The Forgotten Children: Trafficking in Haiti

By Gaetane Borders

January 12, 2010 is a day that I will not soon forget. It was the day that a massive earthquake leveled Haiti….my parents’ birth home. Although I was born in the U.S., I strongly identify with my Haitian roots, and felt as if a large part of me died along with the over 150,000 people who lost their lives during the natural disaster. What saddened me the most was seeing the images of the bodies of children and babies lined along the street. In fact, I didn’t think it could get worse. But it has.

Many of the orphanages were damaged, and therefore tens of thousands of children are currently living in the temporary camps. In addition, reportedly more than a million people were displaced by last January's devastating quake and are living in dire conditions. These horrible conditions have become a breading ground for trafficking in the small island.

It has been reported that trafficking has always been an issue in Haiti but has grown steadily worse in the last year. Since the earthquake the rates of trafficking into the Dominican Republic have increased incredibly. According to an investigative report by the Miami Herald, the Massacre River is a common crossing point for traffickers. It’s a river that links Haitian town of Ouanaminthe with the Dominican Republic’s Dajabon. There are individuals who are going to the temporary camps and posing those that have come as part of the aid efforts. According to news reports, parents desperate for money are falsely dooped into believing their children will lead better lives elsewhere if they sell them.

Prosguel Andre, 32, an admitted trafficker of the Haitian Cannibal Army gang, has admitted to selling more than 45 children. He has said….

"There are a lot of orphans here. Babies with nobody to care for them. It's easy to take them. Last month, a white woman came from the Dominican Republic. She gave me $500 for two little girls. I don't know what she wanted with them."

What is happening in Haiti is not unique because human trafficking usually increases after natural disasters. For example, the massive tsunami that struck Asia left thousands of children were left vulnerable to similar crimes.

There are organizations that are doing a lot to help bring an end to this disturbing issue. For instance, Unicef is working with the Haitian government to try and introduce anti-trafficking laws. As part of this, the United Nations police force (UNPOL) recently began patrolling these unofficial borders. Also, Hilton Worldwide has promised to combat child sex trafficking by becoming the second US-based hotel company to sign the international code of conduct known as "The Code" which is aimed at protecting children from being sexually exploited in the travel and tourism industries around the world. Hilton will implement policies that condemn child trafficking and also train employees how to spot potentially illegal activities. USA Today reports:

“Last year, Hilton came under fire by online social-justice groups such as Change.org on this issue following the discovery last year of a brothel in one of its hotels in China. In July 2010, Chinese police found a brothel operating in the independently run karaoke bar inside Hilton's five-star Chongqing hotel. At the time, authorities ordered the closure of the hotel for a full week and the hotel lost its fifth star. Although the issue of child trafficking did not come up, the connection was nevertheless made.”

More people and organizations need to get involved because this is an issue that affects every nation! One such organization is ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking). ECPAT and The Body Shop have formed a partnership to create and implement the global “STOP Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People Campaign.” For more information about them and this campaign, please visit www.ecpat.net.

An Intentional Media Stunt or Has MTV Accidently Crossed the Line?

By Pamela Chapman

SKINS Chick. That was the message sprawled in large white letters across the back window of a cherry-red, 2008 Toyota pickup sitting in the airport parking lot. I immediately thought Skin Heads, snarled, and continued moving quickly toward the terminal. I never gave the words a second thought. That was until a few days later. Fox Cable News and The Sean Hannity Show were running a piece which began like this, “The risqué MTV show, Skins, may have violated federal child pornography. Publicity stunt or has MTV crossed the lines of child pornography statues?”

I turned up the volume on my flat screen immediately. What the heck did I just hear? Thank goodness for DVR; I rewound the sound bite. Unfortunately, I hadn’t misheard. Hannity’s guest panel was providing debate around whether MTV had intentionally crossed the line and aired a risqué piece or had they plotted a well-thought publicity scheme. MTV has gotten plenty of PR around this and, yes, I’m giving them more. I believe we have grown to be a society who hides its head in the sand like an ostrich. I believe we believe if we ignore our debauchery and social maladies they will go away. Not so.

On January 23, 2011 the New York Times writer, David Carr, wrote “’MTV’s Naked Calculation Gone Bad.’ What if one day you went to work and there was a meeting to discuss whether the project you were working on crossed the line into child pornography? You’d probably think you had ended up in the wrong room. Last week my colleague, Brian Stelter, reported that on Tuesday, the day after the pilot episode of “Skins” was shown on MTV, executives at the cable channel were frantically meeting to discuss whether the salacious teenage drama starring actors as young as 15 might violate federal child pornography statutes.

