International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

http://www.un.org/en/events/slaveryremembranceday/

March 25, 2011

Objective:
End The Trafficking of People

The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is a Day in which we never forget about what happened, make sure that it never happens again.

Despite the end of Transatlantic Slavery, there is a type of modern slavery, that isn't commonly thought of as slavery, yet it is.

Human trafficking, continues tears at our common humanity and rips the social fabric of communities around the world. Trafficking is a lucrative industry. It is now the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Globally, it is tied with the illegal arms trade, as the second largest criminal activity, following the drug trade.

Bloggers must unite and leverage the power of the blog, and their readers to combat this modern slavery and human trafficking by using your blogs to raise awareness about the horrors of human trafficking.

Yearly revenues for the trafficking in people is estimated to be from USD$5 billion to $9 billion. According to the Council of European states, "People trafficking has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade, with a global annual market of about $42.5 billion.

"The ACLU Women's Rights Project (WRP) is fighting the abuse of domestic workers trafficked to this country by foreign diplomats. These workers — most often women from poor countries — are brought to the U.S. believing they'll have good jobs with benefits and the protection of U.S. laws. Instead, they're often held in slavelike conditions."

"Human trafficking differs from people smuggling. In the latter, people voluntarily request or hire an individual, known as a smuggler, to covertly transport them from one location to another." Wikipedia

Although smuggling requires travel, trafficking doesn't. This results in confusion sinc the word "trafficking" includes the word "traffic," which we is often equated with transportation or travel.

The words look and sound alike, they do not mean the same thing. Human trafficking does not require the physical movement of a person. It however must entail the exploitation of the person for labor or commercial sex.

Also, victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave. They are held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. Human trafficking is the modern day equivalent to slavery.

Work or services may include forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation. Although, the arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the victim not being permitted or able to pay off the debt.

According to the ACLU, current U.S. laws grants foreign diplomats immunity from civil actions and criminal prosecution. These diplomats have a free pass to mistreat domestic workers deliberately and without penalty. The diplomats and their countries need to be prosecuted.

In 2007, WRP petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of five domestic workers. The petition asks the IACHR to hold the United States responsible for its neglect and failure to protect domestic workers employed by diplomats from human rights abuses and to ensure that these workers can seek meaningful redress for their rights. One of the women in the petition, Raziah Begum of Bangladesh, was forced to work 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week without a single day off, for employers who worked for the Bangladesh mission. Her employers paid her $29 per month — approximately six cents per hour.

No matter where you fall on the immigrant worker issue, most people would agree that all workers — no matter where they're from — shouldn't be abused or cheated, and should be paid the promised wage for their labor. And they shouldn't be subjected to someone else's religious beliefs to get the services they desperately need when they're abused and mistreated.

BLOGGERS PLEASE USE YOUR BLOGS TO STOP THIS TODAY! ADD A BADGE. CONTRIBUTE TO AN ORGANIZATION FIGHTING AGAINST MODERN DAY SLAVERY.

"Slavery is mutating and re-emerging in modern forms, including debt bondage, the sale of children, and the trafficking of women and girls for sex. Its roots lie in ignorance, intolerance and greed. We must create a climate in which such abuse and cruelty are inconceivable. One way is by remembering the past and honouring the victims of the transatlantic slave trade."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message on the International Day of Remembrance
of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 2010

• human trafficking
• slavery
• sex exploitation
• traffickers