November 20, 2009, By Trevor Pritchard, THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO - Have no fear, redheads - it appears this Nov. 20, you were more likely to be hugged than harassed, consoled rather than kicked.
The day had been dubbed by some as Kick a Ginger Day, a nod to a 2005 episode of the satirical animated TV show South Park that joked about launching a campaign of violence against those with red hair.
Last year, 13 Calgary students were suspended after a red-haired Grade 10 student was swarmed and beaten. Teachers in one Newfoundland school board were told to be on "heightened alert" after parents came across the campaign on Facebook and notified school officials.
In B.C. last year, local media reported more than 20 students at a school west of Victoria were suspended after bullying redheads. The province's RCMP investigated but never charged the 14-year-old administrator of a Facebook group called "National Kick a Ginger Day, are you going to do it?"
While the Facebook group - which reportedly peaked at nearly 5,000 members - has since been shut down, some feared the idea of devoting a day to targeting redheads would re-emerge this year.
Enter Gillian Young. The 36-year-old Vancouver woman and proud redhead found out about the campaign, joined one of the pro-violence groups, and was so aggressive in promoting peace that the group's administrator changed his ways, she said, and gave her control of the site.
Today, the site - which Young has renamed "Universal Hug a Ginger Day (and everyone else for that matter!)" - has nearly 1,200 members. A quick search suggests the sites calling for people to speak out against Kick a Ginger Day far outnumber those which promote bullying. Young's is one of the largest.
"I wouldn't let it go," said Young, who was called "witch" and "carrot top" as a child because of her red locks.
"I was in (the group) and I was just continuously promoting the love ... counteracting every single negative thing that someone was trying to say."
Members of another Facebook group, "Stop the Hate - Stand Up Against 'Kick a Ginger Day,"' vowed to dye their hair and wear red or orange shirts in protest. More than 1,200 people had joined that group by Friday.
Calgary police said the force hadn't heard of any anti-redhead violence in the city Friday.
While the number of violent incidents reported to police appeared minimal compared to 2008, there was ample evidence online that the day hadn't faded completely from the public consciousness. One user of microblogging service Twitter called it "the best freaking day ever," while another claimed she'd been kicked 29 times.
A mother also told a newspaper in Niagara Falls, Ont., she would be keeping her redheaded children home from school.
The idea of targeting kids with red hair is "just unacceptable," said Debra Pepler, a York University psychology professor and the co-leader of PREVNet, a national anti-bullying organization.
Pepler said she first encountered the phenomenon of prejudice against redheads, also known as "gingerism," two decades ago in Norway.
Some news reports have suggested gingerism is particularly virulent in England, where even Prince Harry, third in line to the throne, has acknowledged he'd been bullied for the colour of his hair.
"It has to do with differences," said Pepler. "People may say it's all in fun, but it isn't in fun. The young people who have red hair and are being kicked or harassed or tormented feel vulnerable."
Adults need to talk with young people about the seriousness of all bullying, not just that which targets redheads, said Pepler. And while Facebook helped spread last year's spate of violence, social networking sites, she said, can have a positive effect.
"It (Facebook) provides a way of showing young people who are courageous enough to stand up and say 'this is wrong' to realize that they're not alone. And I think that's tremendously important," said Pepler.
"I like the idea of 'hugging a ginger,"' she added. "I think that's the antithesis (of violence against redheads), the positive solution to the problem."
On the web:
Universal Hug a Ginger Day: http://www.facebook.com/ /group.php?gid36171554894
PREVNet: http://prevnet.ca
Hugs, not harassment: Facebook groups slam day of violence against redheads
Crime ombudsman marks Child Day with plea for national child sex abuse strategy
November 19, 2009, By Tobi Cohen, THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL - Canada should take a page from the Americans and expand its network of kid-friendly, one-stop shops for treating sexually abused children, says the federal watchdog for crime victims.
As the country marks National Child Day on Friday and the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Steve Sullivan is asking Ottawa and its provincial and municipal counterparts to make child advocacy centres a priority.
