Two women rescued from the North's sex slave trade

Two women rescued from the North's sex slave trade in the last year were given support and counselling in Derry, it's been revealed.
The two victims of ruthless human trafficking operations were picked up in a North West brothel run by an international criminal gang. They were referred to Derry-based Foyle Women's Aid (FWA) for support."They sought help in Derry and came through our services," Marie Brown of FWA told the 'Journal'.The Derry organisation has taken the lead in the North West in terms of providing support services for victims of the sex slave trade and from next month will be taking part in a new government-funded support scheme.
"Dealing with trafficked women requires a different expertise to give them the proper support and ensure they are not terrified, re-trafficked or even murdered," Ms Brown said.The proximity of Derry to the border with Donegal has raised concerns about the risk of the city becoming a sex slave hotspot."There's a lot of human trafficking going on in the South and because we're so close to the border it's important that we have the expertise to deal with the problem here," Ms Brown added.The new package is supported by the PSNI and will be delivered by Foyle Women's Aid in Derry. Victims of human trafficking will be offered secure accommodation, healthcare and counselling.PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris revealed this week that women from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Far East have been rescued from brothels in the last year.
"They are being held in captivity . . . continual victims of rape," he said. He added that officers had uncovered brothels in very unexpected locations, many of them in rural areas.Mr Harris said while international gangs were organising the racket, many local criminals were assisting them.

Forced prostitution in Cambodia

Forced prostitution in Cambodia, Somaly Mam recounts how her grandfather sold her to a brothel, and her subsequent efforts to help others in the situation she ultimately escaped from. The organization she founded in Phnom Penh 13 years ago, AFESIP, has opened offices in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand to combat the regional trade in girls.“In Thailand’s brothels,” writes Nicholas Kristof, columnist for The New York Times, “Thai girls usually work voluntarily, while Burmese and Cambodian girls are regularly imprisoned.” In Cambodia’s worst brothels, he says, “Pimps use violence, humiliation and narcotics to shatter girls’ self-esteem and terrorize them into unquestioning, instantaneous obedience.”
Somaly Mam finds girls as young as 5 and 6 sold to brothels, explaining, “Since we started AFESIP, the brothels have grown larger and more violent. We find women chained to sewers. Girls come to us half beaten to death … these girls suffer a more brutal sort of torture.”The U.S. State Department pursues international trafficking of women for sex by investigating U.S. citizens involved in trafficking, and monitoring countries with a history of sex trade. But investigators have a hard time distinguishing between illegal migration and forced trafficking, and between trafficking for sexual purposes and forced labor.In fact, many advocates argue that labor trafficking is a far worse problem than forced sex work.Throughout Asia, women are recruited for jobs in foreign countries. Once signed up, they have no control over where they go, how much they work, or the type of work they do. The bait may be child care in San Francisco, housekeeping in Malaysia, or factory work in Hong Kong; the reality is often much more arduous, and much less lucrative.The Immigrant Women and Children Project of the Bar Association of New York City says the majority of their clients were trafficked into domestic work, including immigrants brought to work for UN and consular officials.The typical employee “gets paid $50 a month or not at all…. working seventeen, eighteen hours a day, catering parties, washing laundry by hand even though there’s a washing machine. They’ve had their documents withheld and their phone calls monitored.”Most of the publicity and prosecutions of forced labor have been for prostitution. Writing in The Nation magazine, Debbie Nathan criticizes this focus as a “morbid fascination with forced prostitution, even though more people may be forced to pick broccoli than to rent out their genitals.”In some Asian countries, sweatshops offer an alternative, with rare stable jobs for women, who often leave behind their homes and families.Kristof concludes that jobs in Cambodia’s garment sweatshops are among the best in that country: “In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn’t the bottom.”His critics argue, however, that the problem isn’t factory work itself, but the factories with deplorable conditions, where “recruiters” lure children into illegal factory work, as in a case that erupted in China last summer.Some women instead turn to international matchmaking to escape poverty, assuming that marriage to a man who can afford the cost of “consuming” a mail-order bride, which can range from $4,000 to $15,000, is better than toiling in the rice fields, garment factories, or sex shops of Asia.The unregulated “wife-import” business draws women mostly from poor countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. Some companies even advertise minors to their clients, says the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association.But many brides find themselves in servitude to their husbands. In the U.S., a woman can only get permanent residency after two years of marriage, tying her to her husband and making her vulnerable to abuse.In 1994, in a stunning act of violence against his imported bride, Timothy Blackwell shot his abused Filipina wife Susanna to death outside the Seattle courtroom where her divorce petition was being heard.What are the alternatives?Educating vulnerable girls is the best hope for ending poverty and abuse, says the Girl Effect, an organization working to improve opportunities for girls throughout the Third World.
Girls and young women ages 10 to 24 comprise over one-quarter of the population in Asia. And when girls and women earn an income, they reinvest more of it into their families than men, says The Girl Effect; every additional year of secondary school increases their income by 15-25 percent.NGO’s and governments are finding when women invest in their communities, rates of malnutrition, hunger, disease, infant mortality and HIV/AIDS can be reduced, and economic growth improved. Microlenders report an exceptional rate of repayment among women’s businesses, and measure the return on their investments in improvements to the community.

