What Is Human Trafficking? I am Jane Doe, Communications Decency Act shields Backpage from liability, Europe Global Hub for Child Abuse Websites
April 4, 2017 Comments Off on What Is Human Trafficking? I am Jane Doe, Communications Decency Act shields Backpage from liability, Europe Global Hub for Child Abuse Websites
– Europe Overtakes U.S. to Become Global Hub for Child Abuse Websites, Study Finds
– Child trafficking in UK hits record high, figures show
“federal judges were excusing Backpage from all liability,” said Mazzio. “Even alleged criminal activity is shielded by an outdated internet freedom law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
“Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor”
What Is Human Trafficking?
Tom Lowery, Contributor 03/26/2017
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. It’s the exploitation of people and involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.
Contrary to popular misconception, Human Trafficking exists in every country, including the United States. If you think it’s always about foreigners and poor people then it’s imperative for you acquaint yourself with the facts.
Victims can be any age, race, gender or nationality. They can also come from any socioeconomic group. They’re not dirty or sex mad or stupid. They’re victims of a wide network of underground criminals….
It’s estimated that Human Trafficking generates many billions of dollars in profits per year; second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime.
Award-winning filmmaker Mary Mazzio (whom I’ve previously written about in my article We Are All Jane Doe), is the producer and director of the film I Am Jane Doe. This documentary followed the heart breaking journey of several middle-school daughters, victims of Sex Trafficking on Backpage.com….
“I was also struck by the fact that federal judges were excusing Backpage from all liability,” said Mazzio. “Even alleged criminal activity is shielded by an outdated internet freedom law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, in a particularly stunning decision, told these Jane Doe children that even if Backpage participated in the federal crime of sex trafficking, the case had to be dismissed. It simply did not make any sense to me that it was legal to host ads for the sale of children here in the United States.” ….
Other types of crimes related to Human Trafficking include Forced Labor and Slave Labor. The International Labor Organization estimates are frightening:
Almost 21 million people are victims of forced labor – 11.4 million women and girls and 9.5 million men and boys.
Almost 19 million victims are exploited by private individuals or enterprises and over 2 million by the state or rebel groups.
Of those exploited by individuals or enterprises, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation.
Forced labor in the private economy generates US$ 150 billion in illegal profits per year.
Domestic work, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and entertainment are among the sectors most concerned.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-is-human-trafficking_us_58d85f7ee4b0c0980ac0e789
I AM JANE DOE – TRAILER
Mary Mazzio
I AM JANE DOE chronicles the epic battle that several American mothers are waging on behalf of their middle-school daughters, victims of sex trafficking on Backpage.com, the adult classifieds section that for years was part of the iconic Village Voice.
Narrated by Academy Award-nominee Jessica Chastain, directed by award-winning filmmaker Mary Mazzio, and produced by Mazzio and Academy-Award nominee, Alec Sokolow, the film is a gut-wrenching human story and fresh look at a social and legal issue that affects every community in America. For more, please visit IamJaneDoeFilm.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt8jpxA_AY0
Europe Overtakes U.S. to Become Global Hub for Child Abuse Websites, Study Finds
By Eleanor Ross 4/3/17
Europe is now the global hub of websites hosting child pornography, after a 19 percent jump in content since last year, a new report has found.
The report, conducted by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), found that Europe hosted the greatest number of websites with graphic images and videos of children. The Netherlands has become the country with the most online sexual imagery of children in Europe. (For the purpose of the report, Europe includes Russia and Turkey.)
The IWF is a non-profit, responsible for finding and removing graphic sexual content from the internet.
Until recently, most child sexual abuse images were found in the United States (57 percent), but this has now shifted to Europe, which hosts 60 percent of all material says the report.
Child abuse content has fallen in the United States partly because of work undertaken by the U.S. industry to tackle the problem. Susie Hargreaves, director of the IWF, told the BBC criminals are forced to search harder for host websites where they can upload child pornography. Just 37 percent of abusive images now come from the United States.
