The Violence of Light Blog

Germany: Almatov's Exit No Bar to Prosecution

2005-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

(Brussels, December 21, 2005) ? Germany?s federal prosecutor should initiate an investigation into Uzbek Internal Affairs Minister Zokirjon Almatov?s responsibility for alleged crimes against humanity even if he may have left Germany, Human Rights Watch said today. It is likely that there is enough evidence against Almatov for the prosecutor to request an international arrest warrant for him.

Human Rights Watch made its call amidst unconfirmed reports that Almatov left Germany, where he had traveled in November to receive medical treatment for cancer.

Uzbek victims of torture and survivors of the May 13 massacre in the Uzbek city of Andijan, assisted by Human Rights Watch, filed a complaint against Almatov with the German federal prosecutor on December 12. They asked the prosecutor to pursue Almatov on three counts: individual crimes of torture, torture as a crime against humanity, and crimes against humanity in connection with the massacre in Andijan. Almatov?s presence in Germany is not necessary to start an investigation on the last two counts.

As documented in comprehensive reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and others, hundreds of demonstrators were gunned down by Uzbek security forces in Andijan in May. As minister of internal affairs, Almatov had command responsibility for those security forces.

?Victims of the bloody crackdown in Andijan suffered horribly at Almatov?s hands,? said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. ?They deserve justice, and he should not get away with it just because he leaves Germany.?

The European Union imposed sanctions, including a ban on travel to EU countries for 12 Uzbek officials it considers responsible for the indiscriminate and excessive use of force in Andijan. Almatov is on top of that list. However, days before the EU released the 12 names subject to the visa ban, German authorities granted Almatov a visa on humanitarian grounds to undergo treatment for cancer. But Almatov appears to have left the country following news reports of a possible investigation into his crimes.

A criminal investigation against Almatov in Germany is possible under universal jurisdiction, which reflects the principle that some crimes so offend humankind that courts anywhere have jurisdiction to try them, no matter where they were committed, and no matter the nationality of the accused or the victims. The only precondition is that the country where such legal action is taken must have passed laws, like Germany, allowing its courts to exercise this jurisdiction. German legislation is exemplary in this regard.

?To act in full conformity with Germany?s universal jurisdiction laws, the prosecutor should have begun a criminal investigation into Almatov?s alleged crimes as soon as he arrived in Germany,? said Cartner. ?We deplore this failure, and urge the prosecutor to launch an investigation without any further delay, even if Almatov has left the country.?

An indictment by the federal prosecutor would likely be followed by an international arrest warrant for Almatov, which would mean that almost anywhere he travels he would be subject to arrest and extradition to Germany to face criminal prosecution.

?The evidence against Almatov is simply overwhelming,? said Cartner. ?Based on the facts alone, there is no question that the Germans should investigate at once.?

In a statement issued on Friday, Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, reminded Germany of its obligations and called for Almatov?s prosecution. Theo van Boven, the former Special Rapporteur, who visited Uzbekistan in late 2002, has likewise expressed his strong support for the victims? claims and stressed the unique opportunity Germany has to bring Almatov to justice. In an affidavit submitted this week to the German Federal Prosecutor, Antonio Cassese, former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, argued that Almatov does not enjoy diplomatic immunity from criminal investigation and prosecution in Germany.

Slaves and the City

2005-12-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

In the mid-18th century, one in five New Yorkers was a chattel.

BY PETER KOLCHIN
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST
The Wall Street Journal

NEW YORK--Let's begin with three facts. In the middle of the 18th century, slaves constituted about one-fifth of New York City's population. Slavery persisted in New York well into the 19th century. Although male slaves outnumbered females in rural New York, in the city there was an increasing surplus of women over men. After viewing the exhibit under review, visitors are likely to be aware of the first two of these facts but ignorant of the third, and herein lie both the many strengths and the occasional limitations of this lavish display.

The largest exhibit in the 201-year history of the New-York Historical Society, "Slavery in New York" was prepared by a distinguished team of historians headed by James Oliver Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor of History and American Studies at George Washington University, and supported by 17 "scholarly advisors" including such luminaries as Columbia University's Eric Foner and Yale's David Blight. It is accompanied by a handsome companion volume, also titled "Slavery in New York," edited by historians Ira Berlin and Leslie M. Harris.

The exhibit uses an impressive variety of items--maps, ledgers, correspondence, newspapers and artwork--supplemented by extensive written texts, artistic re-creations, video re-enactments, and interactive displays to present the chronological sweep of slavery in New York City. Beginning with a background unit on the slave trade from Africa to the Americas, the exhibit covers the early development of slavery under the Dutch, before the British takeover and renaming of New Amsterdam in 1664; the continued expansion of slavery under the British; slave resistance, including flight, rebellion, and support for the British during the American Revolution; gradual emancipation, beginning in 1799; and the growth of a free black community, whose members built churches, schools and voluntary associations while enduring growing racial discrimination. New York State's constitution of 1821 abolished property qualifications for voting among white men, but set a minimum threshold of $250 for black men; five years later, there were only 16 African-American voters in New York County.

"Slavery in New York" provides an outstanding introduction to what will be a shocking story for many viewers unaware of the extent to which slavery permeated life in New York during the city's first two centuries. On the Saturday afternoon that I visited the museum, the large and attentive crowd of visitors seemed particularly interested in a listing of restrictive laws, which included the 1702 provision, "Masters may punish their slaves however they choose so long as they do not cut off their limbs or kill them." Other viewers studied a newspaper advertisement for a fugitive "negro wench nam'd Pegg" who was described in some detail as "of a yellowish complexion" with a smooth face, a crooked middle finger, and a character that was "sensible, cunning, and artful." Still others pushed buttons to hear six different "cries of New York," including those of vendors selling sweet potatoes, buttermilk and baked pears, and watched historians Horton and Harris on two adjacent video screens as they discussed the vagaries of New York's emancipation legislation. Few visitors to this exhibit will come away unmoved by the presence, dimension and horror of slavery in New York.

Indeed, the exhibit is so good that I can't help wishing it was even better. One of the limitations faced by its creators is the paucity of slavery-related artifacts at their disposal, a paucity that explains their heavy reliance on text and re-created text-based visual evidence. There are no paintings with images of black New Yorkers dating from before the 1790s, so it is hardly surprising that the exhibit provides a richer display of free black life in the early 19th century than of slave life in the preceding decades.

Beyond the scarcity of artifacts lies the problem of how to convey historical concepts visually, or grapple with such historical staples as complexity, context and causation. There is little in this exhibit, for example, on the actual lives of the slaves, on changing slave demography, or on how slave experiences varied according to age, sex, occupation or place of birth. (It is worth noting that the "Slavery in New York" volume does cover such themes, and will therefore be of great interest to visitors in search of a fuller picture.)

But what is perhaps most surprising is the lack of context provided for understanding slavery in New York. The exhibit properly emphasizes the prevalence of slavery there--the proportion of slaves in both urban and rural New York was greater than elsewhere in the northern colonies--but surely it is also important to explain that slavery was less central to the economy and social order in New York than it was in Virginia or South Carolina (let alone Caribbean colonies such as Jamaica or Saint Domingue, where the vast majority of the population was enslaved). That, of course, explains why it was so much easier to abolish slavery in New York than it was in the South: In the wake of the American Revolution, every state north of Delaware initiated the abolition of slavery, whereas none of the Southern states did.

Finally, from a historian's perspective it is noteworthy that this exhibit gives little sense of slavery as a source of lively scholarly debate. Most viewers, no doubt, would quickly tire of a detailed presentation of the ins and outs of conflicting historical interpretations, but in avoiding discussion of how our understanding of slavery has changed over the years, and how at any given point in time experts continue to disagree over important questions (such as slave rebelliousness), the exhibit's creators missed a chance to show that knowledge about slavery is not simply "there" but is constantly being created and contested--in short, that the study of slavery is a vital and continuing intellectual enterprise.

Perhaps I am asking for too much. There is no perfection in this world, and "Slavery in New York" is a very good exhibit. You should go see it.

Mr. Kolchin, the Henry Clay Reed Professor of History at the University of Delaware, is the author of "American Slavery, 1617-1877" (rev. ed., Hill & Wang, 2003) and other books on slavery and emancipation.

Uganda: Respect Opposition Right to Campaign

2005-12-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

Government Must Remove Obstacles to Free and Fair Elections

New York, December 19, 2005) ? Uganda must allow the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to organize campaign rallies for its jailed presidential candidate, Dr. Kizza Besigye, Human Rights Watch said today.

The government has tried to stop demonstrations related to the November 14 arrest of Besigye on charges of rape and treason in the High Court. He was declared a candidate only days before his trial was to start in the High Court today. On November 22, the government banned public rallies and demonstrations related to Besigye?s trial, claiming the protests would prejudice the courts and interfere with the defendant?s constitutionally protected right to a fair trial. Between November 22 and 24, police arrested opposition leaders who were planning rallies for November 24, the day Besigye was scheduled to appear in the High Court to hear the verdict on his bail application.

?Ugandans have a right to peacefully protest against Besigye?s trial and rally in support of his campaign,? said Jemera Rone, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch. ?The authorities cannot use the Besigye trial as a pretext to prevent opposition rallies now that the campaign season is in full swing.?

Human Rights Watch is concerned that authorities will use the ban to obstruct campaign rallies by the Forum for Democratic Change, during Uganda?s first multi-party elections in 25 years. Besigye is considered the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, who seeks a third term in office. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on February 23, 2006.
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Human Rights Watch is also concerned about reports that security forces have intimidated, harassed and physically assaulted opposition party supporters since Besigye?s return to Uganda in late October. In December, Human Rights Watch interviewed supporters of the Forum for Democratic Change from Kampala and the Kabarole district in western Uganda. They told Human Rights Watch that since Besigye?s arrest, local government officials and members of the security forces?including the police, Internal Security Organization, and Ugandan Peoples? Defense Forces (UPDF)?had ordered them to stop supporting Besigye, either threatening them or using physical violence.

An FDC activist from the Kabarole district told Human Rights Watch that police prevented him from organizing a protest against Besigye?s arrest. Later that night, several UPDF soldiers arrested him and took him to a nearby military barracks, where they beat him, tied him to a tree, and threatened to kill him by firing squad if he continued to support Besigye.

?It is up to the independent Electoral Commission and the police to see that the 2006 elections are free from intimidation and violence,? said Rone. ?The commission must promptly investigate allegations of any abuse and ensure that perpetrators of violence are held accountable.?

Background:
Dr. Besigye challenged President Museveni in the presidential elections of March 2001 and lost. He appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled 3-2 that there had been fraud and violence in the elections, but then ruled 3-2 that the fraud and violence was not sufficient to set aside the election results. Dr. Besigye fled into exile a few months later.

In October 2005, he returned to Uganda to run again for president. On November 15, he was charged with rape and treason before the High Court and remanded to Luzira Prison near Kampala. His arrest provoked demonstrations and some looting in Kampala. On November 24, Besigye was charged with terrorism and illegal possession of firearms before the General Court Martial. Although the High Court granted bail to Besigye on November 25, he remains in Luzira Prison because of the court martial charges.

On December 12, High Court Justice Remmy Kasule extended a stay on Besigye?s trial before the General Court Martial until the Constitutional Court rules on the legality of the military trial. The military court hearing had also been scheduled to begin on December 19.

Besigye, five of his 22 co-defendants in the cases, and the Uganda Law Society have filed petitions before the Constitutional Court disputing the constitutionality of provisions in the Ugandan Peoples? Defense Forces Act that established the Court Martial. They are also challenging the Court Martial?s jurisdiction to prosecute the offense of terrorism, try civilians, and prosecute Besigye and his co-defendants in two different courts on charges based on the same facts.

On December 19, the High Court postponed Besigye?s trial for rape and for treason
until January 2 and January 6, 2006 respectively.

For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C., Jemera Rone (English, Spanish): +1-202-368-5414, or +1-202-332-8455
In Toronto, Georgette Gagnon (English): +1-416-893-2709

Related Material:

Uganda?s Electoral Commission Must Uphold Presumption of Innocence
Press Release, December 12, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaekCzabm1f2bpWwZ7b/

U.S. Operated Secret Dark Prison in Kabul

2005-12-20T15:13:00.001-08:00

U.S. Operated Secret ?Dark Prison? in Kabul
(New York, December 19, 2005) Accounts from detainees at Guant?namo reveal that the United States as recently as last year operated a secret prison in Afghanistan where detainees were subjected to torture and other mistreatment, Human Rights Watch said today.

Eight detainees now held at Guant?namo described to their attorneys how they were held at a facility near Kabul at various times between 2002 and 2004. The detainees, who called the facility the ?dark prison? or ?prison of darkness,? said they were chained to walls, deprived of food and drinking water, and kept in total darkness with loud rap, heavy metal music, or other sounds blared for weeks at a time.

The detainees offer consistent accounts about the facility, saying that U.S. and Afghan guards were not in uniform and that U.S. interrogators did not wear military attire, which suggests that the prison may have been operated by personnel from the Central Intelligence Agency.

The detainees said U.S. interrogators slapped or punched them during interrogations. They described being held in complete darkness for weeks on end, shackled to rings bolted into the walls of their cells, with loud music or other sounds played continuously. Some detainees said they were shackled in a manner that made it impossible to lie down or sleep, with restraints that caused their hands and wrists to swell up or bruise. The detainees said they were deprived of food for days at a time, and given only filthy water to drink.

The detainees also said that they were held incommunicado and never visited by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross or other independent officials.

?The U.S. government must shed some light on Kabul?s ?dark prison,?? said John Sifton, terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at Human Rights Watch. ?No one, no matter their alleged crime, should be held in secret prisons or subjected to torture.?

The detainees? allegations were communicated to Human Rights Watch by their attorneys and are contained in attorneys? contemporaneous notes. Human Rights Watch was unable to interview the detainees directly, since the United States has not allowed human rights organizations to visit detainees at Guant?namo or other detention sites abroad. However, Human Rights Watch believes that the detainees? allegations are sufficiently credible to warrant an official investigation. The detainees are of different nationalities and have different attorneys. None claimed to have been detained at the secret facility for more than six weeks at a time, and did not otherwise make extraordinary claims.

Most of the detainees said they were arrested in other countries in Asia and the Middle East, and then flown to Afghanistan. Detainees who arrived by airplane said they were driven about five minutes from a landing field to the prison. Afghan guards told some of them that the facility was located near Kabul. Some detainees who were kept at the facility were transferred at various times to and from another secret facility near Kabul. The detainees said they were later transferred to the main U.S. military detention facility near Bagram, where many other Guant?namo detainees say they were initially held.

Human Rights Watch said that the ?dark prison? may have been closed after several detainees were transferred to the Bagram facility in late 2004.

M.Z., a detainee arrested in another country in 2002 (name and identifying details withheld at his attorney?s request), said he was held at the ?prison of darkness? for about four weeks. He says he was sent to ?an underground place, very dark? where there was ?loud music? playing continuously. He said he was held in solitary confinement, where it was ?pitch black... no light.? M.Z. said that when he was interrogated he was taken to a room with a strobe light, and shackled to a ring on the floor. During the interrogations, he says, an interrogator threatened him with rape.

Benyam Mohammad, an Ethiopian-born Guant?namo detainee who grew up in Britain, said he was held at the ?dark prison? in 2004 and described his experience to his attorney in English:

It was pitch black no lights on in the rooms for most of the time.... They hung me up. I was allowed a few hours of sleep on the second day, then hung up again, this time for two days. My legs had swollen. My wrists and hands had gone numb.... There was loud music, [Eminem?s] ?Slim Shady? and Dr. Dre for 20 days.... [Then] they changed the sounds to horrible ghost laughter and Halloween sounds. [At one point, I was] chained to the rails for a fortnight.... The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night.... Plenty lost their minds. I could hear people knocking their heads against the walls and the doors, screaming their heads off.

J.K., another detainee (name withheld at attorney?s request), also alleged that he had been held in the dark, shackled to the wall and subjected to weeks of sleep deprivation and constant loud music and noise, as well as being beaten during interrogations. ?People were screaming in pain and crying all the time,? he told his attorney.

Abd al-Salam Ali al-Hila, a Yemeni whose arrest and transfer to Afghanistan was previously documented by Human Rights Watch Guantanamo: New ?Reverse Rendition? Case, said he was kept at the ?dark prison? at various times in 2003. He told his lawyers he had been chained to the wall, kept in almost constant darkness, and subjected to sleep deprivation and constant noise.

Similarly, attorneys for Hassin Bin Attash, Jamil el Banna and Bisher al Rawi, three other detainees who said they were previously held at the ?dark prison,? said their clients made allegations about constant darkness, shackling, sleep deprivation, inadequate food and water, and beatings during interrogations. One other detainee provided similar information through his attorney, who requested that the client?s name and nationality be kept confidential.

On November 18, ABC News reported that several CIA officials told ABC that the CIA had operated a secret facility in Kabul, and voiced concerns about interrogations there. The CIA officials, who requested anonymity from ABC, said that CIA officials authorized six techniques for use against detainees with ?high-level? intelligence value, including long-term sleep deprivation, exposure to cold for more than 40 hours, and ?waterboarding,? in which interrogators poured water over the detainee?s face until he believed he would suffocate or drown. The officials told ABC that the CIA had authorized these techniques in March 2002 and that they were used at the Kabul facility and elsewhere.

The accounts given by the Guant?namo detainees about the Kabul facility are also consistent with stories told by four detainees, who in July escaped from U.S. military custody at Bagram, on a videotape obtained by ABC News and Al-Arabiya. On the videotape, the detainees said they were held at ?the dark prison? before being sent to Bagram, and describe being subjected to loud music and total darkness, as well as physical abuse.

Human Rights Watch has previously identified 26 ?disappeared? persons believed to be held in secret facilities operated or used by the U.S. A ?disappearance? is an unlawful detention in which the detaining authorities deny holding the person or refuse to disclose his or her whereabouts. Human Rights Watch said today that the U.S. may have used the facility near Kabul to hold ?disappeared? detainees at various times.

Human Rights Watch said that the alleged torture and other mistreatment of detainees, if proven, would amount to serious violations of U.S. criminal law, such as the War Crimes Act and the Anti-Torture Statute, as well as the laws of Afghanistan. The mistreatment of detainees also violates the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which the United States has ratified, and the laws of war. (Summary of statutes)

Human Rights Watch has long called for a special prosecutor to investigate alleged mistreatment of detainees in U.S. detention facilities abroad.

?We?re not talking about torture in the abstract, but the real thing,? said Sifton. ?U.S. personnel and officials may be criminally liable, and a special prosecutor is needed to investigate.?

Human Rights Watch called on the United States to move ?disappeared? persons into known detention facilities, articulate the legal basis under which detainees are held, and allow access to all detainees by independent monitors.

?It?s time for the Bush administration to shut the secret prisons and stop holding people illegally,? said Sifton.

Cambodia: Courts Used to Muzzle Political Opponents

2005-12-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

Cambodia: Courts Used to Muzzle Political Opponents
Politically Motivated Prosecution of Sam Rainsy Should Be Abandoned

(New York, December 20, 2005) ? The Cambodian government should stop using spurious, politically motivated criminal lawsuits as a way to silence its critics, Human Rights Watch said today.

On Thursday, opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who fled the country in February to avoid arrest on trumped-up charges, will be tried in absentia at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of criminal defamation. National Assembly President Norodom Ranariddh is suing Rainsy for allegedly stating that Ranariddh accepted bribes in exchange for agreeing to form a coalition government with Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Rainsy also faces a suit from Prime Minister Hun Sen after allegedly stating that Hun Sen had drawn up a blacklist of political opponents to be assassinated, including Rainsy.

"These charges are politically motivated and should be dropped,? said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "No one in any country should face jail for the peaceful criticism of a country?s leaders. Trials like these are especially dangerous in Cambodia where the courts are controlled by the government.?

Human Rights Watch said that it opposes the use of the criminal law in cases of alleged defamation and is particularly concerned by their use to infringe upon the right of free expression. In addition, in absentia trials violate the rights of an accused under international law to a fair trial, specifically to examine the witnesses and evidence against him.

The defamation suits follow years of harassment and physical attacks by the government on Sam Rainsy and members of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). In February 2005 the National Assembly lifted the immunity of Rainsy and two other SRP parliamentarians in order to press criminal charges against them after the party set up a Westminster-style shadow administration. The government claimed, without producing any credible evidence, that the SRP was forming a private army.

Sam Rainsy, president of the SRP, and Chea Poch, an MP, fled the country before they could be arrested. Poch faces a criminal defamation suit filed by Ranariddh for allegedly saying that Ranariddh joined the coalition government with the CPP after receiving U.S.$30 million from Hun Sen.

The third MP, Cheam Channy, did not try to leave Cambodia and was arrested on charges of forming an illegal rebel army. On August 8 he was sentenced by the military court to seven years' imprisonment for organized crime and fraud. Under Cambodian law the military court does not have jurisdiction to hear cases against civilians. No credible evidence of a criminal law violation was provided at the trial, which was marred by severe procedural irregularities. Channy?s health has reportedly deteriorated while in Tuol Sleng military prison.

"Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh claim that they are committed to pluralism and democracy, but allowing the leader of the opposition to face prison for criticizing them makes a mockery of that commitment," said Adams.

Thursday's trial is the latest in a series of events that have greatly weakened Cambodia's fledgling pluralistic democracy.

Human Rights Watch said that Hun Sen?s government is increasingly using legal action, notably criminal prosecutions for defamation or incitement, to threaten and intimidate civil society figures, journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition political party members.

At least seven critics of a controversial new border treaty with Vietnam face criminal lawsuits initiated by Hun Sen. In October, radio journalist Mom Sonando and Rong Chhum, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, were arrested and are being held without bail on charges of defamation and incitement for publicly opposing the treaty. Human Rights Watch called for their immediate release.

On December 10, municipal authorities demanded the removal of a banner at a Human Rights Day rally, which focused on the subject of freedom of expression, because it allegedly contained statements critical of the prime minister. The authorities are reportedly considering criminal charges against the individuals who made the banner and the organizers of the rally.

"The Cambodian government doesn?t seem to understand the sad irony of threatening critics of the prime minister on International Human Rights Day, but the rest of the world does," said Adams. ?Cambodia seems to be traveling down the path to becoming an elected dictatorship. It is time for Cambodia?s friends in the international community to reengage politically and make it clear to the government that it has to meet its human rights commitments.?

Background

Sam Rainsy, formerly a member of the royalist Funcinpec Party, was removed from his post as minister of finance in 1994 and then expelled from the National Assembly in 1995 after falling out with Ranariddh and Hun Sen. Rainsy subsequently established his own opposition party, the Khmer Nation Party (KNP), but had to change its name after Hun Sen engineered a split in the party that led to renegade party members claiming to be the legitimate representatives of the KNP. In 1998 Rainsy formed the eponymous Sam Rainsy Party. Rainsy and Ranariddh formed an anti-CPP alliance for both the 1998 and 2003 elections, but in each case Ranariddh eventually joined a coalition government with Hun Sen, while Rainsy remained in opposition.

Rainsy has been subject to constant threats of violence and arrest. The most extreme attack occurred on March 30, 1997, when a peaceful rally led by Rainsy against judicial corruption was attacked by grenade throwers, leaving at least 16 dead and 150 injured. Evidence linked Hun Sen?s bodyguard unit to the attack.

Related Material

Cambodia: Opposition MP Jailed After Sham Trial
Press Release, August 9, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaekBBabm08JbpWwZ7b/

Web version of above document is available at:
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaekBBabm08KbpWwZ7b/

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D.R. Congo: Electoral Process at Risk

2005-12-20T11:07:00.001-08:00

Transitional Government, International Donors Must Ensure Safe and Fair Elections

(Brussels, December 15, 2005)?As the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares to launch its first national electoral process in four decades, ongoing divisions in the national army and government repression of civil liberties put the prospect for a peaceful and credible vote at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper (available online at: http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNuabmTCObpWwZ7b/ ) released today.

On Sunday and Monday, some 24 million newly registered voters will be able to vote on a constitutional referendum that would decentralize the Congolese government. If the constitution is adopted, Congolese will go forward with presidential and parliamentary elections due to be held before June 30.

?Congolese politicians and international donors alike want to avoid dealing with serious problems like army reform, repression of civil rights, and rebuilding the shattered judicial system until after the elections,? said Alison Des Forges, senior Africa adviser at Human Rights Watch. ?They fear upsetting the electoral process and take the attitude of ?don?t rock the boat.??

Under the accords that ended the civil war in 2002, former belligerents that now form part of a transitional government were supposed to integrate their troops into a single force that would guarantee security to voters. But so far these armed factions have withheld their strongest troops, keeping them as a reserve should the electoral process fail or should they be dissatisfied with the results of the polls.

Some of the new national army units have joined the United Nations peacekeeping force, known as MONUC, in trying to restore order in eastern Congo where bands of Congolese and foreign combatants continue to prey upon civilians. Moderately successful in some areas, like Ituri, the combined forces are too few and too poorly equipped to bring order everywhere in the vast region. In several places election workers have been attacked by bands opposed to the election.

The arrest of supporters of opposition political parties and journalists, the suspension of various radio stations, and corruption among officials (which may serve to buy political support) also threaten the credibility of the electoral process before it has begun.

?After years of war and suffering, Congolese have high hopes for these elections,? said Des Forges. ?The transitional government and its international supporters must redouble efforts to assure fair and secure elections.?

Related Material

Democratic Republic of Congo - Elections in sight: ?Don?t Rock the Boat??
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNuabmTCObpWwZ7b/

D.R. Congo: Protect Activists Returning From Exile
Press Release, November 14, 2005

Web version of this document is available at: http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNuabmTCPbpWwZ7b/

Germany: Uzbek Security Chief Accused of Crimes against Humanity

2005-12-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

Germany: Uzbek Security Chief Accused of Crimes against Humanity
Suit Filed in Germany Against Uzbek Minister Zokirjon Almatov

(Berlin, December 15, 2005) ? Survivors of torture and the May 13 massacre of unarmed protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan, filed a case on Monday in Germany calling for the prosecution of Zokirjon Almatov, Uzbekistan?s Minister of Internal Affairs, for crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today. Almatov is in Germany receiving medical treatment.

?This case represents a unique opportunity to bring a measure of truth and justice for some of the horrors that occurred under the command of Zokirjon Almatov,? said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. ?While the victims could not safely seek justice in Uzbekistan, German law allows them to seek redress before a German court.?

German law recognizes universal jurisdiction for torture and crimes against humanity. This means that Germany can try and punish the perpetrators of such crimes, no matter where the crimes were committed, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators and victims.

Victims of abuse in Uzbekistan asked the German federal prosecutor to open a criminal investigation and pursue Almatov on three counts: individual crimes of torture, torture as a crime against humanity and the Andijan massacre as a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity include widespread or systematic crimes against civilians, including murder and torture.

Human Rights Watch provided evidence to the prosecutor, supporting the victims? allegations against Almatov. Since the mid-1990s, Human Rights Watch has extensively documented the use of torture by police under Almatov?s command. Human Rights Watch also handed over evidence about the role of the police in the massacre of hundreds of civilians in Andijan in May 2005.

Almatov is accused of being responsible for the use of torture by police in places of pre-trial detention and in prisons, locations under his direct control.

Human Rights Watch said it is now up to the federal prosecutor of Germany to decide whether or not to open a criminal case against Almatov and pursue the matter.

?The facts are there,? said Cartner. ?If the prosecutor applies the law to the facts, Almatov will be arrested and tried in Germany.?

Germany has been a leader in creating accountability mechanisms for the most serious crimes under international law. The German government was a strong supporter of efforts to establish the International Criminal Court, and incorporated that court?s statute of international crimes into its own domestic law. This commitment to international justice reflects Germany?s struggle to come to terms with its own history and its recognition of the importance of bringing to justice those responsible for crimes such as mass slaughter, forced displacement on ethnic grounds and rape as a weapon of war.

?Germany has been a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court and its investigations in Africa,? added Cartner. ?With the Almatov case, Germany has the chance to demonstrate its commitment by bringing justice through its own courts.?

In 2002, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture found torture in Uzbekistan to be ?systematic.? Methods of torture that police use against people in detention include beatings with truncheons, electric shock, hanging people by their wrists or ankles, rape and sexual humiliation, asphyxiation with plastic bags and gas masks, and threats of physical harm to relatives.

One of the cases Human Rights Watch brought to the prosecutor?s attention was that of Muzafar Avazov, who died in August 2002 after having been immersed in boiling water in Jaslyk prison, run by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was arrested on charges of religious extremism.

Almatov also commanded the troops who bore primary responsibility for the mass killings that marked the bloodiest day in Uzbekistan?s recent history.

On May 13, 2005, in Andijan, thousands of protesters, almost all unarmed, were surrounded by troops from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as other security forces. Without warning, these forces opened fire on the crowd, killing and wounding hundreds. Those who tried to escape were mowed down by a waiting flank of government troops or were picked off by snipers posted atop surrounding buildings. Witnesses have said that the fleeing civilians did not stand a chance against the government?s firepower.

One eyewitness to the bloodshed, who saw people shot and killed all around him, told Human Rights Watch, ?It was almost impossible to survive.? He said that the day after the slaughter, police walked among the bodies remaining on the ground and asked, ?Who is wounded?? When those still living answered, ?I am,? the officers fired single shots at them from guns with silencers, killing them. Those who could manage it fled the scene and crossed the border into Kyrgyzstan, and eventually to safety.

?Survivors of the massacre in Andijan have been brave enough to come forward with their memories of that horrible day,? said Cartner. ?They are asking for justice, and they deserve nothing less.?

Related Material

Germany and Accountability for Crimes Against Humanity in Uzbekistan
Questions and Answers
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNFabmTD0bpWwZ7b/

Burying the Truth. Uzbekistan Rewrites the Story of the Andijan Massacre
Report, September 20, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNFabmTD1bpWwZ7b/

?Bullets Were Falling Like Rain.?: The Andijan Massacre, May 13, 2005
Report, June 7, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNFabmTD2bpWwZ7b/

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Theo van Boven.
Report, February 3, 2003
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNFabmTD3bpWwZ7b/

Web version of this document is available at:
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaejNFabmTD4bpWwZ7b/

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In a Shift, Anti-Prostitution Effort Targets Pimps and Johns

2005-12-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

By Laura Blumenfeld
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
Thursday, December 15, 2005; A01

The john peeked into the massage parlor.

"Hi, sweetie," said Kim, the manager of the Korean-run club in downtown Washington.

The john, a tall man in his fifties, stepped inside, smiling anxiously. He wore a chaste white shirt and sharply parted hair, and he smelled as if he'd had a drink.

"Look at his face -- very tired," Kim said as he went inside. "Sad people come. Stress people. This customer stay 30 minutes, then happy. Everybody happy."

Not everybody. A national campaign against prostitution has intensified in political, nonprofit and law enforcement circles, so much so that yesterday the House unanimously passed novel legislation, with the Senate expected to follow.

In the past, police sweeps have focused on the women. The new federal law would grant state and local law enforcement agencies funds to investigate and prosecute the men -- brothel owners and pimps. It would also target for arrest customers like the one at Kim's parlor lurching toward a girl in a bikini.

"You're out of luck," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), summing up the bill's message to the customers.

"The johns use and abuse these young women," said Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio). "And pimps -- you can call them slaveholders, the masters out in the field."

The attitudes of Pryce, who introduced the legislation in the House, and Cornyn, a sponsor in the Senate, reflect a shift in how the government and the public respond to the sex industry. Traditionally, women have been blamed as the source of the problem. But Pryce calls prostitution "modern-day slavery" in which teenage girls are exploited and men fuel the crime.

Behind the scenes, an unlikely coalition of evangelicals, feminists, liberal activists and conservative human rights advocates are pushing the issue. They are trying to reframe the way people talk about prostitutes, calling them "survivors" and signing off e-mails with the slogan "Abolition!"

On a local level, in the past three years, 12 states have passed anti-sex-trafficking legislation, which says that women who are prostituted through coercion, and minors who are sold for sex, are victims. In 15 other states, similar bills have been introduced. Although prostitution is illegal nationwide except in certain Nevada counties, advocates for the legislation said that enforcement and penalties for pimps and johns have been weak, including a tolerance for brothels that advertise as massage parlors.

"We want to drive a stake through the heart of these venal criminals," said Michael J. Horowitz, a coalition leader and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. "This is pure evil."

This is bad news for the john at Kim's parlor, who lumbered out the door 37 minutes after he entered. His smile had relaxed. He looked as though he had just won a long-odds bet. Squinting in the afternoon light, he got into his car to drive home to Virginia, as he does every month after having sex, he said. Then he heard about the legislation.

"Do I look like a criminal?" scowled the man, who gave his name as "John." "I'm a middle-class, law-abiding single white professional. Let me have my fun."

"John" said that the women offer a service to the community, that it is a victimless crime and that lawmakers should concentrate on more important issues, such as the war in Iraq.

"It's like going to a doctor. A love doctor," he said. He spread his fingers, as if to show his hands were clean: "Is this a problem?"

Focusing on Demand
Though far apart politically, Democratic Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (N.Y.) and Republican Pryce were in Pryce's office, conferring on an issue they could agree upon.

"I don't think pimps care if a customer is a Republican or Democrat, do they?" quipped Maloney.
On a recent afternoon that Pryce called "one of the worst politically partisan days I have ever spent on Capitol Hill in 13 years," Pryce smiled as she talked with Maloney about the measure they introduced in April. Commercial sex, said Maloney, is about supply and demand. Women are the supply; men create demand. "We want to crack down on the demand," she said.

While the approach enjoys political support, some in the Justice Department have objected to referring to women engaged in an illegal activity as "victims" and have resisted federalizing what has been a local issue, proponents said.

