tagged w/ Human Trafficking
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As an American journalist in Japan, Jake Adelstein uncovered a world unknown to many of the Japanese public, let alone to foreigners: the world of organized crime. For 12 years, he investigated for Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri Shinbun.
In his final story, Adelstein went toe-to-toe with one of the country's most notorious crime bosses, a discovery that led to death threats for him and his family — death threats that have yet to be lifted. His new memoir about his experiences is called Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan.
After leaving the paper in 2005, Adelstein was chief investigator for a U.S. State Department-sponsored study of human trafficking in Japan. Today he is considered one of the foremost experts on organized crime in Japan, and works as a writer and consultant in Japan and the United States.
Adelstein is also the public relations director for the Washington, D.C.-based Polaris Project Japan, which combats human trafficking and the exploitation of women and children in the sex trade. He joins Terry Gross to talk about that work, his book and the organized-crime landscape in Japan.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120237244As an American journalist in Japan, Jake Adelstein uncovered a world unknown to many... more
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FRom BBC: Police in China say they have recovered more than 2,000 children in a six-month campaign against human trafficking. The ministry of public security has set up a website with pictures of some of those kidnapped, in the hope of returning them to their families. The ministry website has pictures of 60 children, ranging from babies to young adults, who were kidnapped from their families.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children go missing in China each year.
The 2,008 rescued children come from across China, and some have already been reunited with their parents. Some of the older children on the "Babies Looking for Home" website were kidnapped years ago, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Criminal gangs steal the children and sell them to childless couples. The children of migrant workers are often targets. State media have reported a string of arrests in recent months, including 42 suspects picked up last week for allegedly selling 52 children in the north of China.
In China's patriarchal society, baby boys are especially prized, sometimes selling for as much as $6,000 (£3,670), says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing. Girls are sometimes sold for just $500 (£305), he says.FRom BBC: Police in China say they have recovered more than 2,000 children in a... more
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jcub
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19 days ago
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"I am here just to be a voice,” Kidman said. “I rely on the people I've met to make the case."
Nicole Kidman blasted Congress with horror stories of rape, trafficking, and child marriage. She came to D.C. to lift the veil on international violence against women—but during an economic crisis, will foreign aid for women be cut?"I am here just to be a voice,” Kidman said. “I rely on the people I've met to... more
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Sans Papiers is the story of 87 Pakistanis travelled to Europe with illegal Human Trafficker. There Journey starts from Pakistan to Iran -Turkey and there destination was Greece, They caught in Greece by the border security force and sent back to Karachi Pakistan. They had horrible experience during there journey they lost 17 of there companions killed by there agent and few of them died due to the hardship of travel.
Documentary. based over Montages, Voice over, SOTs of Effected people.
looking forward for your feedback
Directed and Produced by
masmedia productions
Kind Regards
Kazim razaSans Papiers is the story of 87 Pakistanis travelled to Europe with illegal Human... more
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Kazim
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added this
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7 months ago
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Der Spiegel has a story about an investigation into the human trafficking and exploitation of Chinese restaurant workers in Germany.
"In many Asian restaurants in Germany, Chinese cooks are exploited, miserably paid and lacking in almost any rights. In many cases, they are victims of systematic human trafficking. Now German authorities are cracking down on the restaurants and institutions that bring these workers to Europe as modern-day serfs."Der Spiegel has a story about an investigation into the human trafficking and... more
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A raid of Chinese restaurants across Germany has uncovered a gang of human traffickers who brought more than 1,000 Chinese "specialty cooks" into the country. Prosecutors are investigating charges of exploitation.
The Hanover state prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into charges of people-trafficking and exploitation, after a raid on restaurants uncovered evidence in four German states.
For years, the traffickers are said to have smuggled more than 1,000 Chinese into Germany and to have exploited them in abusive working conditions.
A raid on 180 Chinese restaurants and apartments in the states of Lower Saxony, Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and North-Rhine Westphalia uncovered evidence of the trafficking.
