At last we are announcing the details of our T-shirt Launch and Benefit Concert!  The event will happen on Friday, March 19th at Rohs Street Cafe in Clifton.  This will be the first time our four T-shirts are available to purchase.  If you don’t remember, they are fair trade, organic cotton T-shirts made by survivors of the sex trade in Kolkata, India. In addition to shopping from Stop Traffick Fashion there will be great music and art to entertain you.

Music will be provided by:

ARTISTS & AUTHORS
FLAREGUN
and LAURA HELLEBUSCH

Plus, there will be a live painting done by Arian & Daniel Armstrong! Arian is the artist who designed 2 of our fabulous T-shirts, in addition to the winning design submitted by Alicia Gee.

There is a $5 suggested donation which will go to Hagar International.  Hagar is a leading provider of aftercare and rehabilitation for survivors of human trafficking and other human rights abuse in Cambodia, Vietnam and Afghanistan. Raffle tickets will also be for sale to benefit Hagar and a portion of proceeds from any merchandise sales will also be donated.

We hope you can join us to show your support for Hagar, survivors of human trafficking around the world, and Stop Traffick Fashion!

If you have a few minutes please listen to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that occurred today.  The hearing titled, “In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States,” included testimony from Ambassador-At-Large Luis CdeBaca, Rachel Lloyd (founder of GEMS) and a survivor of trafficking in the US.

If you’re interested in finding out more (and you’re in the Cincinnati area) you can also check out the free screening of Playground, a documentary on child trafficking in America, on March 11th.  All of this hits close to home in light of the recent study we posted earlier this month about trafficking in Ohio.

A group in South Africa has recently released a PSA to raise awareness about the escalation of human trafficking during the 2010 World Cup coming up this summer.  You can check out the video here. The Salvation Army has also started a new trafficking helpline.  South Africa still doesn’t have any laws against trafficking.  Hopefully they will pass some before the World Cup so they don’t risk the dreaded “F” that Vancouver got for their lack of preparation for trafficking during the Olympics.

On a personal note, I used to live in London for a few years and this video reminds me of all my South African friends! I particularly enjoyed the reference to “robots.” In case you don’t know what those are, they are traffic lights!

On Thursday, March 11th the Freedom Center in Cincinnati is hosting a free screening of the documentary Playground.  The movie is an undercover look at the child sex trafficking industry.  Filmmaker Libby Spears initially started looking into trafficking in Cambodia and the Philippines, only to realize that the problem happens in America as well.  Co-produced by George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh and Grant Heslov, Playground has received enthusiastic acclaim for its unforgettable examination of a subject that most people would prefer not to even mention.  The screening starts at 6pm.  You can get the full details here.

Plus, on the night of the screening Stop Traffick Fashion will be at the museum with our products for sale!  Come and see us, along with the powerful documentary Playground.

You’ve probably seen some TED videos on You Tube or on their website.  Right now leaders from around the world are together speaking on various topics.  One of those speakers in Kevin Bales, a well known author and activist in the field of human trafficking.  I hope they will post a video of his presentation.  For now, I’ll post some interesting live tweets* from @TEDNews that were tweeted during Kevin Bales’ presentation.

Kevin Bales: People do not enslave people to be mean to them. They do it to make a profit. #TED

Kevin Bales: Researched in 5 countries, interviewed slaves and slave holders. Estimates 27 million slaves today. #TED

Kevin Bales: There are only two countries on earth where we can’t find slavery: Iceland and Greenland. #TED

Kevin Bales: Slaves are often used to do environmentally damaging work. There’s a link between environment loss and human rights loss. #TED

Kevin Bales: Slavery has been around forever. But what is new: The price for slaves has collapsed. Humans are cheaper than ever. #TED

Kevin Bales: You can’t just buy people out of slavery. It’s not an event, it’s a process. #TED

Kevin Bales: What does sustainable freedom cost? In the US, about $30,000 per person. In Ghana, $400. #TED

Kevin Bales: $10.8 billion to free all slaves — the same amount we spent last year on game equipment. Not a lot of $ on global level. #TED

Kevin Bales: Ask ourselves: Are we willing to live in a world of slavery? #TED

More on Kevin Bales: http://www.freetheslaves.net
*Twitter is a great tool for getting lots of timely news on various topics,  including human trafficking! Follow us @stoptrffckfash.

Yes, human trafficking happens everywhere.

Recently an anti-trafficking coalition in Vancouver gave the Olympic organizers an “F” for the effort, or lack thereof, to fight trafficking during the Olympic games.  Sex trafficking generally spikes around major sporting events so it’s an important time to crack down on the demand for prostitution and as well as the supply.  Unfortunately, nothing special is being done in Vancouver to do so.  According to the police,

Street-related prostitution existed before the Games, it will exist during the Games and it will exist after,” Houghton said. “Our enforcement around that will not be any different. We have a dedicated vice unit that works very closely with the girls and the guys . . . to ensure that they are safe.

And here at home in Ohio, a new study was just released stating that around 1,000 American children are forced into sex slavery in Ohio every year.  In addition, 800 immigrants are forced into slavery.  Only Miami, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas had more arrests, investigations and rescues of trafficking victims than Toledo!  It’s hard to imagine that.  This article does a good job of explaining why that’s the case.

