Association of Vineyard Churches Launches Justice Response Website, Targets Human Trafficking

January 18, 2010— The Association of Vineyard Churches (www.vineyardusa.org) proudly announces the launch of “Justice Response,” a new website designed to equip pastors and lay leaders to address international and domestic human trafficking. The website launch couldn’t be more timely as this month inaugurates the first National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Developed by the Vineyard Anti-Slavery Team (VAST), the website provides an approachable introduction to the complex dimensions of human trafficking, along with practical resources pastors can use to engage their congregations. The “Justice Response” website provides an overview of human trafficking, from child soldiers to sex slaves to bonded labor. Specific resources include sermon ideas, small group resources, guides to mapping hotspots for human trafficking in your community, and guides to fair-trade products. The site will expand in the future to include a variety of resources for worship leaders and Christian workers overseas.

Comprised of over 500 churches in the United States, and hundreds more worldwide, the Vineyard movement has a consistent history of challenging its members to care for the poor and the marginalized. In the wake of the growing movement among many Christian communities to reclaim a legacy of abolitionism, VAST aims to link the Vineyard into the existing stream of modern-day abolitionists and anti-slavery organizations. VAST member Cheryl Pittluck hopes that “future generations will be able look back and say that when the Christian Church saw the need, she rose to the cause in the fight to end Human Trafficking....That the Vineyard took seriously the command to fight for justice on behalf of those who cannot fight for themselves. This website will hopefully be a valuable tool in arming and preparing our churches for that fight."

Many Vineyard churches have already begun the work of uncovering human trafficking within their own cities. VAST member Steven Hamilton, assistant pastor at the Central Maryland Vineyard, encountered the issue of human trafficking in the Ukraine. With horror, they discovered that girls from the Ukranian orphanages their church supported were being trafficked directly into Baltimore. They began to understand that trafficking was not just an international phenomenon that happened “out there” somewhere. The church is a founding member of the Maryland Human Trafficking Taskforce and provides awareness and local assistance to law enforcement with anti-trafficking raids. “My hope is that the vision and resources of Justice Response will empower and equip Vineyard churches to join what God is doing to fight against modern-day slavery all over the world and in our own backyards,” Hamilton shares.

Love146 U.S. Advocacy Director Kathy Maskell hails the website as a milestone in the anti-slavery movement. “Sharing resources and creating bridges between faith communities and activist communities is exactly the kind of collaborative spirit that will enable us to end modern-day slavery in our lifetime.” The website officially launches today and is accessible to all at http://www.vineyardusa.org/justice-response.

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Helpline launched to combat 2010 trafficking

A 24-hour toll free helpline for victims and members of the public to report human trafficking was launched in Johannesburg today.

08000-RESCUE is a joint initiative between The Salvation Army and BE HEARD, an organization with ten years experience in operating anonymous tip-off services.

“This toll free number will create an opportunity for two things: firstly, it will allow people to call for help on all matters relating to human trafficking and secondly, it will serve as a platform for people to offer tip-off information on suspicious circumstances,” said Major Marieke Venter, National Coordinator of The Salvation Army Anti-Human Trafficking Task Team.

Call centre consultants receive training from The Salvation Army and will assist callers in eight languages. All human trafficking cases will be reported to The Salvation Army, while emergency cases will be referred directly to the South African Police Services.

The Salvation Army and other cooperating organizations will provide victims with support and a safety net structure. As part of their ongoing campaign, The Salvation Army recently opened the Beth Shan Shelter in Pretoria for abused women and victims of human trafficking.

“We are also engaging in as many conversations as possible with schools and women’s groups so that they are aware of the need to fight human trafficking,” said Venter.

According to The Salvation Army 450 000 of the two million people trafficked each year are in Africa. They are used for exploitation as prostitutes, forced labour or for their body organs. There are an estimated 50 000 child prostitutes in South Africa.

“We therefore have the responsibility, both individually and collectively, to work for the liberation of those who have been enslaved in this manner, and to establish the legal and social mechanisms by which human trafficking can be stopped,” Venter added.

Venter said although they are cautious not to create too much hype around the 2010 FIFA World Cup, there is a strong possibility that human trafficking in South Africa will increase at that time.

At the moment the helpline only offers consultation in South African languages, but according to Brian Adams, founder of BE HEARD, this will be improved to include other languages like French, Swahili, Russian and Thai as soon as capacity increases and more finance becomes available.

Adams said they were also addressing issues around the securing of the call centre against possible threats from syndicates involved in trafficking, and working on improving their relationship with the SAPS and government structures to enhance cooperation.

