls are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to Western Europe, Mexico, and Caribbean destinations
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Venezuela is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List, up from Tier 3, as it showed greater resolve to address trafficking through law enforcement measures and prevention efforts in 2007, although stringent punishment of offenders and victim assistance remain lacking (2008)

World current situation: approximately 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked annually across national borders, not including millions trafficked within their own countries; at least 80% of the victims are female and up to 50% are minors; 75% of all victims are trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation; almost two-thirds of the global victims are trafficked intra-regionally within East Asia and the Pacific (260,000 to 280,000 people) and Europe and Eurasia (170,000 to 210,000 people)
Tier 2 Watch List: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Iraq, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Mali, Moldova, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen
Tier 3: Burma, Chad, Cuba, Eritrea, Fiji, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritania, Niger, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Zimbabwe (2009)

Zimbabwe current situation: Zimbabwe is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; large scale migration of Zimbabweans to surrounding countries - as they flee a progressively more desperate situation at home - has increased; rural Zimbabwean men, women, and children are trafficked internally to farms for agricultural labor and domestic servitude and to cities for domestic labor and commercial sexual exploitation; NGOs believe internal trafficking increased during the year, largely due to the closure of schools, worsening political violence, and a faltering economy; young men and boys are trafficked to South Africa for farm work, often laboring for months in South Africa without pay before "employers" have them arrested and deported as illegal immigrants; young women and girls are lured abroad with false employment offers that result in involuntary domestic servitude or commercial sexual exploitation; men, women, and children from neighboring states are trafficked through Zimbabwe en route to South Africa
tier rating: Tier 3 - the Government of Zimbabwe does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government made minimal progress in combating trafficking in 2008, and members of its military and the former ruling party's youth militias perpetrated acts of trafficking on local populations; anti-trafficking efforts were further weakened as it failed to address Zimbabwe's economic and social problems during the reporting period, thus increasing the population's vulnerability to trafficking within and outside of the country (2009)

JANUARY STORY 2011

Sex Trade: Innocence Lost in America's Heartland

National Sexual Assault Hotline
Free. Confidential. 24/7
telephone: 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673)

Safe Horizon
website: http://www.safehorizon.org/
telephone: 800-621-HOPE (800-621-4673)

Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Program (SAVI)-NY only
website: www.mssm.edu/SAVI

Joyful Heart Foundation
My non-profit dedicated to helping victims of sexual assault through dolphin-human therapy.
*Please note that this is not a crisis/counseling center, but it is a good source of information.
website: http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/

National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
website: http://www.nsvrc.org/
telephone: 877-739-3895

Domestic/Relationship Abuse

National Domestic Violence Hotline
website: http://www.ndvh.org/
telephone: 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) / TTY: 800-787-3224

Break The Cycle
Break the Cycle's mission is to engage, educate and empower youth to build lives and communities free from dating and domestic violence.
website: http://www.breakthecycle.org/

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

National Institute of Mental Health
website: www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/ptsdmenu.cfm

Depression/Social Anxiety Disorder

National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
website: http://www.nmha.org/
telephone: 800-969-6642 / TTY: 800-433-5959

American Psychological Association (APA)
website: http://www.apa.org/
telephone: 800-374-2721

Cutting/Self-Mutliation

Self-Abuse Finally Ends (SAFE)
website: http://www.selfinjury.com/
telephone: 800-DONT-CUT (800-366-8288)

Suicide

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
website: http://www.afsp.org/
telephone: 888-333-AFSP (888-333-2377)

National Suicide Hotline
telephone: 800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433)

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)
website: http://www.save.org/
telephone: 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255)

Eating Disorders

National Eating Disorders Association
website: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD)
website: http://www.anad.org/
telephone: 847-831-3438

Anorexia and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
website: http://www.anred.com/

Sex/Pregnancy

Planned Parenthood
website: http://www.plannedparenthood.com/
telephone: 800-230-PLAN (800-230-7526)

Candies Foundation
website: http://www.candiesfoundation.org/

Emergency Contraception Hotline
telephone: 888-NOT2LATE (888-668-2528)

Sex, etc.
A web site for teens by teens.
website: http://www.sexetc.org/

Drug/Alcohol Abuse

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
website: http://www.nida.nih.gov/

The Cool Spot (for teens)
website: http://www.thecoolspot.gov/

Alcoholics Anonymous
website: http://www.aa.org/

National Clearing House for Alcohol & Drug Info
website: http://www.health.org/
telephone: 800-729-6686

The Alcoholism and Addictions Resource Guide
website: http://www.soberrecovery.com/

AIDS/STDS

The American Social Health Association
website: http://www.ashastd.org%20or%20www.iwannaknow.org/

National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention
website: www.cdc.gov/std
telephone: 800-HIV-0440 (800-448-0440)

The Well Project
For Women with HIV or AIDS
website: http://www.thewellproject.org/

Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative
website: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/

Gay/Lesbian

Gay and Lesbian National Hotline
website: http://www.glnh.org/
telephone: 888-THE-GLNH (888-843-4564)

LAMBDA
A non-profit, gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender agency dedicated to reducing homophobia, inequality, hate crimes, and discrimination by encouraging self-acceptance, cooperation, and non-violence.
website: http://www.lambda.org/
telephone: 208-246-2292

Other/Misc

Teen Line Hotline Help Center
website: http://www.teenline.org/
telephone: 714-NEW-TEEN (714-639-8336)

Go Ask Alice!
Columbia University's health Q&A internet service which provides readers with credible, accessible information so that they can make better decisions concerning their health and well-being.
website: http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/

Girls, Inc.
Inspiring girls to be STRONG, SMART, & BOLD. Read about a Girls' Bill of Rights!
website: www.girlsinc.com/gc

Girls on the Run
A non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.
website: http://www.girlsontherun.org/

Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty
Dove believes all girls deserve to see how beautiful they really are and is committed to raising self-esteem in girls everywhere.
website: www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

*******************************

National Sexual Assault Hotline
Free. Confidential. 24/7
telephone: 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673)

Safe Horizon
website: http://www.safehorizon.org/
telephone: 800-621-HOPE (800-621-4673)

Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Program (SAVI)-NY only
website: www.mssm.edu/SAVI

National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
website: http://www.nsvrc.org/
telephone: 877-739-3895

Domestic/Relationship Abuse

National Domestic Violence Hotline
website: http://www.ndvh.org/
telephone: 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) / TTY: 800-787-3224

Break The Cycle
Break the Cycle's mission is to engage, educate and empower youth to build lives and communities free from dating and domestic violence.
website: http://www.breakthecycle.org/

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

National Institute of Mental Health
website: www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/ptsdmenu.cfm

Depression/Social Anxiety Disorder

National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
website: http://www.nmha.org/
telephone: 800-969-6642 / TTY: 800-433-5959

American Psychological Association (APA)
website: http://www.apa.org/
telephone: 800-374-2721

Cutting/Self-Mutliation

Self-Abuse Finally Ends (SAFE)
website: http://www.selfinjury.com/
telephone: 800-DONT-CUT (800-366-8288)

Suicide

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
website: http://www.afsp.org/
telephone: 888-333-AFSP (888-333-2377)

National Suicide Hotline
telephone: 800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433)

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)
website: http://www.save.org/
telephone: 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255)

Eating Disorders

National Eating Disorders Association
website: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD)
website: http://www.anad.org/
telephone: 847-831-3438

Anorexia and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
website: http://www.anred.com/

Sex/Pregnancy

Planned Parenthood
website: http://www.plannedparenthood.com/
telephone: 800-230-PLAN (800-230-7526)

Candies Foundation
website: http://www.candiesfoundation.org/

Emergency Contraception Hotline
telephone: 888-NOT2LATE (888-668-2528)

Sex, etc.
A web site for teens by teens.
website: http://www.sexetc.org/

Drug/Alcohol Abuse

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
website: http://www.nida.nih.gov/

The Cool Spot (for teens)
website: http://www.thecoolspot.gov/

Alcoholics Anonymous
website: http://www.aa.org/

National Clearing House for Alcohol & Drug Info
website: http://www.health.org/
telephone: 800-729-6686

The Alcoholism and Addictions Resource Guide
website: http://www.soberrecovery.com/

AIDS/STDS

The American Social Health Association
website: http://www.ashastd.org%20or%20www.iwannaknow.org/

National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention
website: www.cdc.gov/std
telephone: 800-HIV-0440 (800-448-0440)

The Well Project
For Women with HIV or AIDS
website: http://www.thewellproject.org/

Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative
website: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/

Gay/Lesbian

Gay and Lesbian National Hotline
website: http://www.glnh.org/
telephone: 888-THE-GLNH (888-843-4564)

Other/Misc

Teen Line Hotline Help Center
website: http://www.teenline.org/
telephone: 714-NEW-TEEN (714-639-8336)

Girls, Inc.
Inspiring girls to be STRONG, SMART, & BOLD. Read about a Girls' Bill of Rights!
website: www.girlsinc.com/gc

Girls on the Run
A non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.
website: http://www.girlsontherun.org/

****************************

National Sexual Assault Hotline
Free. Confidential. 24/7
telephone: 800-656-HOPE (800-656-4673)
Safe Horizon
website: http://www.safehorizon.org/
telephone: 800-621-HOPE (800-621-4673)
Sexual Assault & Violence Intervention Program (SAVI)-NY only
website: www.mssm.edu/SAVI
Joyful Heart Foundation
My non-profit dedicated to helping victims of sexual assault through dolphin-human therapy.
*Please note that this is not a crisis/counseling center, but it is a good source of information.
website: http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/
National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)
website: http://www.nsvrc.org/
telephone: 877-739-3895

Domestic/Relationship Abuse

National Domestic Violence Hotline
website: http://www.ndvh.org/
telephone: 800-799-SAFE (800-799-7233) / TTY: 800-787-3224
Break The Cycle
Break the Cycle's mission is to engage, educate and empower youth to build lives and communities free from dating and domestic violence.
website: http://www.breakthecycle.org/

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

National Institute of Mental Health
website: www.nimh.nih.gov/HealthInformation/ptsdmenu.cfm

Depression/Social Anxiety Disorder

National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
website: http://www.nmha.org/
telephone: 800-969-6642 / TTY: 800-433-5959
American Psychological Association (APA)
website: http://www.apa.org/
telephone: 800-374-2721

Cutting/Self-Mutliation

Self-Abuse Finally Ends (SAFE)
website: http://www.selfinjury.com/
telephone: 800-DONT-CUT (800-366-8288)

Suicide

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
website: http://www.afsp.org/
telephone: 888-333-AFSP (888-333-2377)
National Suicide Hotline
telephone: 800-SUICIDE (800-784-2433)
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)
website: http://www.save.org/
telephone: 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255)

Eating Disorders

National Eating Disorders Association
website: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD)
website: http://www.anad.org/
telephone: 847-831-3438
Anorexia and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.
website: http://www.anred.com/

Sex/Pregnancy

Planned Parenthood
website: http://www.plannedparenthood.com/
telephone: 800-230-PLAN (800-230-7526)
Candies Foundation
website: http://www.candiesfoundation.org/
Emergency Contraception Hotline
telephone: 888-NOT2LATE (888-668-2528)
Sex, etc.
A web site for teens by teens.
website: http://www.sexetc.org/

Drug/Alcohol Abuse

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
website: http://www.nida.nih.gov/
The Cool Spot (for teens)
website: http://www.thecoolspot.gov/
Alcoholics Anonymous
website: http://www.aa.org/
National Clearing House for Alcohol & Drug Info
website: http://www.health.org/
telephone: 800-729-6686
The Alcoholism and Addictions Resource Guide
website: http://www.soberrecovery.com/

