Children

The special screening was held in Washington DC last night for the acclaimed film, HOLLY, opened by Ambassador Mark Lagon, and was followed by a question and answer session, with Ambassador Lagon, Guy Jacobson, and Adi Ezroni.

A young girl running desperately through the streets, being chased by two men, her tiny feet taking her as fast as they can. Loosing her breath and her gain over her predators, she is finally caught despite the watchful eyes on the street, no one sees Holly’s (Thuy Nguyen) fate. Her eyes full of fear as she is brought back to her brothel owner, “You run again, I’ll kill you!”, she says. Locked in her room, “Let me out…Let me out…Let me out”, she screams, but Holly knows her efforts are futile and she quickly gives up and again excepts her dire fate.

A bell rings and girls quickly run from all directions to line the streets, a car approaches and they put on their best smiles. “I have new girl, she is virgin…very special!” Holly cowards away from the window as her ‘Mama San’ points to her, her virginity is priced at $1,000 for one week. Today Holly escapes her fate, as the Jon thinks the price is to high.

Patrick (Ron Livingston) is a lost soul, an American expat consumed by the desire to escape life he spends most of his time playing cards and drinking his troubles away. He finds himself stuck in the town laden with young children enslaved in prostitution, sadly this is no shock to Patrick and he continues to look blindly on his surroundings. But this time he cannot escape, and while it may seem like it only begins with a Pepsi, it begins the moment he looks up and into Holly’s eyes.

Shot on location in Cambodia, Holly will send you on an emotional journey through the streets of Phnom Penh an take you right into the heart of the notorious red light district where many scenes where filmed, some in actual brothels, which gives Holly the realness the film needed to drive it’s message home. Holly is not a film made to be a box office hit, it was not made to bring fame and glory to the films actors, producers and director, it was a film made to make a difference and that is exactly what it does. After you see Holly you will not have seen a movie, but you will have stared straight into the world of human trafficking and sexual slavery. Writer/producer Guy Jacobson, set out on a mission with this film, a mission that has now become a tireless life long mission for Jacobson and the rest of the films cast and crew. Holly doesn’t end at the box office, the film is only the beginning of a long journey to save millions of children like Holly.

Can Holly be saved? Patrick is told by Marie (Virginie Ledoyen) who works at AFESIP, a shelter for girls rescued from sexual slavery, when he inquires about what to do now that he saved Holly, from her fate, “You didn’t even save her yet. It takes five minutes to rescue a girl, but five years to reintegrate her into society”. Like Patrick we are often overrun with hopelessness as saving a child from slavery is no easy feat, but like Patrick and those who work tirelessly in the field, we cannot give up hope, we cannot stop working to to save those we can. Most of all we must work at the roots of the problem, demand and poverty, and see that prevention is the number one priority world wide.

As Patrick says in the film, when asked why he was trying to save Holly, “You develop this glazed stare…and as long as you don’t look into their eyes you are fine…, but I stopped, I looked into her eyes!” And like Patrick I too have looked into the eyes of slavery and no longer can I ever look away. I hope Holly gives you the incite you need so that you too can never look away. If we begin to open eyes around the world, then we will begin to see the enormity of the problem of this $12 billion dollar criminal industry. An industry in which more than 1 million children, women and men around the world are sold into sexual slavery every year, according to UNICEF. The U.S. State Department estimates 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders annually. More than a quarter of the victims of sex trafficking and sexual slavery are children aged 9-15 years old, but children as young as 5, and even a year old are often sent into this world of darkness.

For more information on the film, including interviews with writer/producer Guy Jacobson and producer Adi Ezroni, and Ron Livingston, go to Priority Films

Links:
Red Light Children’s Project
Somaly Mam Foundation
AFESIP
The Facts About Sex Tourism

Related MySpace and Facebook Pages
Share and promote the film to all your friends, and you will all ready be making a difference:
K-11 Project
Red Light Children Campaign
Holly
Child Sexploitation. Expose it. Fight it. End it
The Redlight Children Campaign

Where Can You See Holly?

