Added: Jan. 31, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
A girl stands inside an open air market in
Port-au-Prince.
Photo:
Reuters / Shannon
Stapleton
|
Haitian Women Lose Out
In Post-Quake "Survival
Of The Strongest"
In one of the camps sheltering the homeless in Haiti's
earthquake-stricken capital, a group of male volunteers stands guard
over hundreds of teenage girls and young women as they sleep during the
night.
The women there are so afraid of being attacked that they have organized
the protection themselves, according to ActionAid, which says several
women have already reported cases of rape or sexual abuse to their staff
in the camp.
Elsewhere in Port-au-Prince, women have left food lines empty-handed
after groups of men raided food distribution sites watched by police who
were too few and too powerless to stop them...
Aid workers and human rights activists are increasingly worried that in
a country where women's rights are routinely trampled upon or ignored,
women are again being marginalized. This time, they fear women are
losing out on their fair share of desperately-needed aid following the
devastating quake that killed up to 200,000 people and left nearly 1
million more homeless in the Caribbean island nation...
Loss of Rights Icons
Experts with experience of responding to natural disasters say women
and children are especially vulnerable after such calamities.
But this is particularly true in a country where one-third of women
and girls said they had suffered physical or sexual violence, and more
than 50 percent of those who had experienced violence were under the age
of 18 -- such were the findings of a study carried out by the
Inter-American Development Bank in Haiti in 2006.
In one report, a Swiss doctor described how he treated a girl --
who, he said was at most, 12 years old -- for vaginal lacerations after
she had been pulled out from under the rubble and raped by her rescuer.
The account was a harrowing reminder of how precarious life can be for
women and girls in Haiti, Bien-Aime said.
On top of their battle to deal with the aftermath of quake, Haitian
women lost three of their best champions in the Jan. 12 disaster.
Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin and Anne-Marie Coriolan were women's
rights icons who were instrumental in the campaign to criminalize rape,
experts say.
The law was eventually changed in 2005.
"What the loss of these women for Haiti means is really the loss of
half of the women's movement which was a powerful movement but
nevertheless very, very small in numbers, very limited in capacity and
resources," Bien-Aime told AlertNet.
"Each of these women who died contributed enormously to the lives of
women in terms of changing laws and seeking justice for women who have
been violated in some way whether it's domestic violence or rape. They
were irreplaceable in the context of Haiti."
Merlet, who held a senior position in the Ministry for the Rights of
Women, was one of the first women to document cases of rape during
Haiti's 1991-4 military regime and identify its use as a political
weapon, Amnesty's Ducos said.
Marcelin founded Kay Fanm, which for many years operated the only
shelter in the country for women who had been battered by their husbands
and boyfriends. It later opened another shelter for survivors of sexual
violence.
Coriolan founded one of Haiti's largest women's advocacy groups,
Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn (SOFA).
Against a backdrop of widespread impunity and poverty, these
organizations were important in ensuring that survivors of sexual abuse
received immediate access to adequate medical care -- anti-retrovirals,
contraceptive pills -- as well as psychological support and legal
advice.
The deaths of these leading activists were a blow to Haiti's women's
rights movement, but Ducos said many women were part of this movement
which despite the challenges continues to evolve and grow.
Katie Nguyen
AlertNet
29 Jan 2010
Added: Jan. 31, 2010
Haiti, Latin America
|
 |
|
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa answers
questions from journalists next to Haitian President Rene
Preval, during a news conference in Port-au-Prince January
29, 2010. |
Shipment From Puerto Rico Unexpected Blessing
For Orphans And The Hungry
Today
World Concern is beginning to feed
3,000 additional people and provide emotional support to orphans
because of a donor from Puerto Rico. The donor decided to help those
suffering in Haiti and coordinate the shipment of two barges full of
food, tarps, clothes, toys and other emergency supplies to Haiti.
Though it was not neatly packaged, this aid has provided World
Concern yet another opportunity to immediately deliver food to
hundreds of hungry families. World Concern is delivering the toys
included in the shipment to an orphanage.
"There are a lot of people around the world who want to help," said
World Concern President David Eller. "This is a great example of the
world's generosity to Haiti."
In the meantime, World Concern waits on massive supplies of aid to
be released by larger clearinghouses, hopefully within the next day.
"It has been frustrating knowing that resources have landed in the
country and systems have been delayed in getting these supplies
released," said Eller...
Seattle-based World Concern has worked in Haiti for more than 30
years and currently provides hope to 125,000 people. Our staff of
more than 100 in Haiti work with the poor includes microfinance,
agriculture, disaster response and small business development. World
Concern works with the poor in 24 countries, with the goal of
transforming the lives of those we touch, leading them on a path to
self-sustainability.
For more information and to donate, visit
www.worldconcern.org or call
1-866-530-5433 (LIFE)
World Concern - USA
Via Reuters' Alertnet.org
Jan. 29, 2010
Added: Jan. 31, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
[Texas Supreme Court to Make Decision on the
Rights of Prostituted Children]
Sixteen-year-old Angela was said to be a “case study” in the
difficulty domestic human trafficking victims represent to law
enforcement.
Though first forced into prostitution at age 11, it would be several
years before local police would discover her. But instead of being
rescued as a child victim, she was placed into the juvenile system
in 2008 on a theft charge after a man accused her of stealing his
wallet and pants. Only after first prosecuting her as a criminal —
due in part, they said, to her uncooperativeness — did law
enforcement recognize her as a child victim. Some months later her
full story came out.
County officials said last summer that ‘Angela,’ diagnosed with
hepatitis and HIV, was finally in a “safe place” getting counseling
and medical attention.
Some would like to see child victims jump straight to the help line,
and a decision pending with the Texas Supreme Court could move
things strongly in that direction, according to Dottie Laster, a New
Braunfels-based advocate fighting against human trafficking and the
sexual exploitation of children.
The case involves a girl identified as B.W., taken from her mother
at age 11 and placed with Child Protective Services. After running
away from CPS, she was picked up by Houston Police Department
officers two years later after they observed her trying to sell
herself on the street. She was booked on charges of prostitution.
Later, after her age of 13 became known, she was placed in the
juvenile system and charged with delinquency for committing
prostitution instead of returning her to CPS.
Attorney Ann Johnson argued that the child should have never been
put on the “prosecutorial train.” That state law holds that children
under the age of 14 cannot consent to sex. Period.
“Despite their discovery that one of the passengers on that train
was a 13-year-old, mentally deficient child with undeniable evidence
of sexual exploitation no one to this day has pulled the emergency
stop cord to say, ‘Wait. We’re supposed to be handling this issue
differently’” Johnson said...
“You can protect a child when they’re in danger without charging
them with a crime,” Laster said, adding that the outcome in the case
could transform how state law enforcement responds to child victims.
“I believe if they rule to protect the victim that it could greatly
change the way juveniles are protected in Texas; if they rule to
punish the victim, it could set us back years and cause harm to many
more juveniles, or minors, children. However you want to say it, I
still look at them as children.”
And if Texas judges find their way to the federal mindset, they will
discover that “any child in commercial sex is considered a victim of
trafficking,” Laster said.
Of course, this is Texas. Worse. This is Houston, Texas, we're
talking about.
The city was pegged last year as the national hub in child
trafficking. Judging from the position of the DA's office, reform
there — despite the training that Laster, now working with
MillionKids.org and running her own consulting group, has
given many of its law-enforcement officers - may come most
grudgingly.
Greg Harman
The San Antonio Current
Jan. 30, 2010
Added: Jan. 31, 2010
Massachusetts, USA
Accused Rapist Deported Before Facing
Indictment and Trial
Illegal immigrant makes bail; feds send him
home to Guatemala
Weymouth - Defense and
prosecution were ready
for Genesis Orrego’s
arraignment on child
rape in superior court.
Orrego was charged with
molesting a 10-year-old
neighbor his girlfriend
often babysat in
Weymouth.
But Orrego, who faced charges of rape of a child with force and
indecent assault and battery of a child under 14, wasn’t there. He was
in federal custody, and the following week he was deported to his native
Guatemala.
He had been freed on $10,000 bail on the local charge,
turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and they
were doing their job – deporting him out of the country.
Norfolk County prosecutors knew Orrego, also identified in court as
Genesis Orrego Gonzales, was in the country illegally, and said at his
earlier arraignment in district court that ICE had placed a detainer on
him. Orrego told police he had been in the U.S. for more than 10 years
after walking for four months from Guatemala to Texas.
When he made his $10,000 bail, which prosecutors had requested be
$100,000, he was transferred into ICE custody on July 27, according to
immigration officials.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office expected him at his
arraignment in superior court in Dedham on Sept. 24 after being indicted
by a grand jury. Spokesman David Traub said the district attorney’s
office was in contact with ICE and filed paperwork to make Orrego
available for the Sept. 24 arraignment. They found out that wasn’t the
case that day.
“It was his ability to meet the $10,000 bail that put him into ICE
custody,” Traub said...
Prosecutors can argue at arraignment that an immigrant with ties
outside the country is a flight risk.
“In this case and other cases, we argue for high cash bail, but we
don’t control what is set,” Traub said.
Allison Manning
The Patriot Ledger
Jan. 19, 2010
Added: Jan. 31, 2010
Florida, USA
Previously Deported Sex Offender Indicted for
Reentry Into the U.S.
Miami - A 30-year-old Mexican national
was indicted Thursday on charges of reentering the U.S. after having
been lawfully removed following a U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) investigation.
According to the indictment and a
previous complaint affidavit filed with the court, Celestino
Ramirez-Hernandez was found in the U.S. on Nov. 19, 2009, after
having been removed from the United States on March 30, 2002.
Statements made in court during a
detention hearing held January 14, 2010, indicated that
Ramirez-Hernandez had been convicted in 2001of statutory rape of a
child under the age of 16.
He was sentenced to 10 years’
imprisonment, but was allowed to serve the sentence on probation.
The defendant was physically removed
from the U.S. on March 30, 2002, and was barred permanently from
returning to the U.S.
Thereafter, Ramirez-Hernandez reentered
the U.S. on an unknown date. Using the alias of Leonel Lopez, he was
subsequently convicted in 2006 of grand theft and possession of a
stolen/forged driver’s license.
While under court supervision, it was
discovered that Leonel Lopez was actually Ramirez-Hernandez, a
convicted sex offender. Statements made in court indicated that he
failed to register as a sex offender and was convicted of this
offense.
While the Ramirez-Hernandez was
approaching completion of his four-year sentence in a Miami-Dade
detention facility for failure to register as a sex offender, an ICE
agent and deportation officer assigned to ICE’s Criminal Alien
Program (CAP) interviewed Ramirez-Hernandez.
Through ICE’s Secure Communities
partnership, the agents and officers ran his fingerprints through
DHS and FBI databases and confirmed the defendant’s sex conviction
and prior removal.
Subsequently, ICE officers and agents
placed an immigration detainer on the defendant to ensure he would
not be released from custody.
On Jan. 11, 2010, ICE officers and
agents arrested him on a criminal complaint prior to the filing of
the indictment.
If convicted, Ramirez-Hernandez faces a
maximum of 20 years in prison.
EthiopianReview.com
Jan. 27, 2010
Added: Jan. 31, 2010
The United States
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Crime Blotter
Excerpts:
Jan. 26, 2010
- Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near Tucson, Arizona.
...The subject had multiple prior convictions for sex offenses in
the State of California, and had been previously removed from the
United States.
Jan. 25, 2010
- Tucson Sector – Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Douglas, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for lewd and
lascivious acts with a child in the State of California and had been
previously removed from the United States.
Jan. 21, 2010
- Agents arrested an illegal alien from Ukraine near Crookston,
Minnesota. Records checks revealed the subject had multiple felony
convictions, was a convicted sex offender, and had been previously
removed from the United States.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol
Jan. 27, 2010
Added: Jan. 31, 2010
Texas, USA
|
 |
|
Sketch of suspect |
Harris County Sheriff's Office:
Man Exposes Himself To Girls
Spring - A man who claimed to be an
undercover police officer exposed himself to two girls, KPRC Local 2
reported Friday.
Harris County sheriff's deputies said
the man approached two girls, ages 7 and 10, near the intersection
of Long Pine Drive and Ridge Crest Drive in Spring on Dec. 20.
The man, who was driving a blue car,
pulled up alongside the girls and told them he was an undercover
police officer, detectives said.
Investigators said the man got out of
the car, asked the girls what they were doing in the neighborhood
and asked if they were using drugs.
The man patted the girls down, officials
said.
One of the girls asked to see his badge
and he exposed himself to them, detectives said. He then got back
into his car and left.
The man was described as Hispanic and 20
to 30 years old.
Anyone with information is asked to call
the
Harris County Sheriff's Office at
713-529-4216 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
KPRC
Jan. 29, 2010
Added: Jan. 28, 2010
The United States
 |
|
Ambassador Mark P. Lagon
speaks on human trafficking in Ohio -
Jan. 11, 2010
Photo: Tom Dodge - The
Columbus Dispatch |
Polaris Project Announces Executive
Transition
The Board of Directors of Polaris Project announces that
Ambassador Mark P. Lagon is leaving the position of
Executive Director and CEO on February 1, 2010. "I have had
the privilege of helping direct a truly driven and
innovative organization," said Ambassador Lagon. "Polaris
Project continues to inspire and lead the anti-trafficking
movement in our common vision for a world without slavery."
Prior to joining Polaris Project, Ambassador Lagon served as
Ambassador-at-Large and Director of the Office to Monitor
and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP) at the U.S.
Department of State and as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary
of State.
