An update from Hagar International:
Afghanistan is a country in crisis with more than half of its people living below the poverty line. It faces major shortages of housing, clean water, electricity, access to medical care and food. Rape (both within and outside of marriage), forced marriage, prostitution, gender - based violence, and bonded labor are all common. Denial of rights to disabled women and children is widespread. The combination of these conditions have created a situation for the exploitation and trafficking of women to flourish.
- Population: 32 million
- Age structure: It is one of the youngest populations in the world where 45% are younger than 14 years
- Life expectancy: 44.5 years: Afghanistan has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world
- Child mortality: 20% of children die before they reach the age of five, the fourth worst record in the world
- Unemployment: Afghanistan’s unemployment rate is 40%
In Kabul, Hagar is partnering with the International Organization for Migration to open a shelter for trafficked women. Hagar will do what it does best – provide quality, holistic care to women, restoring them to lives of wholeness through social rehabilitation and economic empowerment.
Longtime Hagar Cambodia staff member, Myriam Geach, will be joining Hagar Afghanistan and leading the team there. Myriam is from the UK and is one of Hagar’s longest serving expatriate staff. She has been working in Cambodia for the past six years in various capacities including communications and reintegration services and developing a training and employment program. Myriam currently manages Hagar’s Career Pathways Training Program. Myriam will bring solid management skills, effective donor relations and quality programming to our emerging work in Afghanistan.
Check out Hagar Afghanistan’s website: http://www.hagarafghanistan.org for more info on what Hagar is doing in this exciting and challenging environment!
There’s a lot of buzz about fair trade chocolate. Here’s information about exactly what slavery is like in the chocolate industry. These are some of the least appetizing few sentences I can ever remember reading:
Children enslaved and abused in the cocoa industry are made to work excruciatingly long days, and are often beaten if they try and leave or refuse to work. Many have been forced to pick cocoa with open wounds, or covered in their own excrement.
But there’s something you can do! The article give links to call Hershey’s or email some of their VPs. It’s an easy way to speak out. And you can buy fair trade chocolate. I bought a delicious fair trade dark chocolate bar at Trader Joe’s last week. It tasted so much better knowing that no kids were brutalized just so I could get my chocolate fix.
Here are two ways you can make a difference in the fight against trafficking today:
1. Go to IJM’s website to send a letter to your representative in Congress. Urge them to support the Child Protection Compact Act. It will provide financial resources to select countries to help them develop their justice systems in a way to better fight trafficking.
2. Buy Fairtrade strawberries. Change.org’s recent post highlights the exploitation of slave labor in harvesting strawberries. If we pay a few more cents we can be sure that slaves didn’t pick what we’re eating!
Our featured item for the launch of Stop Traffick Fashion is our Freedom Tote. This black jute tote bag has cotton lined handles with purple Stop Traffick Fashion graphics. Help us fight for freedom and spread the word about human trafficking with this versatile tote. In addition to our regular donations, an extra $5.00 from the sales will go to International Justice Mission.
The bag is from our Freeset collection. Freeset natural jute bags are handmade by women escaping the sex trade of Calcutta, India. Each woman has been trained and employed by Freeset. Instead of remaining victims of exploitation, these women are now skilled craftsmen, living and working with dignity. Each of the beautiful bags they make tells a story of redemption and hope.
Below is an update I received from Jane Tafel, the Executive Director of Hagar USA. Please read it to find out about their pilot program to help boys in Cambodia who are victims of sexual abuse. It’s one more way you can help take a small step toward big change!
Sexual abuse is a devastating experience for anyone. Successful healing is most likely when care is provided promptly, holistically, and compassionately. Unfortunately, such care has not been available to boy victims in Cambodia. The lack of any specialized services has meant that boys are often vulnerable to repeat victimization. (more…)
In the face of such an overwhelming problem like human trafficking, it’s natural to feel paralyzed and wonder what in the world we can do to make a difference. Jen Taylor has the same thoughts and has recommended Stop Traffick Fashion - along with other ways you can make a difference in the world, in her latest blog post. (Thanks Jen!)
It’s refreshing to hear good news about how people are making a difference and how we can get invovled. This post from Rapha House talks about their approach to rehabilitation. They’ve recently been able to help two new girls open their own businesses after being rescued from trafficking! Maybe you can help them help more.
In light of the Trafficking in Persons report mentioned in the previous post, Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post. Let’s hope that the sentiments expressed on behalf of the Obama administration result in new efforts and improvements in the fight against trafficking.
The U.S. Department of State recently released the Trafficking in Persons Report for the year. It’s an impressive document that looks at every country in the world and evaluates whether they’re doing enough to eliminate trafficking. You can download it as a whole or in small pieces. I’d recommend downloading and scrolling through the Introduction. The intro talks about the criteria they look for and then summarizes the findings. It has some interesting charts and maps, as well as stories of people around the world who are making a difference for trafficked people.
One of the significant findings of this year’s report was the effect of worldwide economic trouble on human trafficking. This Radio Free Asia article and this HumanTrafficking.Change.org post do a good job analyzing how the change in global economy makes vulnerable people even more vulnerable to traffickers.
Overall, the report is informative, but the report itself is not enough to spur effective change around the world. The penalties for countries who aren’t doing what they’re supposed to are minimal, and saying that a certain country meets the requirements creates the perception that human trafficking is not an issue there at all. For real change there needs to be cooperation between governments, economic consequences for traffickers, and social change that minimizes the vulnerability of the poor. All of that can begin with our awareness and understanding of the issue.
(more…)
We sent out the first orders from Stop Traffick Fashion today! Thanks for your support!
Help us get the word out. Tell your friends. Post on facebook and twitter and your blog. And sport the new handbags and jewelry that you bought from Stop Traffick Fashion!
(Also, check out the announcement on change.org.)
As I was preparing this week’s posts about Brazil, I came across this post by Amanda Kloer at change.org. There is serious concern that the demand for ethanol is increasing the slave population in Brazil. It baffles me that our lust for green products supersedes our need to value for human life. Is this driven by ignorance? I’m not sure. But Father Tiago’s words in the article are an ominous warning:
“The promise of biofuel is a lie. Anyone who buys ethanol is pumping blood into his tank. Ethanol is produced by slaves.”
There has to be a way to value human life and value the earth.
