Slave Britain: a photo exhibit on human trafficking in the UK

Slave Britain (click here)

As Britain commemorated 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade, Panos produced an exhibition to reveal how human trafficking is a bitter reality for thousands of women, men and children in the UK today. Slave Britain artfully documents the ordinary lives and everyday locations caught up in trafficking and calls for an end to this illegal 21st century trade. The show is produced by Panos Pictures in partnership with Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Eaves and UNICEF UK.

The photographs, by Panos photographers Karen Robinson and David Rose, represent a rare and intimate insight into the mechanics of this fastest growing form of modern day slavery and explore the devastating impact it has on people's lives.

The exhibition seeks to expose the reality of trafficking in the UK and the action needed to tackle it. The participating agencies are lobbying the UK government to make good on its recent promise to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings in order to guarantee minimum standards of protection and support for trafficked people. 

The photographs are challengingly mounted on a cage-like structure which was specially designed for the imposing and inspiring setting of St Paul's Cathedral. The exhibition has also been shown in Edinburgh, Hull and Warsaw, and is available for hire.

The images begin with Karen Robinson's portraits of those who have been enslaved by trafficking. Further on, you will see David Rose's panoramic photographs of the ordinary British streets where the stories of modern-day slavery have been played out. Rose also made portraits of the modern-day abolitionists - the people who are working to stop this trafficking in human beings. 

For more information on the project, visit the Slave Britain website (Slave Britain).

The Bitterest Pill: A photo exhibit of sexual slavery in Bangladesh

The Bitterest Pill (click here)

800 women and girls live and work inside the fortress-like brothel in Faridpur, central Bangladesh. Many of them are underage, and most receive no pay because they arechhukri - bonded workers. That girls as young as 12 should be condemned to a life of sex slavery is bad enough, but they also face a new horror, one that could snuff out any chance of a future they might have had.

The horror is a steroid called Oradexon, a drug identical to one used to fatten cattle for market. The girls are given Oradexon by their madams in order to make them look older and more attractive to prospective clients. One of its side effects is water retention, oedema, which can result in a 'plump' look that is considered attractive by some Bangladeshi men.

The drug is highly addictive and has severe long-term health implications, impairing the kidneys, increasing blood pressure and interfering with normal hormone production.

Asha, 19, is one of many girls who use the drug. She says she doesn't have another name - 'I'm just Asha - it means hope' - and she has been in the brothel for two years. Many of the girls here have been sold by their stepmother or even their own mothers - and some are second-generation sex workers, born to a prostitute and an unknown client. 'I started taking the cow drug a year ago, and I take two tablets a day,' Asha says. She thinks it makes her look healthier. 'The customers like us to look healthy. I got a little plumper when I started taking the drug.' The existence she describes is a miserable one. 'How can I be happy here? God knows - there is no happiness here,' she says.

Unsurprisingly - and despite her name - Asha isn't very hopeful for her own future. 'I don't think I'll ever get married or have children,' she says. 'No one will marry me. If they did they'd only keep me for two or three days, and then they'd sell me back.' She is more streetwise than some of the other girls here, many of whom share a tragic dream that one day a knight in shining armour will arrive, to carry them off; then they will marry him, have his babies and love him for ever. 

Text by Joanna Moorhead for ActionAid and The Guardian.

Sorrow Song

By Lucille Clifton

for the eyes of the children,

the last to melt,

the last to vaporize,

for the lingering

eyes of the children, staring,

the eyes of the children of

buchenwald,

of viet nam and johannesburg,

for the eyes of the children

of nagasaki,

for the eyes of the children

of middle passage,

for cherokee eyes, ethiopian eyes,

russian eyes, american eyes,

for all that remains of the children,

their eyes,

staring at us, amazed to see

the extraordinary evil in

ordinary men.

Lucille Clifton, "sorrow song" from Next: New Poems. Copyright © 1987 by Lucille Clifton.