AIDS/STDS

The American Social Health Association
website: http://www.ashastd.org%20or%20www.iwannaknow.org/
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention
website: www.cdc.gov/std
telephone: 800-HIV-0440 (800-448-0440)
The Well Project
For Women with HIV or AIDS
website: http://www.thewellproject.org/
Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative
website: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/

Gay/Lesbian

Gay and Lesbian National Hotline
website: http://www.glnh.org/
telephone: 888-THE-GLNH (888-843-4564)
LAMBDA
A non-profit, gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender agency dedicated to reducing homophobia, inequality, hate crimes, and discrimination by encouraging self-acceptance, cooperation, and non-violence.
website: http://www.lambda.org/
telephone: 208-246-2292

Other/Misc

Teen Line Hotline Help Center
website: http://www.teenline.org/
telephone: 714-NEW-TEEN (714-639-8336)
Go Ask Alice!
Columbia University's health Q&A internet service which provides readers with credible, accessible information so that they can make better decisions concerning their health and well-being.
website: http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/
Girls, Inc.
Inspiring girls to be STRONG, SMART, & BOLD. Read about a Girls' Bill of Rights!
website: www.girlsinc.com/gc
Girls on the Run
A non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.
website: http://www.girlsontherun.org/
Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty
Dove believes all girls deserve to see how beautiful they really are and is committed to raising self-esteem in girls everywhere.
website: www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2010/March/Sex-Trade-Innocence-Lost-in-Americas-Heartland-/

Heather Sells CBN News Reporter

TOLEDO, Ohio -- For years, Americans have watched international reports of human trafficking thinking it couldn't happen here. But now, researchers are finding more and more domestic cases and not just in the big cities or the border states. They're in the heartland.

Shared Hope International, a Christian anti-trafficking organization, reports that up to 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk for trafficking each year. Twelve years old is the average age of entry.

"Men are buying younger children," Shared Hope founder and former congresswoman Linda Smith said. "They're buying more violent acts with the children and those children aren't willingly saying 'I want to be prostituted.' Now we're seeing 9, 10, 11-year-olds. Eleven years old is common--snatched from a middle school, lured through a mall or online."

Traffickers are kidnapping or luring these children from all kinds of communities. Ohio is just one place where it's surfacing.

Dr. Celia Williamson at the University of Toledo authored a recent report for Ohio's Attorney General Richard Cordray. The report estimates more than 1,000 Ohio children are trafficked each year.

Toledo is one city where trafficking is well documented. Williamson's report ranks it number four in the U.S. in terms of the number of arrests, investigations and rescues of child trafficking victims. But per capita, Toledo leads the nation.

"Toledo is an origin city," Williamson explained. "The kids are recruited here and they're shipped across the country, so when the FBI rescues kids they may find Toledo kids in Las Vegas and Atlanta, Pennsylvania, and California."

Innocence Lost Task Force

In 2003, the FBI, Department of Justice, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched anti-trafficking "Innocence Lost" task forces around the country. Since then, 34 task forces and working groups have been started.

Toledo became a focus after a 2006 raid on a Pennsylvania truck stop. Almost half of the 150 victims were from Toledo. Seventeen of the 18 traffickers also called the city home.

So, why Toledo? "I don't necessarily think there's more here. I just think we're doing a better job of identifying and attacking the problem here," FBI special agent Dave Dustin said. "It's a common sentiment among law enforcement in Toledo."

To the untrained eye, however, trafficking is often hard to see. The general public can easily tune out hot spots like strip clubs, motels, and truck stops. And most would never think of events like the Super Bowl as major trafficking destinations.

But the FBI says traffickers flock to big games and conventions where they know they'll find an easy market.

"You're not going to see kids out on the street in everyday America because those are more likely to be the recruitment areas," Williamson said. "Those are the areas where our kids are at risk for being recruited and then shipped around the country."

A Country in Denial

That lack of visibility tends to discourage public awareness.

"There's a sense of denial among the general community about human trafficking," Cordray, who leads the state trafficking commission, said. "There's a desire to believe it's an international problem but not an American problem."

Almost a year into its work, Cordray's commission has more questions than answers. One question: Just why has Toledo become such a trafficking hub?

Some possible reasons include its proximity to Canada and crossroads status. Major interstates flank the small, working-class city. Also, many families struggle financially, which puts their children at greater risk. Sadly, there's also a generational issue.

"We're seeing a lot of cases, especially with the pimps, where the pimp's father was a pimp or the pimp's mother was a prostitute," Dustin said.

Life After the Sex Trade

Another question: How to help the children once they're rescued.

"Right now what happens in our country is that a kid is involved in the sex trade, traumatized by her traffickers, rescued and handcuffed by law enforcement and put in detention centers across the U.S." Williamson said.

"Most of the girls have no self-esteem," said Jennifer Meyers, an FBI victim specialist.

For most victims of trafficking, life once they get off the streets is tremendously difficult, and home is often not a safe place to go. That's why a group of Christians in Ohio is about to open Gracehaven, a rehab home for survivors.

Gracehaven's first employee, Teresa Flores, is herself a survivor. Having escaped in high school she now understands the mind games traffickers play and why it's so hard to get out.

"Once you're broken, which is usually through rape, gang rape -- things like that -- then they come back and tell you they love you and that if you love them you'll do this for them," Flores explained.

Breaking New Ground

When it opens later this year, Gracehaven will break new ground. Not literally, but nationally. No other Christian-based shelter like it exists.

Gracehaven founder Dr. Jeffrey Barrows is also helping to oversee four similar up-and-coming ministries across the country through the newly formed Christian Trafficking Shelter Association.

