|
Probe: Diplomats abuse their workers, invoke immunity |
|
Saturday, 02 August 2008 |
|
From Newsday.com:
BY ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO - July 28, 2008
Federal investigators have uncovered numerous cases of
foreign diplomats - mostly in New York
and Washington, D.C. - who abused their domestic workers without fear
of prosecution because of diplomatic immunity, according to a
government report to be released tomorrow.
The level of cruelty
of some of the allegations appears similar to those recently uncovered
in the human trafficking prosecution of Varsha and Mahender Sabhnani,
the Muttontown business couple convicted of abusing two Indonesian
maids. At the federal trial in Central Islip
the maids, who have sued the Sabhnanis, said they were tortured and
beaten, sometimes resorting to foraging for food in garbage pails.
At least 42 cases of suspected abuse by diplomats - including
allegations of forced labor, human trafficking and physical abuse -
have been uncovered in the past eight years, the Government
Accountability Office study found, according to people who have seen
summaries of the document.
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 02 August 2008 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Ukraine Takes Steps to Curb Trafficking |
|
Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
|
From the Kyiv Post:
With
no money, no husband, a sick mother and two children, Natalia became an
ideal target for a human trafficking network that has claimed an
estimated 100,000 victims in independent Ukraine.
Natalia’s
journey took the 38yearold woman from her hometown in western Ukraine,
to a brothel in Western Europe for six months and back again to her
native country, where she is now working at a printing house.
While Ukraine continues to be a haven for traffickers, the situation is not entirely bleak and there is progress to report.
According
to a recent U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, the
Ukrainian government is doing a better job of punishing convicted
traffickers, both through convictions and longer prison sentences. The
government is also improving its prosecution of labor traffickers,
training the judiciary and carrying out prevention strategies.
However,
the State Department criticized the Ukrainian government for not doing
enough to help victims. A weak witness protection program and a bias
against sex trafficking victims which discourages many from testifying
in courts, according to the report.
For example, Natalia, which
is not her real name, is afraid to press charges against the woman who
deceived her and then recruited her into the network where she was
sexually exploited...
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Monday, 14 July 2008 |
|
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 14 July 2008 )
|
|
|
Five plead not guilty to luring women to U.S. for prostitution |
|
Monday, 14 July 2008 |
|
(Source: AJC.com ) By: S.A. REID, RACHEL POMERANCE Five men --- four of them
related -- pleaded not guilty in a federal sex trafficking case in
which prosecutors contend they brought at least 10 young Mexican women
to the U.S. illegally and forced them to work as prostitutes in metro
Atlanta.
Amador Cortes-Meza, 34; Juan Cortes-Meza, 31; Francisco Cortes-Meza,
25; Raul Cortes-Meza, 21; and Edison Wagner Rosa Tort, 69; face trial
after entering their pleas Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta
with help from an interpreter. A 31-count indictment
charges the defendants with human trafficking and other related
offenses stemming from activities uncovered by U.S. Immigration and
Customs and Bartow County and Gwinnett County sheriff's investigators.
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 14 July 2008 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >>
|
| Results 1 - 4 of 9 |