May 31 2011

Procuration of Women and Children for Immoral Purposes!

For more than a century, sex trafficking has been a concern of international leaders. In 1904 twelve nations, including the United States, ratified a treaty called the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Trade. Responding to the widespread abduction of girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation in Europe and Asia, this agreement urged governments to prohibit “procuration of women and girls for immoral purposes abroad.”

: “The Sex Trade’s Market Place”

After World War I, the League of Nations adopted a broad-reaching document against slavery that essentially affirmed the 1904 treaty but added children to the agenda. The League also replaced the term “white slave trade” with the term that enjoys currency today: “trafficking in women and children.”

Then, in 1949, the United Nations General Assembly set out to establish a legal framework to stop the traffic. Known formally as the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, it declared that the enslavement of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation was incompatible with fundamental human rights. It called on governments to adopt procedures for punishing any person who sexually exploits another individual or who runs a commercial enterprise that profits from such activity.

Under the terms of the convention, the consensual contract between two individuals would be honored as a matter of free choice. All the same, the convention deemed prostitution to be unfitting the dignity of a human being and encouraged nations to offer public education and material assistance to persuade individuals not to sell their bodies for sex.

Unfortunately, the convention was ratified by fewer than half of the member states of the United Nations (72 out of a total of 185). Today, nearly half a century later, its translation into
policy yields widely divergent legal strategies.

The United States took a very narrow interpretation of the convention. All of the states except Nevada criminalize prostitution and make all parties liable for prosecution–prostitutes,
customers, traffickers, and commercial exploiters. In actual application, the U.S. public justice system has addressed the supply side of the equation (prostitutes and brothel owners) much more aggressively than the demand side (johns).

Rather than seek to prohibit sexual commerce, western European nations make a more concerted effort to regulate it. The best policies for accomplishing that goal, and their consequences for sex trafficking, are matters of heated debate.

The Netherlands, for example, has historically maintained an open tolerance for the commercial sale of sex. In October 2000 it went a step farther and officially legalized prostitution. The
German government followed suit two months later. The lawmakers of these nations were persuaded that exploitation thrives in environments of illegality. If prostitution will always be with us–and lawmakers in Germany and the Netherlands presume that to be the case–then criminalizing it will create a black market where the mob underworld makes the rules. The fact that 70 percent of prostitution in the United States is linked to organized crime would seem to support that argument.

In Germany and the Netherlands, sex workers are offered legal protection from commercial exploitation and receive social service benefits. But these laws do not apply to individuals who are not residents of the European Union. To the chagrin of law-makers, a booming underground sex trade has emerged in both countries. A 2003 survey found that foreign-born women make up 65 percent of the sex market in the Netherlands and 50 percent of the market in Germany.

Most abolitionists vehemently argue that legalizing prostitution engenders a broader social acceptance of brothels for sexual entertainment. That kind of cultural environment, in turn, leads to a greater demand for young girls that will be filled by sex traffickers. Ongoing research should be able to determine whether prohibition or legalization does spawn higher levels of sex trafficking into a country.

At the very least, the legalization of the sex trade makes the prosecution of traffickers, pimps, and brothel owners almost impossible. They can use the defense that the girl consented to
work as a prostitute, and the burden of proof will be on the girl to prove otherwise. If at any point the girl actually did consent to work as a prostitute, all subsequent forms of coercion will find legal cover.

Sweden has moved in a unique direction. In 1999 the Swedish government became the first in the world to prosecute the buyer of sex, the john, while legally treating the woman as a victim. The Swedish government also established a comprehensive outreach program that encourages sex workers to change their livelihood.

The maximum sentence in Sweden for a convicted john is six months in prison. In the first five years following passage of the law, about 750 men had been charged, and two-thirds were
sentenced. As a result, street prostitution in Sweden has dropped dramatically, as has the influx of trafficked women. “What differentiates Sweden from the Netherlands and Germany. . . is that we link the ‘slave trade’ with prostitution and pornography.”

Laws are in place to address Sex Trafficking in some countries whilst in others the law applies only to its citizens, with disregard for those that have been smuggled in to fulfill a need of the local crime syndicates. When the working women are caught by the police, if they are caught, they are the ones that are prosecuted and expelled from the country leaving the bosses to continue running the business and making pay-offs to the local authorities. If this were not the case then the Organization Bosses would be put out of business and the problem would be partly resolved. But this will not happen, because of greed for wealth, control and power.

