Free the Slaves: Ball State Chapter

Meeting Times

2012-02-04T19:07:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone I forgot to mention meeting times. For anyone interested in becoming a part of something important, our meetings are Tuesdays at 9 pm in Bracken on the 4th floor. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us!

Peace,

Cody Bennett

2012-02-04T18:40:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone, this is Cody Bennett speaking. Well, OK typing but you get the idea haha. Anyways, I would like to welcome you all back to the Free the Slaves blog! It's been quite some time since this blog was updated, but with me in control of it I hope to give updates at least once a week regarding possible new global legislation, charities, and media to help spread awareness of slavery worldwide. With that, I would like to welcome you all back!

To begin this official first blog post in over a year, I will be posting a movie list that explores the issue of global slavery. Some of these movies may be well know to you, and others not so much. However, I implore you all to look into these films and share them with everyone you can! We need to get more and more people in on this massive undertaking of global awareness, and it all starts with us, just one person at a time, spreading the word!

That's all for today folks! Make sure to check back next week for any new updates and I will hopefully be adding in a book list for you all to check out!

Peace,

Cody Bennett

2010-05-07T10:35:00.000-04:00

Breaking News Update
Location: Kolkata, India
Date: Monday, May 3, 2010
Result: Three perpetrators sentenced for trafficking young girls

This Monday, after years of IJM Kolkata's relentless advocacy, two men and one woman were sentenced to 10 years in prison for trafficking young girls for sex, following their convictions for the crime on Friday, April 30.

The perpetrators were arrested in 2007 after attempting to sell three girls, ages 12, 14 and 16, to IJM undercover investigators. Convictions and sentences for sex trafficking have been rare in Kolkata — but because of the commitment of IJM supporters and frontline staff, and the partnership of the local government, change is coming to the city.

The three survivors abused by these perpetrators (including the IJM client pictured above) bravely took the stand during the court case and are each now healing in loving aftercare homes.

"Not only does the conviction of these perpetrators bring justice to the lives of their victims but it brings protection to the many more girls they will be unable to abuse because they have faced just consequences," explains IJM Director of Operations for South Asia Blair Burns.

Thank you for joining with IJM to seek justice and combat violent oppression. This is just one example of the victories made possible by this movement of friends, advocates and supporters around the world.

Gratefully,

Laurie Hayes
Director of Development

P.S. Visit IJM.org to learn about other recent convictions and rescues.

Orphans... Restavacs... Slaves

2010-04-30T10:06:00.000-04:00

Protecting Children in Haiti

We received the following dispatch from Free the Slaves staffer Zorba Leslie in Haiti. He is helping our partner organizations combat the country’s “resavek” system of child slavery. Zorba’s account underscores how dangerous Haiti remains three months after the devastating earthquake, and how community organizations are working to save children from slavery.

Zorba writes:

“Some children that were in restavek slavery prior to the earthquake subsequently lost their “host” families and have been left to fend for themselves. And then there are children who were simply orphaned and now left unaccompanied who are falling into restavek slavery.

“The international agencies are working with the Haitian government and local groups to try to protect these children, but so many appear to be falling through the cracks.

“Many children that who have been taken in by families in camps are falling into the traditional role of a restavek: fetching water, running errands, cooking, cleaning, etc. But the conditions are so much worse and more dangerous. For instance, a family isn’t likely to send its own child on an errand after nightfall because they know the chances of that child being raped are heightened. So they’ll send the restavek child out into the dark.

“The community group KOFAVIV is continuing its essential work of providing support to victims of sexual violence. Participants trained in child rights are now advocating for children in the camps, and some parents are actively retrieving their children now that they understand the extreme harm inflicted upon them through the system.

“Free the Slaves’ collaboration with Beyond Borders, Limye Lavi and KOFAVIV seeks to significantly scale up this work.

"We’re planning to provide the training in child rights to dozens of groups across the camps. Participants will then form child protection committees to foster collective action to prevent abuse of children.”

Our work in Haiti is made possible by your continuing support.

Visit our online donor page to make a one-time or recurring contribution. Enter “Haiti Fund” in the designation window.

The 2010 Freedom Awards Sunday | November 7, 2010 | 6:00 p.m.

2010-04-07T11:44:00.000-04:00

The Freedom Awards celebrate heroes of the anti-slavery movement from the U.S. and around the world.

The evening will be a powerful and inspiring testament to the human spirit, filled with musical performances and courageous personal stories from the frontlines of slavery. After the ceremony, right outside the door, join us for the anti-slavery movement’s best after-party: Freedom Rocks. Eat, dance, celebrate and find out how you can get involved in ending slavery.

2010 Freedom Award sponsorship opportunities now available. Click here

See how much fun you can have at the Freedom Awards, while you’re doing good. Click here

Frequently Asked Questions

2010-03-26T15:52:00.001-04:00

1. When was Free the Slaves founded? Free the Slaves was founded in 2000 by Kevin Bales, Peggy Callahan, and Jolene Smith following publication of President Kevin Bales’ 1999 Pulitzer nominated Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. FTS has grown into a respected and thriving organization, perceived as a thought-leader and catalyst within the anti-slavery movement. It has programs in seven countries, supported by staff on four continents, with well-established systems of coordination and accountability.

2. What is Free The Slaves' approach in ending slavery?

We work by providing accurate research and reporting on slavery, raising public and political awareness about the continuing existence of slavery, eliminating slave-made products from the supply chains of industries, and building partnerships with grassroots organizations who fight slavery.

3. What is Free The Slaves' annual budget? For 2010, around 3.5 million dollars.

4. What percentage of our funding comes from foundations versus private donors? Right now we rely heavily on foundation and institutional grants (roughly 70%), however in the future we want to rely more on individual donors and unrestricted gifts.

5. What is the percent/total of budget spent on staff?

Personnel costs are about one-third of the annual expenses for a staff of 25, here and abroad. Of these, 4 staff members do not receive any salary, but donate their time.

6. Do we receive government funding? Free The Slaves receives government funding to support a portion of the work of our international partners.

7. Do we work with other anti-trafficking organizations? Free the Slaves is a member of the US based ATEST (Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking) coalition with a number of prominent anti-trafficking organizations including Polaris Project, IJM, Vital Voices, Ricky Martin Foundation, and CAST. We also have close ties with the World Bank, UNICEF, IOM, UNIAP, and other major players in international work.

8. Do our international partners free slaves and offer direct services?

Yes, some of our partners directly remove and rescue victims from their situation, with the cooperation of local governments. There is a great need for more rehabilitation shelters for those newly freed workers ready to start a new life.

9. Where are our grassroots partners?

India, Nepal, Ghana, Uganda, Haiti, Brazil, and in process, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

10. Do we provide any direct services to victims in US?

No, but Free the Slaves does refer cases to Polaris Project and other organizations focusing on the domestic problem.

11. What are the Freedom Awards and why are they important?

Begun in 2008 by a grant from the Templeton foundation, the Freedom Awards are given to celebrate heroes of the anti-slavery movement from around the world. Individuals and organizations chosen from a large pool of nominees by an international selection committee come to Los Angeles for a dazzling ceremony honoring their work. The cash prizes and media attention help them to leverage more support for their programs and scale up their work. The inspiring award ceremony is open to the public.

Fondue Party Poetry

2009-12-02T10:26:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone!

Scroll on down and check out the awesome poetry from the event!

We ended up running out of fondue (I think we ordered enough for 100) and the last time I heard the count was about 130ish (if someone actually knows fix this please). The speaker was great and it was nice to have someone who actually lived through it speak at our event, and the poets' poems were really good, and I can only guess that we had yummy fondue-that is what I get for being late-no fondue.

Hopefully next year it will be even bigger, better, and tastier!

Look at me and tell me what you see

2009-12-02T10:24:00.001-05:00

Look at me and tell me what you see

Should a young man like me dream dreams that seem impossible to reach

Should I write to breach those who’ve been taught to break the mold

Whose thoughts of gold are caught in this world’s onslaught

Which brought upon distraught and they fought to fill in what’s internally missing

Just as I’ve been, millions maybe even billions of browned skinned young children

This generation sealed in a nation where the thirteenth amendment didn’t emancipate enslavement

Dig deep to reveal what’s concealed under the pavement and you will see minds of all ages in cages

Barred together, tarred and feathered, charred in weather, scarred forever

So now we spar together

To fight for rights and despite that I write these letters

It’s clear that we’re still far from better

I guess it’s hard to sever this instilled mentality

So now you’ll see we stand on corners casually

Passing weed, crack, and speed reaching for success passively

Until you feel the breath of reality on the neck of a fallacy

And you gradually step closer to death or prison

Now in a prism that’s best left bereft

But I guess its slavery depth is one of the best kept secrets

Because, this institution, we despise but decide to keep it

Inside we feed it what we believe are diseased pieces

This is a war but I don’t need battle fatigues or a saddled steed

I’m not trying to dabble in greed

No I’m not asking for forty acres, any favors, or even reparations

No need for any form of repayment to replace with what’s been taken

The only thing that can save man are prayers to a savior

The flavor of victory is no mystery to history

For history has persistently overpowered equality

You’ve lost a part of you and I’ve lost a part of me

Through the middle passage you can follow me

To strange fruit hanging and dangling from hollow trees

To those who suffered in Dachau Auschwitz, Belsen, my apologies

My heart goes out to those lured from overseas

Sold into sex slavery

Those set in debt bondage forever

Sprayed with fire hoses and dogs unleashed

Through the Tallahatchie the blood leaked

Walked three hundred eighty one days just for a seat

And I still wonder what is the price to be free

-Daniel Travis

The List of Things I’ve Never Done

2009-12-02T10:21:00.001-05:00

You’ll have to forgive me.
I’m a little nervous.
I guess you could kind say that this is my poetry debut.
I’ve never done anything like this before.
So I thought about it
And made a list of some of the things that I have never done.

I’ve never seen the sun set below the horizon of a never-ending field, while riding in the back of
a flat bed truck after a hard day’s work.
I’ve never had the chance to listen in on Philosophical conversations, held by educated men,
while I served them coffee or Brandy.
I’ve never been able to provide diamonds for all of the beautiful girls in the world, let alone all
the girls that I have loved.
I’ve never traveled to the heart of New York, where I was able to peddle goods, on street
corners, to earn money for those who paid for my trip.
I’ve never worked in coffee fields for an hourly wage that is much less than the price being paid in the purchase of the final product.
I’ve never been forced to walk the midnight streets of L.A. making in money for pimps by
doing favors for strange men.
I’ve never had to work in shops that are defined by the perspiration that comes from my long hours and manual labor.
I’ve never been sprayed with pesticides while working in heat that could boil your blood.
I’ve never had to wade in the water while being watched over by mercenary men with machine guns held hand-in-hand.
I’ve never been knocked out and kidnapped from my family only to come to in a house full of
broken girls.
I’ve never been kidnapped from my home, given drugs and brain washed into wanting to fight as
a child soldier.
I’ve never seen the last look on my father’s face while I was torn from his arms and taken away.
I’ve never had my virginity stolen from me when I was 10 years old.
And I’ve never been born into a system, where I didn’t have a choice, but only a way of life.
I’ve never done any of these things before.
So the least I can do,
is take on these nerves,
and create awareness for those who have.

-Luke Boggess

How I Relate to Slave Labor

2009-12-02T10:11:00.005-05:00

I walked into the M.T. Cup

(where the coffee’s not great but

at least Myles hires cute girls

for minimum wage

to work behind the counter)

with an Indianapolis Star

in my right hand

and the idea of a drink on my mind.

“Black coffee please.”

Because that’s what great poets do

as they read the daily news

as if to taste the pain of the world

through

the plain color of a plastic lid.

With my idea in my hand

and the paper on my mind,

I paid the cute girl with a tip,

left her with a smile,

and made my way outside

to where the people sat around black circles

and discussed grey topics

as the insides of their cups

began to show their true colors.

While I

made my way

to a spot below shade

and set down my black pack

that reminds me of a book bag

that I once had when I was seven years old

that read:

“Made in China”

on the front pocket

below the emblem of

my favorite basketball team.

I remember asking my mom

“Why was this made by Chinese

if they didn’t speak English?

if they don’t know who the Chicago Bulls

were?

And if they’ve never seen Michael Jordan

play ball before?”

Answering my own question

before she had the chance to explain

I came

to the conclusion

that it must have been a mistake.

So they donated it to America.

Knowing a little more on the topic

now

but thinking about it a little less,

I took a seat at the table

and a sip from my drink.

It was warm outside that day.

So I, removed my Nike cap

that was Made in China.

Unzipped my Columbia fleece

Made in China

Exposing my gray J. Crew T

Made in China

And tugged at the legs of my jeans

Made in China

Adjusted the shades on my face

Made in China

And leaned back,

and propped up on the table

my red, white, but mostly blue

converse

that were Made in China.

And I thought about how comfortable

I was

as I read those censored stories

about the poor

and about the raped

and about the abused.

