Dr. Jeffery Barrows
Theresa Flores

When Theresa Flores was 15 years old, she lived in an upper-class neighborhood in Birmingham, Mich. Her dad was an executive with a large company. She had a crush on a boy at her school, and like any other teenage girl, she accepted a ride home from school with when he offered. The ride home with that teenage boy would be the start of two years of sex trafficking for Flores.

Flores shared her story at a STOP Human Trafficking Forum Saturday.

Sponsored by the Zonta Club of Columbus, a service organization dedicated to improving and advancing the status of women, the forum was aimed at education and awareness about human trafficking in central Ohio.

Most human trafficking in the U.S. is related to workers who are here illegally and held as virtual slaves.

Toledo is the second largest area in the country for human trafficking, said Sgt. Toby Wagner of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Criminal Intelligence Unit, citing numerous explanations.

Ohio has a lot of farmland, which leads to easier forced migrant labor. Toledo is not far from Detroit, known for its high crime rate. And Ohio also has many major highways running in all directions, making it easy for victims to be trafficked into other states.

“We didn’t know how deep it runs and how rampant it runs,” Wagner said. “If you think it’s not in your backyard, you’re fooling yourself. Every state in the union is affected by this crime.”

Wagner said the Ohio State Highway Patrol has successfully rescued three victims of human trafficking this year.

Some of this trafficking involves prostitution.

An estimated 60 to 90 females are trafficked for sexual purposes every year in Franklin County, officials said.

Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world, with 15,000 to 18,000 people trafficked in the U.S. annually.

The issue of human trafficking in Ohio was first brought to the attention of Brent Currence, manager of the Ohio Missing Children Clearinghouse and member of Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray’s office, in 2005.

This year, the Ohio Highway Patrol trained its entire agency on this issue, Currence said. Prior to this, Currence estimated only 4 percent of Ohio’s law enforcement was trained on human trafficking.

“Our law is ranked as the worst human trafficking law in the country,” Currence said. “We need to update and change our laws in Ohio.”

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has established a basic training course for all law enforcement, with the first courses beginning this month, Currence said. It is in the process of creating an investigator’s course and prosecutor and judge courses, as well.

“All my life, I had searched for a word for what had happened to me,” Flores said. “It wasn’t rape. It happened more than once. I saw the definition of human trafficking, and it was like a brick hit me.”

It is estimated that worldwide human trafficking profits exceed $32 billion annually, which is more than the annual profits of Starbucks, Google and Nike combined, Wagner said.

Wagner quoted a sergeant from Atlanta’s police department, who said that there is no common thread to the victims of human trafficking and that “anything goes.”

“There’s not a one of us in this room that doesn’t fit into a victim category,” Wagner said.

When Flores, now a licensed social worker, accepted a ride with the boy, she ended up at his house instead of her own. She was date-raped before being taken home.

“I ignored all of the red flags that day, and it turned out they were right,” Flores said. “And I can tell you that [the taking of my virginity] was devastating, and unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst of it.”

Later on at school, Flores said the boy came to her and said his cousins were also there that day and had taken pictures of her. The boy wanted Flores to work to make the pictures go away, or risk having them revealed to her friends, family and church.

“At times, cars would pull over as I walked home from school,” Flores said. “I would be taken away, have no idea where I went or how long I’d be away. They threatened to kill my family if I told anyone.”

Flores said she had a phone line in her room and she would often get calls at around midnight ordering her to sneak out of the house to a waiting car.

“They would take me to the very nice homes of men, and I can’t explain to you the feeling of terror of a child, of never knowing if I’d come home again,” Flores said.

One night when Flores was 16, the car showed up with six men. She
was taken to Detroit and forced into a hotel room where two dozen men were waiting. She was auctioned off to the highest bidder.

“I was drugged, beaten, sexually molested, and I passed out,” Flores said. “I woke up alone and I couldn’t find my clothes. I had no idea where I was. It was probably the darkest, deepest despair of my life, and nobody saved me.”

Flores was eventually pulled out of her life in sex trafficking when she received help from a waitress at a 24-hour diner attached to the motel. Soon after, the police came and rescued her. Her family moved away from the area.

“Somebody saw I was vulnerable. They saw they could make money off of me, and I was living a nightmare and afraid to live my life,” Flores said. “People don’t see the psychological bondage. There are young girls and they don’t have a choice.”

