Human Trafficking and Women's Rights in the News 4-26-12

Here are stories of human trafficking, child exploitation, gender based violence and human rights violations in the news for the week of April 26, 2012. Click the bold heading for the original story and thank you for being a voice for the voiceless.

Egyptian women speaking out against horrifying new legislation introduced  in the Egyptian Parliament that would legalize necrophilia.

Egypt plans 'farewell intercourse law' so husbands can have sex with DEAD wives up to six hours after their death: The controversial new law is part of a raft of measures being introduced by parliament. It could also see the minimum age of marriage lowered to 14 and the ridding of women's rights of getting education and employment.



100,000 women undergo genital mutilation illegally in Britain with some victims as young as ten: "Investigators from The Sunday Times said they secretly filmed a doctor, dentist and alternative medicine practitioner who were allegedly willing to perform circumcisions or arrange for the operation to be carried out. The practice, which involves the surgical removal of external genitalia and in some cases the stitching of the vaginal opening, is illegal in Britain and carries up to a 14 year prison sentence." 


National sweep targeting human trafficking nets 15 in Atlanta area and 36 in Texas: Fifteen people from the Atlanta area were among more than 600 arrested this month as part of a wide-ranging crackdown on gangs involved in human smuggling and trafficking in 150 cities and in Honduras.


Woman trafficked into Britain by gang who wanted to harvest her organs: An unnamed woman was brought into the UK by criminals operating a black market trade in body parts for transplant. 


More good news from Africa as Nigerian police break up Human Trafficking syndicate and rescue five children: A source told police that the traffickers ringleader, a woman, normally steals children on Saturdays when they are at home alone and often times she pretends to be a relative. She then takes the children to Imo where they are sold to unsuspecting couples looking for a child to adopt. The five rescued children ranged in ages from six months to two years. 

What Would It Cost To End Poverty?

Poverty is one of, if not the leading factor that leads to the exploitation and trafficking of people. Desperate people in desperate situations act in desperation and there are always opportunistic evil men lurking in the shadows.


Current estimates are that it would take 50 billion dollars a year to end world poverty. If that is correct than truly, at least that part of the human trafficking equation should, and can easily be eliminated.

The following statistics are not meant to disparage America or Americans, they serve as a starting point, certainly other countries will have similar spending patterns.

Americans spend more on gambling then groceries. Upwards of 100 billion dollars a year. Twice the going rate of ending poverty.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimates that a combined $276 billion was spent or lost in 2005 on health care, lost productivity, premature death, auto accidents and crime relating to drug and alcohol abuse. That was in 2005, the numbers now are closer to 6 times the going rate to end poverty.

Americans spent $705 billion for entertainment and recreation in 2004, according to a Unity Marketing study Entertainment and Recreational Products Report. 14 times the cost of ending poverty.

Junk food and soft drinks over 200 billion.


In 2000 spending on the lawn and garden industry equaled $85 billion. Of that, $6.3 billion was spent on lawn and garden accessories like sundials, fountains and sculptures.


I could go on. About tooth art, vacation homes, air conditioned dog houses. Valentines day, Easter, Christmas and Halloween.... Sports cars, 52 inch plasma screens, 5 dollar lattes and 20 billion dollar annual bottled water sales....


Half of the world lives on less than 2 dollars a day. 2 dollars! Or an ATM fee, a late charge for a movie.

Even if it were 500 billion instead of 50 billion to end poverty, it's still well within reach by only cutting out waste and luxury. Once again if only we would would heed Gandhi's words and "Live simply so that others can simply live". Literally, a lifestyle change can save a life.

What would it cost to end poverty? That's not the question we should be asking. Instead....

What will it cost if we don't?

Orphans.

From Third World Orphans :

Every 15 SECONDS, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa

Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans

Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa alone)

143,000,000 Orphans in the world today.

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but…

Every YEAR 14,050,000 children still grow up as orphans and AGE OUT of the system

Every DAY 38,493 children AGE OUT

Every 2.2 SECONDS, another orphan child AGES OUT with no family to belong to and no place to call home

In Ukraine and Russia 10% -15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18

60% of those girls are lured into prostitution

70% of those boys become hardened criminals

Many of these children accept job offers that ultimately result in their being sold as slaves. Millions of girls are sex slaves today, simply because they were unfortunate enough to grow up as orphans.

AIDS and HumanTrafficking

It's a tragedy played out on similar stages across the theaters of human trafficking. A girl or woman, having been robbed of the best years of her life due to systematic exploitation and brutal rape, gets AIDS and is thrown out of the brothel to die. They are disposable, as Free The Slaves founder Kevin Bales has so poignantly described them, because they are no longer viable commodities. And so their pimps turn them out, leaving them to the ravages of starvation and cultural stigmatization. Often they are spit on and completely denied reintegration into their societies as governments and fellow citizens fear they will spread the disease.

Aids is a perpetual fear and daily reality of so many of the girls in brothels. They are servicing up to 40 men a day, many of whom refuse to use condoms. Often when the girls insist they are beaten for their insolence and lack of submission. In some countries, like Thailand, Aids has reached pandemic proportions, with the number of infected nationally estimated at 1 million of a 65 million population. This is fueled by the commercial sex industry which makes up the largest part of Thailand's GDP. The government can't afford for sex tourism to be adversely affected so they have often repressed statistics and further endangered the lives of brothel workers.

There is also a fair amount of ignorance and superstition surrounding the AIDS virus. One such predominantly Asian and African folklore, is that men can be cured of the disease by sleeping with a virgin. This fuels the trafficking of younger and younger girls who can be medically verified as virgins, and who then can have there virginity sold at enormous profit for brothel owners. Also these girls then are potentially infected the very first time they are raped.

There are other potential innocent victims of the AIDS virus. Wives of the men who contract it at brothels. Although this may not seem to have a direct link of to the trafficking of women it ultimately can. When parents die of AIDS their children become vulnerable. Orphans are one of the easiest groups to traffick and sexually exploit. According to a UNAIDS study there are eleven million AIDS orphans in the sub-Saharan region of Africa alone. With little or no supervision, these orphans are continually more susceptible to the lies and coercions of human traffickers. The tiny country of Lesotho (completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa), has a population of 2.2 million, of which 31% of the adults have AIDS. This produces an inordinate number of orphans along with an unimaginable host of other societal crises. A 2005 UNICEF study reported women there running child brothels in exchange for food and shelter. A similar tragedy is playing out in Swaziland prompting social researcher and Pastor Jabaluni Dlamini to offer this dark prediction that succinctly sums up the dire AIDS orphan situation there and the child trafficking situation everywhere. "Human vultures will descend to prey on these children. Unless there is accounting for every child, they may be swooped up by child traffickers, never to be seen again."

Please consider adoption. Please fund orphanages, especially those in areas where children are most likely to be trafficked. Please do not leave these children to the vultures.