And I sipped from my black coffee

as if I could taste the pain of the world

through

the plain color of a plastic lid.

-Luke Boggess

2nd Annual Fair Trade Fondue Party

2009-11-16T10:34:00.005-05:00

We are putting on the Fair Trade Fondue Party again this year with help from some other student organizations on campus. It is also a tie-in with the Freshmen Connections Common Reader, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, so we were able to get more funding to make it even bigger and better. There will be poetry readings and motivational speaker Marti M. Fitzhugh who is a survivor of international human trafficking, addiction and homelessness. She rebounded to live a happy and prosperous life in California and Indiana, alternately. Marti has begun speaking to raise awareness about human trafficking. Her story is powerful and uplifting.

Come Join Us:

	Tuesday, November 17, 2009
	7:00pm - 9:00pm
	Pruis Hall at Ball State There is also an event on facebook, click here to RSVP

Another Opporunity...

2009-11-09T09:44:00.004-05:00

...To go make and buy yummy treats!

Yes we are having another bake sale. The sale will run through today and start up again tomorrow morning at 9am until we either run out of goodies or run out of daylight. Today we have lots treats including: vegan spice cake, peanut butter cookies, puppy chow, funfetti cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies and lots of other goodies as more people bring them in. Also there is information about the upcoming Fondue Party at the table, don't worry information is free, while all goodies are 50 cents. The goodies are going fast so I might suggest hurrying over to Teachers College to go get yours for the day.

Think of it as doing your good deed for the day...

Pictures from the Bake Sale

2009-10-28T12:41:00.003-04:00

Sorry it took me so long to get these posted. Better late than never. Also don't forget to check out the facebook group! I am going to post them up there too.

Bake Sale and Meeting

2009-10-06T10:58:00.002-04:00

Today is the Bake Sale! Already we have run out of a few tasty morsels, it is still going on tomorrow so make sure to go buy some treats, if you can't make it out today. Also we have a meeting at 8pm in the Writing Center (RB291). I took some pictures of the bake sale this morning and will post them later.

Happy Birthday Gandhi!

2009-10-02T13:26:00.002-04:00

To celebrate go look up information about his life and works.

Another Thought

2009-09-25T11:43:00.002-04:00

If we're going to do it inside anyway, what if we go ahead and do our "annual" Fair Trade chocolate fondue party? I still have all the information from last year about our bid to CAFB about the cost for food. It would be another thing to juggle, but it really might attract more people. Vote now!

Inside / Outside Thoughts

2009-09-25T11:41:00.001-04:00

It'll probably be cold, so it would be nice to have it inside. But, that also limits our exposure to random people walking around. However, if we advertise well enough, hopefully everyone will know about it anyway.

Concert Dilemma

2009-09-23T09:28:00.005-04:00

Hello,
As many of you are aware, we had to postpone the concert... again. Just the other day, I heard from Ben at Lafollette Field that we could reserve it for Friday, October 16 but not Saturday the 17th. This is cool, but unfortunately the 16th is also the beginning of family weekend. We would be competing with Harry Potter and a few events on campus and in downtown Muncie. Another drawback of this day is that since we got clearance for it so late, we don't have the 30 days required for submitting a request for money to the CAFB, which has funded many of our past activities and could foot the bill for all the expenses the university is charging us. A positive part of the 16th is that many people would be in town and it could still be relatively warm, at least warmer than the other possible days (the avg. temperature on that day is 56 degrees - see http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/f6-decode_ind.php)

The week after the 16th is fall break, so we'd have to have our concert on Thursday the 22nd. Obviously, many people could be gone by then, but it would buy us some time and wouldn't conflict with other major events. On the next weekend, Friday Oct. 30 could be a possibility - the only conflict I saw was that UPB is showing Transformers at 9. On Saturday Oct. 31, other than Halloween, there's a football game going on in the middle of the day. These later dates would allow us to apply for money and hopefully get more people involved, but it will also be colder (the avg. temp. for the end of the month is 46 degrees).

I know we don't have a lot of awesome options, but I just wanted to get your input. Please vote for a day in the poll on the side of the page. If you have any ideas about other options we have (moving it inside...), please state it on a comment to this post.

Thanks for all your help and work!
-Phil

Concert Update...

2009-09-21T16:49:00.002-04:00

The Feel the Music, Free the Slaves concert is postponed. We haven't nailed down a time yet, but we plan to do so soon. We are looking into having it on Family Weekend at Ball State, but we haven't gotten the clearance for it yet. Keep checking out the blog (here) and the facebook group for more information.

Welcome Back

2009-08-23T21:56:00.003-04:00

Hey! Welcome back to Ball State and more importantly Free the Slaves! We are a campus organization that works with Free the Slaves to liberate slaves worldwide--that includes the United States, even Indiana. To get more information shoot a quick email to freetheslavesbsu@gmail.com. We have a facebook group too-Free The Slaves--BSU Chapter. Our first meeting will be Thursday August 27, 2009 at The Writing Center (RB 291) at 6.30 pm. We also have a concert planned for September 25, 2009 at Lafollette field from 6.00 pm 'til 11.00 pm. Hope to see you there!

Craigslist to drop "erotic services" ads

2009-05-17T21:39:00.001-04:00

BOSTON (Reuters) - Online classified site Craigslist will replace its "erotic services" ads with a new adult category following pressure by state authorities after the murder of a masseuse who advertised on the site.

The "erotic services" section will end within seven days and be replaced by an "adult services" category where advertisements will be individually screened by Craigslist staff, Craigslist said in a statement on Wednesday.

The measures could set a precedent for similar sites, said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who led a 40-state task-force on Craigslist and campaigned publicly for tighter controls on the San Francisco-based service.

"Closing the erotic services section, a blatant Internet brothel, should lead to other blocking and screening measures, and set a model for other sites, if Craigslist keeps its word," he said.

Craigslist's sex-service listings have faced intense scrutiny since the April 14 murder of 25-year-old masseuse Julissa Brisman, who advertised on Craigslist in Boston.

Philip Markoff, a 23-year-old Boston University medical student, was charged with killing Brisman and with attacks on two other women he met through Craigslist ads.

Craigslist, a 14-year-old online bazaar that generates more than 20 billion page views per month in 50 countries with a staff of just 28 people, is partially owned by online auctioneer eBay, which bought 25 percent in 2004.

Along with free listings for everything from apartments and furniture to jobs and cars, Craigslist.com carries one of the largest and most controversial sex-service listings. Its rapid growth and low-cost business model have hurt newspapers by siphoning away advertising revenue.

Craigslist had already made some changes to curb illegal activity on its site. Under pressure from 40 U.S. attorneys general, the site agreed in November to charge people posting erotic ads $5-$10 by credit card and require them to submit a working phone number to use the site.

'HALF BAKED'

From Wednesday, postings to the "erotic services" section will no longer be accepted, Craigslist said. Postings to the new section, which opened immediately, cost $10. Once they are approved, they will be eligible for reposting at $5.

Not every state was satisfied. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has pressed Craigslist to go further by tracking computer IP addresses of suspected prostitution rings and take other safeguards.

"Several weeks ago, we informed Craigslist of an impending criminal case that implicated its website. Rather than work with this office to prevent further abuses, in the middle of the night, Craigslist took unilateral action which we suspect will prove to be half-baked," Cuomo said in a statement.

His office declined to elaborate on the criminal case.

In April, Blumenthal asked Craigslist officials to eliminate photographs in the "erotic services" and similar sections of the site, hire staff to screen ads that violate Craigslist rules and offer incentives for people who flag and report prostitution advertisements.

Read more here.

NYT article and Polaris Project blog update

2009-04-29T11:08:00.002-04:00

In addition to this very interesting NYT article on art projects with child soldiers, the Polaris Project blog has been updated. I strongly encourage you guys to follow it because it presents interesting responses to human trafficking.

Since the tradition began in 1954, the title of goodwill ambassador for United Nations’ agencies has usually been appended to names that might have been borrowed from the credits for a film festival: Danny Kaye, Audrey Hepburn, Mia Farrow, Susan Sarandon and, lately, Angelina Jolie and George Clooney.

But on Tuesday Simone Monasebian, the New York chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, introduced the next ambassador to be named for her office, a man well known in certain circles but not often followed by paparazzi: Ross Bleckner, the painter, who will be the first fine artist named to the ceremonial post.

Earlier this year Mr. Bleckner, whose mostly abstract work came to prominence in the 1980s and who has long been involved in AIDS-related causes, went on an official mission to the Gulu district of northern Uganda. Gulu has been terrorized for many years by the rebel force known as the Lord’s Resistance Army, which has abducted and conscripted thousands of children, forcing boys and girls to become killers and sex slaves.

Using thousands of dollars’ worth of paint, brushes and paper shipped from New York Central Art Supply in the East Village, Mr. Bleckner, 59, worked with a group of 25 children — former abductees and ex-soldiers — for more than a week at a Roman Catholic aid center. The children made 200 paintings that will be sold at a benefit at the United Nations headquarters next month at which Mr. Bleckner will be appointed goodwill ambassador. Several of the luminous paintings are now on view in the front window of the clothing store Moschino in the meatpacking district, whose company is providing money to support the Gulu project.

Finish reading the article here.

Slavery on our streets

2009-04-22T14:21:00.001-04:00

by Cassandra Clifford

As April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, events are taking place throughout the month to highlight the various forms of sexual assault which plagues millions of young girls across the globe. However one does not have to look outside our borders to see the face of modern slavery, nor does one have to look into the eyes of a foreign born national to see the pain and suffering for which it causes. Modern slavery, or human trafficking, is a problem that plagues us right here at home. There is no country immune to this disease of power and greed, which binds some 27 million people around the world, including the US and our Nations Capital. The average of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12-13 years-old, and DC streets ranked among the top 14 cities for human trafficking by the FBI, are see their fair share of young victims each night.

The US State department estimates that some 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year and about 80 percent of them are female and at least 50% are children. The numbers given by the State Department do not included the millions of victims which are trafficked with in countries borders, including the United States. The US government has stated that there are some 17,500 victims of sex trafficking in the United States each year, however all of these government figures are well understated and the true number of victims is unknown.

As brought to your attention in last weeks piece, The Dark Side of The Washington Post, DC is a strong hold for brothels posing as massage parlors, a fate which is sadly not unique to the capital, as seen in a report by MSNBC Undercover: Sex Slaves in America. The MSNBC piece gave great incite into the plight of those enslaved within the US borders, and is highly recommended as a starting point when looking into the depth and scale of this issue and how it effects cities across the country. You will see in the report a large focus on San Fransisco, which has made their message of non-tolerance for sex trafficking and slavery very clear, however is still tied by the hand of bureaucracy and is only beginning to scrape the surface of this enormous problem. San Fransisco is tackling the massage parlors, the ones that look just like those in every major city, and many not so major cities. While the issue of slavery is not the stated premise for the cities surprise inspections, the requirements of permits for masseuses, require girls to be covered from the neck down. Surprise raids have uncovered false walls reveals rooms where slaves are hidden out of the view of the public eyes, unable to leave, locked into fortress like buildings, under the watchful eyes of guards, cameras. The Task Force with the health department; they say they cannot fully eradicate trafficking but they are having some impact. The city of San Fransisco while not free and clean of slavery, is working to crack down on those who prey on the innocence of young girls. Those who use sex and fear to enslave women and girls for nothing more than greed and profit.

In DC the cities own Task Force on Human Trafficking, in addition to increased cooperation, training and awareness by the cities police force, other law enforcement agencies and NGOs, have been increasingly successful in raiding brothels since the establishment of the Task Force in 2004. However as seen in the Post piece the issues must be tackled from all sides, including demand, and while DC does require masseuses to be licensed, it is rarely a deterrent to illegal operations who often just reopen under a new name after raids. As San Fransico saw, surprise inspections and fines alone will not end the trafficking of women. As long as the demand continues women and children will continue to be forced into sexual slavery, and their lives will continue to be torn apart by greed and demand.

To better understand the effects of the demand for commercial sex services, on human trafficking, see Shared Hope's video Demand, which you can watch on-line or download, the video gives great incite into the fate of domestic victims of sex trafficking.

Source.

An End to R-E-S-P-E-C-T for P-I-M-P-S

2009-04-16T16:04:00.002-04:00

At the Karma Nightclub in Minneapolis a few days ago, April 5, there was a Players Ball.

Let’s stop for a minute. That’s a publicly-advertised wild bash at a nightclub, celebrating pimps’ business… What’s wrong with this picture?

It’s bad enough that we look at the record of arrests related to prostitution and we find that manifold more prostituted females are arrested and punished than pimping males. That is one reason the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 aptly requires statistics on those arrested in prostitution to separate the numbers of arrests for prostituted people from the johns and pimps.