"There's just been a larger uprising, especially in the faith-based community, of people realizing 'Hey, wait a minute. This is going on all around us and we need to rise up and do something about it,'" Barrows said.

That's the challenge - what to do.

Gracehaven will provide residents 24/7 care for a minimum of nine months. It will offer individual counseling and training in life skills. But there's a price to pay for breaking new ground. There is next to no research to help develop curriculum, education, and programming. Little has been done to understand the best way to rehabilitate the victims of trafficking.

Flores explained the mindset of many victims.

"You know this is wrong. You know you don't want to do this -- nobody does," she said. "But you don't know anyway out, like you don't have any other options. You feel like there is nobody who would understand you."

But Flores now has a vision for where she wants to take these precious survivors who have endured such severe trauma.

"They have to understand that that was just one piece of the puzzle, one part of them," she said. "We have to teach them, 'You're more than that....and God loves you.'"

At stake: Lives that hang in the balance, children torn from the streets of middle America and plunged into darkness.

But now, with growing awareness and the outreach of faith, there's more hope than ever.

*Original broadcast March 13, 2010.

JANUARY STORY 2011

RESEARCH

http://nhtrc.polarisproject.org/materials/Human-Trafficking-Statistics.pdf

HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATISTICS

The following is a list of available statistics estimating the scope of Human Trafficking around the world and within the

United States

. Actual statistics are often unavailable, and some may be contradictory due to the covert nature of the crime, the invisibility of victims and high levels of under-reporting. Further obstacles include inconsistent definitions, reluctance to share data, and a lack of funding for and standardization of data collection. Particularly lacking are estimates on the number of American citizens trafficked within the

U.S.

Human Trafficking Worldwide

§ 27 million – Number of people in modern-day slavery across the world.

o Source: Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves.

§ According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), estimates vary from 4 to 27 million.

§ The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 2.4 million people were victims of human trafficking from 1995-2005. This estimate uses the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking, and includes both transnational and internal data.

§ 800,000 – Number of people trafficked across international borders every year.

o Source:

U.S.

Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.

§ Note:

The TIP Report in 2001 and 2002 estimated this figure at 700,000;

The TIP Report of 2003 reported 800,000 to 900,000 victims;

The TIP Reports of 2004 through 2006 reported 600,000 to 800,000 victims.

§ 1 million – Number of children exploited by the global commercial sex trade, every year.

o Source:

U.S.

Department of State, The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005.

§ 50% – Percent of transnational victims who are children.

o Source:

U.S.

Department of Justice, Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on

U.S.

Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Fiscal Year 2003: 2004.

§ 80% – Percent of transnational victims who are women and girls.

o Source:

U.S.

Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.

§ 70% – Percent of female victims who are trafficked into the commercial sex industry. This means that 30% of female victims are victims of forced labor.

o Source:

U.S.

Department of Justice, Assessment of

U.S.

Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: 2004.

§ 161 – Countries identified as affected by human trafficking:

o 127 countries of origin; 98 transit countries; 137 destination countries.

o Note: Countries may be counted multiple times and categories are not mutually exclusive.

o Source: UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns: April 2006.

32 billion – Total yearly profits generated by the human trafficking industry.

o $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries.

o $9.7 billion in Asia

o $13,000 per year generated on average by each “forced laborer.” This number can be as high as $67,200 per victim per year.

Human Trafficking Statistics | Polaris Project Polaris Project |

P.O. Box 77892, Washington, DC 20013

o Source: ILO, A global alliance against forced labor: 2005.

Foreign Nationals Trafficked into the

U.S.

§ 14,500 - 17,500 – Number of foreign nationals trafficked into the

United States

every year.

o This is the most recent

U.S.

government statistic. However, it is constantly being revisited, and a newer statistic is currently under study and review.

o Source: DOJ, HHS, DOS, DOL, DHS, and USAID. Assessment of

U.S.

Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons: June, 2004

§ The TIP Report in 2001 estimated this number at 45,000-50,0001

§ The TIP Report in 2002 estimated 50,000

§ The TIP Report in 2003 estimated 18,000 – 20,0002

1 Amy O’Neill Richard. International Trafficking in Women to the

United States

: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime. Center for the Study of Intelligence: November 1999. 2 DOJ, HHS, DOS, DOL, DHS, and USAID. Assessment of

U.S.

Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons: August 2003.

§ 1, 379 – Number of foreign national victims of human trafficking certified by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from October 2000 through FY 2007.

o 131 minors, and 1,248 adults

o These victims originate from at least 77 different countries.

o Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Anti-trafficking in Persons Department; U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.

§ 1,318 – Number of T visas granted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from FY 2000 through November 1, 2008 to human trafficking survivors. 729 visas were issued between FY 2000 and FY 2006.

o Another 1,076 derivative T visas were granted to family members.

o DHS is authorized to issue up to 5,000 T-visas per year.

o Source: USCIS;

U.S.

Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.

Human Trafficking of

U.S.

citizens within the

U.S.

§ 244,000 – Number of American children and youth estimated to be at risk of child sexual exploitation, including commercial sexual exploitation, in 2000.

o Source: Estes, Richard J. and Neil A. Weiner. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the

U.S.

Canada

, and

Mexico

. The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work: 2001.

Study funded by the Department of Justice.

§ 38,600 – Estimated number of an approximate 1.6 million runaway/thrownaway youth at risk of sexual endangerment or exploitation in 1999.

o Source:

U.S.

Department of Justice: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics. NISMART Series: 2002.

§ 12-14 – Average age of first involvement in prostitution

o Source: Estes, Richard J. and Neil A. Weiner. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the

U.S.

Canada

, and

Mexico

. The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work: 2001.

Human Trafficking Statistics | Polaris Project Polaris Project |

P.O. Box 77892, Washington, DC 20013

Human Trafficking within the U.S. by State Very little research has been done to determine the extent of human trafficking on the state level. Several state-wide reports have been published however, due to data collection limitations the following statistics should be taken as baseline estimates only. These statistics are not definitive or comprehensive estimates. California:

§ 559 – Potential victims identified between Dec. 1, 2005 and March 12, 2007 by five CA Task Forces.

