Spain Breaks Up a Trafficking Ring for Male Prostitution

By RAPHAEL MINDER
Published: August 31, 2010

MADRID — The Spanish police said Tuesday that it had dismantled for the first time a human trafficking network bringing men rather than women into the country to work as prostitutes.

The police said 14 people, almost all of them Brazilian, were arrested over recent weeks as part of an inquiry into the network’s activities begun in February.

The sex workers were recruited in Brazil, with their travel costs to Spain initially covered by the trafficking network’ organizers in return for a pledge to work subsequently for them, according to a police statement. Most of the recruits, however, expected to work as models or nightclub dancers, although some allegedly knew that they were coming to Spain to offer sex.

The police estimated that between 60 and 80 men were brought to Spain by the network, most of them in their 20s and originating from Brazil’s northern state of Maranhão. They reached Spain by passing through third countries.

The network covered the whole of Spain, with the sex workers placed in, and then switched regularly between, apartments whose landlords received half of the money earned by them, as well as €200, or about $255, to cover food and lodging, officials said.

The police released a video of one of the apartments in which some of the arrests were made, with bunk beds and mattresses cramped into neon-lit rooms. The gang, meanwhile, advertised pictures of the men on Web sites as well as in classified newspaper ads. The sex workers were allegedly provided with Viagra, cocaine and other stimulants to help keep them available for sex 24 hours a day. Most of their customers are suspected to have been men.

The bulk of the arrests occurred on the island of Majorca, including that of the Brazilian accused of being the ringleader, whose identity was not disclosed by the police. The prostitutes ended up owing the network as much as €4,000 each and were sometimes threatened with death if they refused to pay the debt, according to the Spanish police.

READ MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/world/europe/01iht-spain.html

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Zurich planning drive-in sex-boxes

Dear Friends:

More proof that truth is stranger than fiction, and that men will stop at no lengths to protect prostitution. I mean really -- prostitution would diminish if we actually demanded that men started controlling themselves!

Abolition!

Lisa

One of the German Sex-Boxen that Zurich police are planning to implement

Police chiefs in Switzerland are planning to build a series of drive-in sex-boxes to enable prostitutes to conduct their business with punters without disturbing the neighbourhood.
The idea - imported from German cities like Essen and Cologne - is being proposed by Zurich police chief Daniel Leupi as a way to let prostitutes work in a more discreet way.

The idea comes after thousands of complaints by householders whose homes overlook the thriving red light district in Zurich.

'They get up to all sorts in broad daylight - and we're sick to death of looking at it,' said one.
Police spokesman Reto Casanova (his actual name) said: 'We can't get rid of prostitution, so we have to learn how to control it.' Read more!

Attorneys general call for Craigslist to get rid of adult services ads

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 25, 2010 7:57 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Attorneys general in 17 states have banded together to call on Craigslist, the online classified ad website, to discontinue its adult services section.

"The increasingly sharp public criticism of Craigslist's Adult Services section reflects a growing recognition that ads for prostitution -- including ads trafficking children -- are rampant on it," the attorneys general said in a Tuesday letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark.

The letter continued: "We recognize that Craigslist may lose the considerable revenue generated by the Adult Services ads. No amount of money, however, can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution, and the suffering of the women and children who will continue to be victimized, in the market and trafficking provided by Craigslist."

A Craigslist spokeswoman said Wednesday that the site agreed with at least some of the letter.

"We strongly support the attorneys general desire to end trafficking in children and women, through the Internet or by any other means," Susan MacTavish Best, who handles media inquiries for Craigslist, told CNN Wednesday.

"We hope to work closely with them, as we are with experts at nonprofits and in law enforcement, to prevent misuse of our site in facilitation of trafficking, and to combat such crimes wherever they appear, online or offline."

In their letter, the attorneys general highlighted an open letter, which appeared as a Washington Post ad, in which two girls said they were sold for sex on Craigslist.

When the ad came out, Buckmaster wrote a blog post in response that said, "Craigslist is anxious to know that the perpetrators in these girls' cases are behind bars."

The letter also highlighted a report in May by CNN's Amber Lyon, who posted a fake ad in the adult section. She received 15 calls soliciting sex in three hours.