Speaking of Ohio, there’s an event coming up in April at Ohio State University: The Price of Life. If you’re in Ohio this would be a great event to attend in order to learn more about human trafficking.  From their website:

The purpose of the Ohio State Price of Life Invitational Campaign is to bring together leaders from the university, church community, legal and business arena and political realm with those local, national, and international organizations on the front lines in the battle against human trafficking in order to raise money, awareness, and advocates amongst faculty and students at the largest college campus in America.  Bringing the voices and talents from these diverse networks will help us stop the horrors of modern day slavery and sexual exploitation.

Here are some headlines from news articles and blogs I’ve been reading this week.

• Anti-trafficking activists recently headed to Miami to help save Super Bowl sex slaves.  You can also see some news coverage from CBS.
• Check out this travel blog from a World Vision staff member as he investigates the prevention of child trafficking in Eastern Europe.
• Is Shell fueled by forced labor?
• Support Demi Moore and her proposal to help girls from GEMS in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge.  Vote here.

I’m reading Terrify No More, a book that chronicles the investigative team that goes undercover to rescue extremely young girls from a brothel in Phnom Penh.  It’s by Gary Haugen of IJM, and as usual, we recommend it along with all the other IJM books.  I’d like to share a few particularly compelling quotes and excerpts…I’ve just started reading it so I may post more as I continue!

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

I think this quote is a definite call to action!  Once we hear about the problem of human trafficking it is our responsibility to give a voice to those who are oppressed and to work for their freedom and restoration.  It can be overwhelming but it just takes small steps.  I’ve provided a list of ways you can get involved before, but I’d love to hear from you if you have any other ideas.

The next quote comes from a girl who was rescued from a brothel in Cambodia.  When asked why she did not want to provide evidence against her captor she said, “Well, I’m not very pretty so I don’t have to be with very many men.  It’s not that bad.”

Gary Haugen goes on to write:

It reminds me of what a brutal crime this is against the girls.  Yes, certainly what happens to them physically is deplorable, but what it does to their sense of self and what gives them value is equally criminal.  This girl had decided that because she didn’t get beaten that often, and didn’t have to be with that many men, that it just wasn’t that bad.  In her eyes, she was a loser either way - if she were prettier, she’d have to serve more customers; but since she wasn’t pretty enough to make men want to abuse her, life in a brothel was okay.

Wow! What a striking and truly sad quote.  It highlights the terrible after-effects of such abuse and how it leaves girls feeling empty and worthless.  Once the girls are rescued they need to reclaim their dignity, self-worth and identity.  That’s why aftercare is such an important part of the struggle for justice! Continual love, counseling, education, and job-skills training can have an amazing impact and bring survivors a brand new, redeemed life!

These videos from Hagar give you a glimpse of the hope and restoration that is possible.  One of the survivors says, “All my life is mud in the past.  Now a lotus grows up from this mud.  It is like my life when I am saved and brought to live in Hagar.  So my life starts blooming, and becomes beautiful again.”

Valentine’s Day is 1 week away and we have some great ideas for how you can declare your love!  The most obvious is to buy a gift from Stop Traffick Fashion, of course.  Our gifts will show the one you love how much you care and will also enable you to share a story of hope and spread love to survivors of trafficking around the world.  Check out our great selection of jewelry or bath and body products!

If you prefer to go the traditional route with chocolates, be sure to buy fair trade! There is a great selection of fair trade chocolate on Equal Exchange and TransFair USA also has some tips on where to find some goodies.

Finally, if you’re looking for a unique and strikingly personal way to reach out to survivors of human trafficking, we highly recommend the Love146 program to send a Valentine to survivors of child trafficking in the Philippines!  It only takes a few minutes so check it out!

If you haven’t been to Stop Traffick Fashion lately you should stop by and check it out!  We’ve made a lot of changes in the past couple of weeks.  First, we’ve re-designed our home page.   We love the new product shots and there’s also a new link to all of our press.  Our blog also now has a widget displaying all of our latest tweets.  If you’re already on Twitter be sure to follow us to get the latest news about human trafficking.  If you aren’t into Twitter you can check out some of our latest tweets on our blog to see what all the fuss is about.  We post lots of great news stories from various NGOs and other anti-trafficking activists.

Finally, we’ve added a ton of new items!  Our collections page has been updated with several new collections including our all natural bath and body products, bags from Nomi Network and brand new jewelry from Wonderfully Made.  It’s almost impossible to pick our favorites but we’ll try!

The Andrea Tote has already been very popular and our extra long multi-colored magazine necklace is finally online.  We’ve added a lot of new jewelry from Nightlight including the Vivacious Necklace and Bracelet, plus a new hobo bag in our London series.  We definitely want to mention the brand new collection of jewelry from Wonderfully Made.

Wonderfully Made’s model of social entrepreneurship hopes to provide an alternative income for girls and boys leaving trafficking situations. Sustainable jobs are created through producing high quality products desired by Western markets. The jewelry is made in Chiang Mai, Thailand and helps to provide hope and new life for survivors of human trafficking.  We especially love the Emily Necklace, Jasmine Necklace and Venezia Earrings.