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Petition Tag - trafficking
1. Poppy Project: Support for Women-Centred Services 
On Monday 11th April we, the undersigned, were both highly disappointed and extremely concerned to learn that after eight years of carrying out vital, specialist services for women who have been trafficked into prostitution or domestic servitude, London-based charity Eaves will not have its Poppy Project contract renewed.
Since 2003 the Poppy project as run by Eaves has been providing vital accommodation and support for trafficked women across the UK. Eaves is a specialist organisation which fully understands gender inequality and works according to feminist values, challenging this inequality and providing a safe space for trafficked women who have been exploited and abused, often sexually. As a member of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), a broad-based national coalition representing over 7 million individuals and organisations across the UK, Eaves actively campaigns for violence against women to be understood as a cause and consequence of women's inequality. Eaves and EVAW are not alone recognising the links between women’s inequality, trafficking and sexual exploitation – international organisations like the United Nations also recognise this fully.
Accordingly, the desperate need for a specialist, gender specific service for trafficked women cannot be overstated. Trafficking for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude disproportionately affects women, and those who are trafficked into prostitution face systematic physical and psychological abuse, violence, rape, and torture. Women trafficked into domestic servitude, too, face this same treatment.
Overwhelmingly, the perpetrators of these acts are men, who direct their violence at women simply because they are women. It should be very clear, then, that women who escape from these situations of torture and abuse have very specific needs that require women-centred and women-led services: it is an uncomplicated question of providing safety, support, dignity and humanity to women who have suffered horrifically at the hands of men.
In awarding the contract to run Poppy Project services to the Salvation Army, a generic service provider with lacking specialist skills, training or recognition of trafficking for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation as a gendered issue, the Government is surely failing in its duty to address violence against women as upheld internationally by the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Such a blatant negation of the value and importance of women-centred services is not only disappointing – it is dangerous.
We want an explanation from the MoJ as to why a non-specialist service-provider was awarded the Poppy Project contract, and we want confirmation that trafficked women will not suffer as a result. Further, we want the MoJ to recognise the services that women-led organisations provide, and to affirm its understanding of trafficking for sexual exploitation as violence against women issue.
2. Human Trafficking: Help Raise Awareness and Bring it Before Parliament!!
Human Trafficking is a very profitable industry for those involved. But the people being trafficked are often stripped of their rights and freedoms and become 2nd class citizens to their captors. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world.
Revenue from trafficked persons is estimated to be between 5 to 9 billion US dollars per year. In Canada, the RCMP estimate that 600-800 people are trafficked into Canada annually and that an additional 1,500 to 2,200 people are trafficked through Canada into the United States.
Many of the people being trafficked are either women or children, that are then funneled into other industries such as free labour market and prostitution.
If we can get enough people to sign this we can get this topic raised during parliament. This is all about raising awareness and getting the Canadian Government to do more for this pressing issue.
3. Adoptees, The Forgotten Ones
We will present all World Leaders with the signatures plus the stories of adoptees to make them give every adoptee the right to know their heritage. Can you imagine looking in the mirror and not knowing who looks back at you or developing a serious illness and wondering if you had known your family history, it could have been treated earlier?
Can you imagine living your whole life asking who you are and being too scared to ask in case you offend someone? Help adoptees have the same human rights as any other human being - knowledge of their heritage.
Let's stop World Leaders brushing all this under the carpet and force them to change legislation that will help give adoptees back the lives they were born with.
We want sealed adoption files opened, lost information found in all countries and our heritage returned to us.
We want to stop being punished for something that was totally out of our control when we were babies. We accept no more guilt and ask that we be given open access to our documents and free DNA testing when it is asked for.
We want all these issues dealt with, but we need YOUR help. Please sign our petition so our plight can be brought to the attention of our World Leaders
4. Support for a National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking in CANADA
It is quintessential that Canada have a National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. According to the US Department of State’s 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report, Canada is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking.
The RCMP estimates that 600-800 persons are trafficked into Canada annually, predominantly for sexual purposes, and that an additional 1,500-2,200 persons are trafficked through Canada into the United States.
Women, children, and men have been identified as victims of trafficking in Canada according to the US Department of State’s 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report.
While there is no reliable data on the number of persons trafficked within Canada, Aboriginal women are disproportionately affected according to the 2007 Report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
Girls as young as 12 are trafficked in Canada for sexual purposes according to Criminal Intelligence Service Canada’s 2008 Strategic Intelligence Brief, Organized Crime and Domestic Trafficking in Persons in Canada.
As stated by a leading anti-human trafficking voice, MP Joy Smith:
"The complex and clandestine nature of trafficking in persons and the rapidly increasing occurrence of this crime demands a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach that draws together the existing frameworks, stakeholders, and agencies. I am convinced a Canadian National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking would address the challenges raised by implementing an integrated, targeted response to human trafficking. Such an approach would include benchmarks and measurable targets to ensure that continued progress is made."
