Children

When one in the US thinks of sex trafficking and exploitation, they tend to think of girls from lands with mostly unpronounceable names. Images of Russian “Natasha’s”, young Thai girls, girls on the streets of India, etc., however those images are not the only picture one must see in order to see the harsh reality of sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking.

While it is true that sex trafficking exists in every corner of the globe, young American girls are not immune form this demand driven plague of the flesh. Young vulnerable girls who are quite literally hunted, like animals in forest the girls are scoped out lured in by the weakness and naivety of innocence, the hunter the pimps who know how to infiltrate their minds with promises of love, affection and the attention they miss and crave.

The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12 years old, 90% of those in the commercial sex industry have histories of abuse, thus making them easy prey in the jungle of demand and exploitation.

The film Very Young Girls, which follows the girls of NYC’s GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, takes you into this harsh reality of the life of so many young All American girls. The film opens with a gritty intro into the mind of two pimps, Anthony and Chris Griffin shoot their own footage in an attempt to see their names in lights, or on MTV at the very least. Hoping for fame and fortune they used the camera to show the raw life of the very girls they exploit and essentially enslave, thankfully the same footage later put both behind bars.

“Ho Daddy”, as he likes to be affectionately called, has been pimping for 6 years and when asked how many girls he had, he responded with; “I’ve pimped over 100 Ho’s”. Then his brother asked what they were going to do, he responded with; “Gona find me a Bitch, find you a Bitch, we could split a Bitch in half.”

The graphic nature of the pimp languages is nothing compared to the actual life these young girls find themselves in on the streets. Insults are only the beginning of the mental breakdown and torture that these girls will face daily on the cold hard streets under the watchful eyes of their pimps.

How does it all begin, how do these girls get lured onto the streets? Youth makes one easy prey , and girls are targeted for their naivety and vulnerability. Like hunters the pimps look for the perfect target…they stake the girls out and woo them, learn their weaknesses and then when they have fully infiltrated they fire. Girls are lured in under the guise of girlfriends, pimps often act like the absent Father figure, caring for, protecting and buying the girls things until manipulation is second nature.

“I thought it was cool to be 12 and an old dude to be into me.”

When it is all you know temptation is the chain that holds these girls innocence. Girls are often lured back by their pimps with promises of love and affection, other times its pure threats, regardless it never leads to anything better than before. Girls are overwhelmed with confusion; an emotional cocktail of fear, shame, devotion, uncertainty…lead many back to life on the streets.

The word love can become a mental shackle on a girl…you often hear the girls mention the word “dating” when speaking of pimps. When you see the everyday face of these girls you are not just struck by their stories of life on the streets, but you watch them slip into stories and banter like school girls going over the daily gossip. The girls in the film are real, their stories are shocking, but they are sadly not uncommon and they are all innocent victims who need protection, guidance and hope, thankfully they have found it in GEMS.

The gang world has always been viewed through a predominately male lens, however the gang culture seems to be in the midst of a feminine revival. Many Central America countries have spent decades fighting gang wars on their streets, leaving most with the view that it is boys who make up this violent subculture and that girls are merely victims to the violence. However girls are not only the victims, but they are increasingly becoming the predators. Gangs today are ruling many of Central America’s streets, especially in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and increasingly the members are female.

In Guatemala’s gang girls give and take abuse, including those girls joining the Mara Salvatrucha or other criminalized gangs. Girls in the gangs are increasingly committing acts of violence, however girls continue to experience high levels of abuse, including sexual attacks from fellow gang members. Beatings are also not uncommon in the the gang underworld and those do not stay in line with the gang soon find themselves in a world of abuse.

Many girls join the gangs to fill the void of love and acceptance that they do not receive in their own families, looking to the gangs to essentially replace them. Sadly the gangs bring little love, and only inflict more abuse and brutality on already vulnerable girls;

“I thought it would be like my family,” Benky said of her reason for joining the gang, asking that her full name not be used. “I thought I’d get the love I was missing. But they’d hit me. They ordered me around. They told me I had to rob someone or kill someone, and I did it.” (Abuse Trails Central American Girls Into Gangs)

For now it looks like Central America’s girl gang culture will continue to rise, as girls search for acceptance from abusive homes and lives. The girls of the street need acceptance, but the gangs look to only bring more heartache and abuse, thus much needs to be done to increase gender focused youth outreach on the streets to see that girls issues are addressed. Prevention and support programs for domestic abuse may look to help limit the numbers of girls joining gangs, however it is not enough as the gang culture is deeply rooted in many communities, leaving many young people to see it as their only option and way out.