Cooks lived "in servitude"
Back in March, police had arrested two Chinese men and a woman in Hanover. The trio had founded a firm to orchestrate their smuggling activities, according to criminal investigations.
The three Chinese held in custody - aged 46, 38 and 35 - are thought to be the chief operators in the trafficking ring.
"They made sure all the forms were correct," said spokesman for the Hanover State Office of Criminal Investigation, Frank Federau.
Chinese emigrants paid 10,000 euros ($14,000) for a valid visa and work contract as so-called specialty cooks. But upon arrival in Germany they were forced to surrender their passports, essentially putting them in "debt servitude," Federau said.
For quick learners only
The immigrants were made to work as chefs for up to 80 or 90 hours a week, at an hourly wage of 3 euros ($4.23). Their lack of German language skills made it difficult for the immigrants to complain.
Those who were not actually trained cooks "learned fast," said Federau.
For their part, the German smugglers and their helpers in China made "revenues in the millions," he added.
Synchronized raids
The synchronized raids made use of more than 1,300 police and customs officials in the four German states. According to officials the raids turned up a lot of evidence, mostly in the form of paperwork and computer data.
jen/AFP/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Susan HoultonA raid of Chinese restaurants across Germany has uncovered a gang of human traffickers... more
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mae37
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3 months ago
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Hi Laura and Euna,
First off, congratulations on coming home and thank you for all your hard work on behalf of women and victims of human trafficking everywhere!
I work as an intern at Media 4 Humanity, a non-profit working to eradicate child slavery and exploitation in the United States. Our organization is entirely operated by students and media professionals. Part of our work is tracking media professionals who show a true understanding and a determination to shed light on human trafficking here and around the world. The lengths you went to cover this issue should serve as an inspiration to the entire media industry. The work you have done in order to increase awareness of the world's fastest growing illegal industry will not be forgotten.
Thank you again.
You both are truly Media Humanitarians.
Sincerely (with a profound amount of respect and admiration),
Beka Breitzer
Intern
Media 4 HumanityHi Laura and Euna,
First off, congratulations on coming home and thank you for all... more
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It's the stuff of horror movies: A poor, unworldly girl from a remote Mongolian province wants to go to college, but can't afford it, so she puts her trust in a vague newspaper ad promising an illustrious future. These promises make her just one of the thousands of Mongolians who fall victim to sex trafficking each year.
Increasingly, Mongolian girls unknowingly hand over their documents and head to such places as Korea, China and Germany and end up unable to escape a nightmarish blur of sex, drugs, and brutal mistreatment. Traffickers pray on the desire for a better life, and these girls are the perfect victims.It's the stuff of horror movies: A poor, unworldly girl from a remote Mongolian... more
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My friend Sin Yi fled Burma when the Burmese military junta started coming to his village and forcing boys like him to join the army.
"They stop us at the bus station or on the street and by gun point they say to us:
'Come, you must join the army. If you don't join we will kill you. Come, join...'"
Aye Aye Cho told me she left Burma because the junta used to come to her village and separate the women from the men.
"Then they would come and take any woman they wanted to sleep with them in a little hut for the night."
"If you refused to go with them you had to pay them instead. One night they came for me, I told them to come back later and I would pay them. But I didnt have any money, so that night I ran from one bush to the other. I ran away from Burma."
"In Thailand i had friends who told me to go to Malaysia where I would be safe."
"Sadly," she told me, "I listened to these friends."
Unfortunately, what Sin Yi and Aye Aye Cho found waiting for them in Malaysia was equally as tragic as what they left behind.
Burma is bleeding well beyond its borders.
To date there are more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma, including Buddhist monks and one Nobel Peace Laureate (Aung San Suu Kyi). Military and civilian officials are involved in the unlawful conscription of child soldiers and wide-spread acts of forced labor inside of Burma. And scores of people are perishing due to the extreme poverty caused by the regime's mis-use of power and by its handling of the Cyclone Nargis crisis.