Please sign the petition to ensure that Canada takes a comprehensive and national stance to combat human trafficking!
5. Ban “sex for sale” advertising
A 2010 study (ACPO) estimates over 11,000 trafficked and vulnerable women are prostituted in England & Wales, many brought to the UK under false pretences.
Many women are forced into prostitution by sex traffickers. Victims of forced prostitution earn huge tax-free profits for the people who control them.
Fraud, deception and violence pull vulnerable women and children into the sex trade where they endure appalling conditions – this is not their free choice.
Sex of all kinds is readily available to view and purchase on the internet, through ads in newspapers, magazines, massage parlours, lap-dancing clubs, shops, toilets, even telephone boxes.
Sex advertising increases the demand for prostitution and fuels human trafficking.
How come we ban tobacco advertising but not “sex for sale” advertising?
6. Stop South London Press Advertising Brothels
Human trafficking is the world's fastest growing crime, with many victims being women who are transported to the UK for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Newspapers are unwittingly fuelling this trade by advertising these women for sale. Research has demonstrated that most customers access sexual services through adverts in their local papers.
Many of the women who 'work' in brothels are forced into a brutal life of prostitution, subjected to a daily existence of violence, rape and abuse.
South London Press claims it is an independent family-owned newspaper, yet not only gives a platform to slave traders to advertise women's bodies, but reaps the financial benefits from their illegal and abhorrent activities.
One of the largest newspaper publishers in the UK took the lead in July 2008 by banning all 'adult services' advertisements in all 305 of its titles nationwide.
Newsquest, whose titles include the South London Guardian series, became convinced of the explicit link between the adverts and women being trafficked for sex.
They set a precedent by making a stand and refusing to be a complicit partner in the sexual exploitation of women.
7. Prevent Human Trafficking in Canada during 2010 Olympics
Human trafficking in Canada, and the Vancouver area in particular is a problem that the governmental and non-governmental authorities are now beginning to confront. There have been concerns raised that the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver will present an opportunity for human traffickers.
On May 29, 2007, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women recommended “[t]hat the government, in collaboration with provincial and municipal counterparts as well as experts from the police, international organizations and NGOs develop and implement a plan prior to the opening of 2010 Olympics to curtail the trafficking of women and girls for sexual purposes during the games and after.”
The RCMP Criminal Intelligence directorate estimated in a 2004 report that 800 people are trafficked into Canada each year- 600 destined for sex trade. An Additional 1500-2200 people are trafficked from Canada into the US annually.
As a result of these factors, Vancouver was recently singled out in the US State Department’s trafficking in persons report (2007) as being a destination cirty for trafficked persons from Asia. The report also exposed that “[a] significant number of victims, particularly South Korean females, transit Canada before being trafficked into the United States.”
To date, not a single person has been successfully prosecuted for the offence of trafficking under Criminal Code. During the two years after the implementation of the “United Nations Trafficking Protocol”, Canada identified 31 trafficking victims, the United States found 17,000. Certainly Canada falls short of the mark in its effort to combat human trafficking and protect its victims by providing proper investigation, support and prosecution of the traffickers.
In the light of the upcoming 2010 Olympics, it is expected that the numbers for human trafficking victims will rise due to an increase in demand for prostitution. Second, traffickers may attempt to bring trafficked persons posing as “visitors” into Canada for the Olympics, only to exploit them in other cities or transit them into the U.S.
Human trafficking is taking place today in Canada; this major sporting event just provides added impetus to the implementation of better laws and immediate funding. We want the Olympics to be a chance for us to portray the best of Canada to the world and not to be a flashpoint for Human Trafficking.
8. ¿Qué se está haciendo realmente para detener la Trata de personas?
En los últimos diez años, la Trata de personas ha acaparando cada vez más la atención global; muchos gobiernos a través del mundo están desarrollando políticas y leyes para combatirla, y se están gastando cientos de millones de dólares a escala mundial. El próximo paso lógico sería examinar estos esfuerzos para combatir la Trata de personas y así, evaluar cómo se están poniendo en práctica las medidas contra la Trata (incluyendo la forma en que se está gastando el dinero) y cuáles son las consecuencias de estas medidas.
Necesitamos urgentemente un examen riguroso de la situación. Cada vez más, a los defensores de los Derechos Humanos y activistas de todo el mundo les preocupa que estas medidas contra la Trata de personas estén conduciendo a aún más violaciones. Tenemos que preguntarnos lo que los gobiernos realmente están haciendo para prevenir la Trata y proteger los derechos de las personas Tratadas. ¿Está funcionando? ¿Quién se beneficia? ¿Los derechos de las personas que emigran, o que regresan a sus países de origen, están mejor protegidos por las políticas de lucha contra la Trata?