Girls who are victims of sex trafficking need specialized care to get back into any semblance of a normal life, said Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, executive director of Gracehaven House, a nonprofit organization that aims to offer shelter and rehabilitation to girls under age 18 in Ohio who are victims of sex trafficking.

The house is not yet open but has been purchased in northwest Ohio. It can house up to 10 girls at a time and will be a long-term shelter for victims. Barrows said the goal is to open the house by summer 2010.

Girls will receive counseling at the shelter and will have the opportunity to earn the equivalent of a high school diploma. Barrows said sex trafficking victims, on average, have the educational level of a fourth-grader.

“Many times we get people who ask us, ‘What can I do?’” Barrows said. “Raise awareness. Become informed.”

More information is available on the house’s Web site, gracehavenhouse.org.

“If you see something that doesn’t look right, feel right or smell right, it probably isn’t right,” Wagner said. “Help us out and give us a call.”

Anyone who suspects sexual or human trafficking is asked to call 614-466-2660.

source: http://www.thelantern.com/campus/sex-trafficking-hits-close-to-home-60-90-women-affected-in-franklin-county-1.890395

Documents unsealed in federal court last week show that a wealthy businessman charged in a 2003 child sex-trafficking case had wanted to subpoena former VECO chief executive Bill Allen to testify on his behalf.

The case against Josef Boehm and his associates is more than five years old, but issues kept secret during the trial are now coming to light at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage. It appears the request was made, in part, to try to dispel the notion that statutory rape allegations lodged against Allen were kept quiet to maintain momentum in a growing political corruption probe that was already under way by the Justice Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Russo said last week that his office asked for the records to be unsealed since there was no longer a reason to keep them secret. Because of recent filings in one of the corruption cases, the allegations contained in the Boehm motions are already part of the public record, Russo said, adding that the policy manual for U.S. attorneys directs prosecutors to unseal records when the reasons for keeping them secret no longer exist.

It’s one more twist in the ongoing saga of whether federal prosecutors and FBI agents suppressed potential evidence that could have helped defense lawyers discredit Allen, the government’s star witness, during his testimony against Alaska politicians.

Allen became a target of the feds’ corruption probe in December 2004, according to the FBI, and he pleaded guilty in May 2007 to bribing state lawmakers. He’s cooperated in the investigation, including testifying against former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, and last month was sentenced to three years in prison.

Withheld impeachment evidence ultimately botched the government’s case against Stevens and it is now an issue in the pending review of the 2007 convictions of former state Reps. Vic Kohring and Pete Kott.

In a recent motion to have Kott’s case dismissed, his lawyer, Sheryl Gordon McCloud, argues that Allen’s potential exposure in one or more sex-crimes investigations, along with allegations that he tried to cover his tracks by getting an underage girlfriend to deny their relationship, should have been disclosed during Kott’s trial two year ago. McCloud says those facts could have influenced Allen’s credibility with the jury and his motivation for cooperating with the government.

McCloud wants more information about why an Anchorage Police detective investigating statutory rape allegations against Allen was told by the feds to back off. Among her questions: Was it because of the Boehm case, the budding corruption probe, or something else?

A federal judge will hear arguments Nov. 17 on whether to dismiss the charges against Kott or hold a new trial.

The documents unsealed last week were originally filed with the court over a four-month period in 2004 – July to October – and appear to relate to Bambi Tyree, a co-defendant and witness in the Boehm case. Tyree was cutting a plea deal with the government in return for testifying against Boehm, including to say Boehm was the ringleader of a scheme to trade drugs for sex with underage girls at his South Anchorage home.

At the time, Boehm’s lawyers aimed to discredit Tyree, claiming she was a ringleader herself, and wanted a judge to allow them to question her about certain subjects during Boehm’s upcoming trial. But a federal prosecutor argued successfully to limit their questioning about her alleged sexual relationship with Allen when she was a teenager.

At that point in 2004, Tyree had already allegedly admitted that she started having sex with Allen when she was 15, according to notes from an interview with Tyree by the government. Fearing exposure, court records allege Allen asked Tyree to sign a statement saying she never had sex with him. When Boehm’s attorneys learned she had signed the false statement, they pushed to use that fact to discredit her.

