A new danger for sex workers in Bangladesh
The prostitutes in Bangladeshi brothels are often underage and unpaid – and now, many of them are hooked on steroids that are damaging to their health.
Bangladeshi sex workers take steroids to 'plump up' for clients:
Sex workers in Bangladesh, some as young as 12, are putting their health at risk by taking a drug to make themselves fatter so they are more attractive to clients. Their madams feed them steroids also used to make cows gain weight.
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Sex Trafficking
"Neary grew up in rural Cambodia.
Her parents died when she was a child, and in an effort
to give her a better life, her sister married her off when
she was 17. Three months later, her husband rented a room
in what Neary thought was a guest house. But when she woke
the next morning, her husband was gone. The owner of the
house told her she had been sold by her husband for $300
and that she was actually in a brothel. For five years,
Neary was raped by five to seven men every day. In addition
to brutal physical abuse, Neary was infected with HIV and
contracted AIDS. The brothel threw her out when she became
sick, and she eventually found her way to a local shelter.
She died of HIV/AIDS at the age of 23."
Forced Labor
"Serena arrived from the Philippines
to work as a housemaid. Upon her arrival, her employer confiscated
her passport and, with his wife, began to beat and verbally
abuse her. On one occasion, her female employer pushed her
down the stairs; another time, her male employer choked
her until she passed out. She was not allowed to leave the
house. As her passport had been confiscated, she could not
flee. Serena was so unhappy, she was driven to attempt suicide.
Once at the hospital, she was able to escape from her captors.
She has sought redress through the court system and is waiting
for justice in a shelter."
Forced Marriage
"Naseema was forced by her mother
into marriage at the age of four to a 30-year-old neighbour.
At her husband’s home, her father-in-law and 12 others
in the family began torturing her. Her treatment included
beatings and starvation, and she was forced to sleep outside
in the cold with only a rug to protect her. Her abusers
often used her as a human table, forcing her to lie on her
stomach so they could cut their food on her bare back. At
one point, her father-in-law locked her in a shed for two
months and she was only allowed to leave once a day. The
night before she escaped at the age of 12 in 2005, her father-in-law
tied her hands together and poured scalding water over her
head. She escaped the next day, fearing death at the hands
of her husband’s family, and was found by a rickshaw
driver who took her to the hospital for treatment; it took
over one month for her to heal from the various injuries
inflicted upon her. She is now in a shelter and attending
school."
Organ Trafficking
"The last time Makhbuba Aripova,
a young woman from the central Asian republic of Uzbekistan,
saw her husband Farkhod he was about to set off for a new
life in Canada. Makhbuba, five months pregnant, was due
to join him when their first child was born. Days later,
remains of her 23 year old husband were found in plastic
bags dumped in their home town of Bukhara, 2,500 miles southeast
of Moscow. The victims had arranged their trip through Kora,
a company set up last year by the Korayev family. For a
small fee they promised jobs in Canada and Australia, plus
visas and work permits. Dozens came forward in a country
plagued by poverty and unemployment. The Korayevs killed
their clients before removing kidneys and other organs which
were smuggled to Russia."
Child Soldiers
"Michael was 15 when he was kidnapped
by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to serve as a
combatant in the Ugandan insurgent force. During his forced
service in the LRA, he was made to kill a boy who had tried
to escape. He also watched another boy being hacked to death
because he did not alert the guards when his friend successfully
escaped"
A 13-year-old former child soldier
from Liberia recounts: "They gave me pills that made
me crazy. When the craziness got in my head, I beat people
on their heads and hurt them until they bled. When the craziness
got out of my head I felt guilty. If I remembered the person
I went to them and apologized. If they did not accept my
apology, I felt bad."
It could happen to anyone: Fiona's story
Fiona was a student in her first
year of university studying international relations. So
when a family friend proposed taking a quick trip overseas
to learn import and export, she thought it would be a great
opportunity. Little did she know …
Fiona was introduced to Renat,
and within days, she received a passport, a tourist visa
and a plane ticket.