Yet there is another Burma-related tragedy, which until now has not been widely told.
In April 2009 the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee published the results of a year-long investigation into allegations that the Malaysian government has been complicit in the human trafficking of people seeking refuge from the extreme persecution they faced in Burma. Once in Malaysia, through a highly organized process between police, immigration officials and traffickers, the refugees are sold to prostitution rings and fishing trawlers.
Please Don't Say My Name is an audio documentary; it stems from my friendship with a small group of Burmese refugees who work together in a restuarant in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I spent a year and a half getting to know them and in early 2009 I traveled to Kuala Lumpur to record their stories. Many of them have been sold to traffickers by Malaysian Immigration Officials--and some of them were arrested while I was there.
The audio-only documentary is one hour in length; the interviews are intimate in tone and record many aspects of their lives both inside and outside of work, prison, detention camps and RELA immigration raids highlighting their continued vulnerability in Malaysia--as well as their ability to create family-like bonds despite the severity of their circumstance.
Listen to the whole doc or just to selected clips, and read a photographic essay.
Learn how to help and share with your friends!
www.pleasedontsaymyname.orgMy friend Sin Yi fled Burma when the Burmese military junta started coming to his... more
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Following Radiohead's collaboration with MTV Exit ("End Exploitation and Trafficking") last year, the Killers have provided their song "Goodnight, Travel Well" as a soundtrack to a new human trafficking PSA.
The video is currently being broadcast on MTV networks around the world, with the potential to reach over 500 million people. It was created to raise awareness about and help prevent sex trafficking, which is a problem much more common than most people realize.
More than 1.2 million children are being trafficked each year and nearly 80 per cent of all trafficking is for sexual exploitation, and the most at risk are girls. There is almost no country in the world that isn't affected by sex trafficking in some way.
The powerful video was directed by David Slade ("Hard Candy") and provides insight into the realities of trafficking.
More information is available from UNICEF:
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uk_50248.html
Last year's MTV EXIT video with Radiohead's "All I Need," which focused on child labor, can be seen here:
http://current.com/items/88926265_new-radiohead-video-against-human-trafficking.htmFollowing Radiohead's collaboration with MTV Exit ("End Exploitation and Trafficking")... more
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dani77
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added this
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4 months ago
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BASTROP COUNTY, TX - Bastrop County Sheriff's Office busted up a human trafficking ring being operated out of mobile home on FM 672. It was believed that several immigrants were being held by three men, who were armed with assault rifles and handguns.
According to deputies, an illegal immigrant escaped the hostage situation and went to the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office. He told deputies that the two men that brought him to America, or coyotes, were holding him hostage and demanding more money.
The victim led authorities to the location where the suspects were keeping the hostages. The hostages were being held in a mobile home located behind a wood frame residence. Officials say three of the hostages were females who were reportedly sexually assaulted by their captors. Officials were told that the hostages had been deprived of food and water for three days.
Sheriff's deputies with the assistance of Travis County SWAT, ICE, Human Trafficking Task Force and Austin APD Air Unit were able to free six hostages and arrest two suspects. The two men arrested were identified as 20-year-old Nabor Rodriguez-Guillen and 29-year-old Juan Carlos Sanchez-Camacho.
Sheriff's Deputies learned that Guillen and Camacho had been in contact with the victim's family members demanding more money for their release.
The six victims are believed to be from Honduras and El Salvador.
Both Guillen and Camacho are being charged with seven counts of aggravated kidnapping. Their bond has been set at $700,000.BASTROP COUNTY, TX - Bastrop County Sheriff's Office busted up a human trafficking... more
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Pakistan's top terror thug Baitullah Mehsud buys and sells children to use as suicide bombers, according to Pakistani officials.
"He has been been admitting he holds a training center for young boys, for preparing them for suicide bombing," Maj. Gen. Akhtar Abbas, spokesman for the Pakistani army, told CNN. "So he is on record saying all this, accepting these crimes."
