Human Trafficking and Women Right in Marriage

    In late 2021, the story of Dong, a father in Feng County, China, raising eight children, seven boys and one girl, had spread widely. On the night of January 27, 2022, a Chinese blogger went to Dong's house to film and post a video on Tik-Tok. As seen in the video, his wife is chained by the neck and locked in a dilapidated house next to the family's large house. The local temperature is close to 0 degrees; she has no shoes, is thinly dressed, her hair is messy and her teeth are scattered. After these photos were exposed, they received wide attention from netizens. After the video came to light, the Feng County Propaganda Department issued a statement saying that Yang and Dong were legally married and not involved in human trafficking. The statement also mentioned that Yang had been diagnosed with a mental illness that would cause her to act in a way that would harm her family and was therefore locked up. Two days later, the local government issued another statement saying that Yang was a beggar who was taken in by Dong's father in 1998, but that Dong had not verified her identity when she registered her marriage, so her identity was never clarified. The report also said Yang's mental condition had been deteriorating since 2021, so chains were used to prevent her from harming others. a research report released by the Xuzhou city government on Feb. 7, 2022, said Yang was originally from Fugong County, Yunnan Province, and divorced in 1996. A woman surnamed Sang from the same village brought Yang to Jiangsu for human trafficking treatment. According to Sang, Yang got off the bus and got lost, but Sang neither called the police nor notified Yang's family. The report also noted that of the eight children, Dong and Yang were all consistent with paternity. on February 10, 2022, the official investigation team issued another statement saying that the incident was indeed human trafficking. Dong, Sang and their husbands are the suspects in the case. The three have since been arrested and detained. Yang was sent to a mental hospital for medical treatment.

    The ironic aspect of this incident is that initially, Dong's behavior in raising his eight children was promoted by the local government as a positive image. However, the children's mother was never mentioned until a blogger took a picture of the imprisoned woman. It is clear from the incoherent media coverage that the government did not initially take serious and proactive steps to investigate and address the serious moral and human rights issue of human trafficking. It was pressure from netizens and the media from all sides that began to expose Yang's background and experiences. This chained woman's story reflects a larger problem in society - the trafficking of women. Between 1979 and 2015, mainland China implemented a one-child policy. The traditional preference for sons prompted many parents to believe that their only child should be a son. Especially in rural areas, daughters married and joined their husbands' families, while sons stayed with and supported their parents. After several generations, China's decades-long one-child policy has created a huge demographic disaster in terms of gender ratios. According to China's last national census in 2020, there are only 100 women for every 105 men, which means that 34.9 million more men than women nationwide. This disparity exacerbates the practice of single men buying trafficked women from remote rural areas. The root cause behind trafficking in women is gender inequality, as some people continue to treat women as property and objects of trade, as instruments of patrilineal inheritance. 

In addition to the issue of trafficking, Dong's mistreatment of Yang also revealed women's low status in the family. Whether Dong shackled Yang or forced her to give birth, these acts of domestic violence are extremely anti-human and against human rights. Marital abuse and violence caused by gender discrimination and a patriarchal society include, but are not limited to, marital rape, violence, etc. In the United States, more than 10 million people suffer domestic abuse, in the worst cases resulting in the death of the victim. Statistics show that 15 percent of all violent crimes are intimate partner violence. Governments and organizations should work to help women who have been abused in their marriages and return their human rights to them.

Works Cited

Behind China's Olympics, the Saga of a Chained Woman ... https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-02-19/behind-chinas-olympics-the-saga-of-a-chained-woman-unfolds.

Cao, Aowen, and Emily Feng. “The Mystery of the Chained Woman in China.” NPR, NPR, 17 Feb. 2022, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/02/17/1080115082/the-mystery-of-the-chained-woman-in-china.

“China's Bride Trafficking Problem.” Human Rights Watch, 28 Oct. 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/31/chinas-bride-trafficking-problem?gclid=Cj0KCQiA09eQBhCxARIsAAYRiymoJfae-CH4n4nP94LQ8RDHoa6UjCGTYIx7SAW1mtFL-o97rY_DhqgaAihFEALw_wcB.