A big stumbling block, however, is the fact that there is still no legislation to fight human trafficking in South Africa. Major Venter said a draft bill on human trafficking is currently being discussed in Parliament, and that they were hopeful that it would be passed within the year.

“We urge the government to pass legislation on human trafficking so that offenders can be brought to book. We know that the draft bill is being discussed in Parliament so we are adding our voice in support of what other organizations have said,” said Venter.

According to Adams from BE HEARD, the tip-off service will eventually be available across six mediums, including sms, e-mail, fax and a website.

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Outrage over graphic T-shirts prompts pornography row

JON PIERIK
January 24, 2010








Two of the T-shirt designs. Photo: Craig Sillitoe

T-SHIRT slogans condoning rape and featuring semi-naked and gagged women have outraged anti-exploitation advocates.

An Australian website, run out of Los Angeles, allows designers to sell T-shirts with slogans such as ''It's not rape if you yell surprise'', ''Rape, murder, arson … I like rape'', and ''I want rape''.

The tops have been designed for men and, surprisingly, women.

Menswear company Roger David has also been embroiled in the furore through two of its controversial T-shirt labels. [See: http://www.rogerdavid.com.au/]

One T-shirt, by Los Angeles-based company Blood Is the New Black, shows a woman who appears gagged and roughed up. The other, by US brand Chaser LA, has two semi-naked women with a strip across their eyes.

The graphic T-shirts have angered women's groups, while a Facebook group called ''Roger David: NOT ok to promote violence against women!'' already has more than 800 members.
Women's advocate and co-founder of the anti-exploitation group Collective Shout, Melinda Tankard Reist, says the T-shirts must be outlawed.

''[They are] mocking the serious crime of rape,'' she said. ''I don't think there has been any consideration of the message it sends sexual assault survivors.''

The image used by Chaser LA was largely copied from a controversial 1974 album cover by British rock band Roxy Music.

''They're taking messages you would normally find in pornography or the sex industry and mainstreaming them in what was once considered conservative menswear stores,'' Ms Tankard Reist said. ''Is this how Roger David likes its women? Is this how it thinks women should be portrayed?''

Roger David didn't return calls but an insider said its T-shirts had been selling ''reasonably well''.

Chrystina Woody, a spokeswoman for Blood Is the New Black, suggested the T-shirts, as art, would spark debate. ''Art is meant to inspire and educate, and the meaning and interpretation is left in the hands of the viewer,'' she said via email.

A spokeswoman for the LA-based T-shirt website said the company was not responsible for material designers provided, as long as it met the requirements of the site's user agreement.
But according to the site's user content clause, designers are not allowed to use images deemed ''abusive, vulgar, harassing, pornographic, indecent and socially and morally objectionable''.

Director of Kids Free 2B Kids Julie Gale said clothing degrading women was a growing concern, and that many of these images were now on the shelves of mainstream stores.

''A lot of young females are starting to sexualise themselves in the way they present themselves and young men are reading them a certain way,'' she said.

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The Salvation Army's anti-trafficking efforts

Dear Friends:

We thought you would want to be aware of The Salvation Army's anti-trafficking efforts.

Abolition!

Lisa
ALERT for Salvation Army Officers, Employees and Volunteers

The Problem:
The earthquake in Haiti has created a state of emergency. The crisis is of epic proportions, and disaster relief teams are struggling to rescue Haitians and provide food, clothing, shelter, medical assistance, and other emergency relief. Over the next weeks this work will continue, but a secondary phenomenon is already developing: hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been displaced from their homes. Many are wandering in the streets, afraid to go inside for fear of aftershocks. Thousands are migrating in search of food, clothing, shelter and medical services. From previous experience, we know that natural disasters present dangerous secondary circumstances which may, if not addressed on the front end, result human trafficking.

Victims of human trafficking may be trafficked within Haiti or abroad. Victims may be trafficked for purposes of forced and/or bonded labor, child labor, and commercial sexual exploitation (prostitution, pornography, stripping). Also, please be aware that according to international standards persons under 18-years-old cannot give consent to participation in the commercial sexual industry.

Please be alert to scams and fraud such as:
People offering Haitians job opportunities in foreign countries.
People claiming to be the relatives of abandoned or orphaned children.
People luring children.
Military, relief workers, or others, demanding sexual favors in exchange for aid.

