Craigslist says no plans to resume sex ads in the United States

September 15, 2010
By the CNN Wire Staff

"Today, perpetrators [of sex trafficking] hide behind their computers," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California.Craigslist has "no plans" to resume running adult services ads that contribute to child sex trafficking in the United States, an official with the online advertising site told a House panel Wednesday.

However, the erotic services ads remain available to Americans on the company's foreign sites, including its Canadian site, acknowledged William "Clint" Powell, the director of customer service and law enforcement relations at Craigslist.

Powell's remarks to a House Judiciary subcommittee responded to testimony that the internet has greatly expanded child prostitution and child sex trafficking. In particular, witnesses cited online advertising sites such as Craigslist and backpage.com as facilitating the ability of people to hire child prostitutes.

Respectfully submitted from: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-15/justice/us.child.sex.trafficking_1_craigslist-ceo-jim-buckmaster-services-ads-founder-craig-newmark?_s=PM:CRIME

Teen sues Village Voice Media for abetting sex trafficking

2010-09-22 18:30:00
A former teen prostitute has sued Village Voice Media for abetting sex trafficking after her ads were posted by her pimp on the company's classified advertisement website.

The 15-year-old, known only as M.A. in the lawsuit, claims that she was forced into prostitution by her pimp Latasha Jewell McFarland when she was 14.

McFarland, who has since pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in a federal court, took pornographic photographs of M.A. and advertised her as a paid escort on Village Voice Media's Backpage.com in 2009 and 2010.

Robert Pedroli, lawyer for the Missouri teen, revealed that the company was an "active participant in a crime which they know is going on but they're failing to investigate because they're making money".

Pedroli said his client is seeking 150,000 dollars for each pornographic photo that was published. Pedroli said there were at least four ads.

Village Voice Media has on the other hand issued a press release slamming Pedroli, calling him an "attorney attempting to milk a tragedy".

"The claim that we knowingly assisted McFarland in committing criminal acts is a lie fabricated by a trial lawyer looking for a payday," the New York Daily News quoted the statement as saying.

It also said that the pimp violated the website's terms of use and that Backpage.com's records even helped convict McFarland, and that the company had previously testified in five underage cases.

"The responsibility, under the law, rests with the person supplying the post," the statement read.

But Pedroli said that by maintaining the forum, Village Voice Media is abetting and aiding sex trafficking, and that the ads have "significantly damaged" his client. (ANI)

Respectfully resubmitted from: http://sify.com/news/teen-sues-village-voice-media-for-abetting-sex-trafficking-news-international-kjws4dfdgbe.html

Man guilty of peddling sex

By Tom Smith
Senior Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, September 23, 2010

HUNTSVILLE - It took a federal jury 25 minutes Wednesday to convict a Florence man in a sex-trafficking case involving a 15-year-old girl.

Zelaya-Rodriguez Manuel Enrique Zelaya-Rodriguez, 31, 233 N. Crown St., was found guilty of trafficking an underage girl for sex and coercing a minor to engage in prostitution.

He also was convicted of harboring an illegal alien and for failing to file a report with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about an illegal alien in his employment.

The case is linked to an ongoing nationwide investigation into human trafficking, FBI agents say.

Zelaya-Rodriguez’s trial began Monday at the federal courthouse in Huntsville.

“This is nothing but modern-day slavery,” U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said. “We must go full speed ahead on these kinds of cases. It’s important we stand up and do the right thing when people are victimized, no matter who they are or where they are from.”

Zelaya-Rodriguez, who also goes by “Mecanico,” has been in federal custody since Sept. 9, 2009. He is accused of arranging sexual encounters for money between men living in the region and the 15-year-old girl, who was brought to the country without proper immigration document. Federal agents said he harbored the girl in Florence and forced her to engage in commercial sex acts between Aug. 25 and Sept. 8, 2009.