"During his time at Polaris Project, Ambassador Lagon has
worked tirelessly to champion the eradication of modern-day
slavery, to address the demand for commercial sex and forced
labor, and to increase corporate accountability around human
trafficking." said Derek Ellerman, Board Chairperson and
Co-Founder. "Polaris Project commends Ambassador Lagon for
his dedication to fighting human trafficking and wishes him
every success in his future plans."
The Board of Directors has named Bradley Myles as the
incoming Acting Executive Director until the executive
search process is completed. Bradley Myles joined Polaris
Project in 2004 and currently serves as the Deputy Director
and as a member of the Executive Management Team, overseeing
the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC),
national training and technical assistance efforts, and
client services programs in Washington, DC and Newark, NJ.
Polaris Project
Jan. 27, 2010
See also:
See also:
Changing the World By Wiping Out Human
Trafficking
Katherine Chon, co-founder of
Polaris Project, is honored on the Women'sDay magazine list
of women who are changing the world
Although slavery is widely considered a thing of the past,
its prominence is still shocking—it’s currently the
second-largest and fastest-growing criminal industry
worldwide. Devoted to eradicating modern-day slavery and
human trafficking, Katherine Chon founded the Polaris
Project while a senior at Brown University in 2002. In
addition to operating the National Human Trafficking
Resource Center Hotline, the project provides shelter and
services for survivors, trains law enforcement and other
aides, and advocates for better laws to end modern slavery.
Women's Day
Dec. 11, 2010
See also:
Activist Calls For Stand-Alone Ohio Law Against
Human Trafficking
The head of a major international group
fighting human trafficking says Ohio stands at a "tipping
point" in recognizing the problem and tightening laws and
enforcement to deal with it.
Mark Lagon, head of the Polaris Project, a
former U.S. ambassador and human rights expert under
Secretary of State Colin Powell, said at a human trafficking
conference today at the Statehouse that federal and Ohio law
enforcement officials are making a "high-level commitment"
to attack the problem.
Federal officials estimate that up to 17,500
women and girls are trafficked for sex [into] the U.S. each
year. Another 300,000, many of them girls as young as 11,
are considered vulnerable.
Lagon recommended that Ohio law be changed to
make human trafficking a standalone crime, not simply an
add-on to other charges as it is now. He said the law should
have a broader definition of trafficking that includes
forced labor in addition to coerced sexual activity.
In addition, Ohio and other states need to
provide more assistance to trafficking victims, particularly
juveniles.
"We don't have a place to put these
prostituted teens when we find them," Lagon said. Too often,
they are viewed as criminal to be locked rather than victims
to be helped, he said.
Alan Johnson
The Columbus Dispatch
Jan. 11, 2010
Added: Jan. 28, 2010
California, USA
|
 |
|
Andy Pimental |
Salinas Officer Injured in Arrest
A Salinas Police officer was injured Friday in attempting to
take an assault suspect into custody.
According to police, the officer was hurt while taking down
Andy Pimental, who was suspected of threatening [to attack]
a pregnant woman near the intersection of Williams and
Grandhaven; the woman told police she did not know Pimental
and that he had forced her to seek safety inside a car.
Police say Pimental took a swing at an officer arriving on
the scene; a second officer helped to control the more than
300 lb. Pimental, but Pimental fell on the officer's knee.
The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment; Pimental
was arrested for assault and battery charges.
[The linked article includes a
video report.]
KCBA
Jan 23, 2010
Added: Jan. 28, 2010
Texas, USA
|
 |
|
Arnoldo Arenas |
Waco Authorities Bring Back Alleged
Child Abuser From Mexico
Waco - A man has been brought back to McLennan County by the
U.S. Marshals Office after he fled to Mexico three years ago
amidst a sexual abuse of a child investigation.
Forty-eight-year-old Arnoldo Arenas was returned to Waco
Friday afternoon and charged with five counts of aggravated
sexual assault of a child and is now held on one million
dollars bond.
Authorities say Arenas fled in 2007 after police began
investigating a situation in which he allegedly fathered a
child with a 13-year-old girl back in 2000.
It took law enforcement three years to get Arenas back to
the U.S. because he is an American citizen, but also a
Mexican citizen. This situation was the first of its kind in
McLennan County.
"I have been a part of the force for 13 years and I have
never been a part of anything like this," said Kim Clark, a
detective for Crimes Against Children.
It's not unusual for authorities to extradite a U.S. citizen
from another country, but it is rare for someone to be
extradited with dual citizenship in both the U.S. and
Mexico.
"Because he has citizenship in Mexico, we can't just go to
Mexico and bring him back as a U.S. citizen. The Mexican
government has to approve the case before they send him
back," Detective Clark added.
It's a process that took years of meticulous paper work and
thousands of dollars.
KXXV
Jan 23, 2010
Added: Jan. 28, 2010
Texas, USA
|
 |
|
Rudy Gonzales |
Man Arrested In School Sex Assault
San Antonio - Extra
staff were patrolling the halls of Jefferson High School Friday,
after two students were arrested and charged with sexually
assaulting another student.
Rudy Gonzalez, 18,
is charged with aggravated sexual assault.
The other teen is
being charged as a juvenile.
Police said they
assaulted a female student in an emergency exit stairwell on
Wednesday while classes were in session.
A representative for
the San Antonio Independent School District said alarms will be
installed on interior doors that will go off if anyone tries using
the stairwell.
KSAT
Jan 22, 2010
Added: Jan. 27, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel
Kouddous and Elizabeth Press from
Democracy Now
are in Haiti reporting on the
devastating earthquake. |
Haití: Entre el Olor a Muerte y la
Silenciosa Desesperación
Haiti: Between the Odor of Death and
Silent Desperation
Puerto Príncipe, Haití 26 ene 10 . – Tè tremblé
significa “terremoto” en creole, la lengua criolla
de Haití. La traducción literal es: “La tierra
tembló”. Tras el terremoto de enormes dimensiones
que devastó Haití, el hedor a muerte está en todos
lados. En el Hospital General, los cuerpos apilados
cerca de la morgue forman una montaña de más de un
metro de altura...
Recordando A La Feminista Myriam Merlet
En nuestro recorrido por la ciudad, fuimos a la casa
de Myriam Merlet, la jefa de gabinete del Ministerio
haitiano de la Mujer y una destacada feminista que
ayudó a llamar la atención internacional sobre el
uso de la violación como arma política y trabajó con
la dramaturga y activista Eve Ensler en el
movimiento Día-V para ayudar a poner fin a la
violencia contra la mujer.
Hallamos su casa, y de hecho a todas las casas que
la rodeaban, destruida. “Acabamos de retirar su
cuerpo”, nos dijeron los familiares de Myriam el
domingo, cinco días después del terremoto. No se
sabe cuándo murió, ni si podría haber sido
rescatada. Su hermana Eartha nos llevó a visitar su
tumba.
Eve Ensler describe a Myriam Merlet: “Myriam era una
luz. Era la fuerza de Haití. Fue una de las más
grandes feministas. Era una feminista radical.
Bromeábamos a menudo acerca del hecho de que era
loco que ella y Marie-Laurence, que es la Ministra
de la Mujer, estuvieran de hecho en el poder, que
tuviéramos feministas radicales en el poder. Fue una
mujer que dejó Haití en la década del 70 y luego
regresó para luchar y defender y llevar el cambio
social y el progreso y la lucha por las libertades y
la igualdad racial y por la libertad e igualdad de
género”...
Amy Goodman
Democracy Now/ CIMAC
Jan. 26, 2010
See also:
“Haiti is Shaken to the Core”:
Amy Goodman Reports from
Port-au-Prince
“Haiti is devastated as if a bomb, many bombs, exploded
throughout Port-au-Prince and beyond, where help has
not arrived at all,” reports Amy Goodman on her
travels outside of Port-au-Prince to the epicenter
of the earthquake. “The smell of death hangs in the
air.”
...I have to say, one of our—one of the very sad
moments was when we first came in. I had gotten a
call from Eve Ensler, our guest who’s in the studio
with you, and I—and it’s painful for me to even say
this in her hearing because of this tremendous loss.
She called me—I think we talked at 2:00 in the
morning—before we came in on Sunday, and said,
“Please, try to find my friend. Try to find Myriam
Merlet,” who was more than a friend to Eve Ensler,
but to so many women in this devastated community.
And she gave us an area, not even an address,
because she didn’t know it. But we went to that area
in Paco. It is not a poor area like Cité Soleil, but
it is down. It is on a hill. And it is an entire
community under rubble. And we made it to her house
as the sun was setting.
And there was a group of people who were sitting
across the street crying. And we said, “Myriam
Merlet, do you know which is her house?” And they
pointed, and they said, “We’ve just pulled her body
up, and we have brought it down the street.” I
looked around and asked if there was family. They
said, yes, her sister Eartha, Eartha Merlet, and she
was sitting in the middle of the group weeping. And
we asked her if she could bring us to the makeshift
grave site. It was just down through the rubble.
They had dug a deep, deep hole and covered the
casket a bit. And Eartha talked about her beloved
sister...
Amy Goodman
Democracy Now/ CIMAC
Jan. 26, 2010
Added: Jan. 27, 2010
Texas, USA
West Texas Could be Corridor
for Human Trafficking
You’ve seen it portrayed in movies and on
television, but it’s a very real epidemic.
Millions of people each year are forced into
modern-day slavery or prostitution.
Now law enforcement officials say the problem maybe
closer than we think.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Houston
and El Paso are two of the most intense trafficking
areas in the country.
ICE officials says offenders bring their victims
right here through west Texas.
Texas attorney Greg Abbott called a human
trafficking prevention task force meeting last
Tuesday to better identify victims.
"Texas comprises the largest portion of that,” Jerry
Garnett with Immigration and Customs Enforcement
said, “So there's going to be a large volume coming
through the state of Texas." ...
Debt bondage can easily turn
"smuggling" into "trafficking"
Debt bondage would be cases were the aliens were
smuggled into the U.S. and they're forced into
working in order to payoff their smuggling fees.
In most cases the victim never pays off their
smuggling fees.
“For females its prostitution or massage parlors,”
Garnett said, “Children it's a little bit different
but children could also be traffic for the sex
trade.”
Garnett says is a way to lure people in who are just
looking for a way to live in America
“They try to tell the people, we'll bring you into
the United States, well find you a job, we'll do all
this for you and rope the people into it.” Garner
said.
Jennifer Samp
CBS 7 News
Jan. 25, 2010
Added: Jan. 27, 2010
Alabama, USA
|
 |
|
Sketch of suspect |
Man Sought for Trying to Lure
School Girl
Chicago police today issued a community alert after
a man tried to lure girl into a sport utility
vehicle last week in the city's Brighton Park
neighborhood.
The girl was walking in the
vicinity of 2900 West 47th Street on Friday at 6:50
a.m. and en route to the bus stop at 47th Street and
Francisco Avenue when the suspect drove up and said
"Metete Adentro" ("Get In"), according to the alert.
The girl responded "No" before the suspect attempted
two more times as the girl waited for her bus to
school.
The man is described in the alert as Hispanic, 30 to
40 years old, heavily built, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9,
240 to 270 pounds, with a light complexion, brown
eyes and black wavy hair that has silver/gray
specks.
The man was driving a white four-door Toyota SUV,
police said.
Anyone with information should call Wentworth Area
detectives at 312-747-8380 or Deering District
police at 312-747-8227.
Jeff Finkelman
Chicago Breaking News
Jan. 25, 2010
Added: Jan. 27, 2010
Alabama, USA
|
 |
|
Jorge Zuniga |
Newton Man Charged with Raping
12-year-old
Newton man faces a possible life sentence in prison
after Houston County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him
on charges he raped a 12-year-old girl more than
once over the last two months.
Court records show detectives arrested Jorge Luis
Lopez Zuniga, 20, of Pine Acres Drive, late Friday
and charged him with two felony counts of
first-degree rape and first-degree sex abuse.
According to the Houston County Jail Web site,
Zuniga was booked into the facility just before 7
p.m. Friday on the three felony charges. Court
records show he’s being held without bond, which was
set by Houston County Circuit Court Judge Brad
Mendheim.
Court records also show Zuniga was charged with the
rape of the Newton girl between Dec. 1, 2009, and
Jan. 16, 2010, along with an additional similar
offense on Jan. 16, 2010. A detective also charged
Zuniga with forcible sex abuse of the same girl on
Jan. 16, 2010.
Zuniga faces 10 to 99 years or life in prison for
each of the first-degree rape charges, if he’s
convicted of each of the class A felony crimes. He
also faces one to 10 years in prison if he’s
convicted of the class C felony crime of
first-degree sex abuse.
Matt Elofson
The Dothan Eagle
Jan. 25, 2010
Added: Jan. 27, 2010
Georgia, USA
Teen Escapes Rape Attempt
A would-be rapist fled Sunday night after he ripped
off his victim's clothes and discovered he had
attacked a man dressed as a woman, Athens-Clarke
police said.
The suspect was riding a bicycle when he started
stalking a 17-year-old walking along Bray Street
near Fourth Street in East Athens about 6:30 p.m.,
police said.
The teen began to walk faster, but the man caught up
to him, grabbed his arm and dragged him into some
nearby woods.
The attacker started to take off the teen's clothes,
tearing his shirt and yanking off his boots; he
realized when he stripped off the teen's pants that
the victim was male, too, police said.
The victim fought back, but his attacker kicked him
repeatedly, police said.
The man ran when the victim's cell phone rang, but
by then witnesses on Bray Street had called 911,
police said.
The victim crawled from the woods and was sitting on
the ground, crying in the rain, when police arrived.
The teenager only could describe his attacker as a
fat Hispanic man who wore a gray hoodie and
sweatpants, according to police.
The attacker will be charged with criminal attempted
rape and false imprisonment if he's found, police
said.
