Trafficking In Persons, And In Bias

The State Department's Trafficking in Persons report, and the press briefing announcing it, are amazing reading, providing many insights.

First, there are many insights to the human life-and-death circumstances behind the dry statistics. Here, for example, is US Ambassador John R. Miller, Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons introducing the report:

As Secretary of State Rice eloquently explained, human trafficking or trafficking in persons is synonymous with slavery. Now, this is a time when we roll out this report with facts, with figures, with categories, but this report is, more than anything, about human beings. And so I want to start by telling you about Svetlana, an all too typical victim of human trafficking.

Last year, Svetlana was a young woman living in Belarus, looking for a job. She came upon some Turkish men who promised her a well-paying job in Istanbul and once Svetlana crossed the border, the men seized her money, her papers, her passport. They locked her up. They forced her into prostitution. And then one night, they farmed her out to two businessmen, just like a commodity. Desperate, Svetlana jumped out of a window and fell six stories to a sidewalk. According to Turkish court documents, the so-called customers went down, found her on the sidewalk and instead of calling the police, called the traffickers, who killed her.

Svetlana's body lay unclaimed in the morgue for two weeks until Turkish authorities learned her identity and sent her body to Belarus. There is a bright spot in this too common tragedy. Belarusian and Turkish authorities cooperated this year to arrest and charge those responsible for Svetlana's death, which I think brings out that bad things are happening, but also how there are counterattacks going on.

It is hard to imagine a more evil way to make a living than was exhibited by the men who turned Svetlana's life into a commodity. She and the other victims of trafficking are drawn in because of the extreme poverty in their countries. That poverty is a result, primarily, of the government systems that are in place there -- evil systems by evil men that are in Bush's sights. Here's a look at some of the countries that are sources of human "product" for the businesses for the trafficking trade:

Burma: Combine a horrific economy with an equally horrific totalitiarian regime and you get:

Burma is a source country for women and men trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Burmese men, women, and children (primarily from the country’s ethnic minority populations) are trafficked to Thailand, China, Bangladesh, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Korea, Macau, and Japan for forced labor — including commercial labor — involuntary domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation. To a lesser extent, Burma is a destination for women from the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) who are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation occurs from villages to urban centers and other areas, such as truck stops, fishing villages, border towns, and mining and military camps. The junta's policy of using forced labor is a driving factor behind Burma’s large trafficking problem

Cuba: When Oliver Stoned releases his paean to Castro, remember this about the Cuban "people's paradise:"

Cuba is a source country for children trafficked internally for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced child labor. Trafficking victims from all over Cuba are exploited in major cities and tourist resorts. There are no reliable estimates available on the extent of trafficking in the country; however, children in prostitution is widely apparent, even to casual observers. ... Anecdotal evidence suggests that workers at state-run hotels, travel company employees, taxicab drivers, bar and restaurant workers, and law enforcement personnel are complicit in the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. Cuban forced labor victims include children coerced into working in conditions of involuntary servitude in commercial agriculture.

The oppressive poverty of the island combines with its amoral/immoral government to create a people's nightmare.

North Korea: Another proud product of Communism, North Korea is a hell on earth, with poverty so grinding and a government so heartless that it's a prime trafficking breeding ground:

The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is a source country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Thousands of North Korean men, women, and children are forced to work and often perish under conditions of slavery inside the country. Thousands of North Koreans, pushed by deteriorating conditions in the country, become economic migrants who are subjected to conditions of debt bondage, commercial sexual exploitation, and/or forced labor upon arrival in a destination country, most often the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.). The illegal status of North Koreans in other nations increases their vulnerability to trafficking schemes and sexual and physical abuse. North Korean women are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriages with Chinese men while North Korean men are trafficked for forced labor. North Koreans forcibly returned from China are sent to labor prison camps operated by the government.

The report also presents another problem for the Bush administration, as many of our Arab-state allies (of sorts) in the Gulf are recipients of, and exploiters of, trafficked human beings. You can read about them in the report: Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Of course the American media appeared to be more interested in embarassing the Bush Administration than confronting the monstrosities of the Communist world. Here's the very first question in the press converence with Ambassador Miller:

QUESTION: Andrea Mitchell from NBC. Can you tell us regarding Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, whether you believe that it was the prior sanctions to get some action? In particular in Saudi Arabia, they have moved backwards, not forward since last year's report. And you've got four countries that are major allies of the United States in the war on terror and in military operations that are chief abusers in this practice.

Four follow-up questions on the topic followed, more questions than on any other topic. It is what we've come to expect from MSM: blinders on the reality that is the world and a myopic focus on anything that can be skewed into an anti-Bush story.

What would be so wrong in doing a story on what's really going on in Cuba, for cryin' out loud?