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The Citizens Were Heard, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Oct 2009

The Citizens Were Heard, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Congratulations to the citizens of Rhode Island and national anti-trafficking advocates for the legislative victory in Rhode Island. This past week, the Rhode Island Assembly passed an unprecedented pieces of legislation that will protect victims from sex industry predators and give law enforcement the tools they need to arrest pimps, traffickers, and “johns.” 


Victory In Rhode Island, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Michael Horowitz Oct 2009

Victory In Rhode Island, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Michael Horowitz

Donna M. Hughes

In stunning culmination of a David-Goliath struggle that, at least until lately, few believed the David side had the slightest chance of winning, the Rhode Island legislature enacted three major anti-trafficking bills last night that the Governor will soon sign into law. 


Testimony For Trafficking Bill, Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee, Oct 2009, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Oct 2009

Testimony For Trafficking Bill, Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee, Oct 2009, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

I am here to support a trafficking bill that will do two things: 
1) Criminalize forced labor as a form of human trafficking. 
2) Make it easier to prosecute sex trafficking of minors by removing the requirement to prove force, fraud, or coercion. 


Action Alert For Senate: Comments On Human Trafficking Bills, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Jun 2009

Action Alert For Senate: Comments On Human Trafficking Bills, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Rhode Island Senate President Paiva-Weed has said that she is “confident that we will address the issue of prostitution and human trafficking” this session (, Sunday, June 21, 2009, p A6). The votes in the Senate are crucial to Rhode Island getting a prostitution law and improving our trafficking law! There are competing bills, so it can get confusing. Remember, there are two versions of the prostitution bill (a House and Senate version) and two versions of the trafficking bill (a House and Senate version). 


Testimony On Human Trafficking Bill, Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Jun 2009

Testimony On Human Trafficking Bill, Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

 In 2007, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed an anti-human trafficking law. To date, there have been no prosecutions. There are three serious problems with the present Rhode Island law that need to be remedied in order to effectively combat human trafficking. 


Japan Should Follow The International Trend And Face Its History Of World War Ii Forced Labor, Michael Bazyler Jan 2009

Japan Should Follow The International Trend And Face Its History Of World War Ii Forced Labor, Michael Bazyler

Michael Bazyler

No abstract provided.


Human Rights In China: Introduction, Hsiu-Lun Teng Jan 2009

Human Rights In China: Introduction, Hsiu-Lun Teng

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The People’s Republic of China has experienced rapid and cardinal changes in its political, economic, and societal realms over the past thirty years. These changes, in conjunction with China’s political and economic policies abroad, have left recognizable imprints on a variety of human rights issues. The human rights issues discussed in this digest cover both domestic and international dimensions.


Human Trafficking In The Middle East And North Africa Region, Schuyler Dudley Jan 2009

Human Trafficking In The Middle East And North Africa Region, Schuyler Dudley

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Middle East and North Africa region is not the first area to come to mind when discussing human trafficking in the world. Yet this region certainly has human trafficking problems. To clarify, the geographic region referred to in this essay, the Middle East, extends as far west as Mauritania, as far south as Sudan, as far east as Oman, and as far north as Syria. This region is also known as MENA (Middle East and North Africa), but will be referred to as the Middle East in this essay. Discrepancies in defining the Middle East, as well as inaccurate …


Child Labor In Latin America: Poverty As Cause And Effect, Michaelle Tauson Jan 2009

Child Labor In Latin America: Poverty As Cause And Effect, Michaelle Tauson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Throughout much of the developing world, children make up an alarming portion of the workforce. These children are robbed of their childhood in order to provide economic supplementation to their families. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 5.7 million children in Latin America participate in the regional workforce (2006). It is a common misconception that children, who do not participate in the formal workforce, are not child laborers. However, the ILO defines child labor as any work that is detrimental to a child’s well-being or interferes with a child’s education. Due to the many categories and classifications of child …


Human Rights And Human Trafficking: Introduction, Claude D’Estrée Jan 2009

Human Rights And Human Trafficking: Introduction, Claude D’Estrée

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Much like the first iteration of this Topical Digest on human trafficking and modern slavery, with an “Introduction” by Dr. Kevin Bales, this second iteration covers a wide range of subjects, moving from country specific and regional to broad subjects and issues of international jurisprudence. This survey of literature on human trafficking is of critical importance, especially in a young, emerging, and controversial field.


Human Trafficking In The People’S Republic Of China, Annie Dullum Jan 2009

Human Trafficking In The People’S Republic Of China, Annie Dullum

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As China rises to become a superpower and is placed in the national spotlight as the host for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics, China is struggling to represent its ability to be powerful and stable within its own borders resulting from a staggering human rights record. Among the policies contributing to human rights violation, population controls are in place that create barriers to residence and immigration, which means that desperate individuals cannot legally move to other countries. As well, Chinese citizens are vulnerable to the practices of traffickers who move individuals illegally around the world.


