The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

 Today, December 2nd, is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.

I'm going to spend it at an event in downtown Boston tonight supporting The My Life My Choice program.  More about that likely in the next post!

Take a minute today to read the following comments from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, reprinted here in their entirety from the U.N. website:

"On the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, we express our commitment to the complete eradication of slavery and slavery-like practices.


Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and slave trade shall prohibited in all their forms”. Yet slavery remains a grave and unresolved problem. This is true in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.


In our globalized world, new forms of slavery have taken shape. The list of abhorrent practices, new and old, is now shockingly long, and includes debt bondage, serfdom, forced labour, child labour and servitude, trafficking of persons and human organs, sexual slavery, the use of child soldiers, the sale of children, forced marriage and the sale of wives, and the exploitation of prostitution.


The majority of those who suffer are the poor and socially excluded groups such as minorities and migrants. The overlapping factors of poverty, class and race create structural problems and cycles of marginalization that are hard to break.


Indigenous peoples are more exposed to bonded labour because in many countries they have limited access to land. Gender inequalities and discrimination, lack of education, desperation for work and demand for cheap labour also trap people. The global economic and financial crisis threatens to heighten vulnerability further still.


Combating slavery means not only its direct prohibition by law but also fighting against poverty, illiteracy, economic and social disparities, gender discrimination and violence against women and children. We need to enforce laws against slavery; create mechanisms to combat such practices; reinforce bilateral, regional and international cooperation, including with non-governmental organizations that assist victims; and launch awareness raising campaign.


On this International Day, let us renew our pledge to assist and protect the victims and to do our utmost to ensure the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family."

Reading and Writing Against Trafficking

Here are two things for your consideration on this Friday before Labor Day:

Recommended Reading:
Hat tip to Sarah Coenen for finding this one. This is a great Washington Post op ed on human trafficking today. You can read it here. The article talks about the uniting power of diverse groups crossing religious, political, and geographical lines to combat trafficking and exploitation. It also looks at what's currently being done and why the need to address underlying causes of trafficking is so important. Here's a sneak peek (I was especially excited to see the mention of Chab Dai's Helen Sworn, who is one of my heroes):

"Helen Sworn, the English woman who founded Chab Dai, talks a language of partnership and cooperation - with government and private companies, women's groups and police. The challenge is to educate people about their rights, and to protect those who fall victim to circumstances or to crime. But she also sees the issues as an integral part of development and social change. As corridors for transportation open up, as borders are easier to cross, as tourism gains momentum, the pressures for trafficking increase. She argues that at the same time that we work to protect and help victims directly and prosecute those who break the law, far more effort should go to addressing the underlying causes.

And the underlying causes are ferociously complex. First and foremost it's about poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity. Grinding need drives desperate families to sell a daughter. Uneducated girls more easily fall prey to promises of a glittery life, only to end up trapped in a brothel. And simple greed exacerbates the problems. Weak government institutions and corrupt systems make it hard to enforce laws. Unequal relations between men and women are corrosive realities that translate into low priority to the work needed to bring about change."

Go visit the article and give it some link love if you can! I always like to show editors just how interested we are in keeping updated on the battle against trafficking. It's one of the most simple things we can do to ensure that these kinds of stories continue to be published and get attention.


Get Your Voice Out There:
Chances are if you're here, you're interested in the issue of child sex trafficking/human slavery and exploitation. And you probably want to do something about it. If writing's your thing, why not give this a thought?

There's a great blog on Change.org, run by Amanda Kloer, and they're actually looking for some additional writers. Check out "Want to Blog for Change.org?" for more information and an application. We need more voices like yours to bring attention to human trafficking and add even more momentum to making it a thing of the past.

Have a great long weekend.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heycoach/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

An Addendum...

...to my last post.

If you have the chance, take a look at this weekend's New York Times article by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn. It's part of a section called "Saving the World's Women," and it dovetails nicely with the ideas raised in the below video. Through microloans and educational opportunities, the authors argue that women and girls could be the best weapon to fight global poverty--which of course would strike a huge blow to the world of sex slavery.