Here are some locations, but please check your local listings, as the film will make a second launch after the holidays. Some of the cinemas will be holding special screenings with an opportunity to meet the film makers and learn more about the issues.

Dupont Theater in Washington, DC
Angelika in Houston, TX
Cinemark Westchase in Houston, TX
L.A. Music Hall in Los Angeles, CA
Regal Garden Grove in Los Angeles, CA
Regal Westminster in Los Angeles, CA
Regal Long Beach Stadium in Long Beach, CA
Uptown Birmingham in Detroit, MI
Kabuki Theater in San Francisco, CA - Nov. 30th Q&A with writer/producer Guy Jacobson
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley, CA
Regal Village Square in Las Vegas, NV
Regal Boulder Station 11 in Las Vegas, NV
Regal Meridian in Seattle, WA - Dec. 2nd Q&A with writer/producer Guy Jacobson
Regal Valley Art in Tempe, AZ
Regal Fox Tower in Portland, OR - Nov. 30th Q&A with producer Adi Ezroni
Regal Arbor Cinema in Austin, TX - Dec. 2nd Q&A with producer Adi Ezroni

In South Africa the battle against HIV/AIDS looks not to be a battle won, but a battle lost. UNICEF’s South Africa representative Macharia Kamau said that infection and death rates in the are outweighing the rate of treatment. The ones paying the highest price for this lost race, are the children whose parents are rapidly dying of Aids, therefore leaving a devastating image for the futture. Kamau said if this trend continues, some five million orphans may plauge South Africa by 2015. (BBC)

For the first time the World Food Program (WFP) has been forced to air drop food in Uganda following the worst flooding in 35 years. In a statement issued on October 16, the WFP said the operation was a desperate last resort to help tens of thousands of people after flooding washed away vital roads. The agency said it urgently needs around USD 20 million for food and trucks to transport September rations to around 250,000 people. (Reuters)

Suspected pedophile targeted has been arrested in Thailand, the Canadian was targeted in global manhunt, thanks to efforts to unscramble digital images. The arrested was Christopher Paul Neil, a schoolteacher who was under suspicion of sexually abusing Cambodian and Vietnamese boys. The capture of Neil was in thanks to both to border guards in Thailand and neighboring countries, who remained on high alert, after immigration cameras captured Neil arriving at Bangkok’s international airport last Thursday from South Korea. (AP)

The Lebanese government must do more to alleviate the miserable conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who are treated like “second-class citizens,” Amnesty International said on October 17. In a report “Exiled and Suffering: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,” the London-based human rights group said the refugees face discrimination in education, jobs, health care and housing. More than half the 400,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live in 12 cramped, squalid and often unsanitary camps scattered across the country. (Reuters)

While the movie, Trade, may be a somewhat glamorized and dramatized Hollywood film, you are left with questions regarding the plot. The film does however highlight the many of the realities of modern day slavery and human trafficking…a problem which plagues our global world. By giving a face to human trafficking, the film proves to be a great tool in raising much needed awareness to an issues that is all too often forgotten.

The film weaves the stories of various aspects of human trafficking and modern slavery, with a vivid reminder of the violence that greed causes. Taking the fate of a 13 year old Mexican girl kidnapped from the streets outside her home, and a young Polish mother tricked into thinking she was becoming a model, and few sideline stories. Children sold at auction to the highest bidder…like a pair of shoes on eBay…a whim, an indulgent desire to worn once and then tossed in the back of the closet when you have gotten your best out of them. Only these are not overpriced shoes, but the purity of innocent children, sold for nothing more than greed in a market of flesh.

The movie will leave you with moments of laughter as the young girl Adrian’s(Paulina Gaitan) brother Jorge (Cesar Ramos) and Ray (Kevin Kline), a cop with a mission to find his own long lost daughter, engage in their own comedic clash of cultures and ages, while racing tirelessly across the country in search of Adrian. However these comic outtakes, are quickly broken, by the brutal images bestowed upon the human cargo, that Adrian and Veronica (Alicja Bachleda) have been thrust into like pieces of meat. Reality and desperation often take over, as time ticks away, and Jorge knows if they do not act quickly 13 year old Adrian will be lost forever.

