"It's very surprising when you have an adolescent performing this. Whether it is an adult or a child, it's appalling."
"Human
trafficking is such a psychologically and physically violent offence. I
think it's one of the most harmful offences that's being perpetrated
because of the trauma that survivors endure, sometimes for months or
years."
"There
is a demand. There is an interest in the community for people wanting
to have sex with children. We are doing proactive initiatives to
prevent that."
"It
takes a lot of guts for victims to come forward. We want them to come
forward. They don't necessarily have to come forward to police, but
talking to social services and getting themselves out of the place
they've found themselves."
"Traffickers
are using social media, like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, to
communicate with young people to engage them and then offer
opportunities to meet. And once they meet, they groom them."
"They
provide them with gifts, they shower them with compliments, make them
feel good about themselves and show them the good life."
"Then
things change. The trafficker might say 'you owe me, and you have to do
this to pay it back', or they might say, 'hey, can you do me this
favour because I've been so good to you? And the favour might be to have
sex with an older person for money."
"It
is very much a psychological offence. They don't understand what they
are getting themselves into. they think they're getting into a
relationship with someone who loves them, but unfortunately, it is not
true."
Det.-Sgt. Bob Hackenbrook, Peel Police Service Vice and Human Trafficking Unit
This
is happening. And what is happening is not a reflection of what could
be identified as 'Canadian values' in the sense that this type of social
offence is not a common ingredient of the conventional Canadian psyche.
It is also not a common occurrence within Canadian society. While
predators exist everywhere that psychopaths can be found, the practise
of stalking, grooming and trafficking young girls is a fairly recent
phenomenon. And it is one that has a definite cultural background with
racial dimensions.
The men in northern England were sentenced
to jail terms from 12 to 35 years after sexually abusing and raping two
girls from the age of 13. AP Photo
Grooming
gangs are a common phenomenon in Britain, for example. Their prevalence
and their tactics, their countless victims forced into the sex trade by
unscrupulous monsters are acknowledged. Yet very little police action
has taken place and the reason that this occurs is simple enough; an
unwillingness to confront the traffickers for fear of risk of being
called out for racism. And that would be because this is a favoured
tactic of 'racialized' people, for some of whom the practise has become
business as usual.
Mohammed Shahzad, Mushtaq Ahmed and Kasir Bashir denied the offence charges brought against them in Britain GMP/BBC
In
the Toronto-area Peel Region, a 15-year-old boy has been accused of
operating a child sex trafficking operation in and about the Toronto
Metropolitan area, with girls as young as 11 years of age. Also arrested
were three customers who Peel Regional Police have taken into custody
to face sex charges. The police investigation revealed that girls aged
11 to 14 had been trafficked and sexually exploited.
The
suspects made use of coercion, manipulation and physical violence
threats to influence and control the victims where violations of their
human rights resulted in financial benefits to their exploiters. Peel
Police found 32 victims under the age of 15, victimized through sex
trafficking since 2022. Interest in child sexual abuse is a real and
dangerous problem in Canadian communities, pointed out Det.-Sgt. Bob
Hackenbrook, in charge of the Human Trafficking Unit.
In
an undercover operation last year dubbed project Juno,Peel police
posted an advertisement offering sex with an underage teen that resulted
in investigators facing a flood of eager calls amounting to an average
of 100 such calls daily for several weeks. Police made 35 arrests on
that occasion, on charges of communications for the purpose of having
sex with a person under 18, by the time the operation was shut down.
Peel has the highest percentage of racialized people in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
69% of people in Peel identify with a racialized group.
By comparison, just 34% of Ontarians and 27% of Canadians overall identify with a racialized group.
Since 2006, the racialized population in Peel increased 72%.
"The demographics were astounding"
said Officer Hackenbrook. From several Ontario cities and towns,
businessmen, students, construction workers, retirees and a college
teacher were among those responding. "It
was very alarming. And a lot them were married, so their families got a
rude awakening when they went to bail court the next day."
The
15-year-old male offender in the current arrest, cannot be identified
by law due to his age, despite that he is charged with two counts of
trafficking in persons under age 18, three counts of procuring a person
under age 18, two counts of receiving a benefit from human trafficking,
two counts of material benefit from sexual services by a person under
age 18, and three counts of exercise control, direction, or influence.
Three
of his clients, Mohamad Omar Al-Saleh, 21, from Toronto, Mustafa Abdo
22, from Toronto, and Yousif Al-Gburi, 20 from Mississauga, each stand
charged with sexual assault of a female under age 16, sexual
interference, and obtaining sexual services of a person under the age of
18 for consideration. It is the minor who recruited/induced young girls
into the sex trade, profiting from them, while the adult males were
clients whose indecent contact violated the young girls' human rights.
Mohamad Omar Al-Saleh, 21, from
Toronto; Mustafa Abdo, 22, from Toronto; and Yousif Al-Gburi, 20, from
Mississauga have all been arrested and charged in connection with a
human trafficking investigation. (Peel Regional Police handouts)
Photographs
of the three adults were released by police, but the Youth Criminal
Justice Act forbids identifying a minor charged with a crime, leaving
name and likeness out of the public eye. One of the young victims two
years earlier had reached out for help, leading police to open an
investigation. That there are additional victims seems likely to
investigators who have reached out to anyone with information to contact
police.
Part
of the modus operandi of these human smuggling operatives is to move
their victims frequently to other locales, and to keep them from having
any contact with friends and family. The situation of the growing
prevalence of sexual predators and their abused victims has impelled
Peel Police to host a provincial human trafficking symposium with the
expectation that survivors, victim services providers, police, justice
and social services officials, and politicians across Ontario will
attend to discuss experiences and help to coordinate greater efforts to
disrupt human trafficking.
