Sex Trafficking in Women and Girls: A Global Phenomenon

Olivia J. Quinto, GABNet Education Director, speaks at:

"Sex Trafficking in Women and Girls: A Global Phenomenon," a panel presented by The Young Professionals Committee of UNIFEM/USNC/NY

A phenomenon know as "modern day slavery," sex trafficking has become increasingly pervasive. The panel will feature experts in the field who are working to promote awareness of this horrific issue and combat human trafficking. Panelists will provide an overview of the problem on the international level, and examine the steps being taken to address the problem and bring the trafficked victims to safety.

Thursday, April 23rd at 6:00 pm. DOORS OPEN at 5:30 pm.
The New School, Swayduck Auditorium
65 Fifth Ave. New York, NY

Featured Panelists:
Olivia Quinto Reyes, GABRIELA Network
Cortney Rhoads Stapleton, RedLight Children Campaign
Shamiso Mbizvo, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Moderator: Director Michael Cohen, Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School. Co-sponsored by The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

Go to https://www.unifem-usnc.org.nyyoungprof for updates. RSVP BY Wednesday, April 22nd to metrony-yp@unifem-usnc.org

***SAVE THE DATE***
May 5, 2009, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Recent Changes to Human Trafficking
Laws: An Analysis Of The Federal William Wilberforce Trafficking
Victims Protection Re-Authorization Act of 2008 and New York’s
Anti-Human Trafficking Law (2007) and Safe Harbor for Exploited Children
Act (2008) >>Read more

EXIT CUCKOO: "Women's Work?" Wed 4/22 at 8p

Join GABNet member/founder Ninotcka Rosca at a special post-performance dialogue of EXIT CUCKOO - a new play by the Working Theater

Exit Cuckoo is a hilarious and profoundly moving collage of mothers, nannies, caretakers and children and the complex chemistry between them. "Lisa Ramirez gives us an inside look into the complicated, disturbing, often overlooked world of mothers, nannies and children.... Both brave and funny, Exit Cuckoo deserves our attention." -Eve Ensler

Exit Cuckoo
written & performed by Lisa Ramirez; directed by Colman Domingo
April 17-May 17, 2009
Clurman Theatre, 410 W 42nd St.
www.ticketcentral.com or 212.279.4200

Join us for these special post-performance dialogues:

Wed 4/22 at 8pm: "Women's Work?"
With Ninotchka Rosca of GABnet and Phoebe Taubman of A Better Balance. Working both inside and outside the home is continuing dilemma for women- how do we cope as individuals and as a society?

Sun 5/3 at 3pm: "Employers for Justice"
Hosted by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
What are common employment practices among employers of domestic workers- questions, difficulties and potential for change?

PAST: Sat. 4/18 at 2pm: "The Nanny Legacy"
Hosted by Domestic Workers United
What does the nanny-parent- child relationship look like when it works? Individual accounts of experiences being a nanny, employing a nanny and being nurtured by a nanny. Bring your story and share. >>Read more

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. --### >>Read more

GABNet/Ma-Al Protests War in D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco Anti-War Rallies

^Left: GABNet NY/NJ addresses the masses at anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. Right: GABNet members carry casket draped with the Philippine flag, representing those killed by U.S. troops and puppet government in the Philippines.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance was present at all three major anti-war rallies called by the ANSWER Coalition. The biggest assembly was in Washington D.C. where 10,000 marched past the PENTAGON and the headquarters of major war profiteers like Halliburton's Kellogg, Root and Brown Corporation. Several tense moments transpired when Pentagon and State police tried to block the delivery of mock caskets to the war profiteers' headquarters.

One casket was draped with the Philippine flag, to represent those killed by U.S. troops in the island of Mindanao, as well as those killed by U.S. imperialism's puppet government in the Philippines headed by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo...

Four thousand U.S. troops are in the Philippines, ostensibly for the annual joint military exercises with the Philippine Armed Forces but actually to engage in the suppression of the Moro sovereignty movement, as well as the progressive movement in the archipelago.

GABNet joined forces with the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines in Washington, D.C., women flocked to the Gabnet contingent in Los Angeles, and in San Francisco, Gabnet was pivotal to forming a women's contingent, alongside WILPF, CODEPINK, Women for Genuine Security, and other women's organizations. Pictures attached.

March 22, 2009
Jollene Levid, Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748

--### >>Read more

Kilos Babae! (Act Now Women!)

GABRIELA Network Publishing Center released the latest edition of Kilos Babae, kaWOMENan! (Act Now Women!). kaWOMENan is a newsletter in response to the urgent need for information and education on the political, economic, social and cultural struggles confronting Filipino women and the connection of their issues with US policy decisions.

Inside the issue (Version XIX, Issue 1, Spring 2009), which is available on the kaWOMENan web page of the GABRIELA Network website:
* GABNet Demands President Obama to Protect Women’s Rights
* Stop the Traffick Jam Caravan and Concert in Southern California
* Poem by DJ Kuttin Kandi: Reflections of a Holiday Journey Home to Queens 2008
* School on Gender Rights for Filipino Domestic Workers opens in New York, led by GABNet of Mariposa Alliance and Damayan Migrant Workers Association
* In Commemoration of International Working Women’s Day
* GABNet/Ma-Al Condemns Israel’s Attack on Gaza
* 16 Days of GABNet (Against Gender Violence) & International Human Rights Day
* Exit Cuckoo, a new play about nannies and the families who employ them, opening in New York City
* A Decade of Purple Roses
* GABNet Reflections and Campaigns and more...

What’s in a name? Kilos-Babae comes from the Tagalog phrase "Act, woman," which has an effeminate connotation for men and as a derogatory command to women to do something (for men). We reclaim this phrase to mean Act Now, Women! as the foundation for militant women’s organizing and empowerment. kaWomenan combines ka from the Tagalog word "kasama" meaning companion or comrade; the English word "women;" and the Tagalog suffix "an" meaning reciprocity. Used together, "ka" and "an" mean collectiveness. >>Read more

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA ON THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THE NICOLE/VFA CASE