The centres sprang up in the United States during the 1980s and bring police, prosecutors, doctors and social workers together under one roof.
The federal ombudsman for victims of crime says such centres make it less stressful for young victims to tell their stories, and they also lead to more charges and better conviction rates.
"It's really about bringing all the services to the child and doing so in a way that they are the centre of the investigation," he said during a recent tour of a Montreal centre.
"You meet all their needs in one place so they don't have to go to a number of different places and tell their story a number of different times."
While there are already more than 900 such centres across the U.S. less than a handful exist in Canada, where getting funding and co-ordinating services remain huge challenges.
Edmonton, Niagara and Montreal all have centres that offer a multidisciplinary approach to child-abuse services, and efforts are underway to erect centres in Toronto, Victoria and Winnipeg.
Sullivan said funding is currently piecemeal - with dribs and drabs coming in from federal and provincial governments and the bulk coming from private donors through fundraising.
"We need I think a national approach where the federal government is involved in working with the provincial and municipal partners to develop these," he said.
Karyn Kennedy, director of the Boost in Toronto - a charity that provides help for abuse victims involved in the court system - said the country's largest city has been trying for 20 years to create an advocacy centre.
Finding the money to build a 20,000-square-foot facility equipped with closed-circuit television, investigative equipment, a medical exam room and other modern tools is a major problem.
Getting all the partners to agree to work together has been another.
"Initially one of the things we struggled with was police and children's aid working out of the same location together," Kennedy said.
"Both are big institutions in Toronto with set practices and protocols they have to follow."
While she suggests everyone has gotten beyond the philosophical issues, Canada's oldest advocacy centre says co-ordination between service providers remains an ongoing headache.
"Police have a certain way of doing business, children's services have a certain way of doing business, the Crown prosecutors have a certain way of doing business as does the mental and medical health community," said Barbara Spencer, executive director of Edmonton's Zebra Centre, which opened in 2002.
"It's that constant figuring out how you play effectively and efficiently in the sandbox and truly work in the best interest of the kids."
Two Canadian centres have probably been most successful at figuring that out.
The Zebra Centre now supports 480 families and boasts an 85 per cent conviction rate in child sex-abuse cases where charges are laid.
Montreal's Marie Vincent facility has assisted about 700 victims since it first opened in 2005. The facility is also the only one conducting research into child sexual-abuse services, said Lucie Joyal, the centre's executive director.
Toys, murals and brightly-painted walls covered in portraits of smiling children make the centre far more kid-friendly than a drab police station where child sex-abuse victims might rub shoulders with scary men in handcuffs.
Experts say the traditional approach to child abuse victims can be more traumatic than the abuse itself and some children have said they regretted coming forward.
That's precisely what led to changes in the U.S. so many years ago, said Chris Newlin, executive director of the National Children's Advocacy Center in Huntsville, Ala., where advocacy centres got their start.
The centres now exists in every state and their umbrella organization has helped export the idea to some 20 different countries including Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, South Africa and Cuba.
Newlin said studies also show advocacy centres are more cost-effective because they eliminate duplication of services.
"The average cost of a case in a community that didn't have a child advocacy centre was about US$3,900," he said.
"In our community where we had a child advocacy centre, the average cost was US$2,900. We saved a full US$1,000 per case."
Women's advocates lobby for voice
Human-rights museum panel seeks advice on issues to highlight, BY ANDREA SANDS, EDMONTON JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 16, 2009
When officials from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights visit Edmonton this week, an Edmonton mother will push for an exhibit to highlight women's rights.
Kathy King, whose daughter, Caralyn, was found dead 12 years ago in a Sherwood Park canola field, has been eagerly awaiting a chance to speak to museum representatives about the human rights of women. She will get that chance on Tuesday when the museum's content advisory committee stops here on its cross-country tour to gather opinions on what the museum should ultimately look like.
"It's so incredibly ambitious, all the things that they're planning, so this is exciting," King said Sunday. "I'm pleased that they're finally coming here. It's something we've been looking forward to for a couple of years."