The government didn’t dispute the allegations but wanted any discussion on the matter in open court limited to Tyree having made a false statement, without disclosing her alleged relationship with Allen. The documents show prosecutors felt Tyree’s relationship with Allen was irrelevant to the Boehm case.

The documents also seem to show that prosecutors were not actively trying cover up any criminal wrongdoing by Allen.

“To be clear, the United States does not have any interest in protecting Allen from what he did,” wrote Russo in the previously sealed motion, which was first filed July 26, 2004. “Indeed, he may still face charges for statutory rape. However, the United States is concerned about the potential distraction introduction of such evidence may create. Because Allen is a well-known figure in the community, there is danger of ‘the sideshow taking over the circus.’”

Tyree’s credibility was relevant, Russo concluded, but not her sexual history prior to her involvement with Boehm. Disclosing Allen’s name would serve only to confuse the issues and result in “waste of time,” he argued.

Still, the unsealed court documents leave one question unanswered: Why did Russo ask Anchorage Police detective Kevin Vandegriff to back off investigating Allen in 2004 over his alleged relationship with Tyree?

Documents filed by Kott’s lawyer show Vangedriff was advised in March 2004 “to not actively investigate the case as it might interfere with a federal investigation involving Allen and Boehm.”

By then Boehm had already been indicted (January 2004), a former mistress of Allen’s had reported Allen’s relationship with Tyree to police, and within one month (April 2004) the FBI was debriefing at least one witness in the political corruption probe.

In an interview last week, Russo said that during spring 2004 he wanted to make sure that any investigation of Allen focused on looking for connections to the larger sex and drug case related to Boehm. A single statutory rape allegation was outside the scope of the larger case at hand, he added.

As for any crossover between the Boehm case and the corruption probe, Russo said that in spring 2004 his office had no knowledge of any federal investigations of Allen, including the corruption probe that was about to gain steam later that same year.

source: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/news/politics/2815-child-sex-trafficker-wanted-bill-allen-as-trial-witness

Clark County officials review their participation in operation
The girl taps on the door. A scruffy-looking older man greets her and lets her into the quiet white one-story house.

They don’t waste any time. He hands her the money and the two head for the bedroom.

Once there, though, he stalls. “I need to use the bathroom,” he tells her.

On cue, six officers in tactical gear swarm the bedroom, and the juvenile prostitute is caught. The “john” was actually an undercover officer.

This sting was just one of several made by Vancouver police officers and Clark County sheriff’s deputies Oct. 22 as part of a nationwide mission aimed at rescuing child prostitutes.

Spearheaded by the FBI, Operation Cross Country IV took place in 36 cities throughout the country Oct. 22 and the following weekend.

This was the first sting of its type in Vancouver, officials said.

The local operation netted the rescue of two underage prostitutes and the arrests of seven adult prostitutes and three alleged pimps, a signal that a problem once believed to be a Portland-only phenomenon or an underground Vancouver secret should now be treated as a salient issue, said Vancouver police Lt. John Chapman.

Chapman and police highlighted the operation’s results during a day-long training forum for local law enforcement officials Thursday at the Vancouver First Church of God in Hazel Dell. The event was sponsored by Shared Hope International, a Vancouver organization that targets global sex slavery.

A year ago, Chapman admits, a forum on the topic wouldn’t have happened in Clark County. Child prostitution was a little-known and misunderstood problem.

“This is an awareness day,” he told the packed sanctuary, which also included politicians, such as Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard, state Rep. Jaime Herrera and Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt. “If you go back five months, I didn’t really know much about this topic.”

Now, sadly, Chapman said, he does.

The topic of child prostitution gathered steam locally in July after Clark County officials began networking with the Oregon Human Trafficking Task Force, a group led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and also began meeting with Shared Hope International founder Linda Smith, a former member of Congress.

In December, The Columbian ran a series of stories about prostitution on both sides of the Columbia River.

Portland police officers urged Clark County officers to get involved in this year’s Operation Cross Country, saying there was more of a child sex trafficking problem in Vancouver than local officials realized. About 40 percent of child prostitutes picked up in Portland are from Clark County, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

Chapman and Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Dobbs and Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Duncan Hoss took the prompting.