There is in fact, a toll-free, around-the-clock Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-833-900-1010
"Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served." "I hope the authorities will pursue and prosecute his accomplices and enablers, and ensure redress for his victims." "We
have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives,
while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed,
the pain and trauma he caused so many people." Jennifer Araoz, rape victim
Jeffrey Epstein pictured with US President Donald Trump in 1997
Getty Images
"[It
is] an undisputed fact that multiple witnesses deposed in this case
[have testified that Maxwell, daughter of the late British publisher
Robert Maxwell] operated as convicted pedophile Epstein's procurer of
underage girls." Court-released documents
"I
didn't know who he was. And so when I saw the tag that said Prince
Andrew, then it clicked. I'm like, that's who it is. And we went down --
back down to the living room, and she [Maxwell] brought it [inflated
puppet of the Duke] in. It was just funny because -- he thought it was
funny because it was him." "I
sat on Andrew's lap, and I believe on my own volition, and they took
the puppet's hands and put it on Virginia's [Giuffre] breast, and so
Andrew put his on mine." Johanna Sjoberg, witness
Prince Andrew, left, seen with Jeffrey Epstein in New York News Syndication
"Today's
events [news of the suicide-while-on-suicide-watch in prison] are
disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet
another hurdle to giving Epstein's many victims their day in court." "To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the
many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain
committed to standing with you, and our investigation of the conduct
charged in the indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains
ongoing." Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney, Manhattan
Sexual predator, lover of underage girls, party man with connections to
high society, the political elite, royalty, Jeffrey Epstein, 66, will
not face trial after all. He had much to answer for, and his multitude
of victims, many of them in their mid- to late-teens when they were
recruited by him with the assistance of Ghislaine Maxwell, British
Socialite, former girlfriend of the disgraced billionaire, to service
his appetite for under-age sex, are denied the satisfaction of seeing
him sentenced to a long stretch of prison.
His evident choice of the long dark night of death has deprived them of
that, and they find little joy in knowing he chose death over the
revelations to come. On the other hand, much has been revealed in their
joint depositions of 2,000 pages of documentation representing lurid
details of this man's abuse of teen-age girls. He was well aware that he
could be imprisoned for the rest of his natural life. This time,
forever. He knew the denouement was due and he dreaded time in prison
again.
Which didn't stop him from abusing dozens of girls at his palatial homes
in Manhattan and Palm Beach. The strength of his addiction, one he
generously shared with friends. Many of whom didn't mind his company at
the time, but have good reason to cringe now that their names have been
openly linked with his in everlasting public shame and notoriety. But he
was found hanging in his cell, and died subsequently. The mystery being
how could that happen since he was on suicide watch? "We
are enormously sorry to learn of today's news. No one should die in
jail. We cannot confirm rumours as to his cause of death, and we trust
that the United States Attorney's Office and the United States Marshalls
will thoroughly investigate the circumstances of today's tragedy",
stated his lawyers. And they will. And nothing will be found to
incriminate any one else as being an accomplice enabling his suicide, or
darker yet, machinations to ensure his death as a silencing technique.
After all, he kept quite interesting company. Or perhaps more accurately
put, interesting people kept him company in his pursuit of sexual
gratification at the expense of his victims. Celebrities, politicians,
socialites. Quite a varied lot, too. From former president Bill Clinton
to current President Donald Trump, both known for their lack of
discretion and penchant for illicit female flesh. While they never made
the grade as official sex offenders as Epstein did, their choices speak
for themselves.
He trafficked the girls and they enjoyed sharing the privilege of
abusing them. Oh, and Andrew, the Duke of York. New Mexico Governor Bill
Richardson, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, and heavens, Harvard
law professor Alan Dershowitz. They can, of course, claim they merely
attended some of his lavish dinners, not the sex parties. Which would
still, given how widely he was known as a sex addict and offender, and
previous charges, question the quality of the company they chose to
keep.
In fact, a good many men of good reputation, as academics, scientists
and others with popular social media followings because of their high
profiles academically, socially, politically, often responded to
Epstein's invitations to meet and mingle at sumptuous dinner parties
where wine and conversation flowed. All now grimed by their association,
however remote, and in some cases, close, to this man whose death is no
tragedy. It is his life that brought tragedy to others.
"This relates to proceedings in the U.S., to which the Duke of York is not a party." "Any suggestion of impropriety with minors is categorically untrue." Buckingham Palace
“Justice
demands that those who acted with him also be held accountable,” said
David Boies, left, a lawyer who represents the women who said they were
victims of Mr. Epstein. Standing at background left is Annie Farmer;
background third left is Courtney Wild, two of Epstein's accusers. Credit: Richard Drew/Associated Press
"I have no desire to talk about Epstein right now." "The stuff I'm reading about him in the papers is pretty disturbing and goes way beyond what I thought his misdoings and kinks were." "Yech!" Ben Goertzel, vice-chairman, Humanity Plus
"Everyone speculated about whether these scientists were more interested in his views or more interested in his money." Alan M. Dershowitz, professor emeritus of law, Harvard
"President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible
crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or
those with which he has been recently charged in New York."
"In 2002
and 2003, President Clinton took a total of four trips on Jeffrey
Epstein’s airplane: one to Europe, one to Asia, and two to Africa, which
included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation."