Hotdogfish

‘Alarming’ trafficking figures in Mexico City (cnn.com)
When a parent is the pimp (salon.com)
You Don’t Have to be a Prostitute – but if you are… (samfurness.wordpress.com)

May 31 2011

E-Coli and the Continuing Transmission!

Image via Wikipedia

There’s never been an EHEC outbreak linked to vegetables. Germany normally has an average of 900 cases of EHEC each year, but the new outbreak is “very dangerous.” The challenge now is to identify the source of the infection and determine how vegetables were contaminated by the EHEC bacterium which is usually found in cattle. The European Disease Centre says that transmission of the EHEC infection usually occurs through contaminated food or water, and through contact with animals, but person-to-person transmission is also possible.

On Monday, the outbreak claimed its fourtheenth victim, a 75-year-old man living in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein who, like the other fatalities, suffered from bloody diarrhea and kidney failure after developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS. Health officials say that while in the past HUS has mostly affected children, this time it is hitting adults, with women amongst the most vulnerable.

Amid growing concerns that the outbreak is spreading, some German supermarket chains have taken Spanish-imported cucumbers off the shelves and German consumers have started boycotting raw vegetables, even those from Germany. According to a survey published on Sunday, 58% of Germans say they are not eating fresh cucumbers, raw tomatoes or salad. German farmers say they are now facing huge losses and are being forced to destroy crops because of the consumer boycott. However, despite pressure from Germany’s powerful farming lobby, the government is still sticking to its guidelines. “As long as the experts in Germany and Spain have not been able to name the source of the agent without any doubt, the general warning for vegetables still holds,” Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ministers’ advice is simple: avoid salad, cucumbers and raw tomatoes, wash your hands carefully in the kitchen, and heat up all food properly. “The high mortality rate and the spiraling number of cases of patients infected with EHEC who develop HUS are extremely worrying,” since the EHEC bacterium cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Other EHEC cases have been reported across Europe — in Britain, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden — but all of those cases involve either
German nationals or patients who have recently traveled to Germany. European health officials say no case of a locally acquired infection has so far been detected outside Germany. Although Spain remains in the spotlight as being the suspected source of the outbreak — the Spanish authorities have taken water and soil samples from two cucumber farms in southern Spain — German officials have warned against jumping to conclusions. “We have found the EHEC pathogens in Spanish cucumbers, but that doesn’t mean they are responsible for the whole outbreak.

With no end to the outbreak in sight, German authorities are working round-the-clock to locate the source of the bacteria — and prevent it from claiming more lives.

Staph is the same bug that caused headlines several years ago, when hospitals and communities started reporting a particularly virulent strain, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, that sickened children and led to tens of thousands of deaths. The bacteria dies when heated, but until contaminated meat is cooked, it can pose a health hazard in kitchens.

Each day it gets worse, more people are dying and the information we are receiving from the Health authorities is not reassuring. If the EHEC bacterium can not be treated with antibiotics, then what can we do? How many people world-wide will die from this outbreak and in what timeframe will we find the cure/solution to another world anomaly.

Hotdogfish!

Russia bans some EU veggies in E. coli scare (cbc.ca)

May 30 2011

E-coli outbreak

Where is this enterohaemorrhagic E-coli coming from? Why, after the death of Osama Bin Laden, the world is being confronted with Virus strains, as if we have entered into a war were Germ Warfare is the tactical weapon of choice. Cases are showing up internationally, with the latest being in South Korea of a mysterious germ that has caused a number of deaths, and in Thailand where a mysterious germ has killed up to seven people we know about.

Ten (10) people in Germany are thought to have died as a result of a new outbreak of the deadly E-coli bacteria, the source of which is said to be imported Spanish cucumbers. The European Commission has identified organic cucumbers grown in Spain’ssouthern provinces of Almeria and Malaga as a source of the outbreak.

E-coli outbreak

But German officials on Sunday warned that the exact source of the bacteria responsible for the German deaths had yet to be identified. “Until experts in Germany and Spain are able to positively identify the source of the pathogen, general warnings about vegetables remain valid,” Ilse Aiger, Germany’s consumer minister, was quoted by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper as saying. “The relevant authorities are doing all they can to clear this up, nationally and internationally.”

Immediate recall

Germany’s national disease institute, the Robert Koch Institute, has confirmed two deaths so far from haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a disease caused by a strain of bacteria known as enterohaemorrhagic E-coli.

There are eight other suspected HUS deaths, and the institute has said that close to 300 people have contracted the disease in recent weeks.

