Captive Daughters' Signature Jewelry - Buy it Now!

Handcrafted in Bali of fine metal, these earrings and pendants will make a beautiful statement showing your support of Captive Daughters' work.

Why the scallop shell?

The scallop shell is an ancient symbol honoring female sexuality and birth.

This beautiful symbol reminds us that for centuries the Female has been honored and must continue to be protected from gross violations of female sexuality and body rights such as trafficking and sexual exploitation.

BUY THE EARRINGS OR PENDANT (NOT SHOWN HERE) AT
THE CAPTIVE DAUGHTERS' STORE

Italy: Sex Tourism and Child Exploitation Dicussed at Innocenti Conference

International experts discuss ways to halt the trafficking of children for sex tourism at a conference hosted by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.

FLORENCE, ITALY - Two related topics – combating child sex tourism, and corporate social responsibility – were key discussion points at the expert consultation on child sexual exploitation and trafficking hosted by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC) here this week.

The gathering is the first of series of meetings and workshops with child rights experts, governments, children and other stakeholders to develop recommendations for the third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. The congress will be held in Rio de Janeiro in late November.

Preventing child sex tourism will feature prominently at the Brazil meeting, and several successful regional and national campaigns that are now working with the travel industry were presented in Florence...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT UNICEF.com

Russia: Where MIgration Means Trafficking

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - New efforts have been launched to curb human trafficking across Russia and the ex-Soviet republics.

The Moscow office of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) is implementing a programme 'Prevention of Human Trafficking' jointly financed by the European Commission, the U.S. State Department and the Swiss government.

Aurelius Gutauskas, a Lithuanian legal expert together with experts from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the IOM are adapting features of counter-trafficking legislation in the European Union to bridge gaps in Russian law.

"The project aims at complementing the efforts of the authorities and the civil society, and to enhance prosecution and the criminalisation of trafficking," Alberto Andreani, programme coordinator for prevention of human trafficking at the Moscow IOM office told IPS.

At their annual meeting in Moscow last November, members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose organisation of ex-Soviet republics (excluding the Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) signed an anti-trafficking cooperation programme to last until 2010.

But Elena Govorina from the Angel Coalition, a Moscow-based non-profit organisation that tracks human trafficking in Russia and the region, says government action is still not enough to fight the fast growing problem. And there have been few attempts to study the social conditions that give rise to human trafficking, she said...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT IPSNews.net

US: Donna Hughes on the Reauthorization of the William Wilberforce Act

NATIONAL REVIEW EDITORIAL - The nation’s most recent political sex scandal — New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with a high-end call-girl ring — will doubtless provide much fodder for the late-night comedy shows. But American prostitution is no laughing matter: The victimization of women and girls, and sometimes men and boys, by pimps has been widely recognized throughout U.S. history.

In the mid-1800s, Congress passed a law criminalizing the importation of aliens for prostitution. In the early 1900s as part of the first international movement against sex trafficking, Congress passed the Mann Act, a law criminalizing the act of transporting persons across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.

In 2000, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), making the pimping of persons under the age of 18, or pimping by means of fraud, force, or coercion, a serious federal felony. (“Pimping” is an informal term for what the TVPA 2000 calls “sex trafficking”: “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act.”) And in 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act created new federal anti-trafficking crimes and enhanced the penalties of the Mann Act.

In December, the House of Representatives passed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act by a vote of 405 to 2. The legislation modernizes and harmonizes existing federal laws against pimping to create a new set of criminal statutes, which will make the prosecution of sex-trafficking offenses easier and more efficient. It also creates a new international standard as a model for other countries...

READ THE FULL EDITORIAL AT TheNationalReview.com

Bangladesh/Nepal: Open Border Fuels Trafficking

BANGLADESH/NEPAL BORDER - Porous borders along Nepal and Bangladesh have fuelled the growth of cross border trafficking in and around the tea estates in Darjeeling. And here intense poverty and unemployment, a deadly cocktail, has forced many to the flesh trade.

The Maichi Bridge on the Bengal-Nepal border witnesses late hour rush as visitors on both sides rush back home before the borders shut down for the night.

Besides the long lines of commodities waiting to be smuggled into India at the bridge are young men and women quietly pushing their business - soliciting for sex work.

And security personnel are the usual clients.