Clinton spokesperson
Jeffrey Epstein Manhattan Townhouse
"He has a mural on the terrace, the whole length of the building, of a
prison yard with barbed wire and guard towers."
"The inmates are out
exercising, and he pointed to one and said, ‘That’s me. That’s to remind
myself that I could go back there."
R. Couri Hay, a publicist
He's back there. The wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking of underage girls. A man who moved in very elite, socially elevated, politically powerful circles. A friend and acquaintance of Bill Clinton, of Donald Trump for starters. A relationship with Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth's youngest son. But it would seem he particularly cultivated well-known scientists, leaders in their fields of scientific discovery. He had his own pet theories and they mostly revolved around genetic engineering.
To say this man was an oddball is to minimize understatement. He aspired to scatter his personal DNA as far as he could, no doubt in the belief that he was vastly superior in intellect to most others of his ilk, and that it would improve humankind greatly to have his genetic endowments liberally spread about. He even went so far as to confide to some of the scientists who attended his galas of his future plans.
He was interested in what is known as transhumanism; improving the human population through technologies such as genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. Nazi Germany was also heavily invested in eugenics and we know the result of that; first they would rid the world of the pestilence of Jews, then the heroic Teutonic Aryan strain of humanity would conquer the world, enslaving lesser humans and the thousand-year Reich would commence.
The man gained great wealth and used it to impress and to influence political leaders and academics of acclaim to his side. He surrounded himself by an elite scientific community, using his wealth to fund projects, ingratiating himself with prominent scientists, even Nobel Laureates. One can be a brilliant intellectual, it would seem, and still be impressed by the power of lucre, allowing oneself to become a person-judging simpleton in the process.
Even Stephen Hawking, Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks and many others too numerous in their gilded acclaim to overlook, attended his salon. Financing pet projects goes a long way to persuading people you're worthwhile, even if, as a decent human being you are not, by the evidence available. The dinner parties at his Manhattan residence saw expensive wines freely flowing for the guests while the host abstained.
He helped finance Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics with a $6.5 million donation, and that's impressive. He set up conferences in the U.S.Virgin Islands, flying guests to his private island. On one occasion a submarine brought his guests to one of the conferences held there, including Stephen Hawking; discernment of character obviously set aside, with his eyes perpetually turned to the skies.
Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker attended one of those salons held by a man whom Pinker described later as an "intellectual imposter". "He would abruptly change the subject, ADD-style, dismiss an observation with an adolescent wise-crack." Evidently Professor Pinker had his number, which failed to impress many of his colleagues who viewed Epstein as brilliant.
His New Mexico ranch, scientist-friends of Epstein were informed by him, was to be a base where women would give birth to his babies. His goal, it appears, was to have twenty women at a time impregnated at the 33,000 square-foot Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe so his dream of his genes dominating a proportion of the world order might commence....
An aerial view of Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico in July. Photo: Reuters
"We want justice. Our girls must grow up safely and with dignity." "We protest any forms of violence against women, and authorities must ensure justice." Alisha Pradhan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
An 18-year-old student of an Islamist madrassa, Nusrat Jahan Rafi, convinced her family to agree to allow her to launch a complaint with police, that the principal of the madrassa had called her into his office and there had taken the liberty to touch her repeatedly, sexually, 'inappropriately'. Her family was prepared to assist her in the filing of her complaint with police. Police responded by arresting the principal.
When Rafi reported the assault on March 27 a video recorded the local police chief while registering her complaint, informing her that the incident was "not a big deal".
Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her school
in Bangladesh. Less than two weeks earlier, she had filed a sexual
harassment complaint against her headmaster. Family handout
The arrested principal, a man of influence, was infuriated as were his supporters while influential local politicians gave their support to the man. 17 people were eventually arrested as the complaint resulted in a lethal vengeance attack. Interrogations revealed that the principal while in prison ordered that Rafi be attacked, an attack that should take place during the day, with an effort made to make it appear as though she had committed suicide.
Her family informed Human Rights Watch that they had received death threats warning them to drop the case against the principal. Rafi informed her family she had been lured to the roof of her school in the town of Feni on April 6, and there she was ordered by five people wearing burqas to withdraw sexual harassment charges against the principal. She refused. Her hands were tied. She was doused in kerosene and set afire.
Huge crowds gathered in Nusrat's hometown for her funeral Shahadat Hossain
She spoke to her brother while in an ambulance on the way to hospital. He recorded her testimony on his mobile phone. Four days later in a Dhaka hospital, the burns covering 80 percent of her body took her life. A violence that has moved Bangladesh to protests, with concerns over the plight of women and girls in a Muslim nation of 160 million people.
Sexual harassment and violence more frequently go unreported. Victims of sexual violence are intimidated. The legal process they are subjected to in their attempts to seek justice is lengthy and not guaranteed to bring justice. The police chief who registered Rafi's complaint was later removed for negligence in her case. In most instances social stigma restrains women from lodging complaints.
Rafi's family met in Dhaka with Prime Minister Sheikh Hassina who promised that those responsible for her daughter's death would be punished. It no doubt helped that tens of thousands of people attended Rafi's funeral prayers in Feni. According to Banaj Kumar Majunder, head of the Police Bureau of Investigation, the 17 people arrested in connection with the case included ruling party members.