“Some Statistics about Domestic Violence- . Project Sanctuary . 2022.” Project Sanctuary - Mendocino County, CA 2022, https://www.projectsanctuary.org/dv/some-statistics-about-domestic-violence/.

Human Trafficking in Thailand

People have seen the issue of human trafficking for numerous centuries in many countries. Ever since American service officers arrived in Thailand during the Vietnam War, sex trafficking became imminent there. In modern times, it has become one of the most popular places for this human trafficking industry. In 2007, it was estimated that there were about 60,000 prostitutes in the country under the age of 18. This number was soon said to be an underestimation as this issue was a very hidden crime in the country of Thailand. This idea shows how big of an industry that human trafficking is in Thailand. To go into more depth, trafficking is a twelve billion dollar industry in Thailand, which makes it an easier money maker than the drug trade. 

The country of Thailand's geographical location makes it very vulnerable to human traffickers. Land routes from neighboring countries, like Cambodia and Myanmar, into Thailand are extremely insecure and deal with many corruption issues. This allows human traffickers to be able to smuggle people into the country much easier than any other country. The most common form of human trafficking in Thailand is by boat. This is because the country is neighbored by the Gulf of Thailand, which makes it easier to use boat transportation. In Thailand, the fishing industry is a huge part of their economy, so many boats go out on the Gulf to fish. These boats used for fishing tend to not return from up to three years, which makes it hard for their activity to be monitored by authorities. In Thailand, there are lots of different forms of trafficking networks. These networks work across borders through the use of brokers, which are middlemen who tend to facilitate employment for the migrant workers. They play a huge role in the job placement of this industry. The most common form of human trafficking in Thailand is through individual networks or networks of friends, family members, or previous victims.

Many different people find themselves to be victims of human trafficking. However, the most common victims in Thailand are those of Thai descent. Victims in Thailand become trafficked domestically and internationally in many different forms. Within this group of common victims, the large portion is made up of migrants from neighboring countries. These victims tend to migrate from their home countries, like China, Vietnam, and Russia in search of better opportunities in life. This allows for irregular migration to increase in Thailand. It is a common trend that meets the labor demands of these low-skilled employment areas. Some more people that are at great risk of being trafficked are ethnic minorities and stateless persons. Some aspects that make these people more vulnerable to trafficking is their language barrier in Thailand and their low socioeconomic status. 

They are not really any specific profiles of human traffickers. Their profiles tend to vary considerably in Thailand. Traffickers can be either women or men, but they tend to be men in most cases. They can also be of Thai nationality, or they can be of any other nationality. Human traffickers can be in certain organized networks that allow them to produce fake documents and avoid the specific immigration requirements. On the other hand, traffickers can act on their own and grasp their own opportunities to earn money for seducing vulnerable people into sexual exploitation. 

In a 2007 BBC interview, an unnamed human trafficker in Thailand, who was also a victim of human trafficking, discussed how she trafficked underage boys domestically. She also talked about how she tended to go for boys from the ages of eleven to thirteen and would lock them up at the bar that she worked at during that time. She would mostly find these boys in Bangkok, and she used vans to collect them. Her reason behind doing so was she thought that these boys would have a much better life with her than they would have at their home or on the streets. This type of trafficking was seen a lot because of the huge issue of poverty in Thailand. Poverty can in turn drive children to enter into this industry, as it may seem like their only option to make enough for a living. These types of girls are normally not educated and have no skills, so it is very hard for them to make enough money for themselves and their families. 