"While a precise number is hard to pin down, the International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency, estimates that at any one time there are 12.3 million people engaged in forced labor of all kinds, including sexual servitude. In Asia alone about one million children working in the sex trade are held in conditions indistinguishable from slavery, according to a U.N. report. Girls and women are locked in brothels and beaten if they resist, fed just enough to be kept alive and often sedated with drugs — to pacify them and often to cultivate addiction. India probably has more modern slaves than any other country." -- Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, "The Women's Crusade"

Kristof and WuDunn's book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” will be published next month.

These ideas echo what author, mountain climber and humanitarian Greg Mortenson has found to be true in his life of building schools and educational opportunities for girls around the world. If you haven't read it, I would strongly recommend his book "Three Cups of Tea"--and if you liked it, you can now follow Mortenson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gregmortenson.

And to bring it all full-circle, you'll find he recently posted on a little video called... "The Girl Effect."

One Foot in Front of the Other

“I don’t feel like I can change the world. I don’t even try. I only want to change this small life that I see standing in front of me, which is suffering. I want to change this small real thing that is the destiny of one little girl. And then another, and another, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself or sleep at night.”

- Somaly Mam, The Road of Lost Innocence

GEMS, Netflix, and the One and Only Beyonce

You might remember a post I wrote last year about the work GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services) is doing and the film "Very Young Girls." Thanks to @cfpdx for alerting me to the next development in the program--something that the likes of Beyonce, Halle Berry, and Netflix have teamed together for.

On July 7, Netflix will begin streaming the Showtime documentary "Very Young Girls," and high profile musicians and actresses will be using live events and "e-activism" to draw more attention to the fact that between 100,000-300,000 American children are victimized by child traffickers and pimps each year.

Beyonce says that she saw the documentary 6 months ago and has been inspired to try to help in whatever way she can. Besides visiting the girls at GEMS, Beyonce is inviting a group of the girls to be her special guests at an upcoming concert in New Jersey. She says,

"I realized that they were no different than I am. If I grew up with some of the struggles and challenges they have had to deal with and live with every day, I could have possibly been them and vice versa. After hearing the shocking stories of what those young ladies have gone through, I want to use my voice to do what I can to bring awareness to this horrific sex trafficking that happens right here in America."

You can find more information at The Council of Daughters and GEMS websites, and show your support by becoming a fan of Girls Are Not for Sale on Facebook here.

Between Beyonce's support for GEMS, and Paramore and The Fray spreading the word for Love146 at their concerts, it's good to see the music world taking an active interest in fighting child sex trafficking in America around the world.

Required Reading: TIP Report

Today is an important day for anti-trafficking supporters.  The U.S. State Department has released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report for 2009.  

There's been some controversy in past reports about political relationships and diplomatic issues shading particular rankings among countries that still have a long way to go in terms of human trafficking--Japan, you know I love you, but my finger is pointing at you.  Another issue was the fact that the U.S. itself does not appear on the list, and our hands are far, far from clean in the issue of human trafficking.  However, the report will apparently begin to include the U.S. as of 2010.  Regardless of past controversies, I think that this is an important document that everyone who has an interest in advocating for the fight against trafficking should take the time to study.

You can view the report here.  I'm going to spend the next few days reading it in depth, and will let you know my thoughts.  In the meantime, check out one of my favorites (Diana Scimone!), as she already covered it earlier today.  

"With this report, we hope to shine the light brightly on the scope and scale of modern slavery so all governments can see where progress has been made, and where more is needed.  Trafficking thrives in the shadows, and it can be easy to dismiss as something that happens to someone else, somewhere else.  But that is not the case.  Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on earth.  And that includes our own." Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Biggest Picture: The Hole in Our Gospel

Sorry, guys, this is a long one! And a bit more geared toward people who consider themselves Christians, but I think there's some important things to think about no matter what you consider yourself.

I signed up to the Thomas Nelson book bloggers program awhile back and have been waiting for the right book to come along for me to take part. The way it works is that I choose a book of interest, they send it to me, I read it, and then write a small, honest review (whether I loved it or hated it) on my blog, and also post the review on a site like Amazon.com. That's the background.