Pimps regularly engage in the force, fraud, and coercion that under the law qualify them as sex traffickers – whether or not the females they victimize are foreign nationals or U.S. citizens. But what’s worse is a culture which lionizes pimps. Pimps are celebrated as hip – in film, in television, in music lyrics. They are seen as cool for “sticking it to the man.” They are treated like they are admirable iconoclasts rebelling against the Establishment.

But just think about how their true specialty is acting out against the woman. To the woman from whom they take every cent received from johns, upon threat of punishment — to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. To the woman they allegedly protect but regularly intimidate and beat. The regular violence pimps employ is far from the glamorized image in popular music, videos, TV, and films. Take it from Rachel Lloyd, a survivor of sex trafficking who leads Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS), “So what’s it really like for us? They never tell us that we’ll never see any of the money we make…the beatings, the physical torture we’ll receive.”

Read the rest of Ambassador Mark Lagon's blog post here.

Will Iraq Crack Down on Sex Trafficking?

2009-04-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

Ravaged by rights groups and upbraided by the U.S. for failing to take measures against human trafficking, the Iraqi government has been quietly working on a draft law to tackle the scourge. Baghdad was prodded into action late last year, after the release of the U.S. State Department's "Trafficking in Persons Report," according to Human Rights Minister Wijdan Mikhail Salim. "Let's say it was a tough report about the situation in Iraq, and in so many cases it was right," she says.

The report was damning. Baghdad, it concluded, "offers no protection services to victims of trafficking, reported no efforts to prevent trafficking in persons and does not acknowledge trafficking to be a problem in the country." As a TIME.com story detailed, trafficking in Iraq is a shadowy underworld where nefarious female pimps hold sway and impoverished mothers sell their teenage daughters on the sex market. (See pictures of a women's prison in Baghdad.)

The situation is slowly changing. The draft law, a copy of which was obtained by TIME, imposes tough penalties, including life imprisonment and a fine not exceeding 25 million dinars ($21,000) for traffickers if the victim "is under 15, or a female, or has special needs." The same punishment applies if the crime was committed by kidnapping or force, or if the criminal "is a direct or distant relative or the victim's caretaker or husband or wife," a tacit acknowledgment that victims are often trafficked by people they know.

Read the rest of the article here.

Meeting on Thursday!

2009-04-07T12:15:00.002-04:00

Don't forget that there is a meeting this Thursday at 9 pm in RB 291! Hope to see you all there!

Human trafficking clinic to open at 'U' this fall

2009-04-06T11:14:00.001-04:00

By Veronica Menaldi
Daily Staff Reporter On April 5th, 2009

A new University Law School clinic will be one of the first in the country to take aim at human trafficking — or, as one official calls it, “modern day slavery.”

The clinic will focus on a growing industry that now involves the illegal trafficking of 60,000 to 80,000 people per year across international borders — the majority of whom are women and children sold into sex industries, according to the U.S. Immigration Lawyers website.

Law School students will operate the clinic and provide legal representation to human trafficking victims in the United States.

The students will also work on international law reform projects to help strengthen anti-human trafficking laws in other countries.

Bridgette Carr, a visiting clinical assistant professor at the Law School, who worked on a similar project at the University of Notre Dame last year, will lead the clinic.

Carr said that while human trafficking most commonly takes place in the sex trade industry, this “modern day slavery” also exists in many other forms, for example, in businesses-like hair salons.

“It is estimated that worldwide slavery is more prevalent now than at any other time in history,” she said.

Aaron Wenzloff, a second-year Law student, said he plans to participate in the human trafficking clinic this fall. Wenzloff was involved in an Urban Communities Clinic led by Carr last fall and said he thought this opportunity would be a “great fit” for him.

Stemming the mounting trend in human trafficking involves more than simply stopping the traffickers, Wenzloff said.

“Part of the role of a lawyer is to tackle problems holistically, and that means helping find supportive housing programs, education programs, and other social services for the victims,” he said.

Read more here.

justice is what love looks like in public

2009-04-01T21:39:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, I got an email from the Call+Response organization and it had some pretty neat ideas that we can talk about at our next meeting or something:

We wanted to let you know about a friend of ours who has written a fantastic book on the issue, recently released on paperback, entitled "A Crime So Monstrous".

Benjamin Skinner infiltrates trafficking networks and slave sales on five continents, exposing a modern flesh trade never before portrayed in such proximity. From mega-harems in Dubai to illicit brothels in Bucharest, from slave quarries in India to child markets in Haiti, he explores the underside of a world we scarcely recognize as our own and lays bare a parallel universe where human beings are bought, sold, used, and discarded. He travels from the White House to war zones and immerses us in the political and flesh-and-blood battles on the front lines of the unheralded new abolitionist movement. BUY HERE (I own this book and it's a really fantastic read. -K)

Want to get involved in the 21st Century Abolitionist Movement in other ways? Here are some free, but effective ways to make a serious difference:

1. Make your products SLAVE-FREE™: A picture - or a letter - could be worth a thousand slaves. With a camera and a slave-free logo, you can make companies take notice of the use of slave-labor for their products. Check out www.slavefree.com to get involved. Also, visit www.chainstorereaction.com to shop for items that you commonly use. For each product chosen, an email will be sent to that company to let them know that you want their product chains to be Slave-Free™.

2. Tag You're Free: Let all who walk the sidewalks know about slavery, and
clean up product chains. Visit www.tagyourefree.com, get a stencil, and use cleaning products to stencil the symbol into the sidewalks. You can then geotag your stencil's location on the Tag You're Free world map.

3. Open-Source Activism: What is your idea for how to respond? We want to share it with the rest of the network. Upload a description of your response at www.opensourceactivism.com. We'll be looking for great ideas that need help for implementation. You may also win a grant from dosomething.org to make it happen!

Akon and Peter Buffett's "Blood Into Gold" Video and Song

2009-03-31T21:38:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone, the post below talks about "Blood Into Gold," which is the collaborative effort between Peter Buffett and Akon, and I wanted to share the video and iTunes download link with you guys. All of the proceeds from buying the song on iTunes go toward charities working to end slavery, so I STRONGLY encourage you all to do that!

Akon's 'Blood Into Gold' Raises Awareness Of Horrors Of Human Trafficking

2009-03-31T09:52:00.001-04:00

By Shaheem Reid

Akon is busy working on one of his most important collaborations. When 'Kon and legendary singer Peter Buffet first came together to discuss music, they found more common ground in their interest in philanthropy — now the two are working together to stop human trafficking across the globe.

"We have a Web site called IsThereSomethingICanDo.com," Akon said. "What this site is, it gives anyone information related to foundations. Some people are like, 'I want to help somebody' or they want to donate money to a foundation, but don't have the means to find out how to do so — this site is almost like a Google for that. Anybody that wants to do anything philanthropic can go to this site and get more information on it. What we do every quarter is focus on a topic — this quarter is human trafficking. It's something that's been happening around the world. That's the focus, and we're launching a song we did called 'Blood Into Gold.'

"The concept is how people take blood and turn it into gold," he explained on Wednesday night before performing the record at the United Nations.

'Kon and Buffet have previously joined forces on projects for Africa as well as other charities. Akon explained that through his travels, he learned of human trafficking and he wanted to do his part to help.

"You can raise the awareness of it," he said. "[There's] a lot of that going on around the world, people being sold — even here, pimping is human trafficking, if you look at it. You got these women in brothels and whorehouses against their wills. A lot of people don't know what to do or where to start, let alone how to stop it. We're just trying to find a solution. Our involvement is not profitable; it's just to raise awareness. The more people who know about it, the solutions are eventually gonna come. That's how you start — people who aren't aware, make them aware."

Head to Think.MTV.com to find a community where you, your friends and your favorite celebrities can get informed, get heard and take action on the issues that matter to you most.

Source.

Meeting Tonight!

2009-03-26T15:23:00.003-04:00

Hey everybody!

There is a meeting tonight at 9:00 pm in RB 291 (the Writing Center). Hope to see you there!!

Vote for the Polaris Project!

2009-03-26T09:51:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, I got this email this morning from the Polaris Project:

Dear Supporters -

We are in 2nd place to win additional funds for our Washington, DC Trafficking Intervention Program. By making it to 1st place we will win $5,000 to put toward critical services for victims of human trafficking, including food, clothing, shelter, mental health services, legal services, and job skills training.

Please take one minute today and cast your vote!

To vote now go to: TheWomensFoundation.org

(Note: After you vote, you can check "No, thank you" and your contact information will remain confidential and you will not receive anything from the Washington Area Women's Foundation.)

Already voted?

* Forward this email to 5 friends or coworkers and encourage them to vote too!
* Join our cause on Facebook.com and spread the word by inviting your friends to join the cause.
* Send a message out about the vote on a school, faith-based organization, or community group listserv.

For more information about our programs to serve victims of human trafficking, please go to PolarisProject.org.

Thank you for your support!

Polaris Project staff

Two U.S. Women Charged With Child Trafficking In Egypt

2009-03-24T09:58:00.000-04:00

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Two American women are in jail in Egypt after being charged with human trafficking because they used spurious birth certificates of Egyptian children they adopted in applying for their U.S. visas.

Suzanne Hagelof, who lives in Egypt with her husband, and Iris Botros, a former citizen of Egypt and now a resident of North Carolina, are detained in the overcrowded Tora prison in Cairo and will be tried starting May 16. Both are facing 10 years in prison if convicted of human trafficking.

Six other people, including two doctors and a nun who ran a local orphanage, are being tried together with the two Americans for forging documents to illegally adopt Egyptian children and smuggled them out of the country.

All the accused were led to a local court Saturday in handcuffs and placed inside a cage in the courtroom. Hagelof and Botros' husbands were present in the trial.

Hagelof adopted a child from an orphanage run by a Coptic Christian Church last year. Botros adopted twins from another orphanage run by the same religious organization seven months later and donated $4,600 to the church.

Both planned to take their adoptive children to the U.S. However, staff in the U.S. embassy in Cairo alerted local authorities because the adoptive parents presented fake birth certificates of the children in getting visas for the latter.

Source.

Faith in Action

2009-03-19T19:00:00.003-04:00

Hey guys, Free the Slaves has created a new section on their website called "Faith in Action."

You should check it out!

Meeting on Thursday!

2009-03-18T12:50:00.001-04:00

Hey, just a quick reminder about the meeting on THURSDAY at 9 pm at the WRITING CENTER (RB 291). Please come if you can and be ready to do some major planning for the next two weeks!

US govt, MTV use animation to fight human trafficking

2009-03-17T09:44:00.001-04:00

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Music channel MTV on Monday announced the release of a US government-backed animation programme aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Asia.

The half-hour anime show entitled "Intersection" will feature the voices of Asian film star Ananda Everingham and MTV VJ Taya Rogers and will premiere on MTV Asia on March 20, it said in a statement.

The story will be told from the perspective of five individuals who are part of the trafficking chain -- the victim, trafficker, brothel owner, client and undercover police officer.

"I am proud to be a part of this project that will educate young men and women in Singapore and all over Asia on this important issue," Everingham said.

"I hope the animation will stir meaningful conversations about how we can fight against this tragic form of modern-day slavery."

UN estimates show that there are 2.5 million victims of human trafficking worldwide at any one time, according to a joint statement from MTV and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Human trafficking is the second-biggest illegal trade after drugs and those involved in the trade earn more than 10 billion dollars a year, it said.

Singapore and Malaysia were identified among the top destination countries for trafficking victims from poorer countries, the statement said.

"Intersection" is part of a series of programmes produced by MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) in partnership with the USAID to educate the public on the human trafficking scourge.

"We're using a different medium, animation, to alert young people about the risks of human trafficking," said USAID mission director for Asia Olivier Carduner.

Last year, MTV organised a concert at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple as part of its anti-human trafficking campaign.

Source.

CADBURY GOES TRAFFIK FREE

2009-03-08T17:08:00.000-04:00

Let's celebrate the amazing news that by the end of summer 2009, Cadbury's Dairy Milk bars can be part of our diet again!

We congratulate Cadbury on their commitment to justice and now look to their policy being adopted across their entire product range.

Cadbury's decision demonstrates the power of ordinary consumers in bringing change and freedom. Two years ago, STOP THE TRAFFIK met with Cadbury and was told that a fairtrade Cadbury's bar was impossible and impracticable.

This is a victory for every person who has complained, campaigned and spread the message. But most of all, it is a victory for every child held in exploitative labour on West African cocoa farms. It is important to remember though that all exploited children will not be free until Mars, Nestle, Lindt, Hershey and all the others have put human rights before profit and make similar announcements. Click here to find out more about the trafficking of children to work on cocoa farms.

STOP THE TRAFFIK has been calling for individual companies to take responsibility for the chocolate they sell and asking for it to be traffik free. This is a very significant step in our campaign.

If you've been part of this, e-mail it to your local press and tell them of the campaigning you did.