On November 1, 2005, Nicole, a 22-year-old Filipina, was observed being dumped out of a van in a semi-unclothed and semi-conscious state. The van contained three U.S. troops who were in the Philippines for the annual joint military exercises with the Philippine Armed Forces. Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith was subsequentlly charged with rape before the Philippine courts. He was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years. After spending 30 days in a Philippine jail, he was spirited out at midnight to the U.S. embassy where he is said to remain while his case goes through the Court of Appeals. This month, Nicole signed an affidavit saying she might have given the wrong signals to Cpl. Smith. She was given an immigration visa for the U.S. The Filipino people are demanding that the Visiting Forces Agreement signed by President Bush and President Estrada, who was overthrown in 2001, be abrogated for its onerous provisions against the sovereignty of the Philippines.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA ON THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THE NICOLE/VFA CASE FOR AMERICANS OF PHILIPPINE ANCESTRY, FILIPINAS & WOMEN IN GENERAL March 18, 2009 His Excellency, Barack H. Obama President of the United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington DC 20500 Cc: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Dear President Obama: We write to you because we are disturbed and anguished by reports that the U.S. government was complicit in the attempt to frustrate the course of justice with regard to the rape conviction of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith in the Philippines. A majority of our members are women of Philippine ancestry who already have to contend with the persistent reputation of Filipinas as among the most trafficked women in the world, both in the international labor and sex markets, and as among those so victimized by sexual and domestic violence. Nine of the eleven women recently killed by intimate partners in Hawaii were Filipinas, who also comprise 40% of women killed by intimate partners in San Francisco. Filipino-American communities, from New Jersey to Honolulu, suffer a high rate of violence against women. This perception of Filipinas as "fair game" for sexual and other forms of violence was created, among other causes, by more than a hundred years of being prostituted to the U.S. military. Enabling a member of the U.S. military now to avoid legal repercussions for having sex, to the rowdy cheers of his fellow soldiers, with an indisputably intoxicated 22-year-old woman, who was then tossed out of the van in a state of semi-undress and semi-consciousness, is certainly not the change we have been waiting nor looking for. These facts were not disputed at the trial in the Philippines that convicted Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith in 2006. Many states in the United States itself accept by law the fact that an inebriated woman cannot consent to have sex. This inability to give consent supersedes any other circumstance that may appear to encourage sexual attention, like wearing a short skirt, being flirtatious, or even kissing the violator. In those states, what transpired between “Nicole” and Cpl. Smith would be considered rape, especially as nothing was brought forth at the trial that would imply consent on Nicole’s part. We worry now that because of this bargain between the U.S. and Philippine governments, U.S. military personnel may return to the U.S. believing that soldiers have the right to force sex upon women in whatever circumstance. No doubt you are already familiar with the unconscionable rate of sexual harassment, rape and violence against women suffered by female soldiers and military wives. This will but add to the U.S. military’s mistaken impression that war, occupation or just being more powerful and with more weapons than anyone gives them the right to defy U.S. laws, host countries’ laws and international law. The Nicole incident happened in November, 2005 and the following year, in September, 2006, 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza was gang-raped and murdered, along with her parents and younger sister, by U.S. troops in Iraq. If, way back in November 2005, the U.S. government and the U.S. military had taken a strong stand against our troops inflicting sexual violence/violence upon women in general and upon women of host countries in particular, then we would not have this spectacle of avowed “liberators” gang-raping and killing those they purportedly “liberate.” Instead, the U.S. military threatened the Philippine government with cancellation of humanitarian aid, with cancellation of joint military exercises, and the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines did everything possible to frustrate the carrying out of justice for the rape of Nicole. This is not the change we waited for. In this era of change you vowed to bring with your inauguration as president, at the very least, we are asking for specific provisions protective of women, and against violence against women, trafficking and prostitution in each and every military agreement, every Status of Forces and Visiting Forces Agreement, that U.S. enacts with another country. This would help institutionalize, on a global scale, the pro-women stance that your administration made visible through your signing of the Ledbetter Act and the creation of the White House Women’s Council. Thank you. We await your reply – preferably with action. Respectfully yours, Annalisa Enrile (interim Chair) Candace Custodio (Chair-elect) Jollene G. Levid (Secretary-General) GABRIELA NETWORK OF THE MARIPOSA ALLIANCE

>>Read more

Women say NO to war!

March on the Pentagon, Saturday, March 21, On the 6th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

From Iraq to Afganistan, Philippines to Palestine
OCCUPATION IS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Women say NO to war!

Get on the bus on March 21 from Jackson Heights, Queens!

6:30 AM Bus leaves Dunkin Donuts at 74 St. & Roosevelt Ave., Queens
11:30 AM Bus arrives in DC
5:00 PM Bus leaves from DC
$40 Bus tickets (limited)
Contact:
GABRIELA Network/Mariposa Alliance: gabnetnynj@gmail.com, www.gabnet.org, www.gabnetnynj.blogspot.com/
Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines: ugnayan.nynj@gmail.com, www.alliancephilippines.blogspot.com

FAQs
- What’s special about March 21?
- How are our immigrant communities affected by the war on Iraq?
- How are we as women affected by the war on Iraq?
- How are other members of the Filipino American community affected by the war on Iraq?

What’s special about March 21?

March 21 marks the sixth anniversary of the current US war on Iraq. Organized by the Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, simultaneous rallies will be held in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other major cities across the US.

In New York City, Queens-based organizations Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Linking the children of the Motherland), Damayan Migrant Workers Association, and Gabriela Network / Mariposa Alliance are urging immigrant communities from the borough and in New York and New Jersey to join the March on the Pentagon in Washington DC on Saturday, March 21.

Filipino-Americans, who comprise the base constituency of these organizations, have a stake in making their voices heard, as US troops pour into the Philippines, Filipinas are subjected to military rape with impunity and the war between the Arroyo Government and the people of Mindanao escalates. We do not want our ancestral country turned into a war zone for the profit of US weapons manufacturers and Blackwater mercenaries.

Obama promised that the US occupation of Iraq will end in August 2010. So why should we still join in the anti war rally on March 21?

The continuing US led wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Philippines impact the current US economic meltdown. Obama has allotted $200B for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next two years - that's about $100M a day at the back of the already suffering tax payers. This includes immigrants who are the first to lose jobs, homes and government services and suffer the higher cost of living.

How are our immigrant communities affected by the war on Iraq?

While the US government is allocating more money to fund the war in Iraq, the budget for social services are being slashed. The State Medical Insurance for Children was severely limited to children whose parents are "legal" or "documented" immigrants. This means that hundreds of thousands of children, born in the USA, will grow up without medical assistance.

With the pending budget cuts in New York City, tuition fees are projected to go up astronomically by next semester. This endangers the ability of young people, especially Filipino Americans, to acquire an education which would enable them to compete in the job market.

The Filipino-American community also suffers from the highest drop-out rate among Asian American communities. We Filipino Americans are practically invisible in the US society. That’s because we occupy mostly service jobs – not jobs of decision-making status.

How are we as women affected by the war on Iraq?

Women comprise the majority of the world's population. Violence against any nation impacts women exponentially. War increases violence against and trafficking of women. Women and children comprise war's collateral damage; they lose their value as human beings and become commodity who are bought and sold for the pleasure of those with power. Even women soldiers suffer from the violent machismo that is a sub-culture of militarism. American women soldiers are raped by their fellow soldiers, while military wives are often subjected to domestic violence and murder.

How are other members of the Filipino American community affected by the war on Iraq?

While the US government bails out capitalist banks and corporations, it only gives pennies to Filipino American World War II Veterans. These are former Filipino soldiers who fought during World War 2 in the Philippines under the US army. However, they are not treated equally as US veterans and are deprived of all benefits and entitlements because “their military service were not deemed active”.

Sixty-three years later, the US government would only give $15,000 lump sum for each Filipino veteran without any recognition to our US veterans. They are also being forced to agree to the the "quit claim" provision. This means that upon acceptance of the lump sum, the veterans will release future claims including lifetime pension.

As the US government continues to humiliate the Filipino veterans, they will keep funding the War on Iraq.

War Forces Migration!
Money for Workers' Rights & Compensation, Not for War and Occupation!
Violence against Nations = Violence against Women!
Solidarity with the Women of Iraq, Aghanistan, Palestine & Philippines!
War Kills the Filipino and Working Class Youth!
Money for Jobs & Education, Not for War & Occupation!
Money for the Filipino Veterans, Not for the War! >>Read more

GENDER RIGHTS TRAINING FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS OPENS

When Norma’s quadriplegic employer asked her to use her hands instead of a washcloth to soap and wash certain parts of his body, she was unsure whether this was par for the course or something else altogether. When Marina ’s employer demanded massages, she wondered if this was part of domestic work in the US . Anna, on the other hand, didn’t quite know how to respond to her employer’s predilection for showing her porn websites.

Because of these and other situations encountered by domestic workers, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance and the Damayan Migrant Workers Association have initiated a School on Gender Rights for Filipino Domestic Workers. Funded by the New York Foundation, the project is the first of its kind nationally and historically. The first session will be on April 5th, at the North Star Fund Office, 520 Eight Avenue, New York, NY 10018.

Press release

Contact: Ollie Quinto, GABNet Education Director, at 212-592-3507
or email catherine.m.judge@gmail.com

GENDER RIGHTS TRAINING FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS OPENS

NEW YORK : When Norma’s quadriplegic employer asked her to use her hands instead of a washcloth to soap and wash certain parts of his body, she was unsure whether this was par for the course or something else altogether. When Marina ’s employer demanded massages, she wondered if this was part of domestic work in the US. Anna, on the other hand, didn’t quite know how to respond to her employer’s predilection for showing her porn websites.

