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Adopted Guatemala baby stolen
Ana Escobar was held at gunpoint in her shop while her baby was stolen
DNA tests in Guatemala have proven for the first time that a child put up for adoption through the state system was stolen from her mother, officials say.
Ana Escobar reported her daughter Esther Sulamita stolen last year and during her search saw the baby with a US woman who was adopting her.
The baby had a false birth certificate but DNA tests proved the parentage and Esther is now back with Ms Escobar.
Baby thefts have long been suspected and Guatemala froze adoptions in May.
Guatemala is second only to China as the source of babies adopted by US parents and the adoption process is worth tens of millions of dollars a year.
Last year, more than 4,700 Guatemalan children were adopted by Americans.
Dozens of Guatemalan mothers have reported stolen babies.
'Miracle'
Ana Escobar said armed men had locked her in a storage closet at the family's shoe shop north of Guatemala City and abducted six-month-old Esther in March last year.
Ms Escobar spoke to the BBC last November, saying the authorities had closed the case but that she would not give up the search.
"I'm 100% sure that we will find my daughter," she said at the time.
Ms Escobar took part in protests with other mothers, including wheeling empty prams in front of government buildings to call for justice.
Ms Escobar searched hospitals and orphanages and while at the National Adoption Council's offices in May saw a toddler she was convinced was Esther.
Jaime Tecu, director of a team of experts reviewing all pending Guatemalan adoptions, said: "She was so sure that the child was hers that we agreed to search the house where the baby was kept."
A Guatemalan judge allowed Ms Escobar to care for Esther while the new DNA tests were performed.
Ms Escobar told Associated Press news agency on Wednesday: "I can't explain how excited and happy I am. It's a miracle."
Mr Tecu said: "This is the first time that we've been able to show, with irrefutable evidence, that a stolen child was put up for adoption."
He said officials would investigate the lawyers who handled the adoption, the doctor who signed earlier, falsified DNA tests and anyone else associated with the process.
"This was run by a mafia, and we are going after them," he said.
BBC Americas correspondent Warren Bull says hundreds of children were being bought or stolen to order each year because Guatemala's adoption system had been so quick and trouble-free for would-be parents.
The Guatemalan congress tightened laws on adoption in December to try to prevent abuse of the system.
In May the authorities suspended the adoption of some 2,300 children by foreigners and are reviewing each case to check if the babies were genuinely being offered for adoption by their birth mothers.
Ana Escobar was held at gunpoint in her shop while her baby was stolen ... more -
Pittsburgh Mystery Baby Doing Well; Mother Still Unknown
Police said a woman arrived at West Penn Hospital by ambulance with a newborn boy who still had his umbilical cord attached and claimed the baby was hers.
But a hormone test at the hospital determined she was never pregnant, and investigators said the woman -- Andrea Demus, 38, of Wilkinsburg -- had bought the infant for $1,000.
Police said they charged Demus with endangering the welfare of a child after she told them that she bought the baby from a woman named Tina, who brought the baby to her home.
According to the criminal complaint, Demus said she had a recent miscarriage, so she agreed to buy a baby.
While leaving the Wilkinsburg Police Department, Demus said, "I didn't do nothing."
She was arraigned overnight and is now at the Allegheny County Jail.
The baby is doing well at the hospital, police said, although they still don't know who the mother is.
"I'm sure there is a concern that there could be an injured woman somewhere or if there's a woman seeking treatment for her follow-up care after giving birth," Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said.
Records show that Demus was arrested in 1990 for stabbing a Wilkinsburg mother while allegedly plotting to kidnap the woman's baby. She pleaded guilty in 1991 to aggravated assault and was sentenced to 10 years of probation. Police said a woman arrived at West Penn Hospital by ambulance with a newborn boy who still had his umbilical cord attached and claime... more -
Russia's sex slave industry thrives, rights groups say
"Young women in bright miniskirts and high heels line up to sell themselves in the dingy back streets throughout the Russian capital. Moscow's illegal flesh markets are flourishing, with up to 30 women at each pickup point, or tochka, standing in order of price for the night.
Customers light up the lines with their car headlights, and are asked to pay between $100 and $700 for a woman.
Aid workers for groups fighting for women's rights here say Moscow is witnessing a surge in prostitution, including forced prostitution, as a result of Russia's booming economy.
They say thousands of young women are made to work as sex slaves on the city's streets, unable to escape from the ruthless and violent criminal gangs who traffic them.