Also, some nongovernmental organizations that advocate for the rights of sex workers question the effectiveness of focusing on demand. "It's punitive rather than preventative," said Ann D. Jordan, who directs the Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons at Global Rights. She said the measure fails to address the causes of prostitution, such as poverty. Federal money would be better spent on job training, said Juhu Thukral of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York.

Penelope Saunders, director of Different Avenues, which works with marginalized communities, said that "according this bill, all the men who are buying commercial sex are monsters -- and that's simply not true." Some johns help sex workers by reporting violent pimps, she said. Scaring away regular customers would force prostitutes into riskier behavior. Saunders said that calling these women "victims of sexual slavery" is inaccurate, patronizing and a "thinly veiled effort" to promote a conservative moral agenda.

But to Barrett Duke, a coalition member and vice president at the Southern Baptist Convention, the comparison to slavery is apt. He draws inspiration from 19th-century Christians. They fought the slave trade in England by working with "people of good will, who were not Christians, who understood that trade of human flesh was an abomination."

In Duke's coalition, the people of good will include Orthodox Jews, abortion-rights feminists and gay-rights liberals. At meetings, Duke said, they ease political tensions by joking: "One of us will say, 'Oh, you're out there working on that judges stuff!' We'll get a chuckle. Everyone sheathes their swords, but they're never very far from reach."

Donna M. Hughes, a professor of women's studies at the University of Rhode Island, said she was suspicious at first. She looked across the table at Duke and at a woman from the conservative Concerned Women for America: "I thought, 'Don't they eat feminists for breakfast?' "

Ultimately, they were able to march together by blinding themselves to everything but the women they hope to help.
On the Hill, Maloney said it was the reason she could team up with Pryce, chairman of the House Republican Conference. Maloney had met a woman named Tina Frundt at a hearing, who told her life story. Frundt said her foster mother's boyfriend had sold her for sex at the age of 10. "I kept interrupting her," Maloney said. As Frundt tried to talk, Maloney's stomach churned. "Psychologically, I could not stand to hear her."

Victimless Crime 'a Lie'
Frundt was 14 when a man in his twenties persuaded her to run away. She thought it was about love. He brought his friends over to gang-rape her. Soon he was selling her body to support them: $75 for oral sex, $100 to $125 for "basic sex," $200 for anal sex or for an additional person. A pimp who controls four women, said Derek Ellerman, co-executive director of the Polaris Project, an anti-sex-trafficking group, makes more than $600,000 a year in cash. When Frundt disobeyed her pimp, she said, he broke her arm with a bat.

"I was 14. I looked 14. I was sleeping with men who were 65 years old," said Frundt, 31, who joined the left-right coalition. She said her customers, bald and wrinkled, had sex while complaining about their wives; she closed her eyes. One fat client reeked of Bengay ointment. Afterward, she threw up. "They're sexual molesters and child abusers. I have to remember that abuse for the rest of my life. So why shouldn't they?"

Frundt, now a counselor at the Polaris Project, said that the average age of girls who enter the sex trade is 13. Like victims of domestic violence, she said, the girls are afraid to leave their pimps. They call their pimps "Daddy." If they report a pimp -- "He's going to beat your butt."

It was stories such as Frundt's, said Cornyn, that convinced him he should fight for the legislation. "A victimless crime?" he said. "Yeah, right, that's a lie."

And yet for Frundt and for others in the coalition, it is hard to believe that anyone would care. Norma Hotaling, founder of the SAGE Project Inc., a drug and mental health program for women in San Francisco, has a metal plate in her head with wires and screws from a pimp who delivered a "bitch slap" when she refused to work.

As the director of SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation), Hotaling attended a reception in Congress for the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which passed in 2000. The act assists foreign women who are sold for sex. At the reception, Hotaling met Horowitz, whose coalition had worked on a variety of human rights issues including religious persecution abroad and global sex trafficking.

"I said, 'What about me? What about my sisters?' " Hotaling said. Horowitz told her he was mired in anti-prison-rape legislation but when he was done he would address domestic sex trafficking. "I thought I was hallucinating," she said. "I was talking to someone who was very right-wing -- and he was concerned."

In their work together, Hotaling encouraged Horowitz to include a provision about educating and sensitizing law enforcement. She recalled the night the pimp broke her eye socket. The police let him go. They said it was her fault. Her cheekbone and jaw were crushed, so all she could do was wince -- mute -- when one of the men shrugged and said, "She's just a whore."

Photos on the Web, Decoys
About 50 detectives were watching a training video on human and sexual trafficking at the Washington Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. Men with shaved heads who were chewing on toothpicks, burly men in leather jackets -- recoiled, appalled.

A 14-year-old girl, the narrator said, had been locked in a room and was forced to have sex with 30 men a day.
"Oh, my God," a detective said, rapping the table with his wedding band.
A prosecutor from the Washington U.S. attorney's office noted that this was the program's first year in the District. "We need your help, you're the ones on the streets," said Sharon Marcus-Kurn, coordinator of the District's Human Trafficking Task Force. "This is a national effort."

In cities around the country, U.S. attorney's offices, the FBI, local prosecutors and nongovernmental organizations are developing similar task forces. The new legislation would assist them because, in addition to funding shelters for ex-prostitutes and sponsoring a statistical survey of prostitution, it would authorize $25 million a year to law enforcement to reduce demand. Techniques would include using female decoys, posting pictures of johns on the Internet and establishing "john schools" to reeducate sex clients.

Hughes said that 90 percent of prostitution arrests are of women: "There's been a conspiracy of silence of men not wanting to hold other men accountable."

That pattern is changing, if slowly, law enforcement officials said. In New York City, said Tony Communiello, from the Queens district attorney's office, they have instituted the "Losing Proposition," where undercover policewomen try to seize the john's car. In St. Louis, said Len Tracy, chief investigator at the St. Charles County prosecutor's office, they are applying drug-trafficking techniques to pimps, charging them with financial crimes. In Las Vegas, said Victor Vigna, a sergeant on the metropolitan police force, they administer HIV tests for arrested johns and show them photos of genitals covered with disease-related lesions.

And yet, despite these efforts, the pimp in the '05 black DeVille idling his engine after midnight, greeted the news with a shake of his braids and a snort. "They can't stop it," said Steve, who would not give his last name. He sat at the corner of 15th and L streets NW, watching a girl in a miniskirt flitting in the cold. The shadow of the steering wheel cut across his face. "People can be bought. It's gone back to cave days."

Steve dismissed the measure as a political stunt, noting that lawmakers have been clients, too. He said that "some women like being exploited" and suggested that abolishing prostitution would trigger a rise in rapes and killings: "You got a lot of sick-minded people out here."

But at least one massage-parlor manager is worried. Kay slouched into a white satin couch at one of eight massage parlors within a 10-block radius of the White House. A girl in a white bikini slipped across the red lights, into a massage room that has a clock with a second hand. Kay used to be a massage therapist, too, she said, but at 55 she's too old.

The legislation, Kay said, "makes me a headache." The parlor will lose clients and she'll lose her job. A frown gathered at the edge of her lips, but then she smoothed her long red hair and smiled. "I'll have to find a nice man, and settle down."

Korean woman says she'll be forced into prostitution if deported

2005-12-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

Canadian Press
Dec. 15, 2005 07:10 AM

VANCOUVER, Canada - A South Korean family fearing for their lives is hoping the support of Fort Nelson residents will sway Canadian Immigration officials from deporting them.

Eun Ju Jung, 18, said the family received a deportation order Oct. 24 but that it was extended to Wednesday and nervously await the next move by immigration officials.

Jung said she, her older sister and their parents are afraid to go back to Korea because her father owes a $7 million US debt.
"My father was involved in a corruption scandal in Korea," she said in a telephone interview from Fort Nelson in northern B.C. "We don't want to go back because there's a lot of people looking for my parents, my family."

She said gangsters hired to collect the massive debt will force her and her 22-year-old sister to work as prostitutes.

Jung said she doesn't know many of the details involving her father's shady past, for which he spent 2½ years in prison, but that their lives will be in danger if Canadian officials don't allow them to stay in Canada.

"I just know that I can't go back to Korea because there's a lot of gangsters who's looking for me and my sister to sell us to a whorehouse."

"They want the money but my parents doesn't have any money to pay them back."

While the Jungs' attempts to stay in Canada as refugee claimants have so far failed, they're hoping support from the community, including the mayor and Conservative MP Jay Hill, will help their cause.

Complicating matters is the fact that Jung's father, Kyu Man Jung, was diagnosed with terminal stomach and liver cancer in October.

Jung said she, her sister and mother went to Los Angeles in 1997 while her father was in jail. The family reunited in Vancouver in 2000 after her father was released from prison.

In August 2004, they moved to the northern B.C. town of Fort Nelson, where the women in the family work in a motel.

Mayor Chris Morey said the Jungs are hard working and should get a chance to remain in Canada under humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

"We're looking at two young women and a mother looking at starting a new life," she said. "They claim that they're in danger to go back. All I can remark on is the fact that they seem so genuine and sincere."

Ken Yoon, also of Fort Nelson, said he has loaned the Jungs a mobile home to live in.

Yoon said Jung's wife will also be in trouble if she returns to Korea because she was involved in running her husband's business in which he worked as a dealer selling government bonds and car licences.

"There's a real tragedy that they try to kick out a dying man," Yoon said of Canada's immigration officials. "They really need help."

Canada's Missing Women

2005-12-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of Aboriginal Women Disappearing in Canada, Some on the "Highway of Tears"
By Joan Delaney
Epoch Times Victoria Staff
Dec 15, 2005
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-12-15/35787.html

Nineteen-year-old Helen Betty Osborne was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered in The Pas, Manitoba on November 12, 1971. Three decades later, on March 25, 2003, Helen's cousin, Felicia Solomon, went missing in Winnipeg. Her body parts were found three months later, but her killer has yet to be found.

In the years between these two murders, more than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing across Canada, from Vancouver to Ottawa, Edmonton to Halifax. Some have been murdered, some are missing and presumed dead, and others seem to have disappeared into thin air. A large number of the missing women were drug addicts and prostitutes living out a desperate existence in some of Canada's seediest districts.

Police Protection?

Local governments and police insist they are doing all they can to halt the deadly trend. But the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) says there is a failure on the part of the authorities to acknowledge that a disproportionate number of murdered and missing Canadian women are of aboriginal descent and that much more needs to be done.

"It's important that the general population begin to understand the devastating effects this has had on aboriginal communities and families," says NWAC's executive director Sherry Lewis. "People haven't really been exposed to the magnitude of the problem."

In 1996, a shocking government statistic showed that aboriginal women were five times more likely to die as a result of violence than any other group of Canadian women. In their 2004 "Stolen Sisters" report, Amnesty International said that while there has been a lack of effective action on the part of police and government agencies, the "social and economic marginalization" of indigenous women is the reason so many end up living in dangerous situations.

The report cites a history of governmental policies that have torn apart aboriginal families and communities, eventually propelling a large percentage of women into extreme poverty, homelessness and prostitution. The vulnerability of these women is in turn exploited by "indigenous and non-indigenous men to carry out acts of extreme brutality against them."

Amnesty says that acts of violence against these women are due to racism and perpetrators realizing there is little chance of repercussion as the authorities seem indifferent to the welfare of native women.

Amidst allegations of racism and neglect by the people of The Pas after Helen Betty Osborne's murder, a 1999 inquiry into how the investigation was conducted found that racism played a significant part in the case.

It also found that police had long been aware that white men were preying on young native women in the town but "did not feel that the practice necessitated any particular vigilance." The inquiry recommended that the same mistakes not be repeated and that an apology be issued to the Osborne family.

Director Lewis says "there are issues" regarding racism in the police force. "Sisters in Spirit," a campaign launched by NWAC in 2004 in response to the alarmingly high levels of violence against aboriginal women, plans to interact with police at various levels to improve issues such as a lack of trust between natives and police.

"Highway of Tears"

Lewis says the missing persons reporting process is a key area that needs to be improved because in many cases police will not file a report until after someone has been missing for 48 hours, by which time the trail has gone cold. She adds that Sisters in Spirit will also develop a media strategy because historically the media is much more likely to report the disappearance or death of a Caucasian than that of an aboriginal.

"When a number of aboriginal women had gone missing along the Highway of Tears, little or no media attention was paid," says Lewis. "But when Nicole Hoar, a non-aboriginal woman, disappeared on that same highway there was a media frenzy."

Amnesty estimates that at least 32 native women have disappeared on Highway 16, the notorious "Highway of Tears." The long and desolate stretch of road runs between Prince Rupert and Terrace, British Columbia. Many people hitchhike along this highway, but some, mostly young native women, never reach their destinations.

Serial Killers

Other "hotspots" where native women have been disappearing are near the Halifax Airport and in and around Edmonton, where 12 prostitutes have been murdered in the last 16 years five since January 2003.

AIDS educator Amber O'Hara, who gives HIV/AIDS workshops on reserves across the country and is writing a book on the disappearances, says there is no doubt that serial killers are operating in many parts of Canada. She believes there have been at least five serial killers preying on women in B.C. at different times. The disappearances along highway 16, she says, are the work of one man.

Approximately half the 67 women missing from the Vancouver downtown east side are native, and many of those are thought to have been victims of Robert Pickton, a serial killer from Port Coquitlam who has so far been charged with the murders of 27 women, most of them prostitutes. Police, who are actively investigating seven of the deaths that occurred on Highway 16, have said there is no evidence that it is the work a serial killer but have not completely ruled out the possibility.

O'Hara says that for years before Pickton was caught, the Vancouver police refused to believe there was a serial killer operating in the area. O'Hara also finds it frustrating that there aren't more treatment and detoxification programs available, saying that many of the women who went missing from Vancouver's downtown eastside were on waiting lists for drug treatment. She believes that if women were given adequate support and a safe place to recover, ninety percent of them would turn their life around.

"Our government just doesn't see addiction as the disease that it is," says O'Hara. "Nobody grew up wanting to be a drug addict or a prostitute. I'm tired of hearing the government say they don't have the money."

Amazed She's Still Alive

Sadie Morris, a 20-something native girl who currently lives on the streets of Calgary, says that the disappearances of aboriginal girls is often tied to drugs debts. "That's what most of the people die from," she says. "Owing money and, you know, doing too many drugs.

"They owe money to somebody and they can't get out of it&so they wind up dead or stabbed or something."

Morris, who began working the streets as a prostitute in Vancouver at age 13, says she is amazed she's still alive.

"I've seen lots in Vancouver. I've seen girls in dumpsters. I've seen girls get stabbed right in the middle of the street and get taken away, just like that. And there's nothing you can do about it or else you'll end up like that."

Morris's account is corroborated by another young native girl on the streets of Calgary, who wishes only to be known as Larisha.

Larisha believes many young native girls find themselves on the streets because of drug problems. Both she and Sadie identify crack and cocaine as the most pandemic. Disappearances are often the result of girls fleeing either from abusive men or drug debts, or being killed for their debts.

Larisha recounts the story of a friend of hers who had been involved in prostitution and developed a drug problem. "I guess she owed some money for drugs," she says, holding back tears. "It wasn't good, I tried to stop her from doing that stuff, but it didn't work."

Last year, police found her friend's body in a Calgary river, suspecting the girl had been raped and killed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2000 - 2005 Epoch Times International

Indian prostitute mum sparks storm

2005-12-20T11:03:00.001-08:00

By Alpana Sarma
December 15, 2005

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Her long, wavy, black hair tied loosely in a knot, 50-year-old Nalini Jameela looks like any other Indian housewife. But this attractive, largely uneducated mother of two is a best-selling author and prostitute whose outspoken views of sex work as a career choice have stirred controversy in conservative India.

Her "Oru Lyngikathozhilaliyude Athmakatha", or The Autobiography of a Sex Worker, dictated to a social activist because she can't write, has angered both feminists, who say it glorifies sex work, and conservatives, who think prostitutes should keep quiet.

"I have written this book for other sex workers. I wanted to talk about it to remove the stigma," Jameela told Reuters through a translator over the phone from her home state of Kerala.

"People think we are bad because we have sex for money. Nobody understands our grief."

Jameela was forced into prostitution 25 years ago when her first husband died, leaving her with a child to support. Sex work paid more than she was earning as a factory worker. She charges her clients between 500-1,000 rupees ($11-$22) per visit.

Her first customer was a policeman. When she came out of the room the next morning, she was beaten up by police on orders of another policeman she had turned down.

"I felt humiliated, but I had no option but to continue."

Jameela estimates she has had sex with more than 1,000 men since then -- she took some time off after her later marriages -- and feels her work is an important social service.

"If there is no sex work, it would lead to a situation comparable to a pressure cooker with its safety valve locked on. The truth is that sex workers are doing a great service," she says in her book in the southern language of Malayalam.

It's a view that angers some feminists.

SEX TALK TABOO

"Prostitution is considered as work" in the book, said K. Ajitha, president of Anweshi, a Kerala women's group. "I don't accept that. Women in prostitution have only the right to sell their bodies, they don't have the right to choose."

Written with I. Gopinath, an activist who works with sex workers, the book has sold more than 10,000 copies in less than six months in a market where 5,000 in a year is a best seller.

Jameela has so far earned 84,000 rupees ($1,830) from book sales.

But in India, public displays of affection are frowned upon and talking about sex publicly is still taboo.

One popular south Indian actress has been pelted with sandals, tomatoes and rotten eggs and hauled before a court for suggesting women might have sex before marriage and telling men not to expect their brides to be virgins anymore.

Protests over her comments lasted more than a month.

Prostitution is outlawed, but India has more than two million sex workers living on the fringes of society. They have few rights and abuse by both customers and the police is common.

Commercial sex is one of the main drivers of the spread of HIV/AIDS and India has more than 5 million reported cases of people living with the virus, rivalling South Africa as the worst hit nation.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates more than 20 million people could be infected with HIV in India by 2010 and economists warn it could undermine India's rise to economic superpower status.

Alarmed by the rising numbers, the government's Planning Commission has recommended prostitution be legalised to help fight AIDS.

Many prostitutes are pushed into the trade by traffickers and by poverty and some, including thousands of girls smuggled in from Nepal each year, are held as sex slaves for a decade or more.

Against this backdrop, some women activists accuse Gopinath of interpreting Jameela's words in a way that glorifies prostitution.

"They cannot imagine that a woman on the street can say such things. I cannot imagine all this. These are Jameela's ideas, not mine," Gopinath says.

Says V.C. Harris, a professor at Kerala's MG University: "This is not a victim's book. One of the most striking things about the book is the confidence and inner strength that exudes from it."

Like many women in India, Jameela's education is minimal. She finished school after third grade, which is roughly about 7 years old. Over the years, she married three times and has two grown daughters, now both housewives.

Autobiography of a Sex Worker has brought a degree of fame, money and respect. Jameela's 24-year-old daughter Seena, married and pregnant with her first child, is happy with her mother's fame.

"Earlier, people used to say that because my mother is a prostitute, I must also be one. But now when they call me Nalini Jameela's daughter I feel very good," Seena says.

Neither Seena, nor her sister Latha, have followed their mother's footsteps, although Jameela says that she would not have stopped them from becoming prostitutes if they had wanted to.

"It is not just my daughters. I will tell other women also about the hardships of sex work and then if they want to get into it, I won't stop them," Jameela says.
For her part, Jameela intends to continue with sex work as long as she stays healthy, saying she has had more freedom as a sex worker than she has ever had as a wife.

"Looking back, I find life as a sex worker more enjoyable. As a wife one has to listen, to always be dominated by someone," Jameela said.

"I like being a sex worker. Some become lawyers, doctors. It was my choice to become to a sex worker."

Mafia arms, drugs, prostitution ring smashed - Italian police

2005-12-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

ROME (AFX) - A Mafia drugs, arms and prostitution network was smashed overnight in an operation spanning six European countries and involving dozens of arrests, Italian police said.

Most of the 80 arrests took place in Italy and Albania while others were detained in Germany, Ukraine, Kosovo and Croatia, in an operation codenamed 'Harem'.

Police said profits from the criminal network went to the Calabrian Mafia in Italy.

The network allegedly forced eastern European women into prostitution in Italy and trafficked drugs as well as guns destined for the Ndrangheta organised crime group in Calabria, southern Italy.

'The operation delivers a serious blow to an Italo-Albanian organisation involved in the trade of human beings and the traffic of drugs and narcotics,' Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said in a statement.

'Large quantities of drugs have bein seized in Calabria, in other regions of Italy and in Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Ukraine and Germany,' the statement added.

Italian security officials believe Ndrangheta organised the mid-October murder of Francesco Fortugno, the deputy chairman of Calabria's regional council, who died after being shot several times in a local election office.

Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved.

China: Dongzhou Killings Need Independent Investigation

2005-12-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Chinese Citizens Launch Public Call for Impartial Probe
(New York, December 15, 2005) ? An independent and transparent investigation into the December 6 killing of protestors in Dongzhou village is urgently needed, Human Rights Watch said today. The incident in Guangdong province is the first known shooting of public protestors since the June 1989 massacre of democracy advocates in Tiananmen Square.

Chinese authorities have admitted that three people were killed when security forces fired at villagers protesting inadequate compensation for land expropriated for a power plant. Villagers speaking over the phone with foreign journalists put the toll much higher, with some suggesting as many as 20 dead and some 40 missing. Dongzhou has reportedly been sealed off, with roadblocks set up to keep journalists out.

?Unfortunately, China has no record of conducting credible and transparent investigations into the actions of its security forces,? said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. ?The legacy of Tiananmen makes it all the more important that the Chinese government take this opportunity to reach out and collaborate with independent experts.?

The Dongzhou killings took place after a large crowd gathered to protest the arrest of villagers involved in the power plant negotiations. With the village sealed off and an almost complete domestic news blackout in effect in China, it is difficult to determine the exact sequence of events.

In an open letter circulated Tuesday, more than 50 Chinese intellectuals demanded an independent investigation, stating, ?We strongly protest at the Chinese government?s failure to publicly explain, clarify and investigate the killings. We protest against its gross action to forbid domestic media from reporting on the case.?

Human Rights Watch said it agreed with the authors of the letter and urged China to immediately invite the United Nations or another independent body to investigate the killings.

In Dongzhou, the first official response was to claim that the shootings occurred only after well-organized villagers initiated the violence. Chinese authorities called the incident ?a serious violation of the law.? However, local residents told foreign journalists that many more people had been killed than officially reported, that security forces had opened fire without warning and that the paramilitary People?s Armed Police (PAP) was seen in the vicinity. Only then did the government begin to backpedal.

In a rare move, an unnamed officer who was identified by the Guangdong provincial government as the commanding officer at the scene has been arrested. The government said on Sunday that he was a police commander, detained for mishandling the incident that caused ?mistaken deaths and accidental injuries,? and that his ?wrong actions? were to blame for the killings.

?The government has admitted that an official had at least some responsibility for what happened in Dongzhou,? said Adams. ?But we are all left to guess what exactly he or she did.?

Human Rights Watch called for the name of the arrested officer to be officially released, for his alleged role in the killings to be made public and for an explanation to be offered about who had the authority to give the order to open fire on the protestors. Questions also remain about whether and why the PAP was deployed, who ordered deployment, the standing rules for the PAP and other security forces in policing demonstrations and which officials were responsible for the apparent cover-up in the days after the killings.

?Because of the lack of transparency, we don?t know whether the commander is a scapegoat, or if he is only one of many who should be arrested,? said Adams. ?The investigation must be conducted openly for people to have confidence that powerful figures will not be protected.?

International media interviews with local residents suggest that many villagers have been arrested, including the alleged ?ringleaders? of the protests. Human Rights Watch called for any detainees to be identified, given access to counsel of their choice and quickly be charged or released. Given China?s long history of the use of torture in custody, Human Rights Watch expressed concern for the welfare of the detainees.

?Independent monitors should be given immediate access to any detainees to make sure they are not being mistreated,? said Adams.

Jordan: Flawed Justice in Death Penalty Cases

2005-12-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

Miscarriage of Justice New Reason to Abolish Death Penalty

(Cairo, December 14, 2005) ? New information in a murder case that led to the execution of a suspect in 2000 provides a compelling new reason for Jordan to abolish the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. The Jordanian justice system has failed dramatically in the murder case against Bilal Musa, executing him for murder based on a confession that was likely obtained as a result of torture, but exonerating another man who voluntarily confessed to committing the same crime.

?These two cases exemplify the Jordanian judiciary?s failure to conduct even the most basic inquiry into the facts, even in the most serious cases,? said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. ?Jordan should urgently follow King Abdullah?s call to abolish the death penalty to prevent tragic cases like this in the future.?

On April 27, 2000, the Serious Crimes Court in Amman ordered the execution of Bilal Musa for the 1995 murder of Najih Khayyat, despite his claim to have been tortured into confessing and the lack of any apparent connection to the victim. But on September 26, 2005, the same court cleared Zuhair Khatib, who insisted that he was the real killer.

The judges also convicted Musa of murdering nine other people over a period of four years, based entirely on his contested confessions. The prosecution failed to present any evidence linking Musa to the death of Khayyat or to the other murders. The court relied solely on a confession that was obtained as a result of torture, according to the court testimony of a witness who testified he had heard Musa screaming from beatings he received while being interrogated.

Musa never disputed an eleventh case, in which he claimed he killed a friend who was sexually assaulting Musa?s wife, Susan Ibrahim. She was a co-defendant in the cases against Musa. The court failed to investigate Musa?s and Ibrahim?s allegations of torture.

On December 7, 2000, Musa was executed by hanging at Swaqa Prison, just south of Amman. The court also convicted his wife, Susan Ibrahim, of murder but reduced her sentence to life in prison with hard labor. Ibrahim died in prison several months after her husband?s execution.

On May 15, 2005, five years after this high profile case had been closed, two of the same judges at the Serious Crimes Court convicted Khatib for the murder of Khayyat and two others. According to court papers, Khatib had voluntarily and spontaneously confessed to the murder of Khayyat, although the police sought him only in connection to two unrelated murders, to which he also confessed. The court accepted his confession and convicted him of all three killings

?The Khayyat case points to the dangers of relying on disputed confessions without further evidence to establish the truth,? Whitson said. ?Rigorous scrutiny of evidence and the court?s desire to establish the truth are sadly absent in these cases.?

When the court realized that it had already sentenced Musa to death for the same murder, the case went to the Court of Cassation, which sent it back to the lower court for review.

On September 26, the Serious Crimes Court reversed its decision to convict Khatib for the murder of Khayyat, arguing that Musa?s confession corresponded more closely with the facts of the murder, notwithstanding Musa?s claim that police had dictated his confession. The court?s dismissal of Khatib?s voluntary confession to the murder of Khayyat was apparently based only on their realization that they had already executed a man for the crime.

Three times this court has issued a verdict on who murdered Najih Khayyat. Two of the three judges on the bench ruled in both cases. Confronted with exactly the same facts, the judges once found Khatib ?guilty? and once found him ?not guilty.? Despite a lack of corroborating evidence and allegations of a confession obtained as a result of torture, they found Musa guilty and had him executed.

?The same judges who initially relied on Musa?s and Khatib?s confessions without significant testing of the evidence should not be called on to review the verdicts,? Whitson said. ?There needs to be an independent inquiry.?

Human Rights Watch today published a letter to the Jordanian prime minister urging him to support abolishing the death penalty, to start an independent investigation into these two cases and to overhaul the investigation techniques of Jordanian courts. King Abdullah said this month that he wanted Jordan to be the first country in the region to abolish the death penalty.

?These two cases are a stunning example of the Jordanian judiciary?s failure to conduct even the most basic inquiry into the facts surrounding the most serious crimes with the most serious penalty,? said Whitson. ?The police, prosecutors and judges appear to have had little interest in establishing the truth, and every interest in rushing through murder verdicts based on confessions likely extracted under torture.?

Related Material

Letter to His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Marouf Bakhit
Letter, December 14, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaej1aabmVl0bpWwZ7b/

Web version of above document is available at:
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaej1aabmVl1bpWwZ7b/

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U.S. crackdown on child prostitution hits Michigan

2005-12-20T11:00:00.001-08:00

December 17, 2005
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Detroit Free Press

Two Toledo girls -- one 14 years old, the other 15 -- were held against their will and forced to perform sex for pay at hotels in Ohio and a truck stop in Michigan, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Friday in Detroit.

The indictment was one of four unsealed in four states Friday in a continuing federal crackdown on child prostitution. Another case involved three Detroit men accused of recruiting women and teenage girls to work as prostitutes in Detroit, Honolulu, Las Vegas and New York.

"These are the types of acts that occur unfortunately and regrettably in our district almost on a daily basis," U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III said Friday. "We have no tolerance for it." Four people were charged in the Toledo case: Deric Willoughby, 40, who authorities accused of being the girls' pimp; Brandy Shope, 19, and Jennifer Huskey, 24, alleged prostitutes, and Richard Lamar Gordon, 40, a trucker from Etowah, Tenn., who is accused of driving the girls to Michigan and paying one of the girls $100 to have sex at a truck stop in Dexter. Willoughby, Shope and Huskey are from Toledo.

Authorities said the teenage girls were picked up by Willoughby and Shope on May 13 and taken to Willoughby's residence in Toledo. When the girls asked to leave, Willoughby locked the door and told them they couldn't, authorities said.

No details were released about how or why the girls met Willoughby and Shope.

Court papers said Shope and Huskey told the girls they would work as prostitutes for Willoughby or they'd be hurt. They also were told to call him "daddy" as a sign of respect.

During the 10 days they were held, they were assaulted by Willoughby and forced to engage in sex acts as Shope and Huskey watched and collected money from customers, authorities said.

At some point, the court records said, the girls were taken to a store parking lot in Toledo, where they got into a truck with Gordon, who took them to a truck stop along I-94 in Dexter in Washtenaw County. Prosecutors allege he paid $100 to have sex with one of the girls as Huskey watched.

The other girl was forced to have sex with other truckers as Shope watched, court papers said.

Washtenaw County sheriff's deputies received a prostitution complaint and began investigating.

Willoughby, Shope and Huskey were later arrested in Toledo, but federal authorities did not reveal Friday when that arrest was made or when or how the girls were freed.

Court papers did say, however, that Willoughby caused one of the girls to fall from his second-story window when the girl's father went there to rescue her. Authorities did not elaborate.

Willoughby, Shope and Huskey are in federal custody.

Gordon, who was released after being questioned by sheriff's deputies, is being sought. The FBI is asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to call 313-965-2323.

All four are charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting in the sex trafficking of children, and aiding and abetting interstate transportation of minors for prostitution. Sex trafficking of children carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In the other Michigan case, Robert Lewis Young, 44, of Detroit is accused of recruiting women and two Hawaiian girls, ages 16 and 17, to become prostitutes between March and July 2004 in a ring that stretched from Detroit to Nevada, New York and Hawaii.

Some of the prostitutes worked on the street while others worked out of motels, authorities said.

They said Young operated a Web-based escort business that featured pornography, including photos of unidentified children, and a Honolulu travel brokerage agency that made travel arrangements for prostitutes.

Two Detroit men accused of being associates of Young -- Jeffrey McCoy, 44, and George Abro, 29, also were charged, as was Joe Awethe, alleged to be Young's bodyguard. His age and hometown were not released.

Young was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas; McCoy was arrested Thursday in Honolulu, and will be taken to Detroit. Abro is expected to surrender to federal authorities on Monday. Awethe's status was unclear Friday.

Young is charged with sex trafficking of children, transportation of a minor for criminal sexual activity, sexual exploitation of children, interstate distribution of child pornography, racketeering and other charges.

McCoy is charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Abro is charged with money laundering and racketeering.

The men also were charged in Hawaii. Prosecutors must still decide where they will be tried.

The other indictments announced Friday involved prostitution cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

All told, 31 people were charged in the indictments, the latest in a program dubbed Innocence Lost. More than 200 victims have been identified since the program began in 2003.

Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER at 313-223-4490 or ashenf@freepress.com.

19 Arrested in Federal Crackdown on Child Prostitution Rings

2005-12-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Associated Press
The Washington Post
Saturday, December 17, 2005; Page A13

Prostitution rings from New York to Hawaii forced 30 children, some as young as 12, to have sex at truck stops, hotels and brothels, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday in announcing a government crackdown.

Nineteen people have been arrested among 31 who have been indicted for sexual trafficking in children, taking minors across state lines for prostitution and other crimes, Gonzales said. "The abhorrent acts alleged in these charges include children being herded around the country as sex slaves . . . and beaten at the hands of pimps and peddlers," he said at a Justice Department news conference.

The indictments, in Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, target the purported operators of four child prostitution rings. Some of the children had been reported missing or had run away because they had been abused at home, FBI assistant director Chris Swecker said.

A grand jury in Camden, N.J., indicted eight people Wednesday on charges that they conspired to recruit girls to be prostitutes in Atlantic City, Las Vegas and New York, according to court documents. The defendants managed a prostitution ring that also extended to Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, the indictment said.

In Detroit, a grand jury charged four Ohio residents with forcing two girls, 14 and 15, to have sex at a truck stop in Michigan. The girls had been held as prisoners in Toledo, Ohio, where they were told to address one defendant as "Daddy," and taken to hotel rooms for prostitution. A second indictment in Michigan charges three men with prostitution, child pornography, money laundering, and drug and weapons violations. Their organization did business in Michigan and Hawaii, prosecutors said.

In Pennsylvania, 16 people have been charged for their roles in taking girls as young as 12 to work as prostitutes at truck stops in the Harrisburg area and in Washington and Toledo. The defendants also allegedly gave and sold child and adult prostitutes to one another for personal use, prosecutors said.

Domestic child prostitution cases have been a federal law enforcement priority since 2003 with the Justice Department's Innocence Lost Initiative. When Gonzales became attorney general in February, he said he would focus on reducing all forms of human trafficking. There have been more than 500 arrests, 70 indictments and 67 convictions in such cases since 2003, he said.