Because of these and other situations encountered by domestic workers, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance and the Damayan Migrant Workers Association have initiated a School on Gender Rights for Filipino Domestic Workers. Funded by the New York Foundation, the project is the first of its kind nationally and historically. The first session will be on April 5th, at the North Star Fund Office, 520 Eight Avenue, New York, NY 10018.

Those interested are requested to register either with GABNet at (212) 592-3507 or with Damayan at (212) 564-6057.

“It is a landmark and collaborative project created by im/migrants and second generation Filipina-Americans,” said Catherine Mercedes Judge, coordinator of the GABNet NY/NJ chapter. “When it comes to gender rights, violence against women and gender discrimination, we are not so different from our mothers, aunts, even grandmothers. We have a shared experience on this issue."

Olivia Quinto, GABNet National Education Director, will lead the first session. “From the first batch of participants, we will select those with the potential to be peer counselors." she said. "They will receive further training from Dr. Annalisa Enrile, who is an associate clinical professor of the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California.”

Ms. Quinto explained that this was to ensure that the domestic workers were empowered to deal with issues of gender rights themselves. “It is an expression of respect on our part that we consider them perfectly capable of tackling such issues once they are in receipt of knowledge and training.”

Report to Be Released

At the conclusion of the two-part training, Damayan intends to release its two-year study on domestic workers from the Philippines. The report is based on a qualitative survey, in-depth interviews of and focus group discussions with about 200 domestic workers from the Philippines. A joint project of Damayan and the Urban Justice Center , the report was prepared with the assistance of the renowned journalist and novelist Ninotchka Rosca.

The report will include an analysis of the impact of the Philippine Labor Export Policy on migration, antecedents of domestic workers in Philippine history and a set of recommendations for policy makers.

Those interested in obtaining copies of the report should call Damayan at the above number or send a letter to Damayan Migrant Workers Association, 406 West 40th Street 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10018.

The Damayan Migrant Workers Association is the largest organization of Filipino domestic workers in the US. In its six years of existence, it has helped a dozen workers recover unpaid wages; it is in the leadership of a six-organization coalition of domestic workers pushing for a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. The bill is anticipated to pass the New York legislature this year. Damayan hit the headlines recently when a member, Marichu Baoanan, sued a former Philippine ambassador to the United Nations for trafficking and peonage.

GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance is a 20-year-old US-Philippine all-women solidarity mass organization. It has had a long history of advocating for the gender rights of Filipinas and Filipina-Americans. Its Purple Rose Campaign against the trafficking of Filipinas led to the passage of the International Marriage Broker Regulatory Act by the US Congress. -- ##
>>Read more

Lay Down The New Women's Agenda For Full Women's Liberation!

LAY DOWN THE NEW WOMEN’S AGENDA FOR FULL WOMEN’S LIBERATION!
[Statement in support of GABRIELA Network and Mariposa Alliance by National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), SIKLAB National, Philippine Canada Task Force on Human Rights, and Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (PCYA), and affiliates]

On the occasion of International Women’ Day, we support GABNet and the Mariposa Alliance in their call to lay down a New Women's Agenda attuned to the needs of our time for the full liberation of humankind. As we continue to march into the 21st century, such a call is appropriate and correct in the amidst the rising global economic crisis and continuing growth of transnational women and their families with their own specific and particular issues.

For over ten years now, GABNet and the member organizations of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) have been working and continue to work together for genuine development and equality of women in their respective geographical locations in North America. They have also separately and jointly supported and continue to support the struggle of women in the Philippines for national and social liberation.

We are glad that this effort of GABNet and Mariposa Alliance to start laying down a New Women’s Agenda is fully grounded in their scientific understanding of women issues and their actual experience and practice in North America. This signifies a further advance in our continuing endeavor of learning from our experience and raising this experience to the realm of theory which in turn, should guide our subsequent practice.

On the occasion of this International Women’s Day, we wish GABNet and Mariposa Alliance success in this effort and in firmly holding up “half of the sky.”

Long live GABNet and the Mariposa Alliance !
Long live International Women’s Day !
Forward to a New Women’s Agenda for transnational women and their communities !

National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) and affiliates:
Philippine Women Centre of BC
Philippine women Centre of Ontario
Philippine women Centre of Quebec
Philippine women Centre of Manitoba

SIKLAB National and affiliates:
SIKLAB - BC
SIKLAB – Ontario
SIKLAB – Quebec

Philippine Canada Task Force on Human Rights and affiliates:
BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP)
PCTFHR - -Ontario
PCTFHR – Quebec

Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (PCYA) – National and affiliates:
PCYA – Montreal
PCYA – Ontario
KM- Montreal >>Read more

GABNet LA: FREE Political Fashion Art Show

In Commemoration of International Women's Day
GABNET LOS ANGELES PRESENTS

A MILE IN HER SHOES
Honoring Women Defenders
A FREE Political Fashion Art Show with Special Performances
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Pre-Show: 4:30pm
Show Starts: 5:00pm
Eagle Rock Plaza, Center Court: 2700 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90041

Join GABRIELA Network Los Angeles of the Mariposa Alliance as we commemorate International Working Women's Day by holding an event that will celebrate the brave and courageous journeys made by Women Defenders of human rights. We invite all peace loving, justice seeking and militant women to join us as we combine performance art and fashion with various women's organizations to proclaim our latest fashion statement: "Free Our Sisters, Free Our Selves!"

This March 14, 2009, we honor the journeys that Women Defenders have taken around the world and in our own local areas. We honor the road they have taken in advancing the rights and liberation of women and peoples everywhere. Though the rate of violence against women is most rampant; and though there is the highest rate of modern day slavery, especially of women, ever in history, Women Defenders have not given up. From Nepal to Venezuela to Kenya to the United States, women defenders have been organizing, demanding their rights, and fighting for countless others.

GABRIELA Network Los Angeles invites you to join us in this celebration of successes, of women who are true sheroes for their heroic acts of courage, compassion, and commitment. We celebrate women defenders past, present, and future who have never ceased to step up, stand up and perch high!


============ ========= ========= ========= ========


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2009
Amanda Martin, Gabnet LA Coordinator
losangeles@gabnet. org
Tel: 510-502-6522

GABNet LOS ANGELES TO COMMEMORATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY WITH ITS 6TH ANNUAL POLITICAL ART AND FASHION SHOW

On Saturday, March 14th, Gabriela Network Los Angeles of the Mariposa Alliance will host "A Mile in Her Shoes: Honoring Women Defenders." The political art and fashion show will highlight the lives of women who defend women's and human rights, honor everyday sheroes in our communities, and comment on the plight of women and children today.

"A Mile in Her Shoes: Honoring Women Defenders" is the 6th of annual political fashion shows Gabnet Los Angeles has hosted; each year, different issues women face are addressed, ranging from sex trafficking, to workers' rights, to domestic violence. This year, as the global economy sinks deeper into crisis, political repression concurrently rises. Women who struggle to survive through poverty and marginalization turn to political activism as a vehicle to change their realities, and they are punished for their resistance. Gabnet and its community partners – women's, community, youth, labor, and non-profit groups - will honor the brave women who defend their rights and their people's rights.

Please join Gabnet and its partners at "A Mile in Her Shoes: Honoring Women Defenders." Admission is free, and all justice-loving people are invited to join us. A silent auction of all fashion show pieces will follow. Photo opportunities will be available.

EVENT INFORMATION:

Date: Saturday, March 14th

Time: Pre-Show 4:30pm; Show 5:00pm

Location: Eagle Rock Plaza, Center Court; 2700 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, 90041

###


>>Read more

LAY DOWN THE NEW WOMEN’S AGENDA FOR FULL WOMEN’S LIBERATION!