The global fight against tuberculosis is proving difficult, with the deadly disease spreading as cases go undetected in India and China, the World Health Organization warned Monday. Tuberculosis killed some 1.7 million people in 2006, and an estimated 9.2 million people were infected that year, the WHO said in its annual report on the disease.

Pakistan set to complete world’s largest health campaign, as a massive countrywide effort to immunize 64 million Pakistani children against measles is set to achieve its goal in April. Health officials are immunizing children at schools, hospitals and outreach facilities.

German Court Upholds Muslim Headscarf Ban in Schools, as they announced it would uphold a ban on Muslim teachers wearing headscarves in schools in the state of Baden-Württemberg. A state administrative court of appeal in the city of Mannheim ruled teachers cannot cover their heads in the classroom — at least not if they do so for religious reasons. The court’s decision overturned an earlier ruling in 2006 by a lower court, which decided in favor of a teacher who had converted to Islam. The teacher, who had worn a headscarf since 1995, took her case to court after the school board in the state capital of Stuttgart ordered her to stop wearing a headscarf in the classroom.

How can world’s poor better be part of global market? The world’s poorest people, almost by definition, typically have little stake in the goods and services offered in the global marketplace — a fact that arguably hurts both them as well as companies that would like to have more customers. In this essay, Christian Seelos, director of the platform for strategy and sustainability at IESE business school, writes about how corporations more effectively can reach the poorest of the world.

Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Worst in 40 Years, according to a report sponsored by eight British-based aid agencies and human rights groups has described the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip as the worst in 40 years. And a senior UN official has warned that the entire infrastructure there is close to collapse.

Drive to boost girls’ education in Egypt has started its 2008 arm of the initiative begun 8 years ago. The program started in 2000 with a goal of creating some to build over 1,000 “girl-friendly” schools in seven provinces. From 2003-2007 the initiative targeted villages and hamlets in the provinces of Bani Suef, Assiut, Al-Menia, Al-Fayyoum, Sohag, Al-Beihera and Al-Guiza, which had a disparity between boys and girls attending school gender gap of between 5 and 15.7 percent. Thus far some 1,063 schools have been built and with 27,784 students enrolled. “…by 2015, we hope no Egyptian girl will be out of school”.

Madagascar ratifies statute establishing International Criminal Court (ICC), the independent, permanent court that tries people accused of the most serious crimes, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Malagasy Government deposited its instrument of ratification to the statute on March 14, according to a news release issued by the ICC.

Georgian street children and caregivers trained to deliver life saving aid, as more than 75 street children and 150 social workers and teachers in four regions in Georgia are equipped to deliver life-saving assistance thanks to recent trainings on emergency care conducted by World Vision. The trainings are provided by the “Learning the Principles of First Emergency Care” project, which aims to increase the capacity of street and at-risk children aged 10-16 in Tbilisi, Telavi, Kutaisi and Batumi, as well as among social workers of various youth centers and institutions, to avoid risks and dangers to their health and wellbeing.

Forced labor big part of globalization’s dark side, with over 12 million people worldwide are estimated to be trapped in a massive global market of forced labor that sees workers duped into near-slavery situations, Newsweek reports. These workers have little legal recourse and may have to work decades to pay off brokers who promised them high-earning jobs.

WHO survey shows heavy tobacco use among India’s young, the report shows that about 17% of school-age children in India use tobacco. More than one-third of school personnel also use some form of tobacco, mostly cigarettes, shows the survey, part of a global poll carried out in 140 countries.

Young Tibetans look past Dalai Lama’s recommendations, as the Dalai Lama’s support of peaceful engagement with Chinese to achieve Tibetan goals is not shared by many young Tibetans who believe more drastic, even confrontational action is needed. Yet even among the most radical Tibetan activist groups, respect for the leader is nearly universal.

“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

“Street children…are prey to anything and they know things children should not.” - Nevine is 18, has lived on Cairo’s streets for 4 years (Still dreaming of a better future : a Cairo street girl recounts her traumatic experiences).