Task force seeks signs of slave trade in El Paso

2005-12-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
Monday, December 19, 2005

The shadowy routes of modern-day slavery rings may run through El Paso, say members of a local human trafficking task force formed earlier this year.

Human trafficking is not the same as human smuggling. Smugglers get paid a fee to sneak someone across a border. In the global phenomenon of human trafficking, men, women and children are held to work against their will.

"Basically, human trafficking is modern-day slavery," said Paul Piñon, the El Paso Human Trafficking Task Force coordinator. "They are not free to come and go. They are forced to work in everything from brothels (to) sweatshops and agricultural industry work, and their wages are used to pay off their 'smuggling debt.' "

The issue of human trafficking has received more attention this year as the United States and other nations work to address a problem often linked to organized crime, prostitution and the child sex trade.

El Paso was among 18 U.S. communities chosen for the location of human trafficking task forces after being identified by the Department of Justice, according to the "Trafficking in Persons Report" issued in June by the U.S. State Department. Albuquerque, San Antonio and Houston also were chosen.

"The reason (authorities) chose El Paso is they suspect this is a high-volume area where (victims) are coming across," said El Paso Police Lt. Patrick Maloney, who is on the task force. "We are trying to intercept them before they get to any destination."

Maloney said the task force was created not to enforce federal immigration laws but to deal with state criminal law violations. The biggest challenge is finding victims in the secretive world of traffickers, he said.

The El Paso task force includes the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Border Patrol and the FBI.

Mexican authorities have spoken out against human trafficking, but a lack of resources and endemic corruption make it difficult for that country to fight trafficking, according to the U.S. State Department report. Human trafficking in Mexico has strong links to organized crime and gangs.

Up to 20,000 children in Mexico are estimated to be victims of commercial sexual exploitation linked to trafficking.

Traffickers typically lure the poor with false promises of a good job in another city or country. Once they arrive at the destination, the victims are held in involuntary servitude.

"This is all done through the use of force, fraud or coercion. The force can be physical. Oftentimes they make threats against the person's family in their home country," said Jennifer Romero, an FBI victims specialist.

"I think it's bigger than we realize. ... This is not just people of Hispanic descent. We are talking about Asians, Russians. It has no boundaries," Romero said.

Human trafficking has been linked to cases as varied as child camel racing in the Middle East and prostitution in Europe. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders each year, and about 80 percent are women and girls, the U.S. State Department reported.

"It's a big issue right now in the USA, and everybody is working together," said Sister Liliane Alam, executive director at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso. Victims "are promised different jobs, and once they arrive, they are in a different situation. Locally ... we don't know how big it is."

To read the "Trafficking in Persons Report" by the U.S. State Department, go online to www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

Salvadoran Nationals in the U.S.

2005-12-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

HOUSTON, Texas (ICE) -- Eight Salvadoran nationals were arrested by ICE agents for their alleged roles in an organization that trafficked Latin American females, including minors, into the United States and forced them into sexual servitude.

The females were enticed with promises of good jobs in America, only to be forced to work as “bargirls” for minimal payment and the requirement that they submit to the sexual demands of the defendants, bar patrons and others. During the enforcement actions, ICE agents, working with the FBI and state and local law enforcement, encountered nearly 100 females who may be victims of the sex trafficking scheme.

The federal criminal complaint alleges that the eight defendants, all of them owners or operators of bars and nightclubs in the Houston area, were part of an organization responsible for enticing and then smuggling young women from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras into the United States across the Texas-Mexico border. The women were required to work at their businesses to pay off smuggling fees ranging from $8,000 to $13,000. Instead of the good jobs they were promised, the women were made to work as “bargirls,” sitting and dancing with customers and selling overpriced drinks to the men. The bars in question employed as many as 30 women in such a capacity at any given time.

According to the complaint, one young woman earned about $500 to $600 a week selling drinks to male customers. But after paying debts that included alien smuggling fees, food, housing, clothing and other miscellaneous items, she received approximately $50 each week. In addition to the almost insurmountable debt, the complaint alleges that the defendants used threats of violence against the women and their families to control them and keep them working. The complaint alleges that the defendants compelled the woman and girls to submit to the sexual demands of the defendants, their close associates and bar patrons.

All eight defendants are charged with conspiring to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide and obtain the women and girls, and then benefiting financially from participation in a venture that engaged in such acts, knowing that force, fraud and coercion would be used to cause these women and girls to engage in commercial sex acts. A charge of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

During the course of the law enforcement action, approximately 100 women from Central and South America were taken into ICE custody on various immigration related charges. The investigation continues.

Eight Persons Indicted for Conspiracy
to Commit Slavery and Trafficking

HOUSTON, Texas (FBI) -- United States Attorney Chuck Rosenberg and Assistant Attorney General Wan Kim, Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, announced the indictment of eight persons for their roles in an organization allegedly involved in the trafficking of Central American females for compelled service at Houston area bars and restaurants through force, fraud and coercion.

The indictment returned by a grand jury in Houston, Texas, charges the following eight defendants: Maximino Mondragon , also known as “El Chimino,” 57, the owner of El Potrero de Chimino Bar and La Margarita Restaurant, both located on Hempstead Highway; Walter Alexander Corea , 39, the owner and operator of the El Cuco Restaurant located on West Tidwell Road; Victor Omar Lopez, 38, and Oscar Mondragon , 47, operators of the Mi Cabana Sports Bar, also located on West Tidwell Road; Maria Fuentes, 35, a bartender and bookkeeper at Maximino's bar and restaurant; Olga Mondragon , 45, the operator of the El Huetamo Nite Club, also known as La Leona Club on Ojeman Road; Kerin Josue Silva , 19, son of Walter Corea, who allegedly transported victims to the bars and restaurants, and Lorenza Reyes-Nunez , also known as “COMADRE,” 30, who worked at Maximino Mondragon's businesses.

The first count of the indictment accuses all eight defendants of conspiring to hold persons in conditions of peonage and recruiting, holding, transporting and providing and obtaining persons for labor and services. Specifically, it is alleged that the conspiracy involved the recruitment of women and girls from Central America to travel to the United States with the expectation of legitimate jobs in bars and restaurants. The members of the conspiracy arranged transportation to facilitate their illegal entry into the United States and travel to Houston. Upon arriving in Houston, the defendants allegedly held the women through threats of force to compel and maintain their service as “bargirls” at bars and restaurants until each repaid smuggling and other assessed fees ranging from $6,000 to $12,500. According to the indictment, the conspiracy included directing women and girls to turn themselves into immigration officers upon entering the United States, believing the women, non-Mexican illegal aliens, would be released with a Notice to Appear (NTA) for a future court date. The conspirators would then confiscate the NTA documents from the women and girls.

According to the indictment, while in service to the defendants as “bargirls,” the women and girls were expected to keep company with the male patrons of the bars and encourage the patrons to buy beer and liquor at high prices. A portion of the price of the beverage would be applied toward the female's outstanding debt. Additionally, the indictment alleges the women and girls were on occasion required to submit to sexual activity with male bar patrons and favored business associates of the conspirators. This conspiracy charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine upon conviction.

The second count of the indictment charges seven of the defendants with conspiracy to smuggle aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain. Nunez is not charged in this count. A conviction for this felony offense carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The indictment identifies eight women from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua ranging in age from 16 to 38, who were recruited by one or more of the conspirators and compelled to work as “bargirls” to pay their smuggling fees.

According to the allegations of the indictment, in November 2001, El Chimino and Corea recruited two Honduran women, M.V.L., age 38, and M.A.L., age 34, to illegally travel and enter the United States offering transportation and work at their bars as a means of repaying the smuggling fees. Corea arranged the illegal entry of both of these women and a third Honduran woman, R.R.G., age 22, into the United States through Mexico and arranged their transport to Houston, Texas.

Upon arriving in Houston, Maria Fuentes took two of the women shopping for clothing, instructing them to buy sexually provocative outfits. The cost of the clothing was added to the women's debt. Fuentes was also involved in accounting for the number of drinks the women and girls working as “bargirls” sold to customers, tracking payments toward the smuggling and other debts, and Fuentes is also specifically alleged to have kept such an accounting for a fourth identified woman, B.E.B., then age 27.

Two months later, in February 2002, Lorenza Reyes-Nunez allegedly told El Chimino that M.A.L. was planning to flee before her debt and term of service was completed. El Chimino threatened the woman's children telling her he knew where they lived and describing the woman's home in Honduras.

According to the indictment, in September 2002, angered because yet another woman had fled without paying her fee, El Chimino called a meeting of all the women then in debt. He told them he would burn the woman's house down in retaliation for her escape. El Chimino also allegedly assessed thousands of dollars in additional fees upon B.E.B. after her roommate fled without his permission.

In April 2004, Corea allegedly assaulted C.Y.R., a then 24 year-old Nicaraguan woman in his debt, who complained about a $1,000 fee assessed for tardiness. Corea threatened to harm her child if she reported the assault to police.

Oscar Mondragon was also allegedly involved in recruitment. It is alleged that in February 2005, Mondragon recruited two young Salvadoran women, E.C.C., 19, and E.M.Z., 20, to travel and enter the United States illegally with promises of a good job in a restaurant. Upon the arrival of the two young women in Houston, Mondragon confiscated their Notice to Appear paperwork. Olga Mondragon allegedly instructed the young women to dance with bar patrons, sit on the men's laps and to be intimate with the men.

Months later in June 2005, Oscar Mondragon negotiated to sell E.C.C., the 19 year-old Salvadoran, and J.L.O., a 16 year-old Salvadoran he had recruited but who had not yet arrived in the U.S., to another bar owner for use as “bargirls” or prostitutes, assuring the buyer that both women would be “use to captivity.” Two days later, Oscar Mondragon and Victor Omar Lopez met with an unidentified buyer and accepted a down payment of $3,000 for the two young girls. Following the illegal entry of the 16 year-old into the U. S. in late June 2005, Oscar Mondragon and Victor Omar Lopez sold the debts and the two young women for use as “bargirls” or prostitutes to the unidentified buyer.

With the exception of Olga Mondragon and Kerin Silva, who have been released on bond, the remaining defendants were ordered held without bond and are in federal custody. Each of the defendants will next appear in federal court for arraignment on a date to be set by the court.

The investigation leading to the filing of criminal charges is the result of a year-long investigation conducted by members of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA) in Houston, Texas, which includes the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), the Texas Alcoholic and Beverage Commission (TABC), and the Constables Offices of Precincts One and Five. Assistant United States Attorneys Ruben R. Perez and Joe Magliolo, and Trial Attorneys Lou de Baca and James Felte with the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, will prosecute the case.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant(s) are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

In Congo, Medecins sans Frontieres is encouraging prostitutes and pimps to use condoms: Unprotected sex pays double, so poverty helps spread of HIV

2005-12-20T10:48:00.001-08:00

December 20, 2005 12:00am
Source: The Guardian

In push-up bras and sassy hair, Kinshasa's upper-class prostitutes get down to business at le Trente-Six Quinze. The prostitutes, known as the Londoners because they dress like British girls on a Saturday night out, sup Cokes by the Congo and gaze through blue-tinted contact lenses at Russian pilots and Chinese businessmen grabbing fat slices of pizza. Towards midnight, four women pair off with a table of white expats; they might make $100 (pounds 57) by dawn.

In the east end of the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Doris Bilonda takes a filthy 200-franc note (25p) and is pushed in her wheelchair into her bamboo partition. Living in a breezeblock barn built by the government " pour handicaps physiques sinistres" , it is the best price Doris, 34, a pregnant mother of four, can get in the circumstances: one foot was ruined by polio and, worse, she insists on using a condom.

The next morning the Londoners, together with older women such as Doris wait, by a shabby white building in the slums. Run by Medecins sans Frontieres, the clinic at Matonge is the only one for thousands of sex workers among the seven million people of Kinshasa, a city both ruined and terribly alive. Clutching cheap handbags, they tell tales of exploitation. Two prostitutes aged nine and 10 accept less money than the usual $1 because they haven't yet developed breasts; pupils at a school get good grades if they sleep with their teacher: 8/10 if they agree not to use a condom but only 6/10 with protection.

Kinshasa in the wet season is forbidding. Stinking rubbish and rough plots of maize border the army barracks. Green weeds choke half-built roundabouts; orange Kombi vans with portholes hacked in the sides are crammed with passengers. Bindweed runs over walls by tower blocks while mosquitoes hover over fetid creeks.

But sweaty expat subcontractors sizing up young girls apart, this is not the moral ruin of Joseph Conrad. It is economic ruin. After decades of dictatorship and a civil war that killed 3.8 million people, there is no sign of any public money anywhere in Congo. Outside cocoons of private affluence such as the golf club, millions have no jobs and no cash and yet must pay for schooling and healthcare. Everything is for sale, piled into pyramids by the road: rocks, maize, phone cards, inner tubes, pineapples, coffins, antelope heads, fanbelts, flip-flops and sex.

In the Savannah bar, the stereo plays Ebony and Ivory. Like an obscene school disco, white men slump in chairs while black women hover at the bar. "I lost my parents, I had no one to support me," said Judith, 21, who could be a student and once was. "I met another girl who told me: 'You are pretty, I will show you where you can get money easily.' That's when I began what I do here. Unfortunately I am not happy but it's my life."

As a Londoner, Judith can earn good money letting expats do what they want with her each night. She tips open her handbag and eight condoms fall out. She claims she always makes her clients wear them. So does Blandine Ketuange-Mawete. But the 24-year-old, who looks like a demure British clubber in her white vest and hoop earrings, is receiving treatment at Matonge for a sexually transmitted disease. Around 12% of the sex workers test positive for HIV at the MSF clinic. Officially, 4.2% of Congo's adult population has HIV/Aids. Health workers fear the true figure is much higher. Soldiers and sexual violence help speed its spread.

"I've never met anyone who says they have chosen prostitution for reasons other than poverty, and the sex worker population is growing because of it," said Francoise Louis, HIV programme coordinator for MSF in Kinshasa. "Many sex workers are hidden - students and housewives who have sex for food. Their family does not know they are sex workers."
Dr Louis and the MSF staff first offer free care for the sex workers, the most vulnerable and stigmatised group in a traumatised city. "We also have to empower the Congolese. They are used to being led by NGOs. Little by little, those living with HIV understand they need to take on this issue themselves."

A key player in the transmission of HIV in Kinshasa is "the Love", the boyfriend/pimp who lives with many of the working girls. Natalie Mangassa, 24, and Safia Bahavu, 26, are among 60 young women who use grubby mattresses laid on the concrete floors of Hotel Muma in the city's east end. The narrow corridor smells of urine. Two brothers who own the hotel say they simply charge clients $5 for a room, but one admits he also has sex with the girls.

Natalie and Safia use packs of Prudence condoms supplied by MSF with their predominantly Congolese punters but admit they don't use them with their Love. Most Loves keep four or five prostitutes and sleep around.

Next year a new MSF project in Kinshasa will treat around 1,000 prostitutes and target their Loves, urging both to use condoms. "If HIV prevalence decreases among sex workers, it will help everybody in the town," said Dr Aime Loando, the doctor in charge of Matonge clinic.

MSF will also expand the provision of antiretroviral drugs to sex workers with HIV. Seven prostitutes have recently been put on ARVs. Several of them are now well enough to seek new jobs and a way out of prostitution. Still, there are obstacles. With its small staff, including HIV-positive counsellors and former sex workers, MSF cannot educate, test or supply every sex worker with condoms in Kinshasa. While working girls are snapping up the free condoms, the resolve of self-confident Londoners such as Judith is limited when customers resort to money or violence.

Pregnant, disabled prostitutes such as Doris Bilonda have even less power. "If a client comes I suggest a condom but they give me less money," she said. She claims to insist on condoms but most of the 30 sex workers among the limbless women living in Kinshasa's disabled barn cannot make such a demand. So they continue to dice with death to earn "big money" - $2.

<>

Support the Exploited Children’s Act of 2006

2005-12-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

Support the Exploited Children’s Act of 2006: Click on the following link to join the fight!

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/GEMS/petition.html

There are well over 400,000 youth exploited in the United States’ sex industry annually. The system’s response to CSE victims has been one shadowed by much prejudice and double standards. According to statutory rape laws, as stated in the New York State Penal Code 130, a young person under the age of seventeen cannot legally give informed consent to sexual contact, yet, if the young person is deemed as a ‘prostitute’ then not only is the youth considered to give consent, but will be charged with a violation or misdemeanor. Therefore, under one part of the penal code a young woman is a victim of statutory rape and protected from adult exploiters, under another she is considered a criminal.

The Exploited Children’s Protection Act will:

remedy the contradiction in the current penal code between a ‘child prostitute’ and a victim of statutory rape
make it impossible for young people under the age of 18 to be charged with an act of prostitution,
treat the sexually exploited young women as victims instead of criminals
provide them with emergency and long-term services they need to exit ‘the life’

Click on the following link to join the fight!

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/GEMS/petition.html

Morocco: Hidden Child Workers Face Abuse

2005-12-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Girls Working as Domestics Denied Basic Rights

Tens of thousands of girls working as domestics in Morocco face physical and psychological abuse as well as economic exploitation, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (available online at: http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaeku5abmZ40bpWwZ7b/ ). Moroccan law denies these children basic labor rights, and the authorities rarely punish employers who abuse them.

The 60-page report, ?Inside the Home, Outside the Law: Abuse of Child Domestic Workers in Morocco,? documents cases of girls as young as five working 100 or more hours per week, without rest breaks or days off, for as little as six and a half Moroccan dirhams (about 70 U.S. cents) a day.

Current and former child domestics describe frequent physical and verbal abuse, denial of education and of adequate food and medical care, and sexual harassment by employers or their relatives. Some domestics said that employers forced them to work against their will by beating them, locking them indoors, or refusing to pay those who wanted to quit.

?There is a myth that these girls are improving themselves by working,? said Clarisa Bencomo, children?s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. ?The reality is that far too many girls end up suffering lasting physical and psychological harm.?

Young and often illiterate, child domestics frequently lack the skills and the opportunities to seek help in leaving abusive workplaces. Hidden away in private homes, most do not attend school, rarely go out except for brief errands, and have only infrequent contact with their families. Some girls are brave enough or desperate enough to risk running away. But many more put up with abuse because they lack money and knowledge about how to return home, fear employers? threats of violence or denunciation to police, or fear getting lost or attacked if they try to make it home on their own.

Morocco?s Labor Code does not regulate domestic work, and labor inspectors are not authorized to enter private homes to investigate violations of the legal ban on employment of children under 15. Police, prosecutors, and judges rarely enforce Penal Code protections against abuse in cases involving child domestics. Government child protection programs rarely prioritize child domestic labor, are poorly coordinated and lack sufficient funds for implementation. Few programs actively remove children from the worst forms of child labor, including domestic labor, and those that do exist have been largely pilot programs with limited scope and success.

Human Rights Watch called on the Moroccan government to enforce the legal minimum age of 15 for all child workers, ensure domestic workers the same rights as other workers, eliminate the worst forms of child domestic labor, and sanction employers and labor recruiters who abuse children.

Select testimonies from child domestics quoted in the report:

If something happened?if I broke something or did something badly?they would beat me with a shoe or a belt on any part of my body. I couldn?t leave the house?they would lock the door when they left? Both the husband and the wife hit me. My family saw me twice in the year that I worked. They came to visit me at the house but the employer sat with us during the visit and told me not to say anything bad or she would beat me more. When my mother came the last time to visit I told her I wouldn?t stay at that house anymore. I said, ?Either I go with you or I will run away or kill myself.?
?Rasha A., 14, describing her first job, at age ten

If something broke, like dishes or a glass, they would tell me they would take the money out of my pay and they beat me. They used an electric cord? Both the husband and the wife were mean to me. The husband would complain if I didn?t wash the clothes well or didn?t bring the breakfast fast enough. He used bad language too.
?Najat Z., 11, describing a recent job

[My employer] was a [government] employee with a husband and a four-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old child. They knew I had no place to go and they said, ?Consider us to be like your parents.? They asked me what I wanted for a salary and I didn?t know what to say so she said 200 dirham per month [about U.S.$22]. I had to take the girl to the nursery and watch the smaller child and do all the housework?cooking, hand washing clothes, cleaning the whole house.
?Shadia A., describing her second job, at 15

Related Material

Inside the Home, Outside the Law: Abuse of Child Domestic Workers in Morocco
Report, December 21, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaeku5abmZ40bpWwZ7b/

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China: Police Shut Down Gay, Lesbian Event

2005-12-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Government Persecutes Civil Society Groups That Address HIV/AIDS

(New York, December 20, 2005) ? In shutting down Beijing?s first-ever gay and lesbian cultural festival, the Chinese government violated basic freedoms and persecuted activists who are addressing the country?s burgeoning AIDS crisis, Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network said today in letters to the Chinese authorities.

?China continues to talk about political reform, but closing down a cultural event is a crude reminder of the limits on openness,? said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. ?This police raid was an effort to drive China?s gay and lesbian communities underground and to silence open discussions about sexuality throughout the country.?

Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network today sent letters detailing these human rights abuses to the Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Council Committee on HIV/AIDS.

Organizers planning the Beijing Gay and Lesbian Culture Festival anticipated a groundbreaking weekend of films, plays, exhibitions and seminars about homosexuality, a subject that has long been taboo in China. Participants were to include noted academic researchers, actors, filmmakers and artists, as well as activists for sexual rights and health, specifically HIV/AIDS.

The event was originally booked to take place at the ?798 Factory? art colony in the Dashanzi area of Beijing. But on Wednesday, December 14, two days before the opening, the Beijing Public Security Bureau banned the organizers from using the ?798 Factory? area. The organizing committee, some of whose members reported police surveillance, decided to move the festival to a private establishment, the On/Off bar. About 3 p.m. on Friday, just before the start of activities, around a dozen uniformed police, accompanied by plainclothesmen, raided the bar and shut down the event.

According to the event?s organizers, police ripped down signs, decorations and posters. They filmed the raid and festival attendees, and ordered the bar closed for a week.

?This raid is part of a pattern of censorship and harassment of Chinese activists working for sexual rights and health,? said Joanne Csete, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. ?The Chinese government tells the world that it is dealing with HIV/AIDS in internationally acceptable ways, but continues to persecute civil society organizations that can lead the way to effective programs.?

As Human Rights Watch documented in its June 2005 report, "Restrictions on AIDS Activists in China Chinese authorities have shut down websites offering information to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Nongovernmental organizations serving and advocating for people living with HIV/AIDS have been harassed, hampered or forced to close. As many as hundreds of thousands of rural villagers in Henan province may have been infected through faulty blood collection practices in government-backed clinics. In Henan, young activists who started an AIDS orphanage have been beaten and jailed, and many people living with HIV/AIDS who have sought medical care or assistance for their children have been harassed and incarcerated.

Related Material

World AIDS Day: Human Rights Watch Calls for Increased Support, Protections for Global AIDS Activists
Press Release, December 1, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaekvTabm0btbpWwZ7b/

Restrictions on AIDS Activists in China
Report, June 10, 2005
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaekvTabm0bubpWwZ7b/

Web version of this press release is available at:
http://hrw-news.c.topica.com/maaekvTabm0bvbpWwZ7b/

The Youngest Profession

2005-12-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Tuesday, December 6, 2005

The Seattle that Alisha knows is not a city of social liberalism or glittering scenery. For her, it is just a series of worn-out highways where men will happily pay a 15-year-old for sex.

MULTIMEDIA

View a multimedia presentation featuring the work of P-I photographer Joshua Trujillo and narration by P-I reporter Claudia Rowe. Some of the information is graphic in nature.

A slight girl with bad skin and wire-rimmed glasses, Alisha spent much of this year traipsing up and down Aurora Avenue, darting into cars outside The Home Depot or Albertsons and stepping out 20 minutes later with $60 in hand.

All the money went to her pimp, Marquis Smith, a 19-year-old who decided when and where she would work, kept track of her customers, tallied her earnings, beat her intermittently, collected the cash and used it to house the two of them in a series of local motels.

Customers were sometimes stunned to learn her age, though never enough to stop.

"One guy thought I was 16, but I told him I was 15," she said. "He was like, 'Wow!' A little shocked. But he didn't say, 'You've got to go home.' Mostly, I didn't tell them because it didn't matter anyway."

As a minor and, legally, the victim of numerous sex crimes, Alisha is being identified only by her first name. She is one of a growing number of girls -- some as young as 11 -- who have recently come to the attention of Seattle police and social workers for their involvement with prostitution. Some are from seemingly intact families. Others are wards of the state, on the run from foster homes.

Almost all were initially seduced by a recruiter, often an acquaintance, who dangled pitifully transparent promises of money and glamour, freedom and independence.

Joshua Trujillo / P-I
Becca, 18, talks about her life in prostitution with outreach workers on Capitol Hill.

At a time when more obvious violent crime is down around the nation, sociologists are debating whether teen prostitution -- or merely their awareness of it -- is increasing. Certainly, they say, sex-for-money deals initiated on the Internet are camouflaging activity that previously occurred in the open.

Nevertheless, the King County Juvenile Detention Center has twice as many girls in its cells for soliciting than it did five years ago, and national experts say Seattle has become a major hub on the child-trafficking circuit.

"We've lulled ourselves into thinking we don't have this issue, but we do. It is here," said Cheryl Jackson-Williams, who runs the Spruce Street Secure Crisis Residential Center on Capitol Hill and has tracked 78 kids -- mainly girls -- who reported trading sex for money since the spring. "We have 13-year-olds out there working in the sex industry. Adult men are picking them up. They're getting them in the malls, outside the schools. It's much bigger than the traditional red zones."

Jackson-Williams' dormlike hideaway opened four years ago as a five-day shelter for runaways. The youngsters coming through in recent months, however, have begun to look different. They arrive in handcuffs, escorted by police, and talk about "boyfriends" who protect them on the street, buy them fancy clothes, pay for manicures. They wear Spruce Street's lumpy, institutional sweat suits while waiting for authorities to arrange their next stop, but leave sporting high heels and skimpy blouses.

"We have no idea what to do with these kids," said Maggie Faust, a supervisor there who sees the same children month after month. "How do you help them? How do you get a kid out of prostitution? We're needing to stop this cycle."

Despite Seattle's extensive network of services for youths -- programs for homeless kids, drug-addicted kids, gay, lesbian and transgender kids -- the 15-bed Spruce Street center is the only place, other than a jail cell, where children trapped in prostitution can find respite, albeit brief. There is nothing in the city, nor even Washington state, dedicated to helping young people permanently free themselves from sex work.

'In love with their pimp'
Last year, the state Department of Social and Health Services found that 1,040 foster children -- 7 percent of all children under state care -- had run away and were likely to do so again. Most were teenage girls, and the department acknowledged their numbers likely represented "a significant undercount." Researchers estimate that nationally, one out of every three kids on the streets will be solicited for sex.

Often, a man presenting himself as a caring protector is the first. He flatters and befriends the youth, paying for food, clothes and a place to stay until she is easy prey -- financially indebted and emotionally tied.

For Alisha, the trail began in Phoenix, where she was living unhappily at her father's home. Within days of meeting Smith, he had persuaded her to work as a prostitute -- it was for both of them, he said -- and the two traveled to Seattle last January.

Eight months later Alisha landed at Spruce Street, her front teeth broken from the time Smith smashed her in the face, a cigarette burn ground into one of her graceful, beautifully manicured hands.

She described her workaday routine blandly, as if quoting the price of chicken at a supermarket; then, with equal candor, rattled off her hopes for the future.

"Tap dancing is what I want to do," Alisha said. "I also want to be a rapper. I want to be a senator. I want to be all kinds of things. I want to do sports -- I love sports -- even though I can't play that good."

The verifiable facts of her association with Smith -- like the time he kidnapped another girl with Alisha in the car, or punched her in the face, or brought her to Florida for more work -- are detailed in court papers. Smith pleaded guilty to federal child trafficking charges in August and prosecutors expect U.S. District Court Judge James Robart to sentence him in Seattle next month.

But the more complicated essence of their relationship -- the power he exerted, the control she willingly ceded -- is more difficult to define.

"A lot of the time, these kids believe they're in love with their pimp," said Detective Tammy Reynolds of the Seattle Police Department's vice squad. "It's a huge problem. They're being run by these guys. There aren't too many 13-year-olds who wake up and say, 'I'm going to go out and prostitute today.' "

For much of this year, Reynolds focused all of her energy on the problem, talking to young girls on the streets, urging them to turn in their handlers. But in August, informed that the department was shifting its emphasis to public drinking in Pioneer Square, the nine-year detective was reassigned to other duties.

"It's to improve the beautification of downtown Seattle, to make Seattle a more attractive place to see, and visit, and live," Reynolds said with obvious frustration. "But what's more important that a 13-year-old selling herself on the street?"

Joshua Trujillo / P-I
Most girls say they ask customers to use condoms but are often ignored. An adult prostitute working the streets for the past nine years said only once in that time had a john brought condoms himself. An empty package sits along Aurora Avenue North.

Shopping for girls
Seattle is by no means alone in its failure to confront juvenile prostitution head-on, though some larger cities have made progress. A study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001 found that at least 250,000 children are victims of sexual exploitation in the United States.

"In Seattle it was enormous numbers of kids," said Richard Estes, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who conducted the research, the most far-reaching ever done on child prostitution and pornography. Some of his findings have been disputed, but most experts in the field agree with Estes that juveniles from every race and social class are entangled in sex work.

"Lots of kids from intact, middle-class families -- even upper-class families -- were involved in it," he said.

Part of the reason may be cultural. Where stigma previously silenced discussion, the language of prostitution has now become a pop culture joke. The MTV show "Pimp My Ride" is among the network's most popular. Several young girls who walk Aurora recalled school friends holding "pimp-and-ho" parties. Outreach workers sighed about homeless kids so steeped in material culture they turned up their noses at unfashionable, donated clothing.

But Estes believes the main fuel for children's vulnerability is psychological dysfunction at home. Desperate for emotional connection, the same kids who stay up nights typing madly into Internet chat rooms may be particularly susceptible to the overtures of a friendly man who seems to care like no one else.

Whatever the cause, Seattle has become a favorite spot for recruitment among would-be pimps.

"Whenever we'd get a chance to talk to these men, they'd say, 'Well, we just go shopping.' They would get in their cars and drive up to Seattle and find girls -- in nightclubs, on the street, everywhere," said Norma Hotaling, founder of the anti-prostitution program Standing Against Global Exploitation in San Francisco. She has spent 10 years studying their operations.

"It's easy to point the finger and say that could never be me, but these girls are someone's daughters -- they could be your daughter," she said. "Traffickers are out there, looking for these kids, and they're very good at what they do. If you've ever had a fight with your daughter and she's stormed out of the house, she's at risk."

Hotaling, 54, is herself a former prostitute and has twice testified before Congress on toughening child-trafficking laws, with some success. Since 2000, federal law has held that a person can be sentenced up to 20 years in prison for moving children across state lines with intent to prostitute them. And in 2003, Washington became the first state to make the act punishable with a life sentence.

'New to this, aren't you?'
From Seattle, girls are moved to work the streets in Portland, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans and various spots in Florida, which is where Alisha was arrested, along with Smith, last May.

Spotting the activity, however, is difficult. Seattle police Detective Harvey Sloan, a 37-year veteran of the department, recalled standing in the middle of a Beacon Hill sex-trafficking den and being completely unaware. Women recruiters, he added, are key to the networks' success.

Shirley, a 17-year-old SeaTac high school student, spent five days this fall pacing Aurora at the behest of a girlfriend whom she had first met during a short stay at Spruce Street. Shirley, a good student and member of her school gymnastics team, was at the crisis center because of trouble at home. The other girl, an experienced streetwalker, targeted her immediately.

Within a week of leaving Spruce Street, Shirley phoned her new confidante. It was Halloween and she'd had a fight with her mother -- could she stay over for a few days?

The older girl said yes, and Shirley imagined that they'd spend a few nights playing at the GameWorks arcade, or maybe watching "Animal Planet."

But two days later that girl's boyfriend, an older man, insisted that Shirley earn her keep, and turned her out to walk Aurora.

"I only pulled two my first night," she said, hanging her head. She fumbled awkwardly through every transaction and the men could tell.

"You're new to this, aren't you?" commented one who, claiming to be a police officer, took out a pair of handcuffs and raped her in the back of his car.

Detectives finally picked Shirley up on a Tuesday morning -- she'd been working an hour already -- and dropped the round-faced teenager back at Spruce Street carrying her bubblegum-pink backpack covered in loopy, girlish scribble: "Class of '06" and "I am the next American Idol."

Too old at 18
Most of the young women interviewed for this story said safe sex was rarely an option. Some tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade customers to use condoms. Others like Becca, 18, just didn't care.

Born in Louisiana, Becca moved to Oregon as a teenager and ran away at 15, fleeing an abusive stepfather, she said. Soon after, she landed on the streets of Seattle and, at 17, had her first customer.

"I felt depressed, gross," she said. "But I learned how to turn myself off, emotionally-wise, and then it was like a normal day."

For Becca, that has come to mean a continuous relay between Capitol Hill, where she targets older men who "look like they have money," and Westlake Park near the downtown department stores, where she buys drugs. Every 36 hours or so, she sleeps beneath an overpass near the Paramount Theater.

A casual glance betrays nothing of this. Wearing cargo shorts, a zip-up fleece and a blonde blunt-chop haircut, Becca is more Northwest-outdoorsy than streetwalker-seductive. Her face alternates between street-tough and pixie, depending on her mood and drug intake. She sobbed when describing her life.

"The shortest I've ever sold myself for was $15," she said. "That makes me pretty sick to my stomach, that I'm only worth $15. I try to go higher now. I try not to go below $20."

For a while, Becca was a regular at Spruce Street where, sporadically, she was able to find help. But this summer, she turned 18 and the doors were closed. As a legal adult, Becca was too old to use the center.