Warning signs of human trafficking include:
Evidence of being controlled (rarely alone, seems to be under constant surveillance, isolated or cut off from family and friends, fearful of speaking for oneself).
Evidence of inability to move or leave a job.
Excessive work hours – not free to take time off.
Unpaid for work completed or paid very little.
Active in commercial sex industry or works "off the books" in low-paying jobs.
Signs of physical or sexual abuse.

Recommended precautions:
Warn potential victims of human trafficking schemes.
Those providing shelter and care are encouraged to register and protect those people in their facilities, especially children including preteens and adolescents. Women and children should not be placed in isolated areas of shelters/camps. Routinely check isolated places in the shelter/camp. Also consider sleeping arrangements appropriate for families and individuals.
Those hiring new or temporary employees for relief work are encouraged to educate new hires about human trafficking and outline a zero-tolerance policy for employees involved in human trafficking and/or sexual abuse.
Respond quickly if a child or parent asks for help or appears threatened.

This message is sponsored by: The Salvation Army World Service Office in partnership with Global Centurion, Renewal Forum, Fondation Espoir, World Hope International, Olive Branch International, Doctors at War on Trafficking, The Home Foundation, Equitas, Call and Respond, Christian Medical Association, Beyond Borders, and Fondation la Limye Lavi.

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Stag parties 'fuel sex trafficking'

Dear Friends:

Here is a must read article. On the one hand the article is encouraging because it actually makes the link between so-called "stag parties" (a party for men only or held for a bachelor before his wedding, and which as the article describes frequently involve men's purchase of sex) and sex trafficking. That this link is being made by the mainstream media is definitely progress. Still the article makes clear that the anti-sex trafficking movement has a long way to go. For instance, the author apparently is operating from the mistaken belief that women in the sex industry are only victims if they are from a foreign country. Nothing is communicated which shares the fact that indigenous women are trafficked within their countries of origin as well as women from abroad.

Moreover, it's ridiculous to assume that sex buyers can ascertain who is trafficked and who is not. Women in the sex industry are trained to wear facades that hide their true emotions, their real identities. Yes, sometimes those masks slip, but the longer a woman is in the sex industry (and with the aid of drugs and alcohol) the more adept she becomes at holding the mask in place and presenting men with the fantasy they are seeking.

Additionally, there is no repudiation of men buying sex from women who they suppose are not trafficked. The fact remains that the commodifying of women as objects for consumption/as mere products (trafficked or not) is dehumanizing. This is a message we need to make crystal clear if we ever want to stop the demand and end sex trafficking.

Abolition!

Lisa

Stag parties 'fuel sex trafficking'
By Simon Boazman BBC News

Prague, Amsterdam, Riga, Krakow, they have all become popular destinations for the British stag party industry. But some of the estimated £500m spent each year is also finding its way to criminal gangs trafficking women for the sex trade.

The British stag party has changed in the past 10 years. The drink down the pub with dad or your mates is gone. It has been replaced with three or four nights in a foreign city, far from prying eyes and geared to meet the stag party's every desire.

And that is often much more than a visit to a strip club. For a large number of stags, visiting a prostitute has also become part of the ultimate lads' weekend.

Prague has 70 brothels and numerous strip clubs. It is not hard to find some of the half a million stag visitors, many British, that the Prague tourist board say visit every year. I found them at every sex establishment I went to.

There was a strip party bus, lap-dancing, and even a brothel that offers free sex provided you agree to be filmed. And many of the British stag groups had at least some, if not all, members buying sexual services.

A local charity worker was in no doubt that British stag parties coming to Prague had increased local demand for sexual services.

"If a British stag sleeps with women in a brothel or sleeps with her on the streets it could be a women brought… because of the sex industry, to be trafficked there from any part of the world."

Criminal gangs

The Czech Republic has long been a transit point for the trafficking of women in and out, and I wanted to find out how easy it would be to buy trafficked women for the sex trade.

Through contacts in the criminal underworld, we managed to arrange an undercover meeting with a trafficker. Posing as a London brothel owner, I arranged to meet him at a motorway service station.

As I secretly filmed our meeting, it became clear how straightforward the deal would be.

"I have two girls here for you now. That I can give to you. They have papers, they can travel you know, no criminal record, anything," he told me.

In the world of international sex trafficking, the leasing of girls has become common and it is big business.

"One girl makes me 90,000 krona (3,500 euros, £3,119) a month - around 50,000 euros (£44,561) a year. You give me 3,500 euros per month and I will come and visit you every month in England and collect the money every month."

The meeting lasted 20 minutes, and I could have bought two women.