Protests have been held in Dhaka and in Feni - Nusrat's hometown NurPhoto/Getty Images
Pope Francis will attend the summit. Photograph: Luca Zennaro/EPA
"The holy people of God looks to us and expects from us not simple and predictable condemnations, but concrete and effective measures to be undertaken." "Hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice." "May the Virgin Mary enlighten us as we seek to heal the grave wounds that the scandal of pedophilia has caused [in both children and believers]." Pope Francis,Vatican City
"You are the physicians of the soul and yet, with rare exceptions, you have been transformed into murderers of the soul." "What a terrible contradiction." Victim of predatory priests statement "The first thing they did was to treat me as a liar, turn their backs and tell me that I, and others, were enemies of the church." "This pattern exists not only in Chile. It exists all over the world, and this must end." Victim of predatory priests statement
Victims
of clergy abuse representing several countries from the Ending Clergy
Abuse (ECA) organization demonstrate in Rome on Friday. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)
"The competence of the state authorities should be respected. [Abuse] is also a crime in all civil jurisdictions." "[When allegations are received they should be investigated] with the help of experts." "The competence of the state authorities should be respected." "Reporting laws should be followed carefully. And a spirit of collaboration will benefit both the church and society in general." Archbishop Charles Sciciuna, Malta, Vatican sex crimes investigator
Close to two hundred bishops, cardinals and heads of religious orders in the Holy Catholic Church are attending a four-day meeting representing a gathering of the world's leading bishops for the purpose of discussing the Catholic Church's problem with clergy abusing parishioners, betraying the trust of children and their families, raping young believers, in effect blind-siding their respect by victimizing them and blemishing their futures. Women among the faithful, including nuns, trusting and vulnerable just as the children, exploited and raped.
A story as old and familiar as the church itself. Whispered and retold endlessly. The good priests and the bad, and how to tell them apart, how to know that a priest who had earned community respect and trust had corrupted that trust and the faith placed in him? Rumours spread and the community feels helpless. If complaints are laid, the complainant is made to feel guilty for smearing the church with unfounded claims. If the priest's predations are too obvious and frequent, he is merely moved elsewhere.
The church closes in to protect its own. A parish listens to a sermon about the evils of bearing false witness. There is shame to spare and furtive despair. On occasion the situation is turned into a bleak comedy of black humour and discreet warning whom to avoid, whose presence to never tolerate, but never, ever expose oneself to ridicule and shame. Until, finally, the chorus of plaintive calls for an end to the emotional and physical carnage could no longer be ignored.
Until, finally, public authorities dared to become involved and the justice that claims to be there for everyone decides to honour its claim. And the church is astonished and defiant that any outside authority might have the unmitigated gall to question its capacity to regulate itself, to hold to account any within who might bring infamy to an institution that does only good in the world, caring for the world community as a father would a child. A father ensnaring his children in incestuous relations.
Pope Francis issued a list of "reflection points" to be considered by the assembled on the first day of the summit meant to respond to sex abuse scandals around the world, by those within the Catholic Church. The conference, the first of its kind, places a spotlight on the Vatican. But the faithful are by now so weary and wary they give it short shrift. The church's decades-long effort to curb the abuse it could no longer ignore has wrought damage everywhere within its sacred confines, extending to the Pope himself.
Secure in the expectation that scandals will erupt in areas of the world where none have yet publicly surfaced, the Pope has urged bishops from every corner of the globe to examine the issue, to commit to its eradication, denials no longer feasible. Of 21 points Pope Francis assembled, the first speaks for drawing up "a practical handbook indicating the steps to be taken by authorities at key moments when a case emerges".
"A handbook like this was drawn up in Canada back in 1992. So after twenty-five years, this is not new. These seem to be platitudes", remarked Bernadette Howell, an abuse victim originally from Ireland, now resident in Canada. "It's too vague, What counts would be zero tolerance, written into Church law", commented Peter Isely, the head of survivors' group Ending Clergy Abuse.
Then, another suggestion from Pope Francis, that "priests and bishops guilty of sexual abuse of minors leave public ministry". A nostrum. A reaction and remedy that should logically have been in effect since the very beginning of public ministry. Instead of the shrug and the wink that was the church's ready response to all such instances of failure to act with honour and probity.
The Vatican has sought to downplay expectations over the four-day meeting, which begins on Thursday.
Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP
Sexual Violence in the Peoples' Republic of North Korea
"Having sex with men who have power over you, or letting them touch all over your body is a necessity to survive." "It never occurred to me that I could or would want to do anything about it. It was just how things are." 20-year-old former North Korean trader
"Market guards or police officials would ask me to follow them to an empty room outside the market, or some other place they'd pick." "They consider us toys." 40-year-old former North Korean trader
"Corruption is so rampant that anybody without power has no choice." "Traders like my wife have to accept that sexual coercion is part of social and market dynamics. It is the only way to survive." "I know what I know, but we don't talk about it." Husband of 40-year-old former trader
"Every night, some woman would be forced to leave with a guard and be raped." "Click, click, click was the most horrible sound I ever heard. It was the sound of the key of the cell of our prison room opening." 30-year-old former North Korean trader
Women in the sitting position in a pre-trial detention facility run by
the police. The report alleges that detainees are commonly forced to
assume this position in pre-trial detention and temporary holding
facilities.
Close to 38 percent of 1,125 North Korean defectors in a 2014 survey conducted by the South Korean Institute for National Unification stated that in their experience sexual harassment and rape were "common" incidents in North Korean holding centers and prisons. Of that total thirty-three woman stated that they had been raped while confined there. Woman who enter China illegally in search of work or to smuggle goods are vulnerable when they are caught and repatriated.