No one at MTV, which is owned by Viacom, set out to make child pornography, but make no mistake: the series is meant to provoke. “Skins”—a title that derives its name from the rolling papers that are used to make the blunts that go with the vodka that washes down the pills that accompany the hookups—is mostly about explicitly teenage characters doing explicit things. In a cluttered programming era, controversy is oxygen, so MTV was undoubtedly happy with the tsk-tsking the show incited in advance. But objectifying teenage pathology, along with teenage bodies, is a complicated business— and the business that MTV is in.” 

My mind began to reel. I thought of my grandchildren ranging between the ages of four and eighteen. My mind went back to the large letters sprawled on the cherry-red pickup, “Skins Chick” and the other four words that accompanied, “I Just Don’t Listen.” As I continued to watch, the panel on Mr. Hannity’s show began to explain what this new show on MTV was all about. As briefly as possible, Skins is a realty TV series portraying the “real” problems teens face: drugs, alcohol, sexual desires/anxieties/encounters, bullying, parental clashes, etc., etc

Skins portrays young adults (teens) drinking irresponsibly, dropping pills, having wild sex,  and more. Again, its youngest actor is fifteen years of age. What is getting MTV all the publicity is a preview for the series that shows a teen running down the street from a wild party, naked, supposedly with an erection after having taken either Viagra or Cialis. The young man is 17 in real life. So, again, the question is whether MTV crossed the line.

This new show is supposed to be written for adults, MTV argues. LOL! A huge LOL! What adult in their right mind is going to sit around watching this kind of garbage? Let’s see. Let me think about it a couple of minutes. I don’t need to think long just like you don’t. Unfortunately, we know the answer all too well: pedophiles, child molesters, and the sexually perverted. The first show had 33 million viewers which included many of our children.

For God’s sake, can we not see why some countries see us as the devil? Yes, anyone can argue that our children are exposed to this every day. But does that make it right for MTV to target and exploit young people, glorify sexual immorality, promote drug use, and illicit behavior? The Hannity Show shared a photo, from MTV, of a group of young people naked all lying on top of each other inferring an orgy.

In Holy Scripture, the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24, verses 15-16 reads, “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

There has been great discussion by religious scholars over what the abomination of desolation is. I believe when we sell our children’s souls for the mighty dollar and sacrifice their lives on the altars of greed that is the abomination that causes desolation (wretchedness, bleakness, devastation). Is there any doubt desolation has hit our world? Times Up! Blog is not a religious arena, so I’m going to refrain from delving into this any further.

Let me ask: Where do we draw the line? When did we just give up! When did we decide it was okay to sell our children anything and everything? When did we decide to lie down and allow the networks to rape, pillage and ravage our children’s hearts, minds and souls? Why and how did we become so depraved and decadent? Are our minors so invaluable? Is our future so bleak, so dark that it’s not worth fighting for their lives and very souls? How did we become so complacent?  What’s up with parents? Don’t we care anymore? Are our 9 to 5’s, our homes, and aluminum cars, that lose half their value once they’re driven off the lot, more important?

Skins is programming out of Britain. May I dare to suggest that we lock out MTV until MTV gets the message and sends Skins and all of its other depraved programming packing? Can we tell them we don’t want them influencing our children anymore? Parents take back your homes. Win back your children in love. Teach them what they need to know about unprotected, early sex. Find self-esteem programs run by people who really care and get your children involved!

MTV promotes music videos portraying young girls lying across the laps of gangsters suggesting disgusting, lewd acts of sex. And, trust me, I believe what happens between a man and woman in their bedroom is sacred—no matter what it is; but, to cheapen and lessen what God has made beautiful, to exploit women and children, glorify violence, profanity, and immorality is an abomination.

I took a stand in my home years ago and fought for my son’s soul. I’m willing to take a stand and fight for them all. What about you? Are you the ostrich with you head in the sand; or are you willing to take a stand and fight for what is right for women and children in this country—these United States of America? We’re only as strong as our weakest link.

I only have one thing to say to Viacom, MTV and their Skins show. Get the Hell Out of our living rooms and go back to Britain. Whether this was a MTV publicity stunt or not, the young man in the commercial is 17. Whether you air the show or not, doesn’t matter either. MTV you are in the business of child pornography. You crossed the line in this instance; and you crossed the morality line years ago.