Forced Into Prostitution — and Denied a Lifeline, by Florrie Burke
This article was cross-posted from the Huffington Post. I’m an advocate for victims of human trafficking, and I’ve witnessed a lot of pain and suffering. But I’ll never forget the day I met two teenage girls at a District Attorney’s office the day after they escaped a brothel. As the girls sat there clutching the teddy bears that are usually given to children, they told me they had been forced to have sex with multiple men without condoms. One of the girls described a...
Read MoreCoerced Victims or Exploited Workers? Prabha Kotiswaran
Prabha Kotiswaran, Coerced Victims or Exploited Workers? Rightswork.org (February 20, 2012) This article originally appeared on Rightswork.org. To view the original, click here. Mahdavi’s book Gridlock offers a fascinating report of the negative consequences in the Middle-East, specifically in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Dubai as a result of the impact of the UN Trafficking Protocol[i] and the U.S. anti-trafficking law[ii]. Mahdavi focuses an invisible group of the Emirates’...
Read MoreIndia has to Rethink Human Trafficking, Prabha Kotiswaran
Prabha Kotiswaran, The Hindu (March 27, 2012) This article originally appeared in The Hindu. To read the original article, click here. Human trafficking is in the news these days. Many of these reports follow the predictable storyline of women enslaved in developing countries. India often features prominently in these narratives. For instance, Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist and author of more than 46 op-eds on the subject of sex trafficking, recently conducted undercover raids...
Read MoreThe Unintended Consequences of Nick Kristof’s Anti-Sex Trafficking Crusade, Aziza Ahmed
Aziza Ahmed, The Guardian (March 26, 2012). This article originally appeared on The Guardian’s website. Click here to read the original article. First, anti-sex trafficking activism has an extremely negative impact on HIV programs. Sex workers are highly vulnerable to contracting HIV. A key victory for anti-sex trafficking organizations was the insertion of the anti-prostitution loyalty oath (APLO) into the US Leadership Act for HIV/Aids, TB, and malaria. This provision requires that...
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