The reality is, it’s Hollywood, and not the best of it, the movie plot doesn’t always make sense. Why is Ray willing to give up his life savings, and does a cop have that much sitting in the bank, to quickly grab to buy a girl he’s never met? The end of the movie still leaves you with many unanswered questions, like: “What happened to Ray’s daughter?, “Is she the vicious madam?”. Nontheless despite its plot and storyline pitfalls, the movie does make you think and it surely brings attention to a much need cause. For all of its woes, you will hopefully leave the theater asking yourself what you can do to help. One thing did stick with me in the movie, Ray said to Jorge when talking about his daughter:

“I realized I gave up too soon…which is something I do a lot of!’

Giving up too soon is something we all do a lot of, and we must not do in the case of modern day slavery and human trafficking. There is one such citizen activist group in DC, Stop Modern Slavery, who wasn’t about to let movie viewers give up or forget once the credits started to roll. The group was on hand outside the E Street Cinema, in downtown, Washington D.C., to hand movie goers more facts on modern slavery and human trafficking. Information was given to patrons from Free the Slaves, Stop Modern Slavery, and Dreams of Freedom (which is hosting fundraising and awareness events in DC from October 8-13).

We cannot all buy and free a slave, like Ray, but we can all raise awareness and become active in the fight to end human trafficking and stomp out slavery once and for all!

*The movie is based on the 2004 NY Times article, “The Girls Next Door”, by Peter Landesman

Human Trafficking Links

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.

Imprisoned by the flesh

Raped of my spirit

Held captive by violence and fear

You cut me with your sword, disfigure me with your gun and scar me with your manhood

When will it end, when will you let me die?

No longer whole, no longer alive

I am nothing more than a dead soul trapped inside a body

Trapped in a body you seek to pillage for vengeance and greed

But I am only a child, what could I have done to deserve such hate?

Justice is no longer mine to hope for

Freedom is lost

The mind cannot forget the terrors you bestowed upon me

I live out my life sentence day after day, and face after face

No more do my tears spill, only my blood do I have left to wipe away

Unidentified Victim of Sexual Violence

“I was naked; the men had forced me to take my clothes off. Four of them were holding me down, one on each leg and one on each arm, while the other raped me. I was weeping so much. I couldn’t stop thinking…These men will give me diseases. I thought of HIV. The men said nothing at all, the five of them raped me one after the other. I had terrible pain in my abdomen and vagina; I was bleeding. I just lay there — I couldn’t move.” - “Pewa” was raped at only 9 years old, in her own home, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In times of war everyone becomes a victim, however children suffer more than anyone, and girls face an even graver fate than their male counter parts. Sexual Violence against girls is heightened in times of war, the degree of violence deepened. No child should ever face violence whether, physical, sexual or mental, the scars of violence never heal, but it is the scars of sexual violence that run deeper than one can imagine. When one thinks of rape, and other forms of sexual violence, they often think only of the mental scars, yet in armed conflict girls are disproportionately abused sexually, mentally and physically, repeatedly year after year. The physical violence that accompanies the rape in much of armed conflict today, is extreme and of a sexual nature.

Earlier this year, ‘The Shame of War: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict’, was published by IRIN, the book is a was composed to be a reference tool. The use of a portraits and testimonies from women and girls who have been victims of the sexual violence of war. This is the second publication on gender-based violence, IRIN, as ‘Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: violence against women exposed’ was published in 2005. It was this book that lead to ‘The Shame of War’, as the issue was covered as one chapter in the book, and therefore the issue received much concern, that it was felt more attention to the subject must be taken. The Report concluded that the key to ending sexual violence is to first of all address the crisis at hand.

“Addressing this crisis requires a response that includes immediate support measures for victims; access to legal services; and global, national and local advocacy to tackle embedded belief systems and social structures that discriminate against women and girls and allow sexual violence to continue unabated…Governments, donors and humanitarian agencies urgently need to harness the necessary resources …to eliminate gender-based violence in all its forms and ensure that women and children can live in safety and dignity….When states persistently violate human rights and when the international community fails to respond, it is a collective responsibility we have all failed to meet.”