King will join Kate Quinn, executive director of the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton, in urging the museum to permanently display an art exhibition called A Roomful of Missing Women, a multimedia show that features paintings of 50 women from Vancouver's downtown eastside who are missing or have been murdered.
"We have talked about this for a couple of years, ever since I heard they were doing a museum for human rights," King said. "I thought, OK, whose human rights have been violated across history and across the world more than the rights of women? I thought, isn't this a good opportunity to create that awareness at a national level."
The meetings and roundtable talks Tuesday at Grant MacEwan University are part of an effort to gather personal stories to guide the design of the $310-million museum, slated to open in Winnipeg in 2012.
Longtime human-rights activist and educator, Lewis Cardinal, has also been invited to meet with museum officials. Cardinal has won the Alberta Centennial Medal for his work in human rights and diversity. He is on the board of directors for the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights and does work with The Global Youth Assembly. Cardinal also works with numerous advocacy groups and is co-chairman of the Aboriginal Commission on Human Rights and Justice and a founder of Racism-Free Edmonton, a city project to end racism and discrimination.
Cardinal said he wants the museum to include exhibits on aboriginal and treaty rights within Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. It should also address immigrants' rights, such as the rights of temporary foreign workers, many of whom have made their way to Alberta, Cardinal said.
"The museum itself has to be a showcase of our rights and history and the violation of those rights, but also, what is the future of Canada in human rights," he said, noting that designers will bring theatre and art into the space. "It's not a dusty museum of remembrance, but it's a living, dynamic reality, and that's what I want to see in this museum." He described the beautiful spire--the tower of hope--that will crown the building and give a wide view of Winnipeg. "It should inspire, and we should aspire to the values of human rights," Cardinal said. "That's what I like about it."
Angela Cassie, the museum's director of communications and public engagement, said the museum's physical design is meant to empower people to see beyond human rights failures and educate them on how to advance human rights in their communities. "We hope to also be able to inspire them with examples of people who have survived, people who have succeeded, people who have achieved and made a difference," Cassie said.
The museum's content advisory committee --made up of human rights scholars, specialists and leaders--started the public consultation sessions in May, and will visit 18 communities before the tour ends in February.
In Edmonton, approximately 50 people and groups so far have registered to participate, Cassie said. Museum officials will also hold public roundtables from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"Whether it be issues of religion, whether it be issues of gender or orientation or language or economic and poverty issues--those are all topics that fall under the umbrella of human rights," Cassie said.
The 47,000 square-foot museum is the first national museum established in more than 40 years, and the first to be located outside the National Capital Region. The project will include exhibits related to Indian residential schools, Japanese internment camps and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Cassie said. Migration, as well as challenges for people with disabilities are other human-rights topics that have been raised across the country, she said.
Rape and Sexual Assault Trigger Warning
Rape Protective Measures
Rape is a violent crime, an invasion, a frightening experience. Rape affects all women, no matter what their age, race or economic status. All women are potential victims of sexual assault.
By being aware, a woman can reduce the likelihood of becoming a rape victim. This does not mean all rapes can be prevented. Rapists commit rape -- NOT VICTIMS.
Psychological Preparedness
---------------------------
1. Accept the fact that you are a potential rape victim. Many women operate under the illusion "it will never happen to me. It may.
2. Educate yourself concerning rape prevention tactics.
3. Become familiar with community rape prevention and counseling.
4. Become aware of locations and situations where rape is more likely to occur and avoid them, or take precautions.
In a Dating/Friend Situation
----------------------------
1. The majority of rapes that occur are termed "acquaintance rapes" - the rapist and victim know one another. Trust your feelings. If you become uncomfortable in a situation, assertively ask the person to leave. Don't worry about hurt feelings.
2. If possible, let a friend or roommate know who you are with and where you will be. Leave an address and phone number when possible.
In Your Car
-----------
1. Keep windows and doors locked.
2. If you should be followed into your driveway, stay in your car with the doors locked. Sound horn to get the attention of neighbors or scare the other driver off.