“The situation is reversed from previous years. Europe is now the biggest host of child sexual abuse imagery, rather than North America,” Hargreaves told the BBC. There have been no changes in Europe’s policy that would explain the shift, according to the IWF report….
http://www.newsweek.com/europe-worst-hosts-most-child-abuse-websites-study-finds-578022
Child trafficking in UK hits record high, figures show
Number of child victims referred rise by 30 per cent in a year, with biggest surge among British children and youngsters from countries affected by conflict May Bulman April 3, 2017
Child trafficking referrals in the UK have hit a record high after rising by 30 per cent in a year, statistics have revealed.
The number of children referred to the UK Government’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which identifies victims of human trafficking, increased to 1,278 in 2016, the highest figure on record, according to the latest figures from the National Crime Agency.
More than a third of all potential victims of trafficking were children aged 18 and under, with a majority of children drawn into exploitative labour, including forced criminality, such as cannabis cultivation. Overall, the NRM identified 3,805 potential victims of trafficking in 2016, a 17 per cent increase on 2015…..
All reported forms of exploitation affecting children – domestic servitude, labour exploitation and sexual exploitation – increased by considerable percentages, indicating a worrying diffusion of the types of abuses suffered by children.
Alarmingly, while numbers of potential victims of trafficking increased, positive conclusive decisions — which enable victims to access support — decreased to the lowest point in NRM history to 635, compared with 1,028 the previous year….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-trafficking-referrals-in-uk-hit-record-high-figures-show-a7665201.html
The Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Mind Control 2017 Conference
May 19 – 21, 2017 Oakland, CA
https://survivorship.org/the-survivorship-ritual-abuse-and-child-abuse-2017-conference/
Articles and Research by Neil Brick
http://neilbrick.com
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UN warns Britain over child voodoo victims, sex tourists, DA’s child abuse detectives, police conduct countywide child pornography sweep in Berks
June 20, 2014 Comments Off on UN warns Britain over child voodoo victims, sex tourists, DA’s child abuse detectives, police conduct countywide child pornography sweep in Berks
UN warns Britain over child voodoo victims, sex tourists
Agence France-Presse June 19, 2014
Hundreds of children are believed to have been kidnapped in Africa and brought to Britain for brutal voodoo rituals, a UN watchdog said Thursday, urging London to step up its fight against the scourge.
“We’re concerned about reports that hundreds of children have been abducted from their families in Africa and trafficked to the UK, especially London, for religious rituals,” said Kristen Sandberg, head of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
“They are used in so-called voodoo rituals, and are also raped and sexually abused. The number of convictions is extremely low,” said the former Norwegian supreme court judge.
British police are reported to have recorded scores of cases over the past decade of children who have faced torture and abuse as part of witchcraft rituals….
Sandberg said child trafficking for rituals was part of a wider problem, with thousands of minors brought into Britain every year for sexual exploitation and labour.
The UN committee is made of up 18 independent experts who monitor the implementation of international children’s rights treaties.
It held a hearing with British officials last month.
In its conclusions on that session, released Thursday, it said Britain should “strengthen the capacity of law-enforcement authorities and judiciary to detect and prosecute trafficking of children for labour, sexual and other forms of exploitation, including for religious rituals”….
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140619/un-warns-britain-over-child-voodoo-victims-sex-tourists-0
DA’s child abuse detectives, police conduct countywide child pornography sweep in Berks Liz Kilmer, Reporter Jun 19 2014
READING, Pa. – A respected brain surgeon was among the group of 12 men and one teenager arrested Thursday in a child pornography sweep across Berks County. “Possessing images of child sexual abuse is a heinous crime and will not be tolerated in Berks County,” said District Attorney John Adams.
….All 13 individuals were charged with sexual abuse of children (dissemination of photographs, videotapes, computer depictions and films) and sexual abuse of children (possession of child pornography).
