Women Affairs

Sold into slavery at the age of 12, Hadijatou Mani says she was forced to labour for her master and his family for 10 years. She quickly became one of several sexual slaves, or "sadakas" and was made to bear her master's children. She was subjected to regular beatings. Now the former slave from Niger has won a landmark case against her government, which a regional West African court found had failed to protect her. The court has ordered the government to pay her 10m CFA francs (£12,430; $19,750) in compensation. "I will be able to build a house, raise animals and farm land to support my family. I will also be able to send my children to school so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave," Ms Mani said afterwards. The ruling could have broad implications for countries nearby where slavery is still practised, including Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Mali, according to observers. Human rights organisations say more than 40,000 people are still in sl...

Economic impulses and commercial forces drive globalization, but its impact goes far beyond the economy to affect all facets of social and political life. Powerful commercial interests have given rise to a commercial and commercializing global culture that, it is quite apparent, will not be satisfied until it reaches into the deepest recess of social life. Most recently the commercial global culture has generated a new form of slavery, more brutal and degrading than any form of slavery known thus far. Millions of vulnerable women and unsuspecting children throughout the world, some as young as ten years old, are trapped into a vicious and ugly world of exploitation, disease, and abuse. These children are sold, traded, prostituted, and trafficked under the watching eyes of a world community that has decided to ignore their plight. Most of these sex slaves are kept by their masters until their commercial value deteriorates as a result of their deteriorating health conditions with the a...

Nigeria's porous border with its northern neighbor Niger is being exploited by traffickers smuggling teenage girls to Europe where they will work as prostitutes, immigration officials told IRIN. "Our 910 kilometer boundary with Niger is too much for us to police which provides human traffickers an advantage to conduct their trade of smuggling young girls to Europe for prostitution," Oemi Bio Ockiya, head of the Nigerian immigration department in Kano told IRIN. Ockiya said girls are transported from the southern part of Nigeria to Kano from where they are driven to Libya through Niger and then shipped to Europe, their final destination, for prostitution. The traffickers convince the girls and their parents that lucrative jobs await their victims, but force them into prostitution once in Europe by holding on to their passports. The trafficking of young women to Europe through Kano has been a common occurrence. Hitherto the traffickers would smuggle their victims through Ka...

Somaly Mam doesn't know her birthday. She has no clue what her real name might be, or if she even has one. Somaly also doesn't know what her age was - though she reckons she was 8 or 9 - on the day she was sold into sexual slavery. She does remember, with complete clarity, the moment she vowed to murder her pimp. It was the night the guy gathered all his little girl prostitutes into a room and told them to tie up one of his slaves. Then, he shot her in the head. She was Somaly's best friend. "I'm the only one not crying," Somaly told me, and her gaze became stern, as if she can see the man's face. "I just looked at him. I decided that I would marry a rich man, get a gun and kill him." But Somaly didn't kill the pimp. Instead, she dedicated her life to saving little girls, like her, forced into the sex trade. Some are as young as 4 years old. That's how she's getting her vengeance. I met Somaly Mam last week at a Midtown restaurant to...

Foreigners continue to swarm the alley behind Jalan Petaling in Kuala Lumpur seeking the services of prostitutes. Harian Metro reported recently that it was a normal occurrence for hundreds of foreigners to gather in the alley like they were having a "sex party" there. It said that the 200m-stretch of prostitute dens, believed to be the oldest in Kuala Lumpur, was filled with Myanmars, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Nepalese. Story Continues Below In a three-hour check by the tabloid, it found that charges were as low as RM40, which caused some foreigners to be willing to queue in long lines for their turn. They were seen crowding the area from as early as 8am. The area became busier at 11am, when they entered the dens in groups. The tabloid said that while the customers were made up of foreigners, the prostitutes were locals. It added that customers came from as far as Hulu Selangor, Malacca, Perak and Seremban for "entertainment," and to meet up with...

The threat is real and the result can be ominous at times. Thailand has a commodity, resource and forward tactical force that can defeat the most valuable international assets. The form is a "hunter killer" team of assets that ultimately disable the foreign target. With cunning they move in an orchestrated tandem. In a target rich environment they split, and seek multiple opportunities and assets. In a target scarce environment they regroup, compare intelligence and take a consorted approach on a single high-value target. It is the "twin attack" of Thailand - and they show up in uniform and ready for action. Da (the elder sister) dons the uniform: spaghetti-strapped micro-shirt, miniskirt and "fuck me" pump stiletto heels. Fah - her "twin" - favors a low-rise heel and cuts her hair to match her sister's, both due to a slight height difference. Other than these differences their outfits are extremely similar. Hunter-Killer Tactics Da and Fah a...

