Human Trafficking Watch

This is a must-read:

Teen recounts horror of sex slavery - TODAY: People - MSNBC.com:

A typical 16-year-old in a middle-class home in suburban Pensacola, Fla., Newell?s nightmare began innocently enough: A new friend she had met in high school asked her to come to her home for a sleepover. Newell?s mother, Lisa Brant, didn?t like the idea, but after weeks of lobbying by her daughter, Brant met with the girl and the man she said was her father to make sure her daughter would be safe. But the girl?s ?father? was really a convicted felon, and the girl, who had a record of prostitution in Texas, was an accomplice in the abduction. ?Her dad took us to this house and said he’d be right back and he left us there,? Newell recounted in a taped interview. ?And I asked for some water because I was thirsty. And I drank the water and I blacked out.?

Police arrest 121 in child porn raids - Europe- msnbc.com:

Spanish police arrested 121 people in the country’s biggest-ever crackdown on child pornography, seizing discs containing millions of video and photo files shared by a network that distributed them in 75 countries, authorities said Wednesday. Two of the suspects produced pornographic material themselves using members of their own families, police said in a statement. Those arrested came from all kinds of backgrounds, including pilots, salespeople, porters, taxi drivers and bank employees, it said.

The UN published a report on the trafficking of children in South Asia (India). Naturally, this is more about the report than it is about actually stopping the trafficking itself. But I don’t want to take away from the report’s content, which is important:

Launching a report on Preventing and Responding to Child Trafficking in South Asia, UNICEFs Child protection specialist Lena Karlsson said, child trafficking is a neglected form of human trafficking as children risk being picked out as undocumented migrants, juvenile delinquents or unaccompanied minors.

Though the governments of South Asia have developed national plans of action and also adopted laws to criminalise trafficking, legal frameworks needs to be strengthened to further protect children from all forms of trafficking and to assist child victims with legal and psychological support, the report states.

South Asian children are being trafficked for various forms of sexual exploitation such as prostitution, sex tourism, child pornography, paedophilia and labour exploitation in agriculture and industries.

It’s easy to criticize the UN as a whole since its founding premise that all nations are equal is flawed. However, the UN publishes really well. The ability to write things up and present them to the world is a UN strength. Instead of playing “peace-keeper”, the UN can be rechartered as an international information clearinghouse, even better than the Federal Citizen Information Center in Pueblo, Colorado. As in the case of this report, the content is horrific. This is child slavery. This report is published and it goes on top of a stack of human trafficking reports. This little tidbit will ensure nothing will happen:

“The girls, mostly from Muslim families, tribal communities and scheduled castes, belonging to these south Indian districts, have become more confident and have started demanding their rights, including right to education and vocational training,” the report states. In Nepal, where children face threat of violence, abuse and exploitation, sensitisation programmes conducted by the para-legal committees with the assistance of UNICEF have raised awareness about risks, human rights and support structures among children and women, the report says.

Calling out the link between Islam and modern day slavery is more than any committee can handle diplomatically.  At least we will have a record of it somewhere.

The very fact that this is going on in Saudi Arabia tells us many things about the Saudi culture. Their PR firms can peddle a lot of nonsense about how modern they are, but the Saudis are entrenched in their old ways.

Child-protection groups say children are often given away in return for hefty dowries, or as a result of old customs in which a father promises his infant daughters and sons to cousins out of a belief that marriage will protect them from illicit relationships.

Depraved. Sick. Sad.

The AP is reporting that 55 men were arrested after an eight-month-long investigation into an online file-sharing operation:

Fifty-five men, including a former sheriff’s deputy and at least one attorney, were charged with possessing child pornography following an eight-month investigation, authorities said Tuesday.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said the suspects used peer-to-peer networks to exchange graphic images and videos, then stored the files on their computers.

All were charged with possession of child pornography. Some had been charged with additional offenses, such as production of child pornography and committing crimes while registered sex offenders.

British pop star, Gary Glitter, is roaming the world again after being release from a Vietnamese prison. He was convicted in Vietnam three years ago for molesting children and previously convicted in the UK for child porn possession. Glitter is the guy who wrote “Rock and Roll (Part 2)” that has become a sports anthem. It’s good to read the NFL banned his version of “Rock and Roll (Part 2)” from its games. The NFL and other organizations have substituted a cover version for Glitter’s version, however, and I’m not sure if that’s any different than playing his.

