Formation | September 2004 |
---|---|
Founder | Michael Brosowski |
Founded at | Hanoi, Vietnam |
Type | NGO |
Website | www |
Blue Dragon Children's Foundation (Blue Dragon) is a non-governmental organization based in Hanoi, Vietnam. The organization rescues children from crises including sex trafficking, forced labor, and slavery and then provides access to shelter, education and employment. [1] More recently, Blue Dragon has been actively working to end human trafficking through a range of programs operating in Vietnam's most vulnerable communities. [2]
In 2002, while working at Vietnam National University Hanoi, Michael Brosowski offered informal English lessons to a group of shoeshine boys. [3] By early 2003, some of Brosowski's university students had joined him to help with the lessons and an informal arrangement quickly evolved into the more formal Foundation. [4] [5]
In March 2004, Blue Dragon Children's Foundation was registered as an Incorporated Association in Australia [6] and in September 2004, it was registered as an Independent Non-Government Organisation in Vietnam. [7]
Initially, the work of Blue Dragon focused on supporting street children on the streets of Hanoi. In 2005, Brosowski and law student Van Ta rescued a 13-year-old boy who had been trafficked to Ho Chi Minh City. [8] Since 2005, rescuing victims of human trafficking has become a central part of the organisation's work. [9] [10] By January 2021, 1000 victims of human trafficking had been rescued. [11] That figure reached 1500 people rescued by early 2024, Blue Dragon's 20th year. [12]
In 2019, Australian Social Worker Skye Maconachie [13] [14] joined Brosowski as Co-CEO and in 2022, Brosowski moved into the role of "Founder and Strategic Director". Vi Do, one of the first children supported by Blue Dragon, was appointed Co-CEO with Maconachie in 2022. [15] [16] [17]
Blue Dragon finds children and young people in crisis situations including slavery, homelessness, and extreme poverty. [18] [19] [20] [21] Having rescued individuals from danger, the organisation then works with them for the long-term so that they can heal from trauma, injustice and disadvantage. [22] [23] [24] [25] The work goes beyond rescue and support to ensure that what is learned on the frontline is used in advocacy to improve laws and policies protecting those most vulnerable. [26] [27]
The organisation also has teams working in remote areas of Vietnam with the communities that are most at-risk of human trafficking. [28] [29] These frontline teams develop resilience in local communities by supporting students to stay in school, and providing resources and training to bring families out of poverty and make them less vulnerable to trafficking. Programs such as Blue Dragon's "Anti Trafficking Boards" bring local leaders together to understand the issues and create solutions that are appropriate to each local context. [30]
In 2011, Brosowski was named one of that year's CNN Heroes, [31] and in 2012 was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of his work defending the rights of Vietnamese children. [32] Brosowski was honoured with a University of New South Wales Alumni Award in 2023. [33]
Blue Dragon's Chief Lawyer, Van Ta, was named by United States Secretary of State John Kerry as a Trafficking in Persons Hero in 2014, [34] and the Trust Women Conference's Anti-Trafficking Hero in 2015. [35] In 2019, Van Ta received an Asia Young Leaders Award from the Asia Society. [36]
The United States Department of Labor awarded the "Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor" to Blue Dragon Children's Foundation in 2022. [37]
Blue Dragon Children's Foundation is the recipient of multiple awards from agencies within the Vietnamese Government. [38]
Prostitution is illegal in Russia. The punishment for engagement in prostitution is a fine from 1500 up to 2000 rubles. Moreover, organizing prostitution is punishable by a prison term. Prostitution remains a very serious social issue in Russia.
International Justice Mission is an international, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization focused on human rights, law and law enforcement. Founded in 1997 by lawyer Gary Haugen of the United States, it is based in Washington, D.C. All IJM employees are required to be practicing Christians; 94% are nationals of the countries they work in.
Voice of the Free (VF) is a philanthropic NGO in the Philippines established in 1991. VF works for the welfare of marginalized migrants, especially those working in the invisible and informal sectors. The organization targets issues of domestic work, child labor, and human trafficking, especially of women and children.
Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. The traffickers are reportedly organized crime syndicates, parents, relatives, friends, intimate partners, and neighbors.
Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 49.6 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used. The estimated number of enslaved people is debated, as there is no universally agreed definition of modern slavery; those in slavery are often difficult to identify, and adequate statistics are often not available.
