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Sunday, May 31, 2015

How a Training Turned into a Rescue of underaged girls


At the training, IJM lawyers talked about the Philippines’ anti-trafficking law and spoke with officers about how to best interview rescued victims in order to pinpoint evidence of trafficking. As the workshop ended, a team of police and IJM staff drove to a bar in an area of the city known for its bars and nightclubs advertising girls girls girls.

The rescue team discovered four 17-year-old girls inside the seedy establishment masquerading as a bar and grille. The Philippine National Police gathered enough evidence to arrest two suspects, who have now been charged with trafficking of minors.

Then, with the help of IJM social workers and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, officers interviewed the survivors and recorded their statements—the process in which they had been trained earlier that day.

The interviews were so effective in this operation that the team finished two hours ahead of schedule—one of the fastest operations IJM Pampanga has had yet. They were also able to gather enough evidence that, for the first time, the Department of Labor and Employment decided to initiate the closure of the bar without a letter or petition from IJM. The bar is set to close this month.

Read the story
http://news.ijm.org/ijm-training-exercise-leads-to-rescue-of-underage-girls/

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Four Koreans arrested for sex trafficking in Cebu

"Four Korean nationals were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation last Thursday in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City for alleged human trafficking.



One of four Koreans arrested on allegations of human trafficking hides his face from news cameras in the NBI detention cell.

NBI-7 Assistant Regional Director Augusto Eric Isidoro said an informant, also a Korean, was the one who tipped the NBI that the four suspects were running a website that offer tour packages to Koreans. These tour packages include sex services by Filipino women. Isidoro said only Korean nationals are able to access the website.

To entrapment operation last Thursday was carried out at a hotel with the help of the Korean informant who pretended to book a girl from the website at $150. The girl was eventually rescued by the NBI agents and was convinced to help in pinpointing the suspects. "

Read the story here...
http://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2015/05/23/1457847/four-koreans-arrested-sex-trafficking

Monday, May 18, 2015

Tourists flee Olongapo sex bars in fear of arrest!


Preda news Reporter, 18 may 2015


During a presentation at the Iowa State University Father Shay Cullen told a audience of 600 professors, clergy, human rights activists and students that following  the undercover work of retired Australian police and US ICE agents sex tourists are leaving Olongapo and Subic sex tourist areas.

"The  wave of human slavery is increasing in the  world and the young women and children are the most vulnerable victims. It is not only in poor countries but in developed nations also." Fr.Shay told the audience.

Fr.Shay reminded  the audience that as many as 13 million unfortunate Africans; men, women, and children were kidnapped, abducted, captured and sold into slavery in North and South America over a period of 300 years upon which the early wealth of the nation in part was taken.

"However today", Fr.Shay said, "more than 4.5 million women and children and poor working men are trafficked into slavery every year, most never escape and are forced into fishing boats, brothels and sex dens and made have forced abortions.

He told the audience a big anti-trafficking success for Preda was when the Preda social workers rescued young women and children in 2013 from Sex bars in Calapadayan, Subic Town. This was helped by retired Australian police and active US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and Philippine police investigators. The went undercover into the sex bars poising as sex tourist customers.

They identified the minors and the sex customers and traffickers. Arrests were made and the court cases are still going on in Olongapo City with a jailed US national on trial. Sex tourists are deserting Subic and Olongapo bars and clubs as a result out of fear of being identified by the undercover retired police officers.

Father Shay said and as many as 12 sex bars have now closed and others denied a Mayors permit down. The chilling effect has been seen in the Olongapo area he said as sex tourists of many nationalities have a fear of being under surveillance and in danger of arrest in such bars.

Sex tourism is also a growing scourge that abuses and enslaves the children and women in developing countries and in Europe also where thousands of young girls are trafficked Germany and Austria every year where prostitution is legal.

In the Philippines he said the most sex tourists come from South Korea, Japan and Australia, and North America. The campaign to stop this and free the victims must go on...

