Let’s Open Our Eyes…
May 13, 2008 | 1 Comment
Schools For Schools
November 27, 2007 | 2 Comments
Young people out there are making a huge difference in our world. One of the most amazing groups I have found is Invisible Children. We wrote about them back in March. They have grown so much since then. It started out as a movie, then a movement. Now they have made it their mission to help the children of Uganda.
One of their programs is called Schools For Schools. How can you help?
If you are a student, alumni, parent, friend, local business, or just a good person who is a fan of the program, sign up and read below to find ways to support the school of your choice. The challenge is to raise as much money as you can in one semester in order to provide the quality education and educational resources that the invisible children of Northern Uganda have lacked due to the twenty-year-long war.**
If you are mom or a teacher, or even better, both, get your kids school involved. This could be an amazing journey for all involved. One of the Local High Schools out here joined and they are raising funds for books and supplies for Sacred Heart Secondary School. Totally cool!
Here is a great video explaining the program. If you have any questions CLICK HERE for some FAQ.
I hope to be as successful as these young people. They are a true inspiration.
Pedophiles on World Tour…
October 4, 2007 | 4 Comments
I want you to take a journey with me, it will be brief and it won’t cost you a penny. All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine.
Imagine: Picture yourself a child, in a poor country, from a poor family … you sleep on a mat on the floor, eat maybe once a day … there are too many mouths to feed … too many bodies in too small a space … chaos, filth, hunger, pain, despair – these are your daily companions … the family needs to reduce the number of hungry mouths or bring in extra money.
Your parents decide to take desperate action. They owe money and can’t feed the rest of the family. Older siblings who can find work do, but what to do with you, the young one?
Their desperate act? The act designed to help solve their financial troubles? They “sell” you to a flesh merchant who will keep you locked in a small, dirty room, fed enough to not starve. Your job? To “service” your clients. To sell your young body for the sexual pleasure of the adult men who pay high dollar for young flesh.
Your body suffers injuries from the sexual abuse. You are given drugs to dull the pain and to keep you quiet and compliant. This is the way you live for the next several years. Never having clothes except those that your “owner” puts on you in order to please a client. The only pleasures you have are those that come from the hands of clients – maybe they let you watch a little TV, maybe they give you a special treat. But always, always there is a price, and you pay it on your back.
Eventually, the conditions become too much. Your body, already frail, begins to shut down. Years of abuse and drugs take their toll. Your immune system is nonexistent. You get sick and are no longer able to provide for the clients so you are unceremoniously shoved onto the streets.
There, you have no choice but to continue in the only thing you know – peddling your flesh to feed your starving belly and clothe your naked body.
What will end this miserable life? What death will greet you? Perhaps an overdose, maybe an illness. Or something more violent?
When times are tough in our country, you get another job, seek public assistance, or any number of other things. In some countries, you sell a child into slavery – sexual slavery.
That’s not the only way that children fall into prostitution. No, sometimes they are kidnapped, sometimes they have run away and are coerced into it – but no matter how they got there, they are there – their bodies being sold for the sexual gratification of paying “customers”. The risks of disease and the ravages of drug addiction are high. There is no retirement plan, there are no health benefits, this is not a “job” – for these kids, this is their life, their only life.
And it’s disgusting.
When I began researching for this piece, I was stunned to discover this was still a problem. In my innocence, I had believed child prostitution to be an “old” problem, I believed it was history. How wrong I was.
There is a dark side to the tourism industry, it’s called sexual tourism – “clients” coming from other countries (about 25% from the US) in order to indulge in their pedophile tendencies and engage in sex with children, some younger than 10.
They go to Latin America, Asia and Africa, frequenting the poorer places, in search of those “professionals” whose services are for sale. These predators claim they shouldn’t be prosecuted because they are using the services of a “professional”, yet these are still children, servicing two, three or more “customers” a night and suffering lasting physical damage because of it.
This is nothing new and it has brought together seemingly opposing factions as Chuck Colson and Gloria Steinem joined forces in 2000 to support legislation against human trafficking. Back to the days of Victorian England, there are reports of child prostitution one of which caused the age of consent to be raised from 13 to 16.
In Asia alone, estimates are that over one million young boys and girls are engaged in prostitution.
Even with the legal loopholes slowly closing, increased arrests and prosecution of the offenders, it is still possible to purchase the “services” of a child. There are those who still do it, there are those who go out into this world seeking sexual gratification from the body of a child. That they are paying for “professional” services does not make it any less sick, it does not make it any less wrong.
Until recently, the US had a difficult time prosecuting these offenders because the law stated they had to travel with the “intent” of molesting children. The Protect Act of 2003 changed that and made the act itself the crime and increasing penalties, making arrest and prosecution easier.
The problem, the travesty exists and persists. The question, however, is this: What can be done to stop it? What can we do to curb the prostitution of young flesh?