§ 57 – Number of applications for continued presence submitted during the same time period.

o Source: CA Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force, Human Trafficking in California Final Report: October 2007.

Virginia:

§ 43 – Number of trafficking victims served by 4 organizations in Northern Virginia.

o Source: Polaris Project, Fact Sheet on Human Trafficking.

Wisconsin:

§ 200 – Number of identified cases of sex and labor trafficking.

§ 85% – Proportion of victims in the 200 identified cases who were adults.

§ 75% – Proportion of victims in the 200 identified cases who were victims of sex trafficking.

o Data obtained through a survey of over 1,300 sexual assault and domestic violence service providers, law enforcement and district attorney’s offices, with a 30% return rate.

o Source: WI Office of Justice Assistance, Hidden in Plain Sight: A Baseline Survey of Human Trafficking in Wisconsin: February 2008.

U.S. Investigations, Prosecutions, and Convictions It is likely that the numbers of traffickers convicted are higher than those reported below. Defendants may be charged with other crimes such as kidnapping, immigration violations or money laundering for strategic or technical reasons. Also note that data is not comparable across agencies as a result of the complexity of investigations and the incompatibility and limitations of agency data systems. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Civil Rights Unit:

§ 751 – Number of trafficking cases opened between 2001 and April 5th, 2007.

o The numbers of cases opened has increased: from 54 in 2001 to 126 in 2006,

§ 185 – Convictions

o The number of convictions has increased: from 15 in 2001 to 70 in 2006.

o Includes joint investigations with ICE, and both sex and labor trafficking.

o Source: Government Accountability Office, Human Trafficking: A Strategic Framework Could Help Enhance the Interagency Collaboration Needed to Effectively Combat Trafficking Crimes: 2007.

FBI Crimes Against Children Unit – Innocence Lost National Initiative:

§ 327 – Number of trafficking cases opened from 2004 through June 5th, 2007.

o The number of cases opened has increased every year: from 67 in 2004 to 103 in 2006.

§ 182 – Number of convictions.

o The number of convictions has also increased: from 22 in 2004 to 43 in 2006.

o Source: GAO, Human Trafficking: A Strategic Framework Could Help Enhance the Interagency Collaboration Needed to Effectively Combat Trafficking Crimes: 2007.

Human Trafficking Statistics | Polaris Project Polaris Project |

P.O. Box 77892, Washington, DC 20013

Civil Rights Division/Criminal Section and U.S. Attorney’s Offices (Dept. of Justice):

§ 139 – Number of trafficking cases prosecuted 2001 – June 14, 2007, under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, (TVPA).

o 100 cases of sex trafficking; 39 cases of labor trafficking.

§ 19 – Number of trafficking cases prosecuted1995 – 2000, prior to the TVPA.

o 7 cases of sex trafficking; 12 cases of labor trafficking

§ 302 – Number of defendants convicted 2001 – June 14, 2007, under the TVPA

228 sex trafficking; 74 labor trafficking

§ 67 – Number of defendants convicted 1995 – 2000, prior to the TVPA.

o 20 sex trafficking; 47 labor trafficking

o Source: GAO, Human Trafficking: A Strategic Framework Could Help Enhance the Interagency Collaboration Needed to Effectively Combat Trafficking Crimes: 2007.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE):

§ 899 – Number of trafficking cases opened between FY 2005 and May 31st, 2007

o 557 sexual exploitation; 257 forced labor; 85 other

§ 264 – Number of convictions.

o 129 sexual exploitation; 17 forced labor; 118 other

o Source: GAO, Human Trafficking: A Strategic Framework Could Help Enhance the Interagency Collaboration Needed to Effectively Combat Trafficking Crimes: 2007.

§ 61 – Number of arrests for child sex tourism made by ICE Operation Predator from July 2003 through June 2007.

o Source: DOJ, Assessment of

U.S.

Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: September 2007.

DECEMBER STORY 2010

SOURCE: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Members of a militia patrol a town in the Moyen Cavally region of

western Côte d’Ivoire. Failed efforts to disarm militia and rebel forces

have left the west of the country awash in guns, which criminal groups,

some including former militia fighters, have used to terrorize and commit

Côte d’Ivoire: Rampant Criminality, Sexual Violence in West

State Failure to Protect Residents and Punish Attackers Fuels Lawlessness

(Dakar) - Well-armed criminal gangs in western Côte d'Ivoire subject local residents to a relentless stream of abuses, including assault, robbery, and sexual violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Ivorian authorities, who have failed to prevent or respond to the violence, should undertake patrols in hard-hit areas, investigate and prosecute crimes, and punish members of security forces who have failed to protect the population.

The 72-page report, "Afraid and Forgotten: Lawlessness, Rape, and Impunity in Western Côte d'Ivoire," documents the often brutal physical and sexual violence in the western administrative regions of Moyen Cavally and Dix-Huit Montagnes. The widespread criminality has been fueled by the disintegration of legal institutions, a failed disarmament process that has left the region awash with arms, and state officials' refusal to respond to attacks.

After repeated postponements in organizing presidential elections over the last five years, Ivorians are finally scheduled to go to the polls on October 31, 2010. Presidential candidates should address how they will respond to these human rights issues and re-establish functioning judicial institutions throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said.

"While politicians and foreign diplomats have wrangled over election preparations, residents in western Côte d'Ivoire are consumed by fear of violent robbery or of being pulled from a bus and raped," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher for Human Rights Watch. "Improving this shameful state of affairs should be an urgent priority for whoever wins the election."

The report is based on interviews with more than 80 victims and witnesses of violence and extortion, as well as government officials, law enforcement and military personnel, rebel soldiers, representatives from the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, and diplomats.

