Category Archives: Transhuman News

There are disputes about whether sex trafficking spikes in advance of events such as the Super Bowl. Nevertheless a New Jersey coalition, as well as others, are taking anti-trafficking steps.

New Yorks attorney general announced charges Thursday against 18 people for allegedly peddling party packs of cocaine and prostitutes often aimed at wealthy out-of-town visitors, including people coming to the area for Sundays Super Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J.

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It was the culmination of an 11-month investigation, and the attorney generals office says its still looking into whether human trafficking was involved.

Advocates for preventing sex trafficking and labor trafficking say the lead-up to major sports events around the world is a ripe time for educating people about these often-hidden crimes.

There are disputes about whether sex trafficking spikes in advance of events such as the Super Bowl, and some prominent anti-trafficking organizations say it would be difficult to document such a trend. Nevertheless, a coordinated effort is often launched to boost the training of hotel and transportation workers as well as law enforcement officers and to reach out with messages to potential customers and victims of the sex trade.

A big push around any big sporting event gives us an opportunity ... and raises awareness that will carry over, says Carol Smolenski, executive director of the nonprofit End Child Prostitution and Trafficking-USA. Its important for [sex trade] customers to understand that sexually exploited children are mixed in with the adults.

The New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking has taken a number of steps leading up to this years Super Bowl. It trained more than 200 volunteers to engage hotel managers in anti-trafficking efforts, for instance. Some of them took along bars of soap bearing the National Human Trafficking hot line number (888-373-7888) part of a project called S.O.A.P.: Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution.

In Indiana, similar outreach took place in advance of the 2012 Super Bowl. A report from the Indiana attorney general noted that the KlaasKids Foundation tracked Backpage.com female escort ads and found that four weeks before the Super Bowl, there were 17 ads, and the number rose steadily each week, culminating in 118 ads on Feb. 2 and 129 on Feb. 3. Many of the ads appeared to involve underage girls.

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Ahead of Super Bowl, a push to raise awareness about human trafficking

Britain used its six-month chairmanship of the Council of Europe two years ago to call for change, with David Cameron arguing the sheer volume of cases meant the very purpose of the court to prevent the most serious violations of human rights is under threat. Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

This weeks judgment by the European Court of Human Rights on a case brought by Irish woman Louise OKeeffe is the latest ruling by the court that could have deep implications for Irish law.

Irish social history has been dotted with rulings by the Strasbourg-based court that have profoundly shaped the law of the land over the last 50 years. David Norriss landmark action against the State in 1979 led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. The more recent ABC abortion case, which found that the State was in breach of the Convention on Human Rights, exerted political pressure on the government to legislate for the X-case ruling.

In the public response to the OKeeffe judgment, many commentators have coyly remarked that it took a European court to hold the State to account, welcoming the existence of an alternative legal avenue for citizens.

Just as EU employment law is widely credited with advancing womens right to equal pay and conditions in Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s, Irelands obligations under European law have been viewed as a welcome instigator of Irelands move away from the entrenched social conservatism that characterised Irish identity post-independence.

Valued ideal At a time when public support for Europe is fading, Irelands obligation to abide by rulings of higher courts is one of the few aspects of the European ideal that people value.

Not so in Britain. Across the water, the European Court of Human Rights is being held up by Eurosceptics as another example of excessive European interference.

Although not a European institution the European Court of Human Rights is attached to the Council of Europe, an assembly of 47 countries the ECHR has nonetheless become embroiled in Britains fraught relationship with Europe.

The court is deeply unpopular with many Conservatives. British prime minister David Cameron criticised the institution at the Conservative Partys autumn conference, while justice secretary Chris Grayling declared last month the court had lost legitimacy.

At issue is a series of judgments on criminals rights. A ruling dating from 2005 which states that prisoners have a right to vote and a separate judgment imposing restrictions on the deportation of foreign criminals have been strongly questioned by the British government.

More:
Europe Letter: European Court of Human Rights has profoundly shaped Irish law

There are disputes about whether sex trafficking spikes in advance of events such as the Super Bowl. Nevertheless a New Jersey coalition, as well as others, are taking anti-trafficking steps.

New Yorks attorney general announced charges Thursday against 18 people for allegedly peddling party packs of cocaine and prostitutes often aimed at wealthy out-of-town visitors, including people coming to the area for Sundays Super Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

It was the culmination of an 11-month investigation, and the attorney generals office says its still looking into whether human trafficking was involved.

Advocates for preventing sex trafficking and labor trafficking say the lead-up to major sports events around the world is a ripe time for educating people about these often-hidden crimes.

There are disputes about whether sex trafficking spikes in advance of events such as the Super Bowl, and some prominent anti-trafficking organizations say it would be difficult to document such a trend. Nevertheless, a coordinated effort is often launched to boost the training of hotel and transportation workers as well as law enforcement officers and to reach out with messages to potential customers and victims of the sex trade.

A big push around any big sporting event gives us an opportunity ... and raises awareness that will carry over, says Carol Smolenski, executive director of the nonprofit End Child Prostitution and Trafficking-USA. Its important for [sex trade] customers to understand that sexually exploited children are mixed in with the adults.

The New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking has taken a number of steps leading up to this years Super Bowl. It trained more than 200 volunteers to engage hotel managers in anti-trafficking efforts, for instance. Some of them took along bars of soap bearing the National Human Trafficking hot line number (888-373-7888) part of a project called S.O.A.P.: Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution.

In Indiana, similar outreach took place in advance of the 2012 Super Bowl. A report from the Indiana attorney general noted that the KlaasKids Foundation tracked Backpage.com female escort ads and found that four weeks before the Super Bowl, there were 17 ads, and the number rose steadily each week, culminating in 118 ads on Feb. 2 and 129 on Feb. 3. Many of the ads appeared to involve underage girls.

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Ahead of Super Bowl, a push to raise awareness about human trafficking (+video)