Pakistan's military released a shocking video showing children as young as 11 training for martyrdom missions.
Mehsud is an Al Qaeda ally and is considered the mastermind of a 2007 attack that killed Pakistan's Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
U.S. and Pakistani military have been targeting known Taliban strongholds controlled by Mehsud. On Tuesday, a U.S. drone fired a missile into a Taliban camp near the Afghan border, according to intelligence officials.
U.S. officials do not confirm missions or drone attacks on Pakistani soil, and Islamabad has complained in the past about such military action, but it is believed are working in close cooperation to hunt the Taliban leader.
According to reports, 14 people were killed in the attack in South Waziristan.Pakistan's top terror thug Baitullah Mehsud buys and sells children to use as suicide... more
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TEL AVIV, 18 June 2009 (IRIN) - The latest US State Department report on trafficked persons, released on 16 June, says Israel is still a destination for men and women trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation.
Women from the former Soviet Union and China are still being trafficked across the border with Egypt into Israel for forced prostitution by organized criminal groups.
According to local NGOs, such as Isha L’iash and Moked, each year several hundred women in Israel - many of them foreigners - are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation, according to the report.
In 2006 Israel was put on the US State Department’s Tier 2 watch list and has been described as a “prime destination for trafficking” by both the State Department and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
However, the State Department report recognized Israeli efforts in the past three years: Although the government did not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, it had made significant efforts to do so, with law enforcement, police activity against traffickers, and the provision of assistance and shelter to victims of sex trafficking.
In 2008, the Israeli government gave US$1.25 million to a local NGO, Ma’agan, which provides shelter to foreign victims of sex trafficking. The funds were used for rent, utility bills, security and medical care. During the year, the shelter assisted 44 women.TEL AVIV, 18 June 2009 (IRIN) - The latest US State Department report on trafficked... more
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There are three manifestations of sex trafficking in the commercial sex markets and the bulk of the victims are underage girls. In America, these include pimp-controlled prostitution, familial prostitution and "survival" sex as well as pornography, stripping, and escort services.There are three manifestations of sex trafficking in the commercial sex markets and... more
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Mohammad Salim Khan woke up in a strange house and felt an excruciating pain in his abdomen. Unsure where he was, Khan asked a man wearing a surgical mask what had happened. "We have taken your kidney," the stranger said. "If you tell anyone, we'll kill you." This particularly gory testimony, used by the U.S. State Department to highlight the severity and widespread nature of human trafficking, is one of many alarming personal accounts included in their 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. According to the State Department, at least 12.3 million adults and children worldwide are currently subjected to forced labor, sexual servitude and stolen organs, with the recent global financial crisis heightening the problem through the increased demand for cheap labor, services — and even body partsThe study, which has been published annually since 2000, also doubles as a progress report on governments' efforts to enforce laws against trafficking and ranks countries based on their commitment to tacking the issue. The report divides participating countries into three tiers according to an assessment of the extent to which their governments prosecute, prevent and protect victims from trafficking; Tier 3 countries who do not comply with the minimum standards face sanctions. Unsurprisingly, developed nations dominated the top tier while Iran and North Korea join half a dozen sub-saharan African countries in Tier 3. Malaysia, after being placed on the Tier 2 watch list last year, was relegated to Tier 3 thanks to allegations that immigration officials took part in trafficking and extorting refugees from Myanmar. "It is unfair to put us back on the list as we are doing our best," complained Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop to reporters.
Notably absent from the 2009 TIP report, as it has been every year, was an analysis of the U.S.'s own struggles with human trafficking. However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that for the first time next year the U.S. will "rank its own efforts at combating trafficking along with the rest of the world."Mohammad Salim Khan woke up in a strange house and felt an excruciating pain in his... more
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This film gives a voice to the exploitation of children through prostitution, human trafficking and child labour.