So I selected a just-published book called "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, and brought it on vacation to Italy with me. I read it in about 48 hours, and have been wanting to sit down and write about it since then. To be honest, I've been putting it off, because there is so much good stuff in those 279 pages that I feel overwhelmed in tackling a write up.

As a quick overview: Richard Stearns was an idealistic Cornell/Wharton graduate who, as a young man, refused to put fine china on his wedding registry "while there were people

in the world without any food to eat." Some twenty-odd years later, he wound up being CEO of Lenox, the finest fine tableware company in the world--an irony not lost on him. This is the tone that Stearns takes when telling his story of how he was asked to leave the life of a glitzy CEO to become the head of Christian charity organization World Vision. Through a series of events that made it all-too-clear where Stearns believed God wanted him to be, he went (self-admittedly, kicking and screaming) to lead World Vision in 1998--and his life has never been the same.

World Vision "serves in nearly 100 countries and is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice." During the past ten years, Stearns has had the chance to head this organization and has traveled to hundreds of countries and met with everyone from the most esteemed global leaders to those who would be considered "the least of these." Stearns has rejoiced with rescued child soldiers forced to commit some of the greatest atrocities imaginable, and met with AIDS orphans who run "child-headed housesholds;" and on the other end of the spectrum, people like Bono call him "an action hero."

So he tells us his story; his failings; and how World Vision is tackling issues of poverty, disease, and injustice. He takes a hard, honest look at the Church in America and tells us where we have gone so terribly, terribly wrong. I really think that every churchgoing person in America should read this book. It's an absolute powerhouse. Stearns brings the hammer to what Martin Luther King Jr. called "the silence behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows." But at the same time, I didn't feel beaten down when I read what he had to say. I felt convicted, and I wanted to go out and start changing the world before I even finished the last page. I've been recommending it to everyone I see, because I think it's lifechanging and livegiving.

Stearns talks about what you and I can do with our money, yes, but also our time and our talents. He makes me believe that we can actually change the world. He also reminds the Church what so many of us have forgotten, or ignored: that Jesus cares desperately about souls, yes--but he also cared if you were hungry, if you were cold, if you were sick, if you were hopeless. He cared for the entire person, in this life, and not just what would happen in the next--a.k.a., the current "hole" in our gospel. I hope this would be true for the majority of humankind; but Stearns' point is, if you say that you are a follower of Jesus, this is a non-negotiable. You should be first in line to serve, as He did.

Stearns also reminds us how absolutely rich we are--something that my pastor, Tom Sparling, has also been talking about for the past few weeks. Stearns writes,

"If your income is $25,000 per year, you are wealthier than approximately 90 percent of the world's population. If you make $50,000 per year, you are wealthier than 99% of the world! Does this shock you? Remember, of the 6.7 billion people on earth, almost half of them live on less than two dollars a day. If you don't feel rich, it's because you are comparing yourself to people who have more than you do.... Our difficulty is that we see our American lifestyles as normative, when in fact they are grossly distorted compared to the rest of the world. We don't believe we are wealthy, so we don't see it as our responsibility to help the poor. We are deceived.

It is important to put the American Church in perspective. Simply stated, it is the wealthiest community of Christians in the history of Christendom. How wealthy? The total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion. It would take just a little over 1 percent of the income of American Christians to lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty.... A lack of money is not our problem."

And then, the challenge:

"Think about the statement it would make if American Christian citizens stepped up and gave more than all of the governments of the world combined because they took Jesus seriously when He said to love our neighbors as ourselves."

I'm only scratching the surface here. As you can tell by the picture, I dog-eared probably every other page. I'll leave you with a few quotes that Stearns pulled for the headings of his chapters, and a recommendation: read this book. I'll even send you my copy if you want. I think if enough people understood that we really do have a say in what goes on in this world, we could be a generation that makes the defining difference.

"Christ has no body on earth but yours,

no hands but yours,

no feet but yours.

Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."