Back in North Korea they are placed in these holding centers and prisons where their exposure to abuse and violence is widespread. Woman rarely reported such instances as crimes, fearing reprisal. They were also loathe to admit they were victims of sexual violence and rape because of North Korean society's widespread stigma in which rape victims are held. And the atmosphere where coerced sex is so common men think nothing of their actions other than their entitlement to take what they want.
The North Korean economic conditions meant that people were forced to find a means of making a living wherever and however they could. In 2011 Kim Jong-un relaxed restrictions on markets and this is where mostly female North Koreans were finally able to engage in hopes of making a living. In so doing they also became victims of male officials extorting bribes and demanding sex favours. A new report by Human Rights Watch has brought attention to this little-known social condition.
A female trader gives a bribe to a market supervisor in an alley near
the market. The report describes how female traders offer bribes in
order to avoid potential harassment.
Human Rights Watch undertook to interview 29 women who had managed to leave North Korea following the advent of Kim Jong-un's assumption of power in the Peoples' Republic. The women agreed they would be amenable to discussing the abuse they had suffered with the proviso that pseudonyms were used, to avoid identifying them in fear of their families still living in North Korea being persecuted as a result of their revelations.
The famine of the 1990s saw 32,000 North Koreans fleeing to South Korea, mostly women and many have reported the widespread sexual violence that prevails there. A United Nations commission had documented systemic human rights violations in the North in 2014, violations that included sexual violence. The current report issued by Human Rights Watch validated those findings which focused exclusively on sexual abuse by men in position of authority.
The 20-year-old former trader, in her testimony described having been sexually assaulted on several occasions by police officials and train inspectors between 2010 and 2014, when she managed to flee the North. Women gave no thought to resisting these aggressive overtures since the alternative would mean loss of their main source of income, jeopardizing the survival of their families. Should they have resisted, the officials would declare the women's travel and trading illegal, confiscate their goods and send them to prison.
"The idea that sexual violence is wrong, that it would not be my fault, that some 'law person' could be there to try to protect me could have never even occurred to me while living in North Korea." Former North Korean trader
Male government officials and female traders sit in a railway carriage,
while a railroad officer checks a female trader's ticket. The report
alleges that in railway carriages, women often face harassment by male
government officials and railroad officers.
"[Its] basic flaw ... has always exempted the bishops [from independent oversight. The fundamental need is to answer the question as to how Archbishop McCarrick and others rose in their ecclesiastical careers when troubling facts regarding sexual abuse were known by the hierarchy which promoted them." "We asked how many trials have you done on the accused priests. Scicluna said he was getting empty files from bishops. They didn't want to release information to the Holy See because they feared subpoena power [from lawyers representing victims]. Bob [Bennett] told Scichluna to tell them to send the files, they'll get a subpoena anyway." "Where are we today? At the same place. We know what we suspected then, but it's now affirmed: we cannot trust the hierarchy of the Catholic Church." Judge Anne Burke, Chicago, Illinois Supreme Court Justice
"What he's [Pope Francis] got to be seen to be doing is pushing for a very rigorous policy. Can he do that if he himself has not been as diligent, to say the least, as he should be?" "It's too early to say, but just looking at the case, it looks very bad. It seems like a violation -- is he the guy [Cardinal Daniel DiNardo] who should be leading at this point?" David Gibson, director, Center on Religion and Culture, Catholic university Fordham
"We shared with Pope Francis our situation in the United States -- how the Body of Christ is lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse. He listened very deeply from the heart." ". . . It was a lengthy, fruitful, and good exchange." Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Galveston-Houston, president, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Pope Francis meets with officials representing the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops at the Vatican Sept. 13. Pictured from left are
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, vice president of the
conference, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president
of conference, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston, president of the
Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and Msgr. J. Brian
Bransfield, general secretary of the conference. (CNS photo/Vatican
Media)
Cardinal DiNaro stands accused of mishandling the case of the Reverend Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, arrested in Conroe, Texas earlier in September on four counts of indecency with a child. According to police, La Rosa-Lopez fondled two teens while a priest at a Conroe church. He was engaged at another church in Richmond Texas, as their priest, at the time of his arrest. So much for the church cleansing itself of its habit of overlooking the priestly-celibate-behaviour of its clerics in their abuse of parishioners.
The meeting with Pope Francis to discuss the crisis of sexual abuse with the leaders of American Catholics was a friendly affair, smiles and graciousness all around. That Cardinal DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was accused of yet again covering up actions of an abusing priest in his archdiocese was simply business as usual. Yet there were some among the lower-echelon clerics who impudently asked whether, under those circumstances, DiNardo was the right man to head such reforms.
The summer of 2018 saw one cardinal resign and another stating he might just do the same. Yet another bishop was removed by Pope Francis from ministry; Michael J. Bransfield of West Virginia now faces a church investigation on charges of sexual harassment. While the meeting between Pope Francis and the bishops who met with him was cordiality personified, the business of actually discussing plans of reform appear to have been overlooked.
Even as Cardinal DiNardo was preparing for that meeting, a woman came forward to claim she informed him of an abusive priest in his Texas archdiocese. All well and good, but nothing was done, DiNardo took no action to remove that priest from ministry. Until finally it was taken out of his hands when the offending priest was arrested on charges of child abuse some time later. All this, following on the Pennsylvania grand jury report of the month before detailing allegations of abuse by over 300 priests in that state alone.
A shocking set of revelations that set off similar investigations to take place in Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York. Of course there were credible and verifiable reports that Pope Francis himself had indulged in protecting and covering up for those of his esteemed colleagues who had themselves done the same for their underlings, loathe to submit the venerable church to public scrutiny and the offensive effect of legal authorities taking priests into custody. So who will be investigating the Pope?