"It doesn't matter that (the victim) wasn't a
female," Athens-Clarke Capt. Clarence Holeman said.
"The suspect's intent was to commit rape."
Online Athens
Jan. 26 ,
2010
Added: Jan. 26, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
Haitians receive water
and food from U.S. Marines |
Llega a Haití ayuda de feministas
latinoamericanas
Busca beneficiar a
sectores más vulnerables; niñez y mujeres
Aid from Latin American
Feminists Arrives in Haiti
Activists seek to aid
the most vulnerable: children and women
Costa Rica, - El 23 de enero llegaron
por aire, mar y tierra a Puerto Príncipe, los primeros donativos del
Campamento Internacional Feminista para las mujeres haitianas y
fueron entregados por la delegada de las feministas latinoamericanas
y del Caribe, Sergia Galván.
La feminista se reunió con las
activistas feministas haitianas de diversas organizaciones, entre
ellas SOPHA y ENFOFAM.
Entre la ayuda enviada de Santo Domingo
a Haití se encuentran dos camiones llenos de comestibles, medicinas,
lámparas, baterías, tanques de gas, tiendas de campaña, sacos de
dormir, medicamentos y otras necesidades personales de aseo y salud,
La ayuda será entregada directamente a las activistas que se están
reorganizando en la capital para trabajar con las poblaciones más
vulnerabilizadas: las mujeres y la niñez.
“Hemos podido llenar estos dos camiones
debido a la solidaridad de tantas organizaciones aquí en República
Dominicana y la respuesta solidaria de organizaciones y personas que
han mandado ágilmente dinero a nuestra cuenta”, dijo Galván.
Mientras que las feministas Ana Irma
Rivera Lassen, Aidita Cruz, Nirvana González y María Suarez (RIF)
salieron hoy lunes de Puerto Rico, con algunas de las más de 20
tiendas de campaña recogidas una por una, producto de la solidaridad
de personas y empresas en ese país donadas a Radio Internacional
Feminista...
María Suárez Toro
RIF/CIMAC Noticias
News for Women
Jan. 25, 2010
See also:
Updates From Haiti
Since our last update on the Haiti
earthquake, we have heard back from one more of our advisors,
Nikette Lormeus. A short note that made us so relieved at the Global
Fund: “Dear friends, I can tell you that I am still alive. Thank
God!”
With a death toll looming at over
200,000, we feel blessed to know that some of our Haitian sisters
have survived this disaster, the worst earthquake to have hit the
country in 200 years.
The Americas team was jumping with joy
when they heard from Nikette by email yesterday morning. But we also
know this is not true for a lot of women’s groups. We express our
condolences for our sister activists who perished in the earthquake,
as shared by the Astraea Fund.
Our sister organizations have been
wonderful in highlighting the GFW’s Crisis Fund as a way to support
women’s groups that will rebuild Haiti. From WomenThrive, to Ms
Foundation’s generous gift of $10,000 to the Crisis Fund, we look
forward to working with our Haitian sisters on the ground once
direct relief organizations leave the shores.
Under the leadership of our grantee
partner in the Dominican Republic, Colectiva Mujer y Salud, and the
Feminist Radio Endeavor (FIRE),
a “feminist camp” has been established on the border of the
Dominican Republic and Haiti. The purpose of the camp is to create a
physical space from where all these feminist and women’s
organizations can coordinate efforts. FIRE is going to broadcast a
radio program to share the stories of women, Colectiva Mujer y Salud
will coordinate health services and the delivery of humanitarian
assistance in the hands of women, and other organizations will
coordinate activities from the camp. Our advisors in the region are
offering their services and support: Yamilet Mejia from Nicaragua is
helping with psychological support for the survivors and Patricia
Guerrero from Colombia is helping with her expertise on preventing
sexual violence...
Global Fund for Women
Jan. 20, 2010
See also:
|
 |
|
Myriam Merlet, líder feminista haitiana /
Haitian feminist leader (1953-2010) |
Feminist International Solidarity Camp “Myriam
Merlet” To Open On Haitian-Dominican Republic Border
Campamento De Solidaridad Feminista Con Haití
"Miriam Marlet"
Feminist Radio Endeavor (FIRE)
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 26, 2010
Mexico
Mexican Agency, Group Seek
Protection for Juárez Activists
A Mexican government agency and Amnesty
International have urged authorities to protect
other activists in Juárez after the recent murder of
a woman activist.
The federal Mexican National Commission on Human
Rights asked Chihuahua officials to provide safety
for the activists, including Cipriana Jurado, a
longtime labor advocate.
Jurado said federal officers detained her in 2008
while she was investigating the death of Saulo
Becerra Reyes, who was among a group of men who were
picked up by federal authorities on Oct. 21, 2008,
on suspicion of ties to drug-trafficking.
Amnesty International said a death certificate
states Becerra died from a brain hemorrhage a day
following his detention. However, authorities never
acknowledged Becerra's detention, and Becerra's body
was not found until March 2009.
Mexican authorities freed Jurado after several
nongovernmental groups came to her aid.
Amnesty International said Jurado also accompanied
the late Josefina Reyes in marches and other
protests involving alleged abuses by soldiers and
federal agents, who were sent to Chihuahua state to
battle the drug cartels.
Josefina Reyes, who was shot to death Jan. 3 in her
Valle de Juárez community, was the mother of Miguel
Angel Reyes Salazar, one of several suspects federal
authorities detained last September with Rodolfo
"Rikin" Escajeda, a man U.S. and Mexican
investigators said was a dangerous drug dealer.
Mexican authorities presented Escajeda and Reyes
Salazar at a press conference in Mexico City, but
Reyes' mother claimed she had no contact with her
son and therefore could not verify he was still
alive. Julio Cesar Reyes, another one of her sons,
was killed in 2008 in Valle de Juárez.
Diana Washington
Valdez
The El Paso Times
Jan. 12 ,
2010
See also:
Added: Jan. 26, 2010
Mexico, Texas, USA
UT Law Students, Faculty Helped Get Slain
Juárez Woman's Mom Asylum
El Paso - Faculty and students at the
University of Texas at Austin Law School played key roles in two
unprecedented cases involving the notorious Juárez women's murders.
Their low-profile work contributed to
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling against the Mexican
government, and to a successful claim for U.S. political asylum for
the family of one of the slain women.
Denise Gilman, a lawyer and professor,
supervised law students at the university's Immigration Clinic. They
worked on Benita Monarrez's petition for asylum, representing
Monarrez and her family for free.
"Several law students worked on the
complicated asylum claim, which began in October 2007 when Benita
was detained in Austin," Gilman said. "Asylum claims in this country
are still very stringent, and it's hard for people without legal
representation to prevail.
"Benita passed the initial credible fear
interview, and the U.S. immigration court in San Antonio approved
her claim in the spring of 2009."
Monarrez said she received constant
threats because she would not drop the investigation into the
slaying of her daughter, Laura Berenice Ramos Monarrez. Ramos, 20,
was among eight young women whose bodies were discovered in a Juárez
cotton field in 2001.
Organizations such as Amnesty
International, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights and
even members of the U.S. Congress had documented threats against the
relatives of victims and activists in Juárez who sought justice.
Since 1993, more than 600 girls and
women have been murdered in Juárez, including 145 so far this year.
The number of women slain in Juárez is disproportionate compared to
other cities in Mexico with similar populations.
Diana Washington Valdez
The El Paso Times
Dec. 22, 2009
Added: Jan. 25, 2010
Mexico
|
 |
|
Amnesty
International:
Obtilia Eugenio Manuel,
founder and president of the
Organization of the Me’ phaa Indigenous
People (OPIM) in Guerrero state in
southern Mexico, has been the victim of
numerous death threats and acts of
intimidation since 1998.
The campaign of
intimidation against her got so serious
in recent years, Obtilia and her family
were forced to flee their community out
of fear. For example, in January 2009, a
man who had been following her on
several occasions shouted at her: "Do
you think you’re so brave? Are you a
real woman? Let’s hope you also go to
prison… If you don’t go to prison, we'll
kill you."
None of the threats or
acts of intimidation against Obtilia has
been investigated. |
|
 |
|
Amnesty: "Activists
suffer imprisonment on fabricated
charges to stop them from doing their
work."
Photo: Javier Verdin / La
Jornada |
|
 |
|
Indigenous women protest
for the freedom of 5 prisoners of
conscience from the Native community of
Ayutla
Amnesty: "Defending human
rights in Mexico is life-threatening."
Photo: Javier Verdin/ La
Jornada |
Recent Reports and Articles by
Amnesty International on the Crisis of Impunity in
Mexico
Human Rights Activists in
Mexico Under Attack
Activists suffer
imprisonment on fabricated charges to stop them from
doing their work
The Mexican authorities are failing in their duty to
protect human rights activists from killings and
life-threatening harassment and attacks, Amnesty
International warned on Thursday in a new report.
The report Standing up for justice and dignity:
Human Rights defenders in Mexico describes more than
15 cases of defenders who have suffered killings,
attacks, harassment, threats and imprisonment on
fabricated charges between 2007 and 2009 to prevent
them from doing their work.
"Defending human rights in Mexico is
life-threatening and the government is not doing
enough to tackle the problem," said Nancy
Tapias-Torrado, researcher on human rights defenders
at Amnesty International. "When one human rights
defender is attacked, threatened or killed, it sends
a dangerous message to many others and denies hope
to all those on whose behalf the defender is
working".
Amnesty International said it believes there are
dozens of such cases, very few of which are
effectively investigated and even fewer brought to
justice. In none of the cases included in the report
has a full investigation been carried out and in
only two of them suspects are in detention.
Human rights defenders take action to protect and
promote human rights. States have a responsibility
to protect these people and ensure they can carry
out their work.
Activists working to protect the rights of
communities living in poverty, those who defend the
rights of Indigenous peoples or work to protect the
environment are at particular risk of attack. Their
work is seen as interfering with powerful political
or economic interests. Too often they are treated as
trouble-makers not as human rights defenders working
for a better society where respect for human rights
can be a reality...
"The Mexican government must urgently develop an
effective and comprehensive programme of protection
for human rights defenders," said Nancy
Tapias-Torrado.
Amensty International
21 Jan. 21, 2010
See also:
Task Force Convenes to Take on Human
Trafficking
Attorney General Greg Abbott summoned
the first meeting of the newly formed Human Trafficking Prevention
Task force Thursday.
The task force was created by the 81st
Texas Legislature. It was pioneered by [state] Senator Leticia Van
de Putte and [state] Representative Randy Weber.
The goal of the task force is to ensure
law enforcement officials have state-wide communication and
cooperation.
"By working proactively to improve
collaboration, task force members are better positioned to crack
down on traffickers and provide desperately needed services to human
trafficking victims," Abbott said.
The U.S. State Department estimates
between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the U.S. from
all over the world. Those statistics revealed that
one in five of victims who were trafficked
domestically are believed to have been in Texas.
"We can go to the very heart of the
problem by expanding beyond a mere prostitution prosecution and go
after an entire ring of people who are trafficking individuals, 80
percent of whom are women [and] 50 percent of whom are children, and
forcing them into sex slavery or other kinds of servitude," Abbott
said.
The U.S. Department of
Justice labeled El Paso and Houston as the “most intense trafficking
jurisdictions in the country.”
A human trafficking report from 2008
offered 21 recommendations to help reduce human trafficking and
improve services to victims.
News 8 Austin Staff
Jan. 22, 2010
See also:
View the 93-page human trafficking report
"Texas Response to Human Trafficking." (PDF File)
Office of the Attorney General of
Texas
Nov., 2008
See also:
Texas, USA
Attorney General's
Report Details Human Trafficking in Texas
Austin - Texas has become a major hub
for human trafficking, state officials said Monday while proposing a
more aggressive response to what a senior lawmaker described as
"modern-day slavery."
Nearly 20 percent of human-trafficking
victims found nationwide have been in Texas, according to a report
released by Attorney General Greg Abbott. The 57-page report,
mandated by the Legislature in 2007, also identifies Interstate 10
as a major route through Texas for human-trafficking rings.
Abbott released the report at a news
conference with Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, who
introduced legislation to combat the problem.
Dave Montgomery
The Star-Telegram
Nov. 18, 2008
See also:
Texas, USA
Senator Van de Putte Files the Texas
Anti-Human Trafficking Act
San Antonio - Today, November 10,
Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) filed Senate Bill 89,
the Texas Anti-Human Trafficking Act.
According to the U.S. Department of
State, human trafficking occurs in urban and rural settings alike,
with more than 25% of all U.S. trafficking victims trafficked
through Texas. After working with the Office of the Attorney
General, law enforcement personnel, and various non-government
organizations dedicated to combating human trafficking, Senator Van
de Putte has authored SB 89.
Highlights of the Texas Anti-Human
Trafficking Act are the creation of a state-wide human trafficking
prevention taskforce, training for peace officers, as well as
increased protections for underage victims of trafficking.
"Although we have made great strides in
the last session of the legislature, there is much more to be done.
Everyday thousands of defenseless children and vulnerable adults are
trafficked through Texas and forced into labor or sex."
"We cannot afford to allow these
atrocities to continue the vile practice of modern day slavery,
stated Senator Van de Putte."
Office of Senator Leticia Van de
Putte
Nov. 10, 2008
|
Added: Jan. 24, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
Veteran Mexican women's rights lawyer and
CATW-LAC director
Teresa Ulloa requests
donations to assist the personal situation and work of
CATW-LAC's
representative for Haiti and other French-speaking
nations in the Americas,
Geylande MesGadieu
|
Estimadas Compañeras y Compañeros, Amigas y Amigos,
Geylande MesGadieu,
nuestra Directora Nacional de la
CATW-LAC
en Haiti y Coordinadora de la Zona Francofona, está
viva. Sin embargo está pasando por una situación muy
desesperada, ya que perdió su casa, su vehículo, su
ropa y su oficina. Se quedó sin nada, inclusive el
día de hoy que pude hablar por teléfono con ella, me
comentó que no tienen agua, ni alimentos.