- Saint Teresa of Avila

"There is much at stake. The world we live in is under siege--three billion are desperately poor, one billion hungry, millions are trafficked in human slavery, ten million children die needlessly each year, wars and conflicts are wreaking havoc, pandemic diseases are spreading, ethnic hatred is flaming, and terrorism is growing. Most of our brothers in Christ in the developing world live in grinding poverty. And in the midst of this stands the Church of Jesus Christ in America, with resources, knowledge, and tools unequaled in the history of Christendom. I believe we stand on the brink of a defining moment. We have a choice to make." - Rich Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.

Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

- Mohandas Gandhi

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it."

"Well, why don't you ask Him?"

"Because I'm afraid He would ask me the same question." - Anonymous

"In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart!

I have overcome the world."

- John 16:33

Punk'd

Want to see Ashton Kutcher, of MTV and That 70's Show fame, get serious about something?

He knows his stuff when it comes to child sex trafficking, and he and Demi are speaking out about it whenever they can--whether that's with Lisa Ling on this Oprah video or Tweeting stats from his Twitter account while meeting with the founder of GEMs.  

From reading other blog/media commentary on the celebrity duo's proclaimed commitment to end slavery within their lifetimes, it's apparent that a lot of people are pretty cynical about their involvement in the cause.  But I think they're legit--and to be perfectly frank, I don't really care even if it does turn out to 

be a flash-in-the-pan publicity stunt.  Like they say in Hollywood, no publicity is bad publicity.  

I see more and more people getting in line to care about something other than themselves, and in my mind, children being trafficked and exploited are one of the most important and pressing issues out there.  As Demi notes while speaking with Lisa Ling, 

"There's something very timely about this... Not that this hasn't been talked about, not that people haven't done incredible documentaries and exposed us to this information... but I think that now there's a readiness to really make a change, and really end this." 

Picture of Ashton Kutcher by Eugene. 

Women and the Crime that Shames Us All

Time to wake up, women--we're a big part of the problem.

The UN just released a report saying that in a third of the 155 countries surveyed, women were the majority traffickers.  

Most had been originally pulled into human trafficking themselves, and now perpetuate the cycle--a cycle that is projected to get even more devastating as the financial crisis worsens.

Antonio Maria Costa,  director of the U.N. office on drugs and crime, says

"More must be done to reduce the vulnerability of victims, increase the risks to traffickers, and lower demand for the goods and services of modern-day slaves."

The driver behind human trafficking, according to the findings, is overwhelmingly for sexual exploitation--making up approximately 79% of all cases.  63% of the 155 countries have adopted laws against human trafficking, but only since the UN implemented a protocol in 2003.  

You can view the report in full here, and the AP story here.  The bottom line that the report makes is that the world is in denial about the reality of sex trafficking.  The UN's findings are heartbreaking to me.  Human trafficking is called the crime that shames us all, and tonight I am truly ashamed.   

Photo by _Nia_

Talking with The Astute Recorder

Big thanks to Judy Asman over at The Astute Recorder for all of the work she did to bring attention to this blog and child sex trafficking!  

If you're interested, you can check out my first "official" interview here: http://astuterecorder.com/2009/01/28/stop-child-trafficking-‘season-of-light’-blogger-emily-bain-murphy-talks-to-astute/

Would love to hear what you think :)

Mark Your Calendar...

...for September 27, 2009--especially if you live near New York City. An organization called Stop Child Trafficking Now (SCTNow) is planning a massive awareness campaign and fundraising walk. SCTNow is different than other anti-child trafficking organizations because its goal is to go after the predators themselves in the belief that the most effective way to end child sex slavery is to cut the demand off at the root. SCTNow "directs the majority of its fundraising to organizations comprised of Special Operative Teams who gather information about child predators both in the US and abroad. These teams represent the best military, federal and state intelligence and investigative organizations. They track predators to build cases against them that result in convictions.

These teams possess skills beyond the average military or law enforcement individual—skills that enable them to achieve their goals in foreign lands independently, without support of US law enforcement resources."

When	Sunday, September 27, 2009
What	Flagship Walk in NYC, Community & Campus Walks
Where	Throughout the World
Who	Thousands from around the world
How	Walking to raise funds to Stop Child Trafficking Now

You can sign up to be a Community Ambassador and plan a walk in your own area. So far satellite walks are planned for Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Raleigh.