"We need to bring back a sense of safety in Swedish society because the government has failed us." "We need to employ more police -- put 10,000 of them on the streets." "No women, no teenager, no old person, no one, should be scared." Jimmie Akesson, leader, Sweden Democrats
He's a man of confidence, a man of the world who's not afraid to tell people what he thinks." "Sweden Democrats is not an anti-immigrant party, and we are not anti-refugee, but we do feel we have taken in far too many people." Jimmy Gronfoss, 34, Sweden Democrats supporter
"He is too extreme. I think he is exploiting people by taking extreme examples [of migrant violence] and saying it's normal." Boll Wallberg, 50, Motala, Sweden
Sweden’s violent reality is undoing a peaceful self-image An armed police officer in Malmo, Sweden. The topic of crime is a
sensitive one in the country | Johan Nilsson/AFP via Getty Images
Sweden's Jimmie Akesson, whose party came in third in the popular vote in Sunday's election, garnered an impressive 20 percent of the vote. While other parties, all of whom he has stated he is willing to work with, refuse to cooperate with the party he founded with its expressed desire to "Keep Sweden Swedish", there are sufficient Swedes fed up with the number of refugees that have invaded the country to give his party their support. The issue is that Sweden absorbed a greater number of refugees per capita than any other country in Europe during the migration flooding Europe.
The younger members of Sweden Democrats were known to have expressed clear racist leanings, and Jimmie Akesson responded by inviting them to leave his party. He will have nothing to do with the terms "populist" and "far right", considering the party to be nothing less than a respectable conservative and nationalist movement. One occasioned by the flood of refugees changing the face of Sweden, its concerns and its values, straining its social contract and introducing a level of crime hitherto unknown.
At 39 years of age the man has taken up a difficult task. Aside from purging racist mentalities from the party, he must convince the majority of Swedes that he is not an extremist but a patriotic Swede distressed as most others are, at the literal changing face of their nation. The government would have it statistically that gun crime, rape and sexual assault rates have increased since the 2015 refugee influx, but will not divulge the perpetrators' nationalities. It is an open secret that identifies refugee populations as the major source of those crimes.
The state broadcaster shed some light on the matter when it released its own figures, finding that in the past five years 58 percent of sex crimes were foreigner-committed. Europe in general is gradually moving in its sentiments toward the centre-right and Sweden is only the latest country in Europe to recognize the problem inherent with an intake of majority Muslim refugees.
"I think that [the connection between sex attacks and Muslim immigrants] is due to cultural differences in how you view women and women's rights", stated Mattias Karlson, MP and former party leader.
There's Always Another Side To The Story....Perhaps Not Exoneration Entirely, But Thought-Provoking
"[No one] understands me quite like you [do]." "[I really appreciate] all you do for me." "It would be great to see you again." "Miss you, big guy." "Was hoping for some time privately with you to share the direction I am going in life and catch up." "I was so happy you see me today! Very honoured." "There is no one else I would enjoy catching up with that understands me quite like you." "I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call." Unnamed accuser of Harvey Weinstein
"The motions filed today reflect the first opportunity for Mr. Weinstein to present legal arguments as to why the indictment filed against him should be dismissed." "These communications irrefutably reflect the true nature of this consensual intimate friendship, which never at any time included a forcible rape." "[Prosecutors knew of the emails but] likely [didn't present a full picture of the communications to the grand jury, making the process] fundamentally unfair." "[The District Attorney] allowed the Grand Jury to hear a sanitized and distorted version of [the accuser's] true relationship and interactions with [Weinstein]." Benjamin Brafman, Weinstein lawyer
"[Grand jurors] would not have indicted him if they did not find the testimony that they heard credible." "Why is Mr. Weinstein seeking to avoid facing a jury in a criminal trial?" Gloria Alred, lawyer for a woman accusing Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein hopes to gain access to documents that are ‘uniquely
personal’ to him, through a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company.
Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
No fewer than four hundred messages passed between former celebrity Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the woman who had come forward to accuse him of having raped her in March of 2013 in a hotel room. This man, seen as arrogant, and uncompromisingly self-centered was known to hit on women in a tradition made famous long before he was born known as the 'casting couch'. In the years that have passed since that reference became a standing joke, it appears not much has changed; favours for 'favours' evidently ushered many women to Hollywood acting roles and success.
And Mr. Weinstein was seen as an exemplar of that trade deal. The wheeling and dealing of sex for opportunities appeared to be generally known and by and large accepted as 'normal' in a profession that was as far from 'normal' as fantasy could make it, because fantasy sells and so does sex. Many actors singled this man out as having been responsible for recognizing their talent and ushering them on to opportunities and heralded celebrity status and fandom approved.
Women have always and universally been the object of male fantasies, objectification, oppression, maulings, violence, rape, humiliation, degradation. In a way, circling the wagons around women's right to fair and just treatment and calling the sheriff to ride after a man of singular power in the make-pretend world of Hollywood, living his own world of take-what-you can, reflected the only real-world aspect of Tinseltown. And Harvey Weinstein seemed to take full advantage of opportunities.
Daryl Hannah, Annabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek (l.t.r.) are among actors accusing Harvey Weinstein.
Composite: Rex
Perhaps, however, he had plenty of willing accomplices who resorted to tried-and-true tactics of 'getting ahead' whatever the cost. In a world of easier, casual sex that transaction might not have been too difficult for many in exchange for a leg up. For others it might have represented the ultimate humiliation to be viewed and treated as a convenience at the pleasure of the magic-maker. The slights and slings aimed at vulnerable women since time immemorial no doubt had a hand in the downfall of this man, exemplifying as he did the carnal criminal by default.