As we commemorate the enduring legacy of the global women’s movement this 2009 International Women’s Day, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance calls for the laying down of a New Women’s Agenda attuned to the tactical needs of our time and the strategic requirements for full liberation for womankind. LAY DOWN THE NEW WOMEN’S AGENDA FOR FULL WOMEN’S LIBERATION!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2009
Jollene Levid, GABNet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet. org
Tel: 323-356-4748

BAY AREA, CA: As we commemorate the enduring legacy of the global women’s movement this 2009 International Women’s Day, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance calls for the laying down of a New Women’s Agenda attuned to the tactical needs of our time and the strategic requirements for full liberation for womankind.

In this era of impending profound social transformation, when class society faces crisis upon crisis, and imperialism itself is reeling from the very catastrophe it has wrought upon the world, GABNet, in consonance with the cooperating organizations of the MARIPOSA ALLIANCE, calls for the coming together of all the disparate elements and forces of the women’s movement.

The changing demographics of our societies make this imperative. We are witnessing the rise of transnational women and their communities, with their own special cluster of issues. Women and men of two passports, of two cultures, of two or more languages and who are bi-racial are slowly becoming the majority population in the US. Indeed, within less than a decade, the US will become bi-lingual.

And because we are women of action, GABNet is spearheading the start of this discourse, with the founding congress of the Mariposa Alliance this Fall, in the Bay Area, California, with a gathering of individual women and representatives of women’s organizations to launch a higher level of cooperation among women of diverse origins and backgrounds.

We have reasons to celebrate the past year: the passage of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which recognizes gender discrimination as a continuum, the defeat of Proposition K for the legalization of prostitution, the extension of the International Marriage Brokers Regulatory Act (IMBRA), the impending passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York, the full surge of women’s participation in the last elections that wrote finish to the Bush/GOP administration, the rise of women’s voices the world over activism over a great range of issues, from reproductive rights to right to historical signification.

GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance can boast of two decades of consistent work for the emancipation of women of Philippine ancestry. Among its accomplishments for the past year alone are:

• Holding four national meetings of GABNet membership and leadership;
• Organizing ten school-based committees working on the Purple Rose Campaign Against the Traffic of Filipinas;
• Engaging, on a national basis, on daily activities to commemorate 16 Days of Activism on Violence against Women;
• Launching a mini-campaign on a Divorce Bill for the Philippines;
• Holding a Los Angeles to San Diego Caravan Against the Trafficking of Women;
• Holding a concert against the Trafficking and Violence against Women;
• Organizing a rally of women in Los Angeles on International Women’s Day which earned the support of the West Hollywood City Council;
• Organizing women’s delegations to all anti-war marches;
• Organizing new GABNet high school units;
• Holding a Feminist Valentine Dinner in commemoration of the Purple Rose Anniversary;
• Initiating and deepening the organizing committee for the Mariposa Alliance.

In addition to this, all GABNet members participated in theory-building sessions and educational activities to enhance their understanding of women’s oppression and social activism.

This rich and long-standing experience in work for the liberation of women of Philippine ancestry is the solid foundational basis of the Mariposa Alliance, a coalition of individual women and women’s organizations in formation.

We have reasons as well to be upset: the same-sex marriage ban in California which deprived thousands of a basic human right, the emphasis on male-dominated industries in the stimulus package passed by Congress, the huge gender-gap in political and economic leadership which continues the pervasive masculinist rule in class society that women should be “responsible but with no power; accountable but with no authority;” the continuing redaction of women’s social and political roles to being place-holders of power for others, their political work deemed of no historic value, the continued violence against women which rests on the denial of their right to historical significance, and the patriarchal surge that enables their transformation into commodity under imperialist globalization.

It is time. Machismo is so obsolete; authoritarianism is passé and women considering their collective interests as secondary went out with whalebone girdle. The need for a new women’s agenda grows greater each passing day, the imperative for coming together more urgent. Let us begin lest we be left again holding the bucket – and an empty one at that -- as women have been in the past. The Future begins Today.

To the Bay, this Fall, to lay down the New Women’s Agenda!
Liberate women, liberate all!
Free ourselves, free our sisters!
End war and all violence against women!
Dismantle gender-based oppression and exploitation!
Equality in Unity, Justice in Strength!

-- ### >>Read more

What is violence against women?

As part of GABNET's 16 Days of Activism, we asked people to talk about violence against women...

Gina George
"[To end violence against women] it has to be a life-long struggle for women, for men. We can't do it in one effort, one event or effort; we have to do it consistently in our lives whether that's publicly or privately..." Listen to audio interview

"G.," 12-years-old
"I guess violence would be aggressive force against an individual or group of individuals..." Listen to audio interview

Garrett Kaske
"Non-physical forms of violence come in many different ways. A lot of [women] working for less pay in comparison to a man's pay, that can definitely be construed as a form of violence..." Listen to audio interview

Oi Hu
a) How have you been a survivor/victim of violence, a witness of violence against women or a perpetrator of violence against women? I have never been a victim of violence, a witness to violence or a perpetrator of violence. I hope that I would be smart enough not to surround myself with people who have violent tendencies or display abusive behavior. Non-Physical Violence? Insulting/Belittling, Yelling, Controlling and overbearing attitudes. Another one is guilt - inflicting guilt. Telling someone they are childish or that they are "disappointed" in them for silly things. These types of actions do bring a person's perception of their own self worth down several notches. Making a person feel less worthy and trapped can lead to suicide or attempted suicide. Thinking about guilting a woman brings me to thinking about how not just partners/spouses/boyfriends can do this to a woman, but how parents, family and friends can also do this to a person.

b) What do you consider as violence against women? Obviously the physical abuse immediately comes to mind as violence against women. Hitting, spitting, beating, and belittling. Most definitely, domestic abuse comes to mind as well. No [I don't violence is perpetrated only against/by individuals]. I think parents, family and "friends" which can be groups of people can inflict a woman with both verbal and physical abuse. I believe that a person prone to abuse and violence, whether it is physical or not has a history of doing it to others in the past or even multiple people at once. Bullies usually don't have just one victim.

c) What do you think is the main source of violence against women? Domestic partners/or the person you are in a relationship with. Domestic abuse is the biggest problem, because a person is torn by their feelings for the perpetrator and what would happen if they reported them. This is probably what makes this type of abuse so common and the most dangerous. Common because you see the abuser so often. Dangerous because you do not want to report them because of love or loyalty. Most times, I believe that a person has low self-esteem or has been traumatized into thinking that they deserve or warrant the abuse. This type of thinking is what makes certain women (people in general) an easy prey for perpetrators of abuse. I know I am wrong though. So many women who are strong and intelligent never imagine themselves to be victims of violence/abuse, but do end up as victims. I don't want it to sound like I am making excuses for the men who abuse women. I am not. I believe that they purposely take advantage of what they mightknow about a person and use that to insult them or to hit them. I think it is a predator who knows how to pick and pull apart their victim that makes a predator so powerful. Usually the predator would have to be fairly close to a person to be able to break them down in such a manner. A person is probably extra vulnerable when they are overcome by their personal feelings (usually love or loyalty) for a person and just swallows the abuse. I feel women are more vulnerable to violence because women are more compassionate and sympathetic to their abusers than men might be.

d) How do we end violence against women? Educate women. Educate men. Make people aware that violence is not acceptable and to treat women with respect. Make women aware of their self worth so that they are not easily targeted. learn self-defense, build communities. Educating people is the only thing I can think of. Community programs. Educational PSAs. More general awareness. Believe it or not, those Truth ads about smoking do impact people. Ads with women with black eyes or hospitalized and making statistics known are also very powerful. I've seen a few in the past, but not so often. Awareness. Seems to be a big factor. those who are not aware they are victims or victimizers may get the message. Maybe not, but if others can identify the abuse, it could save a woman's life.