CASO. El Gobierno de la India consideró a las trabajadoras migrantes como una “categoría particularmente vulnerable” y “dictó una orden que prohíbe que cualquier mujer trabajadora del hogar por debajo de la edad de 30 años sea empleada en el Reino de Arabia Saudita, bajo ninguna circunstancia.” La preocupación es que las mujeres puedan ser abusadas sexualmente o ser víctimas de la Trata en condiciones de explotación. Para evadir esta prohibición, las mujeres tienen que tomar opciones de migración más arriesgadas que sus contrapartes masculinos, lo que las hace aun más vulnerables a abusos en el lugar de destino. “(Daño Colateral, Capítulo India, GAATW p. 129).
Como parte de nuestro trabajo de lucha contra la Trata de personas, es necesario hacer que los gobiernos rindan cuentas sobre sus obligaciones internacionales de Derechos Humanos mediante la revisión de sus esfuerzos y que hagan los cambios apropiados para garantizar que todas las medidas contra la Trata sean eficaces y esté basadas en los Derechos Humanos.
Esta petición forma parte de “Pare, Mire, Escuche!” de la GAATW la Acción Urgente, para hacer un llamado por un Mecanismo de Revisión, y será presentada a los gobiernos durante la cuarta conferencia de Estados Parte de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas contra la Delincuencia Organizada Transnacional y sus Protocolos (incluido el Protocolo para prevenir, reprimir y sancionar la Trata de personas).
FIRME Y DISTRIBUYA LA SIGUIENTE PETICION, Y APOYE LA ACCION URGENTE INSTANDO A UN MECANISMO DE REVISION DEL PROTOCOLO INTERNACIONAL DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS SOBRE TRATA DE PERSONAS.
9. Stop Human Trafficking in Eastern Europe!
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN EASTERN EUROPE IS DESTROYING AN ALREADY VULNERABLE SOCIETY!
• 200,000 individuals are being trafficked from Eastern Europe
• 80% of the world’s trafficked women are from Eastern Europe.
• Human trafficking is modern day slavery.
• They are forced to domestic servant hood, sweatshop work; but the majority of teenagers are forced into PROSTITUTION and CRIME.
• Albania is the country most involved in the sex trade, with women and children being lured to go to the West with false promises of marriage, jobs or education.
• UNICEF put the global value of human trafficking at over $12 billion dollars a year, just $2 billion less than Albania’s gross domestic income.
• In Belarus, over 800,000 are “missing” believed to be working --- many against their own will or in extremely hazardous conditions.
• 6000 children between the ages of 12 and 16 are trafficked from Eastern Europe each year.
10. End Domestic Sex Trafficking
Every day thousands of children in the United States are forced, manipulated, and lured into some form of commercial sexual exploitation. Violence and threats keep the victims silenced and fearful of escaping or trusting Law Enforcement.
Since the passing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (T.V.P.A) in 2003, the United States government has spent more than 500 million dollars to spread awareness and assist in the rehabilitation of foreign nationals who have entered the country as victims of human trafficking—but funding and resources are inadequate for American children of the same crime.
11. Stop Sex Slavery
I campaign for the freedom of women and child sex slaves who are used for pornography content.
Almost all online porn is produced from them, but despite locating many I have been unable to have the authorities move on them. (http://endmafia.com)
12. "Keep Your Promises" to the world's children
Tell Government Leaders To Keep Their Promises To The World’s Children
“Keep Your Promises” is a campaign to remind the governments on the promises and commitments they have made specifically to the children of their countries and the world at large – the commitments to protect children in hazardous child labour, out-of-school children, universalisation of education and gender parity, all within the larger framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The year 2007 (07.07.07) is the mid-term of the commitments that governments made for the MDGs to be achieved by 2015. It is extremely significant for us to bring the focus back on the children, especially those who are being denied their rights to freedom, childhood and education. The world has already missed the goal of gender parity by 2005. It is time we take stock of the situation and work in a concerted manner to keep the promises made.
Facts:
* One in seven children is a child labourer: that's nearly 14 per cent of the children in the age group 5-14 years.
* One in five children do not go to school – this is nearly 18 per cent of the children in the age group (primary school).
* Most of them (57 percent) were girls! Huge numbers of them work as child labourers.
* There are over 238 million young people living on less than one dollar a day.
Child labour can be eliminated and replaced by universal education within 20 years at an estimated cost of US$760 billion. The benefits of eliminating child labour within the next two decades will amount to an estimated US$ 5.1 trillion for both developing and transitional economies, where most child labourers are found.
13. Ratify The Convention Against Trafficking
If the slave trade was abolished in the UK over 200 years ago, why are more than
80 women trafficked here every week and sold for sexual exploitation?
These women are fleeing from conflict, poverty and family abuse and are often
lured by false promises of education and employment abroad. On arrival they
are beaten or raped into submission, then forcibly and repeatedly sold for sex.