The United Kingdom (UK) is a destination country for men, women, and children primarily from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe who are subjected to human trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour, including domestic servitude. It is ranked as a "Tier 1" country by the US Department of State, which issues an annual report on human trafficking. "Tier 1" countries are those whose governments fully comply with The Trafficking Victims Protection Act's minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The TVPA is a federal statute of the United States. It is believed that some victims, including minors from the UK, are also trafficked within the country. It is also believed that migrant workers are trafficked to the UK for forced labour in agriculture, construction, food processing, domestic servitude, and food service. Source countries for trafficking victims in the UK include the United Arab Emirates, Lithuania, Russia, Albania, Ukraine, Malaysia, Thailand, the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.), Nigeria, and Ghana. Precise details about the extent of human trafficking within the UK are not available, and many have questioned the validity of some of the more widely quoted figures. In 2020, the US State Department estimated that there were 13,000 trafficking victims in the UK.
Vietnam is primarily a source country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are trafficked to the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C), Cambodia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Macau for sexual exploitation. Vietnamese women are trafficked to the P.R.C., Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea via fraudulent or misrepresented marriages for commercial exploitation or forced labor. Vietnam is also a source country for men and women who migrate willingly and legally for work in the construction, fishing, or manufacturing sectors in Malaysia, Taiwan, P.R.C., Thailand, and the Middle East but subsequently face conditions of forced labor or debt bondage. Vietnam is a destination country for Cambodian children trafficked to urban centers for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Vietnam has an internal trafficking problem with women and children from rural areas trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Vietnam is increasingly a destination for child sex tourism, with perpetrators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the P.R.C., Taiwan, the UK, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2007, an Australian non-governmental organization (NGO) uncovered 80 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreign tourists in the Sa Pa tourist area of Vietnam alone.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.
In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women; victims can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.
Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Caste-based slavery practices, rooted in ancestral master-slave relationships, continue primarily in the northern part of the country. Children are trafficked within Niger for forced begging by religious instructors known as marabouts; forced labor in gold mines, agriculture, and stone quarries; as well as for involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. The ILO estimates at least 10,000 children work in gold mines in Niger, many of whom may be forced to work. Nigerien children, primarily girls, are also subjected to commercial sexual exploitation along the border with Nigeria, particularly in the towns of Birni N'Konni and Zinder along the main highway, and boys are trafficked to Nigeria and Mali for forced begging and manual labor. There were reports Nigerien girls entered into "false marriages" with citizens of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates: upon arrival in these countries, the girls are often forced into involuntary domestic servitude. Child marriage was a problem, especially in rural areas, and may have contributed to conditions of human trafficking. Niger is a transit country for women and children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Togo en route to Northern Africa and Western Europe; some may be subjected to forced labor in Niger as domestic servants, forced laborers in mines and on farms, and as mechanics and welders. To a lesser extent, Nigerien women and children are sometimes trafficked from Niger to North Africa the Middle East, and Europe for involuntary domestic servitude and forced commercial sexual exploitation."
Mali is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a lesser extent, forced prostitution. Within Mali, women and girls are forced into domestic servitude and, to a limited extent, prostitution. Malian boys are found in conditions of forced begging and forced labor in gold mines and agricultural settings both within Mali and neighboring countries. Reports indicate that Malian children are trafficked to Senegal and Guinea for forced labor in gold mines and for forced labor on cotton and cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire. Boys from Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger and other countries are forced into begging and exploited for labor by religious instructors within Mali and across borders. Adult men and boys, primarily of Songhai ethnicity, are subjected to the longstanding practice of debt bondage in the salt mines of Taoudenni in northern Mali. Some members of Mali's black Tamachek community are subjected to traditional slavery-related practices rooted in hereditary master-slave relationships.
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Not My Life is a 2011 American independent documentary film about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. The film was written, produced, and directed by Robert Bilheimer, who had been asked to make the film by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bilheimer planned Not My Life as the second installment in a trilogy, the first being A Closer Walk and the third being the unproduced Take Me Home. The title Not My Life came from a June 2009 interview with Molly Melching, founder of Tostan, who said that many people deny the reality of contemporary slavery because it is an uncomfortable truth, saying, "No, this is not my life."
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Sex trafficking in China is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the People's Republic of China. It is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sexually trafficked persons.
Sex trafficking in Vietnam is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination country for sexually trafficked persons.
Sex trafficking in the Philippines is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Republic of the Philippines. The Philippines is a country of origin and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit for sexually trafficked persons.
Sex trafficking in Taiwan is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Taiwan, which is a country of origin, destination, and transit for sexually trafficked persons.