We asked people:
a) How have you been a survivor/victim of violence, a witness of violence against women or a perpetrator of violence against women?
b) What do you consider as violence against women?
c) What do you think is the main source of violence against women?
d) How do we end violence against women?
>>Read more

International Human Rights Day

BURN IT DOWN!

In commemoration of International Human Rights Day and in culmination of GABnet's 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women, GABNet NYNJ spoke to the women closest to us - our mothers, sisters, friends and allies -- about how violence against women has touched their lives. Their answers, posted below, offer a sobering picture, proving that violence doesn't just happen in far away places to people we don't know. In fact, these testimonials illustrate the violence that occurs every day, in our most intimate spaces.

Burn It Down, a video produced by GABNet NYNJ, also debuts today, communicating the source of violence for women and girls all around the world.

For far too long, those residing in powerful countries like the United States or those who occupy positions of privilege in life - whether it be through race, class or sex -- have separated themselves from their sisters living in the margins.

GABNet NYNJ knows that if we women are serious about fighting violence at home, we must also fight it every where else in the world where it occurs - whether in the conflict zones in the Congo, the war in Iraq, jails in Palestine and the United States, brothels in India or even in the pages of magazines. We know that not one woman is free until all of us are free.

How have you been a survivor/victim of violence, a witness of violence against women or a perpetrator of violence against women? What do you consider as violence against women? What do you think is the main source of violence against women? How do we end violence against women?

"I witnessed violence against a woman for the first time at about the age of two or three. Daddy was beating Mama. Shoving her up against the wall and punching her while she screamed, "Not in front of the children not in front of the children!" She was crying covering her face and trying to escape him. I moved out of their way to avoid the fury and up against I don't know what and all I heard in my head almost as loud as Mama's plea was 'Why?' 'Why is Daddy hitting Mama?'"


Incomprehensible. Thick as the thickest fog in the blackest night. Having a suffocating pillow pressed on your head so hard you feel the air leaving your body. Drowning and seeing the light of day fade. No answer. Blank. Nothing.

That's one of my earliest memories. And most disturbing memories.

My father was a raging alcoholic. Surely the source of his violence was in the bottle but not solely. I never knew much about his childhood because when I asked my grandparents they were vague. Was he repeating his childhood beatings? My brother did, after being beat by my father too. My father beat him and he beat my little brother and I.
Ending the violence against women? Stopping the pattern of domestic violence is just one way. Today with my own daughter that is how I am choosing to stop the violence against women. Ensuring that she has a safe home to grow in."

***

I was raised in a house where my father objectified women, and i was urged by my mother to not confront him when he manipulated his rights as a man and as a father. I grew up with a father who had no respect for the innate fragility and vulnerability of a girl's burgeoning sexuality and no respect for the strength of a woman. Because of this, I have scar tissue and obstacles around my heart and my ability to love and trust men. I am afraid to be vulnerable when sometimes vulnerability means intimacy.

I feel like we are constantly involved in one way or another with violence towards women. Spending eight months in a small coastal town in Spain, I was followed home a handful of times, many times with men masturbating as they walked behind me in the dark alleys to my apartment.

I also witnessed a lot, A LOT of verbal abuse towards women working as a bartender for many years. And in all of these cases, every single one, I feel like the man was not even thinking he might be doing something wrong. There's always an attitude of self-righteousness, as if it were his birthright to behave towards women this way.

We have to change the next generation by how we raise our children. I will try to teach our sons about a masculinity where abuse of his power in a patriarchal society is not an option, where his masculinity is complex and beautiful and not a weapon. And I will try to teach our daughters about a world where her femininity is strong and important, a world where she won't have to feel like she is compromising herself to love and be loved."

***

"We tend to think of violence as something that happens on a super scale, during war, in other countries, to other people, other women, not us. We are trained to ignore the violence that occurs and is directed toward us on a daily basis. This includes the objectification of women in advertisements that loom giant, over us constantly, in the city, the images we are bombarded with in magazines, television, movies and in the mainstream news media. And when we experience physical violence, either personally or through a friend, we internalize it and mold it into denial, shame, and self-hatred, or we lash out at other women, both personally and as an entire gender.

Then there is the institutional violence that manifests itself through the exploitation of over one million women a year in the sex and labor market. Some might consider this violence on a super scale, yet this large number is made up of individual women who experience violence on the personal level, both physically and emotionally. We can't separate ourselves from these millions. Their struggle is inextricably connected to ours.

I survived my father. I survived what that did to my self worth. I survived how that made me interact with boys and men. I have worked double time to love myself and my intelligence. I survived several alcoholic boyfriends. I survived an abusive relationship. I survived hearing the stories of nearly every one of my women friends. I watched my dear friend clench at the hands of the US sex industry. I survived and am surviving growing up in a world that hates women.

Violence against women is the direct result of thousands of years of a system that considers women to have very limited functions. It has a name: Patriarchy.

We have to begin to build alternative images, music, art, writing, relationships, families, education, communities, culture, and selves. We have to reassess our priorities and remember our global responsibilities to each other. And we have to say ENOUGH. We have to stop participating and corroborating in a system that is based on our subjugation."

****

a.) Yes I have been a victim of violence against women. My first week of college in Switzerland, I was followed home, held at gunpoint and robbed by a man who was never caught. He stole my cell phone, credit cards, three hundred dollars cash and my keys so I was paranoid for a long time and eventually moved apartments. Also, when I was seventeen, I was drugged at a club in Brazil and felt up. It sucked because I was wearing a skirt, fill in the blank.

b.) I define violence against women as a normal part of a woman's life. All women are bound to encounter some form of gendered violence at some point in their lives and this is totally unacceptable to me. From being psychologically bombarded with images and ideas of what to think about one's body and sexuality and what's "acceptable" behavior ... to verbal, mental, and sexual abuse taken from a dad, a sibling or a lover...to outright enslavement and wholesale torture/harassment/rape.

c.) The main source of violence against women is apathy and ignorance. It is caused by the belief of BOTH men and women that violence against women is limited to the physical. It is deepened by the denial of BOTH men and women that women's unequal recognition, treatment, security, autonomy, and history permeates our society, our world, at every level and at every stage of life
( P to the ATRIARCHY).

d.) Burn this shit down and start over.”

****

a) I have never been a victim of violence, a witness to violence or a perpetrator of violence. I hope that I would be smart enough not to surround myself with people who have violent tendencies or display abusive behavior. Non-Physical Violence? Insulting/Belittling, Yelling, Controlling and overbearing attitudes. Another one is guilt - inflicting guilt. Telling someone they are childish or that they are "disappointed" in them for silly things. These types of actions do bring a person's perception of their own self worth down several notches. Making a person feel less worthy and trapped can lead to suicide or attempted suicide. Thinking about guilting a woman brings me to thinking about how not just partners/spouses/boyfriends can do this to a woman, but how parents, family and friends can also do this to a person.

b) Obviously the physical abuse immediately comes to mind as violence against women. Hitting, spitting, beating, and belittling. Most definitely, domestic abuse comes to mind as well. No [I don't violence is perpetrated only against/by individuals]. I think parents, family and "friends" which can be groups of people can inflict a woman with both verbal and physical abuse. I believe that a person prone to abuse and violence, whether it is physical or not has a history of doing it to others in the past or even multiple people at once. Bullies usually don't have just one victim.