They have had to endure unimaginable acts of cruelty. They are psychologically and physically damaged but too frightened and ashamed to ask for help.
If they try to escape, traffickers threaten to attack their families. If they do escape, the UK authorities provide no immediate protection, often threatening to return them home where the traffickers are waiting for them.
During a press conference on Human Rights Day Saturday, December 10, 2005, The Light of Hope Institute announced that it along with a growing list of human rights advocates will be collecting Signatures that will be sent to the President of the United States and other world leaders in a plea for their help to end slavery throughout the world, now and for all times. It should be noted tat this Anti-Slavery Petition is a major part of The Light of Hope Institute Anti-Slavery Movement. END SLAVERY NOW !
Modern-Day / SLAVERY TODAY/ slavery, in the 21st century! Currently there are over 27 million people worldwide that are counted as - slaves! These people are considered the property of another person. There are several categories of slaves including, but not limited to: “human trafficking / sex trafficking” …. In part, some of the root causes for modern day slavery often include economic factors, poverty, moral and social decline. instability, trends toward globalization, crime, corruption, weak and inept leadership, and the exploitation of vulnerable people. All forms and categories of slavery are wrong. Slavery is not acceptable in any form nor is it acceptable in any country. Slavery cannot be justified under any circumstance. It simply cannot be tolerated. Why are we waiting to address to the various crises that confront our humanity? Are we becoming insensitive to the suffering of others? We need to STOP and help resolve the problems today - if not the problems become more pervasive and nearly insurmountable. “Slavery in the 21st century is an affront to our collective humanity! Our Humanity Is At Risk.”
Specifically, we are counting on you, we need your help and assistance in helping eliminate modern-day slavery. All People of Goodwill, worldwide are called to action to help END SLAVERY NOW! Become a signatory of the Anti-Slavery Petition.
15. Investigate "Child Abuse" fraud violating Children & Parents
The U.S. government's program known as CAPTA allows for a "minimum definition of child abuse" which is destroying thousands of American families for trivial or trumped-up charges of "abuse."
This law is blattently unconstitutional as parents are less than second class citizens and are condemned by unconstitutional inquisitions. Please read more at: http://www.RobertsCourt.com
All over the world children are suffering from many different causes. Diseases and hunger are two of these suffering that many know about; but what about the ones that are not as talked about, child trafficking.
Nearly 18,000 to 20,000 men, women and children are trafficked in the United States alone. These children go through hours of sexual torment which can be stopped. We need to rally together to get these numbers down and we also need help to get this in action.
So please, just sign it will only take you a minute to sign but it may just be the one thing we need to keep children from getting hurt.
17. STOP H.R. 1528 !
WHAT'S WRONG WITH H.R. 1528?
Among other things, it:
- Makes the federal sentencing guidelines a system of mandatory minimum sentences through a "Booker-fix" provision.
- Creates new mandatory minimums that further erode judicial discretion.
- Eliminates the safety valve for low-level drug offenders.
- Makes virtually every drug crime committed in urban areas subject to "drug free zone" penalties that carries a five-year mandatory minimum sentence.
- Punishes defendants for the "relevant conduct" of co-conspirators that occurred BEFORE the defendant joined the conspiracy.
As written, H.R. 1528 would:
- Effectively make the federal sentencing guidelines a system of mandatory minimum sentences through a "Booker-fix" provision. This provision forbids judges from departing below the guideline sentence in all but a few cases.
- Make the sale of any quantity of any controlled substance (including anything greater than five grams of marijuana) by a person older than 21 to a person younger than 18 subject to a ten-year federal mandatory minimum sentence.
-Create a new three-year mandatory minimum for parents who witness or learn about drug trafficking activities, targeting or even near their children, if they do not report it to law enforcement authorities within 24 hours and do not provide full assistance investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting the offender.
-Create a new 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for any parent committing a drug trafficking crime in or near the presence of their minor child.
- Mandate life in prison for persons 21 years or older convicted a second time of distributing drugs to a person under 18 or convicted a first time after a felony drug conviction has become final.
- Increase to five years the federal mandatory minimum sentence for the sale of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school, college, public library, drug treatment facility (or any place where drug treatment, including classes, are held), or private or public daycare facilities - in short, almost anywhere in cities across the U.S.
- Eliminate the federal "safety valve," granting it only when the government certifies that the defendant pled guilty to the most serious readily provable offense (the one that carries the longest sentence), and has "done everything possible to assist substantially in the investigation and prosecution of another person," and would prohibit the federal "safety-valve" in cases where drugs were distributed or possessed near a person under 18, where the defendant delayed his or her efforts to provide substantial assistance to the government, or provided false, misleading or incomplete information.
For these reasons, FAMM opposes H.R. 1528.