An armed conflict in 2002 and 2003 pitted government forces and government-supported militia - 25,000 in Moyen Cavally alone - against the Forces Nouvelles, or New Forces, an alliance of rebel factions from the north and west. Due to the proliferation of both arms and irregular combatants in the region, the west was the hardest hit area by the conflict.

A ceasefire in May 2003 marked the formal end of hostilities, followed by several peace agreements spearheaded by France, the regional body ECOWAS, the African Union, and the United Nations. The country remains divided, however, with the government largely failing to re-establish control in areas across the country or to rebuild institutions. The UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) remains in the country with 8,400 personnel, while a UN arms embargo, a French peacekeeping force, and other measures are still in place to help keep the peace.

Daily Existence Marked by FearCriminal gangs in western Côte d'Ivoire regularly attack residents in their homes, as they work their fields, and as they walk to market or travel between their villages and the main regional towns. The attacks peak on weekly market days, when village women converge to buy and sell goods, and during the cocoa harvest, November through March.

Bandit groups, known as coupeurs de route, establish makeshift roadblocks and then surround their victims as they walk to market or travel on transport vehicles. Almost always masked, these gangs are armed with Kalashnikov rifles, hunting rifles, long knives, and machetes. Attackers work meticulously, often stripping their victims to find every last coin, inflict physical abuse and, at times, kill those who refuse to relinquish money or who try to identify the attackers.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 drivers of public transport vehicles in the west who had, among them, been victims of 17 attacks on the road between November 2009 and July 2010. They provided examples of dozens of similar attacks on other drivers.

In the course of these attacks, hundreds of women and girls have been sexually assaulted, raped, or gang raped. In interviews with victims and witnesses, Human Rights Watch documented 109 cases of rape in Moyen Cavally and Dix-Huit Montagnes since January 2009, and the total number of victims is most likely much higher.

The assailants routinely pull women and girls off of trucks, one by one, march them into the bush, and rape them while other bandits stand guard. Human Rights Watch documented several attacks in which armed men raped more than a dozen women and girls whom they had forcefully removed from transport vehicles. In one single episode in January, at least 20 women and girls were raped. During home attacks, criminal gangs tie up husbands and force them to watch the attackers rape wives, daughters, and other female family members. The bandits have also targeted very young children, including babies, and women over 70.

A 32-year-old woman described one such attack as she and four other women returned from market in January:

"We were far from my house in the forest; I was with my baby when [the bandit] stopped us in the middle of the road. They caught me and they said, ‘Take off the baby,' and they took my baby and threw him on the ground. They beat me and beat me with the end of the Kalash [Kalashnikov rifle]. My baby was in the bushes and they raped me.... After they finished I went to pick up my baby. They beat me, and again my baby fell down."

Residents inhabit a world of fear because of the frequency of these attacks; for many, this fear has severely undermined their livelihood and led to significant lifestyle changes. Others simply live with the dread that an attack may occur the next time they or a loved one walks to market or travels to sell cocoa. Travel at night is impossible in most areas, but the daytime is scarcely better. Terrified of repercussions for speaking about the attacks, victims and witnesses interviewed for the report often refused to divulge even their first names, while others looked around repeatedly during interviews, saying that "nowhere is safe."

"The cocoa harvest, the most important economic activity for many Ivorian families, starts soon," Dufka said. "Ivorian authorities, along with the UN peacekeeping force, should take urgent measures to step up their patrolling to prevent a five-month nightmare for the people of the far west."

Inaction and Abusive Behavior by Ivorian Authorities
The government of Côte d'Ivoire has failed to protect people in the west, despite residents' pleas for help. Victims' requests for protection from immediate danger and reports of crimes to the police or gendarmes are met with inaction or, in many cases, attempts at extortion.

Dozens of victims, including drivers, passengers, and women and girls who had been raped on transport vehicles, described going to police and gendarme checkpoints - ostensibly established by the government to provide security in high-crime areas - immediately after an attack and asking police and gendarmes to pursue the attackers. Victims universally described being met with scant interest or dismissive responses and, in almost every case, the police or gendarmes refused to move from their checkpoints or to call or radio in for reinforcements.

In one case, a group of five women who had escaped on foot from an attack by armed men and made it to a checkpoint reported to gendarmes that four other women were still being held. The women pleaded with authorities to rescue their friends, but said the police told them, "It's not our job; our job is only to guard the checkpoint."

In another case, a driver told Human Rights Watch that he implored security forces to pursue bandits who had just attacked his vehicle carrying 20 passengers a few kilometers away. The gendarmes never moved, and, in front of a young girl who had just been raped, said dismissively, "You're lucky there aren't any dead among you."

Compounding the lack of access to justice, in dozens of cases documented by Human Rights Watch, victims of violence in both Moyen Cavally and Dix-Huit Montagnes said that the police or gendarmes demanded money when victims filed complaints. Those who openly engage in extortion rarely face punishment and, in some cases, their superiors are directly implicated in profiting from this racket.

The rare investigated case is adjudicated in a system fraught with deficiencies, including inaccessible courts, corrupt and absent judicial officials, and nonexistent witness protection programs. Meanwhile, striking deficiencies in the prison system, including corruption and insufficient facilities and guards, have led to the premature or illegal release of alleged perpetrators who are on remand or even convicted criminals. Once released, these individuals are free to take revenge on their victims for reporting them.

Moreover, Ivorian security forces and Forces Nouvelles rebels in the north are implicated in widespread extortion, small- and large-scale racketeering, and other human rights abuses. In the government-controlled region of Moyen Cavally, police and gendarmes use their checkpoints to demand bribes for passing through, crippling the livelihoods of drivers, merchants, and market women. Perceived immigrants are targeted for particularly severe extortion and are often taunted, robbed, and physically assaulted if they refuse to pay.

