human trafficking Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Shared Hope International

March 8, 2011 by Guest

Liberty University Cooks Up Some Big Ideas

Last week served up an extra helping of awareness, education, and passion on Liberty University’s campus in Lynchburg, VA, kicking off the 3^rd annual Liberty Abolishing Slavery Week from Feb 28 through March 4, 2011. Throughout the week, Liberty’s Helms School of Government invited locally and nationally renowned guests as experts on the issue of human trafficking to educate and invest in students interested in fighting the world’s modern-day form of slavery. Elizabeth Scaife, Project Coordinator at Shared Hope International, said that she had “never seen a school do anything like this before.” After days of rallying for the fight against the worldwide epidemic of human trafficking alongside fellow students, I’d say Liberty stumbled upon a recipe for success.

Each day, hundreds of students filed in and out of a lecture room—sometimes standing for lack of chairs—to listen to the various speakers inform audiences about human trafficking. Some students that I met listened in between classes, some took off work in order to attend, and some even gave up sleep in the exhausting process of organizing this week-long event. Each ear leaned forward to hear representatives from organizations including Shared Hope International, Polaris Project, Restoration Ministries, Courtney’s House, Truckers Against Trafficking, the FBI and more. And while students soaked up every ounce of information available, speakers gladly provided unique expertise in areas of prevention, policy, awareness, and restoration.

Special thanks goes out to Dr. Michelle Rickert and her husband Paul Rickert from the Helms School of Government for organizing the event and standing as strong advocates for the fight on human trafficking in Virginia. Both professors show a willingness to jump through hoops for raising awareness on this issue. Their leadership inspires students to a movement of change in areas of government, criminal justice, psychology, communications, journalism and more. They have learned all too well how capable America’s college generation can be in accomplishing change among policy. Dr. Rickert even expressed that House Bill 2190, House Bill 1898and Senate Bill 1453 have all passed the Virginia General Assembly in part due to well-supported lobbying from Liberty students.

Liberty Abolishing Slavery — Click to Enlarge

The success of this week goes to show that college students are capable of becoming informed and passionate about the cause. One student shared her honest opinion that persevering through this week was a struggle because human trafficking is “such a heavy subject.” Sadly, as we struggle through one week of discussion on the topic, many others are living it. Congratulations to Liberty University for taking the first step in eradicating it by breaking the bonds of ignorance.

February 21, 2011 by webdesigner

Here Comes the Bride….Russian, Obedient, and Young…All Dressed in White

Two thousand, two thousand, do I hear two thousand? Sold! One, Russian, obedient bride to the man in the black hat.

Forget the nice dinner, awkward small talk, dropping her off at the end of the night and hoping for a call later. That’s too old fashion. Most are looking for the next new thing, whether it is technology, fashion, or even dating. The University of Alabama Health Sciences would argue that dating has evolved from colonial era courtships to modern day online matchmaking. Sites like Match.com and eHarmony boast successful industry records as online dating receives greater acclaim as an acceptable dating norm. A research article published by PR Newswire states “Recent studies of more than 11,000 people revealed that one in six marriages are now between people who met through an online dating site.” Moreover, 1 in 5 committed relationships were initiated through online dating sites and the same odds apply to number of singles who have taken advantage of these sites. These statistics show the achievements of online dating and why it is the third most popular way to meet people.

However, with every triumph there is failure. In this case, that failure is seen in the often oppressive and exploitative practice of mail order brides.

Google produced 1,740,000 results for the term “mail order bride” – many advertising the perfect lifetime servant, a future wife, and of course fast service. The normal profile of a mail order bride is an Asian, Eastern-European, or Latin American female motivated by social and economic reasons, and sometimes by her family. The typical profile of the buyeris a western, educated, and financially stable male.

Bloomberg Businessweek published an article on the subject, and according to the non-profit organization, Tahirih Justice Center, the number of mail order marriages doubled between 1999 and 2007 in the U.S. In 2010, this market reeled in more than $2 million in revenue. Business seems to be booming in this industry; however, organizations such as the National Human Trafficking Resource Center argue that it’s not so different from human trafficking.

Sonia Ossorio, the executive director of the NYC chapter of the National Organization for Women, cites it as a softer version of human trafficking, attracting customers who are looking for a “docile and obedient” woman. One mail order bride company, Hand-in-Hand, proudly markets its women as “unspoiled by feminism.”

Human Trafficking.org posted a 2006 study by Jen Marchbank at Simon Fraser University that exposed a hefty number of the mail order brides coming to Canada lack knowledge of their rights and face immense peril of being exploited. In 2009, Change.org also proclaimed that mail order brides are susceptible to human trafficking, exploitation, abuse, rape, and domestic violence.

Though certain countries have legislation regulating this practice, such laws are often limited and not well enforced. This leaves thousands of women vulnerable to be exploited by illegal marriage brokers who trade their freedom for cash.

Perhaps the notion of convenience should be left out of the love equation.

February 3, 2010 by SHI Staff

Haitian Children in the Aftermath

The hearts of compassionate people around the world have been broken by the devastation in Haiti. Because you are one of those compassionate people, we know you have no doubt responded, as we have individually, to their immediate need for shelter, food, clothing and comfort.

There is another group of people responding to this crisis-not with compassion, but with malevolence. As the experiences of the tsunami and other natural disasters have already shown, the secondary disaster lurking for many shocked and helpless people is slavery. Traffickers use the opportunity presented by desperation, grief, and disorientation to lure or abduct suffering people with promises of help. Please continue to keep this secondary threat in mind as you consider how to help mitigate the disaster in Haiti.

Haiti is no stranger to human trafficking. The restevek phenomenon has been going on in Haiti for many years. Resteveks are children from the countryside sent by their desperate families to live and work as servants with families in the city on the promise of attending school. Too often the promised education is never given and the child becomes a slave.

Haiti is now grappling with an even greater child trafficking misery. Unscrupulous people are preying on children, many of whom have lost their entire family in the earthquake and are both physically and emotionally traumatized. They are easy prey for sex traffickers who take them from their communities and put them into “product” distribution networks around the world to meet the sick demand for sex with young and vulnerable children.

What is being done?

The international community is rallying around Haiti in this issue. The U.S. State Department is working closely with UNICEF and various international and local nongovernmental organizations to stop the trafficking of children in Haiti in these chaotic post-earthquake days and weeks. ECPAT-USA has drafted a manual about protecting children from trafficking and sexual violence during emergencies, such as the one in Haiti.

Though Shared Hope has no direct presence in Haiti, we continue to fight sex trafficking throughout the world. And along with you, we pray for Haiti’s recovery and protection of its children.