Juneteenth: A Celebration of the End of Slavery

Juneteenth is a celebration that commemorates the ending of slavery in the US. From the official Juneteenth site:

Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

Let’s commemorate the end of slavery, but not forget that some 17,500 people are trafficked in the United States to this day.

Statistics from the Freedom Center.

Wisconsin Couple Sentenced for Forcing a Woman to Work as Their Domestic Servant for 19 Years

Jefferson and Elnora Calimlim, both doctors in Milwaukee, WI, were sentenced today to 72 months in prison for forcing a woman to work as their domestic servant for 19 years. The Calimlims were originally sentenced two and a half years ago, but the Court of Appeals found legal errors in the initial sentencing.

On May 26, 2006, Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and Elnora Calimlim were convicted by a Milwaukee federal jury for using threats of serious harm and physical restraint against a Filipina to obtain her services, in violation of federal law. Jefferson Calimlim Jr. was convicted of harboring an illegal alien.

According to evidence presented at trial, Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife recruited and brought the victim from the Philippines to the U.S. in 1985 when she was 19 years old. In September 2004, federal law enforcement officers responding to a tip removed the victim, then age 38, from the Calimlim’s residence through the execution of a federal search warrant. The victim testified that for 19 years she was hidden in the Calimlim’s home, forbidden from going outside and told that she would be arrested, imprisoned and deported if she was discovered.

Read the full article here.

Legislature Considers Human Trafficking Law

Bob Ellis at the Dakota Voice has a piece about trafficking in South Dakota and measures the South Dakota legislature is considering in order to fight the increase in human trafficking cases in the area.

Most South Dakotans don’t think of such a thing going on here. After all we’re a quite, agricultural, family-values type state; we certainly don’t fit the profile of big-city crime often associated with human trafficking.

But as one Argus Leader article says, “Rural isolation and a sense of trust are factors in making girls from the Upper Midwest vulnerable to becoming entangled in sex trafficking.”

South Dakota also has Interstate-90 cutting all the way across the state east to west, which makes it a virtual certainty that modern-day sex slaves are being transported across our state to various destinations around the country.

South Dakota is part of what is known as the Midwest Pipeline where victims are recruited, often from among drug addicts and runaways.

He details the story of Marissa, first reported by The Argus Leader. Marissa was introduced to the circles as a stripper, but things quickly took a turn toward prostitution.

“He had other girls from other states, and they would just go from place to place,” she told The Argus Leader.

Girls like Marissa without money and recourse are incredibly easy to exploit. After an attempt by her pimp to sell a night with her for money, Marissa tried to escape. But alone with no money and refuge, Marissa eventually turned back to her pimp and ended up on a circuit that included strip clubs in Dallas, west of Gregory in south-central South Dakota, and the region. She made the rounds of hunting lodges and clubs flush with hunting season travelers, who frequent the area for hunting as well as sex tourism.

Eventually, Marissa managed to hide enough money from her pimp to buy a car and escape.

Now the South Dakota legislature is considering new laws to help prosecute this brand of slavery.

The legislature is divided: some believe enough laws exist to successfully prosecute these crimes. Others want to strengthen laws in place to specifically identify the offense of human trafficking and better fight it. Still some other legislators want to conduct a study of the problem before committing to specific legislation, and that could come in the form of a study panel over the summer.

“Unlike a drug that is sold just once, victims of sex or labor slavery are manipulated to repeat their service, making trafficking very profitable industry,” said Chris Hupke, Executive Director of the South Dakota Family Policy Council.

Is It So Bad That Bono Does Good?

Wired Magazine had a great piece this month about celebrity spokespeople for big causes, specifically human trafficking:

When the fabulously wealthy ask us wage slavers to pay attention to humanitarian issues, cognitive dissonance can ensue. What gives some rich guy in expensive sunglasses the right to tell us what to care about? Why doesn’t he go back to bathing in his money silo?

That’s the standard, facile, knee-jerk reaction to attempts by Bono and other celebrities to save the world. On the other hand, what’s so bad about Bono trying to save the world? Shouldn’t someone be trying? And doesn’t every bit of effort count when it comes to fighting formidable foes like disease, slavery and poverty?

We decided to take a closer look at celebrity advocacy to determine how effective it is, how it works, and whether celebrity involvement can actually hurt a cause in some cases.

Read the whole thing at Wired.com.

Nobodies Out In Paperback August 12

Bush Administration Failing Slavery Victims

Excerpted from Bush Administration Fails to Live up to Promise to Help Modern Day Slavery Victims by Meg White for BuzzFlash.com:

In its July 2008 audit report on the management of grant programs to assist victims of human trafficking released last week, the inspector general at the Justice Department had several alarming criticisms.

The report estimates somewhere between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the U.S. each year. The year the report marks as a high point in victim assistance is 2005; the report says the numbers of victims assisted since then have fallen off dramatically. However, using the more conservative estimate, the agencies were still serving less than five percent of victims trafficked in the U.S.

