ELYRIA — The 15th annual Hispanic Leadership Conference will be Saturday, featuring a Mexican-American human rights activist talking about human trafficking.
Presented by the Coalition of Hispanic/Latino Issues and Progress, the annual celebration will be at the Spitzer Conference Center, Lorain County Community College. Continental breakfast and lunch will be served, and registration is still available by calling Michael Ferrer, conference co-director, at 989-1178.
Enrique Morones, founder and president of Border Angels, is the keynote speaker. He was born in San Diego, Calif., to Mexican parents and has citizenship in both Mexico and the United States.
The Border Angels is a group of volunteers who work to prevent the deaths of people crossing the border from Mexico to the United States.
Crossing the border is just the first step for many journeys, Morones said.
“The border is just the place they cross, it’s not where they stay,” he said. “The demand for workers and drugs takes people far from the borders. The U.S. is the No. 1 consumer of illegal drugs in the world. The demand is the issue, which creates the organized crime. The undocumented workers are victims of criminals who are bringing them here.”
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will be the conference’s special guest, and he will join Morones in discussing human trafficking.
Cordray’s office released a report in February showing that one in three Ohio runaways gone for two weeks or longer is at risk of being trafficked for sex. More than 1,000 Ohio children from 12 to 17 years old have been trafficked into the sex trade, according to the report.
Panel discussions will cover human trafficking and critical issues in Latino health. Workshops lasting 55 minutes will offer insights into problems such as identity theft, sexual predators on the Internet, art as a catalyst for change, new laws requiring new birth certificates for people born in Puerto Rico, the 2010 census, how to budget in a recession and a dance workshop on Argentine tango.
A preconference reception will be at the Elyria Holiday Inn at 6:30 tonight, featuring a dance presentation, art exhibit and opportunities to meet conference speakers.
A gala will be Saturday night after the conference at the Lorain Party Center, 2501 Leavitt Road, with dinner, music and dancing.
Sponsors of the conference include State Farm Insurance, The Morning Journal, The Cleveland Clinic, Lorain County Community College, Lorain City Schools and the Community Foundation of Lorain County.
For more information, call 989-1178, or visit www.chiplorain.org.
Rescues that punish those they’re meant to save: Cambodia again
More evidence of how police raids to save people are unwanted and counter-productive, this time with statements from UNAIDS and a Cambodian sexworker group. Those suffering under the crackdown are not traffickers and arrested sex workers were not trafficked. The rhetorical move to call completely old-fashioned raids anti-trafficking strategies is orwellian double-speak creating confusion amongst those who don’t know what’s going on.
Cambodia cracks down on the sex industry,
Robert Carmichael, 12 April 2010, Deutsche Welle
. . . In Cambodia, the government recently decided to target the sex industry in a move it thinks will combat the trafficking of women. 60 brothels, karaoke bars and massage parlors have been raided in Phnom Penh and across the country in the past month alone. Some 300 sex workers are thought to have lost their jobs since the crackdown began in early March. . .
Organizations that help sex workers worry it is driving them away from established venues, and limiting their access to sexual health services.
Tony Lisle, the country head of UNAIDS says the crackdown is the latest in a series of similar moves by the authorities in recent years, which do not have very positive effects. ”From the perspective of UNAIDS, the crackdowns create significant difficulties for organizations working in HIV prevention to reach those who are most at risk from HIV infection effectively, particularly sex workers and women working in the entertainment industry.”
Important to separate prostitution and trafficking
Moreover, although the authorities say this drive is part of an anti-trafficking campaign, so far no traffickers have been arrested – only sex workers. Lisle says it is important to separate the issues of prostitution and human trafficking. A survey last year found that no more than 7 percent of sex workers had been trafficked into the trade. “However, they are often the victims of the crackdown,” says Lisle.
Sex workers are losing out
Ly Pisey is a technical assistant at the Women’s Network for Unity, a collective that advocates rights and sexual health for sex workers that holds meetings for sex workers so that they can pass on information on sexual health and rights. She says that “the situation is very difficult” right now and it is hard to access sex workers. ”We are like thieves. If we want to send out a message on safe sex, we have to call some of the sex workers whom we know and who trust us to come to our drop-in centre. Sometimes we meet one and ask them to share the information and tell them to continue to have hope,” she explains.
It seems highly unlikely that the government’s move will fulfill its stated goal of eliminating prostitution – not least since one in three Cambodian men are thought to pay for sex. However, the wave of arrests is certainly driving sex workers underground and away from the assistance they and their clients need. It seems very likely that if the crackdown continues it will result in a higher rate of sexually-transmitted diseases.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Two men accused of holding a woman against her will and possibly forcing her into prostitution now face human trafficking and kidnapping charges.
Guilford County sheriff’s deputies arrested Reyna Caballero on Saturday after raiding his house.
On Tuesday, a second man, Vincio Caulderon, was also arrested.
Investigators said they found a woman being held against her will in Caballero’s house.
Both men face one count of human trafficking and one count of first-degree kidnapping. Both are being held under million-dollar bonds.
