Polaris Project

Do you know what the Polaris Project is? Have you heard of it?

The Polaris Project is an organization in Washington D.C. that fights all forms of human trafficking/modern day slavery on both international and domestic levels. Take a look at their website:

http://www.polarisproject.org/

And, if you or someone you know is in trouble, or you suspect human trafficking, call them @

1-888-3737-888

Washington State AG Battles Sex Trafficking

AG details legal battle against sex trafficking

Rob McKenna speaks to Vancouver Rotary

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna spoke to the Vancouver Rotary Club on Wednesday about the campaign he is waging at both the state and national levels to combat human trafficking.

By Kathie Durbin
Columbian Staff Reporter

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

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Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna visited Vancouver Wednesday, but not to discuss his upcoming campaign to succeed Democrat Chris Gregoire as Washington’s governor.

Instead, McKenna was wearing a different hat as president of the National Association of Attorneys General. The Vancouver Rotary Club invited him to talk about the campaign he is waging at both the state and national levels to combat human trafficking.

It’s been a priority for McKenna for years. In 2008, he invited former U.S. Rep. Linda Smith of Vancouver to come to Olympia and brief lawmakers about Washington’s own problem with sex trafficking of teenagers. Smith is the founder of Vancouver-based Shared Hope International, an organization that battles cross-border sex trafficking internationally as well prostitution rings close to home.

“We’re a bit of a hot spot for human trafficking,” McKenna told the Rotary audience of 130. He recalled a Pierce County official describing to him how five or six young girls had been forced into prostitution by Tacoma street gangs. “That really drove home the issue,” he said.

Human trafficking — for prostitution or other forced labor — is a huge problem both domestically and internationally, McKenna said. An estimated 14 million victims of trafficking are smuggled across international borders annually. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year as cheap labor or for sexual exploitation.

“It’s the fastest-growing criminal activity in the world,” McKenna said. “Criminals realize there is a lot of money to be made.”

Spearheaded law

As attorney general, McKenna has zeroed in on consumers of child pornography. In 2009, he drafted and won passage of legislation allowing prosecutors to charge multiple counts of child pornography if they can prove a defendant had a pattern of intentionally viewing multiple images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct over the Internet.

His view is that child pornography is a permanent record of the sexual abuse of a child, and each time an image of that abuse is viewed, the victim is victimized again.

He praised the Washington, D.C.-based Polaris Project, which operates a human trafficking hot line, offers clinical social services to trafficking victims, and advocates for stronger laws to lock up traffickers.

He also endorsed Linda Smith’s Protected Innocence Initiative, which evaluates sex-trafficking laws state by state and issues regular report cards. Washington’s most recent grade was a C, he said.

Four priorities

The National Association of Attorneys General has identified four priorities to fight human trafficking: Making the case by documenting prosecutions of traffickers by individual states; holding traffickers accountable through tough sentencing laws; mobilizing communities to care for victims so they don’t return to the street; and raising public awareness.

McKenna said some people question why laws against sex trafficking are needed when most states already have laws against promoting prostitution.

To them, he says, “Organized crime is worse than random crime and deserves stronger penalties.”

McKenna saved some of his sharpest words for what he considers a subtle cultural tolerance for sex trafficking. For example, he said, alternative weeklies promote the web site backpage.com, which he said lures young people into forced prostitution.

“Let’s be clear, there are very few people in prostitution who are volunteers,” he said. “With respect to those under 18, we should have no tolerance for arguments that they have given consent. … Slavery is morally reprehensible and should not be tolerated by anyone, and yet it is.”

Busy Bees Here at Called to Rescue

So, where have I been?

I have been steadily working on a grant that I am putting together on behalf of Called to Rescue. It's amazing how much time it takes to go through all of those research articles! I have found some wonderful information to share with our readers and I hope to post soon.

Called to Rescue's founder, Dr. Cyndi Romine is currently in the Philippines working, advocating, training, rescuing and helping out the Filipino people the best way she knows how. Keep her and the team in your prayers and thoughts as they fight this fight against sex trafficking.

Sorry the post is so very short, but I will get back into my groove very soon. :)

Comparing Sex Buyers with Men Who Don't Buy Sex Study

This is a newly published study and I just wanted to highlight a couple of discoveries this group makes within their study.

Comparing Sex Buyers with Men Who Don’t Buy Sex
“You can have a good time with the servitude”
vs.
“You’re supporting a system of degradation”

Melissa Farley, Emily Schuckman, Jacqueline M. Golding, Kristen Houser,
Laura Jarrett, Peter Qualliotine, Michele Decker

Psychologists for Social Responsibility Annual Conference
Boston, Massachusetts July 15, 2011
Research by Prostitution Research & Education
Research Supported by Hunt Alternatives Fund

Called to Rescue does not own any of this information, nor is any of it our original idea. We are merely wanting to spread the word of these interesting findings in attempt to advocate and educate.