Corruption And Crime In The East: Organized Crime And Human Trafficking In Russia And Ukraine, Danielle Mossbarger Jan 2009

Corruption And Crime In The East: Organized Crime And Human Trafficking In Russia And Ukraine, Danielle Mossbarger

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Russian culture and life are uniquely fascinating. Rarely has such magnificence, potential, and wonder been so dramatically juxtaposed to such tremendous terror, poverty, and struggle. The state has an almost mystical aura about it, simultaneously intriguing and repellant. Sharing more in Russia’s failures than in its successes, Ukraine is deeply bound to its former communist overlord in history and in modernity. As the world’s leading exporters of women, these two former Soviet strongholds have perfected the merge between organized crime and human trafficking, severely hindering national efforts to fully emerge from the shadows of the Soviet era. As the modus …


Robbed Of The American Dream, Megan Walker Jan 2009

Robbed Of The American Dream, Megan Walker

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Many people have immigrated to the United States, hoping to live the “American dream.” Unfortunately, this romantic notion is part of the reason that the United States has become one of the most sought after destination countries for human trafficking. It is easy for traffickers to convince potential victims that they can live the American dream. Traffickers from all over the world and all walks of life profit in this booming market, by promising poor and vulnerable people high wages in legitimate jobs as farm workers, maids, and waitresses. Many of these people end up in terrible conditions as indentured …


The Challenges Of Change: Causes And Consequences Of Child Labor In China, Andrea Morley Jan 2009

The Challenges Of Change: Causes And Consequences Of Child Labor In China, Andrea Morley

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The government of China opened its doors to the global economy in the late 1970s, with gradually but steadily increasing competition, trade, and production. The ‘Asian Tiger’ was fueled by export-led development as the number of factories and production facilities spread rapidly across the country. This rapid economic growth exacerbated labor violations, primarily due to the increased incentives for profits and demands of production on Chinese factories. In order to be more competitive, China required a strong labor force; its citizens were thrust into the global economy.


Smuggling Versus Trafficking: Do The U.N. Protocols Have It Right?, Carolyn Burke Jan 2009

Smuggling Versus Trafficking: Do The U.N. Protocols Have It Right?, Carolyn Burke

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The terms “human trafficking” and “human smuggling” are often thought of as interchangeable due to their similar connections with irregular migration and the clandestine movement of people. However, trafficking and smuggling maintain their own differences, especially pertaining to their organizational dynamics, their forms, and their voluntary and involuntary natures that revolve around trust and exploitation. Current understandings of these terms stem from the widely accepted United Nations Protocols that were resultant from the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.


Globalization And Human Trafficking, Devin Brewer Jan 2009

Globalization And Human Trafficking, Devin Brewer

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“International cruise line seeks attractive and adventuresome hostess to greet passengers. See the world, meet new people and earn a stable income!” –sounds innocuous enough until a destitute and unwitting applicant with seemingly nothing to lose is recruited from her home country and arrives at her destination only to be forced into prostitution. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that there are 2.4 billion people in the world at any given time involved in forced labor and subjected to exploitation as a result of trafficking (ILO 2008).


International Law And Human Trafficking, Lindsey King Jan 2009

International Law And Human Trafficking, Lindsey King

Human Rights & Human Welfare

International law is a powerful conduit for combating human trafficking. The most reputable and recent instruments of international law that have set the course for how to define, prevent, and prosecute human trafficking are the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its two related protocols: the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air, which entered into force in 2003-2004. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) created these conventions, which have supported international …


Considering The Margins: Developing A Broader Understanding Of Vulnerability To Trafficking, Christopher Anderson Jan 2009

Considering The Margins: Developing A Broader Understanding Of Vulnerability To Trafficking, Christopher Anderson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Efforts aimed at combating human trafficking should be directed at protecting those most vulnerable to being trafficked. There have been substantial efforts to create national and international laws punishing the act of trafficking, directed at those individuals caught trafficking people. While these laws create means by which to punish traffickers, they have not necessarily led to a reduction in the estimated numbers of trafficked people. This implies that simply approaching trafficking as a criminal activity is not enough. Instead, trafficking should be understood by the systemic factors that make populations vulnerable to trafficking. There may always be potential markets for …


The Continuation Of Slavery In The Modern World: The People’S Republic Of China And Forced Labor Practices, Jasmine Koehn Jan 2009

The Continuation Of Slavery In The Modern World: The People’S Republic Of China And Forced Labor Practices, Jasmine Koehn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The age-old scourge of slavery has returned to plague the modern world. Though updated to match societal advances, the basic premise remains: human beings degraded to the point of becoming a mere commodity. Today’s world calls modern day slavery human trafficking, and it can take many forms, including forced labor. In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), two distinct forms of forced labor exist. One form is the more traditional master-slave system, wherein people are bought and sold, or kidnapped, and subsequently forced to work, often in intense and dangerous manual labor. The second form exists legally under the Chinese …