Forced Labor in Ghana

Leased by their parents into forced labor, many small children have become indentured servants throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Parents will often send their children away to distant relatives or to labor camps because they believe their children will be "better off learning a trade than starving at home."

According to the NYTimes: Until their servitude ends in three or four years, they are as trapped as the fish in their nets, forced to work up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, in a trade that even adult fishermen here call punishing and, at times, dangerous...in a miniature labor camp, deprived of schooling, basic necessities and freedom — are part of a vast traffic in children that supports West and Central African fisheries, quarries, cocoa and rice plantations and street markets. The girls are domestic servants, bread bakers, prostitutes. The boys are field workers, cart pushers, scavengers in abandoned gem and gold mines.

By no means is the child trafficking trade uniquely African. Children are forced to race camels in the Middle East, weave carpets in India and fill brothels all over the developing world.

The International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, estimates that 1.2 million are sold into servitude every year in an illicit trade that generates as much as $10 billion annually.

Studies show they are most vulnerable in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Africa’s children, the world’s poorest, account for roughly one-sixth of the trade, according to the labor organization. Data is notoriously scarce, but it suggests victimization of African children on a huge scale.

Click here to read the full article.

Pennsylvania Fights Modern Day Slavery

Pennsylvania Representative Kate True (R-Lancaster) presents human trafficking legislation to Governor Ed Rendell. True sponsored this bill and it is to be signed by Governor Rendell after an unanimous vote in the Sentate last week.

According to EveningSun.com: Gov. Ed Rendell is expected to sign a bill to crack down on human trafficking – a crime that's often called modern-day slavery and allegedly surfaced in York County recently.

The federal government describes human trafficking as a fast-growing crime, typically with international ties, where women and children are usually the victims. They are often lured into the country with the promise of a better life.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Katie True, R-Lancaster, gathered momentum after August raids on two York County brothels. Two Korean nationals are accused of running the brothels with women who were smuggled into the country and forced into prostitution.

"They were bringing in mostly Korean girls, and pretty much they were indentured slaves, used as prostitutes to pay off the transportation and so forth into the country," said York Area Regional Police Chief Tom Gross, whose department assisted in the case.

The government estimates that up to 800,000 people are trafficked globally each year, with up to 17,500 trafficked into the United States.

True's bill is headed to Rendell's desk after the House ratified it last week on a unanimous vote. The Senate approved it unanimously Oct. 18.

Rendell is "obviously supportive of the concept," but needs to review the language in the bill before committing his signature, spokeswoman Kate Philips said.

Read this article in it's entirety here.

BREAKING: U.S. court jails pair for slavery

The BBC News Web site reports that an Egyptian couple were convicted of enslaving a teenage girl in southern California for two years.

According to BBC News, "Abdel Nasser Ibrahim was given three years in prison while his ex-wife, Amal Motelib, received a 22-month sentence."

"They were also ordered to pay more than $76,000 (£40,500) to the girl for two years of forced labour during which she served the couple's family of seven."

The girl, who was forced to work 16-hour days and was barred from being formally educated, will recieve more than $76,000 as part of the settlement and has been granted a visa allowing her to remain in the United States. Ibrahim and Motelib will be deported after their jail terms are up.

The American Anti-Slavery Group applauds the conviction of these two modern day slaveholders. This case is yet another example of not only how real slavery is, but how prevelent it is, even in the United States.

For more information on human trafficking slavery in the United States and around the world, contact action@iabolish.org.

Congressman Calls for Slaves to be Freed

Calling for the United States to play a larger role in ending slavery in Sudan, Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), chair of the Africa Subcommittee, introduced the Eradication of Slavery in Sudan Act of 2006 (HR 5911) in July. If passed, the bill will create a commission of experts charged with investigating the progress of the eradication of slavery in Sudan and making policy recommendations to the U.S. Government.

“Long after a peace accord was signed between Khartoum and South Sudan, slavery, rape and brutality continue. Smith's legislation brings focus on slaves left behind,” American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) Project Director Janie Kiser said. The commission's responsibilities would include the following:

• Reporting on progress made by the Government of Sudan and NGOs in identifying the location of slaves in Sudan and ensuring their freedom;
• Working with the Government of Sudan to ensure safe passage of freed slaves and family reunification;
• Documenting existing cases of slavery and working to prevent new cases from occurring;
• Ensuring that former slaves have access to basic education and skill training, as well as medical, social, and psychological support needed for their effective rehabilitation and reintegration into society; and
• Ensuring that those individuals responsible for slavery are brought to justice.

“This legislation is about action. It is about not leaving the fate of thousands of innocent Sudanese to a government we know is corrupt or to an African Union force that is unequipped to deal with the level of violence that is still being carried out in Sudan today,” American Anti-Slavery Group Founder and President Charles Jacobs said.

The American Anti-Slavery Group, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Boston, has been working to raise awareness about slavery in Sudan since 1994, when Dr. Charles Jacobs’ New York Times op-ed broke the silence on slavery in North Africa. Since then, AASG has partnered with Zurich-based Christian Solidarity International to help free over 80,000 slaves abroad, helped pass divestment bills in New Jersey, Illinois and Oregon, and brought two survivors of slavery to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives. AASG works with survivors of slavery and anti-slavery activists, providing a platform for former victims to speak out against their oppressors and break the silence surrounding slavery around the world.

