Posted by Benjamin on: 03.05.2008 /
Recently yotta-brilliant founder of Off The Map, Jim Henderson, introduced me to his extremely kewl niece, Alexa, and her zetta-awesome senior project, which I want to tell you about. Jim said:
I am so proud of my niece Alexa. How many young people when asked to create a Senior project would choose something as big, complex and important as ending Human Trafficking. Alexa is partnering with IJM which is probably the most respected organization in the world when it comes to this issue.
Alexa is a high school senior and she has put together what looks to be a fairly posh benefit dinner to raise funds for International Justice Mission. She has also built a pretty sweet web site to promote the dinner, as well as to educate people about human trafficking, at www.endhumanslavery.com I would totally encourage you to check out her web site, and if you are in the Seattle area, sign up for the benefit dinner, which happens the evening of March 14th in Bothell.
Alexa’s site has these quotes running at the top:
Human trafficking has become a $9 billion a year global industry and is increasingly an activity of organized crime.
Every 10 minutes a woman or child is trafficked into the United States for forced labor
Over 12 million people worldwide are trafficked for forced labor or sexual exploitation
IJM has some ideas about how we can begin to address this issue. But I’m wondering if any of you have any ideas/thoughts on how we can respond? What good news is there in the face of such horrible news?
Leave a Reply
Comment by: Tibetan Calligraphy Student
1 03/5/08 3:51 PM | Comment Link |Please let me add something about the IJM
International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.
IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.
IJM’s justice professionals work in their communities in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to secure tangible and sustainable protection of national laws through local court systems.
Comment by: Benjamin
2 03/5/08 4:02 PM | Comment Link |Thank you for the further info about IJM. The calligraphies on your site are really beautiful. Thank you for joining the discussion here at Jacques
Comment by: David H
3 03/5/08 6:12 PM | Comment Link |This probably doesn’t constitute good news:
I recently watched the movie “Trade,” starring Kevin Kline. It is not a great film, but does a decent job showing how human trafficking functions. It is based on a NYTimes Magazine article by Peter Landesman called “The Girls Next Door.”
The following quote is amongst the more damning revelations of the article.
The US has enhanced laws against human trafficking and sexual slavery but largely takes the position these problems are international in nature rather than domestic.
IJM is based in Washington, DC, but it operates predominantly on the international aspects of human trafficking. People here should pressure the US government (especially FBI) to take this issue more seriously since it is difficult for local authorities to combat.
Of course, downside to that is (as FBI director admitted today) the Bureau is no longer able to deal with much other than terrorism because of priorities and budgeting set by the Bush administration.
Comment by: Julie Clawson
4 03/5/08 6:38 PM | Comment Link |What makes me sick are the cases when sex slavery is discovered and the women are the ones punished - for prostitution or for lacking documents. All the talk these days about illegal immigration and deportation is used by the traffickers to keep their victims in fear - they tell them that they will be treated much worse by the US government if they seek aid. The women have no reason to believe this isn’t true and unfortunately it often isn’t.
Comment by: Benjamin
5 03/5/08 9:48 PM | Comment Link |David,
Wow–yet another set of … casulties of the Iraq War/War on Terror.
Does contacting our senators/congresspeople constitute pressuring our government? Or were you thinking something more than that?
Julie.
You kind of nailed it. I was reading a story recently about how underage prostitutes get prosecuted while the johns go free. It’s something that we Americans seems especially good at, even if it does sound like a cliche: blame the victim.
Comment by: Eliza
6 03/5/08 10:01 PM | Comment Link |Thanks for the link to IJM & the information on how huge an issue human trafficking is.
What an inspirational thing, to hear about a high school senior who is working for justice! I hope Alexa’s fundraiser is successful. I live in the Seattle area but will be out of town that night.
(Though actually I have to admit, I prefer to donate directly to a cause that seems worthy rather than go to a posh event full of people who have more money than they need and WAY more money than the people they’re trying to help - I understand that the event can help educate people to the problem, and raise awareness, and through various means may raise more money than a plea for direct donations - but still, it bugs me. Maybe we could talk about methods of fundraising for good causes here sometime?)
Comment by: David H
7 03/5/08 11:50 PM | Comment Link |Based on the congressional hearings today, more and directed funding for the FBI are legislative issues to some degree. It is far more likely that congress would send money to such initiatives then the president at this point in time. So, contacting senators and reps would probably be a good thing to do.
IJM and the other organization linked about may have some other thoughts on this as well. Also, there were links to related organizations at the NYT Magazine article.
This is a complicated and difficult issue. There are no simple solutions. But, like the drug trade, it doesn’t make sense to simply pretend that issues can be solved somewhere else. A root issue of the problem is demand and this country is a leader in that.
Comment by: Benjamin
8 03/6/08 12:08 AM | Comment Link |Eliza,
I’d love that. Why not write a post and email it to me? =)
Comment by: Benjamin
9 03/6/08 12:10 AM | Comment Link |David,
The drug issue seems a lot different to me. I rather lean toward total legalization. (ok, now it’s out, I’m truly a nutso radical)
But I hear you about the demand in terms of the human trafficking.
… but to what extent does it grow out of a larger cultural sense of … jingoism and entitlement?
Comment by: David H
10 03/6/08 7:22 AM | Comment Link |I only meant demand in terms of a supply and demand thing. In other words, humans (like drugs) are being traded here because people want to buy them. To look at this as purely an external issue or as a domestic issue solely because of all the foreigners it brings across the borders (as is apparently the position of our government) would ignore that without the demand there would be little incentive for anyone to provide a supply.
I linked the supply and demand to drugs because we are “fighting” that problem in countries like Columbia and Afghanistan as if oblivious to the fact that people there wouldn’t be growing stuff and shipping it here if there wasn’t a demand. Both commodities (an ugly word in this context) are, after all, illegal.
Entitlement is clearly an issue in how Americans deal with the sex trade (all kinds) in foreign environments. US military bases around the world are surrounded by “businesses” that are frequently at odds with the cultural norms of the larger societies. The sex and drug trade that was rampant around the biggest bases in the Philippines were part of the reason that country wanted to get rid of all US bases a few years back. In Vietnam, an area of special familiarity for me, the US presence helped destroy the fabric of society by providing a huge market for prostitution that had previously not really existed (neither the Japanese or French had managed to erode societal norms and traditional mores to the point that prostitution became an accepted employment opportunity). Likewise, Thailand and Cambodia (border towns in Mexico as well) have become major stops for American sex tourists in part because many Americans believe it is OK to do things there they would never consider acceptable if someone solicited them from their own brothers and sisters at home.
But I’m not sure the issue of entitlement is primarily what drives the sex slave trade in the US. Have to think about that some. Some might argue that at some level hiring a prostitute in Tijuana is still about sex, while buying a Mexican to rape in your basement dungeon is more about power. There might be a sense of entitlement to both, but the latter may have less jingoism involved.
Comment by: Alexa
11 03/6/08 3:02 PM | Comment Link |Hey!
Thanks for posting this! I am really excited about this dinner, and although I know it seems silly to throw this event for people that have money, I hope that with this dinner I can encourage people to start making a change. Whether it is continuing to donate to The International Justice Mission,start buying fair trade products or planning an event for different organization that helps stop human trafficking! And if you know anyone in the Seattle area please forward my website to them! My goal is to h ave 150 people attend this event!
Thank you!
Alexa
http://www.endhumanslavery.com