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Ashton Kutcher and his fight against slavery

This week Ashton Kutcher delivered a special tribute for Ernie Allen at the inaugural Gala for Child Protection hosted by the International Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The event honored Allen, the founder of both the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC). Allen serves as a consultant to governments, companies and organizations and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on child abduction, exploitation, and  trafficking,

Ashton Kutcher is co-founder of Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children. Thorn works specifically on driving technology innovation to combat child sexual exploitation. Thorn invests in research and development to find new tools to combat predatory behavior. Thorn supports initiatives that disrupt this behavior and that make the Internet a more hostile environment for those who seek to exploit children.
Thorn supports initiatives that disrupt this behavior and make the Internet a more hostile environment for those who seek to exploit children. - See more at: https://www.wearethorn.org/our-work-to-stop-online-child-sexual-exploitation/#sthash.AxINuB45.dpuf




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se4OvAGJu4U#action=share
Thorn supports initiatives that disrupt this behavior and make the Internet a more hostile environment for those who seek to exploit children. - See more at: https://www.wearethorn.org/our-work-to-stop-online-child-sexual-exploitation/#sthash.AxINuB45.dpuf

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Fr Shay Cullen testifies before US Congress

Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/the-testimony-before-us-congress/178433/
LAST April 22 I appeared before U.S. Congress as a witness to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations at the Subcommittee’s Hearing: Accountability and Transformation – Tier Rankings in the Fight Against Human Trafficking.


This was by special invitation of the US congressional committee whose members are highly influential in the House, and they were instrumental in getting the latest anti-trafficking law passed by the US Congress on the same day, the 22nd of April. This is a law that brings help and relief to victims of human trafficking within the United States, among other provisions.

The Philippines is being considered whether it remains on the Tier II ranking of the US State Department index of states complying with the international standards in preventing and fighting human trafficking.

Sex tourism is growing and this is directly linked to human trafficking as the girls and minors are recruited from the villages, mostly in Samar and Leyte, to supply the sexual gratification of the foreign sex tourists for a few dirty dollars. Below are the texts of most of my presentation to the congressional committee.

“Today, I will share with you my personal experience working to address the widespread situation of Human Trafficking in the Philippines. My remarks will focus on Human Trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, and the exploitation of innocent and blameless street children for begging and drug deliveries for criminal gangs. Many but not all of the child-victims of trafficking for begging, prostitution or for being drug couriers are frequently confined in jail-like conditions instead of being helped as victims. Some are as young as 8 to 12 years old. …………….
The growth of human trafficking is linked to the use of the Internet for promoting sex tourism and for transmitting images of child pornography made in the Philippines as described.
Some victims of human trafficking are subjected to several human rights violations and even forced abortion, although these are difficult to prove for the lack of medical or forensic evidence since it is done illegally and secretly but revealed by the rescued victims in therapy and in their oral narratives.

The anti-child pornography law mandates the Internet server providers (ISP) to filter and prevent such illegal images and content.

The Internet is widely used for transmitting live sex acts using children despite the anti-cyber-sex laws. The telephone companies, which have US nationals among their top 100 shareholders, are violating the law by not having these filters in place as demanded by the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 otherwise known as RA 9775. They have seemingly placed themselves above the law and it is possible they get away with it with some collusion with Philippine government officials. The Philippine National telecommunications commission is responsible for the implementation of the regulations. In addition to the anti-child pornography law, they are also allegedly violating with impunity the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of 1995 or RA 7925 and Executive Order No. 546 issued in 1979……………

While indeed there is strong political commitment by President Benigno Aquino and especially Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, and the office of the Ombudsman to fight corruption with some notable success and much effort to address the widespread human trafficking, unfortunately the implementation of this by police and prosecutors results in a very low arrest and conviction rate. In 15 years, only 150 convictions were achieved. This places the Philippines on Tier II of the TIP report.

There is corruption by some of the prosecution and judiciary. Besides the slow pace of the judicial process, the lowering of charges of human trafficking to child abuse allows many foreign suspects of trafficking to escape………………………

While the Philippine government is striving to address the problem of human trafficking and improve the record of convictions, much remains to be done.

The efforts of the US State Department are lauded but reform of the police and judiciary in the Philippines is of utmost importance. Local governments that issue permits and licenses to sex bars that take in trafficked persons must be restrained, and sex trafficking must be greatly reduced. Children trafficked must have greater protection, shelter, and assistance. Suspects must be prosecuted in a robust mannerwith integrity.”


shaycullen@gmail.com
www.preda.org