If you missed the CNN special, “World’s Untold Stories” Innocence for Sale,” we recommend that you check it out online.  It’s an eye opening look at sex trafficking in Cambodia that follows Aaron Cohen, a career abolitionist and founder of Abolish Slavery, on a mission to investigate and rescue victims of trafficking.

If you’re touched by what you see, we recommend checking out Hagar International.  Hagar is one of the world’s foremost aftercare providers and has facilities in Cambodia, Vietnam and Afghanistan.  They provide long term care, hope and restoration for survivors of trafficking and other human rights abuse.  You can also support survivors of trafficking in Cambodia by shopping from our collections from Hagar Design and the Nomi Network.

I tried to quit eating sugar this week.  What a ridiculous thing to do!

I’m glad I already dropped that goal because it was just announced that by the end of 2010 Green & Black’s chocolate will be entirely fair trade!  This is great news for those of us who want to ensure our chocolate isn’t made with cocoa that has been harvested by slaves.  This news has me craving a nice, tasty chocolate bar…but only if it’s fair trade!

“…Our destiny is connected to those beyond our shores.”

— President Barack Obama
State of the Union Address, January 27, 2010

Dear Supporter,

Today, we’re asking all IJM supporters to invest a few minutes to ensure the U.S. government makes the fight against human trafficking a priority.

As you watched President Obama’s first State of the Union address, no doubt you had many concerns on your mind and likely Haiti was among them.

Breakdown of rule of law across the country in the wake of the January 12 earthquake has left many Haitians, particularly the tens of thousands of children orphaned in the disaster, vulnerable to violent human rights abuses, including human trafficking. I hope you’ll take just a few minutes of your time to join IJM in asking the President to address the critical needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

On Inauguration Day 2009, many of you answered the call to sign a letter to President Obama, asking him to make the eradication of slavery and trafficking a hallmark of his presidency. Since that time, President Obama has appointed committed diplomats and made a powerful statement by declaring January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

I’d like to ask you once again to join IJM in calling on President Obama to protect children from trafficking and exploitation, in Haiti and around the world.

IJM has demonstrated in slavery-burdened countries like Cambodia and the Philippines that when local governments have the necessary political will, financial resources and training, it is possible to rescue and protect victims and put the criminals who prey on them behind bars. We need your help to ensure that the Obama Administration continues to provide the resources and diplomatic support to help foreign governments make more victories like these possible. Rebuilding Haiti’s police and courts must be a top priority.

Your voice makes a difference. Please sign your name to IJM’s letter to President Obama and forward this to others, urging them to do the same.

Thank you for all you do to protect children, women and men from violent injustice.

In partnership,
Eileen Campbell
Director of Justice Campaigns
International Justice Mission

Here’s a recap of some recent news:

35 Nepali women have been rescued from being trafficked to India at border checkpoints in the Kailali and Kanchanpur districts within the past six months. A local rehabilitation organization took them in and helped them contact their families. Activists and campaigners are becoming more dynamic in the area so traffickers are using secret routes to get people into Indian cities.

As if Haiti didn’t have enough problems, human trafficking is likely to flourish in the wake of the earthquake. As this article states, “In today’s world, the twin causes of human slavery - poverty and vulnerability - increase exponentially after natural disasters.”

“Freedom - it’s in our DNA.”  That’s the tagline for a new anti-trafficking foundation started by Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher called the Demi and Ashton Foundation (DNA).  The celebrities have already been involved in learning about this issue and raising awareness so we are hopeful for the future of their foundation.  Hopefully added star power will continue to help in the fight!  You can check out their website and, of course, follow them on Twitter.

A young Cambodian girl in Hagar International’s care testified in court against her “godmother” who abused her as a domestic servant.  Sue Taylor, manager of the psychosocial services department of Hagar International, the NGO that has been helping to rehabilitate the girl, said Tuesday that the opportunity to testify in court was a key step in her healing process.  We hope that this will enable her to continue in her rehabilitation and restoration to a new, free and beautiful life.

The operations conducted simultaneously to avoid a tip-off freed nine victims of sex trafficking and secured the arrest of 10 suspected perpetrators.

Planning the concurrent operations at multiple locations (all bars operating as fronts for trafficking) in the metro Manila area required weeks of investigation and collaboration. The rescued girls are receiving round-the-clock counseling from IJM social workers and will soon be placed in local aftercare homes where they will receive long-term care.

We’ve finally added the fabulous Buy Her Bag Not Her Body totes from Nomi Network!  They are made from cotton and recycled rice bags by survivors in Cambodia.  They are available in multiple colors and with multiple strap types: single straps long enough to fit over your shoulder, or with a convertible strap that’s long enough to wear across your body.  Check them out and use them to start a conversation today!

Plus, stay tuned for a long list of new items to be added next week.

We have 2 reminders for you!