In an attempt to escape poverty, women in China are increasingly turning to prostitution and competition for clients has reportedly resulted in lower pay and more dangerous conditions for China's estimated ten-million sex workers. Although prostitution is technically illegal in China, freelance sex workers operate openly throughout the country at every level of society, the International Herald Tribune reports. They work in bars and state-owned hotels as well as in poor neighborhoods. Although open prostitution in China is common today, it was nearly nonexistent a quarter of a century ago, reports Asian studies scholar Jinghao Zhou in China: an International Journal. The recent resurgence of prostitution, he says, comes from economic changes that have taken place in China over the last three decades -- rapid urbanization due to globalization, and the reform of China's market economy. Sociology and AIDS Policy Professor Jing Jun told the Washington Post that China's thrivin...

It was midnight and I was coming back from the party, the celebration of my sister's birthday. I needed to buy some water. Asked the taxi driver to stop on the crossing of Sovietskaya and Toktogula street. What I saw absolutely shocked me. I never witnessed it from such a close distance. A bunch of extremely young girls in revealing, short dresses and excessive make-up gathered in front of an internet cafe "Alfa" and were having vulgar chats and selling themselves in the sex trade. The whole situation reminded me of one young girl who once came from a small and remote village to the capital in the search of a better life. She was so young and unexperienced in life that she did not notice that one day the profession she had was the 'oldest profession' as it has been dubbed. But she never considered herself as a prostitute, or a sex-worker. She said it perfectly suits her as she likes her way of life. Her parents have no suspicion about their daughter's way of ...

Actress Zhang Yu, who became widely known for revealing the "sex-for-work" scandal in the showbiz industry, has made another attempt to fight against the system on Wednesday, by trying to report 13 more directors for such abuses of power. Upon her invitation, a reporter from the Beijing Morning Post accompanied Zhang Yu to a nearby office of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of China in Dongcheng district, Beijing, on Wednesday afternoon. "As I have already lost lawsuits against those directors, I think it will be hard to prevail through more appeals to the court. Thus I have decided to report them," Zhang Yu told the reporter. At the commission office, Zhang Yu submitted a letter listing sex deals involving 13 directors. However, after looking through the letter, a commission officer said such cases were not included in their scope of administration, as the commission was only responsible for supervising party members and ...

Companies involved in trafficking persons and tricking victims through false advertisements in the print media, will not be allowed to thrive, as the Government institutes measures to prevent and suppress the crime. "The police are on a very intensive drive, going into [these] places," said Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Chairman of the National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), Carol Palmer, at a recent public forum on human trafficking, held at the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Library. "Reports now reflect that people have closed down their operations because of police going up on their businesses," Mrs. Palmer pointed out, assuring that the police were being "trained to understand the crime and how to use the investigative methods to get at these persons." Speaking at the same forum, which targeted some 300 students from schools in the Corporate Area, Youth Empowerment Officer, National Centre for Youth Developm...

A number of Latin American women who were victimized in what federal officials say was a major prostitution ring are living in safe housing, getting psychological counseling and other assistance, and may qualify for special US visas for sex trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement. The steps are just the beginning of a recovery process that could take a lifetime, said Linda Miller, executive director of the Civil Society in St. Paul, Minnesota, one of several Twin Cities organizations that works with victims of sexual violence. "It's not possible to change people back to what they were before the crime," said Miller, "but it is possible to stabilize them and get them into a situation where they can deal with the present and the future. They will probably carry the scars their whole lives." The women were rescued during a law enforcement sweep last month that uncovered eight brothels in otherwise ordinary-looking houses and apartments in Minneapolis...

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Tuesday busted a organized human smuggling operation which forced women from mainland China into prostitution across the greater Taipei area, the CIB announced this week. CIB agents arrested three men and five women in Taipei County on Tuesday after being tipped off on the human smuggling operation late last year. CIB said that the operation acted behind the front of a corporation named "Yiu Chia Li" in Taiwan to solicit men to engage in prostitution. Mainland women who were told to enter into false marriages with Taiwan men in mainland China were brought into Taiwan on grounds of joining their husbands. The highly organized operation collects a fee from the women for brokering the false marriages while paying for Taiwan men who are willing to use their names in the marriage documents. The culprits then will operate under arrangement with hotels to locate its customers or directly send the women to the customer's residences. The...

Amidst the din of the celebration of International Women's Day on Thursday, sex workers in the capital yesterday opposed legalising their profession, saying it will spell disaster for the society. "What is the need to legalise this profession? Do you wish the human body to work like a machine? Legalising it will add to more confusion and trouble for everyone including us," said Rajshri, a representative of the sex workers of the red light district of G B Road area. "Many girls may choose to take up flesh trade and end up in these cages." The sex workers said all they want is a better life for their children. "All we want is that our children should be taken out from here. There needs to be some arrangement for their growth away from here," Rajshri said. "What Women's Day? What help would be this reservation? Can you guarantee that we would do better if women rule? All we want is that the government should help us free our children from these c...