Related:
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5 April 2010
Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute (UN:NGO:DESA)
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net
H-II OPSEC
Url: www.H-II.org
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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