3. When parking at night, select a place that will be well-lit when returning to the car.
4. Always make sure the car is locked, and have the keys ready when returning to the car.
5. Check interior of car before getting in.
On the Street
-------------
1. Be observant of things around you. If someone is following you, go to the nearest house or store.
2. Walk near the curb and avoid passing close to shrubbery, dark doorways and other places of
concealment.
3. DO NOT HITCHHIKE.
4. Avoid short cuts through parking lots and alleys.
5. Walk with a friend if at all possible. Don't walk alone.
6. If a car approaches you and you feel threatened, scream and run in the direction opposite of the one the car is going.
7. When arriving home by taxi or private auto, ask the driver to wait until you are inside.
8. Don't jog in secluded areas.
9. Know the location of the special emergency phones on campus.
In Your Home
-------------
1. The best lock cannot function if you fail to lock it. Be sure to keep your doors locked.
2. All windows should have secure locks and frames.
3. All entrances and garages should be well-lit.
4. Never open the door after a knock. Require the person to give their name. In the case of service persons ask for proper I.D. and refuse entrance if you feel uneasy.
If You Are Sexually Assaulted
------------------------------
The best resistance you can use against an attacker is your common sense. Think! Don't panic. The most important element to remember is that you are not trying to fight the attacker, but are attempting to divert the person long enough to get away. Always look for a way to escape.
If the attacker has a weapon, use your common sense. Fighting against it could be dangerous.
---------------------------------------------------
1. Stay calm. Do not do anything that may upset the attacker.
2. Try to convince the person to put the weapon down.
3. Talk to your attacker, show sympathy and understanding.
4. Make the attacker see you as an individual, not as an object.
If the attacker is unarmed, you may be able to scare, distract or injure the person enough to make your escape.
---------------------------------------------------------
1. Scream "FIRE," "POLICE," or create a disturbance that will attract attention.
2. Assert yourself and fight back if you can do so safely.
3. Break away and run toward areas with people.
4. Be observant so that you will be able to remember and identify the assailant.
5. Report the incident to the police as soon as possible.
Checklist for Victims of Sexual Assault
-----------------------------------------
You may want to call the Rape Crisis Line for instructions and support.
1. Report the crime immediately to the police.
2. Do not shower, douche, or change clothing.
3. Have a medical exam and internal gynecological exam as soon as possible. A delay in time may destroy evidence.
a) Semen smears must be taken by a clinician.
b) Inform clinician of exact acts committed upon you and have the clinician note any medical
evidence of them.
c) Clinician should note any bruises or injuries bleeding, lacerations, etc.) external or internal.
d) Have clinician test for venereal diseases (and pregnancy later, if relevant).
4. Do not disturb the scene of the assault.
5. Inform police of all details of attack, however intimate, and of anything unusual you may have
noted about the attacker. Remember what the person said and how it was said. It may lead to
the arrest of the assailant.
6. Show police any external bruises or injuries, however minor, resulting from the attack.
7. Police may request your clothes for purpose of evidence.
8. Inform the police if you remember anything that was not previously reported.
This was prepared by
------------------------------
Dean of Students Office for Women's Resources and Services
McKinley Health Education Dept.
University Police
University of Illinois
Framed for child porn -- by a PC virus
By Jordan Robertson, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.
Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses - the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen.
Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.
Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer - and might not realize it until police knock at your door.
An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence.
Their situations are complicated by the fact that actual pedophiles often blame viruses - a defence rightfully viewed with skepticism by law enforcement.
"It's an example of the old 'dog ate my homework' excuse," says Phil Malone, director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The problem is, sometimes the dog does eat your homework."
The AP's investigation included interviewing people who had been found with child porn on their computers. The AP reviewed court records and spoke to prosecutors, police and computer examiners.
One case involved Michael Fiola, a former investigator with the Massachusetts agency that oversees workers' compensation.
In 2007, Fiola's bosses became suspicious after the Internet bill for his state-issued laptop showed that he used 4 1/2 times more data than his colleagues. A technician found child porn in the PC folder that stores images viewed online.