They realized the local operation would be a complex process. So the three officers mobilized police interviewers, advocates, undercover johns, and other officers and social service workers.

The day of the sting, police used two venues: a house to meet girls for “dates” and an unidentified school.The pimps and adult prostitutes detained during the operation were taken to the school to be questioned and arrested. Juvenile prostitutes also were questioned by police, but they were turned over to the state’s Child Protective Services instead of being arrested, Hoss said.

By federal initiative, a minor is considered not old enough to consent to sex trafficking and is treated as a victim.

To draw girls to the sting house, undercover johns trolled online Web sites for ads. An officer called girls to arrange “dates.”

Several girls came to the sting house throughout the day. Some were driven by pimps, Dobbs said. Some drove themselves. Most were 16 or in their upper teens, and one 16-year-old prostitute was found with a handgun in her purse.

As it turned out, Vancouver officers recovered as many juvenile prostitutes as Portland officers did: two.

One of the prostitutes rescued in Portland was from Vancouver.

With four juvenile prostitutes rescued, the Vancouver-Portland metro area tied with several cities for fourth most recoveries, Dobbs said.

So what’s next in fighting child prostitution? Recognizing the problem is the first step, Chapman said. “I know the more we look at it, the more we’ll find,” he said.

No future operations are yet planned.

source: http://www.columbian.com/article/20091108/NEWS02/711089971/National+sting+finds+juvenile+prostitutes

Feminist and anti-trafficking activist Gloria Steinem will kick off the symposium with opening remarks and will participate in the Labor Trafficking panel discussion.

(Media-Newswire.com) – Nov. 13, 2009
9:30-9:45 a.m. Welcome by Gloria Steinem
10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Labor Trafficking
1:30-4 p.m. Trafficking and Immigration Policy
4-6:30 p.m. International Responses to Trafficking

Nov. 14, 2009
9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sex Traffickinng
12:30-2:30 p.m. Keynote Address by Catharine MacKinnon,
University of Michigan Law School

WHERE: University of Pennsylvania Law School
34th and Chestnut streets

The Penn Law Review symposium will provide a forum for scholars and practitioners on combating human trafficking.

Feminist and anti-trafficking activist Gloria Steinem will kick off the symposium with opening remarks and will participate in the Labor Trafficking panel discussion.

source: http://media-newswire.com/release_1105344.html

IJM Breaking News
Location: Cebu, the Philippines
Date: October 25 and 27, 2009
Result: Two operations in three days bring freedom to 16 trafficking victims.

Dear Cjaye,

Last week, IJM Cebu’s anti-trafficking team partnered with local authorities to conduct two rescue operations in three days.

EMAIL 20091105 Fall Ask Photo

Police partnering with IJM conduct the October 25 rescue operation in a Philippine brothel.

The operations freed a total of 16 victims of sex trafficking, secured the arrest of 5 suspected perpetrators and made headlines in the Philippines.

The operations — one in a brothel, another in a hotel — were possible because of IJM’s collaboration with local authorities in Cebu. Together, we stand on the frontlines to protect and rescue trafficking victims. The rescued survivors in these cases are now receiving aftercare services through local partners.

Help us rescue more girls and women from forced prostitution.

Give a Gift Today.

source: http://webmail.aol.com/28878/aol-1/en-us/mail/DisplayMessage.aspx?ws_popup=true

Two events in particular at this year’s GiRL FeST Hawaii directly address the event’s mission to prevent violence against women through education and art.
COURTESY GIRLFEST

Along with tonight’s soft opening that includes a show by stand-up comic Ali Wong at the University of Hawaii, a gallery opening from 5 to 7 p.m. at Waikiki’s ING Direct Cafe features an art show titled “Future” that will unveil a Girls Court Mural, mentored by John “Prime” Hina of 808urban.com.

Hina, a graffiti artist whose organization teaches local youth about artistic and legal forms of graffiti, worked on the mural with the young women of Hawaii Girls Court, a program under Family Court of the First Judicial Circuit and built on strengths-based programming targeting female juvenile offenders.

“Future” will showcase other local female artists such as Jennifer Yoko Thorbjornsen, Kim Kinard, Kirsten Rae Simonsen, Quinn Donnelly, Shonna Hammon Glenn, Sierra Dew, Veronique Godbout, and photographers Mercy Shammah and Rita Coury.