Why are the worse things we do, usually the last things we put right.This film gives a voice to the exploitation of children through prostitution, human... more
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WWW.SAIGONECLIPSE.COM
Saigon Eclipse takes place in present day Ho Chi Minh City. It is inspired by the characters and themes of Nguyen Du's 19th century masterpiece The Story of Kieu, a work considered to be the most important epic poem written in Vietnamese. This ancient story relates the destiny of a young, beautiful and talented Vietnamese woman who sacrifices herself for her family. This epic poem chronicles the fate of Kieu, a beautiful young girl, who soon after her secret engagement, returns home to find her father is about to be imprisoned on trumped up charges. Kieu offers herself in payment for her fathers debt without fully understanding the ramifications of the decision. A stunning and tragic story of loyalty and the perils of beauty, it was written as an allegory for Nguyen Du's beautiful country Vietnam, which has often been possessed and abused by others. Directed by Othello Khanh(France). Starring Dustin Nguyen(USA), Truong Ngoc Anh(Vietnam), Marjolaine Bui(France), Johnny Nguyen(USA), Nhu Quyen(Vietnam), Daniel You(France), Edmund Chen(Singapore), Joseph Chen Tseng(Hong Kong)WWW.SAIGONECLIPSE.COM
Saigon Eclipse takes place in present day Ho Chi Minh City. It... more
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CADMAN PLAZA EAST – The ultra-orthodox rabbi who cross-examined his own daughter whom he sexually abused as a child was sentenced to 30 years in Brooklyn federal court on Friday.
Israel Weingarten was told by Judge John Gleeson that his sentence had been extended because he, representing himself at trial, brutally interrogated his daughter, and forced his other children to perjure themselves on his behalf.
“It’s hard to make a case like this even worse – but you did it,” Gleeson said.
“It hit me like a bolt … that the fact that you would interrogate [your daughter, son and ex-wife] … was the reason you chose to [represent yourself] … You wanted to get inside their heads one more time,” Gleeson said.
Weingarten’s daughter testified that she had been molested by her father while living with her family in Hasidic communities in Belgium, Israel and New York. Weingarten was found guilty by a jury in March of moving his own daughter between Israel, Belgium and Brooklyn to sexually abuse her for over seven years. He had claimed it was his ex-wife who abused her.
Also...
Case of Shlomo Aviner (Rosh Yeshiva, Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva, Rabbi of Beit El, Israel)
Case of Rabbi Lewis Brenner (Convicted of child molestation. The original charges included 14 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. He agreed to plead guilty to one count of sodomy in the third degree, a Class E felony, in exchange for a sentence of five years' probation.)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Bryks (Accusations about sexual inappropriate behavior with children started surfacing in the 1980's. Rabbi Bryks is currently a member of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. The Vaad is a Rabbinical committee that makes important decisions within an orthodox community.)
Case of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (Accused of several cases of child molestation, and sexual assault of young women)
Case Rabbi Perry Ian Cohen - Montreal and Toronto Canada (Accused of sexual abuse of a seventeen year old. Fired for sexual impropriety with congregants)
Case of Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen (Accused of sexually harassing students at Bar-Ilan University)
Case of Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg - Boca Raton, Flordia (Pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of exposure of sexual organs in a washroom at a Palm Beach Mall.)
Case of Rabbi/Cantor Sidney Goldenberg (Convicted of molesting children. The first complaints came in 1971. He was finally convicted in 1997.)
Case of Cantor Joel Gordon (Convicted of having keeping a house of prostitution and involvement in a prostitution ring.)
Case of Rabbi Israel Grunwald (Accused of molesting a 15 year old on a 1995 plane flight from Australia to LA. The charge against him were dropped after agreeing to perform 500 hours of community service and to seek counseling. Grunwald was the chief rabbi of an Hungarian Hasidic congregation in Brooklyn, known as the Pupas).
Case of The State of Israel Vs. Sex Offender (Convicted of repeated rape and forced molestation of his graddaughter.)