Earlier this month, Lyon interviewed a woman named "Jessica" who sells sex on Craigslist. She told Lyon a Craigslist ad was "the fastest, quickest way you're for sure going to see somebody that day."
In a later blog, Buckmaster said Craigslist implemented manual screening of adult services ads in May 2009. "Since that time, before being posted each individual ad is reviewed by an attorney." He said the attorneys are trained to enforce Craigslist's posting guidelines, "which are stricter than those typically used by yellow pages, newspapers, or any other company that we are aware of."

Attorneys general from Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia made the request a week after accused "Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff committed suicide in jail.
Markoff was charged with the April 2009 killing of Julissa Brisman. Boston Police said that Brisman, a model, advertised as a masseuse on Craigslist, and Markoff might have met her through the website.
In 2008, under pressure from state prosecutors, the website raised the fees for posting adult services ads. In 2009, it started donating portions of the money generated by adult ads to charity.

A CNN investigation of Craigslist's "adult services" section, which replaced "erotic services ads" two years ago, counted more than 7,000 ads in a single day. Many offered thinly veiled "services" for anything from $50 for a half hour to $400 an hour.

Newmark has defended his site, saying it is doing more than any other site that hosts adult ads to help filter out underage prostitutes and report them to police. Best, the Craigslist spokeswoman, said that fewer than one ad in 10,000 meets the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's guidelines for anti-trafficking action.

"Only Craigslist has the power to stop these ads before they are even published, and sadly they are completely unwilling to do so," Kansas Attorney General Steve Six said in a statement.

Read more!

Egypt: Trafficking continues, young girls at risk

CAIRO: An Egyptian report published earlier this month by the Unit for the Prevention of Trafficking Children of the ministry of state for family and population, revealed the many challenges facing this growing phenomenon. The report said there is a new subculture of brokers existing in Egypt that are promoting the benefits of marrying off underage girls, but the statistics remain the government’s biggest shortcoming.

There is little "accurate information about the size of the actual and the various dimensions of the issue of child trafficking at the domestic and international levels in Egypt because it is a secret trade that takes place."

The ministry’s report noted that it is difficult even to call it a phenomenon due to the overall lack of quantified statistics.

However, the report said Egypt is attempting to prevent trafficking "due to the success of brokers and this is one of the top priorities" of the ministry.

The report, which was conducted from June 2009 to June 2010, said "there were no controls to regulate the employment of children and domestic workers, despite the adoption of the Children Act and that there were no accurate statistics available on them in addition to child labor, which is one of the issues intertwined with the issue of trafficking in children, marriage and require coordination with various parties."

Yussra Abdel-Ghany, a ministry spokeswoman in Alexandria, told Bikya Masr that in order to fully gauge the situation, "we must start to correlate all the available information into hard facts so we and other institutions know how to tackle the issue."

She added that the use of hotlines has "increased dramatically and this is a sign that the problem is not going away and that there are many young girls out there that need our help."

Read more: http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=15991

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Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban

Dear Friends:

As many of you know, I sometimes circulate articles pertaining to women's human rights on this list. Accordingly, below are brief excerpts from a Time Magazine article discussing women's perilous situation in Afghanistan. I strongly encourage you to read the full article, and view the photographs. Be forewarned: some of the images are brutal and haunting.

For those of us reading this article in the West, let's not take our right's for granted. Let's also not forget that the raw misogyny that produces disfigured faces like that of Aisha's is the expressed throughout the world -- in ways like sex trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and rape as a weapon of war.

Please keep Aisha and the women of Afghanistan in your prayers.

Abolition!

Lisa

video link: http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,308943282001_2007270,00.html

Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban

The Taliban pounded on the door just before midnight, demanding that Aisha, 18, be punished for running away from her husband's house. They dragged her to a mountain clearing near her village in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, ignoring her protests that her in-laws had been abusive, that she had no choice but to escape. Shivering in the cold air and blinded by the flashlights trained on her by her husband's family, she faced her spouse and accuser. Her in-laws treated her like a slave, Aisha pleaded. They beat her. If she hadn't run away, she would have died. Her judge, a local Taliban commander, was unmoved. Later, he would tell Aisha's uncle that she had to be made an example of lest other girls in the village try to do the same thing. The commander gave his verdict, and men moved in to deliver the punishment. Aisha's brother-in-law held her down while her husband pulled out a knife. First he sliced off her ears. Then he started on her nose. Aisha passed out from the pain but awoke soon after, choking on her own blood. The men had left her on the mountainside to die. . . .