Florence police arrested Zelaya-Rodriguez in September 2009 after a traffic stop near a trailer park, which had been a source of complaints and allegations of prostitution, according to testimony. The 15-year-old girl was in the car with Zelaya-Rodriguez and told police he was prostituting her.

Vance commended Florence police in recognizing a potential case of human trafficking and making the arrest.

“The stop here was the result of a police officer who had some good training and put it to good use,” she said.

Florence police originally charged Zelaya-Rodriguez with four counts of first-degree promoting prostitution. After the arrest, the girl was placed in the custody of the Lauderdale County Department of Human Resources.

At the time of Zelaya-Rodriguez’s arrest, the girl told police she received $30 to have sex with the men. She originally told police she was 29 but later admitted she was 15.

Police said it appears Zelaya-Rodriguez scheduled the sexual encounters, took the girl to a designated site, dropped her off and returned later to pick her up.

“We have shut down this particular trafficker and, hopefully, given pause to others who would commit the same morally reprehensible crime,” Vance said. “Human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor is a growing problem in North Alabama and across the country. It’s a grave concern of the Department of Justice. We want a zero-tolerance policy on this crime.”

Agents in the Florence FBI office and ICE agents led the federal investigation of the case, Vance said.

Vance said it is important that people realize these cases exist in Alabama.

“This is not just happening to illegal immigrants, but it happens to runaway girls and others who are victims of kidnapping,” she said. “People keep their heads in the sand and think not in Alabama. A big part of our goal is to give the public the knowledge that this is going on.

“I can’t began to imagine what this child went through. I don’t want to see this happen to any child.”

Officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Zelaya-Rodriguez faces a minimum 10-year prison sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison. A sentencing date was not immediately set, and Zelaya-Rodriguez will remain in custody.

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100923/NEWS/100929942/0/news50

The Body Shop Says: Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People

By Lisa Germinsky
Thursday, September 23, 2010 5:30 AM ET

 

Help these purveyors of beauty eradicate one of the world's ugliest crimes.

 

Warning: this is not going to be pretty. Every year 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex. In the United States alone, over 200,000 children will be involved in commercial sexual exploitation. Those are just estimates — the true numbers are likely higher. It's an ugly issue that one beauty company is determined to eradicate.

 

This week at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, Tonic had the pleasure of speaking with Phil Kowalcyk, president of The Body Shop North America. He brought us up to speed on the Commitment that the socially-conscious beauty giant accepted in partnership with ECPAT, "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People."

 

The three-year initiative, valued at $11.5 million, boasts a two-fold mission: first, to raise funds for intervention and rescue from trafficking; and second, to inspire long-term change. The current initial phase of raising money and gathering names for a petition will continue until the end of 2011. They will then present the millions of signatures to lawmakers and leaders around the globe, appealing for better legislation, awareness and prevention of child sex trafficking. Currently they have secured 2,640,040 million signatures. Since launching the US arm of the campaign in August, they've collected a remarkable 500,000.

 

"It has the potential to break your heart, until you realize, this can change," Kowalcyk tells Tonic. He continues, "Earlier today someone said, 'Intellectually you can almost understand poverty, violence, the spread of HIV/AIDs, but you can't understand taking advantage of children.'"

 

And things are changing. Organizations such as the Somaly Mam Foundation are doing courageous work and making remarkable strides in liberating victims and empowering survivors. A survivor herself, Mam, was born into poverty and sold into the sex trade as a young girl by a man who posed as her grandfather. Mam has made it her life's work to eradicate the possibility that others will share her fate. The nonprofit has successfully touched the lives of over 6,000 children through rescue and recovery, education and reintegration.

 

Westerners no longer have the luxury of thinking this is a faraway problem in the developing world. This year, upwards of 300,000 children will be exploited by the sex industry across all 50 states. With the exception of New York, Washington and Connecticut, children picked up for prostitution can be arrested and prosecuted in the US. To make matters worse, only three shelters exist for the nearly 300,000 children involved in sex trafficking. Activists and lawmakers are working diligently to create safe harbors around the nation.

