VietACTE-Alert Vietnamese Alliance to Combat Trafficking Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead  ACTION: Read Orange County Register column on human trafficking and forward to friends.  Dear friends, "Theonly thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to donothing." This quote by Edmund Burke has served as VietACT's guidingcompass since we were formed in 2004 by a small group of volunteers whojust could not stand by and do nothing. So, we are doing a little partin fighting, speaking out, raising awareness, writing, and expressingour commitment to the fight against human trafficking. There are 27million people living in some form of slavery or exploitation --imagine if we could get just a million people to do something. ... [more]

VIETNAMESE police have arrested a man who allegedly trafficked 23 females to China after authorities received a tip-off from one teenager who escaped back into Vietnam, a news report said today. The Hanoi man, identified as Nguyen Anh Tuan, allegedly befriended the women through internet chatrooms, then enticed them to travel to northern border areas from where they were sent to China, the Than Nien daily said. Since 2005, Tuan and his accomplices had trafficked 23 females, including seven teenagers, to China, before one of them, a 17-year-old girl from northern Ha Nam province, escaped and alerted police back home, the report said. Vietnamese and Chinese police were working to bring home the other females. The Nhan Dan daily, citing police and border guard figures, meanwhile reported that 323 human trafficking cases were discovered in Vietnam in 2007, an increase of more than 40 per cent on the previous year. ... [more]

Sheriff's Department leads `Operation Red Light' By Jennifer McLain, Staff Writer ROSEMEAD - An online sex ad sting led to 37 arrests, counterfeit money and at least one human-trafficking victim. The arrests were made in Rosemead, Monrovia, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Monterey Park and unincorporated Pasadena. Charges included prostitution, keeping or residing in a house used for prostitution and operating a business without a business license. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department led the sting - "Operation Red Light" - which was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. "Given the large scale and multiagency personnel, I thought the operation went very smoothly," Sgt. Tri Hoang said as he was tallying up the final arrest numbers Wednesday. Three teams out of the sheriff's Temple station were involved in the daytime sting, as well as police from Pasadena, Monterey Park, Alhambra and San Gabriel. ... [more]

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - A jury on Monday convicted a millionaire couple of enslaving two Indonesian women they brought to their mansion to work as housekeepers. Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens.Prosecutors said the women were subjected to repeated psychological and physical abuse and were forced to work 18 hours or more a day. The Sabhnanis, who have four children and operate a worldwide perfume business out of their Muttontown home on Long Island's Gold Coast, could face up to 40 years in prison, although attorneys predicted the punishment would be considerably less. He is from India, and she is from Indonesia, but both are naturalized U.S. ... [more]

Hơn 200 Đồng Hương Tham Dự Đêm Cầu Nguyện Cho Nhân Quyền   Westminster, CA – Vào ngày thứ bảy, 8 tháng 12, hơn 200 đồng hương gồm các vị đại diện cộng đồng, đoàn thể, truyền thông báo chí, và anh chi em sinh viên học sinh đã đến tham dự Đêm Cầu Nguyện Cho Nhân Quyền được tổ chức tại Phòng Sinh Hoạt Việt Bao trên đường Moran.    Đêm Nhân Quyền năm nay được tổ chức bởi sự phối họp của 7 hội đoàn trẻ gồm có Tổng Hội Sinh Viên Việt-Nam, Nam Cali, Đoàn Thanh Niên Phan Bội Châu, Hội Sinh Viên Công Giáo, Gia Đình Phật Tử Miền Quảng Đức, Liên Minh Người Việt Chống Tệ Nạn Buôn Người (VietACT), Liên Hội Học Sinh Trung Học Việt Nam, Đoàn Thanh Niên Cộng Đồng, cùng với sự hỗ trợ từ Cộng Đồng Việt Nam Nam Cali, và Cộng Đồng Người Việt Tỵ Nạn Los Angeles.   Được biết, ngày 10 tháng 12 sắp đến là Ngày Quốc Tế Nhân Quyền được công nhận bởi Liên Hiệp Quốc và cộng đồng thế giới. ... [more]

by Frank ZellerSun Nov 18, 12:42 AM ET Vietnam sends tens of thousands of workers a year to Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea and elsewhere, but unscrupulous operators trap many of them in conditions akin to slavery, experts say.Countless Vietnamese women have been trafficked abroad for prostitution, but even more "guest workers" have found themselves in an equally mundane kind of hell -- exploited, abused and bankrupted."It's like indentured labour because of the debt that the workers have to take on," said Professor Daniele Belanger, director of the Population Studies Centre at the University of Western Ontario.Overseas workers typically pay large fees and hand their passports to their new bosses, said Belanger, whose research team has interviewed Vietnamese migrant workers in Taiwan and South Korea, as well as dozens of returnees. ... [more]

Child Slavery with Rageh Omaar Around 8.4 million children around the world are enslaved today. Now, in a remarkable journey across three continents, five of them tell their stories. This documentary is presented by reporter Rageh Omaar.MAWULEHAWE Twelve-year-old Mawulehawe has been sold by his mother to a local fishermen in Ghana for $40 (£25). He may not see his mother again for many years. She will use the money to buy cooking oil to fry the fish she sells on the shore at Ada, a small fishing town a couple of hours drive east of the capital, Accra. The fisherman to whom Mawulehawe is sold, Aaron, will take him away to serve a three-year apprenticeship. Mawulehawe, like many others in the region, is being sold to help alleviate his family's poverty. He has several brothers and sisters and has had some schooling, but there is not enough money for him to continue. It is now his younger brother's turn to go to school instead. ... [more]

(HOUSTON, TEXAS) - A criminal complaint charging a Malaysian woman for her role in the human trafficking of an Indonesian woman has been unsealed, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle and Acting Assistant Attorney General Rena J. Comisac, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, announced today.The federal criminal complaint, filed under seal on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, accuses Rozina Ali, 42 of bringing an Indonesian woman to the United States to work as an domestic servant.  Once here, the 32-year-old Indonesian woman was allegedly not paid or underpaid by the defendant, worked excessive hours, was subjected to beatings and was told she could not return to Indonesia.Rozina Ali, Sugarland, who was arrested by special agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Frances H. Stacy today. ... [more]

ATLANTA, Ga-- Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights; David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia; Gregory Jones, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Richard Pennington, Chief, Atlanta Police Department, today announced that JIMMIE LEE JONES, also known as "Mike Spade," 31, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking and transporting young women across state lines for purposes of prostitution. Just after his trial began, JONES admitted to U.S. District Court Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. that he had lured and coerced eight young women – including two juveniles – into prostitution.  "The defendant in this case took advantage of numerous young women by enticing them with promises of modeling contracts and then using force, threats, and coercion to force them to work as prostitutes," said Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim. ... [more]

WASHINGTON — Iona Uiagalelei, Acting Director of Property Management for the American Samoan government, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Honolulu to witness tampering in a federal sex trafficking investigation.  During his guilty plea, Uiagalelei admitted that on February 13, 2007, he met with two Chinese women and instructed them to lie when they testified before a federal grand jury in Honolulu. The two women were witnesses in the sex trafficking investigation of Chinese Nationals Fu Sheng Kuo and Shengji Wang. Despite Uiagalelei’s efforts to obstruct the investigation, Kuo and Wang were convicted earlier this year of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Chinese women smuggled into American Samoa and forced to work as prostitutes in nightclubs and brothels. Uiagalelei faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment and a maximum fine of $250,000. The Attorney General has made the prosecution of human trafficking crimes a top priority. ... [more]