A Poem about My Rights

By June Jordan

Even tonight and I need to take a walk and clear
my head about this poem about why I can’t
go out without changing my clothes my shoes
my body posture my gender identity my age
my status as a woman alone in the evening/
alone on the streets/alone not being the point/
the point being that I can’t do what I want
to do with my own body because I am the wrong 
sex the wrong age the wrong skin and
suppose it was not here in the city but down on the beach/
or far into the woods and I wanted to go
there by myself thinking about God/or thinking
about children or thinking about the world/all of it
disclosed by the stars and the silence:
I could not go and I could not think and I could not
stay there alone 
as I need to be
alone because I can’t do what I want to do with my own
body and who in the hell set things up
like this 
and in France they say if the guy penetrates
but does not ejaculate then he did not rape me
and if after stabbing him if after screams if
after begging the bastard and if even after smashing
a hammer to his head if even after that if he
and his buddies fuck me after that
then I consented and there was
no rape because finally you understand finally they fucked me over because I was wrong I was
wrong again to be me being me where I was/wrong
to be who I am
which is exactly like South Africa
penetrating into Namibia penetrating into
Angola and does that mean I mean how do you know if
Pretoria ejaculates what will the evidence look like the
proof of the monster jackboot ejaculation on Blackland
and if
after Namibia and if after Angola and if after Zimbabwe
and if after all of my kinsmen and women resist even to
self-immolation of the villages and if after that
we lose nevertheless what will the big boys say will they
claim my consent: Do You Follow Me: We are the wrong people of
the wrong skin on the wrong continent and what
in the hell is everybody being reasonable about
and according to the Times this week
back in 1966 the C.I.A. decided that they had this problem
and the problem was a man named Nkrumah so they
killed him and before that it was Patrice Lumumba
and before that it was my father on the campus
of my Ivy League school and my father afraid
to walk into the cafeteria because he said he
was wrong the wrong age the wrong skin the wrong
gender identity and he was paying my tuition and
before that
it was my father saying I was wrong saying that
I should have been a boy because he wanted one/a
boy and that I should have been lighter skinned and
that I should have had straighter hair and that
I should not be so boy crazy but instead I should
just be one/a boy and before that
it was my mother pleading plastic surgery for
my nose and braces for my teeth and telling me
to let the books loose to let them loose in other
words
I am very familiar with the problems of the C.I.A.
and the problems of South Africa and the problems
of Exxon Corporation and the problems of white
America in general and the problems of the teachers
and the preachers and the F.B.I. and the social
workers and my particular Mom and Dad/I am very
familiar with the problems because the problems
turn out to be
me I am the history of rape 
I am the history of the rejection of who I am
I am the history of the terrorized incarceration of
myself
I am the history of battery assault and limitless
armies against whatever I want to do with my mind
and my body and my soul and 
whether it’s about walking out at night
or whether it’s about the love that I feel or
whether it’s about the sanctity of my vagina or
the sanctity of my national boundaries
or the sanctity of my leaders or the sanctity
of each and every desire
that I know from my personal and idiosyncratic
and indisputably single and singular heart 
I have been raped
be-
cause I have been wrong the wrong sex the wrong age
the wrong skin the wrong nose the wrong hair the
wrong need the wrong dream the wrong geographic
the wrong sartorial I
I have been the meaning of rape
I have been the problem everyone seeks to
eliminate by forced
penetration with or without the evidence of slime and/
but let this be unmistakable this poem is not consent I do not consent 
to my mother to my father to the teachers to
the F.B.I. to South Africa to Bedford-Stuy
to Park Avenue to American Airlines to the hardon
idlers on the corners to the sneaky creeps in
cars I am not wrong: Wrong is not my name
My name is my own my own my own
and I can’t tell you who the hell set things up like this but I can tell you that from now on my resistance
my simple and daily and nightly self-determination
may very well cost you your life

June Jordan, “Poem About My Rights” from Directed By Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by The June M. Jordan Literary Trust. Used by permission of The June M. Jordan Literary Trust, www.junejordan.com.

Source: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005)

Impunity is just business as usual

Excerpt from a statement by Martina E. Vandenberg to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law--Monday, March 26th, 2007

So the bottom line is impunity, but that is just really business as usual. I would like to skip now to the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is, perhaps, the poster child for impunity for defense contractors. Trafficking victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from Moldova, Ukraine, and other countries of the former Soviet Union had no idea that they would be trafficked into forced prostitution to serve trucker drivers, as well as peacekeepers, in Bosnia. 

In a 3-year investigation that I conducted for Human Rights Watch, researchers uncovered at least eight cases of U.S. personnel who allegedly purchased—purchased—trafficked women and girls as chattel. They purchased both their persons and their passports from local brothel owners. As in Iraq, the Department of Defense Inspector General confirmed that the allegations of trafficking were credible. In fact, their final report states "the evidence suggests that DoD contractor employees may have more than a limited role in human trafficking, but we were unable to gather more evidence of it precisely because there are no requirements and no procedures in place compelling contractors to gather such information regarding their employees, or to report it to US military authorities." That remains the case now years down the road.

Impunity remains rampant and continues to contribute to the spread and persistence of human trafficking. There is no excuse from private security contractors, military personnel, peacekeepers, humanitarian aid workers, or anyone else to get away with human trafficking and sexual abuse/exploitation of the populations they are supposed to be protecting. There is no excuse.