c) Domestic partners/or the person you are in a relationship with. Domestic abuse is the biggest problem, because a person is torn by their feelings for the perpetrator and what would happen if they reported them. This is probably what makes this type of abuse so common and the most dangerous. Common because you see the abuser so often. Dangerous because you do not want to report them because of love or loyalty. Most times, I believe that a person has low self-esteem or has been traumatized into thinking that they deserve or warrant the abuse. This type of thinking is what makes certain women (people in general) an easy prey for perpetrators of abuse. I know I am wrong though. So many women who are strong and intelligent never imagine themselves to be victims of violence/abuse, but do end up as victims. I don't want it to sound like I am making excuses for the men who abuse women. I am not. I believe that they purposely take advantage of what they might know about a person and use that to insult them or to hit them. I think it is a predator who knows how to pick and pull apart their victim that makes a predator so powerful. Usually the predator would have to be fairly close to a person to be able to break them down in such a manner. A person is probably extra vulnerable when they are overcome by their personal feelings (usually love or loyalty) for a person and just swallows the abuse. I feel women are more vulnerable to violence because women are more compassionate and sympathetic to their abusers than men might be.

d) Educate women. Educate men. Make people aware that violence is not acceptable and to treat women with respect. Make women aware of their self worth so that they are not easily targeted. learn self-defense, build communities. Educating people is the only thing I can think of. Community programs. Educational PSAs. More general awareness. Believe it or not, those Truth ads about smoking do impact people. Ads with women with black eyes or hospitalized and making statistics known are also very powerful. I've seen a few in the past, but not so often. Awareness. Seems to be a big factor. those who are not aware they are victims or victimizers may get the message. Maybe not, but if others can identify the abuse, it could save a woman's life.

GABNet NYNJ invites you to post your own answers to the questions we posed (in the comments section below). Sometimes, the first step towards ending violence is to break down the wall of silence that surrounds it.

>>Read more

TRAFFICKING: THE MAIL ORDER BRIDE INDUSTRY

GABNet cited in Women's eNews article about the mail order bride industry

Mail Order Brides Find U.S. Land of Milk, Battery
By Asjylyn Loder, WeNews correspondent
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1390/context/archive

As Congress considers the need for greater regulation of international marriage brokers, a Ukrainian woman is suing the brokerage that united her with her now ex-husband who, she claims, battered her and is also abusing his latest "mail-order bride."

This summer, members of Congress are expected to introduce legislation that would give a foreign woman the chance to look at a U.S. man's criminal record before accepting a commercially brokered offer of marriage from him.

The proposed legislation would mandate disclosure of past restraining orders against the man and would require immigration services to inform the woman about domestic violence protections available to her. Washington State recently passed similar legislation.

The legislative push coincides with the case of Nataliya Fox, a so-called mail-order bride who sued Encounters International, a well-known marriage agency based in Bethesda, Md., that specializes in matching Russian and Ukrainian women with U.S. husbands. Fox sued Encounters International in the U.S. District Court of Maryland for failing to give her information about domestic violence and for fraudulently informing her that she would be deported if she left her abusive husband, James M. Fox Jr., an Encounters International client. No trial date has been set for the case filed in April 2002.

Natasha Spivack, founder and owner of Encounters International, denied the charges. "This is a major scam and she happened to push all the right buttons," Spivack said of Nataliya Fox, "If you look at her, she looks very honest, like all con-artists do." Spivack, who emigrated to the U.S. from Moscow, claims that Nataliya Fox manufactured evidence of abuse and lied on her immigration applications. Spivack started Encounters International in 1993 using a fax machine and regular mail services before shifting to Web-based services as the Internet became widely available.

"In July 2000, James Fox attacked me," Nataliya Fox wrote in her declaration to the court in June 2002. "The beating lasted approximately two hours." James Fox was arrested for Nataliya's attempted murder in July 2000. In a recent telephone interview, he denied hitting Nataliya and said that his record had been expunged.

Randall Miller, a lawyer with Arnold and Porter, the prominent D.C. law firm that took Nataliya Fox's case pro bono, said in a recent telephone interview that James Fox expunged his record by completing a batterer's class. The Tahirih Justice Center, an immigrant women's rights advocacy group based in Falls Church, Va., joined Arnold and Porter as co-counsel. Tahirih has been the leading force behind the upcoming congressional initiative that would regulate the industry.
"During the entire time of my association with Encounters International and Natasha Spivack, I was never told about my rights should I encounter domestic abuse," Nataliya Fox's declaration states. "She said that if I ever left James I would likely be deported."

James Fox obtained a Haitian divorce decree from Nataliya in January 2001. In October of that year, he married Inna Fox, a woman he met through an Internet marriage agency that has since closed down, James Fox said. According to court records in her case, Nataliya Fox believes that her ex-husband is abusing his new wife. Encounters petitioned to find out the basis for Nataliya's suspicion, but the judge ruled that the potential risk to the safety of the person who is the source of Nataliya's information overrode the defense's need to know.

Thousands of Women Applying to Become U.S. Wives

Some women who enter commercially arranged marriages hope for a prince. Others just want a ticket out of economic desperation. Whatever the reason, thousands of foreign women marry near-strangers from the U.S. each year.

While services and costs vary, it generally works like this: men purchase addresses and profiles of women from a broker and initiate correspondence with the women they like. As the relationship progresses, men can choose to pay the matchmaker to send the women flowers or gifts. This is followed by a visit (immigration law requires that U.S. citizens meet their immigrating fiancee at least once), for which the matchmaker may arrange hotels, transportation, and translators--all for a fee, of course.

Because the "mail-order bride" business is almost entirely unregulated, there are no reliable statistics about how many women enter the U.S. each year to begin marriages with men they hardly know.

Between 1998 and 2001, the number of foreign fiancees entering the United States nearly doubled, from 12,306 in 1998 to 23,634 in 2001. Although no agency tracks how many of those fiancees are coming as a result of brokered matches, an Immigration and Naturalization Service report to Congress in 1999 estimated that 4,000 to 6,000 brokered brides entered the United States in 1998.

Estimating the number of fiancees in brokered matches is something more akin to divination than hard statistics. The 1998 figures--themselves an estimate--indicate that one-third to one-half of all entering fiancees met their intended through a matchmaker. If the percentage holds true, then the number of mail-order brides that entered the U.S. in 2001 could range from approximately 8,000 to 12,000.

GABRIELA Network, a Filipina advocacy group with offices throughout the U.S., believes that the congressional figure is low. It claims that more than 5,000 Filipina brides depart for the United States every year. Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and the former Soviet states all boast thriving online matchmaking industries. The 1999 Immigration report found that most brides entering the U.S. came from the Philippines or former Soviet states.

No Government Oversight Leaves Brides Vulnerable

The lack of governmental oversight of the industry, critics say, leaves foreign women vulnerable to violence and abuse. Brokered brides leave familiar support networks and rely on near-strangers for financial security and immigration status. Many do not know that they can leave an abusive mate without being deported. And, while the women undergo rigorous background checks, their future husbands do not.

A 1996 law passed by Congress required that matchmakers provide women with domestic violence information or face a $20,000 fine. Regulations have never been put in place to implement that law and it has not been enforced. Nataliya Fox is the first woman to seek redress under that law.

"The agencies have a financial incentive to ensure the satisfaction of their paying clients--the men--but there is no comparable incentive to safeguard the woman," said Layli Miller-Muro, executive director of Tahirih.

Internet marriage agencies thrived with the rapid expansion of Web-based commerce and communication. The 1999 report found that approximately 200 international marriage brokers were operating in the U.S. In a recent count, Tahirih found more than 400 Internet marriage agencies.

Larry Gucciardo, owner of the Angelika Russian Marriage Agency Network, one of the largest U.S. marriage agencies, saw his opportunity in the Internet after his own frustratingly slow international courtship via regular post, he said in a recent phone interview.

In addition to faster communication, the Internet eliminated the start-up costs involved in producing and mailing a printed catalog, and could feature a greater number of profiles than a bulky book. "We have almost 100 Web sites," Gucciardo said. "We have 155,000 clients and about 20,000 girls. We add about 100 to 200 new girls every week."