Even more troubling, though, is the fact that some service providers are fudging these already dismal numbers to look more productive than they actually are. The audit could verify less than one fourth of the number of victims the service providers reported to Congress between 2003 and 2006. So, that high water mark in 2005 could actually be hovering around one or two percent of U.S. slavery victims instead of five. The audit found that the programs work, but that service providers are generally failing to identify and reach out to victims.

There is also a problem of misused funds. Between 2005 and 2007, the agency awarded more than $19 million in grants for assisting victims of human trafficking. However, four out of seven individually-audited service providers spent only 10 percent of their grant money on direct victim assistance.

The audit found that the Justice Department wasn’t managing the grant money very well, either. The amount of money given to each service provider varied wildly and did not necessarily correspond to the number of victims served in a rational way.

Audits of goals achieved by individual grantees were also disappointing. The report cites “systemic” problems with service providers failing to comply with nine out of 10 essential grant requirements. One would think such low performance would preclude service providers from continuing to receive federal grants, but that does not appear to be the case.

At a moment when Congress and some state governments are apologizing for our country’s history of institutionalized slavery, the federal government needs to step up and stop human trafficking at our state and national borders.

Read the whole piece at Buzzflash or check out the DOJ’s report

Illegal Workers, New Slavery

Excerpted from an opinion piece by Gary Bracken for The Greenley Tribune:

The farming industry in America was once a series of small family farms across the country. Families, such as my father’s family, had many children and thus had plenty of hands to do the farm work. Gradually, small family farms have given way to bigger and bigger farms until today, nearly all farms are large farms and the work is mostly done by the use of large, modern farm machinery.

There are some farms, primarily truck farms, where machines cannot do all the work, and so human labor is required on a seasonal basis. In the Greeley area, farmers encouraged the importing of cheap labor…. Working and living conditions have become so bad in Mexico in recent years that millions of Mexican laborers have come into the country illegally and have stayed. Because farm work was seasonal, they got other work such as service work and remained.

Most of the jobs they got are very low paying, and thus they must depend on other things to survive financially. They have enrolled in welfare programs and have gone to hospital emergency rooms across America where they must, by law, be treated even though they have no insurance and no money to pay for their treatment.

All the welfare and hospital treatment given to these laborers and their families adds up to over $3 billion a year that must be paid by American citizens’ taxes. This program has essentially become the modem version of slavery in America. During the slave days before the Civil War, plantation owners had to buy their slaves and then be responsible for all the expenses involved with owning slaves. In today’s slavery, the employers do not accept all the expenses of their slave labor. Most of the expense is shifted to American taxpayers.

Since a large percentage of these laborers have found other jobs year around, although still low paying, farmers are each year short of laborers and want to bring in more laborers. Today, we have 20 to 25 million, some estimates are much higher, illegal laborers and family members in America year around.

Add to all of this the fact that many businesses have been moved out of the country to places where cheap labor is available. As a result, thousands of American workers are without good paying jobs because the jobs are gone. There is a growing number of American workers out of jobs who must go onto welfare rolls. This leaves fewer tax payers while the demand for tax money continues to rise.

Read the whole piece here.

GOA Report On Foreign Diplomat Abuse of Household Workers

A month after former Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Lauro Baja was charged with human trafficking and 14 other violations, the United States Government Accountability Office (GOA) came out with a report entitled U.S. Government’s Efforts to Address Alleged Abuse of Household Workers by Foreign Diplomats with Immunity Could Be Strengthened.

Per the report, the GOA identified 42 distinct A-3 and G-5 visa holders who alleged that they were abused by foreign diplomats who had some level of immunity from 2000 through 2008. The 42 alleged incidents we confirmed include those identified by federal agencies, NGOs, and legal sources, such as Westlaw. Ten of these alleged incidents resulted in federal human trafficking investigations, most of which remain open.

In one instance, Justice determined through its investigation that, absent immunity, it would indict the foreign diplomat’s wife. However, the diplomat’s home government declined to waive the wife’s immunity; thus, Justice could not indict. The diplomat and his wife subsequently left the United States.

The GOA speculates that the total number of incidents of household worker abuse by foreign diplomats who have some level of immunity is likely higher than the 42 distinct alleged incidents they identified for the following four reasons:

1. household workers’ fear of contacting law enforcement authorities,
2. NGOs’ need to maintain client confidentiality,
3. limited information on some allegations handled by the U.S. government,
4. and federal agencies’ difficulties in tracking household worker abuse allegations and investigations involving foreign diplomats.

Furthermore, the report went on, US government’s process for investigating allegations of abuse by foreign diplomats is complicated by three factors:

1. constraints imposed by immunity,
2. household workers’ heightened vulnerabilities due to their employers’ status,
3. and the length of time it takes for Justice to obtain State’s opinion on the use of certain investigative techniques in trafficking investigations involving individuals with varying degrees of immunity and inviolability.

Law enforcement’s ability to investigate foreign diplomats is limited, particularly if the subject has full immunity or inviolable premises are involved. Diplomats with full immunity have the highest degree of privileges and immunities. They are considered “personally inviolable” and cannot be detained. In addition, their residences are inviolable and cannot be entered or searched without their consent. These limitations are particularly challenging because abuse of household workers typically takes place in the employer’s residence and often is not witnessed by individuals outside the employer’s family. Furthermore, the victims may not cooperate out of fear that the employers will use their political status and connections to harm them or their families or that they will be deported if they leave their employment situations.

