March 2011 | Love146.org

25
Mar

But what about refugees? Posted by Kathy Maskell

Hi folks,

It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm stoked to take this opportunity to introduce you to a dear friend, Phil Gazley. For over a decade, Phil has been a powerhouse advocate for victims of human trafficking and refugees, training law enforcement, social service agencies, and churches in the U.S. and throughout the world. I asked him to write a guest blog post to help our Love146 community examine the vulnerabilities that refugee communities face in light of the threat of human trafficking. As a child of refugee parents myself, this really hits home. How about you? If you are a member of a refugee community, live near one, or know arecent refugee, I especially encourage you to read Phil's words of guidance. And without futher adieu...

We have been expressing for many years that human trafficking is mostly a tragic reality in vulnerable communities-both for labor trafficking and sex trafficking. The number of people being victimized here in the United States for forced labor and commercial sex are about the same. While some effective protocols for assisting international and domestic victims have been established, there is a population that falls in between these categories that have been somewhat forgotten in the anti-trafficking prevention process. I am referring to refugees, asylum seekers and asylees.

This is a population in the U.S. that has come here from traumatic circumstances and most find their home to be the place of light that “Lady Liberty” intended. Most receive a generous welcome and although starting a new life in a new land is challenging, most become productive citizens in the long term.

Many refugees in the U.S. have been in refugee camps for ten years or longer prior to their arrival in their new homeland. A small but significant number fall prey to human traffickers. It is therefore gut wrenching to discover that refugees who have already been forced to flee their homes in tragic circumstances are coming to the United States only to be re-victimized as modern day slaves.

Many assume this community has been made aware of the dangers related to fake job offers, fake relationships and the potential for force to be used in coercing a victim. As someone that has worked in both refugee resettlement and anti- trafficking efforts over the last ten years, it has been my experience that prevention efforts have not taken place among these populations. If prevention efforts have taken place, it has been minimal and not well publicized.

I personally know of two cases here in the US where refugees have been trafficked. It would not surprise me to hear that there are more. We are in desperate need of a significant, culturally sensitive prevention effort among refugees, asylum seekers and asylees across the United States. If you would wish to engage in human trafficking prevention and awareness with these populations, here are ten thoughts:

+Make sure that any materials used are reviewed and approved by an anti-trafficking specialist and a refugee resettlement agency prior to engaging the community.

+Only do this in partnership with local refugee resettlement agencies. If the resettlement agency is unable to partner, contact the State Refugee Coordinator’s office for some guidance and possible alternative partnerships. These can be found at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/partners/state_coordina.htm

+Pay professional translators that speak the dialect of the population you are working with and be sure that you can trust them.

+Design materials for the specific population you are addressing. For example, a presentation to the Somali community will have a significantly different dynamic than communicating to the Burmese community. For information on cultural dynamics and sensitivities ask your local refugee resettlement office or contact me at phil@gazley.org. Don’t exaggerate the problem! We want to put this on people’s radar, not create fear.

+Apartment complexes with community rooms, libraries and local faith communities can be good places to hold an event.

+Make sure people are clear on whom they should contact if they suspect anything. The relevant refugee agency might make their case managers available for this in addition to giving out hotline numbers. Check with the resettlement agency before you state they can assist.

+Give people a way of connecting for questions and follow up at the end of each event

+Consider doing it in a “train the trainer” context where you are creating an environment for on going peer led education.

+Serve culturally relevant food and drinks!

To find your nearest refugee resettlement office click on http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/ and then click on voluntary agencies.

(With special thanks to Susan Anderson at Lutheran Family Services and my friends at LCHT for help in this).

You can contact Phil Gazley at 303-261-2948 or at phil@gazley.org

Phil Gazley is the Social Justice Ministries Coordinator for the Youth With a Mission Network of City Initiatives. Phil was previously a Pastor in the UK and an area director with YWAM in Canada. Since 2000 Phil has specialized in issues relating to human trafficking and refugee resettlement. With anti-trafficking work, Phil is a trainer of law enforcement and social service providers and is currently assisting in prevention research with the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking. He also provides practical tools for involvement for YWAM communities around the world. With refugee resettlement, Phil trains churches, community groups and YWAM communities in the cultural mentoring of refugee families. Phil is a frequent speaker in many settings and nations. He is a board member and advisor for a number of organizations and is also on the leadership team for city ministry in YWAM North America. He is married to Caren and they have 2 teenage children. They live in California.