"It's because of the economic boom they are brought here," says Afsona Kadyrova of the Angel Coalition aid agency, which rehabilitates trafficked women and children. "The fast pace of development in Moscow has fueled demand for a range of cheap workers, including prostitutes."
To investigate the thriving trade, CNN went undercover posing as potential customers and gained access to speak directly to the prostitutes and their pimps.
"Take your pick from any of the girls," the female organizer says at one location, lines of women all around. "The expensive ones are on the right, for $600 and $700 a night. The women on the left are $100."
Aid agencies say many of the women working here are tricked into coming to Moscow on the promise of an education or a good job. They say others are simply kidnapped from their hometowns and forced to work as prostitutes in Moscow.
Russian police acknowledge human trafficking for sexual exploitation is a major problem, saying they do what they can to fight it by raiding brothels suspected of forced prostitution and arresting gang members who run them. But the problem, they say, lies elsewhere.
"First of all, we have virtually open borders, and badly controlled migration flows from nearby countries," says Alexander Krasnov of Russia's Interior Ministry Police.
"Secondly, we still don't have a basic law that defines victims' rights. At the moment, it's mostly aid agencies that deal with it."
Aid agencies say they are handling a growing number of deeply traumatized victims rescued from brothels and pimps in the Moscow area. One U.N. organization, the International Organization for Migration, recently opened a treatment and rehabilitation center to cope with the large numbers of sexually exploited and trafficked women who come for help.
At this center, Christine, a 27-year-old Nigerian woman, tells how she acquired a painful 4-inch scar across her right cheek. She says she was lured to Russia from Nigeria four years ago by her uncle. He promised to give her a college education, she says.
But instead, she says he sent her to a Moscow brothel. He told her "the kind of job I'm going to be doing is prostitution ..."
By Matthew Chance
Article Continues, click link to read. "Young women in bright miniskirts and high heels line up to sell themselves in the dingy back streets throughout the Russian capital. ... more -
Accountant and teacher kept girl, 14, as a slave
A "heartless" accountant who helped his wife smuggle a 14-year-old girl into Britain and subjected her to years of slavery, was jailed for 18 months yesterday.
Samuel Quainoo and his wife Ernestina, a teacher, who was given a suspended sentence, denied the girl schooling and did not allow her to make friends. They forced her to wear hand-me-downs, apart from once buying her T-shirts with "my other name is bitch" printed on them.
The couple pretended the girl was their own child, but forced her to cook, clean and do the washing for their real child while they were at work, London's Isleworth Crown Court was told.
She was never paid and later told police and social workers she was so desperate that she had thought about committing suicide.
When confronted by police, Quainoo, who has a previous conviction for false accounting, claimed the child had cursed them with a "voodoo" spell.
Quainoo, 59, and his wife, 37, of West Drayton, pleaded guilty to one count of child trafficking but claimed the girl was properly looked after and "treated like a daughter". Judge Jonathan Lowen said he had no doubt they were lying. It was "clear that girl's entry was carefully planned" with false birth and baptism certificates being used to persuade British high commission officials in Ghana to grant her a visa, he said.
Dismissing Mrs Quainoo's claim of unstinting love and care for the girl as "inconsistent" with the facts, he accepted the teenager's account of being a "servant or slave" during her two-year ordeal.
"You were both a teacher and a graduate and of a different socio-economic plateau," he told the couple during sentencing. "Your exploitation of her was heartless and sustained." A "heartless" accountant who helped his wife smuggle a 14-year-old girl into Britain and subjected her to years of slavery, was jailed... more -
How to buy a child in 10 Hours
Dan Harris travels to Haiti to see just how long it would take a person to purchase a child who has fallen victim to human trafficking. In Haiti many parents who are living in poverty want to give their children better lives. Human Traffickers claim they can give their children better lives and are then tricked into selling their children to slavery.
Althought Human Trafficking has gained awareness in the media and we've all been hearing more about it, I was shocked to see it only took him 10 hours and not only are children being sold but some are even given away for free. Dan Harris travels to Haiti to see just how long it would take a person to purchase a child who has fallen victim to human trafficking... more -
10 shocking facts about global slavery in 2008
1. There are more people in slavery now than at any other time in human history
2. The value of slaves has decreased.
3. Slavery still exists in the US.
4.Slavery is hidden behind many other names, thus disguising it from society.