Back alley

In the Latvian capital Riga, brothels are illegal, so the sex industry is more discreet with back-street brothels and street workers.

One British man told me about a "back alley basement place" his group had visited.

Like almost all the Brits I met, he did not want to tell me his name or be identified, admitting they were doing things they would not dream of doing at home.

But he said they had been shown a group of girls and he thought they were probably trafficked.

"They stood against the wall with a lack of soul, a dead look on their faces, which suggested that they weren't necessarily there out of their own free will.

"My initial feeling was they had just been brought out of the cupboard and they've just been released from the shackles and marched out to then have an hour with someone."

He told me half the group had seen enough at that point and left. The other half stayed.

Poverty and desperation

Far from the bright lights of the stag cities is Lunik 9, a decrepit crumbling estate in the Slovakian city of Kosice.

The centre wells of the tower blocks are six metres (20ft) deep with rubbish, the windows of the apartments have long since vanished and sewage runs down the walls and through the streets.

It really has to be seen and smelt to be believed, and it is here, amid this poverty and desperation, that sex traffickers look for and then exploit their victims.

Yana was only 17 when she left Slovakia with a man she thought was her boyfriend, to start a new life in Amsterdam.

When she arrived, she found she would not be leading the life that she dreamed of.

Unknown to her, her boyfriend had sold her to brothel owners.

"He led me to a space where there were a couple of men who were saying that I was beautiful, that I was sexy and they were basically saying that she is here for us, this is what we want her to do… They tore apart my clothes and they raped me."

Yana provides a tragic and deeply emotional testimony of being raped daily and pushed to the brink of suicide.

It is a story that every stag should hear.

Yana finally escaped after a year trapped in Amsterdam.

Using prostitutes

Tibor, another sex trafficker from Slovakia but working in the Czech Republic, agreed to be interviewed about his operation.

It was not his openness that stunned me but his cold, detached attitude.

I asked if he viewed the trafficked girls as his employees.

"More like things that I own," he said.

He said he felt no guilt about making money from people who were trapped. "It's just a regular job where you go to work and you go home at the end of the day."

Amsterdam

It is estimated that more than 3 million British people go on stag and hen parties each year, with more than 70% of them going overseas.

Amsterdam is the most popular British stag party venue. The local sex industry largely depends on foreign women from poorer countries.

There were nearly 500 women rescued last year according to Dutch police.

"Each year we have more cases," I was told by a policeman who runs an undercover team that infiltrates trafficking gangs. The industry is worth "millions of euros", he said. "The recruiters are getting money, the transporters are getting money, the exploiters are getting that money."

"Only the girls will get nothing," he adds.

In an attempt to make the area easier to police, the local authorities are forcibly buying up nearly half of the 482 brothels in the red light district and closing them down.

But it is not difficult to find a British stag weekender, a bright young man who had admitted to using a prostitute.

I told him that many prostitutes in Amsterdam had been trafficked.

"I don't agree with that, I think it's awful," he said, but admitted it probably would not stop him using a prostitute again that night.

"I disagree with it, but at the end of the day it's just what happens, like. You can't do anything about it. You're just here to have fun, and do things you won't get away with back home."

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China: One-child policy condemns 24m bachelors to life without a wife

Dear Friends:

Yet another report about China's gender imbalance and the millions of young men who will not be able to find spouses. The implications for social disorder--especially sex trafficking--are staggering.

Abolition!

Lisa

The normal sex ratio of birth of 103-107 boys for every 100 girls began to shift in the late 1980s
Jane Macartney in Beijing

China’s "one couple, one child" family planning policy could leave more than 24 million men unable to find a bride by the end of the decade, a report says.

The country’s leading think-tank describes the gender imbalance among newborns as the most serious demographic problem facing China. The surplus of bachelors — known as "bare branches" — in the rural areas has been described by senior officials as a problem that could lead to a surge in crime and social instability, the ruling Communist Party’s greatest fear.

The report makes no bones about how the one-child policy — introduced to curb population growth and still in place in most circumstances — has led to a preference for boys. "Sex-specific abortions remained extremely commonplace, especially in rural areas," the report, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.

Officials acknowledged that the introduction of ultrasound scans in the 1980s resulted in a surge of abortions of female foetuses after parents tried to ensure that their only child was a boy who could carry on the family line. That tradition is important in a society where reverence of ancestors continues to underpin the social structure and where farmers want sons. "The problem is more serious in rural areas due to the lack of a social security system," the report said. "Ageing farmers have to rely on their offspring."