Fiola was fired and charged with possession of child pornography, which carries up to five years in prison. He endured death threats, his car tires were slashed and he was shunned by friends.
Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees. They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their car.
An inspection for his defense revealed the laptop was severely infected. It was programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute - an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half.
Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped - 11 months after it was filed.
The Fiolas say they have health problems from the stress of the case. They say they've talked to dozens of lawyers but can't get one to sue the state, because of a cap on the amount they can recover.
"It ruined my life, my wife's life and my family's life," he says.
The Massachusetts attorney general's office, which charged Fiola, declined interview requests.
At any moment, about 20 million of the estimated 1 billion Internet-connected PCs worldwide are infected with viruses that could give hackers full control, according to security software maker F-Secure Corp. Computers often get infected when people open e-mail attachments from unknown sources or visit a malicious Web page.
Pedophiles can tap viruses in several ways. The simplest is to force someone else's computer to surf child porn sites, collecting images along the way. Or a computer can be made into a warehouse for pictures and videos that can be viewed remotely when the PC is online.
"They're kind of like locusts that descend on a cornfield: They eat up everything in sight and they move on to the next cornfield," says Eric Goldman, academic director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. Goldman has represented Web companies that discovered child pornographers were abusing their legitimate services.
But pedophiles need not be involved: Child porn can land on a computer in a sick prank or an attempt to frame the PC's owner.
In the first publicly known cases of individuals being victimized, two men in the United Kingdom were cleared in 2003 after viruses were shown to have been responsible for the child porn on their PCs.
In one case, an infected e-mail or pop-up ad poisoned a defense contractor's PC and downloaded the offensive pictures.
In the other, a virus changed the home page on a man's Web browser to display child porn, a discovery made by his 7-year-old daughter. The man spent more than a week in jail and three months in a halfway house, and lost custody of his daughter.
Chris Watts, a computer examiner in Britain, says he helped clear a hotel manager whose co-workers found child porn on the PC they shared with him.
Watts found that while surfing the Internet for ways to play computer games without paying for them, the manager had visited a site for pirated software. It redirected visitors to child porn sites if they were inactive for a certain period.
In all these cases, the central evidence wasn't in dispute: Pornography was on a computer. But proving how it got there was difficult.
Tami Loehrs, who inspected Fiola's computer, recalls a case in Arizona in which a computer was so "extensively infected" that it would be "virtually impossible" to prove what an indictment alleged: that a 16-year-old who used the PC had uploaded child pornography to a Yahoo group.
Prosecutors dropped the charge and let the boy plead guilty to a separate crime that kept him out of jail, though they say they did it only because of his age and lack of a criminal record.
Many prosecutors say blaming a computer virus for child porn is a new version of an old ploy.
"We call it the SODDI defense: Some Other Dude Did It," says James Anderson, a federal prosecutor in Wyoming.
However, forensic examiners say it would be hard for a pedophile to get away with his crime by using a bogus virus defense.
"I personally would feel more comfortable investing my retirement in the lottery before trying to defend myself with that," says forensics specialist Jeff Fischbach.
Even careful child porn collectors tend to leave incriminating e-mails, DVDs or other clues. Virus defenses are no match for such evidence, says Damon King, trial attorney for the U.S. Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
But while the virus defense does not appear to be letting real pedophiles out of trouble, there have been cases in which forensic examiners insist that legitimate claims did not get completely aired.
Loehrs points to Ned Solon of Casper, Wyo., who is serving six years for child porn found in a folder used by a file-sharing program on his computer.
Solon admits he used the program to download video games and adult porn - but not child porn. So what could explain that material?
Loehrs testified that Solon's antivirus software wasn't working properly and appeared to have shut off for long stretches, a sign of an infection. She found no evidence the five child porn videos on Solon's computer had been viewed or downloaded fully. The porn was in a folder the file-sharing program labeled as "incomplete" because the downloads were canceled or generated an error.