The opening reception will be the only time that Coury’s photographs of breast cancer survivors will be displayed at the cafe. The gallery wall space is part of the Waikiki online bank ING Direct, which told Coury that her five graphic photos of women in various stages of breast cancer will have to come down after tonight. (A search for an alternate venue to show her work is ongoing.)

According to an e-mail sent by Cleo Brown of ING Direct Hawaii to festival director Kathryn Xian, Coury’s photos were deemed inappropriate in light of a fundraiser that will happen during the festival that will be attended by students, their parents and teachers.

Coury’s e-mail response: “If ING Direct had reviewed the photography before they offered their space for the exhibit, I would certainly have understood. It is their prerogative to select their own exhibits. But to single out my photography at the last minute because they feel it is not appropriate for all audiences and age groups is an insult to my and every woman’s intelligence.

“Breast cancer is killing women at an enormous rate. This is a very important social issue and to turn away from it makes it a moral issue. My photography is the truth in living color.”

Among other GiRL FeST events, an expert panel presentation called “On the FREEway to End Human Trafficking” will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. on Nov. 14 at the Mission Memorial Auditorium.

Hawaii is one of eight states that has not passed a human trafficking law. The public discussion about the anti-sex-trafficking movement will include Rachel Lloyd, founder of GEMS, Girls Educational & Mentoring Services; Kenneth Franzblau, trafficking campaign director of Equality Now; and Sharmin Bock, deputy district attorney of Alameda County, Calif.

Among other activities:

» A match between Hawaii Pacific Roller Derby’s Hulagans and the L.A. Derby Dolls from 4 to 6 p.m. tomorrow at Kamilo’iki Park in Hawaii Kai. The two teams will broach the peace later that night when they appear at the festival’s opening-night party; doors open at 8 p.m.

» Sunday is set aside for a 9 a.m. surfing workshop for girls at Ala Moana Beach Park, self-defense workshops at the Diverse Art Center on Queen Street on escrima (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.) and jiu jitsu (3 to 4:30 p.m.), a B-girl workshop from 5 to 7 p.m. at the same location, and at Kakaako’s Fresh Cafe, an open mic “GiRL SLaM BaM” from 8 to 10 p.m.

» On closing night (Nov. 14), it’s the return of actress Amber Tamblyn and award-winning poet Mindy Netifee, as they perform “Crying at the Aquarium II” at LOFT Gallery and Lounge starting at 7:30 p.m.

Through song, prose and poetry, the duo will provide a fierce and funny take on everything from contemporary woman-ness and the economics of beauty to eco-romance and political heartbreak. Tamblyn will also read from her new book, “Bang Ditto.” Opening that evening will be Jocelyn Ng and Lyz Soto, both from Youth Speaks Hawaii.

source: http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20091106_festivals_focus_womens_rights.html?page=1&c=y

2009 Remarks From the Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

Luis CdeBaca
Director, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Dean Acheson Auditorium
Washington, DC
November 5, 2009

Remarks as prepared

Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our third annual bidders’ conference. Before Jane and her staff review with you this year’s solicitation, I wanted to take this opportunity first to thank all of you for the important work you are doing around the world to fight modern-day slavery. You, and groups like yours, have been at the heart of the anti-trafficking movement for more than a decade.

It’s encouraging to see so many familiar faces, and better yet, so many new faces in this room. It’s evidence of how much we’ve grown, and how this issue has captivated more and more people to actively stand up to meet the global challenge of human trafficking. More than 100 organizations confirmed for today’s conference, our largest to date by far.

As we look forward to the next decade and beyond, I want to take this time to share with you broadly some of our policy priorities and objectives which have direct bearing on our international anti-trafficking funding and programming. Since the signing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 by President Clinton, and over the past eight years under the Bush Administration, we have accomplished much using our three “P” paradigm of prevention, prosecution, and protection as a guide.

Around the world, new partnerships between police and NGOs have resulted in the prosecution of thousands of trafficking cases, and a new focus on victims’ rights has resulted in assistance for many thousands of victims. A majority of the world’s countries now have criminal legislation prohibiting all forms of trafficking in persons, and global awareness has been immeasurably raised.