“At the four consular posts we visited, we found weaknesses in State’s process for ensuring that its policies for issuing A-3 and G-5 visas are implemented correctly and consistently,” the GOA report notes. “Our review of employment contracts submitted by A-3 and G-5 visa applicants at the posts we visited showed that, in many cases, they did not include some or all of the criteria required in the Foreign Affairs Manual, such as a guarantee that the employee will receive the minimum or prevailing wage (whichever is greater)”

In their report, the GOA recommends that the Secretary of State do the following:

1. emphasize to the relevant bureaus and offices the importance of the Foreign Affairs Manual requirement to report all cases that come to their attention and create a system for collecting and maintaining records on these cases,
2. work with the Attorney General of the United States and the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish an interagency process outlining agreed-upon policies and time frames for determining which investigative techniques can be used in trafficking investigations involving foreign diplomats,
3. establish a system alerting consular officers to seek guidance from State headquarters before issuing A-3 or G-5 visas to applicants whose prospective employers may have abused their household workers in the past,
4. and enhance oversight by establishing a monitoring system to spot-check compliance with A-3 and G-5 visa policies and procedures.

Read the piece by Veronica Uy about the report at Inquirer.net.

A Deeply Moral If Politically Inconvenient Decision

E. Benjamin Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous talks about the William Wilberforce Reauthorization Act:

My interest in the lives of slaves was in part sparked by that of my government. The 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) made it an American burden to fight slavery at home and created a State Department office to cajole foreign governments to do the same abroad. Today, that law is the subject of a fierce debate in Congress over the very definition of slavery.

To me, and to most others who study and assist real slaves, their plight is defined simply and terribly: They are those forced to work under threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence.

… Today, the search for absolution through abolition is far from over. Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., have introduced a bill that would enhance the TVPA. They did so because, despite a legislative mandate, the Bush administration has thus far failed to prioritize the abolitionist fight. Abroad, though U.S. diplomatic pressure prompted over a hundred new laws on human trafficking, the resulting prosecutions did not diminish aggregate levels of slavery. At home, the Justice Department managed to free just 2 percent of the slaves it estimated were present within U.S. borders.

Part of the failure to free the slaves owes to the administration’s shallow allocation of resources. Domestically, though the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has adopted a victim-centered approach, local law-enforcement training has lagged, allowing traffickers to use victims’ fear of authority to keep them hidden.

… But another, fundamental reason for the failure owes to the diluted definitions among antitrafficking advocates over what constitutes slavery. Such vagueness has at times led to unfocused and lackluster government responses. Some hold that all underpaid workers are slaves, regardless of whether or not those laborers can leave their jobs freely.

… Others argue that all prostitutes are slaves. At the moment, a small but vocal coalition of groups as diverse as Equality Now and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission are leading the fight against Brownback and Biden’s bill. This coalition decries the fact that, under the bill, it would remain necessary for federal prosecutors to prove that pimps use ”force, fraud or coercion” in order to establish that adult prostitution is trafficking. Such a standard is prohibitively high, the coalition holds.

Thus far, Biden and Brownback have stood their ground in defense of an accurate definition of slave trafficking that necessarily involves compulsion or fraud. Such a definition focuses federal resources on freeing and protecting genuine slaves, and keeps the fight against consensual adult prostitution in the domain of the states.

Read his whole commentary at the Miami Herald.com.

Firestone Labor Abuses Continue In Liberia

A new report published by the Liberian-based Save My Future Foundation (SAMFU), has detailed a wide range of abuses occurring on a rubber plantation in Liberia owned by the Bridgestone Firestone tire company. It exposes poor living and working conditions for rubber tappers; meager pensions; barriers to educational and health access, water and air pollution; and violations of workers’ rights to organize, as enforced by security forces on the plantation.

Firestone has operated the world’s largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia since 1926. According to the report, rubber tappers have to meet a daily production quota in order to receive their daily wage of just over three dollars per day. As a result of this unreasonably high quota, workers must bring family members to work with them or hire subcontractors using their meager salaries. Additionally, workers must carry two 75-pound buckets of raw latex on sticks on their shoulders and work without protective gear. Workers live in crowded shacks without electricity, running water, indoor latrines.

“After 82 years of exploitation masked by a massive public relations campaign, Firestone must be held accountable for its continued violations of worker rights and abuse of the environment.” said Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of the article for Alternet which first led me to blog about Firestone’s abuses in Liberia. “Liberian workers and future generations need good corporate neighbors. Firestone can and must do better.”

Tim Newman, child labor campaigner at the International Labor Rights Forum added: “As the first independent and democratically elected union leaders on the plantation negotiate a new contract, it is important that Firestone take the demands of workers and their allies to heart. Eighty two years of exploitation is enough and the time is now for a new day on Firestone’s rubber plantation in Liberia.”

Read the whole article at Pambazuka.org or go straight to the SAMFU report.