Children

“There are few more challenging places to have a healthy childhood than Haiti!”

-Adriano González-Regueral, UNICEF’s Country Representative
(UNICEF Press Release: Survival is Greatest Challenge for Haiti’s Children ).

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti truly is a country in crisis, plagued by poverty, disease, infant mortality, high illiteracy rates, human trafficking, violence and abuse among high numbers of street children and hunger.

A recent AP article showed the gravity of hunger that Haitians are reduced to…eating mud. Mud cookies, which are made from dirt, salt and vegetable shortening, are many children’s only source of food some days, and are now a staple of a large number of Haitians diets. Increasing food prices, which are mainly due to increased oil prices and hurricane’s, have hit many already fragile Haitians hard. Haiti is a nation which relies on 40% of its food from imports for survival, but rising prices in a nation as poor as Haiti, have only burdened those who cannot carry what has already been placed upon them.

In 2006 UNICEF issued a Child Alert Report for Haiti, highlighting the increased need for support and action in the country and internationally. Haiti has the highest infant mortality rate in the world for children under 5 years old, with diarrhea, respiratory infections, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are the leading causes of death. However this is not the only large scale issue facing Haitian children. According to UNICEF; Some 60% of Haitians lack access to basic health-care services. Some 19,000 children are infected with HIV/AIDS. At least 2,000 children are trafficked every year to the Dominican Republic, forced to work as child labors. Less than half of the children attend school, with less than 2% finishing secondary school. In Haiti some 1,000 children are forced to work as messengers, spies and even soldiers for armed gangs in Port Au Prince, in addition there is an estimated 3,000 children enslaved as domestic workers.

The long term future for most Haitian children is one of continued struggle.

Related Links and Articles:

Haiti’s President-elect René Préval pledges to put children on top of political agenda

Haiti: Grim reality for street children

In Yemen a parents worst nightmare may come when they realize that they have no choice at all but to put their child onto the street to work, to support the family. Peddling various wares on the street, child labors, some as young as four, in Yemen can hardly be missed, nor can one continue to ignore their plight. Children work in both rural and urban areas, the majority of which work in agriculture without compensation. And while it is against the law to employee children into acts of labor, the Child Rights Law, has yet to be implemented, aiding in the extreme situation.

Earlier this year Zaid Abdullah, an 11 year old child labor from Yemen, told IRIN, “I live from hand to mouth”…”I have to work to help my elder brothers - who have unfixed jobs as labourers, street vendors or farm helpers - and contribute to providing the family with food”.

Child labor still plagues Yemen, says Children’s Parliament, who have taken great strides to bring the growing problem under the spotlight. Official’s estimate that there are over 400,000, child labors in Yemen. Poverty was noted as the main contributing factor for the increase in child labor, of which is contributed to by rapid population growth, lack of education, war, and natural disasters. The Children’s Parliament, along with other NGOs, has felt that their hands are some what tied on the issue.

The children labor phenomenon in Yemen is increasing and our abilities are very limited, so our efforts will not appear in fighting such problem. We cannot solve such a problem in one day, but we try to do what we can do in our limited abilities,” said Mohammed al-Ansi, a representative of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

The suggestions and outcomes of the latest session of the Children’s Parliament, concluded that the issue needs more attention and that the support and education of families, was crucial to solving Yemen’s child labor problem.

‘Child labour has also increased the school dropout rate. “There are about two million children out of school,” al-Shami said, adding that most of them will end up illiterate.’

In Yemen a child is only a minor, according to the law, until they are 15 years old, however the law has been sought to be amended to 18, as per international standards, but has yet to be approved.