Related Links

The normal birth ratio of 103-107 boys for every 100 girls began to shift in the 1980s. It rose from 108 boys in 1982 to 111 in 1990 and 116 a decade later. A report in the British Medical Journal last year by Therese Hesketh of University College London noted that two poorer, mainly rural provinces had the highest imbalances, with 140 boys for every 100 girls in the 1-to-4 age range. Dr Hesketh wrote: "Nothing can be done now to prevent this imminent generation of excess men."

However, this report added that the national trend of gender imbalance had begun to slow since 2005, when it soared to 119 male births for every 100 female. One Chinese expert said that the rate had risen to 120.49 to 100 by the end of 2006, meaning that males born since 1980 would have outnumbered females born in the same period by 38 million at the end of 2008.

That China’s latest report continues to highlight the gravity of the situation serves to underscore how worried the leadership is over an issue that only a policy change, combined with nature and time, can solve. Some Chinese demographers hinted that it was time to shift from the family planning policy that has been credited with preventing 400 million births — which would, its backers claim, have swollen the population to unsustainable levels.

Abortion is legal and widely available. China bans tests to determine the gender of a foetus for non-medical reasons, but these are still carried out, mainly by underground clinics in rural areas. The law does not expressly prohibit or even define late-term termination of pregnancies.

Female infanticide is not uncommon, although rarely mentioned. Some families do not register the birth of daughters so that they can try legally for a son. In rural areas, farmers who have a daughter are now allowed to have a second child.

Despite these developments men in poverty-stricken regions will face the greatest difficulty in finding a wife after 2020, Wang Yuesheng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.

Mr Wang said: "The chance of getting married will be rare if a man is more than 40 years old in the countryside. They will be more dependent on social security as they age and have fewer household resources to rely on."

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January 2010 - IAST Prayer Alert - Child Witchcraft Accusations and Trafficking

Dear Friends:

For the month of January the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking's prayer focus is on a phenomenon brought to our attention through the 2009 report Witchcraft Accusations: A Protection Concern for UNHCR and the Wider Humanitarian Community? by Gary Foxcroft, Program Director of Stepping Stones Nigeria.

As the report notes, witchcraft accusations and associations deal with the commonly held belief in many countries that "certain people possess a mystical power which enables them to separate their soul from their physical body whilst asleep at night and enter into the spirit or witchcraft world." The people groups at greatest risk of being accused are women, the elderly, children, and albinos. Witchcraft accusations and associations are not new in themselves, but the emphasis on children as victims is new.

People driven from their homes due to witchcraft accusations often have no place to go but the streets, leaving them more vulnerable to traffickers. From there the familiar story of manipulation and coercion occurs, leaving the victims trapped, exploited, and with no where to turn for help.

Chance's story illustrates this sad truth (the womensenews.org link to the original story is provided below). Having been accused of witchcraft, Chance was beaten every time she tried to go home. She tried five times. The article goes on to report that in some regions of the Congo "police started seeing a growing number of girls on the street, many prostituting because they'd been kicked out of their homes after being called witches. Child victims of witchcraft accusations/associations are also trafficked to be used as forced labor in plantations.

Resources:
1. To read the complete report by Gary Foxcroft visit
http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/files/UN_doc.pdf
2. For Chance's story please visit http://www.womensenews.org/print/7867.
3. "Saving Witches in Kolwezi": http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/september/27.62.html?start=4
4. The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, by Javier Aguilar Molina: http://www.eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/document/0708/DOC22208.pdf
5. Prayer Guide by the10:10 Prayer Campaign: Lifting the label from children branded as "witches": http://www.viva.org/uploadedFiles/Resources/Files/Prayer/10-10%20prayer%20guide.pdf

Prayer Points

Please pray. . .

• For an end to the wars, environmentally devastated land, poverty and superstitions that drive people to make witchcraft accusations;
• That the wider Body of Christ—those in contact with church leaders who make witchcraft accusations—would take the necessary steps to correct and rebuke false teachings, as well as for the protection and safety of those who are intervening to rebuke child witchcraft accusations;
• That God would work through the governments and humanitarian groups in effected countries to protect those "at risk" of accusations—women, children, elderly, and albinos;
  That victims would find a place to escape and build new lives;
  That the power of Christ would defeat the powers of those adults who do practice witchcraft, divination, and sorcery;
• That the love of Christ for children would be revealed to those in church leadership, their parents and guardians, their teachers, and community leaders.
  

Abolition!
Peta-Gaye Stewart and Lisa Thompson

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