http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/das-child-abuse-detectives-police-conduct-countywide-child-pornography-sweep-in-berks/26567598
‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
May 16, 2013 Comments Off on ‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
– ‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
– Horrific ordeal of ‘Girl D’ who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
– We the People
– Plan to stop child sex tourism
‘It was like they were prisoners of war:’ Gina DeJesus cannot move her head after being chained up with Michelle Knight in basement for years, say medics
The basement where the women were held had chains coming from the wall, and dog leashes attached to the ceiling, according to police sources
Description comes as lawyers for Castro announce that he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges
The women were restrained with them and duct tape in ‘stress positions’ for long periods that left them with bed sores and other injuries
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were in worse condition than Amanda Berry with the source saying: ‘There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda
Abductor would duct tape the women over all parts of their faces, even their eyes, only leaving an opening so they could breathe
Former daughter-in-law Monica Stephens says Castro always gave her ‘the heebie-jeebies’
The women, especially DeJesus and Knight, were now exhibiting signs of malnutrition as Ariel Castro used food as a means to torment them
By Reuters Reporter
15 May 2013
Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, two of the women imprisoned in a Cleveland house in conditions described as similar to a prisoner of war camp, have suffered from severe malnutrition.
The women will require long-term therapy for injuries such as hearing loss and joint and muscle damage, two sources with direct knowledge said.
The harrowing details come as Castro’s attorneys claim he’s not the ‘monster’ depicted in news reports – and he will plead not guilty to kidnapping and rape charges….
Castro appeared to treat Berry – his ‘favorite’ – better than the other two, the sources said.
‘There is a reason why you have only seen a picture of Amanda,’ said one of the sources, referring to the condition of DeJesus and Knight.
Knight told investigators she fell pregnant five times, but lost the baby each time. She said that Castro starved and repeatedly punched her in the stomach to force her to miscarry.
Police sources told the National Enquirer that Castro had no interest in having children with Knight, because she was only 4-foot-7 and believed her to be ‘mentally disabled.’
The magazine’s source added that he was grooming his 6-year-old daughter with Amanda, Joselyn, as another sex slave because the other captives ‘were getting to old for him.’….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324731/It-like-prisoners-war-Cleveland-women-suffer-injuries-severe-malnutrition-including-hearing-loss-muscle-damage.html
Horrific ordeal of ‘Girl D’ who was raped injected with heroin, branded and sold for sex at £600 an hour
Mohammed Karrar plied girl with drink and drugs and raped her
She then became his ‘property’ and a sex slave
Was loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour
By Arthur Martin 14 May 2013
The ordeal for one of the victims began after she became desperate for love and attention because she was forced to care for her sick parents.
So when Mohammed Karrar entered her life, bought her perfume and treated her like an adult, she believed in him. But the ‘nicey-nicey honeymoon period,’ as she described it, would last barely a year.
After grooming her, Karrar made sure she was ‘out of it’ on drink and drugs before raping her on his sofa.
From that moment she became his ‘property’ and a sex slave loaned out to abusers around the country for up to £600 an hour.
Over five years she was repeatedly attacked in what she described as ‘torture sex’. Injected with heroin, she was sold to groups of Asian men who violently gang-raped her in bedsits and guesthouses around Oxford and elsewhere.
The victim identified as Girl D for legal reasons, frequently broke down in tears giving evidence via videolink as she described her horrific ordeal….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324621/Horrific-ordeal-Girl-D-raped-injected-heroin-branded-sold-sex-600-hour.html
We the People James Haven Honorary Senior Advisor on Global Issues at Harvard; Founder, CoreCause Foundation 05/10/2013
….66% percent of adults in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children.
80% of young adults who suffered child abuse or neglect, met criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder by age 21, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
42% percent of children who are molested are suicidal by their teens.
Abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior as an adult.
Sentencing in crimes against children typically carries 25 percent of the sentencing if the same crime was committed against an adult.
Child abuse and neglect in America is growing at a very high rate. And the most vulnerable is 0-6 in age. Thousands are being exploited and millions are in poverty and living on our streets across the nation.
124 billion is the minimum annual cost to the U.S. directly related to child abuse… Healthcare for mental illnesses and substance abuse… Child welfare and protection… Law enforcement and court systems to handle juvenile and adult criminal cases.
Those are very sobering statistics. But they also prove the most important statistic of all. That as Fredrick Douglas once said, “It is easier to build strong children than it is to fix broken men.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-haven/we-the-people_4_b_3254727.html
Plan to stop child sex tourism
May 15 2013 By BARBARA COLE
Durban – South African hotels are signing up to help protect children from sex tourism and are on the lookout for suspicious guests who try to check in with underage companions.
