Film shows child sex slaves

Dr. Phil and the Polaris Project

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

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!

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

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

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

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.