5. The least known method of slavery is the most widely used.(Bonded Labour)
6. Human trafficking has recently been described as “the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world.”
7. To buy all bonded laborers out of slavery could cost as little as $40/£20.4 per family.
8. Free the Slaves believe it is possible to end all slavery within 25 years.
9. Many slave-produced goods might reach your home without you realizing their origin
10. You can make a difference to global slavery.(ye maybe not so shocking )
1. There are more people in slavery now than at any other time in human history 2. The value of slaves has decreased. ... more -
Women Break All-Male Ban
Four Moldovan women accidentally violated a 1,000-year-old ban on females entering the all male monastic community of Mount Athos, when they were left on Greek shores by human traffickers.
Police said Monday the women -- aged between 27 and 32 -- as well as a 41-year-old Moldovan man were smuggled from Turkey by boat to the Greek Orthodox community of 20 monasteries, long off limits to women. The reached land Sunday.
"They told police and the monks they were sorry but they couldn't have known this was a no-women area," said a police officer, who declined to be named. "They were forgiven."
Monks spotted the women late Sunday and alerted police. Under Greek law, the violation of the ban on women on Mount Athos, considered Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home, is illegal and can be punished with up to two years in jail. Four Moldovan women accidentally violated a 1,000-year-old ban on females entering the all male monastic community of Mount Athos, whe... more -
Documentary on Asian Massage Parlors in RI where prostitution is legal.
"happy endings?" is a documentary that explores the Asian Massage Parlor industry in Providence, RI. Follow 'Heather' a Korean immigrant, who opens a spa in August 2005, in a state where a loophole in the law makes the exchange of sex for money behind close doors legal. As 'Heather' manages her spa, the Mayor fights to change the law.
happy endings? to see more clips visit our website:
www.happyendingsdocumentary.com "happy endings?" is a documentary that explores the Asian Massage Parlor industry in Providence, RI. Follow 'Heather' a Korean immigra... more -
New Radiohead video against human trafficking
"Radiohead have donated a song to MTV to use in a human rights media campaign ‘EXIT’ (end exploitation and trafficking)
The video, which will premiere on MTV channels globally from May 1, features a split screen showing the day in the life of a well-off child from a western country and a poor child who is forced to work in a shoe factory sweatshop. In Rainbows track ‘All I Need’ will promote the MTV Exit initiative that aims to end exploitation and human trafficking.
It was filmed in Australia by cinematographer John Seale, who has worked on The English Patient and Cold Mountain, and director Steve Rogers."
...Wonderful video. And my favourite track off "In Rainbows".
"Radiohead have donated a song to MTV to use in a human rights media campaign ‘EXIT’ (end exploitation and trafficking) ... more -
Massage Parlors Boom in Rhode Island where Prostitution is Legal
"Happy Endings?" is a feature length documentary that explores the Asian Massage Parlor industry in Providence, RI. Follow "Heather" a Korean immigrant, who opens a spa in August 2005, in a state where a loophole in the law does not make the exchange of sex for money behind close doors illegal. As "Heather" manages her spa, the Mayor fights to change the law.
See more clips at
www.happyendingsdocumentary.com "Happy Endings?" is a feature length documentary that explores the Asian Massage Parlor industry in Providence, RI. Follow "Heather" a... more -
Human Trafficking Spot
“As unimaginable as it seems, slavery and bondage still persist in the early 21st century. Millions of people around the world still suffer in silence in slave-like situations of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation from which they cannot free themselves. Trafficking in persons is one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time.”
U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report
“As unimaginable as it seems, slavery and bondage still persist in the early 21st century. Millions of people around the world still s... more -
California HOT SPOT for Human Trafficking
There are an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 people nationwide considered to be indentured servants to their human trafficking masters, according to the study.
"Approximately 80 percent of the victims of human trafficking are women and girls," said San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris. "And about 50 percent of the victims are minors."
