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Contents contributed and discussions participated by anouk jurgens

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Human Trafficking Escalates as World Economy Plunges, UCLA International Institute - 0 views

www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp
shared by anouk jurgens on 02 May 10 - Cached
  • may top the list of the world's most profitable and headline-grabbing illegal activities, but second to that — in a close tie with the illegal arms trade — is human trafficking, the recruitment or coercion of people who are held captive as laborers in everything from the sex industry to domestic servitude. More than 12 million people worldwide are currently victims, according to the United Nations' International Labor Organization. The $9 billion industry is the 21st century's fastest-growing criminal enterprise.
  • he current economic meltdown is also adding to the problem. Traffickers, who perceive human beings as commodities to be bought and sold, take advantage of the deepening desperation of those living in impoverished parts of the world. California is one of the top destinations for trafficking victims from Mexico, Latin America and Asia. The Eastern states see more cases coming from eastern Europe and Africa — although in the past two years, said Buck, CAST has seen an increase in victims coming into the L.A. region from Africa. More are also being brought over from the Philippines to work predominantly in nursing homes and other eldercare facilities.  
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Freedom From Fear Magazine - Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border - 0 views

www.freedomfromfearmagazine.org/index.php
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  • Yet conditions in the current era of globalization—growing economic inequalities within and among nations, increasing flows of labour and products across national borders, and the growth of informal economies and organized criminal networks, to name a few—are causing it to proliferate on a global scale (Farr, 2005).
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Human Trafficking: An Overview - 0 views

crs.org/...in_depth.cfm
shared by anouk jurgens on 27 Apr 10 - Cached
  • Trafficking in human beings is a $10-billion growth industry. Conservative estimates of the number of people trafficked into forced labor and prostitution range from 700,000 to 2 million people — primarily women and children — annually.
  • the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
  • ics Trafficking has been described as "the dark underbelly of globalization." It is one of the end results of rapid economic, technological and social changes worldwide. Such rapid changes have created or exacerbated people's vulnerability and, at the same time, expanded the opportunities for predators to exploit that vulnerability. CRS recognized the need to reduce economic vulnerability while enhancing the capacity of communities to implement protection mechanisms for people at-risk.
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  • conomic factors driving the increase and expansion of human trafficking include not only poverty itself but also: Lack of employment options, which may have existed in the past Increased economic disparity Rapid and severe economic decline in some countries Additionally, greater vulnerability has been created
  • Elimination of social safety nets — many countries have been mandated to restructure their economies and minimize social spending in order to qualify for multilateral loans and international economic support Fluidity of capital — recent advances in information systems have made the profits from criminal activity, such as trafficking, easier to transfer and launder rapidly across the globe. Race to the bottom on labor standards/cost of production — increased international competition to produce consumer goods at the lowest cost possible can, and has, exacerbated abusive labor practices, the most severe, that of forced labor and slavery-like practices. Corruption — state corruption is a serious concern in many societies and is closely tied to the spread of trafficking. Corruption of state representatives responsible for public order and social welfare can be exacerbated by economic decline. Economic migration — As economies are increasingly integrated and investment and employment quickly move from one part of the globe to another, workers generally do not have the legal freedom of movement to go where employment exists. Even as wealthier nations with aging populations and declining fertility rates increasingly rely on migrant labor, prohibitive immigration laws have been created, which make the act of migrating both difficult and dangerous. In the absence of safe and legal options for migration, large numbers of migrants can be left with little choice but to place themselves at the mercy of migrant smugglers and in the worst cases, unknowingly in the hands of traffickers.
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Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 Financial Crisis and Human Trafficking - 0 views

www.state.gov/...124798.htm
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  • f the crisis continues, more than 200 million workers, mostly in developing economies, could be pushed into extreme poverty, according to the report.
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Human trafficking and the effects on the global economy - IDST-018: John Carroll Schola... - 0 views

cndls.georgetown.edu/...index.cfm
shared by anouk jurgens on 25 Apr 10 - Cached
  • In Guatemala, the adoption market has up to $90 million annually.
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Human trafficking in Mexico targets women and children - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html
shared by anouk jurgens on 25 Apr 10 - Cached
  • While a prisoner, Maria witnessed a sickening trade in human life and recalls how young girls were drugged, forced into prostitution and then murdered.
  • Maria described a cross-border trade in young children and babies -- with orders coming in regularly from the U.S.
  • The U.S. State Department estimates that more than 20,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year -- mainly destined for the sex trade.
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Human Trafficking Worldwide ~ Mexico | Wide Angle - 0 views

www.pbs.org/...1456
shared by anouk jurgens on 25 Apr 10 - Cached
  • Mexico serves primarily as a transit country for traffickers’ ultimate market — the U.S. Victims come mostly from Central America, though Brazil and Eastern Europe are also represented. The Mexican organized crime group Titanium runs one of the world’s largest slavery and forced labor rings, a recent study by Johns Hopkins University found. Mexican smugglers have also been subcontracted by Chinese trafficking rings to ship Chinese migrants over U.S. borders. With limited legal obstacles and widespread poverty, many Mexicans also become victims and are shipped to the U.S. Demand is highest for women and children, though men, as an investigative piece published by THE NEW YORKER in April 2003 revealed, are often shipped to fruit farms throughout the southern U.S. as well.
  • Brought into the U.S. by “coyotes,” or smugglers, those that survive the crossing often find themselves at the mercy of a handler who delivers them to their ultimate work site. Unable to pay for transportation or food, upon arrival a work foreman allegedly pays for these services for them. Not speaking English (or, often, Spanish, in the case of victims from Mexico’s native population), they have little choice but to work off their so-called “debts” at the work boss’s bidding. Such practices have long been the focus of immigration officials in southern California and the border areas of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, but South Florida is also “ground zero for modern slavery,” a U.S. Justice Department official told THE NEW YORKER. Successful prosecutions remain few: In the past six years, six cases have been successfully prosecuted.
  • Nor do children escape from Mexico’s trafficking rings. As of 2001, according to UNICEF and the Mexican National System for Integration of the Family, an estimated 16,000 children were used for sexual exploitation within Mexico. Hondurans, Guatemalans, and El Salvadorans were also among those at work in the sex indust
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