This defense was curtailed, however, when Loehrs ended her investigation in a dispute with the judge over her fees. Computer exams can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Defendants can ask the courts to pay, but sometimes judges balk at the price. Although Loehrs stopped working for Solon, she argues he is innocent.
"I don't think it was him, I really don't," Loehrs says. "There was too much evidence that it wasn't him."
The prosecution's forensics expert, Randy Huff, maintains that Solon's antivirus software was working properly. And he says he ran other antivirus programs on the computer and didn't find an infection - although security experts say antivirus scans frequently miss things.
"He actually had a very clean computer compared to some of the other cases I do," Huff says.
The jury took two hours to convict Solon.
"Everybody feels they're innocent in prison. Nobody believes me because that's what everybody says," says Solon, whose case is being appealed. "All I know is I did not do it. I never put the stuff on there. I never saw the stuff on there. I can only hope that someday the truth will come out."
But can it? It can be impossible to tell with certainty how a file got onto a PC.
"Computers are not to be trusted," says Jeremiah Grossman, founder of WhiteHat Security Inc. He describes it as "painfully simple" to get a computer to download something the owner doesn't want - whether it's a program that displays ads or one that stores illegal pictures.
It's possible, Grossman says, that more illicit material is waiting to be discovered.
"Just because it's there doesn't mean the person intended for it to be there - whatever it is, child porn included."
Prosecutor not malicious in pressing satanic sex-abuse case: Supreme Court
November 6, 2009, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - The Crown attorney who pressed a controversial satanic sex-abuse case against two foster parent families in Saskatchewan did not act maliciously, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled.
In a 7-0 decision Friday, the court erased a malicious prosecution finding against Matthew Miazga. Miazga, police officer Brian Dueck, and child therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys were all accused of malice in the 1991 case against the Klassen and Kvelo families based on complaints from three children.
The children told police that they had been sexually abused and forced into satanic rituals including the mutilation and killing of animals, dismemberment of babies and drinking of human blood.
The charges were all stayed after the children admitted to making up the accusations.
The families sued for malicious prosecution and won.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal later threw out the case against Bunko-Ruys, but found Miazga and Dueck liable.
Dueck didn't appeal; Miazga did.
Justice Louise Charron, writing for the Supreme Court, said a finding of malice must meet a four-point test and the case against Miazga fell short.
She sympathized with the accused foster parents, but ruled for the prosecutor.
"There is no question that the respondents were the victims of a clear miscarriage of justice which undoubtedly had a devastating effect on their lives," she wrote.
"Especially in the absence of an acquittal, it is often difficult for people wrongly accused of such crimes to fully regain their positions in society and free themselves from the stigma and trauma of those false allegations.
"The fact that we now know that the children's allegations of sexual abuse were false, however, does not provide the answer to whether the respondents' action in malicious prosecution against the Crown prosecutor can succeed."
She said the case against Miazga didn't hold up
"It is my view that there is no evidence to support a finding of malice or improper purpose.
"In light of the respondents' failure to prove malice, it is not necessary to determine whether there was a lack of reasonable and probable grounds to proceed at the time Miazga initiated the prosecution more than 18 years ago.
"Given that the children's allegations are now known to have been false, no useful purpose would be served by revisiting 'the facts' as they appeared at that time."
In 2004, the Saskatchewan government paid the plaintiffs in the malicious prosecution suit $2.46 million in a settlement while withholding some additional money pending the outcome of the legal process.
Justice Charron said the sex abuse accusations had to be put in the context of the early 1990s.
At the time, the rules of evidence had changed, eliminating the requirement for corroboration of unsworn evidence of children.
"There was also a prevailing and pervasive doctrine, now debunked but popular among child psychologists at the time, that 'children don't lie' about abuse."
Swedish model could inspire Turkey to combat trafficking
Interesting Article by FULYA ÖZERKAN STOCKHOLM – Hürriyet Daily News
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Swedish model focuses on demand as the key to ending trafficking and prostitution and makes the purchase of sexual services illegal while decriminalizing selling sex. Officials say the controversial legislation, in force since 1999, has dealt a severe blow to the modern slave trade
The Swedish model of zero tolerance for buying sexual services could become a source of inspiration for Turkey, which is both a transit and destination country for trafficked women.