24
Mar

Happy Birthday, Love146 Europe! Posted by Gaz Kishere

Happy birthday, Love146 Europe! It has been one year since Love146 launched our European presence to a London gathering of old and new Love146 friends. What better way to celebrate than with a children’s party for grown ups? We celebrated with a spread of party treats on one side of the room and an art exhibition on the other side. The art depicted child trafficking, highlighting the reality that childhood, as we experienced it, is a very different experience for others.

Love146 Europe Launch Celebration

We knew this was going to be an important first year as we built on existing work we had been doing with other groups in the UK. We sought to identify what our contribution would be in European child slavery issues. ESCAPE magazine proved a great starting point to address issues of supply in Eastern Europe. We distributed six editions to at risk youth in over 80 Schools in Moldova! Most recently, we distributed a pilot edition to youth in the modern day slave port of Odessa. This Ukrainian city is the site from where so many begin their journeys into sexual exploitation.

When we discovered that there was an 80% increase in trafficking of Romanian girls to Greece and Austria, we took action. The increase resulted from targeted recruiting by traffickers. In the words of one of the victims identification teams, ‘One in every two new girls are Romanian, please do whatever you can to stop them coming as it is so terribly difficult to help them once they are here.’ Love146 spent the last eight months working with organisations and government agencies in mainland Europe to develop a national prevention campaign called “Open Your Eyes” or “Deschide Ochii” in Romanian. We are just about to launch a web site with stories, international help lines, multiple radio adverts as well as posters for schools and colleges that undermine bogus job adverts. Love146 partners will underpin this with localised impact teams working in the most targeted communities, identified through consultation with recent victims. It has been incredibly encouraging to work with others, to respond to fresh intelligence and to address an immediate issue with practical responses.

In June of last year, we decided as a UK team to spend 2011 identifying what our response might be to issues specific to England. We planned to pace ourselves and be very British about things. Little did we know that we were about to be drawn into the political arena with a visit to the Love146 Round Home of Peter Bone, a member of the UK government. According to Peter Bone MP (Co-chair of the All Party Coalition on Human Trafficking), recent research shows that there is still no specialised care for child victims. Peter said, “In England an adult trafficking survivor (who has been found to have experienced the most horrific daily sexual abuse) is afforded a government supported safe haven where they are given therapeutic support towards recovery. I cannot imagine how terrible it has been for a child to experience the same abuse. It is a travesty of the highest order than no such care provision is afforded children in our country.

"Child victims of trafficking in the UK are currently placed in foster care and care homes where many go missing, presumably re-trafficked. In Solihull, for example, one child was in care placement for only an hour before his trafficker walked in and reclaimed his merchandise. In another instance, six children were rescued from Solihull Airport on route to forced prostitution in Canada. Within one year of their rescue, all but one child went missing from UK care.

Left to Right: Christian Elliott, Gaz Kishere and Steve Martin outside the Houses of Parliament

This is clearly unacceptable! In the presence of 12 MP’s, dignitaries and organisations in the Houses of Parliament, Love146 Europe launched a period of research towards better working practices and interagency collaboration on this matter. This is not an insurmountable problem; we are convinced that this is one gap in the system that can and will be resolved. At our March 2nd Parliament gathering , we also publicly launched our UK Prevention and Aftercare Fund. This fund enables us to continue focusing on UK issues as well as those in Europe. We also began development of a UK version of the prevention magazine, ESCAPE, for at risk youth in the UK care system. We plan to pilot this in communities where youth have recently been targeted for sexual exploitation by gangs.

I think you will agree that this has been an extraordinary first year -- one worth celebrating with a loud cheer. We celebrate, not to applaud the efforts of those involved with Love146 Europe, but because we have taken confident steps to protect even more children from exploitation and sex slavery.

18
Mar

Do you like Love146? Posted by Sarah Hine

Then let the world know it! Charity Navigator, an independent charity evaluator, created a great tool this month for non-profit fans to review their favorite organizations. The review is easy (takes three minutes) and helps us raise visibility for our work and, ultimately, for child sex slavery and exploitation. To write a review, click here.

Thanks in advance for joining us to raise awareness.