Human trafficking is still a major issue in the country of Thailand, however there has been some hope in improving this issue. Thailand put into affect a comprehensive anti-trafficking law in 2008 known as the anti-TIP Act, and it is still in affect today. This act criminalizes human trafficking and provides for human trafficking victims in Thailand. After this act was passed, Thailand then published its National Policy Strategies and Measures of 2011-2016 to prevent and lessen human trafficking. One issue with these prevention tactics is that the government and the police force lack the capacity to enforce these laws. To prove this idea, the 2011 United States Department of State Trafficking in Persons report for Thailand illustrated the local police corruption, including their involvement in facilitating trafficking, which in turn negatively affected the anti-trafficking efforts. On a positive note, however; according to reports released by the Thai anti-trafficking department, the police have rescued over nine hundred victims of trafficking in the year of 2019. This gives us hope that this issue is lessening and the police force is becoming less corrupt in Thailand. Another industry that has begun to take steps to solve this issue is the hotel industry in Thailand. An example of this is Airbnb works with No Traffick Ahead and the Department of Homeland Security's Blue Campaign, which provides people with education about human trafficking and how one can combat the issue. UNICEF has also become engaged in combatting this issue. They provide economic support for families, so that their children will not become involved in this dangerous trafficking industry. 

There have been steps in the right direction for the improvement of this huge issue in Thailand, however; they still have a long way to go to fully solve the issue. The government has fully pledged to continue fighting for the human trafficking issue in Thailand, which gives us hope for the future of this country.

Sources

About the author Andrew Small Posted In: Child rights | Law, Small, A., Posted In: Child rights | Law, & *, N. (2020, May 1). The origins and harsh reality of human trafficking in Thailand. LSE Human Rights. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2015/04/24/the-origins-and-harsh-reality-of-human-trafficking-in-thailand/ 

The Thai Government's Response to Human Trafficking: Areas of Strength and Suggestions for Improvement. The Thai government's response to human trafficking: Areas of strength and suggestions for improvement (PART1). (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2022, from http://thailawforum.com/articles/thailand-human-trafficking.html 

Thelwell, K., & Project, B. (2019, December 16). Worst Countries for Human Trafficking. The Borgen Project. Retrieved February 23, 2022, from https://borgenproject.org/tag/worst-countries-for-human-trafficking/ 

Is President Putin a War Criminal or a Patriot?

Note this day: On February 24, 2022, President Putin of the Russian Federation sent in Russian troops to invade the sovereign country of Ukraine. Ukraine achieved its independence on August 24, 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin, justifying his invasion of Ukraine citing Article 51, part 7 of the United Nations Charter, accused the Ukrainian government of "abuse and genocide" against the separatist regions in Ukraine of Donetsk People' Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. Ironically, it was the former Soviet Union that committed genocide against the Ukrainian people from 1932-1933 killing millions of Ukrainians. The Ukrainian term for the genocide was "Holodomor" which means "to kill by starvation". This was also known as the "Terror-Famine" or the "Great Famine". The United Nations estimated that approximately 7-10 million people perished.

Is Putin justified in this action? Is this a "just war"? Is Putin a Russian Patriot or a common war criminal. You decide. My mind is already made up.

Abortion Ban Lifted

    For about two decades, feminist in Colombia have created movements in order to lift the abortion ban. Fortunately, on February 22, 2022 Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled in favor of decriminalizing abortions up to 24 weeks. Colombia is now the latest Latin American country to legalize abortion. Celebration took over the capital as many marched and cheered in the streets. A fight that took years and years to  even become a consideration is now possible. Before, abortion was only allowed under three different circumstances: if the women's health or life was at risk, if the fetus had a condition that resulted in it being nonviable, and if pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. However, these rules still apply to those that seek abortion after 24 weeks. 

    Before the decriminalization was granted, women who wanted an abortion without being under the three circumstances would face jail time of about 54 months. The Colombian Penal Code state that depending on the lengths the women went through to achieve the abortion the jail sentence can be more than 54 months. Although these jail sentences rarely occurred, the criminalization created an environment full of fear and hostility. Women were scared to talk to medical professionals and would use clandestine abortions, this resulted in many deaths due to the danger that these abortions presented such as the lack of sterile instruments and aggressive and invasive procedures. Medical professionals were also living in fear, they would report any suspicious activity they saw our of fear of participating in a crime and would not want to be involved. Even the women who met the criteria to receive an abortion would fear going through with the procedure because of the challenges she would face with constant investigation and having to be constantly monitored by medical professionals. 

