Escaping the clutches of sex trafficking in Thailand An Uzbek woman who was trafficked to Thailand and forced to sell sex shares the story of her escape.

It's nearly 10pm and Umida* is cooking dinner - a simple meal of rice and meat for the 11 members of her household who have been stuck inside the house all day due to Uzbekistan's intense summer heat.

Since emerging as an independent nation in 1991, after nearly 200 years of Russian and then Soviet rule, Uzbekistan has slowly seen some economic progress. But poverty and unemployment remain high and many Uzbeks travel abroad for work. This leaves the men, women and children vulnerable to forced labour and sex trafficking.

"My older sister works in a hospital in Moscow, so I look after her children," Umida says. "She's the only one who understands what happened to me in Bangkok, I have told nobody else." 

Born into a large, impoverished family, the 36-year-old says life was difficult growing up. Her mother died in 2000, leaving her father, a builder, to care for his four children. "It was hard without my mother," she recalls, "the families in my town with two parents had more money."

When she was 28 years old, Umida says she met a local Uzbek woman who promised her profitable work in Thailand. Umida doesn't say whether she knew the specific nature of this work, but explains that with the hope of providing for her son who was then six years old, she agreed to travel to the Thai capital, Bangkok.

But, when she arrived in Thailand, she realised that she had been deceived. The woman who had made the arrangements destroyed all of her documents. "She was a very bad lady. She gave me no food, no money. I could only go outside to work every day," Umida says quietly. The woman forced her to work as a prostitute on the streets of Bangkok.

Trafficked for sex

Many downtown Bangkok streets are lined with women, shifting from one foot to the other, whispering to passers-by, hoping to attract their next customer. Statistics from the Thai Ministry of Public Health and from NGOs indicate that there are more than 120,000 people working in the Thai sex industry.

Instead of getting defensive, churches should work to address domestic violence

You might have seen the recent media coverage looking into the relationship between church leaders and church members who have experienced family and domestic violence. As part of a series on domestic violence and religion, the ABC recently reported on claims the church is failing to protect victims, and enabling perpetrators. 

Some commentators have claimed it to be an "attack on Christianity", part of an ongoing campaign to vilify institutions and people of faith. This is a dangerous misinterpretation of the reporting, which speaks to an important issue that we all need to work to address.

UN Want Perpetrators Of Sexual And Gender-Based Violence Against Women And Girls Accountable, Urges Government To Do More

As the continual abuse of women and girls in Liberia sexually by individuals with impunity, the United 

Nations Security Council has expressed serious concern over these ‘uncivilized’ acts by perpetrators, noting that women and girls Liberia continue to face a high incidence of sexual and gender-based violence.

A failure to protect

Economic growth means nothing if we can’t keep girls and women safe from abuse

Bangladesh is going through hard times.

“People” have grown too dependent on their rulers, and the rulers are suffering from a lack of perspective being surrounded by sycophants, leading to disjointed decisions being made regarding the future of our nation.

On the February 27, the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 was passed despite nationwide protests and requests from the more civil parts of our society. In order to make a decision which may have devastating effect on the lives of women, the administration resorted to a game of semantics to confuse and confound us.

What kind of a law is it that allows the parents of a girl who was raped to marry her off to the rapist himself?

The state could have delivered a stern warning by rejecting the bill, signaling that perpetrators of violence against women and girls wouldn’t be spared, and that the victims of violence would get better legal and physical assistance.

Human trafficking: A terror run for her life

Nomsa* still cannot believe that the police did nothing after she told them she’d escaped from a gang of human traffickers.

After she escaped from the boot of a car – traumatised and petrified – the young South African woman immediately told the police about her ordeal and informed them about the other young girls who had also been kidnapped.

But the response from the authorities was cold. Indifferent.