Most of the trafficked women in Turkey are brought from Moldova and Ukraine on false promises and end up in prostitution at the hands of organized crime rings.
The Swedish government has been lobbying at the international level to promote its unique model focused on demand rather than supply as an instrument to fight prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes. Swedish officials say the controversial legislation, in force since 1999, has dealt a severe blow to the modern slave trade.
“Fewer Swedish men buy sex than 10 years ago, according to last year’s research. Other Nordic countries are more affected than Sweden, which is a bad market for trafficking because prostitution is not legal here,” detective inspector Kajsa Wahlberg of the Swedish National Police Board told a small group of journalists in Stockholm.
Wahlberg is national rapporteur to the Swedish government on trafficking as recommended by the European Union.
Since 1999, buying sex in Sweden has been a criminal offense and is forbidden on penalty of a fine or up to six months’ imprisonment. Selling sexual services, on the other hand, is not a crime.
Foreigners in prostitution
The victims of human trafficking for sexual purposes are primarily women and girls, and studies show it is mostly men who purchase sexual services. According to Wahlberg, women in prostitution in Sweden are mostly foreigners from Eastern European countries.
“An estimated 1,000 native Swedish women are currently in prostitution; that figure stood at 2,500 in 1998, before the law was enacted,” she said. “Today we are mostly connected with foreign women as traffickers benefit from visa abolitions and easy travel in the Shengen area after the EU enlargement.”
In cases that resulted in convictions in 2006, the perpetrators mainly recruited girls and women from Estonia, Russia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. Others were from Thailand, Poland, Nigeria, Kenya and the Czech Republic.
After the law passed in Sweden, in defiance of the opposition, Norway and Iceland adopted similar measures to curb prostitution and trafficking for sexual purposes. Lithuania follows a half-Swedish model where it is illegal to both buy and sell sexual services.
“I think more countries will change their legislation. There are ongoing discussions in Baltic countries,” said Jenny Sonesson, the foreign policy advisor for the Liberal Party, which is part of the governing coalition in Sweden. “If you fight organized crime, you must fight prostitution and the law is a barrier against the establishment of organized cross-border prostitution rings.”
Even an attempt is illegal
Sonesson said the Swedish police, who were against the legislation 10 years ago, now support it after having seen the results. Her Liberal Party, which voted down the law at the time, today supports it, as does 70 percent of the population plus all seven political parties in the 249-member Riksdag, or parliament.
“Even an attempt to buy sex is a reason for prosecution under the Swedish law. Civilian and female police are on watch,” said Patrik Cederlöf, national coordinator against prostitution and trafficking.
In 2008, the Swedish government adopted an action plan for combating prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes, calling for increased national and international cooperation.
“We don’t have enough tools due to open borders. We are seeing a surge in the number of trafficking cases. Today a lot of people move in the Shengen area and we need cooperation at an international level,” said Cederlöf, describing the action plan as a road map outlining how Sweden wants to work against this international phenomenon.
The plan also calls for protection of the victims, who are provided with ad hoc permits to stay in Sweden while the investigation continues. The cost is covered by state funds.
The Swedish government will be investing 213 million Swedish Krona until December 2010. The government will decide whether to continue implementing the program after it is submitted to the parliament in 2011.
What about Turkey?
According to the Swedish model, focusing on demand is the key to ending trafficking and prostitution. This is different from the Turkish system, in which prostitution is legal and regulated. Prostitutes must register and acquire an ID card stating the dates of their health checks, but most sex workers are unregistered, working in violation of the law.
The country straddling East and West is cited a top destination for mostly female victims of human trafficking in international reports. Turkey established a toll-free “157” hotline in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, a Geneva-based organization, to help rescue the victims, especially foreigners from such countries as Moldova and Russia.
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=swedish-model-could-inspire-turkey-to-combat-prostitution-2009-11-01