    Colombia, as well as many other Latin American country, hold strong Catholic values and beliefs, especially within their government system. However, Latin American countries can be very competitive with one another or easily influenced from one another. In September, Mexico ruled that penalizing abortions was unconstitutional and in December of  2020, Argentina legalized abortions up to 14 weeks with no other restrictions. Colombia's constitutional court took this into consideration when coming to a final decision. 

    When it comes banning or criminalizing abortions, this is a form of controlling women's bodies. It is super easy to point the finger and say how it is a sin or that it is killing a child but there is a bigger reasoning behind this. Men see this as a form of power to make women subordinates. These government systems are mostly made up of men. Now my questions are do these men really want to achieve power over women or do they want to show that they hold the most power in comparison to their neighboring countries? Or do these men just blatantly hate women and strip them of their freedoms and human rights? If they do hate women so much, why do they hate them?

Citation:

"Colombia Abortion Laws: Colombia Becomes Latest Latin American ." https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/americas/colombia-decriminalize-abortion-intl/index.html

(February 24, 2022)

Transgender Situation in Haiti

 As of right now, the country Haiti has been going through a collection of problems which has stretched from the assassanation of the president, Jovenel Moïse, the president of Haiti, who was assassinated on 7 July 2021 at his residence by a group of 28 foreign mercenaries are alleged to be responsible for the killing. Haiti is also the poorest country in the LAC region (Latin America and the Caribbean)and among the poorest countries in the world. In 2020, Haiti had a GDP per capita of US $2,925, the lowest in the LAC region.

In spite of all of this, Haiti still has never really been able to fully recover from the earthquake that devastated the land in 2010. The earthquake resulted in About 220,000 people reportedly killed, among them, 102 United Nations staff who lost their lives when the building housing the mission there, known as MINUSTAH, collapsed. With all the tragedy that has happened to the Haitian people as a whole, people have not been really able to focus on the human rights aspect of Haiti. The country of Haiti has been a kind of pass to pretty much say and treat people however they want. This is shown with the attitude most Haitian people have towards the LGBTQ community.

Though this hurts me to say this but the people of Haiti have a negative connotation with all things LGBTQ and this believed because of the Christian religion they follow. This was forced upon them by the french and influenced them to beleive that there are only 2 genders(male and female) and with this belief people believe that anything even remotely different from it is completely wrong. Haiti does not recognize same-sex marriages or any other similar institution. In 2013, Christian and Muslim religious leaders organized a large public demonstration against gay marriage, when a Haitian LGBTQ rights group announced plans to lobby for a gay rights bill in the parliament. This is shown with the example of a transgender woman in Haiti that has said, “she does not want to die in a man's body”, and hopes to leave her native country to fulfill her dream of transitioning from being a man to a woman. Semi Alisha Fermond works with transgender people at "Kay Trans Ayiti" which is the creole name for House of Haitian Trans and is an activist with the UNDP and UNAIDS-supported organization Community Action for the Integration of Vulnerable Haitians (ACIFVH).

Corruption Without Disruption

 A society that notices the abuse down towards and against the safety of women, and yet continues to close their eyes when it comes to proposing a solution. This type of behavior can be seen in the Caribbean. Specifically in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago is a dual island Caribbean nation located near Venezuela. Stories like Andrea Bharatt and Ashanti Riley show that work within the government of Trinidad and Tobago needs to be had, and that won’t come unless we bring attention to it. This blog will focus more on the story of Ashanti Riley.