Together we will STOP THE TRAFFIK

Sheriff: Craigslist 'largest source of prostitution' in US

2009-03-06T18:56:00.000-05:00

CHICAGO (AFP) — An Illinois sheriff filed a lawsuit against Craigslist on Thursday calling the popular website the largest clearing house for prostitution in the United States.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart sued the owners of the classified ad site in US District Court for facilitating prostitution by failing to block blatant offers to trade sex for money.

"Craigslist is the single largest source of prostitution in the nation," Dart said at a press conference in Chicago.

"Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they're being pimped on Craigslist."

Dart's lawsuit was filed four months after San Francisco-based Craigslist settled a nationwide lawsuit by promising to enact new rules to crack down on prostitution.

Dart said his officers have seen no change in the number or type of postings in the "Erotic Services" section since the website's owner promised "sweeping changes" and said "no amount of criminal activity is acceptable."

"This section is a convenient clearing house for pimps, prostitutes and patrons that enables sellers to advertise and buyers to peruse discretely," Dart said in court filings.

Dart said he has made numerous written pleas to Craigslist in the past two years asking them to shut down the Erotic Services section, which generates about 300 posts a day in Chicago alone.

In the past two years, Dart's department has made more than 200 arrests linked to the website on charges that include juvenile pimping, human trafficking and endangerment of a child.

The people arrested have ranged from heroin addicts to suburban soccer moms, a former reality TV star and teenagers as young as 14 years old.

Dart asked a federal judge to order Craigslist to eliminate its Erotic Services section.

He is also seeking reimbursement for tax dollars spent paying the salaries of officers who investigate and arrest those responsible for trafficking prostitutes on the website.

A Craigslist spokeswoman said she could not comment on the case because she has not yet received a copy of the lawsuit.

"Misuse of Craigslist to facilitate criminal activity is unacceptable, and we continue to work diligently to prevent it," Susan MacTavish said in an e-mail in which she outlined a number of measures Craigslist has taken to prevent illegal activity.

"Misuse of the site is exceptionally rare compared to how much the site is used for legal purposes. Regardless, any misuse of the site is not tolerated on Craigslist."

Dart said street gangs are now using Craigslist to pimp out prostitutes.

An FBI investigation found last year that more than 2,800 child prostitution ads had been posted on Craigslist and a recent nationwide sweep for child trafficking and prostitution netted hundreds of arrests, he added.

"Pimps are preying on the most vulnerable members of our society and taking advantage of our struggling economy," Dart told reporters.

"The worst part is Craigslist's owners know their website is still being used for illegal purposes and they're doing nothing to stop it."

While Craigslist does not profit from ads in the Erotic Services section, Dart claimed the traffic it generates accounts for the bulk of the website's popularity and allowed it to generate 80 million dollars in revenue last year from paid posts for jobs and apartments.

In November, Craigslist said it would charge a small fee and require credit card verification for postings in the Erotic Services section and all revenue from the ads would be donated to charity.

Source.

Human Sex Trafficking Addressed at the Capitol

2009-03-03T11:20:00.001-05:00

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Movies like Pretty Woman make prostitution seem glamorous, but legislators at the Capitol Monday said its more like slavery.

Senator Ann Pappas (DFL-St. Paul) is sponsoring a bill that would provide protection to victims and prosecute traffickers.

Joy Friedman became a victim at the age of 13 and remained a part of the human trafficking system for 23 years.

"I didn't choose to do any of it," Friedman said. "I was forced into it. I didn't like anything about it. It was not a lot of money as far as what I make. Everyone else makes money and gets their satisfaction off it, but not me. It's about them getting theirs."

According to the United States Department of Justice, Minnesota is currently ranked 13th in the country for sex trafficking.

Sen. Pappas said that could be because Minneapolis has an international airport, boarders Canada and has a high immigrant population.

Sen. Pappas says it's not just immigrants who become victims. She says women who have low self confidence and self worth are easily manipulated into becoming victims.

And the recession doesn't help. Cheryl Thomas with the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights says when there's desperate economic times, human trafficking increases.

The currently law recognizing and prostitution and human trafficking for work and prostitution, but does not recognized human trafficking for sex acts. This law would change that

"Fear is used as a method of control," Friedman said. "That's why it's difficult for victims to get out of the system.

Non-profit group Breaking Free works with women and girls involved in systems of prostitution and sex trafficking as well as other battered women involved in the criminal justice system

Joy Friedman works with the group and says, "They look beyond the labels of sex trafficking victims and help them get back on their feet by providing a place to live for one thing."

"The housing piece gave me a place to lay my head and lock the door and I held the key no one else," Friedman said.

Friedman has been out of the system for eight and a half years and is helping other victims of human trafficking as an advocate with Breaking Free.

Source

Advertising Ideas?

2009-02-26T18:55:00.001-05:00

Hey guys,
If you have any ideas for advertising the April 1st movie night, you can post them here!

Thanks in advance!

Child prostitution sweep nets 500 suspects

2009-02-24T10:35:00.001-05:00

CHARLOTTE – More than 500 people were arrested in a nationwide crackdown involving juvenile prostitution rings, including one person in Charlotte.

The FBI said they took nearly 50 children, some as young as 13 years old, during a weekend-long sweep called Operation Cross Country. But despite only making one arrest in the state, they say they came away with valuable information.

"We did make one arrest, seizures of money from a prostitution organization and intelligence was gleamed from that,” FBI Agent David Drew said. “And it may lead us to where we need to be."

FBI agents say ads over the Internet and in papers attract customers to a growing business of juvenile prostitution.

"The Internet is mainly where we see a lot of it," Drew said. "Craigslist is used quite a bit."

Drew is hoping for more arrests and more juveniles rescued from prostitution rings.

"The more people that we can have arrested and put away, convicted and put away to federal prison, it's just going to save some young girls' lives," said Mark Kadel, with North Carolina World Relief, a national organization that deals with human trafficking.

If any minors were forced into prostitution, the organization could step in to help.

"I think even if it's a runaway, people are coerced through fraud and lies," Kadel said.

The Charlotte case remains open as agents hope to make more arrests. There is a human trafficking forum scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in Concord.

There's also a video on the website that I got this from. It's really interesting, so you should check it out :)

Meeting on Thursday!

2009-02-18T19:20:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! There's a meeting this Thursday (tomorrow) at 9 pm in RB 291 (the Writing Center). Hope to see you there!!

ALSO if you're available, come hang out at the Scramble Light tomorrow between 9-5(ish) and pass out information or hold signs to bring awareness to the fact that slavery still exists!

Eve Ensler: Teenage Girls Guide to Surviving Sex Slavery

2009-02-13T21:24:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, this is a really interesting, and really heartbreaking, new monologue from Eve Ensler. I hope you watch it :)

UN surprised at female role in 'modern slavery'

2009-02-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Surprisingly, the perpetrators behind human trafficking around the world are often women, the U.N. reported Thursday.

Women are the majority of traffickers in almost a third of the 155 nations the U.N. surveyed. They accounted for more than 60 percent of the human trafficking convictions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

For many, human trafficking is a world they had been pulled into themselves.

"Women commit crimes against women, and in many cases the victims become the perpetrators," Antonio Maria Costa, director of the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said in an interview. "They become the matrons of the business and they make money. It's like a drug addiction."

Most of the world's nations reported some form of "modern slavery" last year involving mainly the sex trade or forced labor.

And the number of victims should grow as the global financial crisis deepens, Costa said.

Read more here.

And here's a CNN article that basically says the same thing.

UN: Many countries ill-equipped to deal with human trafficking

2009-02-12T15:09:00.000-05:00

Vienna - A large number of countries around the world are still lacking tools to identify, report or prosecute human trafficking, a United Nations report made public on Thursday found. Although more countries adopted laws against human trafficking between 2003 and 2008, 61 of 155 monitored countries did not record a single conviction, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Either they are blind to the problem, or they are ill-equipped to deal with it," UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said in the report, which he was set to formally issue later Thursday in New York.

At 79 per cent, sexual exploitation is the predominant reason for human trafficking, followed by forced labour. But there were worrying instances of new types of trafficking, including trade with human organs, the report said.

Southern Africa was cited as the region with the weakest mechanisms for prosecuting and reporting abuses. Of the 11 countries in the region, only Zambia has prosecuted suspects since 2003.

Some countries, including China, Saudi Arabia and Iran, did not provide any data to the UNODC.

UN researchers were surprised to find that women account for a large share not only of victims but also traffickers in many regions. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, more 60 per cent of convicted human traffickers are women.

The UNODC said it was alarmed by reports of cases involving new forms of trafficking, including for organ trade in Europe and other regions, ritual killings in Southern Africa and forced marriages in Asia.

The report provided no data regarding the global scale of the problem, noting only that the total number of identified victims rose from 11,700 to 14,900 between 2003 and 2006 in 71 selected countries.

According to earlier UN estimates, annual profits from human trafficking are 32 billion dollars. Around 2.5 million people are estimated to be held in forced labour, including forced sex, at any given time.

Citing a lack of information, the report said: "Today, the member states lack the ability to say with any precision how many victims of human trafficking there are, where they come from or where they are going."

Source

Meeting Tonight!

2009-02-12T10:49:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. I just wanted to tell you that we are having a meeting tonight at the Writing Center at 9pm. Oh and bring 15 bucks if you want to buy a t-shirt. Hope to see you there!

Kim

Selling Brides: Native Mexican Custom or Crime?

2009-02-04T12:21:00.000-05:00

By Ioan Grillo / San Juan Copala Sunday, Feb. 01, 2009

Marcelino de Jesus Martinez was arrested in Greenfield, Calif., on suspicion of human trafficking and charged with a felony for selling his 14-year-old daughter to Margarito de Jesus Galindo

Monterey County Sheriff's Department / AP

U.S. courtroom dramas don't usually have much impact in this ramshackle village of Triqui Indians deep in the mountains of southern Mexico. But a new case unraveling in Greenfield, Calif., has sent shockwaves through the Mexican community. The accused men are both of Triqui ethnicity, an ancient people who number in just the tens of thousands. The trial will judge one of their most sacred rites: bride prices. Adding to their concern is the way global media have jumped on the story, with the Internet headline "Man Sells Daughter for Beer" sparking a sudden interest in Triqui customs from Italy to Australia.

The case centers on an alleged marriage arrangement that went sour involving Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, his 14-year-old daughter and her suitor, Margarito de Jesus Galindo, 18. Galindo had agreed to pay Martinez for his daughter's hand in marriage, according to Greenfield police. According to the cops, the total cost was $16,000, one hundred cases of beer and several cases of meat. "The 14-year-old juvenile moved in with Galindo, and when payments were not received, the father, Martinez, called Greenfield [police] to bring back the daughter," the police said in a Jan. 12 statement.

Read more here.

More than a thousand women were forced into sex slavery, Justice Department reports

2009-01-26T12:52:00.000-05:00

By Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer 1/25/09

More than 1,000 mostly young women in the United States were forced into sexual slavery last year, an alarming new Justice Department report has found.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics analyzed thousands of cases of alleged human trafficking. It found that the sex trade accounted for more than three out of every four human trafficking cases tracked by the Justice Department.

Anytime anyone is forced into prostitution, they are considered “trafficked,” according to the Justice Department. Children 17 or under who are in prostitution are considered trafficked whether they were coerced or not.

According to the report, about a quarter of the nation’s sex slaves were under 17; two-fifths were between 18 and 24.

Hispanic women and girls were most likely to be victims of the human traffickers. They made up about two-fifths of sexual slaves and more than half of trafficked laborers.

The Justice Department also found that U.S. citizens make up the majority of victims and perpetrators in human trafficking. Nearly two-thirds of sex slaves were U.S. citizens. Nearly three-quarters of suspected sex traffickers were U.S. citizens, the report found.

Andrea Powell, co-founder of FAIR Fund, a D.C.-based anti-trafficking group, said trafficking is a major regional problem.

“D.C. is a hot spot for labor trafficking as well as sex trafficking,” Powell told The Examiner. “Foreign nationals are brought into the area to work as nannies, house domestics and even on construction sites. Sex trafficking affects both foreign and national victims.”

About 40 trafficking victims are rescued in the D.C. area every month, Powell said.

Hoping to get a handle on the problem, D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson, D-at large, introduced a bill earlier this month that broadens the definition of trafficking and includes labor trafficking as an offense.

“Trafficking is a much more pervasive problem than most people realize,” Mendelson said. “And there’s no justification for trafficking — it’s human slavery.”

The Justice Department report is online at ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.

Yes we can! Ending slavery has never been more possible!

2009-01-19T20:00:00.001-05:00

Momentum is building, check out www.FREETHESLAVES.net/ObamaAgenda to read about recent victories on Capitol Hill and great opportunities with the Obama administration.

U.S. Catholic contract unconstitutional: ACLU suit

2009-01-13T13:06:00.001-05:00

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. civil liberties group sued the federal government Monday, charging it violated the Constitution by contracting a Roman Catholic entity to help victims of human trafficking.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was imposing its beliefs on victims of human trafficking by not allowing federal grant money to be used for contraception or abortion.