Normally about 60 people in Germany a year contract HUS, which can cause bloody diarrhoea and serious liver problems. In some cases it can even cause seizures, strokes and coma. The deaths included four fatalities announced on Saturday in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein and in Hamburg, including three women in their 80s and a fourth in her 30s.

Southern Spanish authorities said that they had introduced restrictions on two distributors of organic cucumbers and Andalusia’s regional council said suspect batches had been also been withdrawn.

The European Commission said a batch of cucumbers originating either in The Netherlands or in Denmark, and traded in Germany, was also under investigation.

Suspected contamination

For their part, Austrian health authorities warned on Sunday that a small numbers of Spanish cucumbers suspected of contamination with the bacteria are being recalled from stores.

The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety said that the cucumbers are the subject of an immediate recall that also applies to tomatoes and eggplants.

In the Czech Republic, officials said that 120 organic Spanish cucumbers suspected of contamination are being pulled off shelves. The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority says cucumbers from the same shipment also went to Hungary and Luxembourg, but there were no immediate reports of illness there.

A main source of infection is undercooked ground beef; other sources include consumption of unpasteurized milk and juice, raw sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers and salami, and contact with infected live animals. Waterborne transmission occurs through swimming in contaminated lakes, pools, or drinking inadequately treated water. The organism is easily transmitted from person to person and has been difficult to control in child day-care centers.

Cucumbers blamed for 10 deaths in Germany ‘not on sale in UK’ (independent.co.uk)
E. coli-infected cucumbers may be in Austria, Hungary (ctv.ca)
E. coli cucumbers kill 10, sicken hundreds across Europe (theglobeandmail.com)

May 27 2011

Human Trafficking in the USA!

Everyday we have new cases around the world concerning Human trafficking, women and children are the primary targets, being the most vulnerable and are easily controlled by the traffickers. They are beaten into submission against their will, and in many cases they are forced into prostitution without being compensated. The pimps, Brothel owners and Bar owners hold them in locked rooms, with iron bars so they can not escape. If they try to escape and are caught, they are more than likely tortured or killed as an example to the others. This is no different than what happened when slavery was widely practiced throughout the world.

: One of the Worst States

The United States is a destination country for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked largely from Mexico and East Asia, as well as countries in South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe, for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. Three-quarters of all foreign adult victims identified during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 were victims of trafficking for forced labor. Some trafficking victims, responding to fraudulent offers of employment in the United States, migrate willingly—legally and illegally—and are after subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude or debt bondage at work sites or in commercial sex. An unknown number of American citizens and legal residents are trafficked within the country, primarily for sexual servitude.

The U.S. Government (USG) in 2008 continued to advance the goal of eradicating human trafficking in the United States. This coordinated effort includes several federal agencies and about $23 million in FY 2008 for domestic programs to boost anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, identify and protect victims of trafficking, and raise awareness of trafficking as a means of preventing new incidents.

May 26, 2011

After a four-week trial, a federal jury in Central Islip, New York, today found Antonio Rivera and Jason Villaman guilty of conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, alien harboring, and alien transportation. John Whaley was convicted of conspiracy, forced labor, alien harboring, and alien transportation. The charges arose in connection with the defendants operation of two bars, Sonidos de la Frontera, in Lake Ronkonkoma, and La Hija del Mariachi, in Farmingville, New York. Rivera was the owner of the bars, and Whaley and Villaman transported the victims to and from the bars. Villaman also worked as a security guard at Sonidos.

The government’s evidence at trial established that the defendants and others compelled undocumented Latin American women from Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador hired as waitresses in Rivera’s bars to engage in commercial sex acts by using violence, fraud, coercion, and threats of deportation. “Those who exploit vulnerable individuals for personal gain will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “We are committed to ensuring that everyone receives the full protection of our laws.”. Human trafficking of this kind is the equivalent of modern-day slavery. It deprives its victims of their freedom and dignity, and it has no place in our country.

This case should serve as a reminder that the Justice Department is committed to the aggressive prosecution of those who rob individuals of their freedom for financial gain,” Assistant Attorney General Perez said. “This investigation and the resulting guilty verdicts prove that there is no tolerance in our society for this form of unbridled abuse and cruel exploitation of women,” said ICE/HSI Special Agent in Charge Hayes.

This outcome further solidifies our resolve to work closely with other law enforcement agencies to root out those criminals who mistakenly view the most vulnerable among us as easy prey.” As we investigate Human Trafficking across the world, the United States is a Major Target.

All citizens need to be aware of this un-necessary evil and help to eradicate it, by standing up and providing help to the law enforcement agencies. If you see it going on around you, don’t just ignore it, do something about it.