There will always and forever be those sick individuals who seek sexual gratification from children. It’s disgusting, and to most people, completely unthinkable. But in order to fight this, we have to accept that there are those who desire it, will travel to obtain it, and will pay for it.
There are organizations out there fighting this practice. They are fighting for stricter laws, heavier penalties, better communication between countries – they are fighting for these children’s very lives.
The first step in making change is awareness. Now that you are aware, the question is, what are you going to do?
Normally, I fill this type of post with links right in the text, clickable as you read. This time, I chose to save them for last. I wanted to offer a resource – an all-in-one spot to obtain information on several groups who are taking action, and how to be a part of the solution.
For information on sexual tourism, child prostitution and the things being done to fight it, let your fingers do the walking. I was honestly disgusted by how prevalent child prostitution really is, and the wealth of information, while helpful, was disturbing. These sites include information on the problem, as well as ways to be part of the solution.
The Code at Responsible Travel
I Had No Idea
July 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I read this article on Human Rights Watch website today. You can also find another article on the same subject in USA TODAY and BBC NEWS.
Spain: Migrant Children at Risk in Government Facilities: Close Canary Islands Emergency Centers and Provide Adequate Care
(Madrid, July 26, 2007) – Hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children from Africa held in government facilities in the Canary Islands are at risk of violence and ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
In the past year, more than 900 unaccompanied migrant children have arrived in the Canary Islands after dangerous and often traumatic journeys in makeshift boats. In response to this unprecedented number of migrant children arriving on its shores, the Canary Islands regional authorities one year ago opened four emergency centers to house 400-500 migrant children, who are mainly boys from Senegal and Morocco.
The 115-page report, “Unwelcome Responsibilities: Spain’s Failure to Protect the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the Canary Islands,” documents how children stay in these centers for indefinite periods, in often overcrowded and poor conditions. The children told Human Rights Watch that they have been subjected to beatings by staff, and left unprotected from violence by their peers. They do not enjoy access to public education, they have limited opportunity for recreation and leisure, and they are unduly restricted in their freedom of movement.
“These children should be protected by the Spanish authorities, not left to suffer beatings and abuse,” said Simone Troller, Europe children’s rights researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The Canary Islands government should close these centers and arrange better care for the children.”
The Canary Islands regional authorities and the Spanish government to date have no solution for children who remain in these centers. The transfer of 500 children to better care on the Spanish mainland, under an agreement negotiated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, had only limited impact in easing the pressure on the Canary Islands child protection services. Furthermore, the implementation of the agreement was discriminatory against Moroccan children, who were not chosen for transfers.
Regardless of whether these children have the right to remain in the country, while they are on Spanish territory they are entitled to the full provisions spelled out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Spain ratified in 1990. The government must identify a durable solution as soon as possible after their arrival, and children must be enabled to apply for asylum. The government may proceed with family reunification only after a careful assessment of whether such a decision is in the child’s best interest and without risk to his or her well-being. If the return of a child is not possible on either legal or factual grounds, the Spanish government must provide these children with real opportunities for local integration and with a secure legal status.
“I am not happy here; if I could I would leave this center. We don’t receive any good food,” said a 17-year-old Senegalese boy at La Esperanza emergency center in Tenerife. “When we tell them that we are hungry they tell us that we were starving in Senegal and should be happy to be given food at all.”
Children told Human Rights Watch about numerous instances of ill-treatment and lack of protection from violence. Another 17-year-old boy at La Esperanza told us that “one boy got into trouble with [a staff member]. That day the [staff member] took him to the shower and beat him up. There was blood in the boy’s mouth and his clothes were full of blood – his shirt could not be used anymore.” A 13-year-old boy at Arinaga emergency center said that “the [staff members] consciously look away when [other children] are beating up another child.”
Human Rights Watch called upon the Canary Islands government and the Spanish government to immediately devise and implement a plan to close emergency centers and transfer children to alternative care arrangements, either in the Canary Islands or mainland Spain. These arrangements must be conducive to the children’s well-being and development, and the fulfillment of their rights under national and international law must be guaranteed.
The authorities need to investigate reports of abuses and ill-treatment of children and hold all perpetrators fully accountable. They also must provide children with full information on their rights in a language they understand, with particular emphasis on their rights to documentation, legal residence, work permits, education and health.
“Unaccompanied migrant children continue to arrive on the shores of the Canary Islands,” said Troller. “Spanish authorities should immediately implement a lasting solution that fully respects the rights of these children.”
The map below was taken from the BBC’s website that illustrates the routes that are taken.
I am going to do more research and see if I can contact Ms. Troller from Human Rights Watch, and see what we can do from here. I have no idea how long that will take. But I will do my best.
A Quote From a Young Man Called to Action
July 12, 2007 | 1 Comment
“It’s easier to be ignorant and say I don’t know about the problem. But once you know, once you’ve seen it in their eyes, then you have a responsibility to do something. There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together as a team, we can be unstoppable.”
Founder of Free The Children, an organization to stop child slavery.
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