Contact your Representative today about this important legislation!

Hot off the presses: Enslaved

Hardcover copies of the brand new book Enslaved: True Stories of Modern Day Slavery have just arrived and are ready to be shipped. Order your copy today at the iAbolish store.

The book reveals the shocking reality of modern day slavery through the eyes of people who have lived it. Edited by former AASG directors Liora Kasten and Jesse Sage, the book features four AASG associates from our Speakers Bureau who tell their own stories of enslavement and survival .


From the book jacket:

Twenty-seven million people are estimated to be held in slavery around the world today. This collection of first-hand accounts will raise awareness and show how slavery is thriving in the twenty first century. From poverty-stricken countries to affluent American suburbs, slaves toil as sweatshop workers, sex slaves, migrant workers, domestic servants, and chattel slaves. This groundbreaking collection includes accounts written by ten former slaves and slaveholders in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States. From Micheline, a Haitian girl who wound up as a domestic worker in Connecticut, to Abdel, a Sudanese slave owner turned abolitionist, these are stories that will heighten awareness of a global human rights crisis that can no longer be ignored.

Limited time offer! Order a signed copy of Enslaved for $50.

Coming soon: The official Enslaved Web site, featuring book excerpts, multimedia and more!

Saddam accused of trafficking Kurds

A witness in Hussein’s trial says agents of the former dictator ran a ring that sold Kurds.
October 12, 2006
Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq | A witness in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial testified Wednesday that the ousted leader’s agents ran a human-trafficking ring that sold his sister and other Kurdish women in the 1980s.

Defense attorneys and one of Hussein’s co-defendants challenged the charge as hearsay based on a forged document.

Hussein and six other defendants are on trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in a 1987-88 crackdown on Kurdish guerrillas. The prosecution says that about 180,000 people, mostly civilians, died in the offensive.

Full article

November 13: Conference in Human Trafficking

The Preventing Abuse Conference
Positive answers to help protect women and children

Monday, November 13, 2006
Los Angeles, California

8am-4pm
On human trafficking and child protection
presented by the Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation

To register please call 866-454-1776 or visit www. preventingabuse.org

Invited Special Guest Speakers will include:
* To be confirmed

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
U.S. Senator Sam Brownback*
Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women, Rescue and Restore Coalition
Lifetime Television Network, produced the Amber and Human Trafficking television movies.

Conference Success

The PREVENTING ABUSE CONFERENCE is supported by the White House, the U.S. State Department, Homeland Security, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, victim service providers, law enforcement, victims, business leaders and many more.

Topics to be Covered include:

*** Internet Safety; helping to protect children/families from predators and porn.
*** What can be done to help protect children from abduction.
*** What to do if the unthinkable happens
*** Helping victims and protect against the effects of human trafficking
*** Legislation updates: Good news for children and family protection?
*** What fuels the demand for exploiting of women and children and how to stop it
*** The Church's importance to protect and free women and children.
*** Pornography's impact and what can be done to stop it.
*** The ties between national security issues and human trafficking

Marching for Mauritania

Two weeks ago, on September 17, activist from around the nation gathered in Central Park to protest the ongoing atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan. On September 18, iAbolish Associate and Director of Communications and Foreign Affairs for FLAM, the African Liberation Forces of Maurtania, Abda Wone led a march of his own, to protest Western inaction against institutionalized slavery in Mauritania.

The goal of the march was twofold: to raise awareness about the human rights abuses that continue in Mauritania today, and to announce FLAM's decision to file suit against the former Mauritanian President, Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, for crimes against humanity, the mass deportations of 1989, and allowing slavery to flourish.

Abda was interviewed on WBAI Radio in New York City on September 19; read the full transcript.

iAbolish Web update

Our Web site, iAbolish.org, has recently been redesigned and updated. We are continually adding new information on modern day slavery and tools to assist users in the quest to abolish it.

Check out the new site, bookmark it and come back regularly to check up on new developments, which are to be regular and exciting.

Nigerian crackdown on slavery

Nigeria officials crack down on human trafficking in shrines

October 1, 2006

By KATHARINE HOURELD The Associated Press

BENIN CITY, Nigeria — When authorities raided a traditional shrine and found blood-drenched magic charms along with a register listing young girls sold into prostitution, they were closing in on Nigeria's first conviction for human trafficking.

The crackdown has exposed a sinister subtext to the African exodus to Europe, which is claiming hundreds of lives in dangerous sea or desert crossings. Women are lured with promises of good jobs in Europe, and end up enslaved by pimps, authorities say.

First they are brought to traditional priests who starve them and perform rituals to bind them to their future employer, said Orakwe Arinze, a spokesman for the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons.

The women fear testifying against their captors, believing they will die or go mad for violating the oaths they have taken in the shrines.

But after a 2004 raid on a shrine in Benin City, 180 miles east of Lagos, Arinze's agency publicly burned the charms used on six victims. The six subsequently testified against the woman who took them abroad, producing a landmark conviction.

Nine more convictions followed and 19 cases are pending, but Nigerian authorities estimate thousands of people are trafficked every year and only a small number of cases are reported.

Click for the full story