Another problem with the business, say critics, is that it fuels men and women with false expectations about the quality of the prospective marriage. "The problem is that the organizations that market these relationships, that market these women, market stereotypes, to both sides," said Leslye Orloff, an expert on battered immigrants with the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund in Washington, D.C. "What they're doing is setting up an atmosphere that is ripe, potentially, for abuse."

U.S. men looking for foreign wives can search for such a partner by her height, weight, age and country of origin. The Christian Singles Registry promises, "Virgin Brides from 60 Countries." Another site called eMates markets "Quality Women," while One True Love--an Angelika Network site--advises potential customers that Russian women, unlike their American counterparts, "are not spoiled or greedy."

Some foreign women, like Fox, are finding that their American dreamboats turn into nightmares after marriage. One Russian woman, Svetlana, used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal from her ex-husband. Svetlana nervously recounted how her husband repeatedly raped, beat and choked her during their 10-month marriage. When she turned to the marriage broker for help, they told her: "'It's just a different culture,'" Svetlana claimed.

"I didn't know. Is this normal marriage? My father, he never shook the shoulders of my mom, or choked her, or hit my mother's head against the wall," she said during an interview in the unmarked, secure offices of Tahirih.

Miller-Muro of Tahirih, which arranged the interview, added: "The barbarity of her torture is so severe that I think that as Americans we should be profoundly embarrassed that there's an industry that facilitates this."

Tahirih is not the only agency reporting a recent up-tick in the number of abused brides. Lillian Bykhovsky said in a recent telephone interview from her shelter for battered immigrant women in Atlanta that the abuse of mail-order brides "is quite a trend." Bykhovsky had assisted two such brides just that week. Sophia Lutsky, a counselor in Seattle, said by phone that she was currently seeing more than 10 abused brides and that she had seen an increase in such cases over the last several years.

In Colorado, Valyeria Roussakova, who came to the United States as a result of a brokered marriage, recently spoke in a phone interview about her own experiences. She said her husband terrorized her and her 9-year-old son by a previous marriage so badly that her son had frequent nightmares. Roussakova said her husband abused her emotionally and threatened her with deportation. "He said, 'If you don't like it, you can always leave,'" Roussakova said.
After she left him, Roussakova said her husband withdrew her work permit and she lost her job. According to Roussakova, the marriage agency told her that they take no responsibility for the outcome of a marriage.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of the women you see on these sites come from very disadvantaged backgrounds," said Vivian Kutchon in a telephone interview, a victim's advocate with the GABRIELA Network in the Philippines. "It's just another level of control."

Recently, Encounters International held a social gathering in suburban Maryland for some its clients. Bill Lawson, an enthusiastic Encounters' client, disagreed that women who agree to these arranged marriages are being exploited. "We're not taking advantage of the women. We're taking advantage of an opportunity." He described Russian women as "a little more old-fashioned, as far as values go. A little more like American women in the 1950s or the 1930s."

Encounters' Web site says that the agency has facilitated almost 250 marriages, with only 25 divorces. Ken Meyers, an as-yet-unmarried client, hosted the recent social at his Germantown, Md., townhouse where Spivack's success was evident. One client, married eight years, held his 6-year-old daughter on his knee. Another, Joe, smiles at his wife of just over three months. A young Marine and his wife, married three years, humorously recount hard times on a rural base.

In the next room, however, an elegant Russian woman who sat with her manicured hands clasped tightly in her lap did not appear so well-adjusted to her new life. In 2000, she married a man--her "soul mate," as the Encounters' Web site described him, who had been an agency member for just two months.

"Potentially we could be a very good couple," she said, but her husband is isolated, moody, and frequently yells at her. He did not want her to learn to drive, hold a job or join a gym. On her birthday, he took out a pistol, one of his 17 guns, and put the barrel in his mouth and threatened to shoot himself. "He always carries a gun," she said. She did not want her name used for fear of angering her husband.

After the woman left the gathering, Spivack mocked the nervousness the woman had expressed to her about having possibly spoken too candidly with a reporter. "She says to me, 'I am worried I have said something wrong,'" Spivack said. She imitated the woman, by wringing her hands and continuing to quote her. "'I am afraid because my husband he has so many guns'" Spivack broke into her wide-toothed smile. As she laughed, several of her clients laughed with her.

Asjylyn Loder is a freelance writer in New York.

For more information:

• Encounters International:http://www.encount.com/


• Gabriela Network--Filipinas Not For Sale!End the Export of Filipinas!:http://www.gabnet.org/sale.htm


• NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund--Immigrant Women: http://www.nowldef.org/html/issues/imm/index.shtml


• The court case documents are from Nataliya Mikhaylovna Fox v. Encounters International, et al. pending before the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Maryland.

>>Read more

THE TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN: A Presentation by GABNet

GABNet NYNJ 2007

**NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT OF GABRIELA NETWORK. Contact: gabnetnynj@gmail.com**

In 2006, Christmas, a runaway Filipino maid in Kuwait was abducted and gang-raped by 17 men in desert camps. The woman who had escaped her employer’s house was found by four men who took her to a desert camp where they raped her. They then offered the maid to six of their friends who again raped her at a second camp before delivering her to seven others who finished the gang-raped her at a third camp. She was violated over and over again.

Meanwhile, earlier that summer the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration exposed a human-trafficking ring in Dubai that falsely recruited young Filipinas –mostly in their 20’s -- ostensibly as waitresses, salesgirls, mall or hotel employees but instead forced them into prostitution for bar owners and pimps when they arrived. Most of the victims who have sought the help of the Philippine consulate in Dubai were some of the lucky ones, able to escape from their pimps and recruiters. The victims experienced severe trauma, exploitation and abuse while in the custody of these syndicates.

5 coffins a day land at the Manila International Airport; three contain the bodies of Filipina women who died or were killed elsewhere in the world.

Battery, rape and murder are the top occupational hazards for Filipina who work overseas.

What circumstances have exposed these women to such danger and atrocities?

In today’s globalized world, where capital’s relentless and ruthless pursuit for markets and profits have been glossed over by multinational corporations, dubious international bodies and national governments, human trafficking – the Recruiting, Harboring & Transportation of a person by use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to sexual and/or labor exploitation -- has become our very own modern-day slavery.

Human Trafficking, with an annual profit of $5-7 billion is the third largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world today, after arms and drug dealing. As many as 2 million women are trafficked across borders annually. Women are typically recruited with promises of good jobs in other countries or provinces and lacking better options at home “agree” to migrate. An estimated 20 million women and children are in the global sex trade.

Although sex trafficking – which involves sexual exploitation in prostitution or pornography, mail-order bride trafficking, and commercial sexual abuse of children -- is one of the most lucrative sectors of the trade in people, trafficking for labor exploitation is also increasing. In fact, the sex trade is the second most likely employment for Filipinas going abroad, the first is domestic work.

Reports have come in telling of Filipinas jumping from buildings to escape the abusive practices of their employers, some of whom have treated them little more than animals – feeding them scraps, locking them in a room and refusing payment for their work.

Filipina domestic workers all over the Middle East, where the majority of them work, have taken to wearing multiple underwear garments to sleep to prevent employers from raping them.

But the Philippine government – much like a pimp – continues to search the globe for countries to take its "surplus labor.” Today, Number of Filipinos Overseas: 8.1 million in 194 countries. Indeed, the government has deployed a yearly average of 900,000-one million OFW’s from 2001 to 2005. 75% of those who leave are Filipina women. In fact, the Philippines is the world’s top exporter of women, more than 64% of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers are women. The share of OFW remittances to the gross national product has grown from nearly 8 percent in 2001 to 10 percent in 2005.

