Cambodia's Sex Industry

Cambodia's sex slave industry traps 50,000 to 100,000 women and children into a brutal life of forced prostitution. An estimated 30 percent of the sex workers in Phnom Penh (Cambodia's capital) are under the age of 18. CNN is currently running two stories to call attention to this chilling issue. The first article is from an Anderson Cooper blog featuring Somaly Mam, a former child sex slave who now runs a network to rescue children who have been sold into the same torture. This article can be viewed here. The second article is focused on Somaly and one of the children she rescued, 6 year old Srey who was sold to a brothel by her parents at the age of 5. To read the full text, click here. These stories are important testimonies to the need for awareness and action on this issue.

For those of you who would like more information on this issue, this is the link is to the home page of Acting for Women in Distressing Situations (AFESIP), an organization focused on combating the trafficking of women and children into sex slavery in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.

Interview with AASG Associate, Beatrice Fernando

Beatrice Fernando is featured in an interview for Vision magazine, talking about her experiences since escaping slavery. There are some really inspiring messages in this interview, and the whole article can be viewed here.

excerpt:

"No one should be treated like a “nobody.” There needs to be a law that no human being can be traded like an animal...What happened to me was not an unfortunate accident. It was a crime against humanity. Human trafficking has become one of the largest crimes in the world. It is our duty to come together to rise against it, to put an end to this dehumanizing trait. This is not one man or woman’s fight. Don’t blame the world for this, you are the world. If you want to change the world you have to take the steps."

- Beatrice Fernando

BBC Creates Comprehensive Website on Modern Slavery

“It is slavery of the worst kind. They have total power over you; they get you to do anything they want.” -Dalyn, former sex slave, interviewed by BBC News

BBC News has created a page with information, pictures, and stories modern day slavery. It features facts and figures, narratives from slaves from around the world, interviews, and articles. There are also several photo journals depicting victims of slavery. This is a excellent site, with so much to see and learn!

We encourage you to visit the website!

Slavery still exists in Mauritania

By Pascal Fletcher Wed Mar 21, 3:22 PM ET

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - They do not wear chains, nor are they branded with the mark of their masters, but slaves still exist in Mauritania.

In the Saharan Islamic state, a centuries-old system of bondage is resisting the rise of democracy in the largely desert former French colony.

Herding camels or goats out in the sun-blasted dunes of the Sahara, or serving hot mint tea to guests in the richly carpeted villas of Nouakchott, Mauritanian slaves serve their masters and are passed on as family chattels from generation to generation.

They may number thousands, anti-slavery activists say. A shocking anomaly in the 21st century, this is widely accepted in a racially diverse, hierarchical society dominated by a Moorish elite and a brand of Islam that preaches submission.

"It's like having sheep or goats. If a woman is a slave, her descendants are slaves," said Boubacar Messaoud, who was born a slave and is now his country's leading anti-slavery campaigner.

He says a 1981 decree outlawing slavery is a dead letter and slavery is alive in Mauritania, with all its manifestations of non-paid work, punishment, forced sex and other abuses.

Mauritania's military rulers, who are handing over to civilian rule in democratic elections, shy away from discussing the issue and prefer to talk of "vestiges of slavery."

Some members of the light-skinned elite which has traditionally ruled the country deny slavery exists at all. Questions about it can draw anger, mistrust and silence.

But anti-slavery campaigners say the master-slave relationship and its social repercussions are branded into the minds of all Mauritanians, just as class-consciousness still haunts social discourse in Britain and other European states.

"There is slavery in our country, in all of our society. You need laws to eliminate it. The fact people try to hide what exists just complicates things," said Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, a black Mauritanian and descendant of slaves.

"It doesn't have to have chains to be there," added Boulkheir, who ran for the presidency in an election this month, finishing fourth out of 19 candidates.

"BORN A SLAVE"

In Nouakchott's sprawling, dirt-poor slums, most of whose inhabitants are black, the testimonies about enduring slavery are repeated, and heartfelt.

"Yes, it's true," said Abdarahman Ould Mohamed Abd, 52, a street vendor sitting outside his ramshackle hut. "In the interior of the country, it's the worst. You see it in the way some people treat others. Sometimes, they (the masters) have even killed children," he added.

His own surname means "son of Mohamed Slave" as "Abd" is the Arabic word for slave.