But there is still much to do. We need to do more particularly in identifying and addressing the root causes of trafficking. This includes reforming practices that contribute to the trafficking of vulnerable populations. Whether it is young girls denied schooling, ethnic minorities denied citizenship, and migrant workers denied basic protections under the law. Our success in the coming years will be measured by our ability to identify these causal factors and encourage governments to implement relevant reforms. It also includes the need for government leaders to begin to address not only the structures that enable slavery to persist—but to actively build new structures to combat it. That means prosecutions and victim services to be sure, but also a more holistic approach to ensure tax, trade, immigration, and agricultural policies are not contributing to the problem.

As Ambassador, one of my goals is to ensure that every country has the laws and systems in place to stem the tide of slavery. And that they incorporate the issue of slavery into all of their policy decisions. It’s not just a women’s issue, or a children’s issue, or even a human rights issue that can be dusted off from time to time. It is an issue that touches virtually every aspect of society. Human trafficking is a multi-dimensional threat. The destructive effects are far-reaching and impact all of us. To not make necessary changes is a threat to the stability and prosperity of every nation, as modern slavery fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and undermines the rule of law.

As part of our comprehensive effort to tackle this problem in all its facets, Secretary Clinton announced at the release of this year’s TIP Report a fourth “P” in our anti-trafficking strategy: partnership. This includes partnership between governments; between law enforcement and NGOs; between federal, state, and local agencies; and between the public and private sectors. It also means partnership between government and civil society.

This is where many of you come in. Our office is looking for innovative partnerships to enhance our core competencies because we recognize that government can’t do it alone. These partnerships include working with NGOs and international organizations. But it also means engaging lawyers, medical professionals, researchers, and corporations. We are committed to working with you to build sustainable programs. Because together we can help people escape and recover. Together we can attack the root causes of this crime to prevent the enslavement from happening in the first place.

Since FY2001, the USG has committed over $600 million in international anti-trafficking funds. I am proud to say that the United States is currently funding 190 anti-TIP programs in nearly 70 countries. And I am impressed by what our limited amount of funding has been able to accomplish. The programs I am about to mention in particular give us reason for hope and optimism that we can make a difference in punishing traffickers, providing proper treatment and care to victims, and pushing governments to enact proper laws and policies that prevent exploitation and abuse.

In Nepal, the American Bar Association (ABA) is working to enhance the government’s ability to investigate and prosecute trafficking cases. This is done by building the capacity of the key actors in the country. This includes the Nepal Police Force, Women and Children Service Center, and the Human Rights Commission. They are also working on training of judges through the judicial academy, and at the grassroots level through the Kathmandu law school.

In Burundi and the DRC, the Heartland Alliance is providing critical services for the rehabilitation, recovery, and reintegration of sex trafficking victims, including women and children trafficked in armed conflicts. The services include counseling, psychosocial support, and vocational training.

It’s worth mentioning that the Heartland Alliance will also be establishing the first NGO-run TIP shelter in Iraq. Their work, and the work of many who assist trafficking victims, is what enables victims to become survivors. And it is the strength I see in these survivors that motivates me to work on this issue.

Taken together these programs are just a few examples of how we can target our assistance to produce results that make a real difference in the trafficking problem around the world.

In closing, much remains to be done in this fight. There are still countless victims we haven’t reached. Together we have to face the unfinished work of ending slavery in our time. Each of you is an important partner in this work. It is imperative that we build on our common interests of justice and human dignity to attack this phenomenon in partnership. I look forward to hearing from many of you in the coming month.

source: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/rm/2009/131464.htm

The Advocates for Human Rights announces that staff attorney Mary C. Ellison has been recognized by the Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project (BWLAP) with the 2009 Journey of Hope Award. Gloria Fressia, managing partner at BWLAP, says Ellison received the award “for her outstanding and dedicated legal advocacy on behalf of victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking in Minnesota and around the world.”

BWLAP presented the award to Ellison on Oct. 15, at the third annual Journey of Hope, a benefit event for BWLAP. During the last three years, BWLAP has been presenting the Journey of Hope Award to three professionals (Advocate, Attorney, Community Server) whose achievements have shown a major commitment to BWLAP’s mission and values. Fressia says that she is “convinced that domestic violence and human trafficking is a continuum of the same reality abuse of the most vulnerable.”