 

Tonic asked Kowalcyk what people can do to help and he offered up three very specific, simple actions:

• Sign the petition online or in any Body Shop location.
• Learn these two facts and share them: 1. Sex trafficking is the third highest crime in the world behind drugs and firearms. 2. 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex every year.
• Purchase products from The Body Shop. Either, the Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream, of which 100% net proceeds go to ECPAT, or the Stop Sex Trafficking Bag for Life, of which 100% of net proceeds go to Somaly Mam.

It should be noted that The Body Shop is not one of those global corporations who recently got hip to the importance of social action — you'll never catch them tagging a random cause marketing campaign onto the launch of the latest Body Butter scent. This beauty brand was born to do good. It's an inside-out kind of thing.

 

Dame Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976 on the principle that businesses have the power to do good. An activist herself, Roddick believed that by creating a product that inherently makes a difference in the world, she could enable consumers to become activists by making a simple purchase. According to the company website Roddick once said, "Activism isn't listed on The Body Shop® labels as an ingredient, but it is there as surely as the bergamot and hemp oil."

 

If she were alive today, Dame Roddick would surely be proud of her legacy.

 

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.tonic.com/article/the-body-shop/

Child Sex Trafficking: A Resource List to Help

About 200,000 U.S. Children at Risk of Being Trafficked Each Year; Here's How to Help
By JESSICA HOPPER
Sept. 22, 2010
Portland is often voted one of the most livable places in the country but, police say, the Oregon city hides another distinction: It has become a national hub for child sex trafficking.

Oregon police believe more than 100 underage girls are being deployed to hotel rooms, sent to work on the streets and dance in the strip-clubs.

They are a few of the nearly 200,000 U.S. children at high risk for being trafficked into the sex industry each year, according to the anti-trafficking organization Polaris Project. The average age of entry into prostitution is between 12 and 13, the project says.

If you are a victim of trafficking or want to help those who are, here are some resources:

Polaris Project: This national organization works at the international, national and local levels to combat trafficking. It trains leaders on how to combat trafficking and even writes policy aimed at curbing what it calls the second largest crime in the world.

National Human Trafficking Resource Hotline: This hotline allows you to report a tip if you think that trafficking has occurred in your neighborhood. If you are a victim of trafficking, the hotline will connect you to help in your area. You can also call and receive information about trafficking and where to go to train in counter-trafficking.

Department of Homeland Security: This government agency has a link to a state and local database of anti-trafficking groups. There is also information regarding immigration status if you are undocumented and a victim of trafficking. Concerned citizens can click on this link to request assistance for child victims of trafficking.

The U.S. Department of Education: This federal agency has a sheet for schools and educators with signs that a student might have been lured or forced into sex trafficking. Among the things to look for: long, unexplained absences from school, or a student is constantly running away or wearing inappropriate attire based on the weather conditions.

The Child Rescue Association of North America: This non-profit organization works to stop child sex trafficking in the United States and Canada. You can join a local chapter or donate to the organization. They also have a link to several resources nationwide.

The GEMS Council of Daughters: This is a national branch of the New York based GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, an organization helping girls working in the sex industry. The GEMS Council of Daughters hosts fundraisers and training sessions in counter-trafficking.

The National Runaway Switchboard: This hotline allows runaways to call for help. Experts say that running away can be a gateway to children being forced into sex work.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: This national organization famous for issuing Amber Alerts for missing children also focuses on the sexual exploitation of children. It has a cyber tip line that allows you to report possible instances of child exploitation.

The Body Shop's Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People Petition: This campaign launched by the Body Shop asks customers in stores or online to sign a petition protecting victims of sex trafficking from being arrested and prosecuted for prostitution.

Respectfully submitted from: http://abcnews.go.com/US/child-sex-trafficking-resources-victims/story?id=11700413&page=1