    

So why does the culture of impunity continue to reign? Why are we not doing more? These groups need to be held accountable for their actions, perhaps even more so because they are purportedly responsible for the protection and safety of the very people they are abusing. It is important to remember that most of these personnel do fulfill their duties with honor and faithfully follow the standards expected of them--but there is a minority that is committing gross violations of human rights, and this minority is tainting the group as a whole. This minority needs to be investigated, prosecuted, and held accountable for their crimes.

  

There is no excuse. More to come on this topic...

IJM's 5 Weeks for Freedom Campaign

5 Weeks for Freedom (http://www.5weeksforfreedom.org/)

   

Stop Injustice: 5 Weeks for Freedom is a major awareness and advocacy campaign to support International Justice Mission’s work and give a voice to victims of modern-day slavery and other forms of injustice. A team of ordinary people is giving up 5 weeks to cycle 1800 miles of the Underground Railroad – a route that reminds us that change happens when ordinary people do what they can to stop injustice, that the evil of slavery has been defeated once, and that, together, we can do it again.

   

Over the 5 weeks of the campaign – June 28 to July 31, every major city along the tour route will host events featuring music, celebrities, the tour riders and more, to raise awareness of modern-day slavery and other forms of violent oppression – and empower people to take action to stop injustice.

   

The cycling tour is led by Venture Expeditions, a non-profit organization committed to mobilizing support for humanitarian work through major cycling and climbing tours.

   

International Justice Mission (http://www.ijm.org/)

   

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. 

   

GET INVOLVED! :)

   

More from IJM:

      

Buying for Good

Products Made by Survivors:

   

 

Recycled Rice Bag Wallet - Made By Survivors (Blue)

   

Multi-strand Gold Pearl and Crystal Necklace Adjustable - Made By Survivors

   

Freeset Harmony Hummingbird Taupe Vegan Tote

   

Freeset Window Black Vegan Courier Bag

   

Freeset Freedom Tree Grey Vegan Tote

   

Hagar Design Small Tote, Dark Blue, Lined (Recycled Rice/Feed Bag)

   

Hagar Design Peppy Tote, Cherry w/ White, (Recycled Rice/feed Bags)

Fighting for the Women of Afghanistan

Last week, I attended a panel at the UN Human Rights Council on women's rights in Afghanistan. One of the speakers was Selay Ghaffar, a leader from HAWCA (Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children of Afghanistan), which works for women's rights and empowerment. They focus on empowering women to claim their rights to dignity, equality, and justice. They work extensively on issues of violence against women and women's economic empowerment.
   
In her talk, Ms. Ghaffar outline the four main rights that need to be addressed: the right to live with dignity, the right education, the right to health, the right to work. Here are a few key statistics she pointed out:

• 87% of Afghani women face domestic violence in their lifetimes
• Women are resorting to suicide, self-mutilation, drug use, and other behaviors as a way of coping with the violence and abuse they are facing. Many women feel it would be better to die than to live in suffering.
• Only 16% of girls in the provinces have access to basic/elementary education
• In the last several years, security issues have become a major concern and a major obstacle for girls to obtain education. Acid attacks, poisonings, kidnappings, and other threats have become common against young girls trying to attend school. Thus, families feel it is safer to keep their daughters at home than to risk sending them out.
• In most areas of Afghanistan, there are no clinics or hospitals for women and girls to address basic health needs. Many women do not know where to go or how to get help when they are pregnant or when they go into labor.
• Women and newborns are dying at alarming rates from lack of adequate medical care.
• Security for women who want to work outside the home is a major issue. Harassment, abuse, discrimination, and kidnappings are widespread.

Ms. Ghaffar discussed the challenges women are facing and the struggle to provide services. She is understandably disappointed in the lack of response and assistance from the international community, and she expressed frustrations with the ongoing armed conflict and the failures of the current government. She shared several important insights into life within Afghanistan.

    

In response, I would like SSGF to get involved in providing much needed assistance to some of the long-standing women's groups within Afghanistan. In particular, I am interested in providing assistance to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). For more information about this organization, visit their website here: RAWA.

   

I will be giving more details about SSGF plans for this project, but for now I would like people to start thinking about how they can help. I want to hold a donation drive to collect items that RAWA has expressly requested, including school supplies and digital cameras. Providing tangible donations is a great way to get involved, and RAWA is an amazing and worthy organization that is doing great work for women and girls. I hope to write more on this issue when I have the time. For now, feel free to explore their website and if you have any ideas on how you would like to help, let me know.

    

With peace and freedom,

Lauren