16 Friday Mar 2012
See what actress and human rights activist Ashley Judd had to say yesterday at the UN about her fight against human trafficking.
Join the fight today!
Posted by Ogechi Nwankwo | Filed under Uncategorized
14 Wednesday Mar 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
For Immediate Release
March 9, 2012
Willits, CA – The California State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police today strongly endorsed the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE) Act. Slated for the November 2012 ballot once qualified, the CASE Act is an initiative that will fight back against human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women and children in the state.
Roger Mayberry, the President of the California Fraternal Order of Police, formally endorsed the measure saying, “The 11,000 men and women that make up the California Fraternal Order of Police support the CASE Act. This initiative will strengthen penalties against human trafficking, provide additional training for law enforcement, and help protect children from online predators. By strengthening these laws, the law enforcement community will be able to better crack down on these horrific crimes.”
The Fraternal Order of Police, founded in 1915, is the largest union of peace officers in the world. It is an association of proud professionals working on behalf of law enforcement officers from all ranks and levels of government. The California Fraternal Order of Police is made up of more than 11,000 men and women serving proudly in law enforcement.
In California, many vulnerable women and young girls are held against their will and forced to sell their bodies. The victims are often girls as young as 12 who are sexually exploited for the financial gain of human traffickers. They are afraid for their lives and abused – sexually, physically, and mentally.
Human trafficking is said to be one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world – and it is taking place right here in our own backyard. Three areas in California – San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego – are designated by the FBI to be among the highest child sex trafficking areas in the nation. In addition, a recent national study by a victims’ rights group gave California an “F” grade for its weak laws dealing with child sex trafficking.
The CASE Act, a partnership of California Against Slavery and the Safer California Foundation, will protect children in California by:
The CASE Act has also been endorsed by organizations representing over 90,000 rank and file California Peace Officers, advocates for the protection of children, including Marc Klaas and the KlaasKids Foundation, and victims who survived sexual exploitation when they were children.
The campaign is close to completing the signature gathering process that will qualify the initiative for the November ballot.
For comprehensive information on the CASE Act, visit www.caseact.org.
07 Wednesday Mar 2012
Posted in Movement, Uncategorized
Tags
I lost my voice!
I mean my speaking voice. I can barely talk and worst of all I can’t sing! While I bemoan my plight I can’t help but think about those who are currently enslaved – tied down to a life they did not choose.
Force, bondage, unpaid labor, pain, humiliation, fear, rape, exploitation, deceit, rage, disease, drugs, lies, slavery! These are all words well known to them.
Many are hidden in plain view.
Clothed in the shadows of the night.
“Employed” to provide services we enjoy in the day.
They plead in silence.
Who will hear their cry? Who will give them a voice?!
I HAVE A VOICE! Do you?
02 Friday Mar 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
Northern California man pleads guilty to sex trafficking teens.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423 or complete our tip form.
29 Wednesday Feb 2012
Tags
C.A.S.E, human traffickers, human trafficking law, involuntary servitude, minors, petition, re-abolish, sex, slavery, trafficking
Daphne Phung
By Daphne Phung, Executive Director & Founder of California Against Slavery
This June, I went on a police undercover sting that targeted sex trafficking of girls in Oakland. What I saw was surreal. Young girls waiting at every street corner along the “track” to hop into cars with adult men, some old enough to be their grandfathers. The undercover officers would pick up one girl, then circle the block and find three more walking up.
The sun was still out as families and professionals cruised by, ignoring this pervasive sex trade. I was shocked by their disregard. Did they think the girls were criminals who made a choice to prostitute themselves? As the Executive Director and Founder of California Against Slavery, a non-partisan, grassroots organization that fights against human trafficking in California, I have heard over and over again that these girls are not choosing this life—they are forced into it.
One of our volunteers, Carissa, was only 12 years old when she was abandoned by her family and picked up by a man who sold her to truckers in Fresno. Her only “escape” from him was being thrown in juvenile hall two years later. The man was never imprisoned for capturing or trading her.
Thousands of children –mostly girls – are sold for sex in California and throughout the United States each year. Most of them are between 12 to 14 years old. Unlike drugs, a girl can be sold over and over again. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, most runaways are solicited by a sex trafficker within 48 hours.
Unlike Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard, many sex trafficking victims are never even reported as missing. No one is looking for them. The only people paying attention are the men who are buying and selling them or the police who are arresting and releasing them back to their perpetrators. Their exploitation often continues in silence until they die or are no longer desirable…or they turn into the perpetrators of the next generation. This, perhaps, is the greatest tragedy of our time. Whether we like it or not, whether we recognize it or not, human trafficking is happening in every community throughout California and our nation, from big cities to quiet suburbs. The internet has fueled its rapid growth by making buying and selling girls easier and less risky than ever before.
That is why California Against Slavery is working to pass a ballot initiative in 2012 that addresses the severe issue of human trafficking in our state. If passed, the initiative will impose higher prison terms and fines of up to $1.5 million for traffickers, which will go towards funding victim services. This law will also mandate law enforcement training and require the disclosure of sex offenders’ internet accounts.