High unemployment and instability seems to be the key indicating factor of the extreme numbers of child laborers in Yemen, however it is a vicious cycle that will only continue to be felt if the needs of children are not address quickly, and with sustainable solutions. A child forced to work at an early age, once denied an education, then is left with little option for prosperity and stability in the job market as an adult, thus causing the cycle of poverty to continue. Children working on the streets of Yemen, are also at greater risk for abuse, both physically and sexually, and leaves them susceptible to trafficking. The Yemeni government estimates that there are 15,000 street children in the capital city of Sanna, have no families to turn to when their work is done, or their wares are gone. However the problem looks to increase as, “People don’t want to talk about this problem - sometimes not even the government” (Street children at increased risk of sexual abuse).

“Violence begets violence. As child workers are subjected to violence - whether at home or work, they will become aggressive towards society,” al-Shami said (Fears over possibly rising number of child laborers).

With over half of the countries population being children, and almost half of the population living on or below the poverty line, the fight to abolish child labor practices in Yemen, is a long and hard road.

The ‘cycle of abuse’, we’ve all heard the phrase a million times, yet I often think we forget what it means. It does not only mean the cycle, or stages, in which abuses are carried out. A child who grows up in an abusive home, is sexually abused, is a victim of trafficking, a child soldier…unfortunately the list of grave injustices against children goes on and on, is never able to escape the cycle of abuse. Therefore a child of abuse is at an increased risk to become an abuser, victim of sexual assault, become socially isolated, turn to drugs and alcohol, and various other form of self destructive behavior or susceptible to varying forms of continued abuse. We, as an international community must work to ensure that all children have been given their right to protection, both to prevent such abuses, and to assist the abused in their recovery. Therefore substantial physical and psychological care must be given to victims.

No matter what you say, or what you do, it all leaves a mark on the children around you. A child who witnesses violence and war, is forever scared by what they see. A child who hears nothing but negative, cannot erase the voice that says, “you can’t”. But the child who witnesses peace and love, will carry that with them forever and continue to share hope for the future.

We cannot erase the mistakes of the past, but we can leave a bigger impression on a child with hope, than with despair.

Shyima, a 9-year-old Egyptian girl, was sold into slavery and shipped from Cairo to work in California. (Photo courtesy of ABC News and Immigration & Customs Enforcement)

Free the Slaves’ President, Kevin Bales, will be featured on ABC’s Primetime news magazine show tonight. The show tells the story of a young girl who was enslaved by a family in California and forced to serve as their maid without pay. Kevin was consulted to explain the phenomenon of modern slavery and explain how we can end slavery forever.

Primetime airs on ABC at 9pmc/10pme, find your local station online.

Commentary to follow!

This week I spoke with Julianne Duncan, Associate Director for Children’s Services, with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services, about the issues facing child trafficking victims in the United States. The USCCB and the Catholic church have been a strong proponent of migrant rights since the early days of US history when Catholic immigrants where being met with great hardship and public distance. It has been an international priority for the Catholic Church to speak up for immigrant rights, and they see it as their responsibility to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, and therefore program priorities are to access funding and use church funding for those who have no one to care for them. “Most vulnerable of the migrants are those who cannot depend on their own countries support and protections. Refugees or trafficking victims….we speak heavily….most vulnerable of those are unaccompanied children.”

When did USCCB get involved in the fight to combat trafficking, and what prompted the church to get so involved? “Trafficking has been policy priority since at least the mid 90s. USCCB, has been interested and concerned in the trafficking around the world as well as within the US, and was one of the original agencies that advocated and pushed through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000.” The USCCB has been helping victims of trafficking from Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, through three federally funded programs. Programs include a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, and two grants to raise awareness on trafficking from the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, to raise awareness about the issue of trafficking and serve the victims.

In January of 2003, the USCCB and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) received funding for a Trafficked Child Placement and Technical Assistance Program, which places children, including trafficked children, in Unaccompanied Refugee Minor programs. “Through these programs, trafficked children are able to receive culturally and linguistically appropriate care, including mental health services, intensive case management, and education.” In addition USCCB and LIRS offer specialized assistance and training for service providers of trafficked children.