When the bishops applied for the contracts, they said they would not work with subcontractors who provided abortion services or contraceptives, such as condoms, which conflict with Catholic teachings, according to the ACLU.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston said the Department of Health and Human Services violated the separation of church and state by giving the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops $6 million in grants from 2006 through 2008.

Many women victims of human trafficking are forced to work as prostitutes, and face a high risk of assault and rape, the ACLU said in court papers.

The Department of Health and Human Services permitted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops "to impose its own religiously based substantive restrictions on the use of grant funds," the ACLU argued.

The suit asks the court to stop the department from allowing its grants being spent in a way that is restricted by religious beliefs.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh of the bishops' conference said the $6 million figure cited in the suit was the full amount authorized. But "far less" money had been appropriated, she said without giving a figure.

"The problem of trafficking in this country is huge and serious and the Catholic Church has the best network of services bar none," she said. "Going to the Catholic Church for social services is very logical."

Representatives of the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Greenfield Father Arrested for Human Trafficking

2009-01-13T13:05:00.001-05:00

Posted: Jan 12, 2009 08:49 PM

Updated: Jan 13, 2009 03:40 AM

GREENFIELD. Calif. - A bizarre case in Greenfield, as a father is accused of selling his 14-year-old daughter for marriage. Marcelino de Jesus Martinez was arrested Sunday night after voluntarily speaking with Greenfield Police.

Chief Joe Grebmeier says Martinez was not aware of United States Laws that prohibit arrainged marriages involving minors.

Police admit the case is strange. Martinez agreed to a payment plan with 18-year-old Margarito de Jesus Galindo. It included $16,000 plus: 150 cases of beer, 50 cases of gatorade, 100 cases of soda, 6 cases of meat and two cases of wine.

"I just don't think it occurred to him that he was breaking any laws," says Grebmeier.

The Police Chief also explains the difference in culture south of the border, claiming, "Different communities have different cultures... somethings are legal in Mexico and not legal here."

Police were first notified about the case in December. According to reports, police say the 14-year-old girl left with Galindo to Soledad. It became an apparent "run-away teen" case when payments to Martinez were falling short and the father contacted police asking for his daughter's return.

It was not until Sunday night that details on the trafficking were confirmed.

Galindo was detained, but has not been arrested. Greenfield Police say Galindo and Martinez were originally neighbors in Greenfield.

Police say arrainged marriages are common in several cultures, and explain it is not an issue among consenting adults over the age of 18. Police believe the 14-year-old girl left to Soledad willingly.

This was the first case of human trafficking in at least 6 years. The case will now go to the Monterey County Distrist Attorney.

Anyone with information regarding the selling of children should call local police.

Striking the Brothels’ Bottom Line

2009-01-10T23:54:00.000-05:00

January 11th is International Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To bring more light to the situation, editorialist Nicholas Kristoff wrote the following for the New York Times:

In trying to figure out how we can defeat sex trafficking, a starting point is to think like a brothel owner.

My guide to that has been Sok Khorn, an amiable middle-aged woman who is a longtime brothel owner here in the wild Cambodian town of Poipet. I met her five years ago when she sold me a teenager, Srey Mom, for $203 and then blithely wrote me a receipt confirming that the girl was now my property. At another brothel nearby, I purchased another imprisoned teenager for $150.

Astonished that in the 21st century I had bought two human beings, I took them back to their villages and worked with a local aid group to help them start small businesses. I’ve remained close to them over the years, but the results were mixed.

The second girl did wonderfully, learning hairdressing and marrying a terrific man. But Srey Mom, it turned out, was addicted to methamphetamine and fled back to the brothel world to feed her craving.

Finish reading here.

Law and Order!

2009-01-06T19:37:00.001-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Law & Order has an exciting episode on child slavery in New York airing tomorrow night on NBC at 10PM/9 Central.

Synopsis:

Two detectives on the show are investigating a double murder when they uncover and child slave trade ring between Haiti and New York. It will really open your eyes to the present-day, modern-world reality of slavery and indentured servitude. The show illustrates some of the psychological complexity of dealing with the victims of slavery who have spent years living with deprivation and fear.

***Keep in mind, 'Chattel' (the episode name) is not a documentary so when you hear Sam Waterson say there are no anti-trafficking statutes in New York - that is not true. In fact, New York recently passed an anti-trafficking law and is one of 40 states that have anti-trafficking status on the books. But only half of those states have laws to help the survivors of slavery.

You can find out more about child domestic slavery [or the restavek system] in Haiti and what FTS is doing with partners to combat it here: http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=291

check it out!!

End of the road for Thai project?

2009-01-06T11:06:00.000-05:00

Stevens Point - Like many idealists, Joseph Quinnell believed he could achieve the impossible. Unlike a lot of dreamers, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student actually made it happen.

But now, harsh financial reality threatens to dash it all away.

This was the dream: He wanted to bring undocumented women at risk of being sold into forced labor from Thailand to UW-Stevens Point to earn degrees. Born on Thai soil but lacking citizenship, these women had little to no access to government health care, education or travel.

Quinnell pictured these women, armed with an education, returning to their own country to fight statelessness and the sex trade from within.

To make it happen, Quinnell knew he had to get people as angry about the situation as he was - to see red. That's where the posters came in.

"Do you have sex with strangers?" they read. "Thousands of children are forced to every day. Get ready to join the fight against child prostitution. Get angry. See red."

The signs plastered all over campus helped launch an unprecedented effort that in August brought two 19-year-old undocumented Thai students from rural villages to central Wisconsin. State Department officials, experts on statelessness in Thailand and university administrators agree: The accomplishment was rare, impressive and important.

"Mountains moved to make this happen," said Brad Van Den Elzen, director of foreign student programs at UW-Stevens Point. "So many people stuck their necks out who didn't have to."

But the dream could end. Despite efforts, the Thailand Project hasn't raised new donations. And the women will run out of funding in May.

"We've proven the concept of gaining human rights through education (can work)," Quinnell said. "If it dies with these two girls in one year, we're never going to be able to get this again."

Read more here.

Slavery, 21st century

2009-01-03T08:11:00.000-05:00

SLAVERY in the United States? That's ancient history, right? Apparently not. An Associated Press story ["Child maids being exported to U.S.," Dec. 29] grippingly documents a California case.

Shyima was only 10, living with her siblings and parents in a poor village in northern Egypt, when a wealthy couple from Cairo arranged for her to come and be their servant. Shyima's father was sick; her family was desperate. Still, Shyima was just a child.

Forced to work up to 20 hours a day for $45 a month, Shyima moved with her employers and their five children to America, where she lived in the garage, washed her clothes in a bucket, and was isolated from the outside world--until someone finally noticed. After two years of virtual slavery, Shyima gained freedom when authorities came to the home. Her employers eventually pled guilty to forced labor and slavery. Shyima's been adopted by a California couple.

Cases like Shyima's are becoming distressingly more common. The State Department estimates that upwards of 800,000 people, mostly women and children, are trafficked between countries every year. Somewhere between 14,500 and 17,500 come into the United States. Eighty percent of the victims are women and children. Some 70 percent are being brought in as sexual slaves. Others, like Shyima, come here as domestic servants.

Read more here.

Iowa Man Convicted of Human Trafficking, Sold Teens In Prostitution

2008-12-24T01:26:00.000-05:00

DES MOINES, Iowa — The first person to be convicted under Iowa's human trafficking law was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison.

Leonard Russell was found guilty of two counts of human trafficking, two counts of pandering and a count of ongoing criminal conduct during a September trial in Crawford County.

The 37-year-old was sentenced Monday in Crawford County District Court to 25 years on the ongoing criminal conduct charge, and 10 years on each of the other four charges — with all the sentences to be served concurrently. He was also fined $5,000.

Prosecutors said Russell, who has used addresses in Sioux City and Omaha, Neb., recruited and harbored two Nebraska girls last year for commercial sexual activity, including prostitution and performing at strip clubs. They said the girls, ages 15 and 16, were runaways.

Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement that the case helped officials understand that human trafficking is a much bigger problem in Iowa than many realized.

"It can be especially perilous for young people and disadvantaged kids, and it can occur in small towns," he said. "The underground nature of human trafficking makes it hard to fight, but the trafficking law is a valuable new tool and we will use it."

Read more here.

Congress OKs tough anti-trafficking bill

2008-12-19T00:09:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (BP)--Congress has approved legislation that supporters believe will strengthen both the domestic and international efforts to combat human trafficking.

Passage by the House of Representatives and Senate on the same day brought an end to a lengthy, contentious debate over competing pieces of legislation. Activists in the anti-trafficking movement strongly favored a measure approved overwhelmingly by the House last December over one proposed in the Senate. In the end, a new bill more closely resembling the House version passed without objection in either chamber.

President Bush is expected to sign the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, H.R. 7311, into law.

To read more about what the bill will do, read the article here.

First-Ever Rock Concert at Angkor Wat Temple Raises Awareness about Human Trafficking

2008-12-16T00:08:00.000-05:00

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Dec 15, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- An international line-up of rock musicians took a stand against human trafficking at a recent concert at the Angkor Wat temple sponsored by the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, a project supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This was the first rock concert ever performed at the massive 12th-century temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was bathed in floodlights for the event.

More than 1,200 fans spilled from the bleachers to the edge of the jungle to hear The Click Five from the U.S., Placebo from the U.K., Grammy Award-winner Duncan Sheik, Australian pop star Kate Miller-Heidke, Cambodian hip-hop legend Pou Klaing, and Cambodian pop stars Sokun Nisa, Meas Soksophia and Chorn Sovanrech.

"We're here to call attention to human trafficking, a form of slavery that is as big a problem today as perhaps anytime in history," Placebo lead singer Brian Molko told the invitation-only audience. The concert also featured traditional Khmer dancers and clips from Traffic: An MTV Special, a documentary about human trafficking that was funded by USAID.

Read more here.

So Important It Gets Its Own Post!

2008-12-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I linked a Katie Ford interview in the post below this (and you should read it!), but just in case you don't get the chance to look at it, here's something that I think is really important for us as a group to advertise. It says that a way to get involved is to go to the site Chain Store Reaction and send emails to chain stores to ask them what they are doing to fight human trafficking. It's really easy! Just click on the link, fill in your information, change the content of the email (if you wish) and send it off! Together we can prove that consumers want SLAVERY FREE merchandise!

The Power of One-Plus-Many Produced Historic Anti-Trafficking Legislation

2008-12-11T23:58:00.000-05:00

Congress passed historic anti-trafficking legislation. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) passed both the House and the Senate within several hours. That timely victory was more than two years in the making and represents the triumph of one man’s passion and a broad coalition’s power.

It is safe to say that the legislation would not exist without the whole-hearted passion and the incredible commitment, dedication, skill and determination of Michael Horowitz, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, who has for over a decade presided over a loose, broad-based coalition of left-right activists who unite in opposition to human slavery and exploitation but differ on almost every other issue. Keeping that group of diverse leaders united and focused is in itself a monumental accomplishment, but satisfying the different expectations required a level of expertise that is rare indeed.

It is also safe to say that the legislative victory would have been impossible without the grassroots involvement of organizations like Concerned Women for America and the Southern Baptist Convention — two conservative groups that have been intimately and extensively involved in the nitty-gritty lobbying and negotiating that were essential to passage of the legislation. It is rare for conservative groups to get headlines for their involvement in what is commonly referred to as “social justice” issues, yet CWA, the Southern Baptists, and the Salvation Army, along with many other evangelical organizations, are usually found in the trenches when such battles are being waged, whether domestically or internationally. Certainly, in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation and labor slavery, conservative leaders are essential to success.

Read more here.

Also, here are three ads to bring light to the situation of human trafficking. They're really interesting, but also kind of graphic...

And, (I know, there's a lot today!) here's an interview with Katie Ford, former CEO of Ford Models and current modern-day abolitionist. It's an interesting interview and she very briefly addresses the issue of the new administration's role in ending trafficking. Certainly worth reading :)

High School Students Warned About Human Trafficking

2008-12-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Each year, thousands of young people worldwide become the victims of human trafficking, or modern day slavery. Some cases are starting to occur in urban areas of the United States. WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson visited Riverside High School on Milwaukee’s east side, where students wanted to learn more about the issue.

It’s the final hour of the school day and five dozen students have gathered in the library of Riverside High School, listening to Maggie Wynne. She’s director of anti-trafficking at the U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Her office rescues victims of human trafficking and prosecutes those responsible.

She says the crime started overseas, but in the past decade, has become more prevalent in the U. S. She says traffickers often approach teenagers and then things can happen quickly.“Say you’re a 14-year-old girl and some 22-year-old man drives up his car and starts giving you compliments and telling you how good you look and things like that. And, you start thinking this is really cool. I’ve got a cool boyfriend. He likes me and he loves me and I love him and then you start a sexual relationship. And then the boyfriend starts saying well, if you love me you’ll do some things for me, and then they start making demands. All of a sudden the demands turn into, well if you want to keep getting these nice things you have to bring in some money,” Wynne says.