Como en todas los casos
de guerra o desastre, las mujeres, jóvenes, niñas y
niños que se quedaron sólos, se vuelven muy
vulnerables frente a los tratantes y explotadores.
Ella tiene necesidad de resolver sus necesidades
básicas para poder empezar a organizar y estructurar
la ayuda y protección de las poblaciones más
vulnerables.
Hemos abierto una cuenta
exclusiva para recibir sus donativos para ella y
para su trabajo. Ojalá nos puedan apoyar.
Recibimos aportaciones
desde US$10.00 Dlls.
Chères
Camarades,
Guylande Mesadieu, notre
Directrice Nationale de la
CATW-LAC
en Haïti et Coordinatrice de la zone Francophone,
est vivante, toutefois elle est entrain de passer
par une situation très désespérée, puisqu’elle a
perdue sa maison, son véhicule, ses habits et son
bureau. Elle est restée sans rien, même le jour
d’aujourd’hui j’ai pu parler avec elle par
téléphone, elle m’a commentée qu’elle n’a pas d’eau,
ni aliments.
Comme dans tous les cas
de guerre u désastre, les femmes, jeunes, filles et
garçons qui ont restés seuls, deviennent très
vulnérables face aux traitants et exploiteurs. Elle
a besoin de résoudre ses besoins basiques pour
pouvoir commencer à organiser et structurer l’aide
et protection des populations plus vulnérables.
Nous avons ouvert un
compte exclusif pour recevoir ses donations pour
elle et pour son travail.
J’espère que vous
pourrez nous aider.
Nous recevons
contributions depuis US$10.00 Dlls.
Dear Friends,
Geylande MesGadieu, our
CATW-LAC
National Director in Haiti, who is also our French
coordinator for the French speaking Caribbean, is
alive. However, she is going through a very
desperate situation. She lost her home, her car, her
clothes and her office. She has nothing at all. She
lost everything. Even today, when I spoke with her
on the telephone, she told me that they do not have
water or food.
As in almost all cases
of war and disaster, women, youth, and children who
find themselves alone become more vulnerable to
being co-opted by traffickers and exploiters.
Geylande
needs to solve her basic needs so that she can begin to
organize to help protect the most vulnerable persons
in Haiti.
We have opened a bank
account exclusively to receive donations for
Geylande
and her work. We would appreciate your help.
We are receiving
donations starting at US$10.00 dollars.
|
Titular de la Cuenta / Titulaire
de compte / Name of the Owner of the Account:
Coalición Regional Contra el
Tráfico de Mujeres y Niñas en América Latina y el
Caribe
Bank:
BBVA Bancomer
No. de Cta. /
No. De compte /
Account Number:
0170826413
Moneda / Monnaie / Currency:
US Dollars
Clabe Interbancario
/ Inter Banque Clé / Interbank
Code:
012180001708264136
Succursale / Succursale /
Branch:
5038 DF Obregón-Centenario.
ABA NUMBER (US Dollars Only):
BCMRMXMMPYM
Intermediary Bank Name:
J. P. Morgan Chase Bank
Location: New
York, N.Y., USA
Bank Routing/Fed. Routing/ABA:
021-000-021
SWIFT BIC:
CHASUS33
|
If possible, please send
a scanned or electronic copy of the transaction to:
finanzas@catwlac.org
Por su solidaridad y
apoyo de siempre, Muchas gracias.
Par sa solidarité et
appui de toujours, Merci beaucoup.
For your solidarity and
support, Thank you very much.
Sororalmente /
Amicalement / In Sisterhood,
|
Teresa C. Ulloa
Ziaurriz,
Directora Regional de la
Coaliación contra el Tráfico de Mujeres
y Niñas en América Latina y el Caribe,
A.C.
Regional Director of the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women for Latin
America and the Caribbean
(CATW-LAC)
email:
tulloaz@hotmail.com
|
|
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Haiti, Mexico
[News
Briefs]
More than 50 Mexicans are reported missing from
Haiti’s January 12 earthquake; a Mexican woman’s
body was recovered.
Last week, a Mexican rescue team freed a Haitian
woman trapped in the home of Port-au-Prince’s
Catholic archbishop, who was killed in the quake.
The San Diego Tribune
Jan. 24, 2010
Added: Jan. 24, 2010
Texas, USA
Human Trafficking, Money
Laundering
The
ringleader remains hospitalized, but other
defendants in a case that involved human trafficking
and money laundering were sentenced by a federal
judge in Austin last week.
Rosalinda Trevino-Alvarez, 34, the primary
defendant, won’t appear in court until after she is
released from the hospital, but Mike Lemoine, public
information officer with the IRS criminal
investigations division, said she is expected to
receive a 20-year sentence.
There were a total of 19 defendants in the case and
three are still fugitives.
Charges ranged from conspiracy to smuggle, transport
and harbor illegal aliens, hostage taking and forced
labor to money laundering and weapons offenses.
Defendants sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee
Yeakel were: Luz Maria Garcia-Garza, 21 months;
Julio Cesar Salgado-Ortega, 71 months; Alejandro
Guzman-Ortega, 37 months; Argeo Salgado-Ortega, 150
months; Saul Romero-Salgado, 144 months and
Fulgencio Loredo-Rubio, 63 months.
The
raid resulted from concerned calls to law
enforcement by the families of some of the people
being held. SMPD Chief Howard Williams said the
smugglers had contacted the family members,
threatening to kill their loved ones if they didn’t
pay up.
Trevino-Alvarez, Garcia-Garza, Alejandro
Guzman-Ortega and Julio Cesar Salgado-Ortega were
arrested July 16, 2008, when law officers from eight
jurisdictions swarmed a San Marcos mobile home at
the Regency Mobile Home Park off Post Road.
Officers rescued 26 people from Honduras, El
Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua who were in this
country illegally. Police said the trailer had no
air conditioning, and described it as sweltering...
Eight women, including one pregnant, and 18 men were
rescued. Nine of them had to be treated at Central
Texas Medical Center for dehydration and open
wounds...
The
operation charged $2,000 to $4,000 to bring the
people into the country, keeping them briefly in
Reynosa [Mexico] and then having them walk for two
nights “through the brush” before they were picked
up and brought to San Marcos.
Once at the mobile home, they were “required to
remove their shoes and outer garments,” and told to
make cell phone calls to friends and family for an
additional $2,000.
Other defendants, and their
depositions, were: Juanita Leija-Trevino, five years
probation; Sandra Leija, 24 months imprisonment;
Marisavette Esteves-Leija, five years probation;
Wendy Nadine Adame, five years probation; Letecia
Ann Miranda, five years probation; Leslie Denise
Vargas, three years probation; Randy Rene Contreras,
three years probation; and Concepcion Loredo-Leija,
five years probation.
Still at large are Luis Loredo-Rubio,
Mariam Salgado-Ortega and Mario Alberto Salgado...
Anita Miller
San Marcos Daily Record
Jan. 23, 2010
Added: Jan. 24, 2010
Mexico, The United States
Mexicans In U.S. Fear Violent
Mexico
Redwood City, California
- Poverty and joblessness aren’t the only factors
keeping Mexican immigrants in the United States from
returning to their home country. Now they have
another reason -- panic over the high levels of
violence, a result of the so-called “war on drugs”
launched by President Felipe Calderón.
Of the more than 16,205
murders committed in Mexico during the Calderón
administration, the majority has occurred in the
states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Baja California,
Durango, Michoacán and Guerrero. The most violent
year in the last decade was 2009, with 7,724
murders, in addition to a spike in kidnappings
(mostly committed by drug traffickers), reaching 111
per month...
…As noted in an
editorial in the Mexican daily La Jornada last week,
civilians—including women and children—are often
caught in the line of fire…
Journalists, too, are
afraid to return home. "In recent years, journalists
have been forced to leave their country to save
their lives,” Sanjuana Martinez writes on her blog.
“Some have decided to seek asylum in the United
States and Canada on grounds of persecution."
"What's happening [in
Mexico] is very serious," says Mexican journalist
Francisco Barradas. Barradas, who lives in San
Francisco, says he is shocked and saddened,
especially by the murders and disappearances of
journalists. In the last decade, 65 journalists were
killed in Mexico, making it the most dangerous
country for journalists in all of Latin America.
None of the journalists’ cases has been solved.
"Dozens of attacks and
14 murders have taken place in the last year [2009].
When journalists denounce the
complicity of authorities, police, or political
leaders in organized crime, sparks fly. And the
warnings may come in the form of threats by phone or
email; being followed; verbal or physical attacks;
robberies; attacks on their homes or cars, or other
crimes," says Martinez.
On Dec. 8, 2009 Amnesty
International (AI) held worldwide protests against
the human rights violations and abuses by the
Mexican Army. In a report, the human rights
organization warns that in the last two years,
violations of individual rights, such as
forced disappear-ances and torture, have reached
“scandalous levels.”
"Although we live far
away, as long as the violence continues to grow in
Mexico, as long as we hear about shootings and
murders every day, and many of these victims are
innocent people who had nothing to do with drug
trafficking, we won’t stop feeling sad and living
under stress here in the United States," says
Carvajal.
Manuel Ortiz
New American Media
Jan. 23, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Haiti
Sin confirmar, número de
menores de edad desaparecidos en Haití
Reitera Unicef alerta por posible activación de
redes de trata
México DF, - El Fondo de
las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (Unicef),
asegura que “no puede confirmar cuántos menores de
edad están desaparecidos” en Haití, y reiteró su
preocupación por la posible activación de las redes
de trata, vinculadas al mercado ilegal de adopción,
que operan en República Dominicana.
En un comunicado, Unicef
alertó sobre el riesgo de la actual situación en
Haití, luego de las declaraciones del consejero
regional de Unicef en Ginebra, Jean Luc Legrand, que
hablan de un supuesto secuestro de 15 menores de
edad en hospitales de Puerto Príncipe.
Luc Legrand explicó que
el problema de las redes, ya existía en Haití. “Esas
redes se activan apenas ocurre una catástrofe y
aprovechan para secuestrar a niñas y niños para
sacarlos del país”, declaró el consejero...
Narce Santibañez
Alejandre
CIMAC
Jan. 22, 2010
See also (English equivalent):
UNICEF Warns of Missing Children in Haiti
In a disturbing development, a number of children
have gone missing from Haitian hospitals, the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday.
"UNICEF is aware of reports of children removed from
the country without due process or proper documents," UNICEF
spokesperson Christopher de Bono told reporters. "The Haitian
government has been informed of these reports and is investigating.
It has also increased its presence and vigilance at exit points to
prevent children being taken illegally."
Incidents of child trafficking are often reported
after emergencies, said de Bono, who added that Illegal adoption,
smuggling and abduction can take place as well.
Adviser of childhood protection of UNICEF, Jean
Claude Legrand, said in Geneva that since Jan. 12, 15 children have
disappeared from the hospitals of Port au Prince, Haiti's capital.
However, de Bono said any specific numbers about
children illegally removed from Haiti are only speculative.
"We don't believe speculation about numbers helps
alleviate or improve the situation of children," he said. "We are
simply not in a position to confirm numbers."
Twenty-nine organizations, including UNICEF, have
taken a number of steps to clamp down on child abductions. Hospitals
have been visited to ensure that hospital staff are aware of the
need to check the credentials of anyone who removes a child.
Also, when unaccompanied children are found they are
sent to a center created to deal with such cases. Messages are being
broadcast on local radio stations advising Haitians about the
protection of children and the reunification of families, added de
Bono.
"UNICEF remains very concerned about the situation of
children in Haiti, and particularly of children who have become
separated from their parents or caregivers," he said. "What Haitian
children need right now is urgent assistance where they are -- in
Haiti."
Xinhua
Jan. 23, 2010
See also:
Children Missing From Haiti Hospitals: UNICEF
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Jan. 22, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
New York, USA
|
 |
|
Crime
victim Jessica Ybe |
Horror Show in Brooklyn...
A Brooklyn man went on a rampage,
murdering his girlfriend and her two young daughters in a stabbing
frenzy that left blood dripping into the apartment below, cops and
neighbors said yesterday.
When police arrived at the East Flatbush
home, they found a horror show - the corpse of a 22-year-old woman
wrapped in plastic bags and the bodies of two girls, ages 2 and 5,
rolled in a carpet.
Jermaine Ruiz, 24, was preparing to hide
the bodies in a Dumpster when cops arrived.
He confessed to killing all three, cops
said, and charges were pending...
The crime was uncovered after Ruiz
called his father in the Bronx and told him what he had done, cops
said.
The father alerted police, and two
detectives went to the Rogers Ave. apartment building.
When the suspect opened the door, cops
saw the body of his girlfriend, Jessica Ybe, partially covered with
plastic bags. Inside, cops spotted the rolled-up carpet with plastic
bags covering both ends.
When they opened it up, the two little
girls were inside. Ybe and Ruiz had 7-month-old twins together who
were with Ruiz's mom in the Bronx during the killings, cops and
family said.
The twins were safe with Ruiz's mom last
night. So much blood was spilled in the stabbings that the woman
living directly below Ruiz reported some blood dripped into her
kitchen through the ceiling.
"She was completely hysterical," a
neighbor said of the downstairs tenant.
Cops believe the bloodbath happened late
Wednesday after a fight erupted between Ruiz and Ybe.