The issue of street children is nothing new on the international children’s right radar, however in Egypt the issue has only become more substantial in recent years. There is estimated to be some one million street children in Egypt, many of whom have left rural areas to look for work in the city, or who are looking to escape abusive homes. Once on the street, children find themselves working shining shoes, collecting rubbish, begging, cleaning and directing cars into parking spaces, and selling food and trinkets, in order to survive. Children living on the streets are more pron to violence, more susceptible to disease and malnutrition, and are prime victims for traffickers and pedophiles.

According to UNICEF, the results of a study in 2000, showed 86% of street children stated violence was a regular issue, while another survey showed 50% had been exposed in some manner to rape (Egyptian Street children: issues and impact -UNICEF).

I have come across a few videos this past week, which I think you will find both very interesting and heartbreaking.

Living in a cemetery (IRIN video) - Near one million poor people live in ‘the City of the Dead’, one of Egypt’s largest cemeteries, located on the outskirts of the capital, Cairo. Many of the residents are families with children.

Girls forced to sleep rough in Cairo (IRIN video) - 10-year-old Sayyida, has been living on the streets of Cairo for at least two years, this video shows many of the battles she faces nightly on the dangerous city streets.

Links and Articles:
Egypt: Street children and substance abuse
Human Rights Watch - Egypt
Hope for Street Children

An international study into the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shows that each month 45,000 die from the consequences of war, disease and malnutrition. The fighting has cost the country 5.4 million lives in the last ten years, more than half of which where children, the largest death toll since World War II.

Makers of a nutritionally valuable snack Plumpy’nut are being encouraged to expand distribution to the consumer market in Niger, where half of the population is susceptible to malnutrition. Plumpy’ nut at current is only supplied to aid agencies for distribution, and many believe wide supply could help prevent malnutrition. The UN estimates that more than 50% childhood deaths of children under five in Niger are caused by malnutrition. MSF estimates only 3%, 600,000, of children with severe acute malnutrition have access to any kind of ready to use food (Reuters/IRIN).

In Afghanistan some 60,000 children are scrapping a measly living on the hard streets by begging, or selling cheap goods like gum (National Public Radio (text and audio)).

The issue of child labor in the diamond industry, has been of grave concern to many consumers, especially since the release of the movie “Blood Diamond” . Efforts to move the industry towards ‘conflict free’ or ‘fair trade’ diamonds has been growing since the establishment of the Kimberly Process in 2003. The newest to join the fight is Tiffany & Co, who has now provided Funding for TransFair USA to Explore Feasibility of Fair Trade Certified(TM) Diamonds.

While the bruises of the body fade in time, the scars of child abuse never fade. Children are never the same again after an abuser has entered their lives, they loose not only the innocence of childhood, but also the chance at a normal future. One cannot erase the memories of abuse, they live in conscious and the subconscious, invading every aspect of ones life. Child abuse victims are given a life sentence, forced to live in the shadows of their abusers.

Imagine you are a 15 year old girl, and suddenly you find your self surrounded by 34 men, and for 26 days all of them treat you as a an object. You spend your days in fear of rape and beatings, you scream and cry but it makes no difference at all. Soon you begin to give and and beg for food, submitting your body out of hunger. This is not a horror movie, not is this the fictional character in a film about an isolated rouge town, this is the true story of a Brazilian teenager who was thrown into prison, alone with nothing but men, over a petty crime. Her protectors, the police and guards, only aided in the anarchy that was to befall her for almost a month.

While the imprisonment of the 15 year old girl was clearly illegal, and it has brought considerable concern to the region where, on the borders of the Brazilian Amazon lawlessness reigns, and has done so throughout history. The frightening fact in this case, is the number of people who could have ended this child suffering, but yet did nothing, and many only added to her suffering. Ms. Soares, the girls lawyer, said;

“Several officials were aware of what was happening, and at worst they were complicit in it. It’s a very serious situation.”