Parents may see no difference in maturity between a 17- and 18-year-old, but the law does. Scant as Seattle services are for minors caught in prostitution, once a girl crosses the threshold into official adulthood, help is almost non-existent.

This was the problem confronting a Fremont couple who learned their 19-year-old daughter was slipping out of her bedroom each night to walk Aurora.

The young woman, whose pimp is still at large, asked to be identified only by her middle name, Marie. She is an aspiring ballet dancer, raised by parents who supported her artistic leanings and saw themselves as friends more than authority figures. Trust was their watchword, openness their philosophy. Throughout high school, as long as Marie told them where she was going and who she'd be with, curfews did not exist.

"They'd say, 'Bye, see you whenever,' " she recalled.

Walking to the bus stop one wintry day toward the end of her first semester at Cornish School for the Arts, a well-dressed man she had never met came up behind her.

"Where are we going?" he said.

"We?" she asked. "I'm going home."

He kept up a flirtatious patter, telling the green-eyed blonde that she was beautiful, describing the clothes he wanted to buy her, how they'd hit the town in a limousine.

"He was really charming," said Marie, who'd never had a serious boyfriend.

He asked for her cell number and when she demurred, he kept at it, joking and chatting, until the college freshman, flattered, gave in.

Afterward, he called every day, to the point that she found it odd, even alarming, and did not answer.

But one night, bored and alone, she rang back.

They agreed to meet at the Fox Sports Grill downtown, and when she arrived, he was sitting with another couple. There were drinks and casual conversation. Then the quartet piled into a car outside.

"We're going to teach you how to make some money," Marie recalls her date saying. But she didn't press it.

Not until later that evening when they were alone together did he begin, ever so slowly, to suggest that Marie's face and body had power. There was more money to be made using them, he said, than she could imagine.

"You are a superstar," she remembers him saying. "You're going to have sex anyway. You might as well get paid for it."

The attention was heady, and Marie reeled.

"It was all presented like I was this high person, special," she said, "like we would be taking advantage of these men by taking their money."

Always the sort who'd been up for a dare, a new experience, a thrill, Marie let it happen. She spent that night with her date and the next day found herself walking Pacific Highway South and 272nd Street near Federal Way, an apprentice to the older woman from the restaurant the night before. They worked together all afternoon, until it grew dark.

Marie says she was afraid, wandering an unfamiliar neighborhood and watched over constantly by her friends, to whom she dutifully handed every dollar. Constant flattery from her new boyfriend -- the 29-year-old soon was proposing marriage -- coupled with his implicit threats of violence and her own quiet shame, kept Marie locked in. Several weeks later, she was working the streets on her own.

"I was one of the most attractive girls in Seattle doing this," Marie said. "He'd show me off to everyone. I was kind of a big thing."

There was also the money. The thrill of making $500 wearing jeans and sneakers dazzled her at first. But during their eight months together, Marie's pimp also racked up thousands in debt on her credit cards, buying clothes and jewelry. He siphoned another $4,000 from her bank account and stole the $7,000 tuition check her parents had written for their daughter's second semester at Cornish.

"I was too embarrassed to talk to my parents," she said. "I would try to call and hang up the phone. I didn't know what to say."

Joshua Trujillo / P-I
Alisha, who writes songs and poetry, in her room at the Spruce Street crisis center. "I’m a youth and I grew up before my time, but I care about everybody who crosses my path," she said. "I pray for everyone at night. I sit there and say their names."

'You need to go home'
Marie's mother, though worried and confused about her daughter's increasing distance, said she had no idea what was happening. Then a customer phoned.

"Your daughter is working as a prostitute," the would-be john said sheepishly. "I picked her up on Aurora last night."

It was January and Marie had been walking the strip when two men pulled up in a Volkswagen van. They seemed nervous, she said, unfamiliar with the routine. They wanted to know how much it would be just to "hang out and talk."

Later, she learned that they'd driven past -- almost all the way home to West Seattle -- before doubling back to find the lost-looking girl who looked so young.

"You need to go home to your parents," they said. But Marie persuaded them to drop her off downtown and borrowed their cell phone to call a friend for help.

As soon as she left, they tracked the call, spoke to the friend and through her got in touch with Marie's mother, a school nurse, who answered the telephone in her sunny, hand-stenciled living room utterly blind to what was coming.

"You sit down and talk to your kids about drugs, but you never talk to your kids about the possibility of prostitution," she said. "It's just not part of your world."

Marie's parents agreed to be interviewed because of their shock at learning that Seattle had no coordinated services to help girls like their daughter -- no place to stay that was safe from a pimp, no team of specially trained counselors. After the stranger's call, they begged police to file a missing person's report -- their daughter was by then working the circuit, moving from Seattle to Portland to Anaheim, Calif., and Las Vegas -- but were repeatedly rebuffed because, at 19, Marie was too old.

Marie is home now, having finally fled her pimp when he punched her in the face for smoking a cigarette. Her days are spent working at a clothing store, trying to earn back enough money to repay her parents. School is just a keening memory. Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, are debating whether to take her case as another instance of interstate sex trafficking.

"I still don't know why I didn't have the guts to just say, 'I don't want to do this,' " Marie said. "I guess I was afraid of what his reaction would be. Maybe he'd talk me down and make me feel like nothing."

Alisha, who acted as a witness against Smith this fall, has moved to a home for former prostitutes in the Midwest, where she spends most of her time reading. "There Are No Children Here" is one of her favorite books.

Shirley, from SeaTac, has been sent to California to live with her grandmother.

Becca is still on the streets.

China Admits to Sale of Organs from Prisoners

2005-12-06T09:56:00.000-08:00

By Terry Vanderheyden
Source URL: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05120504.html
LifeSiteNews.com
Monday December 5, 2005

BEIJING, December 5, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Chinese officials have admitted to selling the organs of executed prisoners to foreign transplant recipients.

Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu admitted that the practice is common, while promising to change the policy. “We want to push for regulations on organ transplants to standardise the management of the supply of organs from executed prisoners and tidy up the medical market,” Huang said, as reported by the UK’s Times on Line.

A liver sells to a foreign recipient for approximately $41,000 USD, the Times stated. Although a religious tradition in China maintains that the body must be whole and intact in order to enter the heaven, China is second only to the US in the number of transplants performed.

Huang claimed that new guidelines being drafted would put an end to the commercial sale of organs for profit. The Times reported that transplant organs are almost exclusively derived from executed prisoners.

It would seem the Communists do not let much go to waste, as a previous LifeSiteNews.com report http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05091404.html revealed that the skin of prisoners was also sold for use in cosmetic products for export to Europe and North America.

Western human rights monitors estimate that the Chinese execute about 15,000 persons a year – more than the rest of the world's judicial executions combined. In addition, the role of defence lawyers is seriously underdeveloped and they have little impact in court cases. When appeals against the death penalty are rejected, the sentence is carried out immediately, sometimes within hours.

In addition to the enormous number of death sentences, the Chinese legal system makes use of the full array of traditional communist methods of suppression of political dissent. This includes the use of police-run “mental hospitals,” and “re-education through labour camps” where the few who have been released report regular use of torture.

China is widely recognized as one of the world’s worst human rights offenders. Canada and the US nonetheless have viewed China as a valued trade partner. Former US President Bill Clinton permanently normalized trade ties with China – without requiring that China cease its substantial human rights abuses and religious persecution – in 2000.

This year, in its annual report on Human Rights around the world, Amnesty International highlighted the abuses against women who violated the One Child policy. Such reports, however, have not deterred the United Nations, (supported by Canada) from giving its full support to the policy. The Chinese policy is largely in line – though with slightly less sqeamishness about its direct application – with the eugenic and population policies of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UNFPA has been proven to be complicit in the Chinese policy’s violent implementation.

In addition, the communists continue to arrest Catholic priests and other Christian ministers and laypeople and to bulldoze churches, a fact that is often ignored by most mainstream media. According to official figures, there are at least 26,000 prisoners in forced labour camps. China’s 670 prisons hold some 1.5 million prisoners and the judicial system, including the death penalty is used, say some groups, as a tool by the ruling Party for terrorizing citizens.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Profit Triumphs Over Principles In Us-China Trade Agreement
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2000/sep/00092005.html
China Moves from Bullets to Mobile Execution Vans to Improve International Image
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05110309.html
Forced Abortion Still a Reality in China Says New Amnesty Report http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05052706.html
Clinton Administration Panders To China
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/1999/mar/99030106.html
New Exposé Of Chinese ‘Gulag’ Prison Camp System
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/jan/03011005.html

See the Times coverage:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1901558,...

See also:
China destroys church building -16 Catholic nuns beaten by ‘government-hired gangsters’
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTI...

Legalization of Prostitution is not Acceptable Policy

2005-12-06T09:55:00.001-08:00

Legalization of Prostitution is not Acceptable Policy
Tomislav Domes
06 December 2005
http://see.oneworld.net/article/view/123421/1/3260

Last Thursday, December 1, the ROSA centre for victims of war and Zenska Soba association held a seminar on the topic “Women Trafficking and Prostitution – Who is Responsible?” The seminar had the goal to promote political debate on causes of prostitution and trafficking of women for the purpose of sexual exploitation, especially in the context of the coming public debate on the legalization of prostitution in Croatia.

Prominent European experts and activists participated in the seminar and attempted to present diverse arguments against the legalization of prostitution, as well as the manner in which this issue, and the problem of women trafficking, is regulated in a number of European countries.

Colette de Troy, Coordinator of the Action Centre of Policies against Gender Violence with the European Women Lobby (EWL) from Brussels, briefly presented three basic models for regulation of prostitution in European countries.

The first model is full legalization, existing in Germany and the Netherlands, where prostitution is established as legitimate profession. At the other end of the spectrum is full prohibition of prostitution, for instance, in Sweden. Somewhere in between we have the abolitionist model (France), which prohibits organization of prostitution as a commercial (for-profit) activity, while the prostitution per se is not prohibited. To be able to understand why legalization is not acceptable as a policy, we should view prostitution together with the problem of trafficking in women.

The chief cause of women trafficking, according to de Troy, is not poverty of lack of resources (although these are definitely favourable circumstances) but the very existence of a market created by the sexual industry, including both prostitution and pornography. It has been demonstrated that the legalization of prostitution, as a general rule, leads to rise in organized crime, trafficking in human beings, even, in a number of cases, a rise in the illegal prostitution. Therefore, a policy that fights trafficking in human beings and approves of prostitution at the same time can't be judged as rational.

Nonetheless, the unacceptability of legalization of prostitution is deeply rooted. Namely, the prostitution is not and cannot be a profession. The prostitution is exploitation and violence over women.

Lilian Halls, member of the European Feminist Initiative for a Different Europe from Paris, pointed out at the chief contradictions of the abolitionist policies, existing in France. There, the state instituted the obligation to report in the income generated through prostitution, which is then taxed at a flat rate. However, since prostitution can’t be registered as a profession, the income is reported under the title of "non-commercial activities”.

“Such unclear labelling”, says Halls, “demonstrates the hypocrisy of the state which wouldn’t openly admit that it makes money from the prostitution. Furthermore, the fact that the non-commercial activities income is taxes at a flat rate creates the paradox that it makes it more difficult to leave the world of prostitution, having in mind that women have to prove themselves that they are not involved in prostitution anymore.

Boriana Jönnson, member of Stockholm-based Kvinna til Kvinna, presented the Swedish model of regulation of prostitution. Sweden introduced a total ban on prostitution in 1999.

“The ban”, believes Jönnson, “demonstrates the ethical and political attitude of the state towards prostitution and gender equality in general. From the viewpoint of human rights, there can’t be such a relationship in which a man would purchase and own the body of a woman as a commodity. No civilized society, regardless of the possible fiscal or other benefits, should not allow for that. Furthermore, prostitution is treated in Sweden as a crime of violence and sexual exploitation in which the women are the victims. Therefore, the penal policy is directed primarily at the clients and the women involved in prostitution.

Nermina Komaric, from Zenska Soba, briefly presented the proposed changes in the Criminal Code which demand, in opposition to the ideas for legalization, that a new offence of procurement of sexual services is introduced, as well as abolition of penalties for women involved in prostitution.

The Seminar is a part of the wider project "Promotion of Preventive Measures for Fight against Trafficking of Human Being for Purpose of Sexual Exploitation”, which is implemented in 13 countries and unites a number of women NGOs. The project is designed and coordinated by the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (CATW) and the European Women Lobby.

Slaying attributed to involvement with rappers or prostitution

2005-12-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

Associated Press
Posted on Mon, Dec. 05, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY - Investigators believe a young Utah woman was slain in California either because of her involvement with prostitution or because she got caught up in a feud among rappers.

Police warned Lee Danae Laursen, a former child care worker from Payson, that the pimps and would-be rappers she associated with were dangerous and they offered her money to return to Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

But she refused the help and was shot to death Nov. 4 in the northern California town of Fairfield.

Fairfield police Sgt. Dan Pilcher said detectives believe the slaying likely stemmed either from her involvement with budding rappers or her work as a prostitute.

If she were killed for her connections to the music world, it would make Laursen the fourth homicide victim in a series of crimes across three states, police said.

"I don't know if she was brainwashed or what. But the lifestyle she ended up involved in was so far removed from the lifestyle she lived in Utah," said Todd Hendrix, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detective investigating two homicides that may be linked to Laursen's.

Laursen, whom friends and family called by her middle name and who used the name Alana while working as a call girl, reportedly went to California with a man she met in a club in Salt Lake City. Police say that man was Jason Mathis, who is being held in Las Vegas in two slayings there.

Authorities also were investigating whether the Las Vegas slayings in May of rapper Anthony "Fat Tone" Watkins, 24, and his friend Jermaine "Cowboy" Akins, 22, were part of a battle between Midwest and West Coast rappers and linked with the slaying in Kansas City of California rapper Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks, 34.

On April 25, Laursen's father contacted Payson police, saying his daughter was being held against her will in Las Vegas and being forced to work as a prostitute, the Tribune said.

A police report said Laursen told her father that one of the men was Mathis.

The next day, according to the report, the father told Payson police that he had his daughter and was heading back to Payson.

Laursen soon left Utah again.

A car belonging to Laursen was reportedly seen frequently at Mathis' home, and police began looking for her.

Police found Laursen July 15 in San Francisco, and Hendrix's partner and a sergeant went there to interview her. Laursen would not answer questions and was defiant, Hendrix said. The investigators offered to pay for Laursen's return to Utah.

"It was explained to her that she could be in danger and the situation she was in could result in harm coming to her, and she didn't want to hear it," Hendrix said.

On Nov. 2, a grand jury in Las Vegas charged Mathis and Andre "Mac Minister" Dow, 34, both described as aspiring rappers or rap promoters, with murder with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder in the killings of Watkins and Akins.

Mathis is in jail awaiting trial. Dow remains at large.

On Nov. 4, Laursen's neighbors in Fairfield reported hearing four or five gunshots, and a jogger found Laursen in a gutter, Pilcher said.

Pilcher said there was information that Laursen might have been with Dow a few hours before she died.

Investigators found Laursen's cell phone and were fielding calls from people asking for "Alana," the name she posted in an escort advertisement on the Internet, the Tribune said.

---

Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com

Finn jailed for 11 years for abusing Thai boys

2005-12-05T06:43:00.001-08:00

Reuters World Report
Friday, December 02, 2005 3:28:00 PM

HELSINKI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A Finnish man was jailed for 11 years on
Friday for sexually abusing dozens of boys during trips to Thailand in
what the court called the biggest paedophile case in Finland's history.

Jouko Jaatinen was detained in April on suspicion of molesting at
least 445 Thai boys aged 13 or younger over the last 15 years and
creating massive amounts of pornography.

The 43-year-old was convicted on 42 counts of abuse and related
offences, many involving several children over prolonged periods of
time, according to court documents. Police seized hundreds of video
recordings, photo albums and disks.

"In weighing Jaatinen's punishment, the significant number of acts,
their seriousness and the guilt implicit in them has been taken into
consideration," the district court said in a statement.

Trial judge Hannele Varpila told Reuters she had never heard of a
paedophile trial in Finland involving more victims.

"We are not used to such big cases," she said.

Jaatinen was caught after returning from his 26th trip to Thailand
since 1989, following a tip-off resulting from a Belgian investigation.

Japan to tighten distribution of entertainment visas

2005-12-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

December 5, 2005 12:00am
Source: BBC Monitoring International Reports

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 4 December: Japan's Justice Ministry will seek stricter qualification screenings of promoters and bar owners hosting foreign singers or dancers entering Japan with entertainer visas, according to ministry officials. The move comes amid criticism that lax entry procedures on foreign entertainers have allowed for a hotbed of human trafficking. Foreign women who have entered Japan as entertainers have been forced to work for low wages as hostesses in bars or nightclubs or to engage in prostitution.

The ministry has decided to disqualify businesses connected with crime syndicates and will also require them to have paid all the money as promised in the past three years as a way to prevent foreign performers from being exploited with low wages, they said. The ministry plans to revise related ordinances as soon as in January and put the new rules into operation by spring. It will soon announce the outline of the draft revision, the officials said.

Based on a government decision to tighten rules on the entertainer status last December, the ministry set stricter criteria in March for applicants for the visa in a measure mainly addressing Filipinos working in bars or nightclubs in Japan. Under the present ministry ordinances, promoters or bar owners who have violated the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act or Prostitution Prevention Law are already prohibited from hosting foreign nationals working as entertainers. The ministry plans to revise the ordinances so that those linked to crime syndicates - or to former crime syndicate members who have left their gang not more than five years before - would also be disqualified.

Meanwhile, the ministry plans to ease criteria on performances in theatres or halls where the foreign performers need not serve customers, or performances hosted by the state or local governments because there is little fear of human trafficking or illegal employment, they said. According to the ministry, 134,879 people entered Japan with the entertainment status last year. Among them, 82,741 were from the Philippines, 8,277 were from China and 6,704 were from the United States.

Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 0020 gmt 4 Dec 05

<>

Victims of globalization's seamy side

2005-12-05T06:42:00.001-08:00

December 5, 2005 12:00am
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Like thousands of Romanian teens before her, Rosanna thought she was coming to Italy to work in a hotel for three months and earn some money for college.

Instead, the tall, thin, dark-haired daughter of factory workers soon found herself in a seedy nightclub, ordered to dance in skimpy lingerie and have sex with drunk, groping men in tiny booths covered by scraps of curtains.

It was the beginning of a hellish odyssey that led her from one group of exploiters to another, until one day she summoned the courage to contact police, and was rescued.

Rosanna (not her real name) is one of hundreds of thousands of people a year who fall victim to what law-enforcement officials call one of globalization's nasty by-products: international sex trafficking.

"I can't explain that emotion," she said of her first night in the sex club, which came after she had been tricked into overstaying her visa. "I wanted to run, but I didn't know where to go. I was in a strange country without my parents, my friends - I didn't know anything."

The same free flow of goods, money and people that allows Americans to save money on consumer products has made it easier for men from wealthy countries to buy cheap sex - at unimaginable costs to the women involved.

Globalization has transformed the world sex industry. Sex tourism - trips to patronize low-cost prostitutes in fleshpots such as Prague or Bangkok - is exploding. And sex workers from developing countries are flooding into rich countries, creating a huge market for purchased sex among men who once might not have been able to afford it.

Sex trafficking is a significant problem in the United States - the Justice Department recently prosecuted a case of four teenage Mexican girls held as sex slaves in a Plainfield, N.J., brothel - but it is far worse in Europe, which simply lies closer to much of the developing world.

Western Europe has been inundated with prostitutes from the former communist East, the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa - some of them duped or forced into virtual slavery. A decade ago, less than 20 percent of the women in London's brothels were foreigners, but these days it's 80 percent, according to a report last year by the Poppy Project, a charity.

The situation in Italy is similar. From 1990 to 2000, the number of prostitutes quadrupled to about 70,000, according to Eurispes, an independent research group in Rome. Sixty percent of them are foreigners, mainly from Russia, Eastern Europe and Nigeria, the government says.

The United Nations estimates that sex trafficking is a $7 billion-a-year global business. In the recent Lifetime Television miniseries Human Trafficking, a law-enforcement character played by Donald Sutherland explained the profits: "An ounce of cocaine, wholesale: $1,200, but you can only sell it once. A woman or a child, $50 to $1,000, but you can sell them each day, every day, over and over and over again. The markup is immeasurable."

U.S. Ambassador John H. Miller, the State Department official in charge of the American government's anti-trafficking efforts, calls it "modern-day slavery," and says the United States has a special obligation to fight it, given its slaveholding history.

"Of course it's not legalized now - organized crime is doing it, instead of countries," Miller said, "but the tricks of the slave masters are the same: the use of kidnapping, rape, deception."

It would be an oversimplification to suggest that all or even most trafficked prostitutes in Italy are enslaved, said Claudio Donedal, a Venice social worker who recently edited Hidden Prostitution, a 200-page report on the sex industry in northern Italy. Many are paid, and most could walk away, if they only knew how.

"But they are all exploited," he said.

The report, based on dozens of interviews with prostitutes and social workers, found that physical coercion - rapes and beatings by pimps - is less common than it was five years ago. Instead, the traffickers these days tend to use psychological pressure. They bring women in illegally or dupe them into overstaying their entry visas, and then convince them that they will be jailed, or worse, if the authorities find out about them.

Another oft-used technique is to require the women to repay inflated debts incurred from bringing them to Italy, and threaten to dun their families back home if they do not pay.

Both strategies were employed against Rosanna, who told her story last month at the Venice police station, on condition that she not be identified or photographed. She is one of the lucky ones, police say: She was neither beaten nor raped, and after she called the authorities, she was immediately taken to a safe house. Then, Venice police began what became a yearlong investigation with extensive wiretapping that resulted in criminal charges against 10 Macedonian men and an Italian man.

Prostitution is not illegal in Italy, but pimping and human trafficking are. Now 20, Rosanna has taken advantage of an Italian law that grants legal residency to women who testify against their traffickers. Nationwide, 130 such permits have been granted in recent years, authorities say. A similar U.S. program granted 130 visas in fiscal 2004, but many countries lack such a law, which makes it tougher for illegal immigrants to come forward.

In Italy, "we go after these cases because they involve the most vulnerable victims," said Alessandro Guiliano, Venice's chief of detectives. "Also because it's a big criminal enterprise that tends to overlap with other types of crimes."

As Rosanna tells it, she was betrayed and exploited at every turn by men in whom she naively placed her trust, in a complex ordeal that led her from one nightclub to another, running away but finding herself continually turning to people who wanted to profit from her body. She saw very little of the proceeds, she said.

Romanians can enter Italy without a visa, but they must check in with the police in a week to obtain one. When her exploiters ensured she did not do that, she became illegal, and afraid to go to the police.

Once she began selling herself, she also became terrified that her parents and friends back home would find out, an added motivation not to come forward.

"It would have been really hard to go home," she said, sobbing. "I had given up my university place, my job. I thought maybe it would get better."

She finally called police a few months later, after she and a friend, having returned to a club they had run away from, found themselves locked in a room, angry pimps banging on the door.

These days she is working at a coffee bar. She does not seem to have fully recovered, emotionally.

Said Claudia Biondi, a nun who counsels sex workers in Milan for the Catholic charity Caritas: "A lot of them will be severely wounded, mentally and physically, for the rest of their lives."

<>

Five LGs in Kano Identified As Human Trafficking Routes

2005-12-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

December 2, 2005 12:00am
Source: Vanguard (Nigeria)

FIVE local government councils in Kano state have been identified by the Kano Zonal office of National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) as the most endemic areas where Human trafficking activities are being perpetuated, the head of Kano zonal NAPTIP, Alhaji Mohammed A. Mashi has said.

Briefing journalists at his office shortly after two days sensitization/awareness campaign tour to the affected local government councils, he said that similar campaign will be held in all endemic areas in all the zones as part of their strategy of eradicating human trafficking in the zone.

On why they embarked on the campaign which he said was sponsored by UNICEF "D" field in Bauchi, he said the office chooses to visit the affected local governments, so that the people in the area can be educated on the menace of human traffickers and the unshaken resolve by NAPTIP in the zone to eradicate Human trafficking activities in every part of Kano zone.

Alhaji Mashi explained that the affected local government councils, namely, Wudil, Dambatta, Gezawa, Kura and Bunkure local government councils were identified because of most of the Human trafficking cases before the zone from Kano is traced to the five local government councils.

His words: "From the records in our Kano office, the cases of child abuse, child-labour, trafficking of girls and destitute for prostitution and begging are linked to the five local government councils. This is why we decided to move swiftly to the areas and sensitize the people on how to reduce the menace".

Alhaji Mashi further explained that apart from sensitization of the affected communities, they also formed community based partnership by forming a local anti-trafficking network communities with the district heads, police representatives, NAPTIP officer, religious and community leaders, self-help groups and government officials to work towards eradicating human trafficking activities in the area.

The Kano Zonal NAPTIP boss further explained that the local NAPTIP sensitization teams are tasked with the responsibility of developing a community based strategies that are sustainable and acceptable by the grassroots people to fight human traffickers.

He then expressed hope that with the new innovation introduced by the Kano NAPTIP zone, they are working towards breaking through the root of human trafficking activities in Kano, which has the highest record of human trafficking activities in the northern axis.

On the forthcoming Hajj operation, the Kano zonal NAPTIP boss disclosed that already they are making necessary contacts with all relevant authorities including the state government, so that they can participate in the next HAJJ operations to critically screen those leaving for the Holy land from the zone. Said he, "we are really making efforts to ensure that NAPTIP plays active role in the next Hajj operations because these Human traffickers usually taker advantage of Hajj to smuggle out our young girls to Saudi Arabia and other Asian countries to prostitute. We are going to ensure that is stopped from this zone".

He reiterated that no cases would be handled with any special priority by NAPTIP because anybody found guilty of taking part in any form of human trafficking activities is guilty, stressing that they are well informed with the various operational strategies of human traffickers in the zone, adding that his men are vigilant.

Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com)

<>

Sex cases involving children growing

2005-12-05T06:41:00.001-08:00

The Internet has made exploitation of children for pornography easier, authorities say.
http://www.madison.com/toolbox/index.php?action=printme2&ref=wsj&storyURL=%2Fwsj%2Fhome%2Flocal%2Findex.php%3Fntid%3D63886%26ntpid%3D2

*LISA SCHUETZ* lschuetz@madison.com 608-252-6143
December 4, 2005

After FBI agents arrested pedophile, rapist and child pornographer James Perry at his Stoughton home in early 2004, it took two long hours to persuade a scared 8-year-old victim that she could reveal the secret she had kept for more than three years.

Later, the little girl's mother cuddled her daughter to sleep whispering, "I'm so sorry," through the night.

Perry befriended and then sexually abused the girl and her friends, at least twice inviting another man to join him.

Perry, now 35, is in a West Virginia federal prison. He was sentenced to 375 years. The girl, now 10, and Perry's other victims, continue to be grist for the Internet pedophilia mill.

He took photos and videos of the assaults and posted them online, so they probably continue to be traded or downloaded - and may be forever.

Reports of adults collecting and trading sexual images of children is increasing exponentially, federal statistics indicate.

So far in 2005, new FBI cases of child sexual exploitation on the Internet have increased by more than 2,026 percent since 1996, according to the bureau's Innocent Images National Initiative.

Pornography is the most prevalent form of reported exploitation.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that child pornography tips make up more than 90 percent of reports filed with its CyperTipline, a Web site it runs in cooperation with the FBI.

Just during the week of Nov. 14, tipsters filed 2,923 reports of child pornography out of 3,102 total exploitation reports.

Internet a problem

Eric Szatkowski, a Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation agent, said he sees the same images over and over in collections of perpetrators, known as "traders."

The department expects to arrest more than 100 child porn users statewide in 2005.

"It's an epidemic," he said. "The Internet has opened Pandora's box to some of the most evil images people could ever imagine seeing."

The Internet is a cheap, quick and relatively safe way for pedophiles to satisfy their desire, said Tom Trier, head of Madison's FBI office. They retrieve images from Web sites, bulletin boards, newsgroups, chat rooms, messaging programs, e-mail and peer-to-peer file sharing programs.

Madison police Detective Maureen Wall said some perpetrators use cell phones to capture images of children at places such as malls or fundraising car washes, then upload them to the Internet for other pedophiles, even though they don't involve nudity.

"They are always sharing and swapping images," she said.

Investigators say they don't have near enough people doing the time-consuming computer forensics - recovering deleted images or viewing stored files of child pornography.

Without a way to remove the images from the Internet, the problem will never go away.

"Before the Internet, these child pornographers were working alone, going to seedy bookstores, maybe getting mail orders of different illegal magazines," Szatkowski said. "But now it's just exploded. . . . I don't know if law enforcement will ever get a handle on this problem."

No closure

Perry pleaded guilty to federal and state charges related to assaults on children and a slew of attacks on women in the Madison area that led to him being dubbed the "Mall Rapist."

The mother of the 8-year-old victim said her family has moved to another state because facing other children Perry abused was too difficult for the little girl.

She knows their secret, and they know hers.

The mother, whom the Wisconsin State Journal is not naming to protect her and her daughter's identities, said she can't face the Internet images yet.

She doesn't know if she'll ever be able to face them. Right now, there's no computer in the house, and she said she'll try to keep one from her child as long as possible.

The girl knew she was being recorded, but she doesn't fully understand why, said her mother. She wishes her daughter would never have to know.

Dr. Richard Loewenstein, a national expert on childhood trauma, said victims of childhood rape never get closure when that abuse is photographed or videotaped.

"You don't have any control over what's happened," he said. "I have cases where the perpetrator told the victim, 'We have your pictures and if you tell anyone, those pictures are going to turn up on your father's door.'"

Loewenstein, trauma disorders program director at Sheppard Pratt Health Systems in Baltimore, said victims of childhood rape feel intense fear, loss of control, shame and a profound sense of loss.

Victims experience guilt when they are friends of other children with whom they were forced to have sex.

"Then, on top of all that, if your images are potentially out there, you have the perpetual sense that you are being hurt again," he said. "With a click of a mouse people could have these images of you. That's overwhelming."

The perpetrators

Those who collect child pornography rationalize their behavior, experts say.

Donald J. Rickard, 43, of Stoughton was charged in October with possessing more than 69 images of sexually explicit photos of 2- to 15-year-old children. The complaint states that the explicit images include prepubescent girls, some as young as 4, touching and being sexually penetrated by men.

According to the complaint, Rickard told state agents that he knew possessing child pornography was illegal, but he excused his behavior, saying, 'He never enticed a child.' He "only" viewed images.

Kelly Anderson of the Rape Crisis Center in Madison said some people draw a line between those who prey on children and those who have pictures of such acts.

"But think about it," she said. "In order for you to have and possess (these images) means someone had to take them and abuse a child. If people wouldn't own it, then people wouldn't be taking kids and raping them to make a buck."

From many walks of life

A rural Mazomanie church pastor was charged last month with possessing child pornography after a computer technician found sexually explicit images of children on the preacher's computer. Pending court proceedings, authorities ordered the Rev. Jerald W. Schara, 64, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church near Marxville, not to have unsupervised contact with girls and not to use a computer.

According to FBI profiles, most child porn consumers are white men 25 to 45 years old living a middle-class or upper-class life. They're often professionals who may have jobs or outside activities involving children.

Many are part of international societies that trade child pornography. And several organizations, such as the North American Man/Boy Love Association, advocate "consensual" sex between children and adults as healthy.

Several studies or books by therapists who work with sexual predators indicate that most molesters start out as collectors of child pornography.

"Viewing child pornography reinforces fantasies and drives the predator toward acting out those sexual fantasies with actual children," says a newsletter by the National District Attorneys Association.

Unsolvable problem?

FBI, immigration, postal service and customs agents as well as state and local officers investigate sexual exploitation of children.

"All law enforcement in the United States works these cases," FBI agent Steve Paulson said. "Kids are a priority. And we work together . . . because they can be pretty big cases."

But it's time-consuming and expensive, said Madison Police Chief Noble Wray.

Officers are specially trained on computer forensics, he said. They must also be careful that images fit the definition of illegal child pornography - images of children, not adults posing as children.

Investigators remain passionate about arresting anyone viewing sexual images of children.

"Even though some of these (cases) are hard . . . any emotional stress is outweighed by the good of catching these guys." Trier said. "Some 6-year-old kid only has law enforcement to rely on to get them out of this life."

Trier said he wishes people viewing pornography would get help. He also wishes police had more resources to investigate, and that perpetrators would get maximum prison sentences.

But, while prison sentences for possessing child pornography is 3 years for state charges and 10 years for federal charges, Szatkowski said many caught with child pornography get probation or jail time.

"I don't think there's any way we are going to start addressing this problem until people are sent to prison for this," Szatkowski said. "We're never going to win this unless we all join the fight together."

A Top Attraction Build on Oppression

2005-12-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Profile: Prostitutes at the Wallen are often victim of a modern form of slavery

It looks fun, the red lights and the smiling girls. But the windows in the Red Light District in Amsterdam hide a lot of misery. But the city council and the police don't always want to know.

Menno van Dongen
Amsterdam

December 3, 2005, De Volkskrant

Forced sex, trafficking in women, abuse. There is a lot wrong at the Wallen in Amsterdam. One after the other critical report appears about the Red Light District. The much-praised romanticism of days past is gone.

Certainly after Lodewijk Asscher, front man of the PvdA in Amsterdam, focused attention on it by accidentally suggesting that he wanted to shut down the Wallen. That is not the case, but according to him window prostitution is a form of 'modern slavery' that needs to be discouraged.

Right into the seventies the atmosphere at the Red Light District had been easy-going. The prostitutes were predominantly Dutch and had themselves protected by relatively decent criminals such as Frits van de Wereld and Haring Arie [nicknames]. That has changed. Foreign women work behind the windows nowadays and tough traffickers rule.

The Wallen have 180 official sex businesses, with a couple of thousand prostitutes.The relatively small area - the sex businesses are located in some twenty streets - is one of the main tourist attractions of the city. Every year a couple of million people visit it. Only the canal round trip boats attract more visitors.