Various media have reported the guy still has millions and is seeking refuge in Asia. The British government renewed his passport in 2002 and the Daily Mail is reporting that as a blunder. However, 19 countries so far have refused him entry. Officials in Hong Kong put him back on a plane to Thailand where he was first refused entry. Countries that normally pander to sex tourism are avoiding a celebrity who inadvertently put a spotlight on the issue.

The Times is reporting that he will be shuffled back to England:

When he does arrive back in Heathrow the singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, will be met by police and told that he was being placed on the sex offenders’ register.

He will join 30,000 people on the register and will be required to give police his name, date of birth, home address and national insurance number. He will be kept under the highest level of surveillance and be visited weekly by police and probation staff. If he breaks the terms of his registration he could face a prison sentence of up to five years.

I hope his celebrity keeps him in check. A pedophile with millions is dangerous and Glitter appears unrepentant.

This is a bizarre story in that the perpetrator, Jeremy Noyes,  allegedly was attempting to convince a New Zealand woman to raise her daughter as his sex slave. The FBI was tipped off by a classmate via a Web site and then a former girlfriend confirmed the allegations. However, the FBI can’t confirm the mother and daughter exist.

Noyes wanted them to move in with him and that “his long term intent was to assemble a ‘family’ of female sex slaves that would begin with” the woman and her daughter.

“Noyes intended to impregnate (the 4-year-old) when she was between the ages of 8 and 14 and then continue to breed the future offspring that would result from his plan,” Noyes’ classmate told the FBI. “Noyes intends to buy a farm or an island where he could put his new society together.”

The FBI investigation said it found women who corresponded with Noyes online and, in turn, the child-sex images in his e-mail account earlier this month.

I’m always astounded when women are willing to deal in child porn and even more so when those women involve their own children. I can only hope the women who sent him the images don’t actually have children. Hopefully the images will lead to their arrests also.

27-year-old Philip Thompson pleaded guilty to child porn charges and was sentenced indefinitely to prison in Britain, using a wait-and-see approach to how long he’ll actually serve. His lawyer made excuses for him:

Lawyer Brian Russell said Thompson had cooperated with police since his arrest in February.

“This is really a young man who has fallen into that stereotype of a rather sad and lonely teenager who spends too much time in a darkened room in front of a computer screen,” Russell said. “He has not had much life experience to get himself mature.”

Immature? I hope there aren’t a lot of people buying into that line of thinking when it comes to child porn trafficking online. Calling Thompson a stereotype insinuates that child porn is something acceptable if you only know the circumstance. In addition, Thompson is 27 years old, not a teenager.

It is these situations that make me wonder how some defense attorneys sleep at night. At least the judge had a reasoned opinion of him:

Judge Michael Taylor gave him an indeterminate prison sentence, saying he must prove he is not a risk to society before he can be released.

He told Thompson he was “somebody who is prepared to go to extreme lengths to feed your lust. You are a very dangerous individual indeed.”

Indeed.

I hate the way that people abuse good things for their evil purposes:

A Santa Barbara man is charged with advertising on Craigslist for a guide who would help him find children to have sex with in Thailand.

Michael Patrick Mahoney had his bond set at $100,000 Monday in federal court in Los Angeles. He was arrested Saturday by federal agents at Los Angeles International Airport after he boarded a flight for Bangkok. He was carrying children’s stuffed animals, Disneyland shirts and chocolates.

The 51-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of a child sex tourism charge.

The investigation into Mahoney began last week after immigration officials noticed his ad on the Craigslist Web site.

Officials say an undercover agent posed as a travel guide and sent an e-mail offering to arrange meetings with children.

It’s no surprise that Juvies are used to recruit prostitutes: Police: Teen pimp lures girls into illegal sex. Underage proxies have been used for decades for everything else from armed robbery to drive-by shootings. Why not prostitution? Juvies are arrested and prosecuted while their mentors continue to escape any justice. When the Juvies turn 18, instant clean record.

“It’s a really horrendous affair,” said Dallas police Lt. Chess Williams.

Police estimate there are hundreds of teenage prostitutes on the streets of Dallas because there is a big demand. Recently, they found a 12-year-old girl dancing naked at a nightclub.

“I can’t believe that a 13-, 14-, 15-year-old child knowlingly injects herself into a world of prostitution,” Lt. Williams said.

But it did happen, and the 13-year-old in this case may have talked another school friend into prostitution.

Police won’t say what school the girl attended, but they’re not surprised. “One of the remarkable things we learned through all of this is there’s a tremendous amount of money in all this, so a huge demand for young girls in prostitution world,” Lt. Williams said.

Police said the young girls aren’t acting alone. They say some of the same people who are pimping out the adult prostitutes are the same ones exploiting young girls.