There's also a separate media event for 9/27/09 called the Stiletto Run, where women can sign up to race through the streets of NYC in their highest heels--all in the name of saying that we, as a country, will not stand for the demand that asks for children to be trafficked as sexual objects to be bought and sold. And if you need any extra motivation to strap on those stilettos or lace up your running shoes, here's some food for thought:

"Investigators and researchers estimate the average predator in the U.S. can make more than $200,000 a year off one young girl." NBC Report by Teri Williams

Photo by Passetti

For more information and updates closer to the event, visit http://www.stopchildtraffickingnow.org/thewalk.php.

...It'll Last Longer

Boots.  Photograph by Jeff Hall.  All rights reserved.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!  

In honor of this day I wanted to tell you about something really, really cool I found a few days ago.  It's a website called "Today's Black and White" by photographer Jeff Hall.  Jeff is passionate about two things: his art, and ending child sex trafficking.  So he decided to use his talent to do something about it.

Jeff is posting a new photograph every day of 2009 to the Today's Black and White site.  He poses the question, "What if a picture was worth more than 1,000 words?" Each photograph is available to buy as a print, from $10 to $50, and 100% of the proceeds will go to a nonprofit fighting child sex trafficking called "Free Chains."  

Keep coming back to Today's Black and White whenever you have a chance, as it will be updated with a new chance to help end child sex slavery every day.   This is the definition of a picture that will last the longest if you take it.  Check out my two current favorites, "Boots" (above) and "Amberly's Tattoo" (below.)  

I had the chance to ask Jeff how he became involved with the issue of child sex trafficking.  Through a friend who helped with rebranding Love146, and another friend who started Free Chains, Jeff said that he became "exposed to stories and statistics that are too sickening to ignore.  I decided that God could use the gifts He blessed me with to make a difference, so I decided to start the Today's Black and White blog.  I'm just trying to make a difference." 

Rest assured, Jeff--you are.

Amberly's Tattoo.  Photograph by Jeff Hall.  All rights reserved.

From Congress to the Brothel

As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to share a few of the things I learned from Linda Smith's book "From Congress to the Brothels." Shared Hope International actually wants to get the word out so much that they will send you this book for free, which is how I got it.

Here are a few of the things included within the pages that are important to keep in mind about the issue of child sex trafficking:

• Girls are often drugged before they are then trafficked 1000 miles. When they "come to" they have no idea where in the world they are, and don't speak the language.
• Even in the very slim chance that the girl can then escape and return back to her family, they will often turn her away in shame for being a "prostitute"--the very same family that first sold her into the trade.
• Shared Hope International tries a number of different ways to stay highly visible. They have a presence in brothel districts, at sex tourist destinations, and at the other end of telephone hot lines. They are visible through HIV/AIDS clinics and food distribution centers. In many cities, once word gets out that there is a safe place available, girls will come.
• Sadly, many government officials treat the victims of sex trafficking as criminals. Linda writes, "Once the girls are 'discovered,' rather than receiving the rehabilitation and justice they deserve, they are deported--routinely flown to countries far from their birth. The unsuspecting girls are then picked up at the airport from the very same trafficking group they just escaped."
  

There's always more to learn. Please feel free to leave recommendations or suggestions if there are any particular books you think I should be reading--I'd love to hear.

P.S. I forgot to mention that on Saturday we worked on some more beautiful Beloved quilts for Love146 safehomes. I'll try to post additional pictures next time I'm there so you can see them. :)

Hope!

How did you honor National Human Trafficking Day yesterday? I spent most of the day in bed sneezing (and, let's be honest--rooting for the Chargers to lose), but had time to read a quick book on how Shared Hope International came to be and what experiences Founder Linda Smith has seen in the world of child sex trafficking. The book is called “From Congress to the Brothels,” and I underlined a few things within the pages to share with you that I’ll post sometime either later tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime, Nicholas Kristof has no shortage of good material to read/hear/watch/learn from. On Saturday he posted an article on “Striking the Brothels’ Bottom Line,” and looked at how the Cambodia sex trade has changed over the past few years. This is probably the most encouraging thing I’ve read in a long time. The brothel business, at least in Poipet, is becoming more difficult to sustain--and more importantly, less profitable. Increased pressure from aid groups, the media, and the U.S. State Department have made the practice more risky.