"It comes from a long way back. But it should end," he said.

Anti-slavery groups, such as SOS-Slaves run by Messaoud, say the fear and secrecy cloaking the issue make it difficult to bring cases of slavery to light, let alone to court.

But victims periodically surface, such as Matalla, a black Mauritanian who two years ago escaped from members of a Berber warrior tribe, the Reguibat. They were holding him and his family in the isolated deserts of northeast Mauritania.

"I was born a slave. All my family, all my ancestors were slaves of that group. My aunt, my brothers are still slaves with them," he said with lowered gaze.

He told Reuters he herded camels for his masters, ate only leftovers from their table and suffered occasional beatings.

"I have a scar here," he said, pointing to his right cheekbone, "from where they hit me with a stick."

Asked how many slaves his masters had he answered: "There are more than can be counted."

Read the full article here.

U.S. Ambassador on Modern Slavery Shares Experiences and Advice

Check out this article that John R. Miller, former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Ambassador at Large on Modern Slavery, has written about the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of slave trade. In this comprehensive overview of traditional and modern slavery, Miller discusses the recently released film, Amazing Grace, and it's correlation to the slavery we are fighting today. He describes the stories of individuals he has met and worked with, that have been victims of slavery, and suggests ways to help stop these atrocities from occurring.

“What can Americans do to carry on Wilberforce’s legacy? Find out if there is a nongovernmental organization caring for survivors in your community. Find out if the local police are sensitive to and search out victims. Find out if local anti-pimping ordinances are being enforced. Find out if a local church or civic group helps fight modern day slavery abroad. Find out from the state legislator in your district whether there is a state anti-trafficking in persons law. Join with friends or local churches or civic groups to accomplish the foregoing objectives.”

Read the full article here!

SLAVERY STILL A CONCERN

SLAVERY STILL A CONCERN

By:GERRY TUOTI, Staff Writer

03/04/2007

The three speakers came from different corners of the globe, but they shared one common bond - they had all been victims of modern slavery.

EASTON - The three speakers came from different corners of the globe, but they shared one common bond - they had all been victims of modern slavery.

Slavery didn't end in 1865 with Abraham Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, an emotional Micheline Slattery told the audience at Stonehill College Monday night.

"I am a survivor of modern day slavery," she said. "Slavery still exists, and it is up to us to abolish it."

Experts estimate there are 27 million people enslaved around the world, including the United States.

Stonehill senior Christine Blunt, who interned at the American Anti-Slavery Group's Boston office, said she was initially shocked to learn human trafficking and slavery were so prevalent in the modern world.

"I hope you will combat the belief that slavery is a thing of the past," she told her schoolmates.

Slattery, a native of Haiti, is one of three former slaves who spoke as part of the American Anti-Slavery Group's presentation. Slattery, a native of Haiti, was forced into servitude by her aunt after she was orphaned at age five. When Slattery was 14, her cousin trafficked her into the United States, where she was forced to be the servant of another cousin in Connecticut.

Another speaker, Simon Deng, told the audience that when he was nine, an Arab militia stormed his village in rural Sudan, kidnapping him. Deng was taken to northern Sudan and forced into slavery until members of his tribe helped him escape.

Beatrice Fernando recalled how she became enslaved in Lebanon after trying to escape poverty in her native Sri Lanka.

The youngest of 13 children, Fernando grew up in extreme poverty in the Indian Ocean island nation.

As a 23-year-old mother, Fernando sought a way to free herself from poverty, but, keeping with her cultural norms, didn't want to embarrass her family by taking a job as an unskilled worker.

"By nature we do not speak about our troubles," she said.

Fernando thought her ticket to a better life came when she saw a newspaper advertisement from an agency seeking women to work as maids in Lebanon.

"I figured if it was in another country, my family wouldn't be shamed because no one would see me working," she said.

Fernando signed a two-year contract with the agency and flew to Lebanon. After arriving in Beirut, the agency took her passport and put her in a room with other young women. The agency was a front for a wealthy slave owner.

"People were looking at us, asking us to turn around, and were looking at our hands and feet like we were appliances," she said.

Fernando ended up working in a wealthy woman's home on the fourth floor of an upscale housing complex.

"I was not allowed to leave the home and I was not allowed to communicate with anyone," she said. "The telephone was locked and the doors were locked."