Stop female genital mutilation Twenty-six U.S. states still do not prohibit it, including Pennsylvania

When immigrants from around the world come to the shores of America, they bring with them wonderful culinary and artistic traditions. But some also bring traditions that are barbaric and inhumane. One such practice, prevalent in Africa and parts of the Middle East and Asia, is female genital mutilation. It is now being practiced clandestinely in this country.

Mutilation probe widens as deportation fears mount: Robert Snell, The Detroit News

Detroit — The grand jury investigation of female genital mutilation has spread to at least three more states as federal agents have identified new targets, according to federal court records.

The targets live in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, according to federal court records and interviews with people close to a criminal case that, until now, was focused solely on conduct involving girls from Michigan and Minnesota.

Two arrested for forcing two 16-year-olds into prostitution in Brooklyn apartment

Two 16-year-old girls were forced into prostitution in a Brooklyn apartment where younger children were living, police sources said Monday.

A 21-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were arrested Saturday after one of the victims escaped the Crown Heights rental on Lincoln Place and ran home.

The victim then told cops she had been in captivity for about a month and pointed police to the lair.

When cops got there, they found a second victim being held against her will.

'Submit to your husbands': Women told to endure domestic violence in the name of God

Research shows that the men most likely to abuse their wives are evangelical Christians who attend church sporadically. Church leaders in Australia say they abhor abuse of any kind. But advocates say the church is not just failing to sufficiently address domestic violence, it is both enabling and concealing it.

By Julia Baird with Hayley Gleeson
Illustrations by Rocco Fazzari

No special homes, schemes for poor single mothers: India

VISAKHAPATNAM: Unwed or single mothers are struggling to find a footing in society to bring up their children with respect. Most of these women were either cheated with promises of marriage or were victims of sexual assault and abandoned by their families.

But there is no exclusive government scheme or home for such mothers. While some work as domestic helps to earn a living, some are undertaking vocational training imparted by NGOs.

Thousands of Canadian girls are at risk of female genital mutilation: officials

Thousands of Canadian girls are at risk of female genital mutilation, government officials believe. And some are being taken overseas to have the dangerous procedure done — an illegal act known as “vacation cutting.”

Officials from the federal government’s Global Affairs Ministry warn that, as with forced marriage, the “one chance rule” applies to these cases, meaning a professional might get only one opportunity to speak to a potential victim and save her, according to documents obtained by the Star.

And yet Canada has done little to understand the scope of the problem and is lagging far behind other developed countries in efforts to prevent it, experts say.

African female Judges demand domestication of conventions promoting inheritance for women: Nigeria news

Women judges have called on African governments to domesticate international conventions that promoted the rights of inheritance for women and children born under vulnerable circumstances.

kenyans-lured-with-jobs-but-end-up-in-forced-labour-and-sex

Corruption within law enforcement and lack of funds continue to fuel human trafficking in Kenya, a recently released report by the United States Department of Justice has said. The Trafficking in Persons Report says despite some marginal gains made in recent years, the country is still a major transit and conduit for victims and traffickers. “Corruption in sectors of the government perpetuated traffickers’ ability to obtain fraudulent identity documents from complicit officials, the report says.

Gender Stereotyped Roles and the Middle East Scott Douglas Jacobsen and guest, Joana Aziz, discuss her experience living in Syria and Lebanon, and sense of Saudi Arabia.

Joana Aziz is a student in Spain. She is a friend with experience growing up in Syria followed by Lebanon. Now, as a student, she is in graduate school. I wanted to get her perspective on gender roles in the Middle East based on real experience. This is part of an initiative, from me (possibly others), to expand the flavor of narratives for and in The Good Men Project. Here is the first session in this educational series.

*Audio interview edited for clarity and readability.*

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I wanted to talk about gender roles in the Middle East. I ask you this because we are friends and colleagues and have discussed these issues casually over Skype. I wanted to make a short educational series from an educated person – and gather their thoughts on the Middle East or the Middle East-North Africa region, generally, and those roles. What is the range of restriction on gender roles?