It is our moral obligation to take action against human trafficking and its epidemic abuse of women and children. To place the initiative on the 2012 ballot, we must collect over 750,000 voter signatures in 5 months, starting November 2011. Please visit CaliforniaAgainstSlavery.org to find out more.
The Women’s Foundation of California’s Women of Color Donor Circle is proud to have supported California Against Slavery this year with a grant of $7500.
Taken from: womensfoundationofcalifornia.com/2011/10/20/it’s-time-to-raise-the-cost-of-human-trafficking/#more-2882
24 Friday Feb 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
21 Tuesday Feb 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
I spent the past few days in Miami; loving every minute of it. This article will show however that even in such a beautiful place the ugly evil of human trafficking is not just alive but huge!
“In Miami, a dirty secret lies beneath the cosmopolitan veneer.
“When you look at South Florida,” said Carmen Pino of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “we are like the perfect storm…for human trafficking.
“And now you have organized crime that’s taken hold of things and they’re working to make billions of dollars off that industry.”
Pino, an assistant special agent in charge of homeland security investigations in Miami, investigates the trafficking of people internationally and across state lines. The victims, he says, are exploited for labor, domestic servitude or commercial sex.
“It’s an absolute huge problem,” said Pino.
A recent report estimated $32 billion a year in profits from the 27 million people victimized worldwide.
The number one group at risk by traffickers in America, experts say, is runaways.
Sandy Skelaney, who went from being homeless to getting a masters degree from Yale University, now works at the Kristi House in Miami, a child advocacy center that works with children who are sexually abused. She manages Project Gold, a program that works with girls who have been sexually exploited.
For three years Skelaney called the streets home.
“I was surrounded by young people who were being victimized in the industry,” said Skelaney. “They target them and know where to find them.”
Florida ranks 3rd in the country for lucrative human trafficking. Law enforcement agencies are trying to get the message out through public service announcements, education and awareness.
Adriane Reesey, a liaison with the Broward Sheriff’s Office and President and chair of the Broward County Human Trafficking Coalition, says disturbing trend here in South Florida finds criminals using force, fraud, or coercion to entice the vulnerable.
“It is here and it’s in our backyard and in our neighborhoods,” said Reesey.”
Taken from:
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Human-Trafficking-still-plagues-South-Florida.html
posted on Saturday, September 17, 2011
SEE VIDEO:
08 Wednesday Feb 2012
Posted in Uncategorized
“I dreamt someone kidnapped my brother and used him as a labor slave and I had to fight to free him… it was HORRIBLE!”
^^^text I got from someone this morning. Fortunately, in this case it was only a nightmare.
However, for many this scenario is much more than a nightmare. It is their reality. They wake up and it’s still true! Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, relatives stolen to be used as slaves.
“I had to fight to free him…” What would YOU do?!
Are we not all brothers and sisters?
05 Sunday Feb 2012
Tags
football, human trafficking, human trafficking law, Indiana, Indianapolis, minors, Mt. Rubidoux, super bowl
Last night we successfully completed our 1st human trafficking awareness campaign in partnership with Mt. Rubidoux SDA Church. Today brings with it the long awaited Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. For many, this day is anticipated for far more devious reasons than crowding around the large screen with family and food…
“The Super Bowl — or any large sports game — always draws traffickers and they bring the product line because there are a lot of men that are used to buying commercial sex around these events,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, it draws minors as a product line. People bring in kids. So what has happened in Indianapolis is absolutely amazing. The leadership standing up saying – we’re going to send a message to traffickers saying we’re not a good place for you to be bringing kids or vulnerable women to sell.” Indiana has made it clear that human trafficking activities will be met with swift justice. Today, we commend Indiana for taking swift action in instituting tougher laws and also training law enforcement personnel and others to learn how to identify trafficked girls.
See video:
Indiana passes human trafficking law in time for Super Bowl
Want to spread the word, “like” us, share our posts on Facebook, twitter, everywhere! Let’s continue the fight together to end human trafficking!
03 Friday Feb 2012
Posted in Events
Products you eat, wear, and use every day may have been made by human trafficking victims.
Human trafficking isn’t just in your town – it’s in your home, since human trafficking victims are forced to make many of the products we use everyday, according to ProductsofSlavery.org. If your kitchen is stocked with rice, chocolate, fresh produce, fish, or coffee, those edibles might have been harvested by trafficking victims. If you’re wearing gold jewelry, athletic shoes, or cotton underwear, you might be wearing something made by slaves. And if your home contains a rug, a soccer ball, fresh flowers, a cell phone, or Christmas decorations, then slavery is quite possibly in your house. Human trafficking in the production of consumer goods is so widespread, most people in America have worn, touched, or consumed a product of slavery at some point.
Taken from:
http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/15/5-things-to-know-about-human-trafficking/
To learn more, attend the awareness event TOMORROW! Saturday, 7pm @ Mt. Rubidoux SDA church. 5320 Victoria Ave. Riverside, 92506 OR watch LIVE rubitv.tv