10-20 “massage” parlours, “sexy girls”, or exotically named “escorts” in the classifieds of the daily newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago

Missing people per capita of Trinidad is one of the highest in the world.Is such a high-profile crime being carried out in Trinidad though? Human Trafficking? Some of the horrible motives behind human trafficking include : stealing organs, pornography, sex slavery, settlements for drug trades and plain old money. Keeping that in mind and after seeing Hostel and Hostel II, human trafficking is probably the worst thing that could happen to someone, and their family.We don’t know if it really exists. If it does, then there is some credence behind the whole children found in a container story, if not, then a serial killer or group of serial killers are on the loose in Trinidad.What I do know however is there is a relation among the drug trade, unprotected coasts, prostitution and these missing people.The first two are no-brainers, but prostitution in Trinidad is probably the most bold-faced crime being committed in the world. Unlike some states in the U.S like Nevada, and other countries like the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, etc. prostitution is illegal in Trinidad, and it always has been.As a teenager I always got excited to see one or two suspicious ads in the personals section of the newspapers which suggested that sex services were being offered. In recent years, coincidentally when missing persons numbers began spiking like crazy, the personals section of the newspapers suddenly is an obvious sex marketplace. Brothels are also now quite obviously open all over Trinidad.Right now you can get the name and number of between 10-20 “massage” parlours, “sexy girls”, or exotically named “escorts” in the classifieds of the daily newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago on any given day. In other words, these people are advertising something illegal, plain and bold in the newspapers, and the Trinidad police aren’t doing a damn thing about it.

Rami Saban, 35, from Megadim, was charged with 23 felony offenses, including conspiracy to commit a crime, operating a brothel, managing a brothel

Rami Saban, 35, from Megadim, was charged with 23 felony offenses, including conspiracy to commit a crime, operating a brothel, managing a brothel, solicitation, forcing a person to leave their country of residence to work as a prostitute, assault, forgery, money laundering and harassing witnesses. The three key suspects are alleged to have pocketed between NIS 1 million and NIS 3m. each. The suspects forced scores of women to leave their homes to work as prostitutes, smuggled them across international borders, and employed them as prostitutes in 12 brothels in the Tel Aviv area, according to the charge sheet filed in a Tel Aviv court. Hundreds of women worked at the brothels over the years. The 60-page indictment was filed after a suspect in the case turned state witness as a part of a plea bargain agreement. The suspects allegedly operated the brothels for the past decade ago, as well as a separate phone sex service. The women were smuggled into Israel from the former Soviet Union via Sinai. The women were kept - and often imprisoned - in Tel Aviv apartments that were rented for them by the suspects, the charge sheet relates. The prostitutes charged NIS 100 to 400 per client, and are believed to have had dozens of clients each day. The women had to hand over the money to the suspects, who kept the vast majority of it for themselves. Some of the women were lied to about why they were being brought to Israel, with one told that she was going to work as a caretaker, and another as a waitress, according to the indictment. Saban allegedly put a gun to one woman's head and beat her when he suspected she had tried to escape. In another case, he is alleged to have assaulted two women for refusing to have sex with each other in front of clients, and then locking one of them in an office for a week as punishment. A year and a half ago, several of the suspects allegedly opened a brothel in Cyprus to conceal the money they were making off the women in Israel. The suspects exploited the 25 women in Cyprus, too, forcing them to work during their periods, and depriving them of or reducing their meager income if they complained about their treatment. Saban was convicted back in 2001 of trafficking in women and sentenced to 31 months in jail, and was found guilty of operating a brothel a year later. He is suspected of carrying out the latest offenses while serving the additional suspended sentences from his previous convictions. Prosecutors asked the court to remand the suspects in custody through the duration of their trial, saying they pose danger to the public in light of the severity and number of felonies they allegedly committed.

child-trafficking ring that has sent 200 teenage girls from Laos into sex slavery in Thailand.