A few kilometers away is Khalpara, Siliguri's red light area where many teenagers from tea estates end up earning a livelihood for themselves and their families.

''In north Bengal mainly Jalpaiguri most of the tea gardens are closed which has lead to poverty. Children also see others of their age coming from Delhi and earning so much and get attracted to that and try and go that way. And in this situation dalaals take them to brothels,'' said Mrinal Ghosh, member, Child Welfare Committee.

But the money isn't so good there; the best options are tourists. With tourism picking up once again in the region, the onset of spring brings many young people to the hills.

Once the season ends they disappear earning them the nickname of flying sex workers...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT NDTV.com

Chicago: Prostitution Looks Chic, But Truth is Ugly

Pretty Woman presented a glammed up version of prostitution, not the reality

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - The problem with much of the coverage of the Eliot Spitzer scandal was not just the pulp fiction-worthy headlines ("Bad Gal!" "The Love Gov!") or the endless loop of commentary about why married men cheat. It was that the media delivered a basic untruth.

This was not a love (or even a lust) story: The now-former New York governor wasn't stepping out on his wife with a consenting "other woman." His was an illegal and dehumanizing business transaction, one in which a man of great privilege purchased the sexual services of a woman of far more limited means.

But instead of treating Ashley Alexandra Dupre—who has said she was abused and once homeless—as a victim, the media have turned her into a vixen. Why address the oppression that is prostitution when we can serve it up as a form of sexual self-expression (or as a savvy career move) instead?

It's tempting to blame it all on "Pretty Woman," the wildly successful 1990 film that launched Julia Roberts' career, and the myth of prostitution as a way to get the guy (and the designer wardrobe).

But that film's wrongheaded celebration of the redeeming possibilities of sexual servitude seems almost quaint in comparison with the "Prostitution Chic" of today.

"Pimp and Ho" nights have become a staple at downtown clubs and uptown benefit parties. "Turning Tricks" pole-dancing classes are offered at Crunch Gyms.

Hit shows such as HBO's "Entourage" and "Cathouse"—where a Nevada pimp and his "girls" are portrayed as one big, happy, sexually uninhibited family—are an ode to the joys of being sexually serviced by women. The Top 40 success of the Pussycat Dolls—part predictable pop music, all bump and grind—has brought the burlesque back to the mainstream.

And here in the Windy City, the Discovery Center's Sex Tour brochure promises to take tourists to the "freaky and little-known locations of Chicago's sex industry."

The new vogue of voyeurism substitutes prostitution for the carnival freak shows of old. The trend is not unprecedented; respectable Victorians also took prostitution tours. But it reinforces the modern-day, market-driven perception that those working in prostitution are merely indulging their own bent for entrepreneurialism and sexual self-expression.

Make no mistake: Our cultural fascination with and glamorization of pimping and prostitution do not make for a kinder and gentler sex trade...

READ THE FULL EDITORIAL AT ChicagoTribune.com

CA: Oakland Teen Rebuilds Life After Prostitution

A 12-year old girl draws on her arm at Alameda County Juvenile Hall in San Leandro as she recounts her experiences of being sexually abused, exploited and prostituted. Many young girls are seeking shelter from abuse.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - The day after Christmas, 14-year-old Desiree went shopping at the mall with her friends, missed her curfew and never went home.

Desiree's family grew concerned and filed a missing person's report with the Oakland Police Department.

The girl, who stands 4 foot 11 and has an olive complexion and long, wavy dark hair, disappeared for days. Then an uncle was shocked to come across a nude picture of Desiree in the shower posted on the Craigslist Web site.

He called the telephone number listed looking for his niece. She answered and, recognizing his voice, hung up.

Desiree was among the hundreds of children under 18 advertised on the site's erotic services section. With one click on a blue link, girls called"Sexy Blonde Bombshell," "Asian Rockstar Gone Wild" and "Ebony Playmate" appear on the screen wearing thongs and lacey bras.

Technology and cell phones have given pimps greater reach and the ability to solicit pedophiles from all over the country who are willing to pay top dollar for sex with children.

Demand is great, and the profits are huge. But Desiree and many young girls who turn tricks typically don't take in any of that money.