South Africa has the right combination of factors, such as poverty and violence against women, which put children at risk of exploitation.
In a move to stop South Africa becoming a child-sex tourism or trafficking destination, there were certain factors that created an environment for the exploitation of children, said Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, a non-profit organisation and the local representative of the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct. The code is based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Some of these realities are explained as follows: “The inflow of tourists, the ease with which people can cross (the) borders, societal beliefs that tolerate violence against women, high levels of poverty, and growing inequality since 1994 suggest that tens of thousands of children are at risk of sexual and other forms of exploitation.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/plan-to-stop-child-sex-tourism-1.1516301
Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims, Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal, Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia
March 6, 2013 Comments Off on Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims, Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal, Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia
– Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims
– Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal: Our view
– Abia House tasks security agencies on kidnapping, child trafficking
– Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia
Pope’s child porn ‘normal’ claim sparks outrage among victims
Victims of clerical sex abuse have reacted furiously to Pope Benedict’s claim yesterday that paedophilia wasn’t considered an “absolute evil” as recently as the 1970s.
In his traditional Christmas address yesterday to cardinals and officials working in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI also claimed that child pornography was increasingly considered “normal” by society.
“In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,” the Pope said….
The Pope said abuse revelations in 2010 reached “an unimaginable dimension” which brought “humiliation” on the Church.
Asking how abuse exploded within the Church, the Pontiff called on senior clerics “to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred” and to help victims heal through a better presentation of the Christian message.
Pope conclave tainted by abuse scandal: Our view
The Editorial Board March 5, 2013
Cardinals tied to coverup should not take part.
In Rome, where 115 cardinals are gathering to elect a new pope, the conclave will include these luminaries:
Cardinal Roger Mahony, former archbishop of Los Angeles, who in the 1980s plotted with an adviser to conceal child molesting priests from law enforcement.
Cardinal Sean Brady, the leader of Ireland’s church, who failed in the 1970s to follow up on incriminating evidence against a priest, who went on to become a notorious serial molester.
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the former head of the Belgian church, who once advised an adult victim of 13 years of childhood abuse against making “a lot of noise” about it because his molester, a bishop, was about to retire.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, former head of the Philadelphia archdiocese, where it took two grand juries issuing scathing reports of abuse before the cardinal saw fit in 2011 to suspend 21 priests accused of molesting children.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/03/pope-conclave-child-abuse-scandal/1961031/
Abia House tasks security agencies on kidnapping, child trafficking
February 26, 2013
BY ANAYO OKOLI
UMUAHIA — ABIA State House of Assembly has called on security agencies and other relevant authorities to strictly enforce the law against kidnapping, child trafficking, among others to check the rising cases of child trafficking in some parts of the state.
There are reports of increasing cases of kidnapping of children and child trafficking among related crimes in the state especially in Abia South.
Reports of missing children and in some cases, some of them are found dead with vital body parts removed.
Last week, while giving five additional new Hillux Pick-up vans to the Commander of 14 Brigade, Ohafia, Brigadier General Abubakar, Governor Theodore Orji tasked him to tackle head-on the rising problem of child trafficking.
The governor lamented that some of the children have had the misfortune of being killed for ritual purposes among others….
Police warn on kidnap of new born babies, children in Abia
Friday, 08 February 2013
The Police Command in Abia State has alerted the public on the resurgence of kidnapping of new born babies and children by unknown gunmen in the state.
The command’s acting spokesman, Mr Jonathan Amaechi, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Wednesday.
Amaechi said that the police was currently investigating cases of abduction of children in different parts of the state.
“Recent intelligence reports showed the presence of hoodlums that specialise in stealing new born babies and children.
“Such victims are either on errand in markets, going to or returning from school or church,” he said.
Amaechi said that the criminals operated in buses, tricycles, motorcycles, posh cars and fanciful jeeps….
Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father, Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep
June 27, 2012 Comments Off on Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father, Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep
“He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year….”
NBC exclusive: Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father
By Michael Isikoff, NBC News
Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son Matt told police he was sexually molested by his father for years — and once fled in fear from the Sandusky home — during a secret police interview that took place in the middle of his father’s trial for child sex-abuse, according to a copy of the tape obtained by NBC News….