With this award, BWLAP wants to “appreciate Mary’s extraordinary achievements researching the reality of sex trafficking in Minnesota, collaborating in the publishing of The Advocates For Human Rights’ report Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota, and getting legislation passed in Minnesota that increases substantially sex trafficking offenders’ penalties while protecting the victim.”

Freesia said, “Mary does all that work while educating advocates, attorneys, judges and prosecutors worldwide on the issues of battered women and victims of sex trafficking.”

About Mary Ellison

Mary is the daughter of Toby and Marian Ellison of Menomonie. She graduated from Menomonie High School and, in addition to her law degree, holds a bachelor of arts degree from St. Olaf College and a master of arts degree from Colorado State University.

She is a published poet and essayist and the editor of two oral history collections. Prior to law school, she was a consultant to Columbia University’s development office, a principal gifts fundraiser for St. Olaf College, and the manger of training services at SunGard BSR, Inc.

Ellison is a staff attorney in the Women’s Human Rights Program at The Advocates. She received her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in June 2007 and is admitted to practice in Minnesota.

Since joining the Women’s Human Rights Program, Mary co-authored the “Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota;” assisted in conducting two days of meetings in Yerevan, Armenia in June 2008 on “Advocacy and Lobbying for a Domestic Violence Law in Armenia;” advocated for and passed amendments to Minnesota’s Sex Trafficking Law in May 2009; and visited Astana, Kazakhstan to deliver a presentation entitled “Best Practices in Legal Reform on Domestic Violence” in June 2009; among other accomplishments.

About The Advocates

The mission of The Advocates for Human Rights is to implement international human rights standards in order to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law. By involving volunteers in research, education, and advocacy, The Advocates builds broad constituencies in the United States and around the world. To advance that purpose, The Advocates has worked with hundreds of members of the Minnesota legal community to protect human rights in our communities. The Advocates appreciates the many dedicated individuals who have offered pro bono services in the form of research and legal representation for asylum seekers, immigrants, and others whose rights are at risk.

About the Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project

The Battered Women’s Legal Advocacy Project is a Minnesota statewide organization, founded 13 years ago to be the voice of battered women and children, particularly those who are the most vulnerable because of race, origin, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, isolation, age, and disability. The mission of BWLAP is to promote justice for battered women and children. BWLAP achieves its mission by advocating for system change, advocating to secure access to justice for all, and advocating to improve the legal systems response to battered women and children.

source: http://www.dunnconnect.com/articles/2009/11/06/variety/doc4af4b10bbee17341607412.txt

When thinking about Canada, he or she thinks of well protected environment, animal rights, and humanitarianism. Still, there is a group of people who falls outside of that protection by the Canadian society, and their rights are still neglected.

Aboriginal people are neglected

According to the research, the UN Human development index ranked Canadian aboriginal group has ranked in 68th while Canada ranked in the 8th. Further, the Canadian government only spends $7000-$8000 on aboriginal people while spending $15000-$16000 on Canadians. Furthermore, though the Canadian Health and Social Transfers provision is growing at an average rate of 6.6.%, the budgets have declined by 13% for aboriginal people. Lastly, in 2001, the unemployment rate for Aboriginal people was 19.1% when it was 7.4% for the total population in Canada.

Aboriginal teenagers are the targeted victims of sex trafficking

Aboriginal women continuously become victims of violence, including human trafficking, which demands particular attention from the government. According to the limited data available on the sex trafficking of aboriginal women and children, more than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing or been murdered in Canada over the last few decades. Michael Cettleburgh, a Canadian gang expert, testified that 90% of the teenage urban prostitutes in Canada are aboriginal population. Moreover, roughly 75% of Aboriginal teenage girls are sexually abused. And, 50% of these population are under the age of 14 and a quarter of them are under the age of 7. Experts also testified that the Aboriginal teenagers are in the age between 12 and 14 are prostituting in the north Winnipeg. They are pimped by gang members and selling their bodies for 20 dollars per sex.