At first sight the Wallen seem peaceful. But that is only appearance, says Ruth Hopkins, who researched human trafficking for five years, in Amsterdam among other places. She recently published a book on this study. 'You see many young women behind the windows, who look all right en are smiling to passers-by. But behind the surface there's a lot of misery.

Ever since the lifting of the brothel ban, in 2000, prostitution is legal. It didn't lead to better working conditions. Some women work freely and independently, but they are a minority, says Hopkins. Many women are exploited behind the scenes. 'Pimps keep very precise check on how many clients a prostitute gets. And they take care that she hands over all the money she earns.'

The working conditions of the foreign women are often bad, also Anneke Bouwman of HVO-Querido in Amsterdam says- she assists victims of human trafficking. 'Women are forced to have sex with clients or to do so without a condom. If they don't obey their pimp, they get abused.'

Prostitutes rarely report their pimps to the police. Many foreign women are under threat and too frightened to talk to the police. Dutch prostitutes often have a relationship with the man who is exploiting them.

Representatives of prostitutes and business-owners find that the portrayed image of the Wallen is over negative. 'Many people have preconceptions,' says Mariska Majoor, the founder of the Prostition Information Center. 'A friend of a prostitution is not necessarily a pimp. The police often will regard him as such, because they assume that a good man wouldn't allow his wife behind the windows. That is rubbish.'

But there is more wrong at the Wallen. The area is in the hands of a small group of criminals, Asscher suggested this week. He pointed to a building that was owned by the recently murdered John Mieremet. Several sources have affirmed to Volkskrant that porn-entrepreneur 'fat' Charles Geerts purchased many buildings at the Wallen. Geerts often is linked to big drugs criminals, but he was never sentenced.

Prostitution has always been a shady branch. But when sex businesses became legal, abuses were supposed to be remedied by the police. 'That did not happen,' says Hopkins. 'Prostitutes have to show their papers all the time to show whether they are illegal or underage. But other than that the police is far too lame.'

Criminologist Frank Bovenkerk comes to the same conclusion. 'Amsterdam does not put the slightest obstacle in the modern pimp's way.' The city council denies that. Mayor Cohen wants the Attorney General Donner to investigate the abuses in the sex industry.

But the city council could do more. 'When prostitutes finally muster the courage to report their abuse, nothing at all is done,' states Hopkins, 'it has no priority. That is the real problem at the Wallen: the indifference of the authorities.

* Note: please do not make this article available via an open web-archive. This translation is meant for use on the Dignity list only.

Seventh indicted in prostitution ring

2005-11-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005
Gazette.net
by C. Benjamin Ford
Staff Writer

A seventh suspect was arrested today after a federal grand jury indicted them for bringing illegal immigrants from New York and New Jersey to work as prostitutes in Montgomery County.

Rigo Diaz, 30, of Gaithersburg, was the seventh person charged as part of a Montgomery County prostitution ring.

Police arrested six others on Wednesday in Montgomery County. All seven were being held pending initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt today.

The seven arranged for vans to pick up the prostitutes at their homes, usually on Monday mornings, in New Jersey and New York, drive them to Montgomery County to work during the week and returned them to their homes on Sunday nights.

Charged earlier were Elsy Aparicio, 43, Eliazor Gonzalez Aparicio, 29, Dorinalda Aparicio, 34, and their mother, Olinda Aparicio, 64, all of Gaithersburg; Jair Francis, 32, of Wheaton; and Manuel Jandres, 38, of Germantown.

The indictment charged them with two counts each:

— Conspiring to transport individuals in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in prostitution and sexual activity.

— Concealing and harboring illegal aliens.

If convicted, the suspects could face a maximum five-year prison sentence on the conspiracy count and 10 years on harboring.

According to the indictment, the suspects rented apartments and purchased homes where prostitutes met clients:

The indictment listed the brothels as being at:
— 2217 Shorefield Court, Apartment 513, Wheaton
— 444 North Summit Ave., Apartment 202, Gaithersburg
— 56 West Deer Park Road, Apartment T-3, Gaithersburg
— 8266 New Hampshire Ave., Hyattsville
— 18 Whetstone Drive, Apartment 1, Gaithersburg
— 488 West Deer Park Road, Gaithersburg
— 19325 Frederick Road, Germantown
— 17720 Towne Crest Drive, Apartment 103, Gaithersburg
— 8 Whetstone Drive, Apartment 4, Gaithersburg

Turkey: Police Killings Follow Attack on Bookstore

2005-11-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

(New York, November 18, 2005)?The shooting deaths this week of at
least four demonstrators by Turkish police signals an alarming
deterioration in the human rights situation in southeastern Turkey,
Human Rights Watch said today. Growing police violence against
demonstrators jeopardizes the significant human rights progress that
Turkey has achieved in recent years.

"Turkish police appear to have used excessive force in the shooting
deaths of four unarmed demonstrators,? said Holly Cartner, Europe
and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "If security forces
are allowed to revert to their old ways with impunity, not only will
more lives be lost, but the achievements of the past few years will also
be squandered."

According to eyewitness reports, police shot and killed ?smail Bartin,
Ersin Menge?, Abd?lhaluk Geylani and G?yasettin Avc? during violent
disturbances following a press conference in the town of Y?ksekova
on November 15. Eyewitnesses reported that police abruptly used
force to disperse people who had assembled to listen to the reading of
a press release issued by the Democratic People?s Party (DEHAP)
about events in the nearby town of ?emdinli.

In ?emdinli on November 9, local people had apprehended two army
intelligence officers who appear to have been involved in a grenade
attack on a Kurdish bookshop that killed one civilian.

The exact circumstances of the deaths of the demonstrators in
Y?ksekova are not known, but they appear to be part of a growing
pattern of excessive force by police. After the reading of DEHAP?s
press release, gendarmes apparently drove an armoured car at the
assembled crowd to disperse them, injuring two women. The angry
crowd threw stones at the security forces. When another armoured car
crashed into an electricity pylon, the crowd seized some security force
members and beat them. Other armoured vehicles, police and
gendarmes opened fire on the crowd, killing four and wounding nine,
including two juveniles. Security forces claimed that firearms were
used against them, but the seven wounded members of the security
forces were either beaten by the crowd or hit by stones.

It is by no means clear that the assembly in Y?ksekova was, in its
early stages, unlawful. In this case the security forces need not have
dispersed it. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force
and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials require that law
enforcement officials who are dispersing assemblies that are unlawful
but nonviolent must avoid force or, where that is not practicable, use
minimum force.

In this case, Y?ksekova police chose the violent and potentially lethal
path of driving armoured vehicles into the assembled crowd. Once the
scene had become a street confrontation between angry demonstrators
and security forces, police used some non-lethal means, including tear
gas. But then, without giving the warning stipulated by the U.N.
Principles, the police resorted to the use of firearms. The principles
state that where the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable,
law enforcement officials shall use restraint and act in proportion to
the seriousness of the offence.

The crowd was certainly attacking the police with stones, but there is
no evidence beyond security force statements that the crowd was using
firearms. If the aim was to clear the streets, automatic gunfire was
clearly a disproportionate means to achieve this end. The high casualty
rate suggests that security forces were not restrained in their use of
lethal force, and were at least indiscriminate.

The fact that two of the victims, Bartin and Menge?, both died as a
result of multiple bullet wounds to the chest and heart suggest that
security forces were shooting to kill. Intentional lethal use of firearms
may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.

These shootings are the most recent in a spate of police killings of
demonstrators. In the past year, Turkish police have repeatedly used
disproportionate and lethal force to break up demonstrations that turn
violent. Television images of police assaulting non-violent
demonstrators with batons and pepper gas on International Women?s
Day earned a sharp statement from visiting European Union delegates
in March. Police and gendarmes have shot dead a total of eight
demonstrators this year, including the deaths in Y?ksekova.

"In the last three years, police in Turkey had improved their response
to demonstrations, but this has been a bloody year," said Cartner. "The
government needs to send a clear message that the use of excessive
force by its security forces will not be tolerated and will be punished."

The grenade attack in ?emdinli on November 9 killed one man,
Mehmet Korkmaz, and wounded eight others. A man running away
from the scene, a "confessor" (former PKK member who has turned
state?s evidence), together with two gendarmes in plainclothes, were
apprehended by local inhabitants. The local people handed the three
men over to the police, but refused to move away from the scene,
fearing that the authorities might attempt to destroy evidence.

Instead the locals searched the back of the gendarmes? car, where they
discovered three Kalashnikov assault rifles, a hand grenade, and maps
not only of the bookshop but also of an area of ?emdinli where a much
larger bomb had exploded on November 1. When the local prosecutor
came to the crime scene, a gendarmerie armoured vehicle opened fire
on the crowd, killing one member of the public, Ali Y?lmaz, and
wounding four others.

In recent months, there have been numerous bombing incidents in the
region, and local human rights organizations have questioned whether
the security forces are behind this pattern; 17 such bombings have
occurred since July according to a parliamentary question tabled by the
opposition Republican People?s Party.

The officer in charge of the armoured vehicle and the man who
allegedly threw the grenade in ?emdinli were arrested, but the two
plainclothes gendarmes were released by the public prosecutor. Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdo?an has said that the incident will be investigated
without bias. However, the Office of the Chief of General Staff merely
noted there were allegations that soldiers were involved in the grenade
attack and shooting, and that the matter was now in the hands of the
judiciary.

The Turkish judiciary has an appalling record in investigating security
force abuses. The European Court of Human Rights has noted in
scores of judgments that prosecutors are reluctant to indict or even
question members of the security forces.

Human Rights Watch has written to the Turkish government urging a
prompt and impartial investigation into the attack in ?emdinli, and into
the deaths of the four demonstrators in Y?ksekova.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/18/turkey12064.htm

Online child porn on the rise

2005-11-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

Bangkok - New technology is outpacing law enforcement's ability to stop online child pornographers who have created an illegal business worth billions of dollars, an international children's watchdog said yesterday.

The report issued by Bangkok-based ECPAT International called for tougher national laws and co-ordinated industry action to protect children from abuse through new information technologies.

Even poor countries in Africa and Asia, where Internet access is limited, have seen a surge in pornographers using camera phones to record child abuse and transmit the pictures around the world, the report said.

Instant messaging services have also become a forum for sex offenders to meet children, said ECPAT, which stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes.

Such abuse "is pervasive, causes deep and lasting physical and psychological damage to the child victims, and is outstripping the resources of law enforcement agencies," said the group, which conducted the study as part of a UN report on violence against children.

The group's executive director, Carmen Madrinan, said the report highlights "the ease with which people who are intent on harming children move between the physical and virtual worlds in order to exploit a child".

Violence against children documented in the study includes child pornography and "live" online abuse of children for paying customers.

Other abuses included stalking and bullying children online, and using the Internet to network for child sex tourism and trafficking, it said.

Most child pornography is exchanged for free online, but it has also generated an underground business worth billions of dollars that circulates millions of images of child abuse, the report said.

Most free websites with child pornography have been traced to Russia and the former Soviet states, the United States, Spain, Thailand, Japan and South Korea, it added.

Half of the images of child abuse sold online are generated from the United States, and another quarter come from Russia, it said. The two countries are also the leading hosts of commercial child pornography websites, followed by Spain and Sweden, it said.

An Interpol database contains more than 10 000 images of child victims, but fewer than 350 of them have been found, the report warned.

ECPAT also called for tougher laws that would require Internet service providers to monitor for sexual images of children.

It also urged information technology companies to provide pre-installed safety software on all PCs and mobile phones, and called for a global education campaign about
online child abuse. - Sapa-AFP

This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on November 12, 2005

Gary Glitter held on sex charge

2005-11-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

November 20 2005 at 11:23PM
Sapa-AFP

Hanoi - Disgraced 1970s glam rock star Gary Glitter was arrested on Saturday trying to flee Vietnam for Thailand and accused of having sex with underage girls, police and immigration officials said on Sunday.

The 61-year-old former rocker, who previously served time in Britain after being found with a huge collection of child pornography, was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport.

British media reported that the performer was living with a 15-year-old girl. - Sapa-AFP

Chile/Peru: Fujimori Arrest Renews Hope for Justice

2005-11-08T08:06:00.001-08:00

(Santiago, November 7, 2005) ? Following the arrest today in
Santiago of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, the Chilean
authorities must ensure that extradition proceedings are carried out
fairly and expeditiously, Human Rights Watch said.

Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990-2000 and has subsequently
lived in Japan, faces criminal charges in Peru for acts of corruption
and human rights abuses, including homicide, acts of torture and
forced disappearances. He arrived in Santiago yesterday and was
detained this morning, after Peru submitted a formal request for his
arrest.

Fujimori made the trip at a time of tense relations between Peru and
Chile due to a dispute over maritime limits between the two countries.

"Apparently Fujimori thought he could exploit tensions between the
two countries to plot his return to Peru," said Jos? Miguel Vivanco,
Americas director of Human Rights Watch. "But given the record of
Chilean courts on extradition cases, it's still too early to know whether
he miscalculated."

A Chilean Supreme Court Justice must now determine whether basic
conditions have been met to grant Peru's request for Fujimori's
extradition. Chilean courts have rejected Peruvian extradition requests
in other corruption cases linked to the Fujimori regime.

"The Chilean judiciary did the right thing by ordering Fujimori's
arrest," said Vivanco. "Now it needs to determine whether his days of
evading justice are over."

Although elected democratically in 1990, Fujimori later arrogated
authoritarian powers. In April 1992, he dissolved Peru's Congress and
had a new constitution drafted. Using extortion and bribery, Fujimori
and his close advisor Vladimiro Montesinos came to control the
attorney general's office, the judiciary, the elections system and much
of the news media.

In November 2000, Fujimori's government collapsed in a corruption
scandal and Fujimori himself fled to Japan, taking advantage of his
claim to Japanese nationality.

After Fujimori's government collapsed, special prosecutors in Peru
initiated large-scale investigations of the corruption and human rights
abuses in his regime. Nearly 1,500 persons are being prosecuted for
acts of corruption allegedly committed under the Fujimori regime.
Montesinos and more than 40 members of the "Colina Group," a death
squad allegedly controlled by Fujimori and Montesinos, are currently
on trial in Lima.

Fujimori has been charged in Peru with involvement in the Colina
Group's extrajudicial execution of 15 people at a barbecue in the
Barrios Altos district of Lima in November 1991. He has also been
charged in the forced disappearance and murder of nine students and a
teacher from La Cantuta University in July 1992.

For years, prosecution of the Colina Group for these crimes was
blocked by a sweeping amnesty law passed by the Fujimori-controlled
Congress in 1995. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights
subsequently found that the law violated the American Convention on
Human Rights.

Additional human rights charges against Fujimori include numerous
homicides and forced disappearances allegedly committed in the
basement of the Army's Intelligence Service, as well as the torture of
journalist Fabian Salazar after the latter obtained film footage
implicating members of the Fujimori government in acts of corruption.

The corruption charges include Fujimori's alleged illegal transfer of
US$15 million from the national treasury to Montesinos, payments of
bribes to national congressmen in exchange for their loyalty to the
government, and involvement in diverting public funds for personal
gain.

Contrary to Fujimori's claim that he is the subject of political
persecution, Human Rights Watch said that the crimes for which he is
wanted cannot be considered "political crimes," which are exempted
under the Chile-Peru extradition treaty.

Japanese authorities have resisted requests by the Peruvian
government for Fujimori's extradition.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/07/peru11990.htm

Burundi: Rights Protections at Risk with New Government

2005-11-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

(New York, November 4, 2005)?The election of a new government
in Burundi has not brought an end to human rights violations by all
sides in the country?s brutal civil war, Human Rights Watch said
today.

Human Rights Watch has documented torture and summary executions
in the ongoing war in a new report, "Burundi: Missteps at a Crucial
Moment."

"The armed conflict in Burundi is no excuse for torture and summary
execution," said Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to the Africa
Division of Human Rights Watch. "The government and the rebels
alike must abide by their obligations under international law to treat
anyone in their custody humanely."

The report documents cases where Burundian soldiers summarily
executed five civilians and tortured others whom they suspected of
being collaborators with the last active rebel group, the National
Liberation Forces (FNL).

Human Rights Watch also describes cases where agents of the
intelligence service, known as the Documentation Nationale, detained
more than fifty civilians without regard for legal procedures and
tortured some of them while they were in custody. Intelligence agents
apprehended civilians and suspected rebels in Kinama, an area where
the FNL is sometimes active and where candidates from the Front for
Democracy in Burundi (Frodebu) recently defeated contenders from
the National Council for the Defense of Democracy?Forces for the
Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) in local elections. Four of the
detained are recently elected Frodebu officials or their spouses.
Witnesses in Kinama report that demobilized FDD combatants are
now armed and acting as informants for the Documentation Nationale.

The CNDD-FDD won local and national elections in many areas of
Burundi and dominates the government, installed in August. The
newly elected president, Pierre Nkurunziza, is a member of the
CNDD-FDD, and General Adolphe Nshimirimana, director of the
intelligence service, was formerly a FDD combatant.

Armed hostilities continue between the rebel FNL and the new
government, with skirmishes occurring around the capital of
Bujumbura. The report documents FNL killings of four civilians who
held government posts or who were thought by rebels to be otherwise
tied to the authorities. Two of the victims were decapitated and a third
had his arm cut off, mutilations occasionally practiced by the FNL on
their victims.

Human Rights Watch called on the international community,
particularly members of the United Nations Security Council who are
traveling to the region today, to urge the Burundian government to
follow both Burundian and international law and to ensure U.N.
human rights monitors access to detainees suspected of FNL
collaboration.

"When the new government took power in August, it promised to
protect human rights," said Des Forges. "But in some parts of the
country it is not delivering on that promise."

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch website, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/03/burund11976.htm

School provides haven for child sex workers

2005-11-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

San Francisco tries to get girls off the street and change their lives.
By Suzanne Bohan -- Bee Correspondent
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, November 6, 2005
Sacramento Bee

SAN FRANCISCO - In an abandoned classroom, six desks stand empty. On a round table nearby, a thick skein of fluffy, bright pink yarn lies next to a pair of knitting needles. SAT prep guides and textbooks line bookshelves in the cheerfully painted room.

An hour before, the class was a hub of activity, as the instructor worked to bring direction and purpose to her pupils' lives.

In advance of a reporter's visit, however, they all filed out to sequester themselves in another room.

What these girls want most, right now, is privacy to rebuild their devastated lives.

Several months ago, the six girls enrolled in this program-of-last-resort for juvenile delinquents were reporting to pimps and working the streets until late at night. Most had cycled in and out of the juvenile justice system for years. They're among an estimated 3,000 girls and boys involved in commercial sexual exploitation in San Francisco, including prostitution, escort services, stripping, pornography or exchanging sex for rent and food, according to a 2003 Board of Supervisors report.

San Francisco officials, frustrated with these youth being treated as criminals while their customers and pimps often walked away charged with minor infractions, decided to embark on a new way to address what they view as child sexual abuse.

What began with a 2001 coalition to address the prevalence of commercial sexual exploitation of teenagers in San Francisco led to the September opening of the Safe Home and School for Girls, a novel treatment program expected to inspire widespread replication.

Without the Safe Home, in 10 years these girls would likely be addicted or dead, said Norma Hotaling, the founder of the nonprofit SAGE Project and a former prostitute. SAGE, in partnership with the Edgewood Center for Children and Families, administers the Safe Home.

She cited recent cases where girls selling sex were found dead in trash and recycling bins. As for the majority that survive? "They'll just age beyond anything you can imagine," said Hotaling. "If they're 15 now, they'll be 25 but look like they're 45."

These young women will likely be addicted to illegal drugs, losing their teeth and even their sanity, while enduring regular beatings by their pimp. Hotaling said she has a metal plate on the side of her head and wires in her body due to such beatings.

"Twenty-five is when they start aging out of being worthy of a pimp, of being a money-maker," Hotaling said. "But they're still looking for love from them, so they get treated really, really badly."

Hotaling bristles at the term "child prostitute."

"It's a stigma," she said. "It's like they're the problem, that they're immoral. But they're children, and it's time for adults to have some logic and some principles and take the correct stand to protect them."

Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney who earlier in her career represented sexually abused minors, has taken a lead in reforming the legal system so that it views children working in the sex trade as victims, not perpetrators.

"Let's not look at the young people engaged in this activity as criminals. Let's recognize that the pimps and the johns are the criminals," Harris said. Nor is it a petty crime, she added; it's child sexual abuse.

As part of that reform, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 signed AB 3042, which Harris and SAGE co-sponsored, permitting prosecutors to seek an additional one-year sentence for those committing felony sex offenses against minors involved in prostitution.

Few people realize the extent of commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States, Harris said.

"The issue of child sexual assault is where the issue of domestic violence was 25 years ago," she said. "It's much more prevalent than anyone wants to acknowledge. And it completely damages the victim."

The Safe Home's roughly $1 million annual starting budget is funded through city and private grants. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom pledges to expand the program to include another six girls within a year. The rehabilitation includes housing, trauma counseling, substance abuse treatment and enrollment at a school that specializes in working with emotionally traumatized youth. There's currently no comparable program for boys.

The home, in an attractive, safe and undisclosed San Francisco neighborhood, houses the six girls, ages 12 to 17, and round-the-clock, all-female staff. Each girl will likely stay eight to 12 months before being transferred to stable housing, but can stay longer if needed, said Laurel Freeman, the house administrator.

The Safe Home is a group home run by peers who also have experienced sexual abuse or domestic violence. Residents aren't locked up but must follow strict rules regarding curfews, school attendance, chores and behavior. Activities include trips to the farmers market or a "documentary night," when the girls pick out a documentary to watch.

Each day at 6 p.m., a four-course meal is served, sometimes prepared by the girls. The small, tidy rooms, each with two twin beds, are adorned with corkboards pinned with photos, cartoons, postcards and other memorabilia. A few beds hold stuffed animals, another a heart-shaped pillow. Each room has soothing views of the ocean in the distance.

The peer counselors said the girls also learn to build female friendships in the program.

"These girls have been totally brainwashed to not trust each other," Freeman said. "The pimps want to keep the girls fighting, because it makes more money. They all hung out with guys, so they don't have that female bonding."

Sexually exploited youth "end up being individuals who have become very distrustful, very cynical and abrasive." Harris noted. "In their very short lives, they've had some of the worst experiences at the hands of other human beings who are in a position of trust. But also, because of their youth, they're totally amenable to redirection and to rehabilitation."

It's too soon to gauge the success of the program, but one young resident said she wants to become a therapist, while another is considering entering nursing. With the encouragement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, the Department of Justice gave a vote of confidence to the Safe Home design by providing SAGE with a $1.25 million grant to replicate the model in other U.S. cities.

Hotaling is hopeful that, as these and future residents of the Safe Home program move on to successful lives, they'll form the vanguard of a movement to expose the prevalence of the commercial sexual exploitation of children, and its human toll.

Brazilian police break international prostitution ring

2005-11-07T06:52:00.002-08:00

November 3, 2005 12:00am
Source: Associated Press WorldStream

SAO PAULO, Brazil_Police arrested 15 people _ including six Italians _ accused of trafficking Brazilian women into prostitution in Europe, authorities said Wednesday.

The ring was based in the city of Natal, 2,450 kilometers (1,520 miles) northeast of Sao Paulo in the Rio Grande do Norte state, federal police officer Cleiton Teixeira said.

The arrests were made after a monthslong investigation by local police, the Interpol and authorities in Spain and Italy, Teixeira said.

The ring allegedly hired women from around Brazil to work in night clubs in Natal, then offered them to clients in Italy and Spain, police said.

Local media said members of the Italian mob were involved with the ring, but the information was not immediately confirmed by authorities.

Those arrested _ including two women _ were charged with trafficking women and forcing them into prostitution, and could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison if convicted. Most of them owned the night clubs where the women worked in Natal.

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Child-sex ring uncovered in Winnipeg, police allege

2005-11-07T06:52:00.001-08:00

Last Updated Wed, 02 Nov 2005 18:27:11 EST
CBC News

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/11/02/child-sex-051102.html

Winnipeg police say they are investigating one of the largest sexual exploitation rings ever seen in the city, allegedly involving more than 30 children ranging in age from 18 months to 17 years.

Sgt. Kelly Dennison

Sgt. Kelly Dennison said about 20 girls – aged 12 to 17 – were sold into prostitution.

Dennison said the other children younger than age 12, including a baby of only 18 months, weren't necessarily forced to perform sexual acts but may have been exposed to them because they lived in the houses where they were taking place.

So far, police have charged two women with procuring children for the purposes of prostitution, living off the avails of prostitution and corrupting children.

The corruption charges stem from the plight of the younger children, Dennison explained.

"A minor can be corrupted if they're subjected to constant abuse, constant alcoholism, if they're in an environment where they have nowhere to go other than to observe certain things going on," he said.

Police said more arrests could be made as the investigation continues.

"Just by sheer number, it's probably the largest, or one of the largest, investigations we're doing," Dennison said.

The children involved in this case have been removed from three homes in Winnipeg's West End.

Jane Runner – who works with New Directions, an organization that helps women and children escape sexual exploitation – said the case isn't as uncommon as people would like to believe.

Runner estimated that only 10 per cent of prostitution happens on the street, where it is visible to the public.

She said the case highlights the importance of addressing the root problems that make children vulnerable to sexual exploitation: poverty, homelessness and addiction.

"If younger children are witnessing this, and this is all they're seeing, it becomes normalized, it becomes the way of life," Runner said.

"Those kids who are growing up in this kind of environment need to understand this isn't a normal behaviour, activity."

People trade: Immigrants tell of forced prostitution and slavery as trafficking gang is jailed: Captive women made to have unprotected sex Families th

2005-11-07T06:52:00.000-08:00

November 3, 2005 12:00am
Source: The Guardian

The plight of thousands of eastern European women kept as sex slaves in British brothels was highlighted yesterday as court proceedings against members of a major trafficking ring ended.

Detectives believe the gang brought at least 600 illegal immigrants to the UK, many of whom were locked up, forced into prostitution, and told their families back home would be killed if they refused to obey orders.

The women - the youngest known victim was 17 - were fed just one meal a day, charged for use of knives and forks, and forbidden to go near the windows of the Park Lane, Mayfair and Soho brothels where they worked 20-hour shifts. They were forced to have sex with up to 40 men a day for as little as pounds 10 a time to pay off pounds 20,000 debts each - the price for which they were "bought". They were charged rent, and subjected to fines if they refused anal or unprotected sex or a client was not attracted to them. Some escaped after passing notes to each other via a client.

One 23-year-old described how she had to pay pounds 300 per day to live locked in a shared basement and her captors threatened to kill her family. Like many trafficking victims, the computer graduate was lured to Britain by promises of a respectable, well-paid job in a hotel or restaurant but ended up in a brothel

"I believed they would kill my family," she told the court. "I thought I hadn't a way out of this situation. I didn't think I had a life in front of me. I wanted to escape but everything was locked. We were locked up all the time. I was told I need to go with clients and I needed to do sex with them. I felt very bad. The first time I wasn't able to talk afterwards."

Up to 80% of London's 8,000 prostitutes are foreign nationals, many from the Baltic states, Africa and Asia. Police and organisations trying to stop sex trafficking believe thousands of women are forced or tricked into prostitution. They have seized assets worth pounds 4.4m in 300 operations against human traffickers, in which 1,456 people were arrested.

The police face huge obstacles, not least persuading the terrified victims, many of whom have been subjected to rape and extreme violence by their captors, to testify.

But others are critical of what they see as a heavy-handed approach, such as the recent raid on a Birmingham brothel, and feel the authorities not doing enough to help victims. They argue that deporting the women perpetuates the problem.

Anti-Slavery International launched a campaign for the humane treatment of trafficking victims this week, and the government faces an inquiry from the joint select committee on human rights and pressure to sign the Council of Europe Convention on trafficking.

"It cannot be right that these women who have been so badly treated should not have access to specialist legal advice and a reflection period of 30 days in a safe and supportive environment in which to consider helping the prosecution of the criminals," said committee member Evan Harris, a Liberal Democrat MP. "Instead, most are being sent straight back to their home country and some are being re-trafficked all over again."

Yesterday Tamara Dulghieru, a 31-year-old Moldovan, was jailed for five years for helping smuggle hundreds of eastern European women into the UK as part of the multi-million-pound trafficking empire of her husband, Gavril Dulghieru. The couple, both failed asylum seekers, used a vast array of forged passports and cloned credit cards to bring at least 600 illegal immigrants to Britain on cheap flights and Eurostar.

Detective Sergeant Alan Fitzgerald of the National Crime Squad said: "This was a highly sophisticated gang, one of the most sophisticated I've come across in 29 years in the police force. We believe there was a huge amount of money being made both in trafficking, facilitation and other criminal activities. Lots of cash flooded back into eastern Europe. We don't know exactly how much money was involved but it had the potential to be a multi-million-pound organisation."

Tamara Dulghieru, of Tooting Bec, south London, burst into tears as she was convicted and sentenced at Isleworth crown court for conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration, misuse of stolen credit cards, forgery and money laundering. She was cleared of conspiracy to traffick for prostitution and sexual exploitation. She had denied all charges.

Her husband, Gavril Dulghieru, who pleaded guilty to all the above charges, was sent to jail for nine years on October 21. He has also been sentenced in his absence to 10 years in prison in France for similar offences. Oleh Matyushin, 35, a Belarus national from south-west London, was also jailed for two years and nine months on October 21 after he admitted helping facilitate illegal immigration, forgery and money laundering.

Reporting restrictions forbade the two men's details being published until Tamara Dulghieru's trial ended.

Judge John Rylance said: "Illegal trafficking of people into this or other countries is evil and inhumane. It is particularly evil when the purpose is prostitution, because of the inevitability that many of these people will become subject of the malevolent control of the malicious and greedy." He said traffickers frequently preyed on the desperate and vulnerable, and their crimes caused resentment against legal immigrants and genuine asylum seekers.

He recommended both the Dulghierus be deported after their sentences.

80 %- Proportion of the estimated 8,000 prostitutes in London thought to be foreign nationals, many of them trafficked

pounds 4.5m- The value of assets seized by police during more than 300 operations against human traffickers, in which 1,456 people were arrested

<>

Child porn victims skyrocket following police crackdown

2005-11-07T06:51:00.001-08:00

Mainichi
Nov 3, 2005

The number of victims of child prostitution and child pornography has skyrocketed almost threefold in the first six months of 2005, largely because of a crackdown on perpetrators, according to a National Police Agency report.

NPA officials said that in the period since child prostitution and child pornography were outlawed in November 1999 until the end of June this year, there were 623 child victims, about one-third of them elementary school pupils.

The 112 victims discovered in the first six months of this year is more than three times the number of children victimized in the corresponding period last year, but the increase is being attributed to last year's toughening of the law to target newer technology.

But the outlook for child pornography and child prostitution victims is bleak.

"We think there are actually many more victims out there," a spokesman for the NPA said.

NPA statistics showed that of the 623 victims of child pornography or child prostitution police have unearthed since the ban went into effect, 181 have been elementary school pupils, 199 from junior high and 189 from high school. The remainder had either left school or were employed.

Police said a feature of the victims was the large number who had been caught on camera. Police also said that children appeared to have been the instigators in a large number of cases, but added that they did so because their lack of maturity did not allow them to understand the seriousness of their actions. Many children remain deeply scarred by their involvement in child pornography or child prostitution.

In the first six months of 2005, police made 170 arrests under the law banning child prostitution and child pornography, 2.3 times the number of apprehensions in the first half of last year. Over half of the arrests related to the tightening of the law that came into effect in July last year and targeted those who spread child porn online or digitally.

Of the 170 arrests, 68 directly related to the Internet, through use of online sales or file-sharing software to distribute child porn.

Japan and other G-8 member countries have pledged to combat child pornography. (Mainichi)

The Pakistani who fought back and won

2005-11-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

Woman raped for brother's transgression is Woman of the Year
By Andrea Koppel
CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/btsc.koppel/index.html
Friday, November 4, 2005; Posted: 10:32 a.m. EST (15:32 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Mukhtar Mai is a woman of few words. She speaks so softly at times that she barely can be heard. She does not smile easily and is quite shy.

But there is a steely toughness to Mai, a victim who is trying to change the way women are treated in Pakistan.

"I have a message to the women of the world and all the women who have been raped or any of the kind of violation: that, no matter what, they must talk about it and they must fight for justice," Mai said. (Watch how the quiet, angry woman made a difference -- 3:33)

Her fight began in 2002, when she was gang-raped on the order of village tribal council elders. The rape was meant to restore her family's honor after her younger brother was accused of being with a girl from a rival tribe.

In a country where, Human Rights Watch says, the vast majority of rapes and other violent crimes against women goes unpunished, Mai broke her silence. She not only pressed charges, she fought her case all the way to the nation's highest court.

In a case that sent shock waves through Pakistan, her attackers were found guilty. She used her government compensation money to build schools in her village. Since then, Mai has become a kind of Rosa Parks of Pakistan.

"First there was just my home. Now I have to deal with the whole world," she said in an interview.

Mai was obviously overwhelmed and exhausted from the travel and the hectic schedule she'd been keeping since arriving in the United States in late October. She came to receive a Woman of the Year award from Glamour, a magazine she had never heard of.

The contrast could not be more stark: a magazine known for promoting hot bodies and beauty tips honoring a devout Muslim who dresses modestly in a sari and is usually covered head-to-toe. She was introduced by Brooke Shields.

Shields called her "the amazing Mukhtar Mai." First lady Laura Bush said "she proves that one woman really can change the world."

Glamour magazine gave Mai a check for $20,000. Mai said she planned to donate $5,000 to help the female victim's of Pakistan's recent massive earthquake. The rest of the money would be used to set up a hotline and shelter for women in Pakistan who want to escape abusive relationships or to recover from the trauma of rape.