NBC News has exclusively obtained the 29-minute audiotape, which was recorded by police detectives on June 15, four days after the Jerry Sandusky trial began. At the time, the detectives were preparing Sandusky’s son to testify as a surprise prosecution witness at his father’s trial.
For years, Matt Sandusky had publicly stood by his father and even showed up on the first day of the trial, sitting with the rest of the Sandusky family. But after listening to the first day of testimony from a young man known in court documents as “Victim 4,” Matt Sandusky contacted police and volunteered to testify on behalf of the prosecution. The prosecutors’ plan was to use Matt Sandusky as a rebuttal witness if Jerry Sandusky took the stand in his own defense.
It turned out to be a crucial turning point in the Sandusky trial. When Jerry Sandusky learned that his own adopted son was prepared to testify against him, it was a “complete shock,” and it played a big role in his decision not to take the witness stand, according to one of his lawyers, Karl Rominger….
In his interview with police, Matt Sandusky was asked directly why he decided to change his previous denials of abuse and cooperate with police.
“I came forward, I mean, for different reasons,” he said. “But I mean for my family you know so that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is. And just to right the wrong, honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying.”….http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/26/12417694-nbc-exclusive-matt-sandusky-details-alleged-sex-abuse-by-his-father
Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep
Lily Kuo Reuters June 25, 2012
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Seventy-nine teenagers held against their will and forced into prostitution were rescued at hotels, truck stops and storefronts in a three-day sweep of sex-trafficking rings across the United States, law enforcement officials said on Monday.
The FBI said 104 alleged pimps were arrested during sting operations in 57 U.S. cities including Atlanta, Sacramento, and Toledo, Ohio. The operation lasted between Thursday and Saturday and involved state and local authorities as well as the FBI….
One of the minors recovered in the sweep reported being involved in prostitution from the age of 11, according to Kevin Perkins, acting executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.
He said the cases were not “one-off” incidents, but evidence of “criminal enterprises” that lure minors in, often through social media, hold them against their will through threats to them or their families, and then traffic them through different U.S. cities.
Child prostitution is “a problem that happens in all kinds of American cities and it happens to American kids,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children….
He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year but said assessments were hampered due to under-reporting and other data complications….
To date about 2,200 children have been rescued in the program, the FBI said, adding that its figures do not take into account children recovered by other state and local investigations. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-prostitution-childbre85o19h-20120625,0,1822308.story
New task force targets traffickers who force children into the sex trade
May 15, 2012 Comments Off on New task force targets traffickers who force children into the sex trade
New task force targets traffickers who force children into the sex trade
FBI, Chicago police join forces to go after pimps
By Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune reporter
May 14, 2012
Inside the Harrison Police District station, the officers sat in a semicircle to be briefed about the shift ahead in one of Chicago’s most beleaguered areas.
But on this recent day, the topic was not the shootings and murders on these West Side streets, but a crime often pushed far back into the shadows — the thousands of young girls and women who are prostituted, pushed into the violence of Chicago’s sex trade.
FBI Special Agent Jonathan Williamson and Chicago police Sgt. Traci Walker were there to announce a new joint effort by the FBI and Chicago police to target child traffickers in the city….
The clandestine nature of sex trafficking makes it difficult to know exactly how many young women and girls work in prostitution, said DePaul College of Law researcher Jody Raphael. She has estimated that in Chicago as many as 25,000 are involved in the commercial sex trade, including exotic dancers.
Many who work the street or are sold on the Internet started out in the business in their teens. A 2008 survey of Chicago women working in prostitution who were 25 or younger and under the control of a pimp found that they began at 16 on average.
The younger the girl or woman, Raphael believes, the more likely it is she has a pimp or trafficker, in part because she is often recruited first into a romantic relationship.
Over the past decade, advocates have pushed law enforcement to re-examine how it views the crime of prostitution — especially for the young adults caught in the trade. Today, investigators are going after traffickers on one hand while extending social services to women working in prostitution. Chicago police, Cook County and federal authorities meet monthly to target offenders for the toughest punishment.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-human-trafficking-20120514,0,7415972.story