In Dix-Huit Montagnes, a region still largely under the de facto control of the Forces Nouvelles, rebel soldiers fan out to checkpoints, businesses, and market stalls and demand money, using intimidation and violence to enforce their demands. Human Rights Watch found that in Dix-Huit Montagnes alone, the Forces Nouvelles extort the equivalent of tens of millions of US dollars each year, largely from those involved in all chains of the cocoa and timber industries.

"Police and security forces have utterly failed to protect the population of western Cote d'Ivoire from the horrific banditry of these criminal gangs," Dufka said. "The government urgently needs to improve its response to this utter lawlessness, which is wreaking havoc on the lives of the local population."

Especial 25 de Noviembre: Día Internacional de No Violencia a las mujeres

Click Play Button

PROGRAMA 55 - VOZ DE LOS MOVIMIENTOS/24 NOVIEMBRE 2010

América Latina: Francisca Rodríguez, dirigente CLOC/VC - Una mirada a la violencia en el campo Francisca Rodríguez, dirigente de la CLOC/ Vía Campesina. - Sin feminismo no hay socialismo: una propuesta de las mujeres para una nueva cultura de equidad en la CLOC/Vía Campesina. Honduras: Leoncia Solórzano, dirigente del Consejo para el desarrollo integral de la Mujer campesina – CODIMCA. - Tras el golpe en Honduras las más afectadas son las mujeres campesinas. - Alternativas y propuestas de las mujeres hondureñas para mantener la Soberanía alimentaría en el país. El Salvador: - Organizaciones de mujeres se organizan para celebrar Día internacional de la No Violencia. Un informe de Vía Campesina El Salvador. 10899

Producción: Minga Informativa de los Movimientos Sociales | Pais: América Latina
Idioma: Español | Formato: Noticias
Fecha Producción: 11/2010

Tema: NOTICIAS
Subtema: Minga Informativa
**************

Mas Info.

Programa 55: Voz de los Movimientos

Especial 25 de Noviembre: Día Internacional de No Violencia a las mujeres

Está disponible el nuevo programa de audio "Voz de los Movimientos", con los siguientes contenidos:

América Latina:
Francisca Rodríguez, dirigente CLOC/VC
- Una mirada a la violencia en el campo Francisca Rodríguez, dirigente de la CLOC/ Vía Campesina (Chile).
- Sin feminismo no hay socialismo: una propuesta de las mujeres para una nueva cultura de equidad en la CLOC/Vía Campesina.

Honduras.
Leoncia Solórzano, dirigente del Consejo para el desarrollo integral de la Mujer campesina – CODIMCA.
- Tras el golpe en Honduras las más afectadas son las mujeres campesinas.
- Alternativas y propuestas de las mujeres hondureñas para mantener la Soberanía alimentaría en el país.
-
El Salvador
- Organizaciones de mujeres se preparan para celebrar el Día internacional de la No Violencia. Un informe de Vía Campesina El Salvador.

Duración del programa: 12:04 min.

Ud. puede escuchar el programa en línea o descargarlo:
http://radioteca.net/result.php/13030156

INSUMO:
Perú: Foro de Pueblos Indígenas Minería, Cambio Climático y Buen Vivir. Informe desde la Confederación Nacional de Comunidades afectadas por la Minería – CONACAMI

Duración del insumo: 2:16 min.

Ud. puede escuchar el programa en línea o descargarlo:
http://radioteca.net/result.php/13030157

Se invita a las radioemisoras a reproducirlos todo o en parte en su programación, mencionando la fuente. Agradecemos informarnos si lo retransmite en su radioemisora.

"Voz de los Movimientos" es una producción de la Minga Informativa de Movimientos Sociales, que congrega a una decena de redes y coordinaciones sociales de América Latina y el Caribe. http://www.movimientos.org/

**************

Sex Trafficking at Home

Reports on Our Native Community!

http://www.dailyyonder.com/sex-trafficking-home/2010/10/13/2989

10/14/2010

American Indian, Native Alaskan and Native Canadian women and girls from rural areas are prime targets for sex traffickers.

By Mary Annette Pember

Amnesty International Vigil in Ottawa, Canada, honoring missing and/or murdered Native women

“Joker waited until I had brought myself down really low. That’s when he pushed me to work for the gang,” Maggie told me.

Maggie, 41, is from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakot. She is describing how her boyfriend, Joker, began trafficking her into the sex trade.

Fleeing a violent husband, she left the reservation for a new life in Minneapolis. She became addicted to drugs and came to rely on her boyfriend, a member of a local street gang, for drugs and companionship. Soon, however, he insisted that she be initiated into his gang, a process involving gang rape by several members. He also insisted that she must contribute to the gang by trading sex for drugs and money. He routinely drives her to meet “dates,” men with whom she will trade sex for money or drugs.

“He told me he loves me and that all his friends did the same thing with their girlfriends,” she said.

Sometimes, Maggie admits, she helps coerce other Indian girls into prostitution for the gang.

“He said if I really loved him, I would do anything for him,” she said.

Local social services removed her children from her home when she abandoned them in her search for drugs. Her world now revolves around Joker and the gang.

Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center Advocates who work with trafficking victims note that this process of grooming, followed by coercion and/or violence, is a typical method used to lure women into the sex trade.

According to the Minnesota Women’s Resource Center and the Native Women’s Association of Canada, traffickers use a variety of means to draw girls and women into the sex trade. Traffickers force current prostitutes to recruit friends and relatives from reservations and reserves with false promises of easy money and the glamour of living in a big city. The Internet has also become a fertile recruiting ground in which girls are promised lucrative jobs dancing in clubs only to find themselves pushed into prostitution. They find themselves isolated and quickly lose touch with their homes, families and communities.

Maggie participates in the Center's Healing Journey programming designed to improve the quality of life for chronic substance abusers. Her addiction, however, has bound her tightly to the cycle of prostitution and her traffickers. When sober, her shame and guilt are nearly overwhelming.