Case of Yehudah Friedlander - Rabbi 's Assistant (Accused of molesting a 15 year old on a 1995 plane flight from Australia to LA. Friedlander was the assistant to the chief rabbi of an Hungarian Hasidic congregation in Brooklyn, known as the Pupas)
Case of the Rabbi at Hillel Torah, Chicago, IL (A teacher at the Chicago school was accused of child molestation. His name was not released. The school did everything correctly in attempting to keep the children safe once accusations were made.)
Case of Rabbi Solomon Hafner (Accused of sexually abusing a developmentally disabled boy)
Case of Rabbi (Alan J.) Shneur Horowitz (Convicted and sentenced to 10 - 20 years in prison for sodomizing a nine-year-old psychiatric patient. Allegedly, he has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel to New York in the past twenty years.
Alan J. Horowitz is an Orthodox rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D. A graduate of Duke University, and was a writer for NAMBLACADMAN PLAZA EAST – The ultra-orthodox rabbi who cross-examined his own daughter... more
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User00
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added this
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6 months ago
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End Human Trafficking!
Ever wonder where traffickers advertise their victims? Turns out it's in one of the nation's most prestigious newspapers - The Washington Post. Advertisements for massage parlors that are often fronts for brothels selling trafficked women are run in The Post every day, despite the fact that the publication has reported on human trafficking in massage parlors.
According to some men who post their sexual exploits online, The Washington Post has been a primary source for them to visit massage parlors and spas in the DC area. Most recently, on March 16, one man wrote "Washington Post is posting ads again" in response to another john's question about where to find commercial sex in DC.
What can you do?
You can tell the Washington Post to Stop Supporting Brothels.
Sign Letter here:
http://www.change.org/actions/view/tell_the_washington_post_to_stop_supporting_brothelsEnd Human Trafficking!
Ever wonder where traffickers advertise their victims?... more
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HENZHEN, China — The thieves often strike at dusk, when children are playing outside and their parents are distracted by exhaustion.
Deng Huidong lost her 9-month-old son in the blink of an eye as a man yanked him from the grip of his 7-year-old sister near the doorway of their home. The car did not even stop as a pair of arms reached out the window and grabbed the boy.
Sun Zuo, a gregarious 3 1/2-year-old, was lured off by a stick of sliced mango and a toy car, an abduction that was captured by police surveillance cameras.
Peng Gaofeng was busy with customers when a man snatched his 4-year-old son from the plaza in front of his shop as throngs of factory workers enjoyed a spring evening. “I turned away for a minute, and when I called out for him he was gone,” Mr. Peng said.
These and thousands of other children stolen from the teeming industrial hubs of China’s Pearl River Delta have never been recovered by their parents or by the police. But anecdotal evidence suggests the children do not travel far. Although some are sold to buyers in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, most of the boys are purchased domestically by families desperate for a male heir, parents of abducted children and some law enforcement officials who have investigated the matter say.
The demand is especially strong in rural areas of south China, where a tradition of favoring boys over girls and the country’s strict family planning policies have turned the sale of stolen children into a thriving business.
Su Qingcai, a tea farmer from the mountainous coast of Fujian Province, explained why he spent $3,500 last year on a 5-year-old boy. “A girl is just not as good as a son,” said Mr. Su, 38, who has a 14-year-old daughter but whose biological son died at 3 months. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have. If you don’t have a son, you are not as good as other people who have one.”
The extent of the problem is a matter of dispute. The Chinese government insists there are fewer than 2,500 cases of human trafficking each year, a figure that includes both women and children. But advocates for abducted children say there may be hundreds of thousands.
Many parents take matters into their own hands. They post fliers in places where stolen children are often sold and travel the country to stand in front of kindergartens as school lets out. A few of those who run shops have turned their storefronts into missing person displays. “We spend our life savings, we borrow money, we will do anything to find our children,” said Mr. Peng, who owns a long-distance phone call business in Gongming, a city not far from Shenzhen. “There is a hole in our hearts that will never heal.”HENZHEN, China — The thieves often strike at dusk, when children are playing outside... more
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