“Both sex buyers and non-sex buyers evidenced extensive knowledge of the physical and psychological harms of prostitution. Two thirds of both the sex buyers and the non-sex buyers observed that a majority of women are lured, tricked, or trafficked into prostitution. Many of the men had an awareness of the economic coercion and the lack of alternatives in women's entry into prostitution. Almost all of the sex buyers and non-sex buyers shared the opinion that minor children are almost always available for prostitution in bars, massage parlors, escort and other prostitution in Boston” (pg. 5)

"The knowledge that the women have been exploited, coerced, pimped, or trafficked failed to deter sex buyers from buying sex. Many of the sex buyers had used women who were controlled by pimps at the time they used her for sex. Sex buyers in this study seemed to justify their involvement in the sex industry by stating their belief that women in prostitution are essentially different from non-prostituting women" (pg. 5)

"Both sex buyers and non-sex buyers subscribed to the theory that prostitution reduces the likelihood of rape. Although half of the study‘s sample did not buy sex, many of them were tolerant of prostitution for men who did. These findings suggest that efforts to deter sex buyers should expand their focus from men who buy sex to the general public's attitudes that support prostitution" (pg. 5).

"Both sex buyers and non-sex buyers agreed that the most effective deterrent to buying sex would be to be placed on a registry of sex offenders. Other effective deterrents included public exposure techniques such as having their name or photo publicized on a billboard, newspaper, or the Internet. Spending time in jail was considered an effective deterrent by 80% of sex buyers and 83% of non-sex buyers. Educational programs were considered the least effective deterrent by both groups of men" (Pg.5).

Justice!

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/07/teen_sex_trafficking_victim_co.html

"A Portland pimp is expected to serve 20 years in prison for pushing a 13-year-old Salem runaway into prostitution in four states."

Click the link for the rest of the story- so good to see some justice!

Great Website

Do you think looking at porn is harmless? Think again...

Check out this website: http://www.pornharms.com/

PORN HURTS

Porn leads to violence against women

NEW YORK — The hits pornography generates on the Internet may not be limited to website statistics. Morality in Media is trying to bring attention to studies that show pornography increases violence against women.

"Today's porn producers are featuring violence due to its popularity among consumers," said Dawn Hawkins, Morality in Media's executive director, in a press release. "Spousal violence is also one of our greatest concerns — the husband consuming violent porn and then living out the pornographic scenes in his marriage."

The release is part of a four-week awareness campaign that began on July 11. The first week focused on pornography addiction. This was followed by looking at the harm to children and links to sex trafficking. This week it looks at violence against women. A website called PornHarms.com details the campaign.

Patrick Trueman, president of Morality in Media, told CNS, "Men are watching porn movies that are very violent and they want their wife or partner to repeat out what they see in the films. There's an increase in sexual trafficking, because as men see pornography they're hiring prostitutes."

In July, Newsweek magazine looked at prostitution and its connections to pornography. It also found a link with violence, "Overall, the attitudes and habits of sex buyers reveal them as men who dehumanize and commodify women, view them with anger and contempt, lack empathy for their suffering, and relish their own ability to inflict pain and degradation."

In the Morality in Media press release, Trueman said studies show that pornography leads to violence because the excitement factor for porn diminishes and requires more and more deviant materials to gain the same level of excitement. "Internet pornography consumers are essentially training their brains to demand violence, because the images available are unimaginably depraved and violent. By not putting a stop to this illegal pornography available on the Internet, our country is creating a culture of violence for today's woman."

Porn Harms is hosting several events about the subject this week, including a live discussion on FaceBook today at 2 p.m. MDT.

Ironically, because studies show that viewing pornography actually causes harm, it is getting more difficult to conduct studies on the subject. Mary Anne Layden, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania told CNS, "For those of us who are in academic institutions, our research has to be cleared by an institutional review board … You're mandated not to hurt your subjects. … What institutional review board is going to give you permission to do your study?"

At least one correlation study, however, claimed pornography has the opposite effect on violence. Todd D. Kendalls, who was an assistant professor of economics at Clemson University in South Carolina, found that "the arrival of the Internet was associated with a reduction in rape incidence." He told the Christian Science Monitor that saying pornography causes sex crimes "is a bit like saying that many Mexicans like tacos, and so the way to solve our country's illegal immigration problem is to abolish Mexican food."

Layden, on the other hand, told CNS about a study from 1984 where one group watched a lot of pornography, another group watched less and a third watched none. The group that watched the most pornography, for example were more accepting of rape — thinking rapists should spend 50 percent less time in jail than the group that watched no pornography.

But getting something done about pornography, even with all the proof that it is harmful, is difficult. Hawkins at Morality in Media told OneNewsNow, "The goal of that is to get the Department of Justice to prosecute illegal, hardcore adult pornography." But, so far "there have been zero prosecutions under this administration."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700167575/Porn-leads-to-violence-against-women.html?pg=1

Check out The Whistleblower

A new movie that sheds light on sex trafficking and other social injustices around the world.