 In Trinidad and Tobago they don’t necessarily have the same systems like Uber, and Lyft. Instead they rely on a more traditional system called Maxi Taxis,buses, and privately owned cars. The buses do not run on a constant fixed schedule. They don’t come as frequently as the MTA systems in New York. Maxi Taxis are private, owner-operated mini buses that stop along main roads providing people a ride to where they need to go. They run along a fixed route however do not have time stamps.  

Ashanti Riley was a 18 year old girl who got in a privately owned taxi in hopes of going to her grandmother’s house for a birthday party. Though the actual voyage of the ride shouldn’t have been longer than 15 minutes, Riley never in fact arrived at her grandmother’s house. Instead of being taken to her rightful destination, Ashanti Riley instead was taken to a private area where she was raped, and then stabbed and beaten. Her body was then dumped in a shallow water course off the side of the road, and found 5 days later by authorities. It was later found that the same men that did this horrendous act to Ashanti Riley also raped two other young girls around the ages of 16-18. When searching the possessions of the men, authorities recovered one pink colored Iphone, female underwear, one pair of white slippers, a purse, as well as many other belongings of young girls. 

In response to the death of Ashanti Riley, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago stated that it was a national pain, and went on to say, “Everyone one of us is diminished by the news of what happened to that child or the children who have been assaulted.” In his appearances in the public eye he spoke vaguely of the incidents, and didn’t really say the names of the victims which is very insensitive. When asked about lethal weapons the prime minister stated that the government doesn’t believe women possessing/carrying a lethal weapon will help their case. And this is true but to an extent. The idea of women carrying lethal weapons such as tasers and pepper spray definitely won’t prevent all the cases, but it can be a means of allowing the women a sort of escape.

Cases like these in Trinidad and Tobago have been occurring way too often. It is time to step up, and take actions to prevent young girls and women from being taken advantage of. So what can we do to prevent this from happening and provide a safe space for women? If lethal weapons are portrayed to be too risky, then what other alternative can we provide? Personally I think it does start with allowing women and young girls to carry self-defense weapons like pepper spray or a taser. I also think people need to crack down on the authorities and the government, and ensure that they actually take actions to put the accused away. Another solution could also be creating a system of safe transportation. Whether it is background checks and then having the guaranteed safe drivers have some sort of identification on their vehicle to let passengers know it is safe to get in those cars/vans.

Works Cited

  
Alexander Bruzual, “Murder of Ashanti: Driver to be Charged”, 2020

Stabroek News, "Trinidad: Autopsy result on Ashanti reveals brutal ends", 2020

What is Singapore hiding?

https://www.hydro.com/en-US/about-hydro/hydro-worldwide/asia/singapore/

What is the first thing that comes to your mind every time you hear about Singapore? Personally, I used to think that it was an outstanding country, with perfect views to its financial center, characterized by the eccentric Marina Bay Sand and it’s futuristic architecture in general. In my imagination Singapore was exactly what the movie “Crazy Rich Asian” portrays. 

In fact, Singapore can be described as an utopia. Due to its geographical location, it is considered a strategic island in the South China Sea. Years ago it was in dispute for control between the British and Japoneses. After multiple fights Singapore became part of the British colonies for a few years and then in 1959 it joined the Malaysia Federation with Lee Kuan Yew as the head of the government. In 1965 Lee Kuan Yew rejected a law that Malaysia was imposing, where they could have economic power over Singapore. As a result Singapore was expelled from Malaysia becoming an Independent republic. Throughout the time Lee made Singapore one of the strongest economies of SouthEast Asia, ending corruption and creating a multicultural environment. In today's world, Singapore is not just one of the strongest economies in the world, but is one of the most diverse countries with four official languages, Mandarin, Tamil, Malay and English. People from multiple cultural backgrounds live all together and celebrate each other's holidays. Additionally, it is one of the safest places in the world with an extremely low crime rate and drug consumption rate. 

It is impossible to deny the extraordinary political process that Singapore has been through and how it went from being a poor island with zero natural resources, to one of the world's largest economies and high-tech production. However, Singapore can also be considered a great example of what to avoid. The electoral authoritarian country has neglected the fact that Singapore is a country with no freedom of speech and expression, it also helds one of the most unequal populations worldwide and owns a dehumanizing prison system. 