On a busy night, Desiree — who turned 15 on Saturday and is home again with her family in Oakland — said she had sex with as many as four men and made $600 a night, which she turned over to her pimp. But by the end of her one-month stint of being pimped on the Internet, Desiree was out $1,000 and had a busted lip and an excruciatingly painful pelvic inflammatory disease. She also was arrested on charges of possession of drugs and truancy...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT InsideBayArea.com

FOR MORE ARTICLES ON THE TEEN PROSTITUTION PROBLEM IN THE OAKLAND AREA, SEE:

Nonprofit caters to needs of sexually exploited youth Ex-prostitute reaches out to girls still on streets Prostitute series raises dispute behind the scenes Dealers turning to sex business Lawmakers support bill to decriminalize minors Prosecutor targets pimps, not girls Cops shift focus, treat child prostitutes as victims Oakland girl rebuilds life after month as a prostitute Who are child prostitutes? City comes to grips with teen prostitution Warning Signs Week of Awareness

NY: Trashy HBO SHow Gets Heat From Public

Advocates protest at HBO's corporate headquarters in Manhattan.

NEW YORK CITY - Women's rights advocates and others are putting the heat on the HBO reality series "Cathouse," which follows the happenings in a legal brothel in Nevada. They say that the cable show is normalizing the demand for prostitution and fueling sex trafficking in the United States. A protest held outside HBO's corporate headquarters in Manhattan last Thursday drew attention to the show's negative social impact.

"In 'Cathouse' the reality of the sex industry is distorted. Pimps are transformed into businessmen. It also shows that the buying and selling of women is harmless and normal," said Norma Ramos, co-director of the advocacy group Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. "HBO cynically labels 'Cathouse' as a documentary when in fact it packages prostitution as entertainment."

An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice. Roughly 80 percent of all trafficked victims are women and girls, 70 percent of whom end up in prostitution, according to statistics from Ramos' group.

Facing protests over "Cathouse," HBO has defended its reputation.

"If one looks at the long list of powerful, award-winning programming from HBO's documentaries that have championed urgent human rights issues women face, it is clear that an accusation of 'promoting prostitution and sex trafficking' is simply an unfair claim of the great work done here," reads a statement from HBO...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT Epoch Times

Texas: Houston Man Imprisoned for Immigrant Prostitution Case

HOUSTON, TEXAS - A Houston man was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for forcing illegal immigrants to work as prostitutes to pay off smuggling debts.

Victor Omar Lopez was the fifth among eight defendants punished for participating in a human smuggling ring believed to be one of the country's largest.

In his plea deal, Lopez admitted to conspiracy to commit servitude and related trafficking, and to a second conspiracy count involving immigrant smuggling.

During the scheme, which began in November 2001, women and girls were smuggled into the United States under the pretense of legitimate wait staff jobs. Instead, to pay off their transportation debt, as many as 120 were forced to have sex with patrons of northwest-side cantinas owned or operated by Lopez, his brothers and others.

Lopez and his brothers, Maximino "Chimino" Mondragon and Oscar Mondragon, earned money from the servitude of the women, who were brought from Central America with the help of co-defendant Walter Alexander Corea, an admitted smuggler.

The conspirators used fear and violence to keep the women under their control. Those who have pleaded guilty have admitted to sexual assault, increasing the smuggling debts and threatening to harm relatives abroad if the women did not pay...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT Chron.com

Las Vegas: Clark County Judge Proposes Safe House for Underage Prostitutes

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - A Clark County judge wants to give underage prostitutes another chance.

Action News reporter Heather Klein explains details behind his plan.

It is no secret that money can buy a lot in Las Vegas, unfortunately girls as young as 11 and 12 years old are also for sale.

Now, a family court judge sick of seeing these kids in his court room has a plan that is two and a half years in the making.

They walk the streets of Las Vegas and most of them should be in a middle school classroom, not under the Las Vegas lights.

"It only takes that one 12 year old that comes through your court that has been pimped out for the last year and that is all the incentive anyone needs," explained Judge William Voy.

Incentive to build a $2 million house is the vision of family court Judge William Voy has.

"In juvenile court we are supposed to try and help kids," said Judge Voy.

Unfortunately, the only place to send these girls is juvenile detention centers.

But Judge Voy believes they are victims of pimps and sending them to lock up does nothing to help break the cycle.

"You may get them out of the game for a while but whenever an issue comes up or something goes wrong in their life they end up back in it," explained Judge Voy.

He wants to put them in a house that is secured by a wall and probation officers...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT KTNV.com