Although Mai is happy that she serves as an inspiration, she acknowledges her newfound position carries a burden.

"I do feel that if I stop now or step back it will harm a lot of women. Mai said. "So, I have to keep going and keep helping others."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/03/btsc.koppel/index.html

MAFIA TIES WITH FOREIGN ORGANISATIONS

2005-11-07T06:50:00.001-08:00

(AGI) - Siracusa, Italy, Nov 5 - Italian criminal organisations have
no direct involvement in human trafficking operations which,
according to Anti-Mafia Office Chief Peior Grasso, are prevalently
managed by foreign organisations. "Italian and foreign criminal
organisations do, however, share business ties; transactions are
typically managed using drugs as privileged currency.

Mafia organisations are also known to impose "duties" on foreign
organisations dealing in human trafficking on domestic soil. Whether
it be the Mafia in Sicily or Camorra in Campania [...] Italian
criminal organisations don't meddle with foreign operators,
preferring oversight and duties".

According to Grasso what's needed is a concerted effort on behalf of
the countries where [for example] prostitutes originate from,
countries providing safe passage and countries which ultimately
exploit prostitution.

On that count Italy is fully involved "in that it provides both a
safe passage and a point of arrival", says Grasso. "We need to
investigate the root cause of prostitution according to prostitute's
country of origin.

Recruitment varies depending on whether it's Nigerian or Albanian
women". Greater cooperation is needed between Police Commissioners
and the Anti-Mafia Office, according to Grasso.

Results thus far are summed as follows: "as of January 2000 up until
new legislation some 804 persons were under investigation - Grasso
concluded -; as of July 2003 the figure has risen by 1,017, totalling
1,821. The Rome Prosecutor's Office handles the largest number of
cases, involving 119 persons". (

AGI) -
051610 NOV 05

UK hit by sex slave invasion

2005-11-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

November 7, 2005 12:00am
Source: Sunday Mirror

MORE than 10,000 women a year are being smuggled into Britain and sold as sex slaves, it was claimed yesterday.

Most come from Eastern Europe, West Africa and South East Asia, said Amnesty International.

The UK is a sex trafficking hotspot because it has no laws to protect victims, according to the group. A spokeswoman said: "Many non-EU women who are stopped are immediately classified as illegal immigrants. The system must be changed so they can say they have been trafficked into the UK."

An immigration boss at Gatwick Airport said when many women are stopped, they insist they are coming to Britain as tourists.

<>

Brazil busts international sex-trafficking ring

2005-11-07T06:49:00.001-08:00

November 7, 2005 12:00am
Source: EFE News Service

Police arrested 15 people Wednesday on charges of conspiring to transport undocumented Brazilian women to Europe and force them into prostitution, authorities said.

Taken into custody were five Italian nationals, nine Brazilians and an Uruguayan, according to a statement issued by the Federal Police office in this northeastern city.

The law enforcement operation, which was carried out in cooperation with Interpol and Italian police, also led to the closure of an inn, two nightclubs, a bar and a brothel in Natal, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The Federal Police said the sex-trafficking ring was directed by Italians thought to be linked to Sacra Corona Unita, a crime syndicate based in the Puglia region of southern Italy.

"The group operated in Brazil since the end of 2004 and acquired several commercial establishments in Natal," said the police communique.

Some 100 federal and state police officers deployed before dawn Wednesday to carry out raids and arrest the 15 suspects on charges of sex trafficking, procurement, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and tax evasion.

One of the Italian citizens picked up in the operation was Giuseppe Ammirabile, identified by Brazilian police as the leader of the ring and wanted in his own country for trafficking in drugs, weapons and prostitutes, among other offenses.

"According to information from Interpol and from the Italian and Spanish police attaches in Brazil, Ammirabile is head of a criminal organization in the Italian region of Bari," the Federal Police said.

The other four Italians apprehended Wednesday have rap sheets that include arrests for extortion, smuggling, sex trafficking and murder. Suspect Paolo Quaranta, described as Ammirabile's bodyguard, "was sentenced in Canada to life in prison for homicide," the Federal Police statement said.

Brazilian authorities said all five of the Italians arrested had links to Colombian drug traffickers and to Italy-based crime mobs such as Sacra Corona Unita, 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra.

Most of the Brazilians detained in the operation were allegedly acting as front men or managers on behalf of their foreign bosses, with some listed as the nominal owners of the establishments padlocked by police on Wednesday.

The Uruguayan suspect, identified as Alfredo Gustavo Labounoro Juhos, was the manager of one of the night clubs.

<>

i was sold for GBP2,000, but i'm one of the lucky ones - i'm free now

2005-11-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

November 4, 2005 12:00am
Source: Evening Standard

NATASHA'S manicured hand shakes with trepidation as she lights up a cigarette. "This is hard for me," she says, softly, her almond eyes glistening.

"Until now, I have told no one; not even my mother."

Indeed, the damage to Natasha is not obvious to the eye, for what you see, sitting in a Highgate cafe, is a beautiful Russian teenager, with an unblemished complexion and a shapely figure.

You would never guess that, until recently, when she was liberated by a police raid on a London brothel, Natasha was a sex slave, locked up against her will at 17 and forced into prostitution by people-traffickers.

Billed on an internet site by her pimp as "London's youngest prostitute", she was forced to fulfil the sexual fantasies of middleclass men at numerous upmarket massage parlours in the West End, Hendon and Sudbury.

This week, as yet another major trafficking gang, believed to be responsible for bringing at least 600 illegal immigrants to the UK, is jailed, Natasha's story is a disturbing account of the horrors these women face.

She describes how she was sold for GBP6,000, passed from Moscow to Frankfurt to Brussels and finally to London.

And how she faced down her pimp in a London court, and won her freedom.

Natasha's story begins more than a year ago in the Samara region of central Russia, where she lived with her father, a factory worker, and her mother, a teacher. "I was a typical rebellious teenager with a dream to see the world before I settled down to college," she says. "When my friend Tania saw an advert in a newspaper - 'work abroad for good money' - we jumped at it."

Natasha and Tania were directed to a local travel agent, where a persuasive woman, Vera, told them that they could find "excellent work" in Spain as waitresses. "We gratefully asked Vera how much we had to pay her for getting us the job," recalls Natasha. "She said, 'Don't worry, you can pay me when you start working.' "We had walked into a trap that led straight to the underworld. We just didn't know it."

Natasha packed a few things and left without telling her parents. "If I had told my mother I was going abroad, she would never have let me go, so I wrote a note saying I was going to work in Moscow." Natasha and Tania were indeed headed for Moscow, but only to obtain visas for Europe.

They were met by a man called Sergei who took them to an empty flat. After two weeks, Natasha's visas arrived and Sergei said she must leave. Tania, he lied, would follow on.

Natasha was put on a two-day coach to Frankfurt, where a man called Georgy collected her. Speeding down the motorway, Natasha began to see signs for Belgium.

"I thought we were going to Barcelona," she inquired. "They don't want you in Spain," Georgy said.

"But someone wants to see you in Brussels.

You are going to work as a prostitute."

"I wanted to open the door and jump out," recalls Natasha. "I said: 'You have made a terrible mistake, I am not that type of girl.' The thought of sleeping with men for money horrified her.

Arriving in Brussels, Georgy forcibly handed Natasha over to John, an Albanian whom he introduced as her pimp, and who paid Georgy GBP2,000 in Euros, for "delivering her".

"That night," says Natasha, "John broke me in. He raped me." But the nightmare had only just begun.

The next day, John dressed her in high heels, red miniskirt and black stockings and drove her to Avenue Louise, which was to be her "office" for the next two months. She would charge e100 an hour and have sex with men in cars or cheap hotel rooms, with John always nearby, circling in his car or hovering in the background.

"At first, escape was always on my mind," she says, "but it was impossible.

John never let me out of his sight and would lock me in the flat. After a while I just stopped thinking about it."

Natasha would never have come to London if it had not been for a terrible beating by one of her clients. "I became hysterical and told John I refused to work on the street any more. He could see his investment in me might not work out, so he said, 'I'll make calls, maybe I can sell you and you can work in another country in a flat.'" A few days later, a Kosovan, Niki Dimitrov, 29, arrived, paid John GBP4,000, and introduced himself to Natasha as "your new pimp". Dimitrov, who had escaped deportation from the UK by claiming he'd been tortured in the Balkan conflict, drove Natasha to England and to his flat in Archway, north London, where he took pornographic photographs of her.

He posted them on the internet under the tagline: "London's youngest prostitute".

The next morning, after forcing Natasha to have sex with him, Dimitrov dressed her in a nurse's outfit and drove her to a flat in Bayswater. There he introduced her to two Lithuanian girls who served other pimps. Dimitrov instructed Natasha to charge GBP150 an hour for straight sex, with prices rising the more degrading the request.

"If ever I refused a client, Niki would beat me up," she says. "Once he punched me in the face so badly that I was unable to work for 10 days. I tried to talk to the other girls to see if they were slaves like me, but they were too terrified to discuss their situation."

After a few months, Natasha was moved to Paradise, a massage parlour in Station Road, Hendon, and then onto another in Harrow Road, Sudbury, north-west London, run by Dimitrov's friend, and where she was expected to have sex with up to five punters a day.

"I was constantly thinking about running away, but Niki told me: 'If you try, I will hunt you down and kill you. And then I will kill your mother.'

"To survive, I totally switched off," she says. "It was like I wasn't there.

But I never gave up hope. I believed that one day - when I had paid off the GBP4,000 Niki had paid for me - I would get my life back.

"At night Niki locked me in his flat and forced me to cook, clean and have sex with him. I was not even allowed to go out to the shops on my own."

Natasha's hell only came to an end a month before her 18th birthday because of a police raid on the Sudbury brothel. The Met's Clubs & Vice unit arrested Dimitrov. Natasha was re-housed in a one-bedroom flat. But, to put Dimitrov away, she had to find the courage to give evidence against him at Southwark Crown Court.

"I was terrified to make eye contact," she says, recalling the trial last December. In the face of Natasha's account, Dimitrov confessed to living on prostitution, was jailed for six years and placed on the sex offenders' register for life. It was a landmark case, with Dimitrov the first person to be prosecuted under section 49 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for controlling a child prostitute.

MEANWHILE, Natasha - given indefinite leave to remain in the UK - has been painstakingly rebuilding her life. She has enrolled at London University where, by day, she is studying English and photography, and by night she works as a supermarket cashier.

At weekends, she goes out to clubs and discos with her large group of student friends - none of whom know anything about her tragic past. Recently, she says, she took "a big step" - she now has a boyfriend from college but she has yet to tell him the truth and still finds it hard to trust men. She counts herself "extremely lucky" that the police rescued her when they did.

"I am young, I am resilient, I will recover," she says softly.

She loves nothing more than to wander through London, down by the Thames, a free person. "It's unreal to think I was a slave in captivity here not so long ago. A slave! In London!" She shakes her head. "Even if I told people, they would hardly believe it."

And suddenly she looks fragile.

Natasha has been through so much you can easily forget she is a vulnerable teenager in a strange land. She still misses her mother terribly and says she has been unable to visit her because her British immigration travel documents stop her returning to Russia.

"I have plans to meet my mum in Europe," she says, excitedly. "I can't wait.

When I phoned my mother to tell her I was in London studying English, she said, 'Wow!' But I could never tell my mother the truth. I can hardly admit it to myself."

<>

Hospital executive also runs brothel

2005-11-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

By Darrell Giles
06-11-2005
From: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

A QUEENSLAND Health senior bureaucrat says the State Government has been extremely supportive in her other role as a brothel manager.

Nicole Mair, managing director of Club Tigerlily at Brisbane's Eagle Farm, said there had been no repercussions from Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, where she worked during the day as director of health information services.

"They have been very supportive," said Ms Mair.

"The only problems have been in terms of my time . . . trying to do two jobs."

Ms Mair splits her working week, doing three days for Queensland Health and three days at Club Tigerlily.

The divorced mother-of-two said she had initial concerns that working in the sex industry could damage her reputation as a respected health professional.

"But I have never got the feeling that people are opposed or that I am looked down upon or stigmatised," she said.

Ms Mair, who also lecturers at Queensland University of Technology's school of public health, was asked by her business partner to run Club Tigerlily after the brothel received Prostitution Licensing Authority approval.

Her experience in administration and health-related areas was considered valuable to the business.

"I had never done anything like it before and saw it as a real challenge. It has been very interesting. The learning curve has been quite substantial."

Ms Mair received the approval of her grown-up children and, most importantly, her mother, who all thought her new line of work was "cool".

She described Club Tigerlily as a high-class establishment where prostitutes could earn $1000 a night.

"They are all independent operators. A percentage are students supporting themselves during studies. There are girls who are single mums, girls who are married."

Ms Mair said there were no teachers, lawyers or accountants working as prostitutes at her club, but she knew of some women with professional careers who enjoyed the second job in Queensland's 19 brothels. "They are all really great, but there is such a dreadful shortage of girls in Brisbane and it is difficult for us because we are not allowed to advertise (for staff)."

Iran: Journalist Tortured to Renounce Writings

2005-11-03T06:54:00.002-08:00

(New York, November 2, 2005) ? The imprisoned Iranian journalist
and dissident, Akbar Ganji, said that Judiciary officials have tortured
him to renounce his writings. Human Rights Watch today expressed
grave concern for his physical well-being and urged the Iranian
government to release him immediately and unconditionally.

Human Rights Watch also said it holds the Iranian government
responsible for any harm to Ganji's well-being. Ganji has been in
prison since April 2000.

"Ganji's situation is now extremely critical," said Joe Stork, deputy
Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities are
exerting tremendous pressure on him to disavow his writings."

The Judiciary has held Ganji in solitary confinement since September
3 in a special ward of Tehran's Evin prison known as Alef-2. The
authorities barred his family and lawyers from visiting him except for
one brief visit on October 18 by his wife, Massoumeh Shafii, and one
of his lawyers. Afterwards, his wife published a letter detailing Ganji's
account of his mistreatment by Judiciary officials.

In addition, the Judiciary detained one of Ganji's other lawyers,
Abdolfattah Soltani, on July 30. Since then, he has been held without
charge, mostly in solitary confinement. Soltani is a co-founder of the
Center for Defense of Human Rights, an independent rights
organization in Tehran.

In July 2001, the Judiciary sentenced Ganji, an investigative journalist,
to six years in prison for his writings critical of the government. He
was convicted of "acting against national security" and "spreading
propaganda," among other charges. Ganji earlier had published a
series of articles alleging that high-level government officials were
involved in the serial murder of writers and intellectuals in 1998. He
also published a "Republican Manifesto" critical of Iran's system of
government.

Abdolfattah Soltani is also a member of the legal team in a number of
other high-profile rights cases. Following Soltani's detention, the
Judiciary held him in solitary confinement for 42 days without
charging him with any crime. The authorities have not allowed Soltani
to meet with his lawyers.

"The Judiciary locked up Soltani as a warning to other lawyers and
rights defenders," Stork said. "The Iranian government is creating an
atmosphere of fear and intimidation in attempt to paralyze the human
rights community."

Human Rights Watch called on Iran's head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah
Mahmoud Shahrudi, to order the release of Ganji and Soltani without
delay.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/02/iran11958.htm

-----------
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Sierra Leone: War Crimes Court Makes Major Strides

2005-11-03T06:54:00.001-08:00

(New York, November 2, 2005) ? The U.N.-backed court for war
crimes in Sierra Leone is making major strides toward ensuring justice
for serious crimes committed during the eleven-year war in Sierra
Leone, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today.

The devastating conflict, which lasted from 1991 until 2002, was
characterized by brutal human rights abuses committed by all warring
factions.

The 46-page report, "Justice in Motion: The Trial Phase of the Special
Court for Sierra Leone," evaluates the conduct of the court during
trials, which began last June.

"The Special Court has broken new ground with practices to promote
fair trials, protect witnesses and make justice accessible to Sierra
Leoneans," said Elise Keppler, counsel with Human Rights Watch's
International Justice Program. "The Special Court is setting
benchmarks that other tribunals can look to."

Key accomplishments of this novel tribunal, which is a hybrid
international-national court, include:
? Substantial progress on trials of accused associated with all three
main warring factions
? A defense office that advocates to ensure effective defense
representation and fair trials
? A comprehensive scheme of protection and support for scores of
witnesses
? Robust outreach that disseminates information about the court around
the country through video, radio and discussion

Initially forced to rely exclusively on voluntary donations from other
countries, the Special Court has faced constant financial shortfalls.
Recent pledges made at a funding conference on September 30 are
commendable, but remain inadequate. As a result, the court currently
lacks sufficient funds to complete operations and carry out critical
"post-completion" activities, such as protecting witnesses who have
testified.

"With everything the Special Court has achieved, it would be shameful
if it didn't receive the funding it needs to wrap up its work," said
Keppler. "Donor countries should step up and contribute generously so
that the court can make a strong and historic finish."

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor's ongoing exile in Nigeria
also threatens to undercut the Special Court's ability to fulfill its
mandate to prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for
serious crimes committed in Sierra Leone's armed conflict, Human
Rights Watch said. Taylor has been indicted by the Special Court of
seventeen counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against
the people of Sierra Leone. The crimes include killings, mutilations,
rape and other forms of sexual violence, sexual slavery, the
recruitment and use of child soldiers, abduction, and the use of forced
labor by Sierra Leonean armed opposition groups.

"The Special Court cannot complete its work as long as Nigeria
continues to harbor Taylor," said Keppler.

The report details concerns regarding court operations that should be
addressed to ensure that the court functions as fairly and effectively as
possible. These include disclosure of information identifying protected
witnesses in the courtroom, poor performance of defense counsel, and
insufficient initiatives to engage the national justice system.

Human Rights Watch also identified accomplishments and made
recommendations for improvement in the Special Court's operations.
The report builds upon Human Rights Watch's September 2004 report
"Bringing Justice: The Special Court for Sierra Leone," which
assessed developments at the Special Court at an earlier stage of its
operation.

Background

The Special Court is charged with bringing to justice those who bear
the greatest responsibility for grave crimes committed since November
1996, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, other serious
violations of international humanitarian law and certain violations of
Sierra Leonean law. Created in 2002 through an agreement between
the United Nations and the Sierra Leonean government, the Special
Court represents a significant new model of international justice, often
referred to as a "mixed" or "hybrid" tribunal.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/02/sierra11944.htm

U.S.: Reject Torture as Policy Option

2005-11-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

(New York, November 2, 2005) -- As Congress considers new
legislation reinforcing the ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment, a new book illuminates the practice of torture around the
world and examines how recent policy shifts in the United States have
undermined the global ban on torture.

Called "required reading" in the November issue of Vanity Fair,
Torture: Does It Make Us Safer, Is It Ever OK? is an up-to-the-minute
exploration of this wrenching topic. Now available in bookstores, the
book is published by the New Press and Human Rights Watch.

Revelations of torture and degradation at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.
detention facilities have galvanized both proponents and opponents of
torture.

"Who would have thought we would still be debating the use of
torture?" said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights
Watch and co-editor of the book. "But when a government as
dominant and influential as the United States openly defies the
absolute ban on mistreating detainees, its conduct jeopardizes
prisoners everywhere."

In this new book, essays by leading thinkers and experts cross
continents and centuries to offer a timely exploration of the global
debates on torture?the legality of the practice, the extent of its use,
the pain it inflicts and its questionable effectiveness.

In his contribution to the book, former prisoner of war Senator John
McCain argues against throwing out the Geneva Conventions'
prohibitions on torture. Last month, in a 90-9 vote, the U.S. Senate
approved a measure sponsored by Republican Senators John McCain
and Lindsey Graham that would, contrary to Bush administration
policy, prohibit the military and CIA from using "cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment" for any detainee in U.S. custody anywhere in the
world.

In his introduction, Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth
Roth sets out how the shifting U.S. position has undermined the global
prohibition on torture. Tom Malinowski reveals how the U.S. is
engaging in practices that its own State Department regularly
condemns when performed by other governments around the world.

In other chapters, Michael Ignatieff counters Alan Dershowitz's
controversial "ticking time-bomb" scenario as a justification for using
torture, and Israeli human rights advocate Eitan Felner spotlights
Israel's failed experiment legalizing the mistreatment of detainees in
supposed emergency situations.

British barrister Cherie Booth writes about sexual violence and the
torture of women. Sir Nigel Rodley, the former United Nations torture
rapporteur, tells of his experiences negotiating with torturers
worldwide.

Juan M?ndez, U.N. special advisor on genocide prevention, writes for
the first time about his own horrific experience of torture. Argentine
Consul General H?ctor Timerman gives a harrowing account of the
Argentine military dictatorship's torture of his father and the impact
this had on his family.

"For a number of the writers in this book, torture is not an abstract
concept," said Minky Worden, media director of Human Rights Watch
and co-editor of the book. "These voices and perspectives will lead
even the staunchest backers of torture to question their beliefs."

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/01/usdom11956.htm

Papua New Guinea: Investigate Police Shootings of Schoolchildren

2005-11-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

(New York, November 1, 2005) ? The government of Papua New
Guinea should immediately investigate police killings of three
schoolchildren and the injuring of roughly two dozen others in Enga
province on October 31, Human Rights Watch said today.

Deputy Police Commissioner Gari Baki told journalists Monday that
police were met by rock-throwing students when they went to arrest
the headmaster of Porgera top-up primary school. The deputy
commissioner said that the officers believed their lives were threatened
and opened fire to disperse the crowd. Three children were shot dead,
and 20 to 35 people, some as young as nine or 10 years old, were
injured.

"It's hard to imagine that police confronted by unarmed students
couldn't address the situation without shooting children dead," said
Zama Coursen-Neff, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch's
Children's Rights Division and author of the organization's recent
report on police violence against children in Papua New Guinea. "The
officers involved should be investigated and properly punished, and
steps should be taken to ensure such horrific incidents won't be
repeated."

Extreme and disproportionate violence against children, including rape
and torture, is business as usual for many Papua New Guinea police. In
September, Human Rights Watch released a report, "?Making Their
Own Rules': Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture of Children in Papua
New Guinea," documenting boys and girls being shot, knifed, kicked
and beaten with gun butts, iron bars, wooden batons, fists, rubber
hoses and chairs. Some were forced to chew and swallow condoms.
Eyewitnesses describe gang rapes in police stations, vehicles, barracks
and other locations. Children were also routinely detained with adults
in sordid police lockups and denied medical care.

Internal police statistics indicate that very few officers are punished for
violence against children. A 2004 report commissioned by Minister of
Police Bire Kimisopa also found a breakdown of discipline. The
minister's report recommended reforms that have not been
implemented. With little or no penalty for violators and few incentives
for good practices, police training has had little effect on abusive
police tactics.

"Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner Sam Inguba told me in
September that officers who commit crimes against children would be
disciplined," said Coursen-Neff. "Yesterday's police shootings of
children demands leadership from the top. This incident highlights the
urgent need for Papua New Guinea's police force to reform the way it
treats children."

Human Rights Watch called on the Papua New Guinea government to
investigate the shootings and to make public the results of the
investigation. Officers and their commanders found responsible for
excessive force should face, as appropriate, internal disciplinary
measures, including dismissal, and criminal prosecution, the
organization said. Human Rights Watch has also called on the
government to designate an independent body to monitor police
violence against children.

Human Rights Watch urged the government to ensure that police
strictly comply with the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of
Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Under the
Principles, law enforcement officials may use lethal force only "when
strictly unavoidable in order to protect life." When doing so they must
act with restraint and in proportion to the seriousness of the offense,
minimize injury and respect and preserve human life.

Australia is Papua New Guinea's largest foreign donor, with much of
its assistance going to the police. Human Rights Watch called on
Australia and other international donors to place more emphasis on
accountability for officers and their commanders who commit crimes,
to encourage independent monitoring of police by a body outside the
force with the resources and mandate to do the job, and to assist the
development of local human rights groups with the capacity to demand
accountability from the government and monitor police violence.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/01/png11951.htm

Woman Tells Terrifying Story Of Teen Prostitution

2005-11-03T06:52:00.001-08:00

County Report: 76 Teen Prostitutes Arrested Last Year
POSTED: 5:25 pm PST November 2, 2005
UPDATED: 8:17 pm PST November 2, 2005
10News.com

SAN DIEGO -- Some revealing information about San Diego teenagers and prostitution.

As a new study is released, one young woman is coming forward with a terrifying story of prostitution, sexual slavery and survival.

"I remember praying the time when things were happening to me, praying God would let me die," said the woman, whom 10News will call Sarah.

Her nightmare started in a San Jose parking lot. A woman, who 10News will call Sarah, was 18 and walking in broad daylight when several men got out of their car and cornered her.

"The driver said, 'I have a gun, get in the car.' I got in the car," she said.

Sarah said she was taken to a home and beaten multiple times and continually raped.

"(They) raped me, blindfolded me than wrote all over my body -- derogatory negative things. Then (they) took the blindfold off, repeating everything that was said about me," she said.

For a year, Sarah and other girls were taken around the country and prostituted, 10News reported. Sarah said all thoughts of escaping were erased by one kidnapper's methods.

"He took me to my brother's school with a gun to my head and said this is how easy it would be to kill your brother," Sarah said.

When the possibility of her dying became likely, Sarah said she slipped someone the number for her parents, leading to her rescue.

Sarah's story sheds light on a problem that isn't going away. In a newly released county report, a survey of law enforcement, counselors and others found teen prostitution a common to very common problem.

Countywide, 76 girls were arrested last year on suspicion of teen prostitution -- a 27 percent increase over a one-year period. And a majority are coerced -- some by family or friends. Others like Sarah are forced by strangers.

One of the human traffickers in Sarah's case was convicted. Another remains missing.

Meanwhile, county officials say the 76 arrests belie a bigger problem. Many who are arrested are charged with several crimes and are never classifed as prostitutes.

Copyright 2004 by 10News.com.

Ala. Killer Admits to 12 More Slayings

2005-11-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

November 3, 2005 12:00am
Source: AP Online

MOBILE, Ala._A man convicted of raping and murdering an Alabama woman has confessed to at least 12 more slayings in four other states, and may be linked to four more killings, authorities said Wednesday.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King branded Jeremy Bryan Jones "a monster who would kill without remorse."

Jones, 32, of Miami, Okla., faces a possible death sentence Dec. 1 for the killing of Lisa Marie Nichols, 44, in Alabama.

During his trial last month, Jones maintained his innocence in the presence of his mother and girlfriend, but privately gave detectives details of the crimes, including victims' names and the locations of the killings, said sheriff's Detective Paul Burch.

Jones was "very nonchalant and matter-of-fact" in recounting the rapes and killings, Burch said.

Of the 13 victims Jones is suspected of killing, 10 were women.

He is charged with killing a Georgia teen and a Louisiana woman. He is also a suspect in 10 other deaths _ seven in Oklahoma, two in Georgia and one in Kansas. State and local law enforcement also believe he may be linked to the slayings of four Atlanta-area prostitutes.

<>

Slavery in New York

2005-11-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

By Jo Burgess
Epoch Times New York staff
The Epoch Times
Nov 01, 2005

( www.slaveryinnewyork.org)

Think New York was always the champion of freedom of expression? Think again, because until the abolition of slavery in 1827, New Yorkers had a very different idea of ‘liberty.’

With artifacts and stories spanning over 2 centuries from 1600 to 1827, the New York Historical Society’s exhibition, “Slavery in New York,” covers not just the historical facts of slavery, but the faces and lives of actual New York slaves, such as Sojourner Truth and “Ceaser,” whose Daguerreotype portrait appears on the cover of the exhibit brochure.

New York was an important slave-trading outpost in colonial America. Perhaps because slavery had been abolished in New York by the time of the Civil War, we rarely think of New York as a ‘slave state.’ The reality is that by the year 1700, 41 percent of New Yorkers owned slaves.

Occupying the entire first floor of the Society, the exhibit includes media presentations, historical artifacts and documents as well as newly commissioned works of art. Beginning with a short video series about the history of slavery in America, the first half of the exhibit covers the hard truths of slavery, including documents of slave sales and court records where slaves were brutally punished.

Ending with the road to abolition, the second half of the exhibit covers New York’s gradual progress towards freedom. Notable in the second half of the exhibit is an artificial well, where visitors are presented with the rippling reflection of a conversation taking place between three female slaves. In their discussion of everyday and spiritual matters, one truth becomes clear: slavery in New England is no better than slavery in the deep south. Slavery is just slavery. Providing the details of enslaved blacks’ lives, a collection of short biographies can be found near the end of the exhibit. The nondescript booklet is easy to miss, but the descriptions it contains are as valuable as any of the preserved documents and artifacts that are displayed. In it we find personal information about the lives and deaths, the struggles and tribulations of the slaves, former slaves and free blacks of New York. Accompanying each biography is a sketch of the subject’s face, a subtle but emotional image of the face of slavery in colonial New York.

The New York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West, on 77th Street. The exhibit “Slavery in New York” runs until March 5, 2006.

Pimp Gets 27-Year Sentence

2005-11-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

POSTED: 4:46 pm PST October 31, 2005
NCBSanDiego.com

VISTA, Calif. -- An ex-convict licensed by the city of Carlsbad to operate an escort service was sentenced Monday to nearly 27 years in prison for turning the business into a prostitution ring.

James Hammond, 41, was convicted of 10 counts of pimping and pandering.

Prosecutors said the escort service was run out of Carlsbad and also had clients in Oceanside and Escondido.

Defense attorney George Peterson argued that Hammond only sent the women out as escorts, and did not know of -- or condone -- sexual activity.

Hannity falsely claimed Ginsburg advocated legalizing prostitution, lowering the consent age to 12

2005-11-02T06:57:00.001-08:00

[To give you some context for the following material. From the Media Matters web site: Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. - Donna]

Hannity falsely claimed Ginsburg advocated legalizing prostitution, lowering the consent age to 12
http://mediamatters.org/items/200511010012

Fox News host Sean Hannity repeated the false claim that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had supported both "legalized prostitution" and lowering "the age of consent to 12" prior to her 1993 confirmation hearing. A 1974 report co-authored by Ginsburg did address the constitutionality of prohibitions on prostitution and did refer to legislation that set the age of consent at 12 years. But Ginsburg did not assert a position on either issue, as Media Matters for America previously noted in response to a nearly identical claim made by Wall Street Journal columnist Manuel Miranda.

During an interview with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on the October 31 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Hannity brought up what he called the "Ginsburg rule" -- commonly known as the "Ginsburg precedent." This is the deceptive argument -- hatched shortly after the nomination of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. -- that Senate Republicans responded to Ginsburg's 1993 nomination by putting aside their ideological differences and not requiring her to answer questions that would signal how she would decide future cases, thereby establishing a precedent for the opposition party's handling of future Supreme Court nominees. Hannity went on to detail Ginsburg's "very left-wing" record:

HANNITY: I guess where I am on this, if you look at Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I mean, she -- the Ginsburg rule, she doesn't have to answer specific questions, clearly pro-choice going in, thinks there may even be a constitutional right to polygamy, has a controversial view we should lower the age of consent to 12, supports legalized prostitution, very left-wing.

But Hannity's claims regarding Ginsburg's views on prostitution and the age of consent rely on a distorted reading of her 1974 report titled " The Legal Status of Women Under Federal Law." On the issue of prostitution, the report read: "Prostitution as a consensual act between adults is arguably within the zone of privacy protected by recent constitutional decisions." While Hannity and Miranda have misconstrued this sentence as an argument in favor of constitutional protection for prostitution, Ginsburg was merely stating that an argument could be made that such activity is protected by the Constitution. Indeed, during her 1993 confirmation hearing, when Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) noted this passage, Ginsburg highlighted the presence of the term "arguably." Hatch went on to concede that the sentence could not be construed as a stated position: "You were making an academic point. I understand. I'm not trying to indicate that you were justifying prostitution."

The claim that Ginsburg put forth the "controversial view we should lower the age of consent to 12" is also false. In a section of the 1974 report objecting to the "traditional sex discriminatory fashion" in which the United States Code defined rape, Ginsburg cited a 1973 Senate bill as an example of legislation that better "conform[ed] to the equality principle." One of the three circumstances that the bill established as constituting rape read as follows: "the other person is, in fact, less than twelve years old." But Ginsburg was noting with approval only the measure's gender-neutral language; she never directly addressed the clause regarding "age of consent." In a September 16 column taking issue with this particular criticism of Ginsburg, Slate.com's Timothy Noah wrote: "What, then, is Ruth Bader Ginsburg's true crime? In discussing how to rewrite the federal law addressing statutory rape, Ginsburg failed to state an opinion about what the age of consent should be."

Raped Pakistani Woman Brings Fight to U.S.

2005-11-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

November 2, 2005 12:00am
Source: AP Online

WASHINGTON_In a quiet voice _ almost a whisper _ Mukhtar Mai spoke of her fight against a system back home in Pakistan that allowed a tribal council to deem it acceptable that four men could rape her to avenge their honor after her brother allegedly had sex with a woman above his class.

"I am fighting a fight against oppression, where women and the poor are oppressed ... by feudal lords," she said Monday night through an interpreter, reading from a prepared statement and addressing a group of human rights activists. "They have power and money, and all I have is you and your support. God willing, truth will have victory."

Mai's story is one of overcoming adversity and the difficulty of her ordeal was echoed, to a lesser degree, by the difficulty she had in coming to the United States where she is to receive Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year Award on Wednesday in New York City.

While in the United States, she also hopes to further her plans to educate a new generation of Pakistanis about the need to end the kind of tribal law that sanctioned her rape, said Dr. Amna Buttar, a University of Wisconsin physician who served as her translator Monday.

Mai said she is taking $5,000 from the $20,000 prize and donating it to recovery work for the mammoth earthquake last month that killed tens of thousands in Pakistan.