“The police are rarely convicted under a 1997 law against torture, because of an “institutionalizing of torture” under Brazil’s military dictatorship and more than 300 years of slavery, said Paulo Vanucchi, Brazil’s human rights minister.” (Rape of Girl, 15, Exposes Abuses in Brazil Prison System)

This is not an isolated case, as the abusive detainment of children in Brazil is not a new occurrence, Human Rights Watch has continually investigated abuses in juvenile detention centers, such as can be found in the report, CRUEL CONFINEMENT: Abuses Against Detained Children in Northern Brazil (2003). However this case also highlights the sever violations of women in the penal system, and the lack of adequate accommodation, support, and protection.

“Naomi is 15 but looks 10. A horrible burn scar shrivels the skin across her chest and shoulder….She is one of the so-called child witches of Kinshasa, rejected by her family and community at six years old and left to survive on the streets…. ‘Grandfather become sick and my aunt accused me of being a witch. She said, “Why is everyone around sick? They are suffering because of you.”…The neighbours beat me and burnt me….I was caught by some soldiers and they said, you are a witch - we saw you flying with birds. They said they were going to kill me, but I escaped.’” (Thousands of child ‘witches’ turned on to the streets to starve)

Witchcraft is something most of us have quickly forgotten about since Halloween has now passed, and would not venture to think about again until Halloween rolls around again next year. However children are being cast from their homes over fears and actuations that they are witches. No, I am not looking back into the depths of history and embarking on a journey back in time to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. I am talking about children who right this very moment have been, and are being, cast from their homes as fears of witchcraft have taken hold of their villages.

Sadly this is not a recent phenomenon which has only reared its ugly head in recent months, children have been facing alienation and persecution for a number of years due to accusations of witchcraft. “Children in Angola tortured as witches” by Paul Salopek (“The Chicago Tribune,” March 28, 2004), brought to light the horrors that many children in Angola where facing. At the time Matondo Alexandre, a child-protection expert with the United Nations Children’s Fund in Angola, said “This is something new to us, in African culture it is usually the older people who are accused of practicing witchcraft. Now we’re even seeing cases popping up involving babies.” But almost four years has passed and children are still being systematically abused and alienated from their homes, beaten and sent to live on the streets in fear and shame and they are the luck ones, as others have been tortured to death.

In some parts of Angola, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, alarming numbers of children are being accused of being witches. The accused children are beaten, abused, and often abandoned, or driven in fear from their homes and villages. Cast out of their families and villages, children are left with no where to turn but on to the streets. However some children are not as lucky, as they never make it to the streets, as they are killed in the witch hunt or die on their lonely journey of fear and escape.

“The witches situation started when fathers became unable to care for the children,” said Ana Silva, who is in charge of child protection for the children’s institute. “So they started seeking any justification to expel them from the family (African Crucible: Cast as Witches, Then Cast Out).” However it has not just been poverty and economic hardship that has driven people to accuse their children of witchcraft, the increase of war has also helped to fuel the fire. Former child soldiers have been turned away from their homes and villages for many reasons, including accusations of witchcraft.

“The perception of children started to change very quickly in the 1990s, when you had child soldiers starting to appear with weapons,” says Mr. Aguilar. “So the general perception was that children were a threat. Congolese society is using children as a scapegoat.” (In Congo, superstitions breed homeless children)

In the heart of the DRC, poverty is overwhelming and now it appears that it diamonds are fulling a new battle. In the diamonds minds it is children who do the majority do much of the labor for these sparkling jewels of the earth. And it is the children who are and many are killed in the fight for diamonds, and through the poor conditions in witch they are forced to labor in. It is the death of so many children that has begun to pull entire communities apart and has led to superstitions, which have caused thousands of children to be accused of witchcraft. “Many people here believe in witchcraft. It’s part of Luba tradition…what is happening today…is new. Before, if someone was accused of having demonic powers the village would take the person and make them go through a purification ceremony. No one would ever be thrown out of their homes; certainly not a child. What’s happening today is a result of urbanization and desperation caused by diamonds, says Charles Tchibanza, a sociologist from Mbuji Mayi University (Diamonds, children and witchcraft).

It is clear that the governments of Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the international aid community must take a stand against these acts. Hands on efforts must be made in the local communities to educate them on the realities of their actions, and brake the cycle of these superstitions once and for all. We must also establish programs and awareness campaigns that work to remove the stigma from those children who have already suffered too long and needlessly.