In the meantime, Fiona's new “friends”
had "improved" her travel agenda. She was now
to work as a waitress in a local café for US$ 1,000
a month. Fiona's mother was suspicious but was quickly assured
that her daughter was in good hands. Renat also warned Fiona's
mother that the travel arrangements had cost him a lot of
money, and if her daughter cancelled the trip, she would
owe him US$ 1,000.
Upon arrival at her destination, Fiona
found out that she would not be a waitress, she would be
a prostitute. Her passport was taken away, and she was threatened
if she refused to obey or tried to run away.
Fiona's life became a series of hotel rooms,
boarding houses, "madams" and clients until she
finally tried to escape. She stole her documents and some
cash and hailed a taxi. As soon as Fiona entered the airport,
she was stopped by the police. The "madam" was
with them and claimed that Fiona had stolen her money. Without
asking questions, the police ordered Fiona to return with
the "madam". She was resold to another hotel owner
and saddled with a new debt of US$ 10,000 to compensate
for her misbehaviour. News from Fiona’s country of
Renat's arrest following a petition by Fiona's mother brought
added threats and abuse.
But Fiona did not give up trying to escape.
Six months into her ordeal, she finally managed to contact
her national Embassy. There, she found out that her name
had remained in the Interpol "missing persons"
files for months.
With the assistance of the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) and her National Embassy,
Fiona was safely repatriated. Her case was investigated
by the police and is being heard in court.
ACRATH wants to combat human trafficking
through a global awareness raising campaign and works to
strengthen the capacities of governments to help prevent
stories like Fiona's from being repeated. ACRATH projects
also support the re-entry of victims, like Fiona, into society.
Louise Cleary CSB
Australia, has until very recently,
had a punitive immigration system. In late 2000, when visiting
the detention centre in Melbourne where undocumented and
‘illegal’ immigrants and refugees are housed
in prison-like conditions, I met 3 young Thai women. A Chinese
detainee whom we had been regularly visiting had gained
their confidence and through him we learned their story.
Tui, Phan and Srinak had been trafficked
to Australia by a Thai woman and her Australian husband
on the promise of work as hostesses in restaurants. We discovered
that Tui had worked in a massage parlour and was over 18
at the time of coming to Australia, but Phan and Srinak
had been under-age and had come from rural villages. Their
story was the common one of deception, confiscation of passports,
brutal ‘breaking in’ practices and extensive
exploitation in both legal and illegal brothels in Sydney
and Melbourne. They had been subject to debt bondage of
$35000 which at that time took 600-700 sexual encounters
to pay off. The cruel hoax was that the traffickers in our
country have a practice of notifying the immigration department
that there are ‘illegals’ in a brothel when
the debt bondage has been almost served and they are picked
up in a raid. Although we had begun the process of advocating
for Tui, Phan and Srinak they were deported – to an
unknown future and maybe to being re-trafficked.
Sarah came from a poor family in the
Batangas region. At 14 she went to work for a relative as
a housemaid and subsequently was forced into prostitution.
In 2000, when she was 16 she was sold by her ‘uncle’
as a mail-order bride to an unknown Australian.
She was given travel papers and came
to Brisbane where she experienced brutal domestic violence
from her ‘husband’ (no legal marriage had taken
place) and where she was used as a prostitute by his friends
and acquaintances.
When she fought back she was informed
she ‘owed’ the ‘husband’ money for
her air-travel and keep and had to pay. She ran away and
sought help from another Filipina woman.
However her ‘husband’ reported
her to the Department of Immigration and she was picked
up in a raid on the suburban house where she had found refuge.
After several days of questioning in a Brisbane jail, Sarah
was taken to Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney where
she was held for five months and was subsequently deported
to the Philippines.
Later, I met Sarah in the Philippines
where she was very determined to assist other young women
who have been deceived and trafficked into the sex industry.
Teen Girls' Stories of Sex Trafficking in the U.S.A
Abducted From Her Own Driveway,
Teen Says
Debbie's story is particularly chilling.
One evening Debbie said she got a call from a casual friend,
Bianca, who asked to stop by Debbie's house. Wearing a pair
of Sponge Bob pajamas, Debbie went outside to meet Bianca,
who drove up in a Cadillac with two older men, Mark and
Matthew. After a few minutes of visiting, Bianca said they
were going to leave.