While brothel owners seem to think violence and enslavement have their competitive advantages, Kristof reports that

"Brutality has its own drawbacks as a business model, particularly during a crackdown, pimps say. Brothels that imprison and torture girls have to pay for 24-hour guards, and they lose business because they can’t allow customers to take girls out to hotel rooms. Moreover, the Cambodian government has begun prosecuting the most abusive traffickers.

'One brothel owner here was actually arrested,' complained another owner in Poipet, indignantly. 'After that, I was so scared, I closed the brothel for a while.'"

Kristof writes,

"Sexual slavery is like any other business: raise the operating costs, create a risk of jail, and the human traffickers will quite sensibly shift to some other trade. If the Obama administration treats 21st-century slavery as a top priority, we can push many of the traffickers to quit in disgust and switch to stealing motorcycles instead."

I never thought I'd be in favor of stealing expensive personal property... but if it means the definitive end to exploiting precious, living little girls for profit, then I'll raise a toast to that.

Image by Albert Ip

Holly

I'm going to be traveling a lot over the next week so I'm not sure how many posts I'll be able to put up during that time.  With this in mind, I wanted to give you a lot to think about--and since it's almost Christmastime, I thought a good theme for this post would be to look at the film "Holly."  

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I am hoping to get the opportunity to soon.  Remember Office Space?  Then the lead actor, Ron Livingston, will look familiar.  Instead of TPS reports, though, he's getting worked up over child sex trafficking in Cambodia.  The preview is below:  

The movie is fiction, and is meant to spread awareness.   I also found a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film--some of the thoughts, concerns and frustrations that arose as the director and producers looked to make the movie.  I've watched it twice now, and it's given me a lot to think about.  Warning, it's not terribly safe for work as there are a few F-bombs scattered throughout.

"Hopefully, if we can expose the problem, the world will try to do something about it.  That's my hope. That's why I'm doing this."

Time to think.  

Thanks for reading, I'm grateful to each and every one of you.

To Write Love On Her Arms

Image by SarahWynne

I found this last night and I love it: a movement called To Write Love On Her Arms. TWLOHA is not a charity directly associated with child sex trafficking, but I see similarities in their missions. Both are hoping to reach and rescue those who are desperately hurting.

To Write Love on Her Arms is described as a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. The sad crossover to the world of this blog is that many exploited and trafficked children fight deep depression from the horrors of their experience. I've seen so many pictures of trafficking victims, arms marked up and down with the scars of trying to show their pain.

I read the below as part of the story behind To Write Love On Her Arms and thought it said it all, about both of these causes, so perfectly.

"Don Miller says we're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.

We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house. Buy her coffee and cigarettes for the coming down, books and bathroom things for the days ahead. Tell her something true when all she's known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.

We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home."

Gooooaaaalllll!

Okay sports fans, this one's for you.

Let's take a moment to look 18 months into the future--to the kickoff of the 2010 World Cup. I'm not the biggest soccer fan in the world, but I think my husband might be. We'll both be turning anxious eyes to South Africa, though, because of the information I'm discovering about how large of a role child trafficking plays in big, global sports events like these.

There is a good article in today's South African Independent Online sounding the alarm about the threat of pedophiles and child traffickers targeting South African children during the World Cup festivities. Specifically, the article calls into question the education board's decision to close all schools for 5 weeks during the event, stating that if children aren't in school they are at greater risk of being picked up and exploited by traffickers.

"Our counterparts from overseas have already alerted us to the fact that child abusers and sex offenders from their countries would be here to prey on our young children because these offenders think there won't be adequate policing," South African Childline National Co-ordinator Joan van Niekerk said.

You may remember the World Cup Germany television spot I posted here. South Africa will now face a similar goal toward mass education and awareness to protect their children.