THEY FIND US IN THE FIELDS as we plant.
THEY FIND US BY THE RIVER as we fetch water.
THEY FIND US IN THE FOREST as we collect wood .

They are the nameless, faceless bandits-rebels-military
They abuse our bodies, take our souls, empty our guts
Then throw us away

We are the trash they leave behind in their wars

We are the silent ones you see by the side of the road
The ones once called mother, sister, wife, daughter
We are the ones discarded by husbands

We are used up, defiled by other men, dirty
Unwanted, unseen, unheard, UNDONE

We are the battleground - the ammunition
in a war never seen, never heard
Felt only by us…

(Our Bodies…their battleground: Gender-based Violence during Conflict)

Sexual violence in war, is unfortunately not a new concept, however todays rates, and forms of abuse are alarming. Sexual slavery and violence, in all forms, has become a modern plague, as it scourges across the globe. The use of sexual violence as a form of warfare has become an epidemic, in many of the conflicts 50% or more of the female population is raped. The World Health Organization (WHO), claims that violence against females is the cause of more death or disability, for girls and women aged 15 to 44, than that of cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and general warfare combined. However while in some conflicts all women, young and old, are essentially up for grabs as war booty, in others the younger girls receive the brunt of the violence, with repeated violence, increased gang rapes, and are kept often for years as ‘wives’. Many girls never try to escape, for fear of increased abuse, victimization of a family member, or death.

Recovery and rehabilitation is not easy for any victim of sexual abuse, but for victims of sexual violence due to armed conflict, the process often seems completely out of reach. There is often little to no infrastructure in place to deal with such abuses, safe havens are few and far between. Girls are often impregnated by one of their attackers, thus a new generation of victims is born, girls are given a life of sexual abuse and boys are abused as child soldiers. While if a girl does find refuge, it is often short lived, due to over crowding, long waiting lists, or lack of funding. This lack of care for victims of sexual violence, often leaves girls open to recapture, in many cases the ‘husband’/soldier will come looking for the ‘wives’ who escape.

Sudanese child draws image of rape

‘The Conflict in Darfur Through Children’s Eyes’

- Human Rights Watch

Everyday young girls bodies are used as weapons of war, claimed as the rights of a soldier, abused, enslaved, mutilated, and killed. These girls are only children, and their bodies and minds have been taken from them for the sake of war. No longer can these young girls live in peace, even when the war ends they will suffer the turmoils of conflict. We must work to end this horrid and sadistic practice of violence, and give the girls of war hope for the future.

“Safety and security don’t just happen: they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children – the most vulnerable citizens in any society – a life free from violence and fear. In order to ensure this, we must become tireless in our efforts not only to attain peace, justice and prosperity for countries but also for communities and members of the same family. We must address the roots of violence. Only then will we transform the past century’s legacy from a crushing burden into a cautionary lesson.” -Nelson Mandela, World Report on Violence and Health 2002.

Links:
‘The Shame of War: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict’ - A full downloadable copy, the book is also available for purchase.
Broken bodies — broken dreams: violence against women exposed
Our Bodies…their battleground: Gender-based Violence during Conflict
Razor’s Edge: The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation
The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur
Liberia’s child rape victims
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Local NGO works to heal victims of gender-based violence
Sexual violence, an ‘invisible war crime’

The blue beret, or the blue helmet, symbolizes not only peace, but protection and security for many who have spent their lives riddled by armed conflict. Children see these foreigners in blue hats, and they immediately trust them, they want to befriend them. Unfortunately these men are not always what they seem, many have used the trust and power that the blue beret brings with it, to abuse extremely vulnerable woman and children.

Sexual abuse, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, rape…these are not words one expects to hear when describing the actions of peacekeepers. However this is an unfortunate reality in many countries, and Liberia is just the most recent country with UN peacekeepers in the spotlight over abuse allegations. In Liberia sex-for-aid is ‘widespread’, and girls as young as 8 are being coursed into having sex in exchange for much needed food. Other countries with abuse allegations included, but are not limited to; Bosnia, Haiti, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Morocco, the Congo and Sierra Leone. The issue of peacekeepers in Bosnia was extremely grave, as peacekeepers where heavily involved in sex trafficking and enslavement of countless girls. Peacekeepers where ensured a safe passage in the the numerous brothels that has sprouted up, as brothel security was often peacekeepers themselves.