Meanwhile, The Sex industry – including child pornography and prostitution -- is now the fourth largest industry in the Philippines. The Philippine government has institutionalized sex trafficking under a host of “work” euphemisms such as “guest relations officer (GRO), cultural dancer, and cultural entertainers. The Majority of the 300,000 OFWs in Japan last year were women who worked as entertainers for the “rest and recreation” of the American troops based there. Women who are infected by STDs and AIDS are immediately deported to the Philippines. More than 47,000 Filipinas are in South Korea, many are on Entertainment visas. An estimated 25,000 Filipinas have been brought to the US to work in brothels, bars nightclubs, illegal sex farms and in vicinity of military bases. Some 20,000 do the sex farm tours in Europe. The number of Filipinas in the nightclubs and brothels of the Middle East is not available but it is sizable. Moreover, tourism – a quick way for many debtor countries to earn cash as recommended by the IMF – has only facilitated sex tourism – in which agencies offer “package” vacations which include commercial sex and a plethora of women to choose from. SE Asia earns $8 billion/year from tourism – 80% of tourists are males.

Moreover, In the United States, around 5,000 Filipino women enter as mail-order brides per year. In Australia, some 20,000 Filipino women have gone as Mail order brides. Out of the 4,000 Filipinos in Iraq today, Filipinas have been found working in the US military bases – in the massage parlors.

These numbers and facts are staggering. And they are only the tip of the iceberg.

How have Filipinas been so commodified and dehumanized, reduced to sexual slaves or domestic drudgery?

Some mainstream human rights organizations have actually touted that poverty and inequality as a cause of human trafficking is a myth. They instead claim that Trafficking is a criminal industry driven by the traffickers and their customers. In other words, supply is only offered by the pimps and demand is only coming from the johns of the world. This view, to put it simply, is blind to the bigger picture.

As women who struggle against the machinations of imperialism and neocolonialism, we know that globalization has established for trafficking a daisy-chain of economic operations:
1) At one end, it ensures an endless supply of poor women with no alternative except to sell their bodies via the sex trade or domestic labor. IMF/WB policies have entrenched and intensified artificial poverty in debtor countries by eliminating national self-sufficiency through so called liberal economic reforms via privatization of land and demolition of urban and rural communities. Peddling tourism as a quick source of cash has also opened the floodgate to prostitution. In addition, the open door policy for trade and investments to create export processing zones, the flexibilization of labor and the encouragement to rely on migrant remittances to shore up a country’s GDP are all factors which have pushed women out of the production process to the shadows of the “informal” economy -- making the doors wide open for legal and illegal recruiters preying on young and poor Filipinas ready to accept whatever jobs that will ease the poverty of their families. According to a Philippine government study, the biggest number of the poor can be found among women and children, comprising 49.6% of the populace, which in a country of 88 million people means 56.4 million women and children.

2) In the middle, meanwhile, globalization has created a market for trafficking such as the establishment of tourism spots or discriminating immigration policies which favors some nationalities over others for a source of cheap labor. Moreover, militarism – the armed wing of globalization – has also created a huge market for trafficking. After 9/11, when the US returned to the Philippines to help the Philippine military hunt down Islamic terrorists, trafficking of women and girls to the conflict zone in the south rose to 200%. In one instance, a town mayor bussed in a group of young Filipinas to the US base and told the GI’s that the Philippines welcomed them “with open arms and open legs.” In the international scene, America’s imperialist war in Iraq has led to the increased trafficking of Iraqi women and girls to neighboring countries – a story not commented upon in the media.

3) And, finally, at the end of the spectrum, globalization has constructed an elaborate pimping system which pumps up demand for the sex trade, including the exotification of women of color through the media (especially the Internet), pornography and drugs (like Viagra). As for trafficking in labor, how many of us can live full lives without the help of a nanny or housekeeper? how many of us would be able to afford our cheap groceries or Nike sneakers without labor exploitation?

Simply put, to enslave women in the sex industry or to exploit her labor means to FIRST enslave her economically. Thus for women of such impoverished countries as the Philippines, choice or the exercise of choice is not even a factor when survival is the goal. This argument for choice is what some critics have lobbed against our analysis – they claim, don’t these women choose to be domestic workers? Don’t they choose to be Prostitutes?

And our answer is an emphatic NO, for as long as entities like the IMF/WB and their global manifestations are enabled to afflict nations and peoples with continuing poverty there is no choice. As long as transnational corporations are enabled to plunder without hindrance nations and people there is no choice. As long as national governments oppress and suppress their people’s demands for liberation, there is no choice.

So, unless poor and oppressed women of the world unite to struggle against imperialist globalization and neocolonization, our and our sisters’ fates will remain as that of being “displaced commodified and modern day slaves”. We must educate, organize and mobilize ourselves. In our attempt to build this international solidarity with women and our allies all over the world, we ask you to join GABRIELA Network’s Purple Rose Campaign, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this Valentine’s Day. The PRC is a massive global campaign which seeks to end trafficking in women and children and advances the analysis that this type of exploitation is a creature formed in the nexus of imperialism.

Without your attention to this matter, without your commitment to this cause, Filipina women, along with others from similarly exploited situations, will continually be violated…over and over again.

**NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR OR GABRIELA NETWORK. Contact: gabnetnynj@gmail.com** >>Read more

THANKSKILLING: GABNet Draws Attention to the Plight of Indigenous Women This Thanksgiving

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GABNET DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE PLIGHT OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD THIS THANKSGIVING, A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR NATIVE AMERICANS

• United States: Native American women are 25 times more likely to be victims of sexual assault in their lifetimes. Eighty-six percent of assaults against indigenous women is by non-indigenous men who are rarely caught or charged with the crime.
• In Mexico, indigenous women experience violence at the hands of the military funded by the U.S. government. Military personnel use rape as an instrument of repression and intimidation as exemplified in the 1997 massacre and mutilation of 32 Tzotzil women in Acteal.
• In the Philippines, heightened militarization and state repression has killed close to 1,000 activits, including Alyce Omegnan Claver, an indigenous woman who was executed for her political activism.

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GABNET AND MARIPOSA ALLIANCE PROUDLY AFFIRM NATIONAL PARTICIPATION IN 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE

Gabnet/Mariposa Alliance proudly affirm our participation in the international feminist movement's 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign. Along with over 2,000 organizations in 154 countries who have participated in this campaign since 1991, Gabnet/Ma-Al launches our own 16 days of activism, beginning on November 25th, the International Day Against Violence Against Women, with a nationwide Speak Out Against Violence, and ending on December 10th, International Human Rights Day.

We in the U.S. are living in a time where words like progress, change and victory are flooding and infused in our collective discourse. We are supposed to believe that we have won the good fight; that there is nothing left to struggle for. We are supposed to believe that individual success is tantamount to the liberation of all.

We, in Gabnet/Mariposa Alliance, know that women around the world, from the United States to the Philippines to Haiti to Africa, still have everything to struggle for. We know that murder is the number one cause of death of pregnant women; that homicide is the number one occupational hazard for women in the US.

We know that somewhere in America a woman is battered, usually by her partner, every 15 seconds. At least one in three women, globally, is sexually abused in her lifetime. In the US, a woman is raped every six minutes. And in armed conflict zones around the world—in Iraq, Darfur, Columbia, South Asia—the rape of women and children is a tool of war, just the same as any gun, bomb or missile.

Over one million women and children are trafficked internationally every year, becoming victims of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation and abuse. And in the US, legislation is being passed to legalize prostitution, an institution that is responsible for the legal rape and degradation of women around the world. This violence cuts across ethnic and economic boundaries and is the result of a patriarchal and imperialist system that values power and money over human rights.

Gabnet/Mariposa Alliance stands in militant solidarity with women around the world as we affirm that women's rights are human rights. Each time a woman is attacked around the world, we hear her voice and we stand with her. We demand an end to all violence against women. --##

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