But, the business of human traffickers is very profitable. There are an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 people nationwide considered to be indentured servants to their human trafficking masters, acc... more -
Human Trafficking Occurs Around the World
Few people know about the concept of human trafficking. This is a short video I made explaining some basics taken from the US Trafficking in Persons Report. Few people know about the concept of human trafficking. This is a short video I made explaining some basics taken from the US Traffick... more
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Faceless International - Mission:Kolkata on Vimeo
Faceless International takes bands of all styles around the world to experience the many injustices happening today. This trip follows 18 individuals with members from the bands Anberlin, Showbread, Hundred Year Storm and the Classic Crime as they work with kids affected by and caught up in human trafficking in the red light districts of Kolkata, India. Faceless International takes bands of all styles around the world to experience the many injustices happening today. This trip follows... more
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The Rock Star Guru Who Became A Slave Hunter
Aaron Cohen, often called a spiritual guru of former Jane's Addiction lead singer Parry Farrel, follows a path that leads him to become an internationally renowned slave hunter. Cohen darts back and forth in countries like Sudan, Honduras and Myanmar to investigate human trafficking and the underground slave trade. He goes undercover in brothels employing underage sex slaves. He helps organize the purchase of black slaves from Arab Traders in Sudan. And he stumbles into a bizarre crime partnership including the corrupt Burmese regime, North Korea, Iran, Islamic terrorist cells, the heroin trade, and attempts to obtain elements necessary for nuclear weapon production. In short, you're probably going to want to read this. Aaron Cohen, often called a spiritual guru of former Jane's Addiction lead singer Parry Farrel, follows a path that leads him to becom... more
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WLOX TV 13 - The Station for South Mississippi -
Indian Workers Accuse Signal International Of "Human Trafficking"
A walk out occurred this morning with Indian workers who were trafficked due worker shortage after Katrina. Indian Workers Accuse Signal International Of "Human Trafficking" ... more -
Make your voice be heard!
The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is accepting the participation of You Tube user in its Congress Center viewing and answering the significant suggestion to what companies or individuals must do in order to make the World a better place in 2008.
Most of the conflicts we have in the World today is caused by economic inequality and its consequences.
The idea that corporation, which in many aspects decide the way other human beings and the environment are treated, are considering to take in consideration opinion and ideas of single individuals, like you and I, make me feel quiet optimist about the possibilities of a future with fair way of living for all!
So, it's up to you! You've up to January 27, 2008 to address them!
Make your voice be heard!!!
The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is accepting the participation of You Tube user in its Congress Center viewing ... more -
kids can't eat bombs
every 6 minutes a child dies from malnourishment
every 6 minutes the world spends $160,000 on a military endevour
a wonderful happening; a facility that produced 300 packets a day of a simple sugar-salt remedy, at a cost of 1.5 cents each, was built in Guatemala for $550...result: child deaths from diahhrea were cut in half in one year
!!!
why aren't simple methods like this being set-up and utilized?????
half of the global south is illterate.
being literate is defined by the ability to write and read a simple sentence. consider the beneifts of being able to read and obtain information about farming ($$), health care (more productive), birth control (lower birth rates) etc. THIS IS SO CRUCIAL TO EVEN MAKING A TINY STEP OUT OF POVERTY.
in medical reserach, less than 5% of world expenditures are directed at problems affecting the gS. pharmaceutical companies do have remedies! but they are marketed for northern consumers, and restriced from generic duplication or reduced prices for those in the south. (look to ipe theory of Generalized system of preferences, those assholes)
more than 600 million people are infected with tropical diseases
80% of the undernourished children are FEMALES
900,000 people are trafficked annually, as sex and labor slaves, both men and women, adults and children.
Organizations are typically as corrupt as what they are trying to help
It takes grassroots types of movement and it starts with people who are ready to be aware and be prepared it takes new types of legislation and new type of global political policy. These "foreign affairs" wouldnt be so foriegn if we actually could realize how closely we are being affected by it.
every 6 minutes a child dies from malnourishment every 6 minutes the world spends $160,000 on a military endevour ... more -
Iraqis Resort to Selling Children
Many Iraqi families are living in such desperate conditions that they're resorting to selling their children to families outside of Iraq in the hope of providing them with a better future. "Omar Khalif, vice-president of the Iraqi Families Association (IFA), an NGO established in 2004 to register cases of those missing and trafficked, said that at least two children are sold by their parents every week. Another four are reported missing every week."
I couldn't imagine being in the position of having to put a price tag on my child so they could have a better life. This is so heartbreaking. Many Iraqi families are living in such desperate conditions that they're resorting to selling their children to families outside of Ir... more -
Over 100 children kidnapped angers French President
The kidnapping over hundred children from villages in Chad by French charity workers that should raise the eyes of Unicef into the possible links toward international child trafficking. The kidnapping over hundred children from villages in Chad by French charity workers that should raise the eyes of Unicef into the pos... more
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Human Trafficking
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Human Trafficking