"So I went and I started to go give
her a hug," Debbie told "Primetime." "And
that's when she pushed me in the car."
As they sped away from her house, Debbie
said that one of the men told Bianca to tie her up and said
he threatened to shoot Bianca if she didn't comply.
"She tied up my hands first, and then
she put the tape over my mouth. And she put tape over my
eyes," Debbie said. "While she was putting tape
on me, Matthew told me if I screamed or acted stupid, he'd
shoot me. So I just stayed quiet."
Unbelievably, police say Debbie was kidnapped
from her own driveway with her mother, Kersti, right inside.
Back home with her other kids, Kersti had no idea Debbie
wasn't there.
"I was in the house. I mean, it was
a confusing night. I had all the kids coming in and out.
The last I knew she had come back in," Kersti said.
"It was just so weird that night. I mean, I normally
check on all my kids, and that night I didn't. I should
have."
Debbie said her captors drove her around
the streets of Phoenix for hours. Exhausted and confused,
she was finally taken to an apartment 25 miles from her
home. She said one of her captors put a gun to her head.
"He goes, 'If I was to shoot you right
now, where would you want to be shot -- in your head, in
your back or in your chest?'" Debbie said. "And
then I hear him start messing with his gun. And he counted
to three and then he pulled the trigger. And then I was
still alive. I opened my eyes, and I just saw him laughing."
Debbie said she was then drugged by her
captors and other men were brought into the room, where
she was gang raped.
"And then that's when I heard them
say there was a middle-aged guy in the living room that
wanted to take advantage of a 15-year-old girl," she
said. "And then he goes, 'Bend her over. I want to
see what I'm working with.' And that's when he started to
rape me. And I see more guys, four other guys had come into
the room. And they all had a turn. It was really scary."
Then began the real horror …
A Lucrative Offer at the Mall
Debbie's indoctrination into the world
of sex exploitation was particularly brutal. More often,
young girls are unwittingly lured in to unwilling prostitution
with promises of jobs, money, clothing and modeling.
That's what 19-year-old Miya said happened
to her when she was working at a Phoenix mall selling sunglasses.
Miya was working three jobs -- 14 hours a day -- to pay
off her bills and save for college.
One day when she was working, she was approached
by a young woman and a well-dressed man. "He asked
if it would be out of place if he said I was pretty,"
Miya said. "I was like, 'No.' I mean, it was a compliment."
The man was charming and had a flattering offer for Miya.
"He said that he was a model agent,
[that] he was looking for new models in the area,"
she said. "It's not like something I've been wanting
to do or anything, but, I mean, it was ... it seemed interesting."
Taken by the idea of modeling and making
extra money, Miya agreed to meet the couple that night at
a local restaurant.
"They said they were on their way
to California to go back to their office and they were going
to do some more photo shoots, and they wanted me to go along
with them," Miya said. "He said that I could probably
make about a thousand or more. ... He said I could try it
for three days. ... And so I went with them."
The next morning Miya was thrilled when
the couple took her to have her hair, makeup and nails done.
At that point, she said she had no idea she was not being
made over for a photo shoot but for a much more insidious
reason. Later, when the couple began taking pictures, Miya
said she became alarmed.
"They used just a cheap camera you
can buy, the throwaway," she said. "And they said
once we get to California that we would be at a photo shoot,
and that they'd be using, uh, some really good equipment,
they'd have makeup artists and stuff like that."
Miya said she didn't know what happened
to those pictures until later, when she arrived in California
with the couple. "He showed me a Web site that he put
them up on," she said. "And it was an escort service
site."
Treated Like a Dog
After the horrifying gang rape, police
say Debbie was trapped in one of Phoenix's roughest neighborhoods.
In a rundown, garbage-strewn apartment, her captors were
trying to break her down.
"They were asking me if I was hungry,"
she said. "I told them no. That's when they put a dog
biscuit in my mouth, trying to get me to eat it."