Imagine you are a child who’s whole family has been murdered before your eyes, your home burned, and you have only escaped as they thought you too where dead. You have now walked for three days with little food or water…you see the camp ahead of you as salvation, the men who guard it as saviors, but your dreams of safety are quickly shattered as you are raped behind that fence of safety. While this narrative is fictionalized, the hideous acts illustrated are not, and the abuses of children are a far cry from truly heard.

Cases of abuse are as varied as they unspeakable, one of the most shocking was in 1997 when Belgian UN troops admitted to ‘roasting’ Somali boy. Other U.N. peacekeeping atrocities have included; an Italian peacekeeper sexually abused and strangled to death a young boy, and the discovery of human trafficking rings.

There has been a lot of public uproar over the delay in reporting such issues of Sexual abuse of children by UN Peacekeepers, including that of the abuses in Sudan which appeared to take at least six months to report. However the biggest concern is cases where the has stated that they cases of abuse have been unsubstantiated and that the UN rejects refugee sex abuse allegations. Regardless of the fact that many of these issues have now been restated, bares little cause for hope that justice is truly being served. It leaves many to questioning if there are countless other ghastly abuses by UN Peacekeepers, that have been kept under wraps?

In the 1996 UN study,The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, highlighted all aspects of war, and the effects which it has on children. In the study Graça Machel, former first Lady of Mozambique, stated:

“In 6 out of 12 country studies on sexual exploitation of children in situations of armed conflict prepared for the present report, the arrival of peacekeeping troops has been associated with a rapid rise in child prostitution.”

Earlier this year, in January, the UN sent a new group of peacekeepers to Liberia, to add to their current 15,000 peacekeeping troops. However the newest group of peacekeepers was somewhat different, they are all women, comprised of just over 100 Indian policewomen. This is the first attempt of the UN to send an all female peace keeping force, and many hope it will help the already vulnerable groups, including women and children. The anticipated outcome of placing the female peacekeepers, the UN hopes to see that woman and children feel even more secure and comfortable, while continuing to protect their rights.

Trading money or food for sex with young girls, is no less a crime for a peacekeeper, as rape, pedophilia, child-pornography, child sex trafficking, physically or mental abuse. The abusive nature of many peacekeepers is hindering the already strained role of the UN in countries around the world. In October 2005, for the 60th anniversary of the UN, the New York Times editorial heavily condemned the UN for the continuing abuse by peacekeepers:

“Nothing discredits the United Nations more than the continuing sexual abuse of women and girls by soldiers belonging to its international peacekeeping missions. And yet almost a year after shocking disclosures about such crimes in Congo, far too little has been done to end the culture of impunity, exploitation and sexual chauvinism that permits them to go on.” (New York Times)

The UN and the entire international community must ensure that when the men and woman in the blue berets show up to protect our children from predators, that they do just that. For if one cannot trust those sent to protect them, to look after the children , then who can one trust. Children who have gown-up and spent their entire lives in the middle of armed conflict, have little trust and security to begin with, we cannot standby and allow them to be continually abused and re-violated. UN Peacekeepers who engage in, or are suspected of such activities, should immediately be removed from the country in question, their actions investigated and their crimes punished, including a permanent ban on all associated activities with the UN, or any other peacekeeping, security or police forces.

However one must note that children who have been repeatedly victimized, especially by figures of authority, often do not report their abuse, or abusers. Those in power have an obligation to see that all children must feel safe and protected, it is their inherent right as a child. If children cannot trust someone sent to bring peace and order to their disrupted lives, then who can they see as trustworthy? One must hope that the acknowledgment and punishment of those who have committed such grave crimes against vulnerable children, continues. In addition that the UN and International communities continues to take strides to see that the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict feel even safer and securer than before. The deployment of the first all female peacekeeping force is one start in the right direction, but lets keep in mind that this is not just a problem for the UN, but all national military forces, and we must see that all predators are prosecuted, regardless of affiliation.