Most recently, the USCCB has been contracted for a National Services Contract for Victims of Human Trafficking. The contract gives the USCCB the ability to subcontract with local organizations to provide comprehensive case management services to adults and pre-eligible children who are survivors of human trafficking, as defined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. USCCB/MRS provides coordination, training, per capita funding, and monitoring to subcontractors, and partners with Project REACH and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) to provide technical assistance to the subcontractors serving human trafficking survivors.

The USCCB is also part of the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking, other member organizations include Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, Covenant House, and many others. The Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking woks to develop plans to combat trafficking, increase aid to victims, work with policy makers, provide public advocacy and education.

According to Ms. Duncan, “trafficking victims are in a precarious position”, which is due to their immigration status, high level of vulnerability, and in regards to children their often inability to speak up for themselves. The USCCB aims to get more policy and advocacy for victims, and gives “equal importance to advocacy and policy, as to program services”.

Please read my next post, tomorrow, July 11, which will contain more information on USCCB and child trafficking, as Ms. Duncan answers a number of detailed key questions.

Links:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking
Guidance for Identifying a Child Victim of Trafficking
Frequently Asked Questions About Services to Trafficked Children
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 Fact Sheet
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the US Department of Health and Family Services - Administration for Children and Families
The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking

Slavery is not a shameful part of our past…slavery is a shameful part of our past, we failed to learn from! One hears the word slavery and they think back 200 years ago, but sadly there are more slaves today.

Child trafficking is child slavery, and it is not something happening in some far away place, but a problem no country can escape. Child trafficking is not someone else’s problem, it is a plague that effects us all, and no country is spared. A child does not have to be transported across international borders, or even state lines, to be a victim of trafficking. Child trafficking also includes many victims of child soldiers, child labor, child pornography. What is child trafficking? Trafficking is the ‘recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation’. Trafficking of persons includes the threat, coercion or use of force, to abduct and/or deceive vulnerable persons, for the purpose of exploitation, either sexual or nonsexual.

Youth for Human Rights Human Slavery Public Service Announcement

The United States has been taking a number of steps in the fight against human trafficking, one of the most important step was the creation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which was enacted into law in October 2000. There are three main government organizations involved in combating human trafficking, they are the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security. Of course local and state police, the State Department, FBI, CIA, Department of Labor, and countless non-profit organizations are working on a daily basis to prevent trafficking, stop trafficking, rescue victims, prosecute traffickers, and provide victims support. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) works to see that the child is a victim of trafficking victim and therefore eligible for legal assistance, counseling, foster care, and and any other benefits, this is primarily carried out by individual states or NGOs. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has established the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), which works with the US States Attorney’s offices, to see that those persons who have a role in child trafficking, slavery and exploitation are brought to justice.

Video on the DC Trafficking Task Force

We are making strides to combat human trafficking and modern day slavery in the US, yet the fight is global and it will not end until we eliminate the root of trafficking, poverty. Child trafficking is a billion dollar industry, that preys on the weak and vulnerable, especially children. We are finally beginning to see the the truth as a nation and a global society, but we have a long way to go. Join the fight against child trafficking today, get informed, be aware and do your part no matter how small.

Recent Trafficking News:
EAST AFRICA: Human trafficking ‘on the rise’
India - Key Accused in Human Trafficking Scam Jailed
US - Lawmaker targets human trafficking
U.S. human trafficking report misses progress: Saudi
US Customs and Border Protection Steps Up Fight Against Human Trafficking
Danish funded anti-trafficking training sessions for Ukraine
Greece - Human trafficking ring busted

SAIS Hosted Forum on Trafficking in Persons on June 20, Mark Lagon, the newly appointed director of the U.S. State Department’s
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, discussed the department’s recently released “2007 Trafficking in Persons Report” during a forum at SAIS on Wednesday, June 20. Click here to download or listen to audio of this event.

I have done a number of posts on child trafficking, child soldiers, and other forms of trafficking, therefore please see my previous posts for more information. Slaves in America and Follow up to Slaves in America, may be of particular interest.