After a sleepless night, Debbie was tossed
back into the car and again driven around Phoenix. She said
they talked to her about prostitution, and that one of the
men forced her to have sex with him in the car and then
later in a park.
The same man took her back to his apartment,
and Debbie said, "I ended up in the dog kennel."
Greg Scheffer, an officer with the Phoenix
police department, said Debbie was kept in a small dog crate
for several days. Lying on her back in the tiny space, her
whole body went numb.
"She was subject to various abuses
while in there," Scheffer said. "This is all part
of the breaking down period where [he] gains complete control
of this girl."
Unbeknownst to Debbie, police say her captors
had put an ad on Craig's List -- a national Web site better-known
for helping people find apartments and roommates. Shortly
after the ad ran, men began arriving at the apartment at
all hours of the day and night demanding sex from her.
She said she had to comply. "I had
no other choice," she said.
Debbie sais she was earning hundreds of
dollars a night -- all of it, she said, going to the pimp.
Scheffer said Debbie was forced to have
sex with at least 50 men -- and that's not counting the
men who gang-raped her on a periodic basis.
Debbie had no idea who the men were. "I
didn't know them," she said. "But most of them
were married, with kids. And every single one of them, I
asked them why they were coming to me if they had a wife
at home. ... They didn't have an answer. So, like, I felt
so nasty."
For more than 40 days, police say Debbie
remained captive, often beaten and forced daily to have
sex of the most degrading kind. During that time, she said
she did not try to escape because her captors had done what
police say so many pimps do -- threatened her and terrified
her.
Debbie said that the pimps told her they
would go after her family, and they even threatened to throw
battery acid on her 19-month-old niece.
"After they told me that, I didn't
care what happened to me as long as my family stayed alive,"
she said. "And that's pretty much what I had in my
head. Staying there to keep my family alive."
Making a Break for It
Miya says she endured her own brutal ordeal
and was forced to work as a prostitute.
When she failed to come home from her job
at the mall, Miya's family began desperately searching for
her -- they frantically called her cell phone and sent her
text messages, begging her to come home. They got no response.
Eventually, they filed a missing person
report with the police, contacted the media and plastered
fliers and yellow ribbons all over town.
Meanwhile, Miya's boss at the mall called
Dianne Martin to tell her he was afraid that her daughter
may have been abducted by the suspicious couple.
Miya's parents soon learned from police
that more than approximately 30 other girls had been approached
by the same couple in that mall and in surrounding areas
-- the same couple, apparently, who were seen with Miya
and who claimed to be recruiting models. But in the end,
Miya was the only girl who'd gone with them.
Within days, Miya had been moved several
times, farther from home, and she said she was too scared
to try to escape. "I mean, I was really far away from
my house, and I didn't know where to go," she said.
Ernie Allen, the director of the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said that's not
uncommon for kids lured into the sex trade.
"There are many of these kids who
are seduced, thinking ... that they're gonna have economic
opportunities, that they're gonna be a model, that they're
gonna be in show business somehow," Allen said. "And
then, later, discover themselves in a situation in which
they have no control, and they're, they're slaves. So ...
this is a problem that has many faces."
Miya was essentially on tour -- she said
her pimp had also taken out ads on the Internet, advertising
where she would appear next. The fact that she was kept
off the streets made it almost impossible for police to
track her down.
"So the Internet for the pimps is
a huge benefit for them, because it allows them to make
their money, do what they want to do with these juveniles
or with their prostitutes and have very little contact with
the police," said Scheffer.
But then after six days, Miya said her
captors slipped up. She said they decided to put her out
on some of the roughest streets in San Francisco to turn
tricks.
For her, it was like a death sentence,
and she finally worked up the nerve to escape. At 5:30 one
morning, she made a break for it.
"I waited till they were completely
asleep. And I put my suitcase by the door. And I was about
to leave and ...sure enough, the phone rings," she
said.
Miya said she handed her captor his phone
and then told him she was going to go downstairs and smoke
a cigarette. And then she ran for her life.
"And that was the last time I talked
to him," she said. "I grabbed my suitcase, and
I ran to the elevator and I got outside and I started running
until I got as far away as I possibly could."