Links:
PEACEKEEPING WATCH: Monitoring Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers and the Efforts of the International Community to Respond
CDI - Children and Armed Conflict Resources
The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children
United States Outraged at Abuses by U.N. Peacekeepers in Africa
Must Boys Be Boys? Sexual Exploitation in UN Missions
“We’ll kill you if you cry”

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

This morning British police after 10 months of investigations, with agencies around the globe, finally broke through an international internet pedophile ring.

The internet site was dishearteningly called, “Kids the Light of Our Lives”, and its founder went by the screen name “Son of God”. Membership of the internet pedophile ring was is over 700, and British police are taking no time at all in making arrests of its members. 200 arrests have been made in the UK, while offenders came from more than 35 countries around the world. All 35 countries with suspected sexual offenders in the case, had agencies involved in the sting operation, led by the British Police.The ring leader is Timothy David Martyn Cox, 28, of Buxhall, England, and he was immediately placed in jail for an interim sentence, after Canadian officials tip off the British police. Following his arrest in January, Gordon Mackintosh, 33, of Hertfordshire in England, tried to revive the site and was subsequently arrested. Between Cox and Mackintosh, more than 86,000 sexually explicit images of children and 1,000 videos where discovered.

31 children thus far, have been said to haven been rescued from abusive situations as a result of the bust. The unfortunate nature of internet crime is that many of the victims, may not be found and rescued from their abusers, however agencies worldwide, with the help of technology, are able to track and find more and more victims. But the law is complicated and even when the laws are clear they do not always hold up, nor are they easily enforced in they cyber world.

“It’s like a chess game,” said Philippe Dubord, an agent in Tampa with the FBI’s Innocent Images National Initiative, which investigates computer child pornography. “They make a move. We make a move. We have to work within the law. They don’t have to.” (Child Porn: Prosecution Problems)

To prosecute on behalf of each and every child or image, one must prove the child is ‘real’, and this is where the law and reality begin to shift apart. You may find a 100 images on one persons computer, and there may be 80 different children involved, but in order to prosecute on behalf of each image and child you must find each child, and often use them for testimony. This is where law enforcement and reality seem to crash and burn, for the identities of most children may never be found, and even if some are found they may be scattered around the world, and therefore building a solid case is often marred by distance and economics. Thankfully concerned citizens and law enforcement officials, are beginning to fill in many of these gaps, and they are working harder than ever to see that no one goes unpunished.

“Any individual who thinks they carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a very rude awakening,” said CEOP Chief Executive Jim Gamble. “The belief that the Internet provides anonymity is unfounded.” (Reuters - UK police break Internet child abuse network)

Sadly children who are victims of internet crime are not victims once, twice or even three times, they are repeatedly victimized day after day. The initial act of sexual abuse and assault may have ended, but the abuse continues as the images travel around the world to be viewed without end.

“Riddled with guilt and shame and immobilized by fear, I suffered a mental and physical breakdown. I couldn’t eat or sleep. All I could do was cry and worry. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t my fault…” (Child Pornography - My Story)

Please see my related Posts; Awareness Saves Our Children, on April 11, 2007, and How does the Internet Drive Crimes Against Children, and How Does it Protect Them?, March 16, 2007, for more information.

Links:

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)

List of Links to Relevant News Articles About this Case

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

CVIP Information packet

Statistics on Households Computers and the Internet Online Almanac

NetSmartz Workshop - Keeping Kids and Teens Safer on the Internet

The Police Notebook - Keeping Kids Safe Online by the University of Oklahoma Police Department

Microsoft - Protect Your Family

Kids Health - Internet Safety

The Parents Guide to the Information Super Highway

 

Child Abuse Resources, Facts and Signs

Signs of Child Abuse

Find Counseling.com - Signs and Resources

Help Guide.org - Types, Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Help

Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute

American Humane - Fact Sheets

Child Abuse Statistics, Research and Resources