“I guess I didn’t really give a shit about nothing anymore after losing my kids. So it really don’t matter if I degrade myself,” she said.

The subject of sex trafficking usually brings to mind countries in Asia and elsewhere, far away from rural America. Recent media reports and studies by women’s groups, however, find that sex traffickers are targeting American Indian and Native Canadian women and girls, often from reservations and reserves. In many rural areas, American Indian and Native Canadian women and girls comprise the face of prostitution.

The Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center in Minneapolis recently released a study documenting sex trafficking of American Indian women and girls from the state of Minnesota. The Kellogg-Foundation-supported study “Shattered Hearts” offers a window into this shadowed world that includes trafficking women and girls to international locations.

The sexual trafficking of American Indian women is, unfortunately, not a new story to us. As a young woman, I recall hearing whispered reports about Indian women who “worked the boats” in the harbor at Duluth, Minnesota.

Families have shamefully guarded the fact that one of their own may have worked as a “boat whore,” so there is little reliable data on this form of generational prostitution. I have heard my mother and other elders tell of many girls and women who went missing after going onto the boats. Were they delivered to pimps in other locations? Were they killed? Or like too many Indian people, did they simply step off from the world of family and community? For years, mainstream law enforcement and Coast Guard authorities turned a blind eye.

In recent years, however, the trafficking of American and Canadian native women has grown in scope, numbers and attendant violence. According to the “Shattered Hearts” study, police reports from Duluth showed that Indian girls were being lured off reservations, taken onto boats in port, beaten and gang raped. Tribal advocates in South Dakota and Minnesota had also begun raising red flags, reporting that Indian girls were being trafficked into prostitution, pornography and strip shows over state lines and internationally to Mexico.

Canadian studies show that Native women and girls are hugely over-represented in the sex trade. According to a report by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, nearly 90 percent of Canada’s teen prostitutes are Native. Canada has been leading the charge in documenting the numbers and scope of Native women and girls who are lured and coerced into prostitution.

The infamous Pickton case in British Columbia outside of Vancouver in 2002 finally brought the issue to public attention, making it impossible to ignore. Robert Pickton, a pig farmer near Vancouver, was convicted of murdering six women at his rural farm. An admitted serial killer, he claimed responsibility for torturing and killing 49 women, many of whom were Native prostitutes. He chose his victims from the notorious “Low Track” neighborhood on Vancouver’s east side, known as “Canada’s poorest postal code.” Low Track is a well-known haven for drug use and sex trade activities including its “kiddie stroll,” that features underage prostitutes.

missingpeople.net Missing women from Vancouver's eastside. Most are Native and some may have been Pickton's victims.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada has catalogued 520 cases of missing or murdered Native women across Canada. Advocates believe that many more cases go unreported. Most of the victims are under age 30 and lived “difficult” lives engaging in prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse and other risky behaviors.

Amnesty International of Canada notes in its “Stolen Sisters” report that Native leaders and women’s advocates had complained for years that repeated reports of missing Native women were largely ignored by Canadian authorities. According to The Globe and Mail, however, the Manitoba government announced last year that it is forming a police task force to investigate dozens of missing and murdered women in that province. Amnesty International and advocates maintain that many of the missing women were victims of sexual trafficking.

Although the word “trafficking” implies movement, human trafficking does not require crossing borders or geographic movement at all, according to Canadian criminal code. The key element is exploitation. Minnesota’s trafficking law is similar and differs from the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 that defines sex trafficking as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which the act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person is under 18.

Minnesota and Canada recognize that people cannot willingly consent to being sexually prostituted by others.

Much of the trafficking is thought to be organized by criminal gangs that have found havens on reservations where remoteness, a culture of silence and distrust of authorities provide protection. According to Justice Department data, many reservations have violent crime rates more than 2.5 times higher than the national rate. As I noted in another article in the Yonder, gangs and their attendant violence and lawlessness have exploded on reservations as criminals have realized the lack of enforcement. The complex maze of jurisdictional challenges to prosecuting crimes in Indian Country has been an added incentive to such organizations.

Fortunately, on August 12 of this year, President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act, which will provide tribes with greater authority to prosecute crimes on reservations and hold federal authorities accountable for their efforts (or lack thereof) in investigating and prosecuting crime in Indian Country.

According to the “Shattered Hearts” report, the FBI indentified Minneapolis as one of 13 U.S. cities with a high rate of criminal activity involving commercial sexual exploitation. The Minnesota legislature developed a plan to address sexual trafficking, creating a Human Trafficking Task Force. Task force workers found that 345 American Indian girls were the victims of sexual trafficking over a three-year period and that most reported being victimized by sexual predators.

Advocates in Canada and the U.S. report that most trafficking victims have histories of being sexually assaulted. The Amnesty International report “Maze of Injustice” found that 1 in 3 Indian women would be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, the highest rate of any ethnicity. This high rate of rape contributes to the normalization and internalization of sexual victimhood, making Indian women and girls easy prey for traffickers.

“They’re lured into the lifestyle with such things as gifts, shopping trips and alcohol and drugs,” Andrew George from Nightmute village in Alaska told the Alaska Dispatch.

FBI and Anchorage Police Department investigators contacted Alaskan village leaders recently informing them that sex traffickers in Anchorage are targeting Native women and girls. Traffickers see Native runaways as easy prey. Alone in a big city for the first time and isolated from friends and family, they are seeking money and attention.

According to the Dispatch article, FBI agent, Jolene Goeden, notes that it's hard to rescue some girls, especially from villages. They may not see themselves as victims, particularly those who have experienced sexual or domestic violence.

The "sex-trafficking world is incredibly, incredibly violent. Once that grooming process is over it turns into, 'You owe me. I need you to do this for me one time. And then it happens over and over again,' " Goeden said.