"It was physical, beginning on the
street, continuing into the apartment," Browne said. A neighbor who
saw the fight said Ruiz "looked crazy."
The New York Daily News
Jan. 22, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Arizona, USA / Mexico
Excerpts from the U.S. Border Patrol
Crime Blotter
Jan.
19, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Nogales, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for felony
rape/victim drugged - and was a registered sex offender in the State
of California.
Jan. 17,
2010: Agents
arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near Douglas, Arizona. During
processing... ...He had a prior conviction for felony child
kidnapping and had been previously removed from the United States.
Jan.
17, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Naco, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for a sexual
offense on a child in the State of Wisconsin and had been previously
removed from the United States.
Jan.
17, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Nogales, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for sex with
a minor in the State of California and had been previously removed
from the United States.
Jan.
16, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from the Dominican
Republic near Douglas, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior
conviction for intercourse without consent of a female in the State
of New York, and that he had been previously required to depart from
the United States by an immigration judge.
Jan. 13,
2010: Agents
arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near Douglas, Arizona. ...The
subject had a prior conviction for sexual intercourse with a minor
under 18 in the State of California and had been previously removed
from the United States.
Jan.
12, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Arivaca, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for
aggravated criminal sexual abuse in the State of Illinois, and had
been previously removed from the United States.
Jan.
10, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Douglas, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for rape of
a minor in the State of California and had been previously removed
from the United States.
Jan.
09, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
El Centro, California. ...The subject had a prior conviction for
assault to commit mayhem/rape in the State of California and had
been previously removed from the United States.
Jan. 09,
2010: Agents
arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near Ajo, Arizona. ...The
subject had an active arrest warrant for lewd or lascivious acts
with a child under 14 in the State of California, and had also been
previously removed from the United States.
Jan.
09, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Tucson, Arizona. ...The subject had an extensive criminal history,
to include a prior conviction for sex with a minor in the State of
California. He had also been previously removed from the United
States.
Jan.
08, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Nogales, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for lewd or
lascivious acts with a child in the State of California, and had
been previously removed from the United States.
Jan.
07, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Sonoita, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for sexual
assault in the State of Arizona and had been previously removed from
the United States.
Jan.
06, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Lukeville, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for rape
by force or fear, and had been previously removed from the United
States.
Jan.
06, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Why, Arizona. ...The subject had an active arrest warrant for sexual
intercourse with a minor in the State of California, and had been
previously removed from the United States.
Jan.
06, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Naco, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for rape in the
State of South Dakota, and had been previously removed from the
United States.
Jan.
05, 2010: Agents arrested a USC and seized 210 pounds of
marijuana near Tucson, Arizona. Agents encountered the subject as
one of a group of backpackers attempting to circumvent the
checkpoint. ...The subject had an extensive criminal history, to
include a conviction for a sex offense against a child. He was also
the subject of an active arrest warrant issued in the State of
Arizona for a parole violation.
Jan.
04, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Ajo, Arizona. ...The subject had prior convictions for rape by force
or fear, and marijuana possession in the State of California, and
had been previously removed from the United States.
Jan.
03, 2010: Agents arrested an illegal alien from Mexico near
Why, Arizona. ...The subject had a prior conviction for rape of a
child and had been previously removed from the United States.
U.S. Border Patrol
Jan. 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Florida, USA
|
 |
|
Margarito Andres |
Accused Child Rapist On The
Run
Margarito Andres is wanted for
two counts of sexual
battery on a child under 12
In November 2009, a
13-year-old girl came to Boynton Beach, Fla., police
with a shocking story of sexual abuse.
Cops say the child
bravely confessed that she'd been repeatedly raped
for more than two years by an older man, and that
the man had threatened to kill her if she told
anyone.
She went on to tell
police that she'd also seen him abuse her
11-year-old sister.
Cops say the girl
identified the man as Margarito Andres, an illegal
immigrant from Guatemala.
Andres fled as soon as
he heard he was wanted for questioning, no one has
seen or heard from him since.
If you've seen Margarito
Andres or know anything about his whereabouts, call
our Hotline at 1-800-CRIME-TV.
America's Most Wanted
Jan. 22, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Illinois, USA
|
 |
|
Alejandro Flores |
Priest Who Tried to Kill Himself Could be
Deported
A priest accused of sexually assaulting a St.
Charles boy could face deportation if convicted on
the charges, according to Kane County prosecutors.
The Rev. Alejandro Flores, who until recently served
at Holy Family Church in Shorewood, had his first
appearance in Kane County Court on Thursday. His
attorney said the priest is expected to plead not
guilty to the seven felony charges filed against
him.
Flores, 37, was charged Wednesday after he was
released from a Joliet hospital where he was
recovering from injuries he suffered during an
apparent suicide attempt earlier this month.
Authorities said he jumped from a choir loft at a
now-closed Joliet church, falling 20 feet onto the
pews below.
The Rev. Alejandro Flores was charged after he was
released from a Joliet hospital where he was
recovering from injuries he suffered during an
apparent suicide attempt earlier this month.
Authorities said he jumped from a choir loft at a
now-closed Joliet church, falling 20 feet onto the
pews below...
The
Chicago Sun Times
Jan. 23, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Florida, USA
|
 |
|
Juan Cahuich-Santiago |
[Man]
Charged with Raping his Girlfriend’s Grandmother
Last week, sheriff’s deputies in Marion County, FL,
arrested Juan Cahuich-Santiago, 25, and charged him
with sexual battery on a special condition victim.
The illegal alien was living in the home with the
elderly woman, and the alleged rape occurred while
his girlfriend was out shopping.
When the family returned from the grocery store,
they found the 76-year-old woman lying in an odd
position, and her clothing disheveled. The victim,
who cannot speak, was unable to stand and covered in
bruises.
According to the arrest report, the woman had a bump
on her forehead, bruises on her legs, and her pony
tail had been pulled out.
A used condom was found in the trash.
Her injuries were so severe, that the grandmother
required surgery after the attack.
Initially, Santiago-Cahuich denied raping the woman.
However, under questioning, he admitted to the
attack.
He told detectives that he had been watching an
x-rated movie, before forcing himself on her. After
finishing with her, the Mexican national placed her
back in the recliner and fell asleep.
The arrest affidavit also
indicates that Santiago-Cahuich knew that the woman
has dementia and was incapable of refusing his
advances.
Santiago-Cahuich is currently being held in the
Marion County Jail on $75,000 bond.
Dave Gibson
The Examiner
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Pennsylvania / Iowa, USA
|
 |
|
Nery Adolfo Perez-Duarte |
Man
Wanted in Northeastern
Pennsylvania
Rape Caught in Iowa
A man wanted in a
violent rape in northeastern Pennsylvania has been
captured in Iowa.
The U.S. Marshals
Service arrested 27-year-old Nery Adolfo
Perez-Duarte in Cedar Rapids on Thursday.
U.S. Marshal Michael
Regan says Perez-Duarte is accused of raping a
Meshoppen woman on Dec. 27.
The victim was beaten,
raped, thrown down a set of stairs and pulled back
up the stairs by her hair. She suffered a broken
leg, bloody mouth and black eye in the attack.
Perez-Duarte, a native
of Guatemala, awaits extradition to Pennsylvania to
face charges.
The Associated Press
Jan. 21, 2010
Added: Jan. 23, 2010
Mississippi, USA
Mexican Predator Arrested by ICE
Horn Lake - A Mexican national convicted of fondling
a minor was arrested Jan. 20 at the Desoto County Sheriff's Office
by officers assigned to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
(ICE) Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO).
Juan Vera-Serna, 34, was identified by DRO officers
on May 7, 2009, during screening at the Horn Lake Police Department
following his arrest for simple assault, simple assault with intent
and felony child fondling. During an interview, he provided an alias
name to officers; however, fingerprint checks revealed his true
identity and the fact that he had been previously removed from the
United States in 1994.
Since Vera-Serna had previously been removed from the
United States, his case was presented to the U. S. Attorney's Office
in Northern Mississippi for criminal prosecution as an illegal
reentry.
"ICE will continue using its unique immigration
authorities to identify and arrest those who present a threat to our
community," said Philip Miller, field office director for ICE's
Office of Detention and Removal in New Orleans. "Criminals in
Mississippi should be on notice, because we will find you and bring
you to justice."
This case was part of Operation Predator, which is a
nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators,
including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet
child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex
traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE
agents have arrested almost 12,000 individuals.
ICE encourages the public to report suspected child
predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline
at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by
investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing
children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678
or
www.cybertipline.com.
U.S. ICE
Jan. 22, 2010
Added: Jan. 21, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
A girl sits beside her injured mother in a tent
in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. Picture taken on January 18,
2010, nearly a week after a massive earthquake hit the Caribbean
nation.
Photo: Reuters / United nations / Logan Abassi |
Haitian girls face increased
vulnerability after quake
Girls have long been vulnerable to violence and
neglect in Haiti, a nation with high rates of rape
and HIV/AIDS and a tradition of sending poor rural
girls to cities to work as domestic servants.
But last week's devastating earthquake has
dramatically increased their risks, human rights and
child protection experts say.
Sources of protection - families, police, churches,
schools - have in many cases disappeared as a result
of the disaster, and a general lack of security and
order leaves the girls increasingly exposed.
"During a humanitarian crisis like this,
vulnerability increases just because everything has
been uprooted," said Gerard Ducoc, a Haiti
researcher with Amnesty International.
"Communities, people who care for children,
relatives and friends are no longer there. The
social network is no longer there. The authorities
are absent. The local public institutions are not
operational. You don't have any defense mechanism
except your instinct for survival," Ducoc said.
Aid workers in Haiti say that, contrary to reports
of widespread violence and looting, many survivors
have responded to the disaster by doing their utmost
to protect and assist neighbors, including many
orphaned and vulnerable children.
"The overall response in Port-au-Prince has been one
of tremendous dignity and solidarity among people,"
said Yifat Susskind, a spokeswoman for MADRE, an
international women's human rights group based in
New York, which with partner organizations has sent
teams of Creole-speaking medical workers to Haiti.
"Harrowing Situation"
But girls face some unique problems in the aftermath
of such a natural disaster, aid workers said.
Even before the earthquake, Haiti had an estimated
300,000 abandoned or orphaned children, and a
serious problem with child trafficking, Ducoc said.
More than 100,000 girls aged 6 to 17 were working as
domestic servants, in situations that often left
them vulnerable to violence or neglect, according to
UNICEF...
In the aftermath of the disaster, such children and
tens of thousands of new orphans may be at risk of
traffickers or unscrupulous adoption agencies
"dipping into a vulnerable pool", said Susan
Bissell, chief of UNICEF's child protection
division.
UNICEF is working to quickly set up a registration
system for unaccompanied children and a hotline to
report children alone, as well as safe shelters. The
aim of such efforts, which worked effectively in the
aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami and Pakistan's
earthquake, Bissell said, is to try to reunite as
many children with surviving family members as
possible.
Laurie Goering
Reuters AlertNet
Jan.
21, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
General Russel Honoré
General
Honoré,
we agree with your views 100%!
Thank you for
speaking-up!
LibertadLatina |
Says our culture is afraid of poor
people in large groups so we focus on
security
Honoré says supplies can't meet demand;
U.N. should start an evacuation plan for
Haiti
Retired Lieutenant
General Russel Honoré was highly praised for his
leadership of recovery efforts in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, so he's
well-versed in what works and what doesn't in
disaster management.
The general told CNN
last week that the U.S. military should have
responded sooner to the earthquake in Haiti
because "time is of the essence" in helping
quake survivors.
CNN's Nicole Dow
talked to Gen. Honoré Wednesday about his
assessment of the situation in Haiti since he
made those remarks...
CNN:
You led the Joint Task Force for Hurricane
Katrina. Can you draw some parallels between
Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti?
Honoré: In
my book, "Survival," there's a chapter that
talks about dealing with the poor. I think
sometimes we talk security, because as a
culture,
we are afraid of poor people in large groups.
In Haiti, right after the earthquake, there were
doctors who left. One said, "We don't have any
security so we left."
That, in and of
itself, is indicative of my Katrina experience.
People start talking security.
And the slower we
go, the more there's the possibility of that
happening. We have to work on establishing the
community government officials in Haiti so they
can start communicating with their people.
We have to get food
and water there to local government officials to
distribute it. The local government officials
should be authorized to hire young men. The
local economy will crank up if we pay people in
Haiti to do the cleanup and to run the
distribution centers...
CNN:
What are the top five points to keep in mind in
the aftermath of natural disaster?
Honoré: 1)
Improve communications. 2) Get food and
water in. 3) Take care of the health and needs
of people. 4) Evacuate
people, particularly those who are pregnant,
disabled, injured, babies, those who cannot take
care of themselves. 5) Establish who's in
charge. The president of Haiti [Rene Preval] is
in charge.
It's different when
the president and his government are victims.
They are going to need help. Someone needs to be
the face of the operation to help the president
keep people alive.
You must have
communication to establish a way of giving
information to the people in their communities.
You have to be your
own first responder in a disaster like Haiti,
and the Haitian people did that. These
situations have a tendency to get worse before
getting better unless you start evacuating
vulnerable people.
Also, you have to
take a risk [about security] during the
search-and-rescue phase. In that phase of the
operation, search-and-rescue takes priority over
security.