But the fact is this woman who has never been publicly identified, brought Mr. Weinstein toppling down from his pedestal. His penalty for being himself represents a massive life-loss. Her missives to him, submissive and fawning, pre- and post-dated her claims that this man, her benefactor, raped her. None of the emails of the hundreds examined accused him of anything, what they did was illuminate an intimate relationship that was consensual -- if a quasi-business arrangement like that could be considered so -- and ongoing.
In actual fact, the accused and the accuser shared an intimate relationship that stretched into years where both sought and arranged to meet for various assignations at various places. That they had sex is undeniable. That he raped her on one occasion seems implausible and therefore deniable, given the circumstances. The messages, from 2013 to 2017 reflected one possible resentment, when she wrote of her hatred of "feeling like a booty call", for a hotel assignation she couldn't make, citing a scheduling conflict.
Clockwise from top left: Rosanna Arquette, Mira Sorvino, Zoe Brock and Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. Composite: Getty
Seventy-five women, apparently, have raised their voices publicly, accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct on a long scale from harassment to assault, taking place wherever people happened to find themselves in a busy, self-promoting profession whose tactics were timeworn and glossed over. Harvey Weinstein did a great favour to women; he is single-handedly responsible for having inspired the #MeToo movement calling out sexual malfeasance.
It is instructive to learn that prosecutors are not obliged in New York appeals courts to present grand jurors with all available and pertinent evidence in any form that could conceivably aid a defendant in his self-defence. Prosecutors are, however, under an obligation to do their utmost to see justice prevail, and not just focus on successful convictions.
And Harvey Weinstein is a changed man for the experience. Chastened and regretful. Who wouldn't be?
"In Canada we are seeing [sex trafficking and] as the awareness grows we definitely see more reporting of it but that doesn't mean it's not also following the global trend and increasing." Arnold Viersen, Alberta Member of Parliament
"This terrible crime exploits human vulnerability created by poverty, racism, conflict and lack of social support networks." Scott Bardsley, spokesman, Ministry of Public Safety, Canada
Unequal access to education, war, dire
poverty, limited opportunities, and other forms of gender discrimination
increase women and girls’ vulnerability to being trafficked. For
instance, many women who fled Iraq to Syria during the US invasion in
2003 have been forced into prostitution.Furthermore, many women often
emigrate to other countries for greater economic opportunities but are
forced into sex work. To exacerbate the issue, countries such as Saudi
Arabia not only lack adequate anti-trafficking laws but also do not
provide victims with much needed support. Most women who are victims of
sex trafficking and exploitation will not report these horrendous crimes
for fear of social stigma.
Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality
There likely hasn't been a time in human history when sex trafficking hasn't been a problem in any society. The exploitation for sex of children, teens and emerging adults has always soiled societies. The social contract of civilized nations recoils at the very thought of children being used in this obscene, anti-humane manner, taking away their right to control their most intimate of bodily functions in a corrupt and truly disgustingly vicious manner.
Child pornography and sexual predation of children and young people by practised sex groomers remains a curse and a virtually unstoppable grotesque stain on the human conscience.
The truth that among decent people live others whose contorted minds thrive on the excitement they crave imagining sex with children is a painful one, but a reality. When such people are discovered to have committed these criminal acts they are condemned and the system of justice is called upon to find them guilty or innocent of committing these unforgivable acts and to find the appropriate punishment for degrading society in general and despoiling the lives of the vulnerable.
A Peel (Ontario) Regional Police poster targeting victims of sex trafficking. (Peel Regional Police)
The release of a new Statistics Canada report appears to validate that most human trafficking victims in Canada represent women and girls under age 25, and most of those charged with the crimes of availing themselves financially on the proceeds of grooming their victims for providing sex services, are men between the ages of 18 and 34. The statistics were garnered from police reports on human trafficking.
According to the report, 340 human trafficking incidents were reported in 2015 representing a substantial increase from the 50 that were reported back in 2009, the first year that these numbers were being tracked. A rate of one incident of human trafficking for about every 100,000 people in the Canadian population represents the highest incidence rate Canada has ever experienced, although the general consensus is that the true victim vulnerability rate is under-reported, thus even higher.
According to the report, children under age 18 represented more than a quarter of the total victim number, and a third were trafficked over international borders. A new government all-party parliamentary group that meets with a view to end human trafficking, responded to the report confirming global trends indicating the situation is increasing in severity. Canada lacks a national strategy to deal with such sex crimes against women.
What's more the number of convictions for the commission of human trafficking has been declining steadily for the past three years, even while reported incidents have been on the increase. In 2016, 107 people faced charges of human trafficking in 68 cases, resulting in ten convictions. Five convictions were seen in 2017 when78 people were charged in 47 cases.
In Britain, scandals have been unleashed with the public admission that gangs of Muslim men had been grooming British girls for years, for work in the sex trade. Thousands of lives had been tarnished and irremediably psychologically bruised for life through the propensity of the authorities not to 'notice' the prevalence of sex trafficking, mostly because of fear of being charged with racism because the 'groomers' were Muslim.
The Koran offers would-be traffickers ample support in various of the encouragements written to advise men that women not of their faith, under conquest, can be regarded under Islam as objects of sexual gratification. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant used the Koranic principles as their justified guide when they murdered tens of thousands of Yazidi men and kidnapped a like number of children and women to be sold and bartered as sex slaves.