Fernando said she was given an impossible workload and was severely beaten when she couldn't finish a job.

Her life as a slave was so unbearable, she finally decided she had to take a drastic measure to escape.

"I jumped off the balcony from the fourth floor," she said. "Not to die, but to live."

After 21 days, Fernando miraculously awoke from a coma and eventually made a full recovery. She moved to the United States in 1989 and returned to Sri Lanka several times to visit her family and raise awareness of human trafficking.

Deng's story is equally compelling.

When he was nine years old, his Sudanese village was attacked by an Arab militia from the northern part of the country.

"Two of my best friends were shot before my own eyes," he said.

"I was kidnapped by an Arab man and taken to northern Sudan," Deng continued. "He gave me away to relatives as a gift. I was a slave at the age of nine."

Deng said he was forced to do work around the house, fetch water from the Nile River and had to sleep in the stable with the animals.

"I was kept in constant terror," he said.

The current Darfur conflict, Deng said, is the fourth genocide the Arab-controlled northern Sudanese government has committed against the country's black Africans since the country gained independence from Britain in 1956.

"The whole world has turned a blind eye," he said.

One day, when he was a young teenager, Deng saw some familiar faces on his daily trek to get water. He saw a group of men with the ritual scars men in his tribe wear on their foreheads. Deng talked to the men, and since he was too young to have gone through the scarring ritual, he had to convince them he was a member of the tribe. The men then told Deng to meet them at the same spot at the same time the following day.

The next day they helped him escape and return to his village, where he was reunited with his family.

He moved to New York 17 years ago and has traveled back to Sudan, where he's labeled an enemy of the state, to rescue slaves.

Slattery, who now lives in Framingham, grew up in Haiti, the daughter of politicians.

"I would say they were pretty wealthy," she said. "We had a farm and tons of people working for us."

After her parents were murdered when she was five, Slattery's aunt assumed ownership of the farm and forced her to become a "restavec," or child slave. While her aunt's 10 children went to school, Slattery had to work the farm and was beaten when she failed to finish a chore.

"All of a sudden I was a servant," she said. "My bed was given to a cousin and my bed became the cement floor."

For nine years, she was forced to work the family farm and wasn't allowed to go to school. She was only fed scraps from the plates of her aunt's 10 children.

Slattery was forced to wake up at 5 a.m. every day to feed the chickens and walk several miles to fetch water.

"I was never allowed to be a child myself," she said.

Three years later, an adult cousin took Slattery to live with her in Port au Prince, Haiti's capital.

The cousin made a living by trafficking people into the United States, where they lived as servants.

"My cousin's sister in Connecticut paid her $2,500 to send me there to work for her and her four children," Slattery said.

In addition to forcing Slattery to work in the house, her relative made her pay rent, meaning she had to get a job outside the house.

"She used to threaten me about calling immigration and sending me back to Haiti," Slattery said, adding that her cousin in Haiti vowed to kill her if she ever returned to the Caribbean nation.

When Slattery was 18, she realized she was a legal adult and fled her cousin's house, eventually making her way to Framingham, where her brother lived.

The three escaped slaves urged the approximately 150 people in attendance to help take action to raise awareness of modern day slavery.

"It takes a person who is free to free a person who is not," Deng said. "We need to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves."
©The Taunton Gazette 2007

Mohamed Yahya Questions Arab, Muslim Leaders about Darfur Conflict

Last month, AASG Speaking Associate Mohamed Yahya was outraged to discover that the Darfur conflict was not a topic of conversation at the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar from February 17 to 19. The annual conference was attended by over 200 American and Arab government officials, NGO representatives, heads-of-state, and Muslim religious leaders. Under the title "Confronting What Divides Us," the conference focused its attention on the conflicts currently occurring in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.

Mr. Yahya is the executive director of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, a group promoting human rights in the Darfur region. He spoke out about the grave omission of Darfur from the conference's agenda, pointing out that in order to complete a conference about the relations between the United States and the Arab World, the tragedy in Darfur must be recognized. The plight of black Muslims in Darfur, of whom 75 percent of the region's population is composed, is an issue that should be addressed by the Arab World, he said, especially considering the humanitarian role that is being played by Jewish and American groups.

The Peninsula, Qatar's Leading English Daily, featured an article about Mr. Yahya's comments at the Forum available here.

For more information about the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, visit their website available here.