But I don't want to be too down on sports--they play a big role in helping promote human rights issues in so many ways. One of them, as @AbigailHS has pointed out, is Reebok's Human Rights campaign, including their Human Rights Award:

Several past awardees include champions for the end of child sex trafficking, including Maili Lama and the previously mentioned Rachel Lloyd. Check out their pages to be encouraged.

Know of any other ways sports are making a difference in the fight against child trafficking? Let's hope and pray that South Africa (and the rest of us) actively address this issue and make protecting our children the most important "goal" for 2010.

Passage to India

India's child sex industry is the second largest in the world.

According to a 2007 Washington Post/AP article,

"Traffickers are rarely caught. The U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking this month that India's law enforcement response to the problem was weak and prosecutions rare.

The government reported only 27 convictions for trafficking offenses throughout the entire country for 2006, the report said."

An article from this past Sunday's NDTV.com, an India news channel, paints the same disconcerting picture. The Chief Justice of India said that millions of women and children are being traded like commodities:

"We are thinking of being proud of globalization even when the economic recession is there in other countries. India is safe is what we say. But all theses statistics about human trafficking are astounding. Nobody can feel proud of India if these figures are really correct and true." -- K G Balakrishnan, Chief Justice of India

The article then goes on to say that "only a handful of those who are trafficked actually get justice. Those who sell them or abuse them usually go scot-free."

India is beginning to seriously address its problem with child trafficking and justice corruption after increased awareness has spread across the country. On Saturday, 200 high-level Indian judges and lawyers met to discuss ways to improve the delivery of justice in cases relating to trafficking. Every time I hear stories like this I'm reminded how vitally important awareness is. It's the very first baby step toward something better. And people are really starting to pay attention.

So I'm adding India's Apne Aap ("On Our Own") and STOP India to the resources tab on the right. More learning for another day. It's heartening that there are so many shelters and advocacy groups that I can't keep up with them--and disheartening that so many have to exist.

Nov. 1

"I would rather light a candle than curse the darkness." Eleanor Roosevelt

Traveling Mercies

Photo by Alex-s.

When I travel, I often like to stay at Marriotts (I promise this is going somewhere relevant). I've had generally good experiences with them, they're clean, and I had a great honeymoon at Marriott St. Kitts this July (and here's your travel tip of the day: go in the offseason to get a great deal and practically private beach).

So when I came across The Code yesterday, I was disappointed that Marriott wasn't one of the listed travel industry participants listed onboard. The Code of Conduct is an industry-driven tourism initiative for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.

Adopters of the code commit to the following:

1.	To establish an ethical policy regarding commercial sexual exploitation of children.
2.	To train the personnel in the country of origin and travel destinations.
3.	To introduce a clause in contracts with suppliers, stating a common repudiation of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
4.	To provide information to travellers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc.
5.	To provide information to local "key persons" at the destinations.
6.	To report annually.

More than 30 countries are participating, and the following are Code-adhering travel providers based in the U.S. (yay for them!):

• Royal Regency International Hotels
• Ela Brasil Tours
• Flamingo Travel
• ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents)
• Carlson Companies Inc.: Regent International Hotels, Radisson Hotels, Country Inns and Suites, Park Plaza, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Cruise Holidays, Results Travel, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, Carlson Marketing Group

So I did a little more digging and found that while Marriott has resisted joining The Code, it did revise its Human Rights Policy in 2006 to expressly address child sex trafficking; began training its employees to recognize telltale signs of child trafficking; and partners with related-cause local and global NGOs.

"The reason I am enthused about this corporate commitment [made by Marriott] is that most major hotel chains have dragged their feet to make a public stand against sex trafficking--it's almost as if they are afraid to draw too much attention to the crisis, and thereby be identified as a site of exploitation," David Batstone told SocialFunds.com. "Their silence, however, is damning, as we will never offer serious resistance to sex trafficking if the tourist industry does not get involved in a major way--it's that simple, and urgent."

Meanwhile, ECPAT, one of the main forces behind The Code, launched a campaign this year directed at large hotel chains based in the U.S. like Hilton, Hyatt, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts (Sheraton, etc.) So far, none of them have agreed to the code of conduct. Could this impact how we make our future hotel and travel choices?

And whether the answer to that question is yes or no... should it?