Brisbane-based charity says it has smashed a child-trafficking ring that has sent 200 teenage girls from Laos into sex slavery in Thailand.Two Brisbane business figures started the charity, The Grey Man, which claims more than 400 supporters in Australia and South-East Asia.The Grey Man says its raids this month, with the help of Thai police, rescued five 15-year-old girls from brothels and karaoke bars.It is alleged an accused child-trafficker took the girls from their families in 2005 after promising to find them factory work. The girls' families allegedly each received $600 - twice the average annual wage in Thailand. Three alleged ringleaders of the child trafficking ring were arrested this month in northern Laos, The Grey Man says.Retired chartered accountant Russell Hawksford is one of the two men who front The Grey Man. The other, who only goes by the name "John", is said to be an ex-Special Air Service (SAS) officer."John . . . became an anthropologist," Mr Hawksford said. "He works in Brisbane when he is not in Laos."The Grey Man also runs projects to provide solar energy, community centres or school equipment.Rotary backs some projects. But the main game was running covert operations to rescue child prostitutes, Mr Hawksford said.The last raids had been the most successful since the group formed in 2004.

"We find that [the girls] are trafficked for either their labour or for the sex trade," he said. "We find that in the south [of Laos] . . . a lot of them are trafficked into Thailand for factories. But the ones we rescued [this month] were definitely for the sex trade. The intelligence we have is that the gang has been running roughly 200 girls a year."

Mr Hawksford said The Grey Man's work barely scraped the surface towards eradicating child prostitution. "It is the tip of the iceberg, but it is still five lives," he said. "Once they are trafficked, they are beaten and raped. And if the resist they are beaten and raped and many of them end up with AIDS."Intelligence about the latest child-trafficking ring had come from a non-government agency working in northern Laos, he said.
"They would prefer to give the intelligence to us and then we would work out the best way of handling the operation," he said.
"We don't break the law, we don't do operations that might become an international incident and we obviously engage the police."In this case, the provincial police engaged the Bangkok special squad and we worked out the logistics of doing it."He said the arrests, near Chiang Khong, had taken place on the Mekong River, with Thai police leading the operation. Police now had information that could lead to seven more arrests. Mr Hawksford said there was no evidence of children trafficked to Australia, but there had been a few cases of Asian women smuggled into brothels.No one knows how many women and children are affected, but estimates for the East Asia region alone are between 250,000 and 400,000 a year.

Eight men were indicted yesterday on 23 counts of trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution

Eight men were indicted yesterday on 23 counts of trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution, assault, threats and other charges. According to the Tel Aviv police Central Unit, which made the arrests at the beginning of March, the men are suspected of operating "the biggest woman-smuggling ring that ever operated in Israel." The central suspect in the indictment, filed in the Tel Aviv District, is Rahamim Saban, 35, from Moshav Megadim, allegedly a member of the Abutbul crime family. The other suspects are Shmuel Malka, 33 and Golan Azrad, 37, also from Megadim, David Muraidi, 38, from Tel Aviv, Ya'akov Muraidi, 40, from Holon, Reuven Hodiantov, 40, from Rishon Letzion, Kobi Elimelech, 43, from Afula, and Shlomo Dukerker, 45, from Petah Tikva. The arrests were made possible due to information provided by another suspect who turned state's witness. The indictment states that some of the suspects operated 12 brothels from 1999 to 2004 in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, among other charges. They also brought hundreds of women from the former Soviet Union to Israel via Egypt. They allegedly sold the women to brothels for between $5,000 and $7,000 each. Saban is suspected of being a partner in some of the brothels, receiving a 30-percent cut. Some of the women were reportedly locked into apartments and some were told they would have to work for free or for low fees at first to pay back the cost of bringing them to Israel. Some were also told they would not be paid if they left before their 18-month period of employment was over. Rahamim Saban is said to have made NIS 1,128,850 during the period he was supposedly a partner in the brothels. The indictment states that in one case the suspects told the woman she was being brought to Israel to care for the elderly, and in another, that she would be a waitress. Saban is suspected of holding a gun to the head of one woman, kicking and punching her.
Some of the suspects also reportedly established a brothel in Cyprus to launder money from their Israel operation. Saban was convicted in 2001 of aiding and abetting trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution, and sentenced to 31 months in jail. In 2002 he was convicted of maintaining a brothel and procuring women for prostitution. According to the prosecution, Saban committed the crimes he is now charged with while serving his sentence for previous crimes.

Pornographic films were shot in VIP-brothels with clients.

criminal group with international contacts was detained in Nikolaev. Criminals had been seeking, enlisting and sending young females from Nikolaev city and Region, to Czechia and Cyprus aimed at their sale to procurers to be exploited in sex. The criminal group was included into international human traffic. 12 organizers have been detained in Israel recently. On last days off the Department on struggle against human traffic at the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Nikolaev Region and special forces Berkut detained 6 people who had been involved into criminal activity related to girls’ delivery to brothels abroad. Apprehended citizens allegedly had been working as procurers, involved into human traffic since 2004. About 30 prostitutes worked in saunas. Among them were minors, some of them were only 16, Prestupnosti.NET reports. The prosecutor’s office brought a charge against them. Law enforcement agencies found hidden cameras in saunas during a search. Criminals had been shooting pornographic films. Law enforcement agents found video records with sex scenes involving many well-known people of Nikolaev city and Region.