The rest of the money will go to her plans to establish schools and a women's crisis center. She has already set up a school for girls. She said she considers schooling equally important for boys, because they must learn that under Islam, and under the law, women have the same rights to be left alone as they do.

Mai allegedly was ordered raped in 2002 by a council of elders in Meerwala, her home village in eastern Punjab province, as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman from a higher caste family. Mai and her family deny any affair ever took place and say the brother was in fact sexually assaulted by members of the other family.

In Pakistan, the method of restoring a family's honor by rape is commonplace. Often, the victim kills herself in shame.

Not Mai, 36. Her outcry drew international attention and brought the men who attacked her to the national courts of Pakistan.

A trial court in 2002 sentenced six men to death and acquitted eight others in Mai's rape. In March, the High Court in Punjab province acquitted five of the men and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison.

After an emotional appeal by Mai, the acquittals were overturned in June and the 13 men who had been released were rearrested. They remain in jail while Pakistan's Supreme Court considers the case.

Mai said she has no intention of leaving Pakistan, as did another woman who says she was forced out of the country after being raped by an army officer.

"I think that the fight can be fought only by living in Pakistan," she said. "You cannot fight by leaving."

Even coming to the United States posed a significant challenge. Mai had been invited by the U.S.-based women's rights group Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women earlier this year to tell her story in the United States. But authorities confiscated her passport.

After officials in the United States and other countries strongly condemned the move, Islamabad rescinded the ban and returned her passport.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a strong ally of Washington, acknowledged that he had ordered the travel ban to prevent Mai from casting Pakistan in a bad light.

<>

Finally, a vice law which fits the Bill

2005-11-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

Scotsman.com

The Evening News
Wed 2 Nov 2005

MARGO MacDONALD

LET'S hope it's all over bar the shouting... no, not the outcome of the Premier League championship, the beginning of the end of the debate on how best to manage street prostitution.

Yesterday's announcement from Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry contained a passing nod to people who believe in zero tolerance of prostitution, and that all sales of sexual services constitute violence against women.

But much more important than the spin was the Scottish Executive's implicit acceptance of a duty of care towards prostitutes, as well as towards others, such as Leith Links residents, who may be alarmed or offended or inconvenienced by the activities associated with the buying and selling of sex.

Just as very, very few of us approve of drug abuse, most people disapprove of prostitution.

But in dealing with both activities, a policy of harm-reduction, rather than zero tolerance, has been found to be the most effective way of managing problems created for the wider community.

There have been women on the streets of Leith, and Edinburgh, for as long as ships have tied up at Leith docks.

For the hundreds of years they've plied their trade, polite society has shunned prostitutes socially but until relatively recently their activities, although inviting disapproval, were tolerated.

But times have changed... the 24-hour economy, for example, has meant that what used to be the business of the night in Glasgow's warehouse and office area, is now an activity that has to coexist with much longer working hours in businesses that used to close at 5 or 6 o'clock. Employees are now much more likely to be annoyed, or alarmed, by the kerb-crawling activities of men looking for sex.

On Leith Links, sexual services are negotiated, bought and sold at night... but the associated activities are still unacceptable to residents. Because of a lack of discretion on the part of kerb-crawlers and inconsiderate behaviour towards residents' sensitivities and rights on the part of some prostitutes, local people have vigorously opposed the former tolerance zone policy being reintroduced.

But perhaps because of the pressure induced by the activity on their doorstep and the detritus found in their gardens and the school playground, they missed the point I was trying to make, firstly in my Bill aimed at managing street prostitution, and then as a member of the Expert Group on the topic set up by the Scottish Executive.

My Bill would have created managed zones, none of which would have been possible in residential areas, such as Leith Links. But that solution has been overtaken by a much better way of managing the problem facing the three big city councils of exercising a duty of care towards prostitutes and to the wider community. Instead of "tolerance", or "management", or "non-harassment" zones, the activity itself will now be managed.

The old law that for centuries has exacted penance from only the seller of sex, usually a woman, will go, to be replaced by one that acknowledges the nuisance or alarm that can be caused by either the buyer or seller. The new law will see equal treatment for both the intrusive kerb-crawler and the inconsiderate seller of sexual services as, on the complaint of a third party, a charge of causing alarm by attempting to purchase or sell sex is followed by a stiff fine.

With such a law in place, there must be a very slim likelihood of working women practising the oldest profession in places where their activities will be easily observed and therefore open to complaint on the part of residents, office workers or what have you. Much more likely, providing they feel relatively secure, they'll ply their trade away from the general public's gaze.

And this is where the local council's duty of care comes in: as well as trying to make the sex trade less dangerous for the women working the streets, the Executive wants local councils to provide support services for this very vulnerable group. Depending on local attitudes, conditions and geography, each big city council, working with police, health authorities, education and housing departments, drug and employment agencies, as well as specialist voluntary organisations like ScotPep, will decide how best to provide these services.

My bet is that they'll try to locate the services where women are working... in a reachable but discreet area with minimum chances of complaint by residents or passers-by against their presence or behaviour. There are still such areas in the docks area in Leith, for example, and in Aberdeen the existing managed area will probably form the basis for any new arrangements made possible by the new law.

Glasgow has a bigger problem because of the many more street prostitutes in the city. Wisely, however, the Executive will leave the city authorities and agencies to work out plans for Glasgow that match the realities of street prostitution in their city. I doubt if the minimal volume of street prostitution in Dundee will be much affected by change in the law.

A few people will wonder at so much effort being directed at an activity that attracts such disapproval, some more will believe that the new law should be aimed at eliminating prostitution. Firstly, ignoring behaviour not approved by society improves nothing for anybody. Secondly, the law could only make prostitution illegal, without necessarily changing any of the reasons for women entering and working in the sex industry.

By charging local agencies with providing the services needed by prostitutes, they'll be able to tap into advice, counselling and employment training as and when they're ready, willing and able to get off the streets and into mainstream employment.

Tolerance zones... who needs them, when you can have this system of managing street prostitution?

New law to focus on kerb crawlers in red light crackdown

2005-11-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

By Angus Macleod, Scottish Political Editor
The Times
November 2, 2005

POLICE forces in Scotland are to be given new powers to press charges against men who pay for sex from prostitutes.

Men and women will be subject to a new criminal offence of buying or selling sex and thus causing alarm and nuisance in communities, ending the present law where only prostitutes are criminalised.

The Scottish Executive also announced yesterday that the offence of soliciting, which punishes prostitutes for attempting to sell sex, is to be scrapped. The new offence covering both sexes will carry harsher penalties, with fines of up to £500. At present, in Scotland, women convicted of soliciting are fined £75 for a first offence.

The plans are contained in the Executive’s response to the findings of a report published last December by the Expert Group on Prostitution.

The provisions for the new offence will feature in the Sentencing Bill planned for next year and should become law by early 2007.

Hugh Henry, Scotland’s Deputy Justice Minister, said that ministers considered street prostitution to be a form of violence against women. He said: “For too long the law in Scotland has been focused on women soliciting and not on men purchasing sex. There is a need to redress this balance and that’s what we are doing with this new approach.”

The expert working group was set up in 2003 by the Executive after MSPs rejected a bid by Margo Macdonald, an independent MSP, to legislate for formal prostitution tolerance zones. Councils in Scotland, however, will be able to set “managed areas” where street prostitute are held not to constitute a nuisance. Such zones would have to have health, welfare and counselling services available to prostitutes.

At present, prostitution itself is not an offence but the 1982 Civic Government (Scotland) Act criminalises soliciting in a public place for the purpose of prostitution.

Ministers at Holyrood maintained the purpose of the plans unveiled yesterday was not to make prostitution illegal.

The new offence will target men who specifically cause a nuisance through their involvement in prostitution, whether they are on foot or in a car. Women who cause alarm by selling sex would also be committing an offence. The offence will be based on an objective assessment of whether offence would be caused to a reasonable person if they witnessed the behaviour. Complaints from the public would no longer be needed to bring a case to court.

More Koreans Go Abroad for Sex Tourism, NGO Says

2005-11-01T14:39:00.000-08:00

The Korea Times
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

A civic group has urged the government to develop measures to prevent an increasing number of Korean men participating in the overseas sex trade.

The Seoul-based Naeil Women’s Center for Youth said Monday that the participation of Koreans in sexual exploitation in the Philippines and Cambodia is getting serious, and called on the government and the public to raise their awareness of the sexual exploitation of youth in other countries.

Kim Young-ran, head of the center, and other participants in an international symposium described a couple of cases in which Korean men had sexual intercourse with underage prostitutes in other countries.

The center yesterday held an international symposium on the theme of ``Conditions and Countermeasures to Overseas Child and Youth Sex Tourism by Korean Men’’ at Seoul Women’s Plaza in Taebang-dong, southwestern Seoul.

According to the panel and the center, a Korean man operating a massage parlor with his masseuses in the Philippines was arrested on charges of prostitution in August 2004.

He and his employees faced criminal charges without bail as they violated the Republic Act (RA) 9208, Kim said.

``An increasing number of Koreans bought sex in the Philippines, sometimes abusing prostitutes. The Philippine government has urged the Korean government to take firm action against soliciting prostitutes, in particular buying sex from children,’’ the panel said.

The panel also pointed out that Cambodia has recently become popular with Korean tourists.

In 2004, the number of Korean travelers to Cambodia was 128,423, 12.7 percent of the total number of visitors, the largest number of visitors to Cambodia.

``We are afraid that a mounting number of Korean tourists in Cambodia might contribute to boosting the sex industry and human trafficking, especially threatening children who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation,’’ the panel said.

The panel said that children are sometimes coerced into the sex trade to earn money for their families.

They said Korean tourists are believed to abuse the unfortunate situation of poor Cambodian children.

The center said Korean travel agencies have joined the international effort to eradicate child prostitution across borders.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has offered educational programs for Korean tourists and agencies to prevent sex tourism in other countries.

The center has joined End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) in 2004, which currently has 73 nongovernmental organizations in 67 countries worldwide.

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr
10-31-2005 18:30

UN official in Kosovo sentenced for sexual abuse

2005-11-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

01/11/2005

(Prishtina, DTT-NET.COM)-A former official of UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor.

Pakistani national, Rashidoon Khan - a former official for United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in UN administrated province of Kosovo - was arrested in January. He was found guilty of abuse of a minor under the age of 16.

By the end of August three UN police officers and four foreigners have been arrested for involvement in human trafficking in the UN administered province of Kosovo, but were released by an international judge because of lack of evidence.

Since the UN begun ruling Kosovo after the war ended in June 1999 civilian international officials and soldiers of international NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) have been involved in several cases of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

According to the Amnesty International (AI) the presence of international peacekeepers in Kosovo has been fuelling the sexual exploitation of women and encouraging trafficking. The human rights group claims that UN and NATO troops in the region are using the trafficked women and girls for sex, and that some have been involved in trafficking itself.

Girls as young as 11 from Eastern European countries are being sold into sex slavery, according to Amnesty International.

The group’s 2004 yearly report - based on interviews with women and girls who have been trafficked from countries such as Moldova, Bulgaria, and Ukraine to service Kosovo’s sex industry - says that sex victims are moved illegally across borders and sold in trading houses.

The report includes harrowing testimonies of abduction, deprivation, and torture, including beatings and rape.

The report also condemns the role of the international peacekeepers in furthering the problem, saying that the number of places in Kosovo where trafficked women and girls may be exploited, such as nightclubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, and cafes, has increased from 18 at the time of the arrival of the peacekeepers in 1999 to more than 200 in 2003.
According to the report, international personnel make up about 20 per cent of sex trafficking customers, though its members comprise only 2 per cent of Kosovo’s population.

Other countries in South-Eastern Europe have been criticized by international organizations for failing to take effective measures against people trafficking.
A 2004 US State Department report identified Western Balkans countries (Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia) as source or transit countries for trafficking to Western Europe and destination countries for women and girls trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labour.

A UNICEF report says the main targets are young women and girls between the ages of 15 and 17 who are often sold into sexual slavery, or children under the age of 13, who are trafficked for forced labour or begging.

Azerbaijan: Run-Up to Election Not Free or Fair

2005-11-01T08:04:00.001-08:00

(New York, October 31, 2005) ? The Azerbaijani government's
campaign of violence and intimidation against opposition candidates
and supporters has extinguished the possibility of free and fair
parliamentary elections on November 6, Human Rights Watch said in
a briefing paper released today.
The 30-page briefing paper documents mass arrests, beatings and other
forms of intimidation, as well as restrictions on campaigning and an
overwhelming pro-government media bias that have undermined the
integrity of the vote.

"People cannot vote freely in an election when the authorities are
beating up opposition supporters and preventing candidates from
campaigning," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at
Human Rights Watch. "Azerbaijan's history of election fraud and
abuse is threatening to repeat itself."

Human Rights Watch documented how police violence and arbitrary
arrests have been endemic during the campaign period. Police have
beaten and detained hundreds of opposition activists during attempts to
hold rallies in the center of the capital, Baku. In at least one incident,
police also brutally beat detainees in a police station after arrest.

Many of the demonstrators have been sentenced to several days in
prison for offenses against public order. The authorities have
particularly targeted youth movement activists, detaining and
harassing their members. The recent arrests of three members of the
opposition-oriented youth movement Yeni Fikir (New Thinking),
which the authorities say is trying to violently overthrow the
government, are of concern. While Human Rights Watch is not in a
position to investigate the government's allegations against Yeni Fikir,
the fact that these allegations occur during a government campaign of
intimidation and harassment of opposition groups and youth activists
suggest that the cases may be politically motivated.

At the same time, the authorities have heavily interfered in the election
process in favor of government-sponsored candidates. The government
has stacked the Central Election Commission and local election
commissions with its supporters. Moreover, it has failed to adopt
measures proposed by the international community aimed at reducing
the likelihood of fraud, such as changing the composition of the
election commissions.

Local government authorities and law enforcement officers have
obstructed opposition and independent candidates from holding
meetings with voters. Police have also detained campaign workers for
opposition and independent candidates and warned them to stop their
political work.

"The government is simply unwilling to allow a free and fair election,"
said Cartner. "We are concerned that this could lead to a bloody
crackdown against protesters."

The 2003 presidential election, which the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe found to be fraudulent, was followed by
violent protests met with excessive force from police and other law
enforcement agencies that killed at least one protester. In the wake of
the political upheavals following falsified elections in Georgia,
Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, the opposition has raised expectations that
democratic change is now possible in Azerbaijan as well.

The international community has made significant efforts to encourage
free and fair elections. But the United States, a key player in the
region, has sent mixed signals about how strongly it will respond if the
elections are found to be fraudulent.

Human Rights Watch called on the Azerbaijani government to
immediately stop harassing opposition and independent activists, to
allow freedom of assembly and to desist from intimidation on election
day. Human Rights Watch further called on the international
community to ensure that it will not be "business as usual" with
Azerbaijan if that country delivers another round of seriously flawed
elections.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/31/azerba11943.htm

Uzbekistan: Jailed Opposition Leader's Health at Risk

2005-11-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

(Tashkent, November 1, 2005) ? The Uzbek government should
ensure immediate medical attention for jailed opposition leader Sanjar
Umarov, including an independent psychiatric examination, Human
Rights Watch said today. Today marks a week since Umarov's
attorney found him naked and incoherent in his cell.

The latest incident in the Uzbek government's ruthless crackdown on
dissent, Umarov's arrest and detention appear to be politically
motivated.

"Sanjar Umarov needs to receive immediate medical care," said Holly
Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being."

The leader of the opposition political movement "Sunshine Coalition,"
Umarov was arrested on the night of October 22. When his attorney
went to see him three days later in the detention facility of the
Tashkent City Police Department, he found Umarov naked in his
basement cell, covering his face with his hands and rocking back and
forth. He did not react when the attorney called his name. Since this
visit, his attorney has not been able to talk to his client or to the
investigator on his case. The authorities have failed to act on his
attorney's requests for an urgent independent psychiatric evaluation.

Authorities have charged Umarov, a permanent resident of the United
States, with embezzlement related to an oil company in which he
formerly had an ownership interest. He apparently has no current
business involvement in Uzbekistan. According to Uzbek law, since a
formal arrest warrant had already been issued, Umarov should have
been transferred to pre-trial detention rather than being held in the
temporary detention cells of the police station, where detainees are
most at risk of torture.

"Umarov's arrest appears to be politically motivated," said Cartner.
"The authorities should release him pending an independent review of
the charges against him."

Established earlier this year, the "Sunshine Coalition" is made up of
businessmen and academics. It has close ties with the Ozod Dekhon
("Free Peasants") opposition party. The coalition openly criticizes
what it terms "corrupt government bureaucracies" in Uzbekistan on its
website. Its Economic Advisory Council promotes a "Road Map for
Prosperity," an action plan to implement liberal, free-market economic
reforms. Umarov only recently returned to Uzbekistan from a visit to
the United States and Russia, where he publicly discussed the
coalition's ideas for economic reform. On October 17, Umarov wrote
an open letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in which he
called for economic reforms in Uzbekistan and closer economic
cooperation with Russia.

The Uzbek government has a longstanding record of suppressing any
kind of independent opposition. The crackdown on political
opponents, human rights defenders and journalists has reached crisis
proportions in the aftermath of the massacre in Andijan on May 13, in
which government forces killed hundreds of unarmed civilians.

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please
visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/01/uzbeki11946.htm

Japan may crack down on sex trafficking

2005-11-01T08:03:00.001-08:00

TOKYO, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Japan is expected to introduce legislation this week to crackdown on trafficking in women for sexual purposes.

The Times of London reports Japan only recognized sex trafficking in July, and police have made little use of statutes allowing them to raid brothels.

In 2004, a U.S. State Department report harshly criticized Japan, concluding the country "has yet to make a significant effort to lessen the domestic demand for trafficking victims." Japan, the world's second-largest economy, was ranked with Belarus, Colombia Ivory Coast and other poor countries for its failure.

Keiko Otsu, who runs a shelter for women in Tokyo, said women who are trafficked are often victimized a second time by the Japanese authorities if they manage to escape.

She said those who come to the shelter are "genuinely terrified, often trembling uncontrollably."

"They know that they can't go to the police because they have no visas," she said. "They fear that if they are spotted coming to the shelter they will be killed, or that their families back home will be hurt by thugs."

Man in court after alleged fantasies about eating girls

2005-11-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Source: AAP News

ADELAIDE, Oct 31 AAP - A man who allegedly fantasised about eating the internal organs of young girls has appeared in court charged with child pornography.

Robert John Walker, 42, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today charged with one count of possessing child pornography. It is alleged Walker, from suburban Athelstone, had more than 2,000 images of children on his computer and on computer disks, along with children's underpants.

Documents filed with the court also claim Walker had unsigned contracts for principals of kindergartens and primary schools to "supply" him with students. The contracts allegedly contained a clause preventing the principals from going to the police. "(The contracts) included ... bondage and food supply contracts detailing the removal of young girls' bodily parts for food," the court documents say. "(They) were labelled `Rape and Bondage', `Bondage and Food Supply' and (had) authorisation letters to remove children from school to carry out these acts."

The contracts allegedly contained details to remove the body parts of children, including their brains, eyes, hearts and sexual organs, "to cook and eat". One court document allegedly seized from Walker - titled "Bondages and Food Supply for SA" - contained details of the addresses of more than 60 potential victims, including a baby girl, pre-schoolers, school girls and mothers.

Another document was titled "Last Will and Testament for Boys", while another detailed numerous types of sexual abuse and sexual acts on animals.

In the court documents, police say Walker "thought (about) these things regularly. He wrote and typed them out to avoid carrying out these acts." Today's court appearance was to determine whether Walker should be released on bail but the court heard he had decided to withdraw his bail application. Police prosecutor Fred Wojtasik (Wojtasik) said investigations into Walker's alleged offences were continuing and further charges could be laid. Walker will appear in court again next month.

<>

U.S. arrests Chinese and Taiwan women for smuggling and prostitution in California

2005-11-01T08:02:00.001-08:00

October 31, 2005 12:00am
Source: China Post

U.S. state and federal agents yesterday arrested five Chinese nationals in the South Bay for their alleged involvement in running an elaborate smuggling and prostitution ring, according to reports by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The investigators stated that the five suspects operated from 10 massage parlors located in the cities of San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and San Mateo. The prostitutes, including Taiwanese, Chinese, and Korean nationals, were rotated every ten days to avoid detection, said the police.

After spending a year working undercover, the agents raided the brothels and brought 31 prostitutes into safe houses, where they will be questioned. The interrogation would center on whether they were coerced, forced, or defrauded into serving as sex slaves, said investigators.

Of the women held, 21 are believed to be from Taiwan, four from Korea, and three from China.

If they prove to be victims of human trafficking, the women will be given a three-year visa plus monthly benefits, housing, and job assistance if they testify against their abusers. Those who entered the business on their own free will would be deported back to their countries.

Chuck DeMore, special-agent-in charge with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said investigators believe that "most of the women knew what they were coming to the U.S. for."

However, DeMore admitted that the situation needs to be handled delicately, since the suspects might have coached them or threatened them into making false testimonials.

U.S. Attorney General of San Francisco Kevin Ryan indicated that the investigation began after tips from neighbors alerted the local police last year. He explained that the five suspects were involved in alien harboring, meaning that they had conspired to conceal, harbor, and shield illegal aliens for the purpose of financial gain.

The police seized US$170,000 in cash and US$206,000 in the suspects' bank accounts (close to NT$12 million). Investigators announced that they have plans to go after any assets purchased with the illegal funds.

Each of the five suspects faces up to 10 years in prison and up to US$250,000.

<>

Tackling the sordid trade in EU sex slaves

2005-11-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

October 31, 2005 12:00am
Source: Irish Independent

PERHAPS the single most frightening fact about human trafficking and illegal immigration is that nobody knows the precise scale of the problem.

Given the criminal nature of the organised gangs who try and profit through humans, it's only when police launch raids or people die, that any figures come to light.

The kind of rough guesstimates available are incredible - suggesting that over half a million people every year are trafficked into Europe. Another half a million are moved around the world.

The majority are women or girls, who will be sold onto brothels for sexual exploitation, claims UN research.

A separate report by the International Organisation for Migration warns that trafficking is now at alarming levels, especially from South-East Europe.

It warns that police are finding it even harder to track down the routes and even the methods, like arranged marriages and postal brides, which are used to hide the true intent.

Every single incident has its own sad story. In Ireland, the most chilling memory remains the dreadful plight of the trafficked Turkish people who died inside a sealed container, which was discovered in Co Wexford nearly five years ago.

It's also one of the few incidents which resulted in convictions, on this occasion in a Belgian courtroom based on evidence largely compiled by the Gardai. The case unravelled the trail across Europe of the Kosovar Albanian gang, which smuggled the group all the way across the continent. Instead of a short trip over the Channel to Dover, the container full of furniture was redirected to Rosslare.

Most of those inside were dead by the time the load was checked 48 hours later. In this case, the unfortunate people who died are believed to have paid to be taken to a better life in Northern Europe. Many times, women are duped into thinking they're going to work as a child minder before finding they're papers taken from them and given no choice but to work as prostitutes, often in fear of their lives.

In Birmingham earlier this month, police raided a brothel and freed 19 women. They were moved every day between the brothel and another house, where they were literally locked inside. This particular incident is considered to be the tip of the iceberg in the UK, with similar situations in countries like Germany and France.

The most dramatic recent stories have come from the Spanish enclaves in Northern Africa, where people have been shot as they tried to climb over fences. In some cases, people had spent up to three years travelling from countries like Ghana, just to get this far.

Obviously Ireland and the EU need a mixture of policies to respond to these various problems. As the recent demand to legalise prostitution suggests, there are people who feel that it could have a positive effect. Those in favour of legalisation claim it would separate sexual workers from their current links to organised criminals and pimps. But opponents warn it could do the opposite, merely encouraging the sex trade to develop even more.

Instead of legitimising prostitution, critics like Mary McPhail of the European Women's Lobby challenge men to change their behaviour and to recognise prostitution is fundamentally a form of exploitation against women. The latest EU plans to spend 400m to fund a major improvement in border controls should also make it harder for many illegals to get inside Europe. Obviously, this doesn't tackle the underlying cause of why so many people will risk their lives just to end up at the bottom of European society in the worst jobs.

One strand of the solution will be to boost the economies of many African countries to create jobs and help develop their societies. Trade could be up to eight times more effective than aid, claims Oxfam. Boosting trade with developing countries was one of the key reasons, raised by the Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson yesterday to justify major reductions in European farm tariffs in his bid to get agreement at the upcoming World Trade Organisation meeting.

In the globalised world we live in, farmers could yet end up paying part of the price to halt the flow of people into 'Fortress Europe', as new jobs are created in the developing world, to discourage many from travelling northwards.

<>

ACTIVISTS 'OUTRAGED' OVER UPGRADING STATUS OF SUDAN

2005-11-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

WEEK OF OCTOBER 27-DECEMBER 2, 2005
by HAZEL EDNEY, TRICE
The Wilmington Journal
Originally posted 10/31/2005

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The Bush Administration has upgraded the status of a slavery-watch in Sudan, enraging activists enough to demand that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reverse the status until enslavement and abuses against women and children comes to an end.

“We’re now going to have to put the pressure on Madam Secretary of State.

Everyone, everyone on both the left and the right are outraged about this.

We’re going to have to put the pressure on the State Department,” says radio talk show host Joe “The Black Eagle” Madison. “Human rights violations are still happening. Slavery is still happening. We all know that abuses against women and children are still going on.”

Madison, president of the Sudan Campaign coalition, says he will use his talk show on WOL-AM 1450 and XM Radio, “The Power” Black talk radio, to help start a campaign this week to encourage people to call the State Department, 202-647-4000, and ask that Sudan be reinstated to Tier 3, the lowest slavery watch ranking.

The State Department, headed by Rice, has upgraded Sudan’s slavery watch status from Tier 3 to Tier 2, meaning the problems with enslavement in the country will be monitored on the same scale as Switzerland, Israel, Chile, Hungary and Greece. The upgrading came as a result of the nation’s promise to end aspects of slavery, according to a Sept. 21 State Department memorandum explaining the president’s determination.

“On the basis of positive actions undertaken by the Government of Sudan since the end of the 2005 reporting period, the Secretary of State has determined that the Government of Sudan does not yet fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance,” states the memo, posted on the State Department Web site.

“This is the standard for placement on Tier 2 of the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report. The Secretary of State has placed Sudan on the Special Watch List because the determination that the Government of Sudan is making significant efforts is based on commitments by the country to take additional future steps over the next year. Sudan will remain on Tier 2 only as long as it continues to act on these commitments.”

The memorandum further explains that in June 2005, the State Department presented the Sudanese government with an action plan that outlined steps to combat trafficking. It gives a list of commitments and mandates that the Sudanese government has stated, including eradicating sexual violence against women, removing the legal requirement for rape victims to file a criminal report before receiving medical treatment and requiring that victims of sexual violence receive priority over other patients. But the memo also admits, “Violence against women remains a serious problem in the Darfur region.”

The continued atrocities is part of the reason that Madison, a long-time activist against the genocide and tortures in Sudan, says the Sudan status change is an outrage – especially when it is supported by a high government official who is an African-American.

“What good is it to be one of the most powerful Black women in the United States and then put Sudan on equal par with Switzerland when Black women are being raped every time they leave a refugee camp in Sudan, when genocide is being committed against Black people?” he asks. “Don’t throw up in my face that you’ve integrated your administration just because you’ve got a Black person in a certain position.

The question is: What is that Black person doing with that power? …The secretary of state should be ashamed of herself.”

The Sudan Campaign has also sent a memo to Rice calling the status change “fundamentally flawed” and asking her to reverse it and establish a task force to monitor the abolition of Sudanese slavery.

“The government of Sudan is directly linked to an unprecedented revival of slavery in modern times, as confirmed by the U. S. government-sponsored ‘International Eminent Persons Group on Slavery, Abduction and Southern Sudan to Darfur,’” the group writes to Rice. “As the focus of the Sudanese government’s war policy shifted two years ago from Southern Sudan to Darfur, it continued to provide support for the militia that enslave Black women and children.”

Sudan is a Muslim nation with a long history of ethnic strife. The most recent bloodbaths date back to early 2003 when two non-Muslim rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement, attacked government military installations in protest of raids by the government-backed Janjaweed (armed men on horses). An army of 20,000, Janjaweed is known for its attacking, raping and killing non-Muslim civilians in the Darfur region.

Madison says the American public must be made aware of the suffering in Sudan and, he says, Black leaders are guilty of not talking enough about it. “I’m not saying it’s not on the page. But it’s in the margin. It’s not essential focus.”

The State Department memo states that it will be monitoring the situation in Sudan closely, and will reassess the government’s performance for the February 2006 report to the Congress on the Special Watch List countries.

But activists say the placement of Sudan alongside nations such as Israel and Switzerland is unjustified.

“We have a great many complaints from official sources that the situation continues to get worse,” says former Congressman Walter Fauntroy (D-D.C.), honorary chairman of the Sudan Campaign. “We feel that the decision to elevate Sudan from Tier III to Tier II is just grotesque in light of reports of continuing widespread murder and rape and slavery and displacement of people in Darfur right now.”

The Sudan Campaign was formed in 2001 by Madison, Fauntroy, and a group called the Christian Solidarity International, who were so outraged after a visit to Sudan that they chained themselves to the Sudanese embassy in Washington and were arrested.

The group has since led a number of campaigns, including last year’s string of arrests of approximately 70 high profile activists, including Madison, Fauntroy, Congressmen Charles Rangel of New York, Bobby Rush of Illinois, and actor Danny Glover.

Campaigns to divest the $91 billion of U. S. pension funds from Sudanese government interests are also underway, says Fauntroy.

Globalsecurity.org reports that more than 2 million people have died either by violence, disease or other war-related impacts over the past decade.

Amnesty International, which estimated that at least 1.2 million persons had been displaced and more than 170,000 had taken refuge across the border in the summer of last year, reports continued atrocities. In April, Amnesty reported that civilians in Darfur were still being targeted by militias supported or condoned by the government and “Notwithstanding all the pressure, the government of Sudan has still not stopped carrying out serious and sometimes flagrant human rights violations in many parts of the country.”

Early this month, Amnesty reported that the Sudanese Government has launched legal proceedings against one of Sudan’s leading human rights groups, Sudan Organization Against Torture. The proceedings are an apparent attempt to silence the organization, Amnesty reports.

A Sudanese Peace Accord, signed Jan. 9 this year has given the false impression that the situation is better, activists say. But Fauntroy disagrees.

“Nothing is like what is allowed to happen in Black Africa,” he says. “Nowhere in the world, in Sweden or Israel or anything else are people being openly massacred and raped and killed and driven off of land than in Sudan today. There’s no comparison.”

African-Americans can continue to influence change, says Madison.

“When African-Americans, in particular, were involved in direct action and protests against Sudan, that really changed the momentum to get the Peace Accord signed. It kept the pressure on,” says Madison. “Black people have a tremendous amount of influence, more than they realize.”

Sex trafficking hits home

2005-11-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

By Emily Kaiser
The Minnesota Daily

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is the first of a two-part series that examines sex trafficking in the United States. Today’s article features one woman’s experience.

ou couldn’t spot them on the street, but right now there are slaves living in local neighborhoods, hidden in basements and being transported along area highways.

The CIA estimates 50,000 women and children are transported each year throughout the United States by being conned and forced into a life of sexual exploitation. The FBI estimates that the average age of a prostitute in the United States is 13.

These women and girls are considered modern-day slaves and can be found throughout Minnesota, even being recruited at local malls and teenage hangouts.

According to federal law, sex trafficking occurs when people are transported by force, fraud or coercion to perform sexual acts.

One woman’s story

Chong Kim, a survivor of sex trafficking in the United States, said she is using her story to show people that sex trafficking does not only occur internationally, but right in their own backyards.

Kim is now working as an advocate in the Twin Cities area to help women get out of prostitution.

“I feel I experienced holocaust in my own concentration camp,” she said.

After a childhood of abuse by family members and friends in Dallas, Kim said she experienced domestic abuse when she was involved with a man in the military at the age of 19.

To control her, he destroyed her identification.

“He told me that without papers I was nobody, and he was right,” she said. “When I escaped with no papers to prove who I was, I was treated like an immigrant.”

Without identification, Kim said, she was unable to find a homeless shelter to stay in, and was quickly approached by a woman from a Dallas escort service who promised to help.

Kim said she did not understand what an escort service is, but was assured it was only a dating service.

“When she had me go out on calls, she told me I didn’t have to have sex, but I would be raped,” Kim said.

When Kim finally approached the police, she said, she was turned away.

“The police said I had no rights because I was now a streetwalker,” she said.

Kim said she felt she was trapped with the escort service, and was soon trafficked to Las Vegas, blindfolded and handcuffed, and eventually kept in an abandoned warehouse.

The warehouse was filled with young girls, Kim said, many of them younger than 16 and unable to speak English.

To be more profitable, Kim said, she was forced to dress as a Japanese geisha and talk in broken English, despite being Korean and speaking fluent English.

“If a client assumed you were an immigrant, they paid more for you,” she said.

After being auctioned off and picked out of crowds, Kim said she felt like she was at a slaughterhouse.

“The men would look at us like we were cows and picked which body they liked,” she said.

Eventually, Kim realized the only way to escape was to be bought by one of the men.

The man that bought her was very influential, so he made Kim promise not to tell anyone, she said.

“I would say, ‘Me no tell, me say nothing’, and he said, ‘This is why I like Asian women, they don’t talk much,’ ” she said.

Kim said the man then taught her how to recruit other women into prostitution.

“After what I saw, I couldn’t believe I was doing this,” she said. “That’s how I got into drugs to make me feel better.”

She said she became addicted to cocaine, and often overdosed.

“I did it because I couldn’t stomach what he or I was doing,” she said.

During one of the drug parties, Kim said, she was able to escape by convincing the man to let her go out alone to get beer and ice.