First, there are still 2 weeks left to think about and submit your designs for our T-shirt design contest.  We are very excited to see what you all come up with!

Second, this coming Saturday we’ll be at Bromwell’s Gallery in downtown Cincinnati for a new art opening.  10% of the proceeds from the event will benefit Stop Traffick Fashion and we’ll be there with our merchandise on display and for sale!  The money raised will be used to invest in our new T-shirt collection.  Plus, 15% of our own sales revenue will be donated to The Restavek Foundation.

Where: Bromwell’s Gallery, 117 W Fourth Street, Cincinnati 45202
When: Saturday January 23rd from 6-9pm

There’s no shortage of excellent organizations that are working in Haiti and could use your support!  However, since we focus on modern day slavery it’s appropriate to highlight the Restavek Foundation.

Just a 2 hour plane ride from Miami, you will find thousands of children forced into domestic servitude.  The Haitians call them restaveks.  They are the children of poor families who are unknowingly sent to live as slaves in exchange for the false promise of a better life.  We want to fulfill this promise and set them free through education and love.

(more…)

Bromwell’s Gallery in Cincinnati presents a new exhibit by Evan Hildebrandt “The Struggle To Become Who We Really Are: Point of View.”  Blaise Pascal wrote, “Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.”  Evan’s work will give you a chance to explore where you fit within the infinite!
Point of View is a multi-sensory experience intended to help the participant explore the innate truths that the cosmos holds.

The opening is on Saturday, January 23rd from 6-9pm and 10% of Evan’s sales from the show will benefit Stop Traffick Fashion! The money will be used to invest in our new artfully inspired T-shirt line that will help keep 170 (and growing!) women safely employed and free from the sex trade in Kolkata, India.  We’ll also have all of our new items on display.  Come check out some great art and support Stop Traffick Fashion.

Please read the below newsletter from Freeset in Kolkata, India.  You can support these women by buying one of our Freeset totes and coming soon, the Freeset tees.

Everybody tells me I’m hard to buy presents for. I guess it’s hard to get excited about stuff, especially when most of us have too much already. I have to say though, if a present can be likened to being able to see freedom at work in the lives of women, there is no Christmas present quite like it. A couple of weeks ago one woman gave me the best Christmas present ever. Let me explain.

While Gina was trapped in prostitution she had no room to call her own. She used to stay under another woman’s bed in a brothel. I guess there were times when she had to wait while her friend finished with a customer before she could emerge from underneath the bed. I presume when she had her own customers she was permitted to use the bed for a fee.

Fortunately, not long after joining Freeset, she was able to move into a new room with her six year old son, a place they could call their own. Well, you could call it a room but it’s more like a closet, a room created from the empty space underneath a skinny staircase. The highest point is four feet and the lowest – well – you get the picture. Still, Gina has been able to leave the sex trade and that’s worth celebrating.

There are times though when Gina, at her new job at Freeset, falls off asleep. You see, being H.I.V. positive means she is not always feeling Hi Everyone, on “top of the world.” Thankfully, the antiretroviral medication helps bring some stability to her health.

Good rooms are hard to come by in our community so I’m always on the lookout on behalf of Gina and other women. I mean, wouldn’t it be great for Gina to have a better room. Just two weeks ago Gina heard about a room coming available in the very building she was living in. With a little bit of help with the deposit she would have a much better living space for both her and her son. I could see just how much she wanted that room.

When the landlady approached me to see if Freeset wanted to take on that room I was faced with a huge dilemma. Gina wasn’t the only one in need. Women trapped in the sex trade often have lots of, what I call, parasites feeding off them - people who sit on their backsides doing nothing but using the women as a source of income. Their aim is keep them in the trade and live off them as long as they can. Of course these women can never be free until the parasites are dealt with.

Sadly, even though Putul has been at Freeset for a while, she is yet to be free from prostitution. Although this is hard to understand, her parasites are her mother and brother who pressurize her to stay in the trade.

Talking things through with Putul, we both agreed the best way forward was to find a new room away from her family parasites. Now you can see the dilemma. Who gets the room? Gina or Putul? And who gets to decide?

Knowing that Gina had her mind set on that room I decided to talk with her first. ‘Gina, I know you’d love to move to the bigger room and it would be great for you and your son. The difficulty is that Putul is still selling her body and desperately…” Before I could finish my carefully crafted sentence of explanation Gina interrupted with the biggest of smiles. “Give her the room. I have freedom now. I’m free and she’s not – please give the room. I’d love for her to have the room.”

My Christmas present: To be further down the track in understanding what real freedom is. I guess sometimes we think freedom is the absence of conflict and pain and the ability to have total control over our lives. Gina has neither and yet can stand before God and others and say I’m free. Of course, it helps me understand a little more about this baby born in a stable who didn’t have a room either.

Kerry