An astonishing number of crimes and criminal offences linked to drug trafficking, gang activities and violence and gun ownership can be tracked back to Muslim offenders, but to emphasize their over-representation in criminal activities is verboten everywhere in Europe and North America, viewed as impolitely undiplomatic to focus on the perpetrators' religion, although it is their religion that has given them the green light to proceed as they do.
“I think [her criticism: Oxfam’s former head of global safeguarding, Helen Evans] was very unbalanced, and ironically didn’t give
enough credit to the very work that she promoted. I don’t think she
gives either herself or Oxfam enough credit for what was actually steady
improvement.” “I believe it was done in good faith to try and balance being transparent and protecting Oxfam’s work."
"I don’t think [Oxfam] wanted to promote a sensation and damage the
delivery of that programme. With hindsight, we should have said more.
I’ve been clear about that right since this broke. But if Oxfam’s business is to help save lives, if people are
motivated by protecting Oxfam, they’re motivated by actually delivering
that. If your organisation is there to actually help make the world a
better place, I can see why people thought this was the right thing to
do." "What happened was a disgrace and we are
absolutely committed to rooting out abuse across the organisation.We are doubling the number of people who work on safeguarding to
make sure we are living up to our responsibility to protect staff,
volunteers and the communities we support around the world. An independent commission is being established which will review our
entire operations and tell us what we need to change about our culture
and practices." "The intensity and the ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do?" "We murdered babies in their cots? Certainly, the scale and the
intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion to the level of
culpability. I struggle to understand it. You think, 'My God, there’s
something going on there'." Mark Goldring, chief executive, Oxfam GB (Great Britain)
‘Anything we say is being manipulated’: Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, at the organisation’s Oxford headquarters.
Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian
"The Oxfam case is the visible part of the iceberg." "It
is not only Oxfam — there are other NGOs [non-governmental
organisations] in the same situation, but they hide the information
internally." "There should be an investigation into other organisations that have been working here since 2010." "For example, Doctors Without Borders had to repatriate about 17 people for misconduct which was not explained." Haitian President Jovenel Moise
A report warned children as young as six were being sexually abused in Haiti Getty
Accusations have been raised from Haiti, Ivory Coast and Southern Sudan of sexual molestation of children on the part of humanitarian aid workers sent to those troubled countries to give aid and solace. Children were being propositioned by aid workers and abused, while the actions of those directing humanitarian operations in the field were calling in prostitutes to service them in their charity-funded headquarters.
When it was first revealed that United Nations-employed peacekeepers in troubled areas of the world were involved in the sexual abuse of the people they were tasked to protect, the scandal that resulted was understandably vehement in accusations tarnishing those whose mission was seen as a sanctimonious exercise in human futility. Now that well-regarded, publicly-supported and trusted humanitarian groups have indulged in this same kind of unforgivable persecution of helpless people meant to trust them, the reaction is incredulity.
"Clearly Oxfam have a long way to go before they can regain the trust of the British public, their staff and the people they aim to help." "The actions and attitude of the organization over the coming weeks will be critical. Hundreds of good, brave and compassionate people working for Oxfam around the world [were] poorly served by Oxfam's leadership team." Penny Mordaunt, British International Development Secretary
"What happened in Haiti and afterwards is a stain on Oxfam that will shame us for years, and rightly so." "I'm here for all the women who have been abused. I want them to come forward and for justice to be done for them." Winnie Byanyima, executive director, Oxfam International
New funding meant to furnish operating costs for Britain-based aid agency Oxfam has been suspended in the wake of Oxfam staff having been accused of exploiting people sexually in zones of crisis they have been responding to, in delivering aid. Oxfam, shamed and belittled for its lax oversight has agreed to withhold any bids for taxpayer funds from the United Kingdom until such time it succeeds in meeting the British government's "high standards" to meet the obligations of a humanitarian organization.
Out of a total operating income of $700,00 in public and corporate subscriptions representing its 2016/17 operating year, Oxfam relied upon the British government for a substantial $55.8 million, which has now been withdrawn for the subsequent year's operation. A shortfall that will severely curtail its operations, shrouded under a dark cloak of shame and regret. Senior staff deployed to Haiti in the wake of the country's 2010 earthquake now must defend their reputations against sexual misconduct charges, from the use of prostitutes to pornography possession.
It is not merely the rank-and-file employees, some of whom may be locally engaged, but the elite authorities operating locally of the organization that have been implicated, divulged as having besmirched the reputation of the charity. On the surface, Oxfam appears to have acted promptly once the accusations were made public, in firing a handful of workers and allowing others to resign. Charity regulators have also criticized the humanitarian agency's apparent lack of transparency in attempting to shield itself.
Oxfam is preparing, under British government pressure, to report those staff members who have been accused of rank behaviour unbefitting decency and respect for those in need, to their respective governments along with the evidence relating to the sexual abuse perpetrated by Oxfam representatives, to the government of Haiti. According to Oxfam International's director, an independent commission is being appointed to "look into our culture and our practices" and for a vetting system for its staff. Long overdue, unfortunately.
Oxfam besmirched itself, when a former employee attested to the fact that complaints of sexual misconduct on the part of its employees have been reported for at least a decade, with no official reaction forthcoming to examine the issue, to deal with it, to remove the perpetrators. Not until the accusations were made public did Oxfam move itself to ostensibly correct the situation. Where a child of six reported being sexually molested, where grown men and boys have been raped, where one child responded when asked why she didn't report her rape to Oxfam leadership that her rapist was among them.
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