Other Articles of Interest:

Poor Children: Child “Witches” and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa - This article examines two different aspects of the accountability of children: those children who are thrown away by their families because they are “sorcerers,” and those children who become soldiers and, through their involvement in armed conflict, inflict violence and death on others, including children.

The exact figures of children turned onto the street, or killed, as fears of witch craft continue to spread are unknown, and all are too high. Some figure I have seen include: 20,000 in Brazzaville, Congo’s capital, 14,000 in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, one northern Angolan town identified 432 street children.

UK Fund to fight ‘witchcraft’ abuse

NEPAL: Women tortured for being ‘witches’

Can one truly imagine the feeling of hunger, when they have not felt the desperation and pain that it causes a child. The prolonged agony of constant hunger drives children into desperate circumstances, and it drives many to get high in order to forget the hunger that rages in their young bellies.

In Nepal extreme poverty is driving children from their homes and onto the streets, many are children from rural areas, who left for Kathmandu for the promise of work. Sadly the children find themselves on the streets, hungry and desperate, for which they have begun to turn to sniffing solvents, such as glue for escape. “You know, this helps us to get rid of our hunger”, said 14-year-old Rajen Subba, who fled his home in Jhapa district in southeast Nepal due to grinding poverty and started to work as a rag picker (street children sniff glue to beat hunger pangs).

Street Children in Thailand Sniffing Glue

However the street children in Nepal are not alone in their suffering, or their addictions to sniffing glue to escape from the dark reality that is their daily lives. Street Children around the world haven falling into this world of glue sniffing, to escape the streets, if only for a moment. Russia, Kenya, Pakistan, Ukraine, Morocco, Brazil, Thailand, Romania…the list goes on and on. The abuse of glue sniffing is a substantial, and growing problem in Asia, and around the world.

Furthermore the problem that was once seen as a American phenomenon , and now many claim is an Asian phenomenon is truly a global problem, as the Advocacy Project in Kenya estimates that some “60,000 children live on the streets of Nairobi, and almost all are addicted to some sort of inhalant” (Glue Sniffing Ruins young Lives in Nairobi).  In the Pakistani city of Karachi alone there are an estimated 14,000 street children, an estimated 90% of which are sniffing sniffing glue or another solvent, according to Aksa Zainab, a social worker working with street children at a drop-in center run by the Azad Foundation in cooperation with UNICEF (Pakistan street kids plagued by glue sniffing).  It is estimated that 98% of street children in Morocco also participated in glue sniffing, thus the high percentages of street children sniffing glue, appear equally high globally (Child glue sniffing rises in Morocco).

The effects of repeated glue sniffing include; suffocation, long term mental/brain damage, fatigue, loss of weight, dehydration, exhaustion, liver damage, kidney damage, as well as blood and bone morrow damage, and death.  Abuse and intoxication, can also lead to anger anger violence, which can often lead to increased crime.Children turn to get high on glue to forget not only hunger, but the sexual predators they have been forced to face. Glue sniffing takes children from the the cold, hunger, desperation, loneliness, and violence of the streets. However glue sniffing sadly takes the children’s lives and minds, and it is for that reason that more efforts into the awareness and prevention of solvent abuse must be increased globally.  One step forward is to restrict the age of purchase on solvents, to limit the number of children purchasing them.  However restricting the purchase of solvents is will not be a main deterrent, and thus awareness and outreach problems for street children must be put in to place, and increased.  Working to elevate the root causes, such as rural  poverty and abuse, of children turning towards the street is also a must to end this growing cycle of abuse.

“Sergey Kushnir, 14, holding a plastic bag filled with glue for sniffing, screams in the sewer where he lives on the outskirts of Odessa, Ukraine, on Tues., June 6, 2006. According to the Ukrainian NGO “The Way Home,” there are more than 3,000 homeless children living on the streets of Odessa. Almost all street children use drugs.”
(Street Kids in Odessa)

Links and other articles of Interest:
Fact Sheet on Glue Sniffing Among Street Children in Nepal
Street Kids in Odessa
Pakistan street kids plagued by glue sniffing
Nepal: street children sniff glue to beat hunger pangs
Street Children In Morocco: An Analysis of the Situation

The Street Kids of St.Petersburg
Glue Sniffing Among Street Children In the Kathmandu Valley
Pakistan street kids plagued by glue sniffing
For Kenyan street kids, glue sniffing is a way of life