Tuesday, March 31, 2009

GABNet Launches New Offensive against Human Trafficking

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: As Women's History Month draws to a close, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance prepared to launch a new offensive through the formation of Purple Rose Campus Committees, the latest in its arsenal of weapons against the trafficking of women and children. The Purple Rose Committees, based in 12 colleges and university campuses in California, will combat the near pandemic proportions of human trafficking and modern day slavery. Other Purple Rose committees around the U.S. are in the works.

The Purple Rose Campaign was established by GABNet in 1999 in response to the 850,000 persons that are trafficked internationally. The Campaign addresses the growing numbers of Filipinas who are trafficked into the sex trade, particularly through the Filipina Mail Order Brides in the United States. The campaign recently won successes as part of the advocacy group pushing the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA), which was re-authorized last year.

“It’s not enough to just work on legislation, we have to talk about trafficking at the community level. That’s the way to identify and service victims." said Jollene Levid, Secretary General of GABNet.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 29, 2009
Jollene Levid, Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748

GABNET PREPARES TO LAUNCH NEW OFFENSIVE AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

March 28, 2009, Los Angeles - On Saturday, March 28, 2009, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance prepared to launch Purple Rose Campus Committees, the latest in it's arsenal of weapons against the trafficking of women and children. The initial 12 campus-based Purple Rose Committees are in the works to combat the near pandemic proportions of human trafficking and modern day slavery.

Annually, over 850,000 persons are trafficked internationally. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, generating billions of dollars in profits from the modern day slave trade. GABNet began the Purple Rose Campaign as part of an international effort in 1999.

The Purple Rose Campaign was established to address the growing numbers of Filipinas who are trafficked into the sex trade, particularly Filipina Mail Order Brides in the United States. The campaign recently won successes as part of the advocacy group pushing the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA), which was re-authorized last year.

“It’s not enough to just work on legislation. We have to talk about trafficking at the community level. That’s the way to identify and service victims. It’s also the way to address the root causes of why so many Filipinas are trafficked- namely poverty and militarization in the Philippines” said Jollene Levid, Secretary General of GABNet.

The Purple Rose Campus Committees are composed of students, faculty members,and community members who are interested in organizing and raising awareness about the trafficking issue. Each committee has pledged to hold two main events during the year: a fundraiser and a community awareness raising training. The funds raised from their efforts will benefit victim services.

“We felt it was time for students to become more involved. The youth have a great capacity to create change and educate others on what is going on. The Purple Rose Campaign is a formal way for high schools, colleges, and universities to show their support,” stated Loralei Bingamon, Director of GABNet LA’s Filipinas Not For Sale Campaign.

The first wave of the Purple Rose Campus Committees will be in the Southern California area, but will eventually be a national effort. The first 12 campuses include the University of Southern California (USC), Mount Saint Mary’s University, Universities of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Irvine(UCI), and San Diego (UCSD), California State Universities Long Beach (CSULB), Los Angeles (CSULA), and Northridge (CSUN), and Santa Monica Community College (SMCC). There are also high school committees at Civitas School of Leadership, Narbonne, and Cerritos High Schools.The creation of the Purple Rose Committees and a Women’s Month celebration in Los Angeles with over 250 people in attendance on Saturday night, March28th closed Gabnet’s 2009 national Women’s Month activities. --###

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish you would stop referring to personal advertising/online dating as "human trafficking" or "mail order brides".

I met my Philippine wife through Cherry Blossoms and we have a happy, healthy 16-year marriage and two beautiful children, the oldest an honor student in a Loudoun County public high school.

We met the way any two people would meet through a newspaper personals column or Match dot com. She was not trafficked and I did not "purchase" her.

Anonymous said...

This is a horribly misguided campaign. The report states: "The Purple Rose Campaign was established to address the growing numbers of Filipinas who are trafficked into the sex trade, particularly Filipina Mail Order Brides in the United States."

This is a completely false statement. I operate a website dedicated to truthful information about international dating and there has never been a Filipina or ANY foreign woman trafficked to the United States after meeting a man for marriage here by internet. No law enforcement agency has ever made this statement, either. No such arrest has ever been made.

Basic logic shows this to be false. I mean, if this is going on, do you want us to believe none of these women have ever escaped and gone to the police or media? Are they all locked up in dungeons in US cities? WHERE ARE THEY? (Answer: they don't exist!)

Anyone reading this should get a reality check. Women's groups make these outrageously false statements because they want to keep the momentum of their missions going but can find no new ways that men are bad...so they have to MAKE THEM UP! Worse yet, this campaign is taking place at universities where there are what, 55-60% women grads? And somehow women are being oppressed?

Message to the womens' studies majors who organize these things: someday you will realize you are being led astray. Someday you will wake up and realize you wasted part of your life fighting demons that do not exist.

www.onlinedatingrights.com

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