CNN
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Haiti, Spain
ESPAÑA: La seguridad y salud de los niños
haitianos tras sismo preocupan a las ONG
La ONG Save the
Children expresó hoy su preocupación por la seguridad y la salud de
los niños de Haití, donde ha comenzado a establecer espacios seguros
para los más pequeños en los refugios y campamentos instalados tras
el seísmo.
www.adn.es
Jan. 20, 2010
See also (English version):
Haiti
Save the Children
Responds to Strong New Aftershock in Haiti, Establishes Safe Spaces
for Children
Save the Children
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Haiti
HAITI: Los
niños haitianos, abandonados a su suerte
Ya hay
constancia de algunos abusos contra los menores errantes
www.elmundo.es/
Jan. 20, 2010
See also (English version):
Haiti
UNICEF fears child trafficking, opposes
foreign Haiti adoption
UNICEF is trying to identify and
register unaccompanied children wandering the chaotic streets of the
capital Port-au-Prince whose parents have been killed or are missing
since the quake a week ago.
Orphans and children abandoned in Haiti
after the devastating earthquake should be adopted abroad only as a
last resort, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on
Tuesday.
UNICEF is trying to identify and
register unaccompanied children wandering the chaotic streets of the
capital Port-au-Prince whose parents have been killed or are missing
since the quake a week ago.
The United States has outlined special
procedures for some Haitian orphans. UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique
Taveau said the agency feared child trafficking could also occur.
"UNICEF's position has always been that
whatever the humanitarian situation, family reunification must be
favoured," Taveau told a news briefing.
worldbulletin.net
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Haiti
UNICEF: La
adopción de niños debe ser la última opción posible.
"Nuestra
política es tratar a toda costa de encontrar familiares del niño, y
lograr la reunificación familiar. La adopción la vemos como la
última opción, cuando todas las demás hayan fracasado", dijo la
portavoz de Unicef, Veronique Taveau.
www.abc.es/
Jan. 19, 2010
See also (English version):
Foreign adoption of Haitian children "last
resort" - United Nations
Geneva
- Orphans and children abandoned in Haiti after the devastating
earthquake should be adopted abroad only as a last resort, the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
UNICEF is trying
to identify and register unaccompanied children wandering the
chaotic streets of the capital Port-au-Prince whose parents have
been killed or are missing since the quake a week ago.
The United
States has outlined special procedures for some Haitian orphans.
UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said the agency feared child
trafficking could also occur.
"UNICEF's
position has always been that whatever the humanitarian situation,
family reunification must be favoured," Taveau told a news briefing.
If parents are
dead or unaccounted for, efforts should be made to reunite a child
with his or her extended family, including grandparents, she said. A
child should "remain to the extent possible in its country of
birth".
"The last resort
is inter-country adoption," Taveau said.
Before the
quake, 48 percent of Haiti's population was under 18 years old,
according to the agency.
UNICEF also said
it had reports of violence against Haitian children since the quake,
but gave no details.
"In this type of
emergency, children are unfortunately the most vulnerable,
especially those who have been abandoned," UNICEF spokeswoman
Veronique Taveau told a news briefing. "We fear cases of child
trafficking could occur."
Reuters
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Haiti
|
|
|
Myriam Merlet was one of three leading
activists in the Haitian women's movement who died, a victim
of the earthquake. |
Women's Movement Mourns Death of 3 Haitian
Leaders
...Myriam
Merlet, Magalie Marcelin and Anne Marie Coriolan, founders of three
of the country's most important advocacy organizations working on
behalf of women and girls, are confirmed dead -- victims of last
week's 7.0 earthquake...
"Words are missing for me. I lost a large chunk of my
personal, political and social life," Carolle Charles wrote in an
e-mail to colleagues. The Haitian-born sociology professor at Baruch
College in New York is chair of Dwa Fanm (meaning "Women's Rights"
in Creole), a Brooklyn-based advocacy group. These women "were my
friends, my colleagues and my associates. I cannot envision going to
Haiti without seeing them."
Myriam Merlet was until recently the chief of staff
of Haiti's Ministry for Gender and the Rights of Women, established
in 1995, and still served as a top adviser...
She was a founder of Enfofamn, an organization that
raises awareness about women through media, collects stories and
works to honor their names. Among her efforts, she set out to get
streets named after Haitian women who came before her...
Magalie Marcelin, a lawyer and actress who appeared
in films and on stage, established Kay Fanm, a women's rights
organization that deals with domestic violence, offers services and
shelter to women and makes microcredits, or loans, available to
women working in markets...
With Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan, 53, served as a top
adviser to the women's rights ministry.
Coriolan... was the founder of Solidarite Fanm
Ayisyen (Solidarity with Haitian Women, or SOFA), which Charles
described as an advocacy and services organization. ..
Coriolan was a political organizer who helped bring
rape -- "an instrument of terror and war," Charles said -- to the
forefront of Haitian courts.
Before 2005, rapes in Haiti were treated as nothing
more than "crimes of passion," Charles explained. That changed
because of the collective efforts of these women activists -- and
others they inspired.
With the three leaders gone, there is concern about
the future of Haiti's women and girls. Even with all that's been
achieved, the struggle for equality and against violence remains
enormous...
Before the disaster struck last week, a survey of
Haitian women and girls showed an estimated 72 percent had been
raped, according to study done by Kay Fanm. And at least 40 percent
of the women surveyed were victims of domestic violence, [Taina]
Bien-Aimé, [the executive director of Equality Now], said...
"From where we stand," Bien-Aimé
wrote in an e-mail, "the most critical and urgent issue is what, if
any, contingencies the relief/humanitarian agencies are putting in
place not only to ensure that women have easy access to food, water
and medical care, but to guarantee their protection."
Concerned women in the New York area plan to gather
Wednesday to strategize their next steps...
Jessica Ravitz
CNN
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Mexico
Clausuran hotel del DF tras rescate de menores en explotación sexual
Elementos de la
Policía Judicial clausuraron las instalaciones del Hotel Palacio,
ubicadas en la colonia Algarín, después de un cateo realizado la
pasada semana, en el cual fueron rescatadas varias menores en
condiciones de explotación sexual.
Police close Mexico City
hotel after rescuing sexually exploited children
Elements of the Judicial Police have
closed the facilities of the Hotel Palace, located in Mexico City's
Algarín neighborhood, after a raid last week in which a number of
children were rescued from prostitution.
CaribbeanNewsDigital.com
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Mexico
Unos 700.000
niños y adolescentes abandonan sus estudios por la crisis económica
Unos 700.000
niños y adolescentes abandonaron en 2009 sus estudios de primaria y
secundaria por la crisis económica que ha afectado con fuerza a
México y, en especial, a las clases sociales más bajas, según los
datos divulgados por el
Instituto Nacional de
Educación para Adultos (INEA).
Some 700,000 children
and adolescents have abandoned school as a result of the economic
crisis in Mexico
During 2009 an estimated 700,000
children and adolescents abandoned their primary and secondary
school studies due to the economic crisis that has severely impacted
Mexico and, in especially people in the lower social classes,
according to data released by the National institute for Adult
Education
(INEA).
EuropaPress.es
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Paraguay
Principal fin de trata de personas es la explotación sexual
La Dirección de
Trata de Personas de la Secretaría de la Mujer de la Presidencia de
la República, que integra la Mesa Interinstitucional de Prevención y
Combate a la Trata de Personas, coordinada por el Ministerio de
Relaciones Exteriores y conformada por alrededor de cuarenta
instituciones del sector público y privado, emitió un informe donde
desnuda la situación de las mujeres víctimas de trata. Según la Lic.
Luz Gamelia Ibarra, Directora de dicha área, el 95% de las víctimas
fueron explotadas sexualmente, y el 6% laboralmente.
The main objective of
human trafficking is sexual exploitation
The Human Trafficking Directorate of the
Secretary of Women of the President of the Republic, who are the
organizers of the Inter-institutional Roundtable for the
Prevention of and Combat Against Human Trafficking has released a
report showing that 95% of human trafficking victims were sexually
exploited. Some 6% of victims engaged in other forms of forced
labor.
Source: The Secretary of Women of the
Republic
jakueke.com
Jan. 20, 2010
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Texas, USA
|
 |
|
Officials from WMCA International receive the
2009 FBI Director's Community Leadership Award for their
work in restoring victims of human trafficking.
Among other rescue efforts, WMCA
International aided 99 female sex trafficking victims
rescued from the
Maximino Mondragon prostitution ring
in Houston. |
|
 |
|
Gerardo 'El Gallo' Salazar, the
FBI's most wanted human
trafficking fugitive, is wanted for trafficking large
numbers of women and underage girls into prostitution in
Houston.
2004-2005 photo |
FBI Searching for Human Trafficking
Suspect
Houston - The FBI is offering a reward
of up to $15,000 for information that leads to the arrest of a human
trafficking suspect known as 'El Gallo.'
Gerardo 'El Gallo' Salazar is the
alleged leader of a group that smuggled young men and young women
into Houston and Mexico. He has been identified as "the most wanted
human trafficking fugitive" in a statement from the FBI in Houston.
Five other people have already pleaded
guilty and served jail sentences for taking part in the trafficking
operation.
In a news conference on Tuesday, FBI
Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers announced the reward
increase from $5,000 to $15,000 for Salazar's capture and also
presented an award to Constance Rossiter, YMCA International
Trafficked Person's Assistance Program Director, to honor the
organization's efforts in helping victims of human smuggling.
President Barack Obama has proclaimed
that January 2010 be recognized as National Slavery and Human
Trafficking Prevention Month.
Houston is one of the
five most dangerous U.S. cities for human trafficking and smuggling.
A national hotline has been established to report human trafficking.
Thirty percent of the calls to that hotline have come from the
Houston area.
Most of the thousands of people smuggled
and trafficked in the U.S. every year are women and children,
especially young girls.
"It all comes down to greed. These are
money making organizations who want to make money off the backs of
these trafficking victims who are treated, not as human beings, but
as commodities," says Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Gallagher.
The Houston-based Human Trafficking
Rescue Alliance has rescued almost 200 victims since it was formed
in 2004. Most victims of trafficking are severely abused, forced
into prostitution and held against their will. Smuggling and
trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business.
[The linked article
includes a video report.]
Damali Keith
Fox New Houston
Jan. 12, 2010
See also:
|
 |
|
Maximino Mondragon |
Sex-trafficking Ringleader Gets 13 Years in
Prison
Salvadoran smuggled
Central American women into servitude at cantinas
The mastermind of a human trafficking
ring that smuggled women from Central America to work in Houston
cantinas as virtual sex slaves was sentenced Monday to 13 years in
federal prison.
He previously pleaded guilty to
conspiracy charges for recruiting and trafficking dozens of women
and girls to Houston for commercial gain and for holding them “in a
condition of indentured servitude.”
Along with others convicted in the case,
he has also been ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution to
victims, some of whom have obtained visas to stay in the United
States and still live in the area.
The case involving Maximino Mondragon,
57, remains one of the largest human trafficking rings ever
uncovered in the United States...
Mondragon “ruthlessly exploited these
women’s hopes for a better life through coercion, false promises and
threats of harm. The victims were forced into modern day slavery,”
Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights
Division in Washington, D.C., said... “The Justice Department will
devote its efforts to prosecuting those who commit such abhorrent
and exploitative crimes.”
More than 120 women were liberated on
the night of Nov. 13, 2005, when Mondragon and his fellow defendants
were arrested in a massive nighttime raid of five of their bars and
restaurants in seedy strip malls in northwest Houston...
Mondragon is the last of eight ring
members to be convicted and sentenced.
According to records, Mondragon ran
cantinas in Houston for more than a decade, along with Walter Corea.
Both are natives of El Salvador. Five members of their families and
a female abortionist were previously convicted and sentenced as
accomplices...
Lise Olsen
The Houston Chronicle
April 27, 2009
Added: Jan. 20, 2010
Tennessee, USA - Mexico
Suspect in Rape of 91-year-old Monroe County
Woman Nabbed in Mexico
A Mexican fugitive wanted for the rape
of 91-year-old Monroe County woman was arrested by Mexican federal
authorities Tuesday, after some 22 months on the run, Tellico Plains
Police Chief Bill Isbell announced today.
Francisco Barbosa-Sanchez, 37, was
captured at a relative’s home in San Louis, Mexico and now is in
custody in Mexico City, awaiting extradition, Isbell said.
Barbosa-Sanchez faces charges of
aggravated rape and especially aggravated burglary in the March 5,
2008, attack. He had been in the United States illegally, staying
with his brother in Tellico Plains while doing construction work,
authorities said. The brother lived in the same trailer park as the
victim.
Police say the woman awoke that night to
find a man holding a pillow over her face and beating her.
“He left her for dead,” Isbell said.
“This was a brutal rape.”
Barbosa-Sanchez was linked to the crime
by DNA evidence, police said. Authorities later found a car the
suspect borrowed from a girlfriend parked at a Houston bus station
and determined that he had bought a bus ticket back to Mexico.
The police chief credited Mexican
authorities, the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI and others for the
collaborative effort to locate the fugitive.
Despite local and international warrants
issued against Barbosa-Sanchez, it still could take up to six months
to extradite him back to Monroe County, Isbell said.
The victim, however, is still living and
has since relocated to Ohio to live with her grandson.
“He says she’s doing great, physically
and mentally,” Isbell said. “So if need be, she’s capable of
testifying.”
Hayes Hickman
KnoxNews.com
Jan. 13, 2010
Added: Jan. 19, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
(Before the earthquake)
This woman was enslaved as a child in Haiti.
After her husband disappeared during
political unrest she couldn't take care of her 6 children
and sent them to 'live with others' [as restavec slaves].
After working with
Fondasyon Limyè Lavi (the
Light of Life Foundation) for a short time, she brought her
children home.
Photo:
Free the Slaves |
Human Traffickers Find Easy Prey Amid the
Rubble of Haiti
In Haiti’s unstable post-quake
atmosphere, at least one industry is poised to flourish. For those
who buy and sell children for sex and cheap labor, Haiti is ripe
with opportunity.
