Related:
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5 April 2010
Humanitarian Resource
Institute
Phone: (203) 668-0282
Url: www.humanitarian.net
United Nations Arts Initiative
Arts Integration Into Education
Url: www.unarts.org
Twitter: unarts
Humanitarian Intervention Initiative
Url: www.unarts.org/H-II
UNArts: H-II - Human Trafficking of Children - Global Law Enforcement/Relief
Intervention
Human Trafficking is the "'...recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons...' by improper means, such as
force, abduction, fraud, or coercion, for an improper purpose, such as
forced or coerced labour, servitude, slavery or sexual exploitation." --
UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. (1)
The H-II UN International Legal/Human Rights Focus is Human Trafficking
of Children and Adults (2), the intervention encompasses an intensive coordinated
global law enforcement incursion and relief initiative that includes:
- prosecution
of criminals responsible for associated crimes.
- sheltering,
medical care and rehabilitation for children and adult victims.
According
to the "Training manual to fight trafficking in children for labour, sexual
and other forms of exploitation" (ILO, UNICEF and the Global Initiative
to Fight Human Trafficking) (3):
- UNICEF
estimates that 1,000 to 1,500 Guatemalan babies and children are trafficked
each year for adoption by couples in North America and Europe.
- Girls
as young as 13 (mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe) are trafficked as “mail-order
brides.” In most cases these girls and women are powerless and isolated
and at great risk of violence.
- Large
numbers of children are being trafficked in West and Central Africa, mainly
for domestic work but also for sexual exploitation and to work in shops
or on farms. Nearly 90 per cent of these trafficked domestic workers are
girls.
- Children
from Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana are trafficked to Nigeria, Ivory
Coast, Cameroon and Gabon. Children are trafficked both in and out of Benin
and Nigeria. Some children are sent as far away as the Middle East and Europe.
- Surveys
indicate that 30 to 35 per cent of all sex workers in the Mekong sub-region
of Southeast Asia are between 12 and 17 years of age.
- Mexico’s
social service agency reports that there are more than 16,000 children engaged
in prostitution, with tourist destinations being among those areas with
the highest number.
- In
Lithuania, 20 to 50 percent of prostitutes are believed to be minors. Children
as young as age 11 are known to work as prostitutes. Children from children’s
homes, some 10 to 12 years old, have been used to make pornographic movies.
Interpol
estimates have placed human trafficking and illicit migration as a USD 28
billion enterprise, a crime that amounts to modern slavery, requiring a
multitude of strategies at a range of levels to address the problem. Trafficking
in human beings (THB) takes many forms, five of which are briefly covered
below (4):
- Trafficking
in women for sexual exploitation
- People
smuggling
- Child
sexual exploitation
- Trafficking
for forced labour/servitude
- Trafficking
in organs
Listen to the Victims
After the collapse of communism in 1989, millions of former Soviet bloc
residents migrated abroad, breathing life into one of the oldest criminal
enterprises—the trafficking of humans into sexual slavery. Since then, thousands
of Eastern European women have been sold into prostitution. Photojournalist
Mimi Chakarova investigates this rarely documented journey. -- The
Price of Sex: Women Speak: Center for Investigative Journalism. (5)
Listen to the victims Jenea, Aurica, Corina, Olesea, an overview of Women
at Risk and Sex Trafficking: How It Works:
www.priceofsex.org
UNArts: Humanitarian Intervention Initiative (H-II)
Protective Forces in Humanitarian Relief Operations, Non Lethal Fires,
and Intervention Initiatives are the focus of the UNArts: Humanitarian
Intervention Initiative (H-II) (6). The objectives are to increase
exposure, strategic planning, development and implementation of relief
efforts for the world's most complicated emergencies.
Country Music Association Artist Stephen Michael Apatow, (7) founder
of Humanitarian Resource Institute and the United Nations Arts Initiative
is currently expanding collaboration and collecting video footage of humanitarian
interventions from DOD/NATO, United Nations, Relief Organizations and NGO's
working in UN member countries.
References:
1. International Human Trafficking Research: U.S. Department of Justice:
National Institute of Justice. Url: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/international/programs/inttraffick.html
2. International
Bar Association Human Rights Institute: Url: http://www.ibanet.org/IBAHRI.aspx
3. Training manual to fight trafficking in children for labour, sexual
and other forms of exploitation: ILO, UNICEF and the Global Initiative
to Fight Human Trafficking. Url: http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_exploitation.html
4. Trafficking in human beings: Interpol. Url: http://www.interpol.int/Public/THB/default.asp
5. The Price of Sex: Women Speak: Center for Investigative Journalism.
Url: http://www.priceofsex.org
6. Humanitarian Intervention Initiative (H-II): Humanitarian Resource
Institute, United Nations Arts Initiative. Url: http://www.unarts.org/H-II
7. Stephen Michael Apatow, Founder of Humanitarian Resource Institute
and the United Nations Arts Initiative. Url: http://www.apatow.org
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