Traditional ways, however, do little for women. Aisha's family did nothing to protect her from the Taliban. That might have been out of fear, but more likely it was out of shame. A girl who runs away is automatically considered a prostitute in deeply traditional societies, and families that allow them back home would be subject to widespread ridicule. A few months after Aisha arrived at the shelter, her father tried to bring her home with promises that he would find her a new husband. Aisha refused to leave. In rural areas, a family that finds itself shamed by a daughter sometimes sells her into slavery, or worse, subjects her to a so-called honor killing — murder under the guise of saving the family's name.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238-1,00.html

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Human Trafficking Webinars set for September

Dear Friends:

Here is some exciting news from Truckers Against Trafficking. They will be hosting a series of webinars to engage truckers in anti-trafficking efforts. This is a great idea that can be replicated in countries around the world.

Please forward this information to any truckers you know.

Abolition!

Lisa

Human Trafficking Webinars set for September
via AskTheTrucker by Allen Smith on 8/19/10

Truckers Against Trafficking

Truck drivers across the country have been called on by Chapter 61 ministries to be the eyes and ears for the human trafficking crisis in America. The partnership between the Transport for Christ and Chapter 61 organizations, the Truckers Against Trafficking, along with many others, have led to a much greater awareness of this problem, not only in the United States but abroad. Recent headline news is focusing on this $32 billion a year business, which destroys countless lives and enslaves its victims . . . the majority of whom are women and children:

Global human trafficking roundup (August 18, 2010)
US-Philippines project to combat human trafficking
Ohio in "Dirty Dozen" because of lax anti-trafficking effort
6 arrested in human trafficking case involving teen girl in Jacksonville, FL
Human traffickers supply nail-salon workers

These are just a few of the most recent cases involving human trafficking. Most Americans are aware of the problem in Asia and Africa, but are oblivious to that fact that it is big business here in the United States. Chapter 61 ministries will be presenting another set of online informational webinars in September, 2010. The webinars are set for the following dates :

09/01/10
09/02/10
09/07/10
09/15/10
09/16/10 and
09/23/10

All webinars will begin at 9 p.m. EDT. Because members of the trucking and travel plaza industry represent the eyes and ears of America on those highways, they can play a critical part in fighting this crime and those who perpetrate it. They simply need to know what to look for, what questions to ask and what steps to take.

If you would like to attend one of these webinars, please send your name and the exact email address to : tfcio@transportforchrist.org – (this will be the address you use for the webinar). For more information, please contact Scott Weidner, President and CEO of Transport for Christ at (717) 426-9977. Please title request "Trafficking webinar."

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'2,600 Sex Workers Trafficked' Study Says

Dear Friends:

The news item below merits a couple of comments: 1) If you are trafficked for prostitution you are a victim of serial paid rape, not a "sex worker." Thus the title of this article is yet another offense against the victims. 2) I'm surprised at the lack of recognition of domestic sex trafficking (trafficking of a country's citizen's within its own borders) that is implied by this report. Perhaps the focus was only about international sex trafficking; should that be the case please be aware that in many countries -- including the U.S. -- there is a very serious problem of domestic sex trafficking.

Abolition!

Lisa

'2,600 Sex Workers Trafficked' Study Says
Thursday, 19 August 2010

The number of migrant women trafficked into Britain to work as prostitutes is lower than previously thought, a report has claimed.

Around 2,600 migrant women have been trafficked into England and Wales and forced to work as prostitutes, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). A further 9,600 sex workers were judged to be "vulnerable migrants", many of whom were abused and exploited, but researchers could not be sure they had been trafficked.

This is far lower than previous estimates, which have ranged from 4,000, according to a 2003 Home Office study, to the 18,000 announced by the then Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, Tim Brain, in 2008.

The latest Acpo study found that 17,000 of the 30,000 women involved in the off-street sex trade are migrants, mostly from China, Thailand and eastern Europe. They said at least 2,600 of these were trafficked into the country and made to work as prostitutes, often with threats of violence.

Read more!