Wynne says that’s how teenagers are forced into prostitution, child pornography and hard labor. Sometimes they’re flown to other countries for arranged marriages.

Read more here.

Human Trafficking Victims To Get Green Card

2008-12-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. federal government will grant permanent residency to human trafficking victims. On Monday the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published through its website an interim final rule that permits non-immigrants with "T" and "U" statuses to acquire green cards.

The two non-immigrant classifications were the result of the approval of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in October 2000. The act granted T visas to immigrants who were victims of human trafficking and U visas to victims of crimes who suffered mental or physical abuses.

But the rules limit the adjustment of status for T visa holders to 5,000 people, although it covers only the main visa applicant, not their families who are also permitted to change their immigration status together with the main visa holder.

The USCIS explained it took the agency almost six years to come up with regulations because the change in migration status of T and U visa holders involve complex, difficult legal and policy issues which took long to resolve.

Immigration advocates hailed the release of the long overdue regulations. According to Diana Velardo, an immigration lawyer at the University of Houston, it will help the human trafficking victims move out of uncertainty and move on with their lives.

After the rules are published in the Federal Register, it will become final in 30 days.

Source

Iqbal Masih

2008-12-05T01:14:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I found information on that child I talked about at the fondue party yesterday. His name is Iqbal Masih, and he's Pakistani, not Indian.

http://www.mirrorimage.com/iqbal/who/who.html
This has an interview with him, but he doesn't speak English so there's a voiceover for him.

http://www.mirrorimage.com/iqbal/
The same website, but this talks about the school that was started in his honor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqbal_Masih
Of course, a Wikipedia article :)

http://www.stopchildlabor.org/teensandstudents/iqbal.htm
A nice news article written on the 3rd anniversary of his death.

There are other things, of course, but a lot of them have the same information over and over. But if you're interested in exploring on your own, here's a Google search for his name.

U.S. subcontractor confined more than 1,000 foreign workers in Iraq warehouses

2008-12-04T20:54:00.000-05:00

By ADAM ASHTON - McClatchy Newspapers

1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work.

Najlaa International Catering Services, a subcontractor to KBR, the Texas firm formerly known as Halliburton, hired the men, who are from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. On Tuesday, they staged a march outside their compound to protest their living conditions.

"It's really dirty," a Sri Lankan man told McClatchy Newspapers, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he still wants to work for Najlaa. "For all of us, there are about 12 toilets and about 10 bathrooms. The food - it's three half-liter (1 pint) bottles of water a day. Bread, cheese and jam for breakfast. Lunch is a small piece of meat, potato and rice. Dinner is rice and dal, but it's not dal," he said, referring to the Indian lentil dish.

After McClatchy began asking questions about the men on Tuesday, the Kuwaiti contractor announced that it would return them to their home countries and pay them back salaries. Najlaa officials contended that they've cared for the men's basic needs while the company has tried to find them jobs in Iraq.

The laborers said they paid middlemen more than $2,000 to get to Iraq for jobs that they were told would earn them $600 to $800 a month. Some of the men took out loans to cover the fees.

"They promised us the moon and stars," said Davidson Peters, 42, a Sri Lankan. "While we are here, wives have left their husbands and children have been shut out of their schools" because money for the families has dried up.

The men live in three warehouses with long rows of bunk beds crammed tightly together. Reporters who tried to get a better glimpse inside were ushered away by armed guards.

The conditions in which the men have been held appear to violate guidelines the U.S. military handed down in 2006 that urged contractors to deter human trafficking to the war zone by shunning recruiters that charged excessive fees. The guidelines also defined "minimum acceptable" living spaces - 50 square feet per person - and required companies to fulfill the pledges they made to employees in contracts.

A U.S. military spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq referred questions to KBR. The spokesman said that the American military wasn't aware of the warehouses until McClatchy and the Times of London began asking questions about it on Monday.

Some of the men who've been living in the warehouses said that KBR representatives visited the site two weeks ago. They said Najlaa held their passports until the KBR inspection, which Najlaa officials denied. Seizing passports is a violation of the U.S. military's 2006 instructions to contractors.

KBR didn't answer direct questions about the warehouses but issued a two-paragraph statement. "When KBR becomes aware of potential violations of international laws regarding trafficking in persons, we work, within our authority, to remediate the problem and report the matter to proper authorities. KBR then works with authorities to rectify the matter," it said.

Reached in Kuwait, Najlaa chief executive Marwan Rizk said the company recruited the laborers for contracts it expected to begin servicing, but the work didn't materialize. He didn't specify which contracts fell through or why they were delayed. The company offers a number of services in Iraq, including catering at U.S. military bases.

"We had some obstacles with the services we were contracted to do," Rizk said. "These obstacles were not forecasted."

He said it's the company's practice to begin paying its employees once they start their jobs, though Najlaa credits them from the time they arrive in Iraq.

While the main complaint in the warehouses centered on living in what many considered prisonlike conditions, Najlaa officials said it was crucial to keep the men in the compound to prevent kidnappings or other dangers.

Read the rest of the report here.

Thanks to Asher for finding this and Dear Kitty for posting it!

News!

2008-12-02T23:37:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I found two really interesting articles today!

Students at Calvin College are doing a Human Trafficking Awareness week that will be full of activities so people can learn more about human trafficking. Maybe we could incorporate some of these ideas into the Week of Action next semester?
http://www.calvin.edu/news/2008-09/human-trafficking/

Also, Fox News did an interview with Ambassador Mark Lagon concerning human trafficking. It's mostly focused on South and Central America and the Caribbeans, especially because this interview comes after Joran van der Sloot stated that he sold Natalee Hollaway into slavery for $10,000. It's a short interview, but it's very interesting. The second article is an interview with various people concerning this recent development in the Natalee Hollaway case, if you're interested.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460130,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460108,00.html

Also, I don't know if anyone would be interested, but I've completed my thesis over human trafficking and the modern-day slave trade in Southeast Asia! Here's a link to read it, if you'd like. This is the rough draft, so if you do read it and think of any corrections I could make, PLEASE let me know! :)
http://tinyurl.com/6jaoft

Win Enough Chocolate to Keep You Going till Easter!

2008-11-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

If you like posh organic, fair-trade chocolate with a twang, this NEW COMPETITION is so exciting it’ll make your teeth hurt!

To win this high calorific prize, you need the MOST ORIGINAL DIPPER at your fondue party.

Take a photo, email or post it to us and the oddest, wackiest or most original dunked bit of food wins.

"Tell me more!" Go to the Stop the Traffik website!

Top U.S. Diplomat on Modern-Day Slavery Named As New Executive Director of Polaris Project

2008-11-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

We are happy to announce that Polaris Project has named Ambassador Mark P. Lagon, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) of the U.S. Department of State, as our incoming Executive Director.

Dr. Mark P. Lagon was confirmed by the Senate in 2007 to serve as Ambassador-at-Large and Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP), and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State. The TIP Office coordinates U.S. Government activities in the global fight against modern-day slavery, including commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.

As one of the leading voices in the global movement against modern-day slavery, Ambassador Lagon has demonstrated deep commitment and energetic leadership in pursuing the eradication of all forms of human trafficking. We are confident that Ambassador Lagon brings the right leadership to Polaris Project to continue the success we have achieved and expand the impact of our work against human trafficking to new horizons in the years ahead.

We invite you to read the full announcement and learn more about Ambassador Lagon on our website.

FONDUE PARTY!!!!

2008-11-20T12:30:00.000-05:00

Free the Slaves is putting on a FREE fondue party on December 3rd from 4-6 pm in the Multicultural Center! There's going to be a speaker coming to talk about Rafa House in Cambodia and their work with creating safe opportunities young girls who are susceptible to trafficking. So come get free fair-trade fondue and have some fun with the Free the Slaves group!

Attorney general's report details human trafficking in Texas

2008-11-19T00:22:00.000-05:00

AUSTIN — Texas has become a major hub for human trafficking, state officials said Monday while proposing a more aggressive response to what a senior lawmaker described as "modern-day slavery."

Nearly 20 percent of human-trafficking victims found nationwide have been in Texas, according to a report released by Attorney General Greg Abbott. The 57-page report, mandated by the Legislature in 2007, also identifies Interstate 10 as a major route through Texas for human-trafficking rings.

Abbott released the report at a news conference with Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, who introduced legislation to combat the problem.

"These human traffickers are like cockroaches," she said.

Her bill, prepared for the 81st Legislature, which convenes in January, would create a task force in the attorney general’s office, start training programs for local law enforcement and implement an awareness campaign for communities. It would also improve programs for assisting victims.

Abbott, Van de Putte and others said human trafficking has grown into one of the nation’s top criminal enterprises. Abbott’s report, compiled from federal data, news reports and other research, said traffickers often lure victims into phony moneymaking opportunities, then hold them in slaverylike conditions.

Special Assignment: Human Trafficking in Wisconsin

2008-11-12T10:04:00.000-05:00

It's been called modern day slavery -- human trafficking. Victims' advocates say it's happening across Wisconsin -- "in plain sight."

Last year, the state began a survey -- to identify the level of human trafficking here. More than 200 cases of victims were identified. But experts believe that's likely a low number for this fast growing industry.

"I can guarantee you in grocery stores all over this state and in some hotels, there are places where human beings are trapped by others," Carmen Pitre says.

Nataliya knows the feeling.

"I was in the house like a prison," Nataliya says.

She was working as a travel agent in her homeland of Ukraine when she met an American man.

"I was very happy to have him in my life because I lived alone with my son," she says, "We could talk on the phone every day."

Eventually the couple decided to live together in the Milwaukee area.

"I was so excited to go to the U.S. because it was, a great opportunity to be in a family ... to have a new family ... to have a husband ... and good father for my son."

Within three weeks of her arrival on American soil, Nataliya says the man proposed.

"He prepare everything. It was beautiful wedding... there in the church with his family."

Then, she says, within days everything changed.

Read more here.

Fair Trade Gifts

2008-11-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Christmas is coming up soon, so I decided to compile a small list of places online to buy fair trade gifts! You can still get GREAT presents for your loved ones while being socially conscious!

Made By Survivors has handcrafted gifts such as jewelry, stationary, and home ware that have been made by survivors of slavery. There are also gift certificates!

Global Exchange has many socially conscious gifts such as gift baskets, jewelry, coffee, and crafts. There are many gifts under $30 and each purchase comes with a card relating the story behind the product.

The Hunger Site has a wide variety of gifts that are fair trade and organic, but also other manufactured items. You can also make donations through this site and each purchase donates cups of food dependant on the price of the item.

Ten Thousand Villages works with 130 artisan groups in order to help villages help themselves. It has been in existence since 1946 and has become one of the largest fair trade organizations in North America.

Global Goods Partners has tons of gifts, many under $10. You can also shop by country or producer!

Don’t limit yourself just to these sites! A Google search for fair trade gifts will bring up many, many more sites with socially conscious vendors!!

MTV Networks, USAID Look to Raise Awareness of Human Trafficking

2008-11-04T11:52:00.000-05:00

BANGKOK/HONG KONG/SINGAPORE, November 3: MTV Networks in Asia, the MTV Europe Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are teaming for a range of events and concerts across Asia to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking.

The new initiative, which kicks off in Cambodia, includes four events featuring well-known local and international artists, with anti-trafficking organizations and government agencies distributing information about exploitation and human trafficking. A highlight of the Cambodian campaign will be a concert held at Angkor Wat, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, on December 7, featuring the U.S. band The Click Five, among other artists. The Cambodian series of events wraps December 12 in Phnom Penh in recognition of Cambodia’s National Day to Combat Human Trafficking.

The initiative is part of the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, which will produce a range of TV programs from the Cambodian concert for broadcast in Cambodia and on MTV channels internationally. In addition to performances, the programs will feature interviews with the bands, NGOs and other activists about the dangers of trafficking, as well as clips from MTV EXIT’s other anti-trafficking programming, including documentaries, animated works and short films. MTV EXIT television programming is offered free of charge to all broadcasters and organizations.

"MTV EXIT is fully aware that through broadcast on MTV, further broadcast on national terrestrial broadcasters, and distribution through NGOs, our messages will be seen by youth and adults from diverse social groups," said Simon Goff, the campaign director of MTV EXIT. "With these upcoming on-the-ground events, MTV EXIT is using the power of live music to educate youth across the region about human trafficking. The Cambodia live concert tour is a vital focal point in the wider education of those people most at risk."

Six additional events and tours are planned for other Asian nations next year.

Courtesy of WorldScreen.com.

New Stop the Traffik Video

2008-10-27T11:06:00.000-04:00

Proposition to legalize prostitution strikes chord in San Francisco

2008-10-21T18:32:00.000-04:00

By Elizabeth Pfeffer and Angela Hart
Correspondents

There may be truth to the cliché "sex sells," but when it comes to the sale of sex, everyone pays.