The authoritarian state has a Gini coefficient that goes between 0.41 to 0.38 showing the inequality levels of their population. It is true that most of the people in the country live under good quality conditions, however the problem is the income gap between rich and poor, which falls under the deep-rooted social stratification of the country. A lot of people argue that there is no such middle income class in Singapore, rather rich or poor. Another reason why the country keeps a really unequal society is because meritocracy is the main way the system works and even though Singapore has been internationally commed on their great free education system, most of the multinationals based on the financial center prefers to hire international professionals. Keeping Singaporeans under a poor economic class while the internationals get wealthier. Nevertheless, Singapore does also have a big system that classifies international workers under two groups. On the one hand, there is the group called internationals who are brought by multinational companies or embassies to work with them; those are the internationals that get some of the best treatment and good economic compensation. On the other hand, we have the “immigrant workers” who are those international workers that go into Singapore to do manufacturing work. These groups are placed into restrictive conditions, they are only allowed to live in “dorms”, specific places that the government rents them in the worst part of the country. The unequal treatment between groups got highlighted after COVID-19 hit the country and it raised concerns about the human rights violations that were committed towards the working population. Singapore's immigrant workers population was the most affected due to COVID-19 as the government in normal bases fit up to 25 people in small rooms making them live under precarious conditions. Obviously, these populations were the most affected due to their overcrowded living conditions. After the COVID-19 cases were rising only among immigrant workers, the Singapore government placed hard rules over them forcing them to stay in their rooms, without going out for months, even for those who were not sick. The government saw it as a nationalistic rule to protect their actual citizens. However, the big disparity between classes in Singapore can be considered one of the least degreting situations towards their population. 

Singaporeans do not have freedom of speech and an attempt to criticize the government can end up in a fine. The famous Lee Kuan Yew, found authoritarianism one of the best ways to preserve Singapore political system and economy functioning after his retirement. Therefore, the country has always been under the control of the People’s Action Party (PAP) where a Primer Minister is the one in control, but they still held elections for the president and parliament, which are as well form the PAP party. As part of the Singaporean constitution it is illegal to criticize the government and the government is entitled to fine the individual and lead the person to bankruptcy (if the government sees it necessarily). Nevertheless, the government argues that the freedom of speech has not been violated as they built “the speakers corner” the only place where the population can join and freely criticize the government.  At the same time, same sex couples are not allow to show phisical or emotional affection in public and any attemp to it would end up in a fine. 

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Speakers%27_Corner,_Singapore

On the other hand, Singapore also has one of the most dehumanizing jails systems in the world. The prison has “no beds, no pillows and no chairs in the cells. A shower is done stooping above a toilet hole. Humiliating strip searches are routine, as a matter of security”. According to the Singaporean government the system itself is created with the main goal to decrease the reoffending rates. And in fact, Singapore reoffending rates are one of the lowest in the world, but it is only achieved through the dehumanization treaty. 

At the end of the day, Singapore has become the country that we know today, through the implementation of hard core measures, the whole growing process of this small state is in fact incredible. However, Singapore can also be seen as an example of what not to follow in order to promote human rights.

CITATION

"Cómo Singapur Pasó De Ser Una Isla Pobre a Uno De Los Países Más Ricos Del Mundo (y Qué Amenazas Enfrenta Ahora)." BBC News Mundo, 29 Jan. 2019, www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-47032379.

"Inside Maximum Security - S1E1: Life In Lockdown." CNA, 16 Jan. 2022, www.channelnewsasia.com/watch/inside-maximum-security/life-lockdown-2436911.

"Singapore: Gini Coefficient After Tax 2020." Statista, 9 Feb. 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/951976/singapore-gini-coefficient-after-tax/.

"Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park." National Parks Board, www.nparks.gov.sg/speakers-corner.