"It follows Ms. Bolkovac’s real-life assignment as a United Nations peacekeeper in Bosnia in the 1990s, a job that exposed her to a world of international workers complicit in and in many cases fostering the international trade of young women for sex. Ms. Bolkovac’s investigation led to her firing. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/movies/rachel-weisz-in-the-whistleblower-on-sex-trafficking.html?_r=3

Olympic Games 2012

Demand Supply 2012 is a short film that is shedding light on the issue of sex trafficking before the London 2012 Olympic games. During these kinds of events the demand for sex is high and the supply of sex trafficked humans is also high.

Take a look at the documentary coming out warning against the trafficking problems that will arise during the 2012 Olympic Games.

http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk/news.aspx?action=view&id=5553

United States Homeland Security

Homeland Security launch anti-sex trafficking campaign

• John Lantigua, Palm Beach Post staff writer

The video displays a beautiful, bare-shouldered adolescent wearing bright red lipstick, perched on a swing in a large birdcage, while a man leers at her from outside.

It might be a scene from a local strip club, except for one poignant difference: The young woman is weeping.

"I didn't leave my country for this," she cries out in Spanish.

The bilingual TV promotional spot, which began airing Monday in South Florida, is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection Division. It is asking Floridians to keep an eye out for a certain class of human beings: slaves.

That includes sex slaves, especially young foreign women forced into prostitution in the U.S., and other people imported from abroad and forced into indentured servitude in underpaid or unpaid labor.

"Some of these activities can be going on right in neighborhoods where people live," said Chuck Prichard, Border Protection's South Florida spokesman. "We're not asking people to play detective, but there are signs that can tip people off to that activity and we are asking people to report in if they suspect people are victims of traffickers."

Florida key battleground

Because of its large market for undocumented workers, Florida is seen as a key battleground in the fight against trafficking and forced labor.

This week, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Labor Department named six U.S. cities where it will base new Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams. Miami is one of them.

"Each ACTeam, which is comprised of federal prosecutors and federal agents from the participating federal enforcement agencies, will implement a law enforcement strategic action plan to combat identified human trafficking threats," said a statement released by the Justice Department.

Wifredo Ferrer, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, will head the effort out of Miami.

"Human trafficking is modern-day slavery," he said . "The fight against human trafficking is a top priority for the Department of Justice, and for my office in particular."

Florida is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented foreign laborers, many of whom work in agriculture, landscaping, hospitality, roofing, construction and other fields. Many were smuggled into the United States. But Prichard says there is a big difference between most of those workers and victims of human trafficking.

"For those other people, the smugglers do their job, get paid off and that is the end of the relationships," Prichard said. "But for victims of human trafficking, they are not allowed to end that relationship."

The traffickers often charge exorbitant amounts to the smuggle people into the U.S., and supposedly give those people jobs that will allow them to pay off the debt. But they often pay them little and make victims pay large amounts for room and board and other fees so that those individuals end up having to work for months or years for the traffickers.

Some who have tried to escape have been beaten and even killed. Unable to leave those jobs, the victims end up in positions that approximate slavery.

One of the most common forms of human trafficking victimizes young women who are promised jobs in the U.S. as housekeepers in hotels, private maids, waitresses, etc., but are forced into prostitution to pay smuggling debts. Because Florida has so many male undocumented workers, who come to this country by themselves, those women are often forced to work in brothels serving those foreign workers.

Area prostitution ring

In Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, one of the most egregious cases in recent years was that of a prostitution ring run by Juan Luis Cadena-Sosa, originally of Mexico. Cadena-Sosa ran the illegal enterprise in the late 1990s but wasn't sentenced to prison until 2008, when he was extradited from Mexico.

"The Cadena organization informed the women and girls that they owed the organization a monetary debt for bringing them into the United States and they would be required to repay this debt by engaging in prostitution in the Cadena organization's brothels," according to documents filed by prosecutors in 2008. "There was also a conspiracy among these members of the Cadena organization to operate its brothels, by the use of force and threats of physical harm to compel the women and girls to engage in prostitution in the brothels."

The prostitution ring catered to Hispanic farmhands and construction workers. Federal agents said the ring had brothels in Fort Pierce, Lake Worth and Boynton Beach, as well as in other cities in Florida, and the women were rotated among sex houses every 15 days.

The television spots asking South Florida residents to report suspicious activity are part of a campaign called "Don't Be Fooled." The campaign also features a spot about forced labor in a garment trade sweat shop.

In February 2010, Customs and Border Protection launched a related campaign in Mexico and Central America. It warned against traffickers who might try to lure people to the U.S., promising well-paying jobs, and then enslave them.

"Death, disappearance, and enslavement: These too often are the futures that await illegal immigrants who mortgage their lives to human smugglers," David Aguilar, U.S. Customs and Border Protection deputy commissioner, said in launching the new campaign.

Red flags of possible human trafficking

Some of the common signs to look out for:

Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips.
Works excessively long and/or unusual hours.
Is not allowed breaks; has unusual restrictions at work.
Owes large and/or increasing debt.
Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work.
Is living or working in a location with high security measures, such as opaque or boarded-up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras.
Exhibits unusually fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid behavior.

How to help

Knowing or suspect that a person might be a victim of trafficking? Call (888) 373-7888.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/homeland-security-launch-anti-sex-trafficking-campaign