This is the central argument by both opponents and supporters of Proposition K, which would make San Francisco the first U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution.

Many sex workers say there's a cost to their line of work that goes beyond dollars and cents: Routinely exposing themselves to dangerous, sometimes violent situations, prostitutes are unable to seek the protection of the law without simultaneously exposing themselves to prosecution.

...

Yet the proposition's critics warn decriminalization of sex work could come at too high a price. Beyond the day-to-day protection of sex workers, they say it would draw pimps and traffickers to San Francisco like moths to a flame.

"I don't see any good coming from a law, which, if passed, would codify the exploitation of women and create a greater demand for human-trafficking victims," said Sharmin Eshraghi Bock, an Alameda County deputy district attorney who heads the Human Exploitation and Trafficking unit.

...

Not only would the proposition decriminalize prostitution, it would also prohibit law enforcement agencies from applying for or receiving federal and state money for programs that require compilation of racial information, a commonly used tactic in investigating human trafficking. These funds — more than $11 million, the city Budget Analyst's Office estimates — would be reallocated to programs that aim to reduce violence and discrimination against sex workers, under the proposal.

...

"This ballot measure reflects the myth that prostitution is a victimless crime. But the reality is this is a billion-dollar international industry of commercial sexual exploitation and child molestation," Harris said. "If passed, the measure would severely hamper the city's ability to investigate and prosecute human-trafficking cases."

City officials fear San Francisco will become a haven for human traffickers because of the provision that would prevent investigations based on racial profiling.

But the measure's proponents hope the proposal would create an even playing field for sex workers, who often say they are targeted by police based on their race, particularly Asians.

Read the full story here.

Freedom, Justice, and Rock ’n’ Roll

2008-10-17T19:22:00.000-04:00

By Steve Beard

It was Justin Dillon’s passion and profession that unexpectedly exposed him to the dark underworld of the international slave trade. He’s a musician, and his band was touring through backwater cities in Russia when a young female translator began talking about an upcoming extraordinary opportunity she had to come to the United States. When he asked for more details, he discovered that what she thought was a great opportunity was instead an elaborate and nefarious seduction — the kind of effective ruse targeting vulnerable young women around the globe.

The musical documentary Call + Response is Dillon’s ambitious and masterful artistic counterattack to an all-too-easy-to-overlook enemy who still sells men, women, and children like commodities to the highest bidders. The grainy, undercover film footage taken in Asian brothels is interspersed with the testimony of eloquent activists such as Gary Haugen of the International Justice Mission and actress Ashley Judd, as well as performances by the Cold War Kids and Matisyahu, the Orthodox Jewish reggae artist.

According to Dillon, it is not as if he tapped his speed-dials in order to call in favors from his celebrity friends: He really didn’t have any. Instead, he began cold-calling managers and agents. It worked. The film features performances by Natasha Bedingfield, Moby, Five for Fighting, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Switchfoot, and the incomparable rapper Emmanuel Jal. As a child, Jal was taken from his family in Sudan in 1987 and trained to serve in the rebel army, Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). In almost five years, Jal fought in two civil wars as a child soldier. He was later smuggled out of the country by a British humanitarian. Jal began rapping to express the repercussions of his experiences.

In the midst of the rock and rap, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, actress Daryl Hannah, and Kevin Bales of the activist group Free the Slaves etch out the scope and enormity of human trafficking — what the film refers to as “the world’s 27 million most terrifying secrets.”

Continue reading here.

Connecticut Man Sentenced to 360 Months in Prison for Leading Brutal Sex Trafficking Ring That Victimized U.S. Citizens

2008-10-15T18:25:00.001-04:00

WASHINGTON, Oct 14, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Prosecution Illustrates DOJ 'Victim-Centered' Model

Dennis Paris of Middletown, Conn., was sentenced today to 360 months in prison, five years of supervised release and $46,116 in restitution for his role in organizing and facilitating a prostitution ring that victimized minors and coerced multiple young women to engage in commercial sex acts against their will. Paris --- one of 10 defendants associated with this trafficking ring --- was convicted in June 2007 on multiple counts of commercial sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion.

"As this case illustrates, human trafficking can victimize any vulnerable person, including U.S. citizens, and girls as young as 14 years old," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Department works with non-governmental organizations to address the needs of victims and our investigators and prosecutors take the time to earn their trust. This victim-centered approach has been essential to our success in dismantling networks who exploit minors or adults for commercial sex."

Read more here.

Film shows child sex slaves

2008-10-13T21:07:00.000-04:00

Dr. Phil and the Polaris Project

2008-10-09T11:34:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

This Friday, October 10th, the Dr. Phil show will address the issue of human trafficking and publicize the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) Hotline.

Tune in and hear survivors tell their stories, an FBI agent recount a recent human trafficking case in Texas, and the filmmaker behind the new documenary film Call + Response discuss his anti-trafficking efforts. Julia Ormond, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and featured actress in the new documentary film, Call + Response, will also join Dr. Phil to share her firsthand experience of witnessing and fighting human trafficking. Preview the show and find show times.

We are excited that the show will increase awareness about modern-day slavery and the services of the NHTRC hotline. We are preparing diligently for an increase in calls due to the coverage.

Currently, we receive hundreds of calls directly from trafficking victims, law enforcement agents, medical and legal professionals, community members, and policy-makers every month. In the past 10 months, the NHTRC has:

Answered more than 4,200 calls
Received calls in reference to more than 2,000 potential victims
Reached an audience of over 4,000 people through more than 100 trainings and presentations
Experienced a call volume increase of over 200% from the previous year.

More and more, as the hotline is being featured in the media, we need your help to build capacity to meet the increase in demand for hotline services.

Make a donation of $10, $50, or more right now to help ensure that hotline services are available to everyone who needs them.

Your contribution makes a significant impact in the lives of human trafficking victims.

Thank you for your support,

Katherine Chon
President and Co-founder of the Polaris Project

LAGON: Modern-day slavery--Human trafficking's terrible toll

2008-10-06T16:29:00.000-04:00

Written by Mark P. Lagon

A millionaire perfume maker in Islip, N.Y. was convicted and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for committing a crime - human trafficking - that most people had never heard of just five years ago. That crime is the modern-day equivalent of slavery. In this case, the victims were two Indonesian women who were beaten, starved and never allowed out of the mansion where they worked as domestic servants.

The same month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the eighth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report assessing 170 countries, a report widely considered the most authoritative account of international efforts to end modern-day slavery.

Since 2003, often based on U.S. recommendation, foreign governments have passed over 150 acts creating or amending anti-trafficking legislation to cover this crime against human freedom which is also a global health threat and a threat to national security. At home, since 2003, 39 states have approved anti-trafficking statutes to combat this despicable crime.

Across the span of his presidency, at home and abroad, George W. Bush has led U. S. government efforts to eradicate modern-day slavery.

It is a fight that has received consistent support from the White House and bipartisan backing from Congress. It is a legacy of achievement that should make Americans proud. Taking aggressive action at home is essential if the United States is to be credible and urge other nations to do more. Prostituted children are considered victims of human trafficking under U.S. law. Because U.S. law enforcement is now giving special, targeted attention to end the prostitution of children, I am able to urge other countries to do the same, especially in Latin America and Asia.

Read more here.

for the next meeting!

2008-10-01T20:44:00.000-04:00

a quick reminder to make sure you all, if you're able to attend, come in with some ideas for T-shirt designs for our group!

make sure...
-it's simple and short!
-it catches attention
-it might possibly make them faint and fall over with surprise and shock! (after which those of us wearing said T-shirt would need to step in and make absolutely certainly the falling person is caught before impact with the ground and that they are henceforth educated about the current global slave trade!)

the next meeting will be Wednesday October 8, at 8.30pm, to make sure it's a nicely averaged start time! it'll be relatively short and will primarily be for the purpose of checking into T-shirt designs and all things related!

thanks everyone! if you've got any questions, feel free to comment here or e-mail me or any other author here on the blog!

peace.

World's Largest Chocolate Fondue Party

2008-09-26T08:26:00.000-04:00

Hey guys, is this something we might be interested in doing? I think it sounds like a great idea!

We at STOP THE TRAFFIK reckon that everyone in the world loves chocolate!

However, we are even more convinced (100% positive) that everyone in the world NEEDS to know about the issue of child trafficking in the manufacture of our chocolate and how it is completely unacceptable.

We are calling on people from countries all around the world to unite during the last week of November 2008 and indulge in some yummy chocolate, have some fun but fight for justice. Together we can stop the traffik.

STEP 1 - Click here to download your FONDUE PARTY organisers pack, invitations and delicious fair-trade chocolate recipes.

STEP 2 - Email us to tell us your name, email address, where you are going to host your party and how many people you plan to invite.

STEP 3 - Print off your invitations and give them out to your friends, family, colleagues and neighbours.

STEP 4 - Get the chocolate melty, the marshmallows ready and tuck in!! Make sure all fonduers fill out the 'WORLDS LARGEST CHOCOLATE FONDUE' voucher and that you send them all to us - that way we can keep track of just how many people came to the party!

A Heroine From the Brothels

2008-09-25T15:30:00.000-04:00

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof

World leaders are parading through New York this week for a United Nations General Assembly reviewing their (lack of) progress in fighting global poverty. That’s urgent and necessary, but what they aren’t talking enough about is one of the grimmest of all manifestations of poverty — sex trafficking.

This is widely acknowledged to be the 21st-century version of slavery, but governments accept it partly because it seems to defy solution. Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession. It exists in all countries, and if some teenage girls are imprisoned in brothels until they die of AIDS, that is seen as tragic but inevitable.

The perfect counterpoint to that fatalism is Somaly Mam, one of the bravest and boldest of those foreign visitors pouring into New York City this month. Somaly is a Cambodian who as a young teenager was sold to the brothels herself and now runs an organization that extricates girls from forced prostitution.

Now Somaly has published her inspiring memoir, “The Road of Lost Innocence,” in the United States, and it offers some lessons for tackling the broader problem.

Read the rest here.

Also, visit Nicholas D. Kristof on Facebook.

Human Trafficking law nets first conviction

2008-09-18T15:46:00.000-04:00

Two Nebraska teenagers may have been looking for freedom or fun when they fled a Fremont group home and headed for Omaha last August.

But they found Leonard Ray Russell, a 37-year-old man who dragged the girls across Iowa, forcing them to solicit sex and perform at strip clubs in exchange for food and shelter.

A Crawford County, Iowa, jury last week found Russell guilty of two counts of human trafficking. It was the first conviction under a 2006 Iowa law, which makes it a felony offense to recruit or transport someone for the purpose of "commercial sexual activity.''

One of the law's champions, former State Sen. Maggie Tinsman of Davenport, Iowa, said the conviction shows the law is needed to thwart those who seek to profit off the vulnerability of others.

"This is truly a human rights thing,'' said Tinsman.

Read more here.

invitation to authorship!

2008-09-18T10:19:00.000-04:00

i hope i covered everyone! we decided at last night's meeting to invite everyone who's expressed any interest in the group or the cause, to have their own name on blogspot and write as an author through this blog! all you have to do is set up a blog name of your own and join as an author on here!

is this all a bit redundant?

hopefully this helps!

any other questions, email me:

ahlittlefiel at bsu dot edu

thanks!

pax.

-asher "the Blog Master" (i like my cool new title, by the way, so thanks for bestowing it upon me last night, guys!)

2008-09-16T17:18:00.001-04:00

hey guys, sorry my post is so late, but i've been busy workin on some other pretty important things, but now i've got a moment or two, and i've actually remembered...

--i agree with Phil on the shirts with BSU percentage of slaves stats, those would be great!

--i really like the idea of sidewalk chalk, but today i found out (and mentioned to Phil) that they're trying to ban sidewalk chalk usage on campus, based on inappropriate remarks that have been made. i'm working with some other people on trying to get that ban revoked soon, but until then we shouldn't connect our name with anything the school doesn't permit.... obviously that would be bad for us

--i really like the idea of a "freedom chain" with purchase-able links, idea #9 on the previous list

--use the radio to advertise group meetings

--use the paper to advertise...

--the charity concert on LaFollette Field would be a really cool one, even though i'm not sure how to go about it! any ideas?

--the book list (both Amazon and BSU) would be awesome!

--selling jewelry

--directly partnering with Rafa House

i know i listed a lot, but hopefully others will be able to hep narrow down, either on this blog, or tomorrow night at the meeting, and we can continue to go from there!

Peace.

-asher

Department of Justice Announces Grants to Enhance Efforts to Fight Human Trafficking

2008-09-12T12:39:00.000-04:00

09/10/2008
Associate Attorney General Kevin J. O'Connor today announced almost $10 million in additional funding to supplement existing task forces and to expand the number of task forces working with community-based organizations to combat human trafficking. The Associate Attorney General made the announcement at the 2008 National Conference on Human Trafficking, where more than 350 representatives from federal, state, and local organizations gathered to discuss methods of investigating human trafficking and servitude and how best to provide services to trafficking victims.