Links:
The United States Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons
2006 TIP Report
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Human Trafficking
Millions Live in Modern-Day Slavery
New Internationalist; Slavery in the 21st Century
Foreign Affairs: The New Global Slave Trade
I Abolish
Stop Child Poverty
International Labor Rights Fund
National Geographic Map - Slavery by Country with Facts
Stop Child Trafficking
Child Trafficking
Polaris Project
Anti Trafficking Alliance
Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Woman
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
‘Guidence for Identifying a Child Victim of Trafficking’ by USCCB
ILO
The Emancipation Network
AFESIP
U.S. State Dept. - Office to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in Persons
Amnesty International: Women’s Human Rights Network
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Girls Educational and Mentoring Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The US Department of Health Administration for Children and Families - The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking
Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking
Guidance for Identifying a Child Victim of Trafficking
Frequently Asked Questions About Services to Trafficked Children
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the US Department of Health and Family Services - Administration for Children and Families
The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking

It is the children who suffer most from the violence of war and hate!

Hopefully many of you where able to catch the powerful and shocking, first part of ‘Slaves in America’ with Charles Gibson to follow the the story of Evelyn Chumbow, from Cameroon, a former slave, held captive in Maryland. Chumbow, was brought to the US at 11, with dreams of an education and new life in a land of prosperity.

“What I would say to the American people is that they have to realize that this happens all over the country, in the backs of restaurants, in the fields in Florida, in the timber industry in the north of New York. There’s nowhere in America that it doesn’t happen,” said Melanie Orhant, Chumbow’s attorney. Ms. Orhant is also the managing attorney for the Break the Chain Campaign, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of trafficking. (Beatings, Isolation and Fear: The Life of a Slave in the U.S.)

You can find more victims stories on Polaris Project’s website, who has a collection of hundreds of victims testimonies from more than 50 countries. You will find haunting stories from victims like Rosa:

“When I was fourteen, a man came to my parents’ house in Veracruz, Mexico and asked me if I was interested in making money in the United States. …He said I would be in good hands, and would meet many other Mexican girls who had taken advantage of this great opportunity…the men told me that my employment would consist of having sex with men for money. I had never had sex before… Because I was a virgin, the men decided to initiate me by raping me again and again…I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I wasn’t allowed to go outside without a guard…”

While victims stories are frightening and deplorable, the most frightening aspect of trafficking is that it is at an all time high, and no country or city is immune from its effects. The United States has one of the highest ratings as a destination country for human trafficking victims, though we issue the Trafficking in Persons Report yearly, we are failing to secure the problem in our own country.

Destination Countries of Trafficking Victims

Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 2006. Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, p. 39.

Source countries and routes of human trafficking

Victims of trafficking in the United States are lucky in one sense, as we are a country that dose not just deport victims once found, where as many countries lack the laws and infrastructure to see victims as anything more thank prostitutes and illegal immigrants. Therefore many victims of trafficking and slavery are simply jailed and deported to their home countries. This not only re-victimizes, but also places these vulnerable woman and children right back into the hands of those who trafficked them. Protect Act, which focuses American sex tourists and foreign nationals that traffic children into the US. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 , which was reauthorized in 2005, includes provisions targeting demand for trafficking victims, and issuing more protective T-Visas to victims. The Form I-914, which is a victim self application, that serves to give temporary benefits to illegals who have been victims of trafficking. The form also give benefits to their immediate family if applicable. If you are a victim of trafficking, or know someone who is, you can find more information on U and T visas for victims of trafficking on the National Immigration Law Center and immigration.com.

Working to prevent trafficking worldwide, Shared Hope International, has had great strides in pushing forward legal and political reform against trafficking, as well as successfully rehabilitating victims. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has a a number of programs for victims and resources, including how to identify a victim of trafficking. You can also see The Salvation Army - Emergency Response to Suspected Trafficking Cases for information on identifying victims, and finding support services.

Please see the previous post for more information and resource links.

“There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace.”
– Kofi Annan