"A statistical summary of women in prostitution is a chronicle of human wreckage—economic, physical, and chemical." GQ magazine's three-part investigation into the global sex trade is fascinating, if horrifying, reading:
Part 1 (on sex clubs in the Phillipines),
Part 2 (on human trafficking in Moldova),
Part 3 (on sex tourism in Costa Rica).
posted by Catseye
on Dec 11, 2011 -
95 comments
I’d always dismissed the idea of human trafficking in the United States. I’m Indian, and when I went to Mumbai and saw children sold openly, I wondered, Why isn’t anything being done about it? But now I know—it’s no different here. I never would have believed it, but I’ve seen it.
posted by AceRock
on May 24, 2011 -
97 comments
How two American kids became big-time weapons traders - "Working with nothing but an Internet connection, a couple of cellphones and a steady supply of weed, the two friends — one with a few college credits, the other a high school dropout — had beaten out Fortune 500 giants like General Dynamics to score the huge arms contract. With a single deal, two stoners from Miami Beach had turned themselves into the least likely merchants of death in history." (
via; previously on
arms contractors)
posted by kliuless
on Mar 21, 2011 -
69 comments
A Zimbabwean cargo aircraft
crashed earlier today at Shanghai-Pudong airport, killing three and seriously injuring four. It is not yet known why the aircraft, an ex Varig MD-11F (
pic) operated by an airline called Avient, failed to become airborne, but the airline itself has received quite some attention recently. Headquartered in Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, they almost went bankrupt, leaving behind massive debts in France, only to almost out of nowhere get this MD-11F, which
crashed within a week of being acquired. (
pprune, reg req) But that's not the only shady thing about this airline...
[more inside]
posted by krautland
on Nov 28, 2009 -
32 comments
"Troy is only 8, but he knows the words to Yanguna, an Arnhem Land song celebrating kava. He sings in tune with Saltwater Band's anthem to the drug as the car bumps along the dirt track.
Kava came to Arnhem Land 20 years ago as a ray of hope. Aboriginal community leaders believed the calming drink from the Pacific could be a peaceful alternative to alcohol, then raging through Aboriginal communities like a cyclone.
But kava became just another abused substance.”
posted by jason's_planet
on May 1, 2007 -
43 comments
The modern slave trade is thriving. The Dept of State
estimates that 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are trafficked - brought across borders and forced to labor. Among them, DOS estimates, hundreds of thousands are minor children. Some of those children - as young as 5 years old - are being sold as slaves and
kept in cages while they are raped and sold for sex, some servicing as many as
30 men a day. They are bought for as little as $10 from
desperate parents. But all is not lost:
Somaly Mam, a former child prostitute, is the Mother Theresa of Southeast Asian child prostitutes, using
AFESIP as her vehicle for saving them.
Glamour awarded her their Woman of the Year honor, and she has been lauded in
other ways internationally. Cambodian sex traffickers weren't as happy with her, though - her opponents kidnapped her 14-year old daughter, held her hostage for days, and raped her. It's hard to be on the wrong side of this issue, but
some advocates raise a few hackles by claiming legalized prostitution and porn contribute to sex trafficking and child prostitution. Sex trafficking, and child prostitution, is a
sizeable problem in the US as well. Although trafficking is
illegal in the US, combating trafficking is tough in part because victims often fear authorities, personal reprisals, harm to their families at home, or even deportation (although special visas -
T visas - are available to them in certain circumstances). In Southeast Asia (and throughout the world), child sex tourism is even harder to stop.
posted by Amizu
on Jan 24, 2007 -
41 comments
The demand side of sex trafficking In international policy circles, it is increasingly common to hear talk of the need to address “the demand-side of trafficking”, and a number of research studies on this phenomenon have recently been commissioned. Though the idea that “sex trafficking” is stimulated by the demand for commercial sexual services has a certain commonsense appeal, this paper argues that questions about the relationship between exploitative and abusive labour practices in the sex sector and the demand for commercial sexual services are rather more complicated than is allowed in dominant anti-trafficking discourse.
posted by halekon
on Aug 3, 2006 -
30 comments
Pentagon has yet to ban contractors from using forced labor "A proposal prohibiting defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for forced prostitution and labor was drafted by the Pentagon last summer, but five defense lobbying groups oppose key provisions and a final policy still appears to be months away, according to those involved and Defense Department records." ...this is "zero tolerance" ?
posted by specialk420
on Dec 27, 2005 -
42 comments
Exploitation in the United Arab Emirates:
A total of 36 Bangladeshi children employed as 'camel jockeys' in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have returned home yesterday ending their prolonged sufferings in the oil-rich nation. "The job is very tiresome. We had to work from morning till night, tending the camels, training them, cleaning their faeces and mounting the camels in the racing games." In 2003, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
reported on the issue.
Pictures via AntiSlavery.org.
posted by dhoyt
on Aug 12, 2005 -
6 comments
Hey! Didn't anybody notice that today is the
International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, sponsored by
those bleeding hearts at the UN? The UNODC is declaring
"even occasional use of marijuana is a link in a long and dangerous cycle of crime, degradation and terrorism." In Afghanistan,
30 -or is it 60?- tons of drugs have been burned in large bonfires (If they're not sure how much, blame the contact high). Meanwhile China celebrated the day with
a massive demonstraton and
a few executions. The United Arab Emarites is
issuing a stamp. And the U.S.ofA.? Well, it's on the
State Department Calendar, but the
Office of National Drug Control Policy has never heard of it. Still, you can send an
Anti-Drugs Day Greeting to someone you know (is a user).
BREAKING NEWS:
In Kenya, 49 Killed, Hundreds Harmed by Poisoned... er... Alcohol. (nevermind)
posted by wendell
on Jun 26, 2005 -
35 comments
Sneaky! Grr . . . A few months ago, while surfing for wreck diving info, I stumbled upon
this page as a main link entitled
Nightlife in the Philippines. Because it promotes outright trafficking of women, I made a ruckus and sent an email complaining about it to the site admin and our government's
Department of Tourism. (Prostitution, BTW, is illegal in the Philippines.) Shortly afterwards, the site admin removed the main link. So how come it's still on the site via
this page? I know Southeast Asia (the Philippines second only to Thailand, I think) has a rep for cheap beer
and women, but I HATE the fact that many foreigners (like the owners of
this shop,) feel that they can buy anything they want while on vacation in third world countries, and that it's alright to perpetuate the trafficking of Filipino women under the guise of
tourism. Bah.
posted by lillitot
on Apr 13, 2002 -
31 comments