Ironically, Canadian socialist parties oppose child trafficking bills to protect these victims

According to a news report in Canada, Canadian socialists refuse to impose harsher crimes on child trafficking offenders. They are according to the report, firmly supported by the criminals and are generally soft on crime. They also believe that ‘law-abiding victims of crime are actually responsible for criminal behavior, and that criminals are the real victims of crime.’ Even those who are convicted of sex trafficking in the past spent less than five years in jail since their prison time during the pre-trial custody counts as part of sentencing time. For instance, Micheal Lennox mark, a sex trafficking offender, only spent a week in jail for sex trafficking 4 teenagers victims.

?Canadian legislation needs to take sex trafficking more seriously

It was only last May 2008 that the first conviction of human trafficking case in Canada was held. Toronto Sun earlier this year exposed the lack of legal mechanisms to prosecute minor domestic trafficking in Canada. Though 14 years old girl had sexually abused by her pimp, the police could not prosecuted the pimp because she said he was her boyfriend and that she was in love with him. The case is similar to a typical domestic minor trafficking in the U.S., in which the pimp will be dealt severely for pimping a minor regardless of her consent. Perhaps, one is better off if he or she were born as a friendly animal to Canadians or a tree in one of their backyards than an aboriginal teenager in Canadian soil.

source: http://www.examiner.com/x-24740-Norfolk-Human-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d6-Not-everyone-is-equal-in-Canada-aboriginal-girls-vulnerable-to-sex-trafficking

Group Wants To Set Up Safe House For Victimized Girls

Vicki Zito’s daughter left their El Dorado Hills home in March 2008 to get a soda with a friend.

Eight days later, a special FBI task force found her in the Bay Area, where she was being sold for sex over the Internet.

“She was at a hotel being repeatedly violated,” Zito said.

The night she left home, Zito’s daughter had met up with a group of kids she knew from a local skate park. Zito said her daughter is very trusting because of a developmental disability. She’d gotten into a car with a man, who then sold her online, taking her to motels.

“You’re left with this broken, emotional child — and a fractured family as well — that’s reeling from everything that’s happened,” Zito said.

The suspect pleaded guilty in federal court to child sex trafficking. No one knows for sure how many children and teens are forced into sex for sale in the United States. An FBI task force in Sacramento has rescued more than 100 girls in the last three years and builds cases against the pimps who prostitute them. Watch: Task force targets pimps

“I think it’s the responsibility of all of us, us as law enforcement and us as a community to take care of them,” FBI Special Agent Minerva Shelton said.

Zito’s daughter has family and friends supporting her recovery. But most girls who get forced into sex trafficking aren’t so lucky.

“I think as adults and parents, it’s our job to look out for the children, not just our own,” Zito said.

Underage prostitutes walk up and down Watt Avenue in Sacramento. Law enforcement officers, businesses and neighbors can see them in an area known as the Stroll.

But many more are being sold in the shadows, over the Internet.

“The youngest we’ve seen is 11 years old,” Shelton said.

In addition to rescuing the girls, a small joint FBI-Sacramento Police Department task force also builds cases against the pimps who prostitute them.

“Once they get into this, it’s nonstop. Most of these girls see from five dates to 10 dates, depending on how busy the night is,” Shelton said.

The FBI said 85 percent of the girls are victims of broken or abusive homes.

U.S. Attorney Larry Brown’s office has prosecuted a number of child sex trafficking suspects.

“They drug them, ply them with alcohol. They’ll move them from motel to motel. They’ll swap them with other pimps either in the area or across the state lines, putting them on buses or in vans. It’s really the type of victimization of young people that should shock the conscious of anybody,” Brown said.

The FBI charges the victims with prostitution so they can put them in juvenile hall, the only secure place available.

Jenny Williamson, who runs a nonprofit raising money to build a safehouse for the girls, said she can’t disagree with that strategy.

“It’s the only safe place for them,” she said.

But Williamson and her nonprofit, Courage To Be You, hope to change that. Courage put in a $1 million offer on a piece of property with a home in a secret location. Williamson wants to provide trauma counseling, schooling and other services for victims to start over.

“It seems kind of trite, but what did you want to be when you grew up before this happened to you? And we want to help make their dreams come,” she said.

While she has law enforcement’s support, Williamson needs the community, too. Courage To Be You has to raise more than $700,000 by mid-December to secure the safe house.

“I want them to realize that this is happening to children in our area, and that it could be their daughter, it could be their child,” she said.

source: http://www.kcra.com/mostpopular/21536522/detail.html