"Human Trafficking is a serious crime and deserves the focused attention of law enforcement and victim service providers," said Associate Attorney General O'Connor. "The task forces receiving funding today are made up of both of these important elements. We will continue to use all of the resources at our disposal to make sure that traffickers are convicted and that victims receive the assistance they need to recover."

Since 2001, the Department has partnered with state and local law enforcement, and victim service organizations to convict 342 traffickers and assist 1,300 victims from 80 countries. In 2007 alone, the Department opened 154 new trafficking investigations.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/department-justice-announces-grants-enhance/story.aspx?guid={9680E9A4-ECFC-4F01-8071-EB8194A789CB}&dist=hppr

-Katrina

Ideas I Really Like

2008-09-12T12:08:00.000-04:00

-post issues and addresses of legislators on WC's bulletin board to encourage people to write

-make t-shirts for our group that state what percentage of BSU's campus would be slaves if it

reflected the international situation

-make a list of all the slavery books we've read, get the library to order them, suggest them for

the freshman reader, and advertise them around campus

-set up an informational table about slavery and the library's resources about it in Bracken lobby

-advertise with sidewalk chalk

-do the freedom chain somewhere on campus

-do chains for change or some other activity for collecting change

I think all of the ideas are great. To get more details on the sellable favors for CRU: what would we include with those?

-Phil

Good Ideas from Call Out Meeting

2008-09-07T12:44:00.000-04:00

So we had our call out meeting last week for the Fall semester, and I was really excited about a lot of the ideas I heard. Here's the big list in case anyone missed it:

1) make sellable favors for the CRU dance

2) get a speaker to come to campus (liberated slave, human rights expert/scholar, Kevin Bales, etc...)

3) nominate a slavery-related book as next year's freshman read

4) use the Writing Center's bulletin board to post opportunities and contacts for writing legislators about slavery issues

5) get restaurants to have a night where proceeds go to FTS (MAx and Ermas, Fazolis, IHOP, etc...)

6) pass out lifesavers advertising FTS

7) post messages on bulletin boards around campus

8) advertise FTS and related issues using sidewalk chalk

9) make a "freedom chain" in residence halls or on campus - people pay to put up a link

10) have a charity concert in LaFollette field with local/campus bands

11) sponsor a spaghetti dinner (w/ LaRosa's)

12) do something to get people's attention at the scramble light and hand out information or collect change

13) do tv channel interview with TCOM dept.

14) use BSU radio station to advertise activities

15) have a bake sale and distribute information

16) have a Fair Trade bake sale and distribute information

17) team up with Late Nite - have an activity and info booth

18) have slave poetry readings at the MT Cup

19) "Chains for Change" - have someone "locked up" in chains somewhere and advertise, "we need $____ before he/she can go free!"

20) show a slavery related video and get teachers to give extra credit for attending

21) sell jewelry at a booth

22) do a presentation at local schools

23) get an article about FTS in the Daily News

24) sent money and reps to Haiti or some other place to help grassroots groups

25) set up a FTS facebook

26) send FTS videos via facebook

27) use resources on campus to raise money - SGA, RHA,

28) do some other fundraiser (carwash, etc...)

29) have a FTS book list (w/ Amazon?)

30) work with the Rafa house in Cambodia?

31) wear clothes or paint depicting % of slaves in population compared to Ball State Campus

I think they all sound like great ideas, but here are my top favorites:

big events/plans: get in touch with a restaurant and arrange a fundraiser, chains for change (Whitney had a cool idea about this involving the holidays), Daily News article (it would be awesome if we could get this before the next meeting to advertise the next meeting), and favors for the CRU formal.

mini projects: nominate a book for the freshman reader, sidewalk chalk (again it would be nice to do this before the next meeting so we can let people know when our next meeting is), wearing clothes to represent % of slavery.

-Sarah Burns

Fall Event

2008-05-08T22:18:00.000-04:00

Activity:

- show a video(s)

- try to get a speaker (FTS person or former slave?)

- do a slavery simulation (kind of like Displace Ball State), where we give up some of our rights or HAVE to do something

- maybe we could even do something regular like a monthly fast / hunger-strike where we'd use the money we would've spent on food to buy food to send to those in need

- part of an email I got from Judith Hyde (volunteer director at FTS): "Here's an idea I just got from a group in Alabama. they did a loose change campaign over a weekend - went to all their friends and family members and asked for loose change... sort of a change for change idea. that simple weekend event brought in over $3600."

Title:

- Fall Freedom

- Autumn for Autonomy

- Free the Slaves, Give Your Change

Advertising:

- table tents cost $90 for one week

- announcement boards

- stand at the scramble light or somewhere else

- pull someone around in a rolling cage as if he/she were a slave (a la Sarah B. and Whitney - this would definitely be unique!)

LIFESAVERS

2008-04-07T07:49:00.001-04:00

More than 27 million slaves are in various kinds of bondage worldwide. Indentured service, human trafficking, child soldiery, debt bondage, and the sex trade are only some of the ways that people are forced to work against their wills under threat of violence. Our goal is to help these people get out of their situations. Free the Slaves is an organization based in the U.S. that has contacts with grass-roots anti-slavery groups around the world. Together with these groups, national governments, and international agencies, FTS has already helped to free many slaves, but much more work needs to be done. Awareness needs to be increased; laws need to be passed and reinforced; product chains need to become slavery-free; and money needs to be raised. It's a complicated issue that can be confronted from many angles. On the internet as well as on Ball State's campus, some of these initiatives can be met. Our chapter of FTS wants to help bring you the information and resources necessary for making a difference in the lives of enslaved people around the world.

Free the Slaves website: freetheslaves.net

Campus activity this Friday dedicated to helping the cause of displaced peoples and child soldiers: displaceballstate.com

Campus letter-writing campaign this Saturday from 10am - 2pm in AR 217 sponsored by the Coalition of Student Advocates. Letters concerning important issues will we written and sent to government leaders. Speakers including State Senator Sue Errington will also be present.

T-shirts made entirely in Africa to support local farmers and businesses are available at the Atrium bookstore through edun-live.com

madebysurvivors.com also sells products that support the livelihood of freed slaves.

visit youtube.com and search for child slavery, human trafficking, or sex trade.

We hope that some of these resources will help you become more aware of our world and take part in working to improve it. If you'd like to contact us and be a part of FTS:BSU, send an email to freetheslavesbsu@gmail.com.

Life Saver Info Sheet

2008-03-24T23:34:00.001-04:00

Thoughts...

27 Million slaves worldwide.

Want to help save a life?

freetheslavesbsu.blogspot.com

freetheslavesbsu@gmail.com

Other ideas?

Lifesaver Handout Sign-up

2008-03-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

The idea of making fact sheets and attaching Lifesavers sounds like one that we should put into effect ASAP. So here's the deal: This blog is a sign-up, thus the title :) The big event will take place on April 7th and 8th at the scramble light. This way we can take advantage of the Mon. idea, but we can also offer Tues. for those with tight Mon. schedules. Ideally, it would be nice to have at least 2 people there at all times. Taking into account busy schedules, shifts will last one hour. We will be there from 12PM until 3PM as that seems to be the busiest time of the day. Please sign-up via comment for a shift whenever you're available. Also, if you can show up to your shift 10 min early to relieve someone who may have a class on the hour, it would be greatly appreciated. At the shift you choose, report to our set-up at the scramble light (we'll be on the same corner as North Quad). Also, if you are available to design the handout/ help with attaching lifesavers prior to this event, please shoot an email to freetheslavesbsu@gmail. Thanks guys!!

Possible Future Grant Money

2008-03-19T21:40:00.000-04:00

This evening, I attended an EIL workshop, and the speaker was a representative of Indiana Campus Compact, a statewide organization that Ball State is a member of. They give out grant money every month to student organizations for any community projects. This may be a great way to fund any endeavors we make in the future that are aimed off campus.

Up to $1000 can be awarded per project, and an organization can request money multiple times, although priority is given for those who are applying for the first time. The representative I talked to also said that most organizations apply during the months of February, March, and September, so we would have more luck in other months, especially during the summer months. The deadline is the 15th of every month, and fifteen days later the organization will know whether they have received the money.

Their website is indianacampuscompact.org, and I also have two extra packets that give information about the grant and how to apply for it if anyone wants a copy.

The representative also gave me the names of two other organization that he said awards grant money: the Muncie Community Foundation and Youth in Philanthropic Endeavors. I'm going to look into them, and I'll post information about them if they look promising.

-Sarah D.

Newsweek Article - Slavery in Our Times

2008-03-18T17:15:00.000-04:00

Newsweek had an article "Slavery in Our Times" published Monday this week. The following is a link to the article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/120054

The article mentions slavery in London, but also tells of a traveling exhibit called "Journey," which tells stories of women who have been enslaved through human trafficking. This exhibit is scheduled to come to the U.S. soon, and we as a group should try to go to it.

This article shows that other people, and organizations, are focused on the same problem; if the message is already out there, we should be able to help bring the word to more people and show them how real slavery still is.

From: Cara

Letter Writing Campaign

2008-03-18T09:12:00.000-04:00

BSU Advocates is the name of the group that's sponsoring the letter writing campaign. Essentially, on April 12 from 10am to 2pm in AR 217, students are going to be writing letters about issues that impassion them to government leaders. The students running BSU Advocates want representatives from various campus organizations to inform the students who attend about the issues and help them write letters. I'm going to be busy from 12 until late on that Saturday. Would anyone be available or interested in helping out with this project? If so, shoot me an email. BSU Advocates is going to provide some training before the big day, so don't worry about that. It'll be a good time.

Books and Movies for the Library

2008-03-18T08:59:00.000-04:00

Here are the names of products from the Free the Slaves Website (http://freetheslaves.madebysurvivors.com/category-s/2.htm)

Books:

-Ending Slavery: How We Can Free Today's Slaves

-Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader

-Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy

Videos:

- The Silent Revolution

- Freedom and Beyond

- Dreams Die Hard

Other books:

- A Crime So Monstrous (acrimesomonstrous.com)

any other ideas?

Another resource idea!

2008-03-03T17:35:00.001-05:00

Going off of the "lifesaver" idea (the candy), perhaps we could sort-of take the same idea the previous blog mentioned but make copies of facts or statistics on slavery in the U.S. and attach them to the lifesavers with ribbon or something. This way, if or when we pass out lifesavers at the corner of the scramble light or whatever, people will flock to us and walk away with a little bit more information than they had before. If this plan goes through, who knows maybe this could bring more people to join the organization and help our cause!

-wg

Resource Idea: Change Machine

2008-03-03T17:09:00.000-05:00

This thing would be a cardboard box that looks like a change machine. People would put bills (or coins) in it, but instead of receiving an equivalent value of money in return, they would receive a card telling them what difference their money will make. The "receipt" would tell how much they helped us buy a book, dvd, or sponsor a speaker. If relevant, it could even tell how much the money will directly impact slavery (e.g., "It costs, on average, ___ to free a slave; your money helped to free ____ slaves/of a slave."). The receipt could also contain contact information for us or for the original Free the Slaves. The machine itself could have information on it that tells about the state of slavery around the world.

Welcome

2008-02-20T19:30:00.000-05:00

Hello to those of you who saw the flyers posted around campus or who were informed by other means. As you know, the call-out meetings are scheduled for Tuesday Feb. 26th and Wednesday Feb. 27th from 7 - 7:45 pm in Robert Bell 291 (the Writing Center). We'll be viewing a few video clips about slavery at home and abroad and discussing our relationship to the men, women, and children who are in bondage. Bring your stories of why you're passionate about this issue and your ideas of how we can work to combat modern global slavery in all its forms (i.e., debt bondage, child labor, the sex trade, etc).

This group is a chapter of a larger organization called Free the Slaves. It is based in America but has international reach, having already freed a number of slaves in many countries (click on the link to the right for more information). Even though FTS has connections with grassroots anti-slavery groups around the world, they have never before sponsored local versions of their organization. Consequently, they have not given us any rigid plans, procedures, or practices to follow. We, through collaboration with each other, have control over what we'll do with our time and resources. In concert with other pilot chapters on the West and East coasts, we can contribute to the dialogue concerning the role of college students in this movement.

If you're not able to come to either of the meetings, send an email to the address on the right to be informed of upcoming activities and meetings. Also, keep an eye on this blog, and give your opinions about how we can best work to eradicate slavery around the world.

Flyer for the Informational Meeting

2008-01-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

What do you think about this idea?

What should be added or removed?

Ever heard or read about

child slavery,

debt bondage,

or human trafficking in the sex trade?

Want to do something about it?

There are 27 million slaves worldwide.

Come find out what you can do

to help free a few.

Wednesday, February ___, 2008

Room: _____

Times: ______

(website and blog)