When the earthquake struck the
impoverished island country last Tuesday afternoon, human
traffickers suddenly gained access to a new population of displaced
children. With parents dead, government offices demolished, and
international aid organizations struggling to meet life-or-death
demands, these kidnappers are in a unique position to snatch
children with very little interference.
In today’s world, the twin causes of
human slavery—poverty and vulnerability—increase exponentially after
natural disasters. When the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004,
trafficking gangs moved quickly, seizing children and selling them
as prostitutes in nearby Malaysia and Jakarta. In 2008, after floods
devastated the Indian state of Bihar, groups of children were lured
out of relief camps and sold to brothels across the nation.
I’ve seen many such stories up close.
For the past three years, I’ve worked in India for International
Justice Mission (IJM),
a human rights agency with twelve offices around the world. Rescuing
victims of slavery and sexual exploitation are our specialties, and
natural disasters unfailingly bring us new business...
In Haiti, as in India, human trafficking
is a problem at the best of times. Even without the pandemonium
unleashed by a 7.0 earthquake, an estimated quarter-million Haitian
children are trafficked within the country each year. These slaves,
known as
restavecs, are typically sold or
given away to new families by their own impoverished parents.
Physical and sexual abuse is common for restavecs. Many owners use
the girls as in-house prostitutes, sending them to live on the
street if they become pregnant...
...An entirely new chunk of Haiti’s
population has become homeless overnight. Even with aid pouring in
from around the world, essential resources like food and medicine
are enormously scarce on the streets of Haiti. But for predators
looking for boys and girls to sell for labor and sex, Haiti is the
right place to be.
Until earlier this
month, Nicolette Grams worked with International Justice Mission in
Chennai, India, as head of the communications department. She lives
in India.
Nicolette Grams
Jan. 18, 2010
Added: Jan. 19, 2010
Montana, USA
 |
|
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Some Focus on the Modern Slave Trade
During Martin Luther King Day
Many around the country
remembered Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday, just days after
what would have been his 83rd birthday.
Many honored the strides King
made for the Civil Rights Movement.
But some want to use this
holiday to spread the word about today's abolitionist
movements.
Almost 47 years have passed
since Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous "I have a
dream" speech. The United states and the world have made
major strides since that time, but human trafficking still
has millions enslaved today.
Chair of the Flathead Valley
Martin Luther King Day Community Celebration, Reverend
Darryl Kistler says, "27 million is almost a number that is
beyond anything we can think about. That would be taking
every person in Montana and multiplying us by 27 and that's
how many people are involved or enslaved by human
trafficking." ...
Rev. Kistler says, "There are
still people around the world and even here in the United
States that live under such adverse conditions." ...
Kistler says, "Doctor King
teaches us that even those circum-stances that may not be
our circumstances... That we really are our brother's
keeper, our sister's keeper... We need to care for them and
help them whenever we can."
Students from the Flathead
Valley Abolitionist Movement will talk about human
trafficking Monday night at a Martin Luther King Community
Celebration... at Flathead High School...
Julie Rogers
KECI
Jan. 18, 2010
Added: Jan. 19, 2010
Minnesota, USA
One American Indian Woman's Long Fight to
Escape Prostitution
After losing her house and kids in 1996,
Denise Ellis resorted to prostitution to support her crack habit.
For 12 years, Ellis worked the streets, mostly around Bloomington
Avenue in Minneapolis' Phillips neighborhood, without a reliable
place to live.
"I didn't have any place to go. I wanted
to get high, and I couldn't think of a quicker way to do it," she
said. Throughout her homeless years, Ellis had stayed with relatives
and friends until losing their trust. By early 2009, she was running
out of places to stay at night.
As an American Indian, Ellis is more
vulnerable to prostitution than most women, according to a
first-of-its-kind report addressing the commercial sexual
exploitation of American Indian women and girls in Minnesota.
Until the study's recent release, the
plight of Ellis and other American Indian women trapped in
prostitution has been largely hidden from public view in Minnesota.
"Shattered Hearts," a study released in
September by the Minneapolis-based American Indian Women's Resource
Center (AIWRC), found that in 2007, American Indians made up 2.2
percent of Hennepin County residents but 25 percent of the women
there on probation for prostitution-related offenses...
Since its release, the report has
prompted interest about the exploitation issue from legislators and
the state Attorney General's Office, she says.
The report outlines recommendations from
the center, the victims and the community, but many barriers prevent
the law from fully addressing the problem. Ellis' story highlights
some of the challenges in making substantial progress on such
exploitation.
Joey Peters
MinnPost.com
Jan. 18, 2010
See also:
Added: Jan. 19, 2010
Minnesota, USA
Trafficking Of Native Women is Widespread
Three decades ago,
the relatives of an eleven-year-old Native girl in Minnesota forced
her to have sex with a man in exchange for alcohol. The story was
not front-page news. It was not the subject of a feature-length film
with a happy ending. No one intervened. But when she turned
eighteen, the police started paying attention. She was arrested and
convicted over twenty times for prostitution. Her parents’
addiction became her own, and she entered treatment dozens of times.
At an early age,
the girl became one of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Native American
children and women forced into prostitution in Minnesota, falling
under the radar of social services, the community, and the media...
In September, the
Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center became the first
organization in the state to release a report about the widespread
trafficking of Native women. The agency hopes its effort will draw
attention and funding to Native victims of sexual exploitation…
The 126-page
report, called
Shattered Hearts, written by
research scientist Alexandra Pierce, focuses on women who live
outside of reservations. The report compiles statistics, identifies
flaws in the legal system, draws parallels to the historic
exploitation of Native people, and makes dozens of suggestions about
how to address the problem. Pierce incorporated the Resource
Center’s own studies, interviews with social service workers, and
available government data…
Past treatment of
Indian women
Some of the reasons
for the staggering numbers are clear. Native Americans have the
state’s highest rates of homelessness, poverty, and alcoholism –
what many call the legacy of hundreds of years of colonialism. But
the report also argues that generational trauma plays a role. White
settlers repeatedly raped, tortured, and murdered Native women over
hundreds of years, treating their bodies as disposable and
worthless.
In one account from
the 1860s, a white rancher describes a government attack on the
Cheyenne: “I heard one man say that he had cut
out a woman’s private parts and had them for exhibition on a stick…I
also heard of numerous instances in which men had cut out the
private parts of females and stretched them over the saddle-bows and
wore them over their hats while riding in the ranks.”
Other more recent
practices, including the
involuntary sterilization of Native women
and the
Indian Adoption Project (which
removed Native children from their homes), added to the collective
trauma, the report says.
“There’s been so
much violence and destruction of families because of colonization,”
said Nicole Matthews, executive director of the Minnesota Indian
Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition.
In Minnesota,
advocates say that Native women have been prostituted onto ships in
the Duluth harbor for generations, although local law enforcement
say that they have not noticed any trafficking since harbor security
was ramped up after 9/11.
…Every day Native
women are being prostituted in Minnesota. The story of the woman who
was sold into prostitution at age eleven demonstrates the challenges
of intervention.
The woman did not
connect with social services until her mid-‘40s. By that time, she
was entrenched in a cycle of violence. Civil Society has provided
her with emergency help several times over the past few years, but
she faces limited options.
Right now, she is
once again in treatment for alcoholism, and Miller, of Civil
Society, said she still hopes the woman can create a healthy life
for herself. But, she added, “Her story, and the other victims we
see, are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Madeleine Baran
Dec. 06, 2009
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
 |
|
Port-au-Prince residents
wait for a distribution of high protein biscuits by
the World Food Program
Photo:Evelyn Hockstein /
CARE - 2010 |
Haiti
Haitians Receive Little Help Despite Promises
Port-Au-Prince, - U.S. troops will help keep
order on Haiti's increasingly lawless streets, the country's
president said on Sunday as desperate earthquake survivors waited
for food, water and medicine.
World leaders have pledged massive assistance
to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake killed as many as 200,000
people, but five days into the crisis aid distribution was still
random, chaotic and minimal.
Hundreds of thousands of hungry Haitians are
waiting for help, many of them in makeshift camps...
Andrew Cawthorne and Catherine Bremer
Reuters
Jan. 17, 2010
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Haiti
CARE: Tens of Thousands of Pregnant
Women at Risk in Haiti
Humanitarian Group's
Response Targets Vulnerable Women and Children
Port-Au-Prince - CARE warned Saturday that
pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children are
at greatest risk in the wake of an earthquake that has
devastated the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and left
nearly three million people in need of assistance. There are
an estimated 37,000 pregnant women among the affected
population in urgent need of safe drinking water, food and
medical care. Half of Haiti's population is younger than 18
years old.
Hospitals and medical centers have been
destroyed, and remaining centers are overwhelmed treating
people injured from the quake. With limited or no access to
health facilities, pregnant women are at an even greater
risk of complications and death related to pregnancy and
childbirth. Haiti already has the highest rate of maternal
mortality in the region: 670 deaths per 100,000 live births.
"There are a lot of pregnant women in the
streets, and mothers breastfeeding new babies," said Sophie
Perez, country director for CARE in Haiti. "There are also
women giving birth in the street, directly in the street.
The situation is very critical. Women try to reach the
nearest hospital, but as most of the hospitals are full,
it's very difficult for them to receive the appropriate
care. Mothers and their babies could die from complications
without medical care." ...
CARE
Jan. 16, 2010
See also:
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Haiti
Urgen Brindar Ayuda a Mujeres
Haitianas
Llaman feministas a vigilar que no
se violenten sus DH
El Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas
(UNFPA), por sus siglas en inglés, y la Red Petateras,
lanzaron un llamado de ayuda para las haitianas: niñas,
mujeres y miles de embarazadas en riesgo de complicaciones y
muerte, ya que desastres naturales como el que devastó a la
capital de su país las afectan en mayor medida.
El organismo de Naciones Unidas precisó que
Haití -el país más pobre del hemisferio occidental-, ya
tenía antes de esta tragedia la más alta tasa de mortalidad
materna en la región: 670 muertes por cada 100 mil nacidos
vivos, cifra que podría incrementarse como consecuencia
directa del fuerte terremoto de 7.0 grados en la escala de
Richter.
En un comunicado de prensa, el UNFPA informó
que el terremoto que azotó el país el martes pasado ha
causado enormes dificultades, lesiones y pérdidas de vidas
entre la población en general, sin embargo también pone a
miles de mujeres embarazadas en riesgo de complicaciones y
de muerte relacionadas con el embarazo y el parto.
“Las mujeres embarazadas en los alrededores
de la capital del país, Puerto Príncipe, se encuentran sin
acceso a los servicios de salud más básicos. La atención
obstétrica de emergencia es una de las necesidades más
urgentes”...
Gladis Torres Ruiz
CIMAC Noticias
News for Women
Jan. 15, 2010
See also:
Added:
Jan. 17, 2010
Haiti
Appeal Launched for Emergency
Assistance to Thousands of Pregnant Women at High Risk in
Haiti
United Nations - Estimates that there could
be as many as 37,000 pregnant women among the 3 million
people affected by Haiti’s earthquake have led to an urgent
appeal to meet their emergency maternal health needs.
The earthquake has devastated Haiti’s health
system and many of the hospitals and clinics in
Port–Au-Prince have been damaged. The remaining can barely
handle the thousands in need of medical care. The current
situation is putting the lives of thousands of women and
their infants at risk from complications related to
pregnancy and child birth.
To meet the urgent maternal health and other
needs of women, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund,
is seeking about $4.6 million as part of the coordinated
United Nations Flash Appeal that will be launched today. The
funding would supplement the supplies UNFPA is already
providing in Haiti and address the specific needs of women,
girls and other vulnerable populations for the next six
months...
Thee United Nations Population Fund
Jan. 15, 2010
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Haiti
 |
|
Falleció en el terremoto la activista feminista
Myriam Merlet, actual encargada del Ministerio para
las Mujeres
Myriam Merlet, a feminist activist
and Head of the Haitian Ministry of Women, was
killed in the recent earthquake |
|
About the work of Myriam Merlet:
Rape Looms Large Over Haiti Slums
...Myriam Merlet, who heads the
government's Ministry of Women, blames the high rate of rape
in Haiti's slums on the political turmoil that has stained
the country since the Duvalier family dictatorship was
ousted in the mid-1980s.
Myriam Merlet:
"Rape has been used as a
political weapon in this country since 1986. The soldiers in
the army used rape to frighten people. The Chimeres (mainly
pro-Aristide gangs) used rape to control the population,"
she says.
"Now the street gangs in the
slums use rape as a powerful weapon of war."
She also says that there is a
"state absence" in the slums and the gangs have "full power
to terrorize the population as they wish".
...Weak justice
Two years ago, the United
Nations in Haiti acknowledged widespread rape in the vast
slums in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
Almost half of the young women
in conflict-zone slums have been raped
The UN said that almost half of the girls and young women,
living in conflict-zone slums, like Cite Soleil and
Martissant, had been raped.
But Amnesty says that not enough
has been done to stamp out widespread rape which is on the
rise again.
Rape was only made a criminal
offense in Haiti in 2005. Before then judges would negotiate
a sum of money to be paid to the victim's family...
BBC News
Nov. 27, 2008 |
See
also:
Haiti
Haiti: solidarité avec nos soeurs
et frères
Nous vous écrivons aujourd’hui ayant le coeur
serré, deux jours après le catastrophique tremblement de
terre à Haïti. Nous sommes très touchées par les images et
les nouvelles que nous avions reçues au cours de ces
dernières 48 heures, et nous sommes très inquiètes pour nos
soeurs de la Marche Mondiale des Femmes dans le pays.