Once out the door, Kim said, she ran and didn’t look back.

She is often questioned now why she never asked anyone for help when she escaped, she said.

“How do you explain to someone what it’s like, what we were going through,” she said. “I watched women die in front of my face, and was constantly threatened … this is not a choice.”

Kim said she was always afraid of being caught and killed, and had several close calls with traffickers in the area.

She found herself in the same convenience store as a trafficker and was not seen, she said.

“I believe God surrounded me with angels,” she said. “The trafficker walked right past me.”

After contacting a local center for prostituted women, she was advised to come to Minnesota to begin rebuilding her life.

Kim escaped when she was 23 and is now 30. She has been sober for five years and now reaches out to women going through what she went through.

Kim said that through her outreach, she has helped as many as 22 women escape prostitution, and is currently helping five people get back on their feet.

“This isn’t a movie,” she said.

“These are stories you can see; look into their eyes and feel their fear.”

To stop a forced sex trade

2005-11-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

By Emily Kaiser
November 1, 2005
The Minnesota Daily

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is the second in a two-part series that examines sex trafficking in the United States. Today’s article features a look at Minnesota trafficking as well as local and University efforts against it

he voices of sexually trafficked women and children are not going unheard.

With approximately 50,000 women and children transported to the United States for sexual trafficking each year and Minnesotans being recruited from local teenage hangouts, sex trafficking is no longer just an international issue.

People across the state and campus are educating themselves, creating awareness and working with politicians to protect the women who are considered modern-day slaves.

According to University police and the University’s Aurora Center for Advocacy and Education, sex trafficking is not an issue on campus.

Steve Johnson, Univeristy Police Department deputy chief, said issues with prostitution or sex trafficking are rare at the University.

But many University staff members are working on the local and nationwide issue.

Sex trafficking is a growing problem, and Minnesota is at the forefront of the issue, said Lauren Gilchrist, outreach coordinator for the University’s Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health.

The center focuses on the public health perspective of sex trafficking by educating health professionals on how to spot trafficked victims, Gilchrist said.

“Victims are looking for emergency assistance and ending up in the health care system,” she said. “This is an area (where) we need to raise awareness so we are providing other sources.”

Gilchrist said the University hosted a program last spring about sex trafficking, and the center plans to continue to educate people through future programs.

Globalization and improvements in transportation have increased sex trafficking, University Regents professor of law David Weissbrodt said.

Weissbrodt also serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, which provides money to those subject to trafficking.

Weissbrodt said the most dramatic case he heard was of a 13-year-old Nepalese girl who was promised a job but then was forced into prostitution and contracted HIV.

“After having heard that story, it’s very hard to ignore the issue of trafficking,” he said.

Chittaphone Santavasy, a University Humphrey fellow, worked with human trafficking issues in Laos and said she hopes to coordinate with other human-trafficking experts in the United States.

“This is our opportunity to come together and learn to be leaders in our field and go back and continue working on it in our home countries,” she said.

Here in Minnesota

Minnesota residents are also involved in sex trafficking, said Christine Stark, a survivor of sex trafficking in the state.

Stark is an activist through her writing and public appearances.

She said she was trafficked by her family as a young girl and escaped by saving money for college. Stark attended the University her first year and transferred to University of Wisconsin-Madison to get away from her family.

Rural Minnesota is one of the sex trafficking pipelines to larger cities, such as Chicago, she said.

Men are looking for white, blond girls for prostitution, Stark said, and Minnesota is the place to find them.

“The girls are bored with the rural area. It’s cold here, and they are looking for something fun and exciting,” she said. “Pimps prey on that.”

Stark said pimps will target malls and try to befriend young girls.

“The pimps can guess which girls are probably vulnerable,” she said. “The pimps tell the girls they are beautiful, that they love them and agree their parents are terrible.”

They eventually convince the girls to take a trip with them, and once the girls arrive, they realize they are being prostituted, she said.

Trafficking is an essential part of prostitution, Stark said.

“The traffickers want to isolate those being used in their systems,” she said. “You want to keep them transient; it doesn’t let them stabilize physically or emotionally.”

Stark said sex trafficking and prostitution is a “huge social issue” that must be addressed within American culture.

“Our culture is essentially a culture of prostitution and porn,” she said. “It is affecting more than just those in it, even the little girls at the junior highs performing lap dances.”

The issue is often overlooked because of the stigma of prostitutes, she said.

“Much of society views them as garbage, and garbage doesn’t get helped,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to view them as human beings.”

State Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, said her main concern within sex-trafficking laws is making sure people who are trafficked are treated as victims, not criminals.

“We need awareness and recognition of prostitutes as victims so they are not subjected to immigration penalties,” she said.

Kahn said many women are arrested for prostitution and sent back to their country before they can receive help, because they lack immigration papers.

“We are dealing with people who are helpless,” she said.

Breaking Free, a nonprofit organization in St. Paul, assists women getting out of prostitution by providing support, housing and community awareness, said Executive Director Vednita Carter.

The organization works with approximately 500 women each year, about 38 percent of whom were trafficked, she said.

Breaking Free is trying to trace trafficking in Minnesota, but it’s a difficult task, Carter said.

“It’s a very ruthless underground industry with a lot of gangsters,” she said. “A lot of the women who have been trafficked have a hard time turning in evidence because they can lose their lives and they have families they are concerned about.”

The Aurora Center does not offer specialized services for prostituted women but would refer them to organizations such as Breaking Free, said Liz Borer, legal advocacy and direct services coordinator for the center.

Borer said the center may work with former prostitutes, sometimes for services related to domestic abuse or rape.

“It’s always kind of a challenge because prostitution is not something people like to talk about,” she said.

© Copyright 2005 The Minnesota Daily

Women were told they might get $800 a day, affidavit says

2005-10-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
The Honolulu Advertiser
October 20, 2005

The owner of a Ward Avenue business purporting to be a massage establishment put out the word that prostitutes could make $700 to $800 a day if they were "very pretty," and $300 to $500 a day if they weren't, according to an affidavit by a federal agent.

Wan Yo Kang, 37, also known as "Hannah," also told two Los Angeles women they could make $15,000 to $20,000 a month, the document said.

Kang was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on 11 felony counts of traveling across state lines to promote or manage prostitution activity in February 2005, enticing women to travel interstate to engage in prostitution and harboring two immigrants here illegally at her business, 350 Ward Ave., suite 115.

The charges each carry maximum prison terms of five or 20 years in prison.

The indictment returned last week came after federal prosecutors arrested nine women on rarely-used material witness warrants in connection with the case.
All nine, including two who were "enticed" to travel here from Los Angeles, admitted they engaged in sex for pay, according to the affidavit by Byron Tanaka, special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Kang urged the Los Angeles women to tell their Los Angeles prostitute friends about the money they could make, the affidavit said.

The affidavit said customers paid $40 to $50 for a massage at Kang's business known as "350 Relaxation," then were charged typically $100 or $150 for sex.
The nine women paid Wang $500 a week from their prostitution earnings for rent and food, the affidavit said.

Kang had been living in Honolulu, but moved to Los Angeles after the police raid at her business on Aug. 23, federal prosecutors said in court papers.
She turned herself in to Los Angeles authorities on Oct. 3. Despite the prosecution's request here to hold her without bail, Kang was released on bond, but will be under electronic monitoring.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 24.

Her lawyer, Gary Laff of Los Angeles, did not return calls for comment.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.

'Gang rounding up teen girls for prostitution'

2005-10-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

By Norman Joseph
October 21, 2005
http://www.capeargus.co.za/

A gang has abducted and drugged their teenaged daughter and is holding her against her will, says an Elsies River family.

Rumours abound that the gang is regularly rounding up teenaged girls, drugging them and forcing them into prostitution.

It is understood there are several arrest warrants for the alleged gang leader regarding other crimes. It is believed he was released from prison about four months ago.

Police sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident regarding the Elsies River girl.

Samuel Esau, 43, said he and his wife Junetta, 41, are at their wits' end over their 16-year-old daughter Charlene's whereabouts.

"She recently called home and told us that she was okay, but we could hear that she was in a drugged state and could not speak much," Esau said.

He told the Cape Argus his 11-year-old daughter had told him a man sporting a "spiky" hairstyle knocked on their door between 8pm and 8.30pm on October 11 and asked to speak to Charlene. He was asleep at the time and his wife was at church.

"Charlene told her two sisters to go inside and she then went outside to the gate where a maroon Nissan Sentra was parked.

"Another teenaged girl emerged from the car and the three of them started talking before they forced Charlene into the car and sped away.

"My 11-year-old daughter witnessed this while standing at the lounge window."

When the family reported the incident at the Elsies River police station early the next morning, they were told to wait a few days and then return to file a missing person report. Esau said Elsies River police only accepted the report last Sunday.

"They did not even open an abduction case, only a missing person file."

Anyone with information should call Inspector Gavin Lawrence at the Elsies River police station on 021 933 0300 or 082 498 7230.

normanj@incape.co.za

Women sold into prostitution by gamblers

2005-10-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

October 22 2005 at 01:43AM
http://www.int.iol.co.za/
By Tash Reddy

Women married to compulsive gamblers are being raped or forced into prostitution by loan sharks after being used as collateral by their addicted husbands.

And the lack of action by the KZN Gambling Board, among others, is exacerbating the problem.

According to a new Act, spouses of compulsive gamblers can get them banned from casinos, but so far only the Eastern Cape and Gauteng have enforced the law.

"Provinces are working feverishly to align their legislations with the new National Gambling Act," said Mike Burns, acting general manager at the National Gambling Board (NGB).

But authorities at the KZN Gambling Board can't say how soon the Act will be implemented here. "It's not something we wish to discuss with the media," said Barry Wilkens at the KZN Gambling Board.

Women of all colours, creed and age groups are coming together to gain support and make their voices heard.

Because of the sensitivity of the matter, names could not be revealed, but an investigation by The Independent on Saturday found harrowing stories of women often overlooked by society.

"The first time I was raped I was in a state of shock," said a distraught 27-year-old.

"I had been married for less than a year and had no idea my husband was a gambling addict. He owed loan sharks R6 000 and after hiding from them for months, they decided to scare him by raping me.

"I was too scared to report it. How is a helpline going to assist me or an application to get my husband banned from gambling?"

Another woman who lost everything because of her husband's addiction was forced into prostitution to pay his gambling debts.

"I was terrified, but my children's lives were threatened so I couldn't refuse."

Trying to take action is difficult because "third party exclusions" require a spouse to apply to a high court or magistrate to exclude gambling addicts from the practice on condition sufficient evidence proves he or she has a problem.

"It's not easy, as the spouse has to prove conclusively the person has a problem, which requires extensive documentation showing financial deterioration," said Burns.

"Once the person is banned and continues gambling, their winnings will be forfeited and they will be charged with trespassing and may be arrested."

"Given the conditions under which most of us live, it would be impossible to conclusively prove our husbands are compulsive gamblers," said one frustrated woman whose husband has lost everything through gambling.

"We are more concerned with surviving than keeping written records of everything."

Dr Vasavan Agambaram, a specialist psychiatrist, agrees it might be difficult to prove.

"The gambler is often a reasonably good provider until he or she hits rock bottom," Agambaram said.

Dr Rodger Meyer, medical director at the National Responsible Gambling Programme, said there were many people who could benefit from the initiative but it was not foolproof.

"People can still sneak into a gambling establishment and nothing stops them from private gambling," he said.

Other frustrated wives said more stringent measures should be put in place.

"In no way does the Act empower wives when we are beaten and threatened," said one wife at a gambling support group.

Trust is another problem, with many wives having to double check bank transactions, till slips, accounts and spousal whereabouts.

A proposal from some of the women is that a law be passed so they can intercept their husbands' salaries.

But legal experts said it couldn't be done - and even if it were possible, the wife would again have to prove to a bank and employer that there was a problem.

Meyer said these wives should contact the helpline set up by the National Responsible Gambling Programme. But for others, he said, the answer was to seek a divorce.

Statistics from the National Responsible Gambling Programme show that at least 550 000 South Africans have gambling problems.

Most (51,8%) are in Gauteng, followed by KZN with 16,4%.

The toll free helpline number is 0800 006 008.

The price of freedom

2005-10-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

A Denver police crackdown on prostitution reveals women held at Asian massage parlors until they repay debts for being smuggled into the U.S.
By Amy Herdy
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
10/23/2005 01:00:00 AM

Denver police raided 18 Asian massage parlors and arrested 35 people in the past six months in a massive effort to curtail prostitution.

The arrests in what police say is a $20 million a year local industry have also led investigators to believe that the massage parlors are part of an international effort to traffic in women who often are forced into prostitution to pay off those who brought them into the country.

In Denver, no traffickers have been charged, but authorities said some of the women here indicated they had not joined the sex industry willingly.

Arrested were prostitutes, madams and johns on charges including prostitution, solicitation and keeping a place of prostitution, Denver vice Sgt. Mark Fleecs said. Sixteen of the businesses are now closed.

The busts also have revealed stories of human trafficking from women in the massage parlors described by police as too frightened to cooperate.

"We'll continue to be very aggressive in addressing this disturbing problem," said Dave Fisher, division chief of investigations.

Fleecs said his unit will keep the pressure on the illegal operations as well as pursue trafficking cases when they hear about them from the women involved.

The problem, he said, is that the women are not willing to testify because those who control their lives in massage parlors have alleged ties to organized crime, such as the Korean mob.

"They'll give us information on how it works, but when it comes down to convincing them to be involved in a prosecution case, it's tough," said Fleecs, noting that only five of the 16 women identified as workers agreed to talk, and only then in general terms. "They're afraid."

Some of the women contacted by The Denver Post declined to comment. Others could not be reached.

Earlier this year, acting U.S. Attorney Bill Leone said that sex slavery is rare. [I guess he hasn't figured out what's going on yet. - Donna] But he acknowledged that human trafficking is worth more investigation.

Costly road to the U.S.

The route from Korea to a Denver massage parlor is an elaborate one, according to Fleecs. Women are allegedly brought illegally into the U.S. from Korea and other countries by "brokers," men who are members of the mob.

The brokers typically drive them in through Mexico or Canada and then bring the women into San Francisco or Los Angeles, because of the large Asian communities and coastal access in those cities.

Once in the U.S., the brokers transfer the women's smuggling debts - ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 - to a massage parlor employer who holds their passports and other documents while the women live there and work seven days a week.

"If she wants to leave, she can't leave until the money is paid," one massage parlor worker told The Denver Post, which is withholding her name for her protection.

To go anywhere, the women are transported by "taxi drivers," also members of the mob, who act as liaisons between the brokers and the women who run the Asian massage parlors.

Massage parlors are usually converted homes, or small, inconspicuous spaces in strip malls, cheaply and hastily furnished.

Often, the operator takes her workers gambling, pushing them deeper into debt, officials say.

Many times, the women are not told of the nature of their work until after they arrive here.

Of those who do know they will be prostitutes, they are probably victims of human trafficking because they face large debts they cannot pay and they are not free to go, said Olga Trujillo, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant to the government on immigration and trafficking and a former U.S. Department of Justice special crimes director.

"This is a top priority"
Because of a lack of awareness, police officers often don't recognize trafficking when they see it, Trujillo said.

Officials from the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Denver said they could not comment, citing ongoing investigations. However, both agencies underscored their commitment to the issue.

"This is a top priority of the Department of Justice," said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. "The department is working on training and sensitivity issues with law enforcement so they know what to look for and can immediately act."

Denver police and federal officials, including those with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, say there is a connection between a recent major enforcement operation on Asian massage parlors in Los Angeles and San Francisco and the investigation in Denver.

In the California case, a federal grand jury in June indicted 29 people on charges that included conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants, sex trafficking, money- laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to transport female Korean nationals across state lines with the intent to engage in prostitution.

After the arrests there, brokers shuttled dozens of Korean women to Denver, Fleecs said, only to find that police were making prostitution arrests and closing massage parlors throughout the city.

"Nobody wants to come to Denver. They're too scared," a massage parlor worker told The Post.

Like many of the Korean women in the industry, she now works at a massage parlor outside Denver police jurisdiction.

In other Colorado cities, she said, Asian massage parlors are swiftly increasing in number, with a never-ending supply of workers.

A Denver police report provided by Fleecs shows one such case of a young woman who came from Korea by way of Canada.

Afraid to go home as a failure, afraid of the mob, she keeps the reality of her life from those in her homeland who love her.

"My family in Korea think I'm waitress at sushi bar," she said.

The woman bonded out of jail, a driver picked her up, and she disappeared.

Denver Post researchers Barbara Hudson and Barry Osborne contributed to this report.

Staff writer Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com.

7 charged in sex-trafficking ring

2005-10-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

The group operated 'under the radar' by targeting migrants, officials say.
Dozens of other people were arrested on immigration charges.
Amy L. Edwards | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted October 23, 2005

DAVENPORT -- The inconspicuous mobile home on Powerline Road doesn't seem inviting -- given its fenced yard, gated driveway with "no trespassing" signs and overgrown landscaping.

But federal law-enforcement officials said the Davenport home has been a hot spot for Central Florida's migrant farmworkers looking for a good time.

That's because a brothel has been operating out of the house, the U.S. Attorney's Office recently said.

Seven Central Florida residents accused of operating that brothel were arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to transport individuals for sexual activity: Francisco Mariano-Cepeda, 43, of Kissimmee; Maritza Trochez, 28, of Kissimmee; Jose Rodriguez, 56, of Plant City; Mario Castillo, 55, of Auburndale; Crusita Cabrera de Falero, 44, of Kissimmee; Wesilandy Ceballos, 35, of Orlando; and Rudi Cabrera, 36, of Orlando, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Dozens of other people were arrested on immigration charges in the roundup, including clients and prostitutes.

The brothel was an active operation that serviced predominantly Mexican farmworkers, said Pam McCullough, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sex-trafficking ring is also suspected of operating brothels in Hillsborough and Orange counties since 2000, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

According to the federal indictment, the ring is accused of hiring prostitutes and then negotiating terms, dates and conditions with them. The ring operators also established fees with the prostitutes and arranged for the proceeds to be divided among themselves.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said $32,000 in cash, jewelry, a 2000 Jaguar and 2003 Mercedes-Benz were seized from the accused.

Law-enforcement officials said brothels are not uncommon in migrant farmworking communities, but arrests for such activity are infrequent.

"Really, they are probably not that rare," said Polk County sheriff's Chief W.J. Martin. "They pretty much fly under the radar because the clientele are all the illegal immigrants."

Because many of the people living in the migrant areas are illegal residents, they are reluctant to report crime or ask for help from police, Martin said.

Last year in Mascotte, a small south Lake County community, authorities arrested several people after an investigation revealed a brothel in a small house. On weekends, 10 to 15 men would visit each night, paying $20 for 15 minutes with a woman, law-enforcement authorities said.

Speaking about the brothel in Davenport, he said, "Until immigration services got wind of it, we had no idea it was going on."

Polk County has about 16,500 migrant and seasonal farmworkers -- one of the highest populations in the state.

Brothels and the crimes associated with them such as drugs occur throughout Florida's rural and agricultural counties, said Frank Figueroa, the special agent in charge for the Tampa division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"This generally doesn't hit the radar screen because it doesn't impact the normal citizen," Figueroa said.

"They were in a low-risk community," Figueroa said of the Davenport operation. "Their ability to stay under our radar screen was somewhat successful."

Amy L. Edwards can be reached at 863-422-3395 or aledwards@orlandosentinel.com.

Documents Reveal Abuse at Ranch for Boys

2005-10-19T07:51:00.001-07:00

October 18, 2005 12:00am
Source: AP Online

SPOKANE, Wash._Newly released documents reveal multiple allegations of sexual abuse stretching back more than 25 years at a home for troubled boys and indicate problems have continued in recent years.

State Department of Social and Health Services records obtained by The Spokesman-Review newspaper for a story published Sunday include five allegations of sexually inappropriate interactions between boys and adults associated with the Morning Star Boys' Ranch in the past decade.

The 871 pages of documents, released in response to a public records request by the newspaper, also include several accounts of molestation and rape among the residents of the home, which has been shaken in recent months by allegations of physical and sexual assaults that date back decades.

In addition to the allegations against adults, the documents include several accounts of violent or coerced sexual encounters among the boys.
Morning Star officials said they would not comment on individual cases, but insisted that the ranch has updated its policies to better protect boys, including offering residents locked single rooms and barring group showers.

Dan Kuhlmann, assistant director of the Roman Catholic boys home, said Morning Star has "always taken a strong position that when we become aware of a problem or situation, we report it."

The documents included allegations that in 1992, an 18-year-old resident whose psychological evaluation indicated he was "predatory" repeatedly raped a younger boy. The alleged perpetrator had a previous rape conviction and threatened the 15-year-old resident, who initially fought the older boy but later "just endured it." Later, the documents said, the 15-year-old began victimizing younger children.

They also allege that in 1996, Morning Star failed to properly report a resident's complaint that he had been fondled by a man during an overnight stay at the man's home. In a statement released Friday, Morning Star said: "All social service organizations have some type of incident report _ they are NOT unique to Morning Star. Reports are used to identify and solve problems and improve practices over time."

The documents show that Morning Star began to tighten its reporting standards in the 1990s after incidents of sexual activity among the boys and allegations of rape against a counselor.
<>

20 ARRESTED AFTER CHILD PORN SWOOP

2005-10-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

October 18, 2005 12:00am
Source: South Wales Echo

Twenty suspected paedophiles have been arrested in South Wales Police's biggest ever crackdown on internet child porn.

Thirty-three dawn raids have been carried out throughout the region over the past four days on homes and workplaces of suspected offenders as part of Operation Blaze.

Officers have confiscated 2,327 DVDs and CD-Roms, 822 videos, and more than 100 computers containing illegal material.

Lead officer Detective Superintendent Simon Clarke said the aim had been to protect children at risk.

He would not confirm if any victims had been taken into care but said child protection measures were introduced as a result of the investigations.

He said: 'It is not a victimless crime. It is our responsibility to protect children who are being exploited worldwide.

'Without the demand for these images, there would be no victims.'

Some 238 officers took part in the operation from Assistant Chief Constable Giles York to specially trained experts.

And Det Supt Clarke singled out the work of his five-person team, whose job it is to examine the images, for praise. He confirmed many of the videos and stills found were at the worst end of the scale, involving very young children being badly abused.

All officers who deal with the material will have counselling.

Of the 20 arrests, eight were in Cardiff, three in Bridgend, one in Rhondda Cynon Taf, the others in Neath and Swansea.

All the suspects, who are men and women aged from teenagers to pensioners, are either still in custody or have been bailed and will not come to court for several months.

Police were led to them from information collected around the world, including some that was worked on for two years.

The South Wales operations have put officers in contact with police in Latvia and Estonia where some of the child abuse may have happened.

GATHERING EVIDENCE: The officer leading the unit which must examine the hundreds of images seized spoke of the difficulties facing his five-person team.

Detective Sergeant Steve Harrod said: 'It is certainly not something that you can talk about with your family.

'My staff have all received counselling every six months because of the images that we look at.

'We see thousands - some of young babies to teenage children who have been subjected to terrible abuse.

'We are all experienced officers and all have a lot of years in the force.

'We do it as a job that has to be done in order to gather the evidence.

'You cope by talking to each other.

'We are a small unit with one sergeant and four officers and we can share with each other.' PERVERTS ROAM WEB: Detective Superintendent Simon Clarke urged parents to know what sites their children were visiting on the internet.

Det Supt Clarke said perverts roamed the web posing as children and preyed on vulnerable youngsters in chat sites.

He urged parents to make sure they monitored their youngsters' computer use and contacted the police if they had any worries.

Police have set up an international website to tackle child pornography that co-ordinates information across the world.

Any worried parents can visit the website www. virtualglobaltaskforce.com.

<>

Vietnamese women trafficked, rescued in Czech Republic

2005-10-19T07:50:00.001-07:00

http://www.thanhniennews.com/print.php?catid=3&newsid=9776
Thanh Nien News
October 11, 2005

Czech police have uncovered a human trafficking ring, rescuing at least 30 Vietnamese women they believe were forced into prostitution.
Twenty Vietnamese involved in the organized immigration crime have been arrested in the capital city of Prague, along with Cheb and Brno.

The accused stood trial for sex-trade trafficking but the country’s court has yet to issue the final verdict due to problems with identifying the criminals.

Vietnamese police have joined hands with their Czech counterparts to identify the list of 50 accused and trafficked prostitutes.

Up to now, 16 of the total 20 criminals have been identified. The gang is long-established and well-organized, said Czech police. Some of them own nightclubs, restaurants, and hotels in the country.

According to Czech police, most of young women involved came from Vietnam’s northern and central provinces of Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Nghe An and Quang Ninh.

They had to pay US$5,000 to $7,500 each, tricked into thinking that they were coming to Czech on legitimate terms to well-paid jobs, but instead were forced into prostitution.

Source: Nguoi Lao Dong - Compiled by Thanh Hang.

Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 11 October, 2005, 11:31:33 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News

Southern Nevada anti-prostitution ordinance challenged

2005-10-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Oct 17, 2005, 03:11 PM EDT

The constitutionality of an ordinance targeting Las Vegas-area prostitutes will be debated Wednesday during a Nevada Supreme Court hearing.

A justice of the peace declared the Clark County ordinance unconstitutional last year, but a district judge disagreed.

Lani Silvar, who was charged with, "loitering for the purpose of prostitution," then appealed to the high court.

The ordinance makes it a misdemeanor to induce, solicit, entice or procure another person to commit an act of prostitution.

Police could arrest someone who, "repeatedly beckons to, stops, attempts to stop or engage persons passing by in conversation, or repeatedly stops or attempts to stop motor vehicle operators by hailing, waiving of arms or other bodily gestures."

Susan Burke, a deputy public defender representing Silvar, argues that the ordinance is too vague and arbitrary.

She says the ordinance infringes on a constitutional right to move about, and encourages arbitrary police enforcement.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Cambodia: Prime Minister Moves to Crush Dissent

2005-10-19T07:49:00.002-07:00

(New York, October 18, 2005)?The government of Cambodian Prime
Minister Hun Sen should release recently arrested critics of the
government, withdraw all arrest warrants against activists, and end the
climate of fear that he has created in recent days, Human Rights Watch
said today.

In response to criticism over a new border pact with Vietnam, Hun Sen
has launched a sharp and sudden crackdown on dissent. Authorities have
arrested the president of an independent teachers association and the
director of Cambodia's only independent national radio station, and they
have ordered the arrests of other civil society leaders.

Many of Cambodia's leading human rights advocates, trade union
activists, and opposition party members have now fled the country or
gone into hiding.

"This is the most severe assault on dissent in Cambodia since the
aftermath of Hun Sen's coup in 1997," said Brad Adams, Asia director of
Human Rights Watch. "International donors and embassies must make it
clear to Hun Sen that they will not tolerate the reversal of the important
strides made in basic human rights during the last decade."

The crackdown started with Hun Sen's visit on October 10-12 to Vietnam,
where he signed a controversial border treaty. On October 10, dozens of
armed police officers surrounded the Phnom Penh home of Mom
Sonando, director of Beehive Radio FM 105. He was arrested the next
morning on charges of defamation after having aired an interview with a
Cambodian activist in France who is highly critical of the border treaty.

Upon return to Cambodia, Hun Sen announced that he would prosecute
anyone who alleged that he, or the Cambodian government, had "sold
land" to Vietnam. Such statements are an "act of treason," he said.

In a meeting with international investors on October 14, Hun Sen
announced that legal action was being taken against four members of the
Cambodia Watchdog Council, a nongovernmental organization that had
issued a statement on October 11 criticizing the border agreement.

On October 15, police arrested Cambodia Watchdog Council member
Rong Chhun, who is also president of the Cambodian Independent
Teachers Association, as he was attempting to cross the border to
Thailand to seek asylum. No arrest warrant was produced, but he was
charged with defamation and incitement under articles 60 and 63 of the
Cambodian penal code, which carry prison terms of five years for
incitement and one year for defamation and a fine up to $2,500. Charges
have also been brought against other members of the Cambodia
Watchdog Council, including Chea Mony, President of the Free Trade
Union Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia; Ea Channa, representative
of the Student's Movement for Democracy; and Men Nath, president of
the Civil Servants Association.

"Legal action should not be used as a tool of repression to silence the
political opposition and government critics in Cambodia," said Adams.
"Hun Sen needs to accept that in a democracy leaders will be criticized
when they make controversial decisions."

In a speech broadcast on Cambodian television on October 17, Hun Sen
threatened to abolish the monarchy and sack military chief Ke Kim Yan
and other officials if they did not abide by his orders. He warned
international organizations and foreign governments not to interfere. He
called on the Thai government to extradite Cambodians suspected of
fleeing to Bangkok over the weekend to seek asylum.

The Cambodian government is now pressuring the Thai government to
return individuals who have fled to Thailand for sanctuary. Returning
persons to a place where they face persecution would violate the strict
international legal prohibition against non-refoulement.

"The Thai government should not even discuss the return of individuals
who are facing persecution for the peaceful expression of their political
beliefs," said Adams. "To do so would make Thailand complicit in this
assault on free expression."

To view this document on the Human Rights Watch web site, please visit:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/18/cambod11892.htm

Iraq: Saddam Trial Under Scrutiny

2005-10-19T07:49:00.001-07:00

(Baghdad, October 19, 2005) ? To ensure justice for hundreds of
thousands of Iraqi victims and their families, the trials of Saddam
Hussein and other former Iraqi officials must be fair, Human Rights
Watch said today as the trials opened in Baghdad.

"For nearly two decades, we have called for Saddam Hussein and his
henchmen to be brought to justice," said Richard Dicker, director of
Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program, who is leading a
team of trial observers in Baghdad. "We have grave concerns that the
court will not ensure fair trials. To ensure justice and its own
legitimacy, the court must fix these deficiencies."

The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (formerly known as the Iraqi
Special Tribunal) is an Iraqi court established to try former
government officials. Five Iraqi judges make up the trial court. The
prosecutors and principal defense lawyers are Iraqi.

The tribunal has the authority to try Iraqis for grave crimes such as
genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Funded mostly by
the U.S. government, the court will try some of the most notorious
human rights violations that took place under the previous government
- including the poison gas attacks against Iraqi Kurds and the brutal
suppression of the 1991 rebellion in the south.

Saddam Hussein and seven other former Iraqi officials go on trial
today for crimes that took place in the town of al-Dujail in 1982.
Government security forces allegedly killed more than 140 individuals
from al-Dujail in retaliation for an assassination attempt on Saddam
Hussein as his motorcade passed through the town.

"We want these trials to succeed. We will be carefully monitoring the
proceedings," said Dicker. "We hope the court respects the right of the
accused to mount a vigorous defense."

In an 18-page briefing paper released last week, Human Rights Watch
highlighted concerns that the tribunal is at risk of violating basic fair-
trial guarantees.

Problems with the tribunal and its statute include:
? No requirement to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
? Inadequate protections for the accused to mount a defense on
conditions equal to those enjoyed by the prosecution.
? Disputes among Iraqi political factions over control of the court,
jeopardizing its appearance of impartiality.
? A draconian requirement that prohibits commutation of death
sentences by any Iraqi official, including the president, and compels
execution of the defendant within 30 days of a final judgment.

The briefing paper is available at:
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iraq1005/

To read about Human Rights Watch's other work on bringing the
former Iraqi government to justice, please see:
http://www.hrw.org/doc/?t=justice&c=iraq

Prosecutors: Prostitution ring catered to Florida farmworkers

2005-10-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

Associated Press
October 18, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. - Federal and state authorities have broken up what they described as a prostitution ring that catered to farmworkers in central Florida, authorities said Tuesday.

Federal and local law enforcement agents have arrested 11 suspects on charges of conspiracy to transport individuals for sexual activity.

Another 43 people were arrested for being in the United States illegally during searches that were made in Hillsborough, Orange and Polk counties last Saturday. Authorities recovered more than $32,000 in cash, jewelry and two luxury vehicles, federal prosecutors said.

Frank Figueora, the special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tampa, said the suspects exploited the immigration system by using the foreign-born women as prostitutes. Women were recruited from Chicago and Puerto Rico, the indictment said.

Most of the criminal suspects were from the Dominican Republic and Honduras. The defendants were either denied bond or didn't have a bond hearing until Wednesday and couldn't be reached for comment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eduardo Torro-Font said that the brothels usually operated in trailer parks and were easily opened, closed and reopened in another location. They operated from January 2000 until last December, according to an indictment that was issued in June but was sealed until the arrests.

If convicted, the sex trafficking suspects each could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

2005-10-19T07:48:00.001-07:00

Large ring may have produced material in Greece, sources say
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100026_18/10/2005_62010
October 18, 2005

A child pornography ring involving around 20 businessmen and professionals from across the country has been traced following a tip-off in a provincial town in northern Greece, police sources in Attica said yesterday.

According to officers, the ring is responsible for uploading photographs and video footage of extremely hardcore child pornography, much of which is believed to have been produced in this country. The extreme nature of the material and the size of the ring make it an unprecedented case, sources said. Details are expected to be made public this week.

POLICE MAKE BROTHEL RAPE ARREST

2005-10-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

12 October 2005

http://www.hemelhempsteadtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=841&ArticleID=1218771

Wednesday October 12. Police have arrested a teenage man in connection with
the knife point rape of three Hemel Hempstead massage parlour workers last
month.

Officers are today (Wednesday) quizzing the 18-year-old man, who is from
Gravesend in Kent, after arresting him in West London on Tuesday on
suspicion of rape.

The arrest comes three weeks after a gang of men got into a massage parlour
in Wood Lane End, Adeyfield, and threatened the women inside with knives
before raping them and making off with cash and mobile phones.

The same gang of men, believed to be of Eastern European origin, has been
linked with a similar incident in Watford on September 15 when two massage
parlour workers were threatened at knife point and robbed of more than
£1,000 in cash and mobile phones.