Nous essayons de contacter les copines de la
CN et des groupes participants de la MMF à Haïti, mais
n'avons pas pu parler avec aucune d’entre elles pour le
moment. Malheureusement nos copines Magalie Marcellin de
Kayfanm et Myriam Merlet, activiste féministe et actuelle
responsable du Ministère des femmes, sont décédées dans le
tremblement de terre. Nos pensées et toute notre solidarité
vont à leurs familles et ami(e)s...
Haiti: solidaridad con nuestras
hermanas y hermanos
Es con mucho pesar que escribimos a ustedes
hoy, dos días después del terremoto catastrófico en Haití.
Estamos muy consternadas y aun más tristes con las imágenes
y noticias que hemos recibido en las ultimas 48 horas,
además, estamos muy preocupadas por nuestras compañeras de
la Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres (MMM) en este país.
Hemos estado intentando contactarnos con las
compañeras de las CNs y de los grupos participantes de la
MMM en Haití, pero hasta el momento presente, no logramos
hablar con ninguna de ellas. Nos llegó la trágica noticia de
que fallecieron en el terremoto nuestras compañeras Magalie
Marcellin del Kayfanm y Myriam Merlet, militante feminista y
actual encargada del Ministerio para las Mujeres. Que sus
familiares y amigos reciban nuestros pensamientos y
solidaridad...
Haiti: solidarity with our
sisters and brothers
It is with very heavy hearts that we write to
you today, two days after the catastrophic earthquake in
Haiti. We are incredibly shocked and saddened by the images
and news that we have been receiving over the last 48 hours,
and we are very worried for our World March of Women (WMW)
sisters in the country.
We have been trying to get in contact with
sisters from the NCB and from the WMW participating groups
in Haiti, but have so far not been able to speak to any of
them. The tragic news we have had is that our sisters
Magalie Marcellin from Kayfanm and Myriam Merlet, a feminist
activist and actual Head of the Ministry of Women, were
killed in the earthquake. Our thoughts and solidarity go out
to their families and friends.
World March of Women
Jan. 14, 2010
See also:
|
About the work of Magalie Marcelin:
United Nations Confronts Another Sex
Scandal
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - Girls as young as 13 were having sex
with U.N. peacekeepers for as little as $1.
Five young
Haitian women who followed soldiers back to Sri Lanka were
forced into brothels or polygamous households. They have
been rescued and brought home to warn others of the dangers
of foreign liaisons…
In the
latest sex scandal to tarnish the world organization, at
least 114 Sri Lankan troops have been expelled from the U.N.
Stabilization Mission in Haiti on suspicion of sexual
exploitation of Haitian women and girls.
This
poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere has endured
occupation repeatedly over the centuries, each time
suffering instances of statutory rape and economically
coerced sexual relations.
Magalie
Marcelin of the Women's Home organization, which is working
to educate young Haitian women about their rights and the
social risks around them, attributes the [U.N. security
force] scandal to a long history of Haitians regarding
women's bodies as commodities.
"That a
soldier can do this to a girl he's supposed to be protecting
comes from the same mentality that allows a professor to do
it to his student or a father to his daughter," Marcelin
said. "In this society, women's bodies are regarded as
meat."
…
By Carol
J. Williams
Los Angeles
Times
Dec. 15,
2007 |
See also:
Lamentan fallecimiento de dos
mujeres feministas, Myriam Merlet y Magalie Marcellin, en
Haití
Feminist activists Myriam Merlet and Magalie Marcellin
are mourned in Haiti
Gladys Torres Ruiz
CIMAC Noticias
News for Women
Jan. 15, 2010
See also:
The Double Weakness of Girls:
Discrimination And Sexual Violence In Haiti
Encyclopedia Britannica
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Mexico
Ningún respeto a Derechos Humanos
de Personas indígenas en México
Agrava militarización, situación de
mujeres indígenas
México, DF, - México carece de políticas públicas que
atiendan los problemas milenarios de los pueblos indígenas,
y por el contrario, en medio de la militarización, las
mujeres indígenas son violadas y asesinadas, denunció Martha
Sánchez Néstor, coordinadora general de la Asamblea Nacional
Indígena Plural de Guerrero.
Por ello, “no se puede hablar de que en México se
respetan los derechos humanos de las personas indígenas”,
sostuvo Sánchez Néstor durante la presentación del Primer
Informe sobre la Situación de los Pueblos Indígenas en el
Mundo que presentó la Organización de las Naciones Unidas
(ONU)...
Mexico Has No Respect Whatsoever
for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
[Nationwide Drug war's] internal
militarization puts indigenous women in danger
Mexico City
- Mexico lacks public policies that are capable of
effectively addressing the problems of indigenous peoples.
To the contrary, during the current internal militarization,
indigenous women are being raped and murdered, says Martha
Sanchez Néstor, general coordinator of the National Plural
Indigenous Assembly of Guerrero.
For that reason, “it is not possible to speak of a Mexico
in which the human rights of indigenous people are
respected,” added Sanchez Néstor, during the presentation of
the First Report on the Situation of the Indigenous Peoples
of the World, presented at the United Nations.
As CIMAC Noticias has reported during the past several
years, a number of abuses against indigenous peoples have
been reported in Guerrero state. The emblematic cases were
those of Ines Fernandez and Valentin Rosendo, both of whom
were raped by soldiers in 2002. Today both victims await
decisions on their cases from the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights (IACHR).
We also remember the arbitrary detentions and rapes of
two Tzeltal Mayan women, Ana, Beatriz and Celia González
Pérez, in Chiapas state. In this case the IACHR published
recommendations to the Mexican state to redress the damages
done. There has not yet been any resolution to the case
within Mexico.
Yesterday in press conference, Sanchez Néstor denounced
th fact that the voices of the community radios have been
criminalized, and that forced disappearances and
imprisonments of defenders of the human rights have
intensified.
We can also point to the 2007 cases of two young
indigenous women journalists from the Triqui ethnicity,
Felícitas Martínez, age 21 and Teresa Bautista, age 24.
Together, hosted a Triqui-language radio show [highlighting
women’s rights issues], called “Breaking the Silence.” They
were murdered, and their case continues in impunity.
It is in that context in which Sanchez Néstor, called
upon national, state and local governments in Mexico to
respect the indigenous past, and to take into account the
indigenous peoples who are alive today [30% of Mexico's
population], peoples who’s timeless petitions for an end to
the violence and discrimination against them, and for an end
to the criminalization of those among them who organize to
demand their rights, have never been responded to...
In regard to the alarming conditions that indigenous
peoples face in Mexico,
Rodolfo Stavenhagen,
the former [and first] United Nations Special Rapporteur on
the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms
of indigenous people, commented that there are faults in
existing legislation, and that the budget to address these
issues is not sufficient...
Full English
Translation
Paulina
Rivas Ayala
CIMAC
Noticias
News for
Women
Jan. 15,
2010
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Mexico
DNA Tool to Trace Missing Kids
...The Programme for Kids Identification with DNA Systems
(DNA-PROKIDS), organized in 2004 by the Forensic Medicine
Department at the University of Granada, Spain, aims to
fight human trafficking by means of genetic identification
of victims and their families, especially children...
DNA-PROKIDS has so far helped to identify 212 children,
many of whom have been returned to their families...
Between 100,000 and 500,000 children have disappeared in
Mexico over the past five years, according to estimates by
non-governmental organizations...
”This year the situation has got worse, and more children
have been stolen,” Elena Solís, head of the non-governmental
Mexican Association for Stolen and Disappeared Children,
which works to publicize cases and recover missing children,
told IPS...
Although there are no reliable figures, an estimated
20,000 to 50,000 people a year apparently fall prey to
trafficking rings in Mexico…
…In Mexico, this criminal industry recruits people for
domestic service, prostitution, seasonal agricultural work
or extraction of organs.
Mexico’s
criminal code does not specifically define stealing children
as a crime, which makes fighting it difficult. However,
kidnapping is a legally defined crime...
Non-governmental organizations have proposed setting up
an early warning system that can be activated as soon as a
missing child is reported…
Under Mexican law, the authorities only begin a search
after a person has been missing for 72 hours. ”By then, the
child could be in Thailand,” an example of a country
notorious for child prostitution, Arellano complained.
”For years we have been asking for a law
against child theft. Let’s hope the new Congress will listen
to us,” said Solís…
”The problem with a DNA system is who handles the data.
If the police and the Attorney General’s Office are
infiltrated by organized crime, it represents a huge risk
for them to be in charge, because there is no certainty that
they will operate with transparency and respect for
privacy,” said Arellano, referring to the notorious
corruption in Mexico, made more intractable by the influence
of drug mafias...
Emilio
Godoy
Inter
Press Service (IPS)
Nov. 12,
2010
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Florida, USA
|
 |
|
Richard
Morales-Marin snickers, and Juan
Hernandez-Monzalvo cries, in separate court
sessions, as each was sentenced to multiple life
terms in prison for the brutal rape of a
12-year-old girl who was near her school bus
stop before she was kidnapped |
Two Sentenced in 2009 Child Rape
Orlando - Two men have been sentenced to
consecutive life sentences for the kidnapping and rape a 12 year old
girl. On February 5, 2009 the young victim was standing at her bus
stop when Juan Hernandez-Monzalvo and Richard Morales-Marin
kidnapped her at knife point and raped her.
During their trial, both men tried to
blame each other for the crime but in the end a jury found them both
guilty. While in court for sentencing Hernandez-Monzalvo was
extremely emotional as an interpreter read his letter to the judge,
where he pleaded for mercy and asked to be with his family.
Morales-Marin was forced to face court
alone. He had no supporters and even smirked while being sentenced.
The brutal rape of the 12 year old girl early last year was no
laughing matter for Circuit Judge Walter Komanski.
Judge Komanski: "I am
making a recommendation to the Department of Corrections that at the
conclusion of the service of your portion of the sentence, at such
point that you die, that the recommendation is for the Department of
Corrections that they transport your body to the immigration and
naturalization service for deportation back to your own country,"
said Judge Komanski. "That neither of you are worthy to be buried in
this country."
Hernandez-Monzalvo and Morales-Marin
have 30 days to appeal their sentences.
WOFL Fox 35 Orlando
Jan. 08, 2010
See also:
|
 |
|
Juan Hernandez-Monzalvo and Richard Morales-Marin |
Third Woman Makes Rape Allegations Against
Suspects in Attack of 11-year-old
A third woman has come forward to report that she was a victim of
the two men arrested for raping an 11-year-old girl.
Richard Morales-Marin and Juan Hernandez-Monzalvo are behind bars
for abducting the girl on her way to school last Thursday, raping
her in an empty house on Rose Avenue, then returning her to her Lynx
bus stop at OBT and Lancaster.
DNA evidence has linked Marin to at least one other rape, that of a
19-year-old girl near the Florida Mall last January. Now, another
woman has contacted deputies, admitting she's a prostitute but
saying she was raped in that same empty house by the same two men.
Deputy Carlos Padilla says [the adult victim] saw her attackers on
the news, and was motivated by concern for the little girl to call
deputies. "She just wanted deputies to know that these guys have
been around, but she doesn't want to get involved and file a
report." ...
There's an ongoing concern that Marin and Monzalvo, who are both in
this country illegally, have more victims. Authorities are hoping
that anyone with information will come forward.
Nikki Pierce
WDBO
Feb. 13, 2009
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
Pennsylvania, USA
4 Immigrants Charged with Running
Brothels in South Philadelphia
Philadelphia - Four illegal immigrants are
accused of running brothels out of a pair of South
Philadelphia houses.
Three of the men were arrested Monday, the
same day a federal indictment against them was unsealed.
Investigators say 27-year-old Jose Claudio
Corona Cotonieto and 31-year-old Raymond Gonzalez Salazar
would schedule Hispanic women to travel from New York, New
Jersey and Delaware to work in the brothel for about a week
at a time.
Twenty-two-year-old Nicolas Gonzalez Salazar
is also charged. A fourth suspect is still being sought.
Investigators say the men had run the
brothels since August, netting them about $9,000 per week.
The Associated Press
Jan. 12, 2010
Added: Jan. 17, 2010
California, USA
Monterey Gourmet Foods Sued for Sexual
Harassment and Retaliation
EEOC Says Male and
Female Food Packers Fired After Reporting Harassment at Salinas
Plant
Salinas, Calif. -- Monterey Gourmet
Foods, Inc., a major producer of refrigerated gourmet food products,
violated federal law when it allowed a supervisor to sexually harass
four Latino workers at its Salinas plant, the U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit. The EEOC also
alleged that the company unlawfully retaliated against each worker
by terminating them after they reported the harassment.
According to the EEOC’s suit, three
women and one man who worked as packers in the lasagna, tamale and
ravioli production units for several years faced sexual harassment
from the same male supervisor. Starting in August 2006, their new
crew leader’s conduct included sexual comments, gestures simulating
sex with female workers, texting pornography, exposing himself, and
grabbing the private body parts of workers. Although the employees
reported the harassment to management and the human resources
department, the company failed to take corrective action. In May
2008, all four workers were discharged or laid off just weeks after
two of them filed discrimination charges with the EEOC.
The male worker, in his 80s, was
mortified by the painful sexual groping. He said, “I needed to keep
my job. Especially because of my age, I doubt I’ll ever be able to
find other work.” One of the women added, “It got to the point where
you just did not want to go in to work each day. I felt degraded and
humiliated by my supervisor's endless sexual talk, the pornography,
the gestures and touching. It was an abuse of power. That's why we
decided to find help from the EEOC and California Rural Legal
Assistance — to make it stop, if not for us, then for other
workers.” ...
U.S. EEOC Press Release
Jan. 13, 2010 |
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