Child maid trafficking spreads from Africa to US

[inanna]

Source: AP

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) -- Late at night, the neighbors saw a little girl at the kitchen sink of the house next door. They watched through their window as the child rinsed plates under the open faucet. She wasn't much taller than the counter and the soapy water swallowed her slender arms.

To put the dishes away, she climbed on a chair.

But she was not the daughter of the couple next door doing chores. She was their maid.

Shyima was 10 when a wealthy Egyptian couple brought her from a poor village in northern Egypt to work in their California home. She awoke before dawn and often worked past midnight to iron their clothes, mop the marble floors and dust the family's crystal. She earned $45 a month working up to 20 hours a day. She had no breaks during the day and no days off.

The trafficking of children for domestic labor in the U.S. is an extension of an illegal but common practice in Africa. Families in remote villages send their daughters to work in cities for extra money and the opportunity to escape a dead-end life. Some girls work for free on the understanding that they will at least be better fed in the home of their employer.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/THE_SLAVE_NEXT_DOOR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-28-20-23-40

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. hopefully neighbors will report this type of activity to the police?

[antimatter98]

5. This Egyption couple should be deported and their assets confiscated.

This is the kind of 'off shore' family that we need to keep out of the US and to
deport back to where they can practice their child abuse in their home country.

They have zero respect for America, and for human beings. Let them go back
to where they came from---all assets confiscated and used to support victims
of couples like this.

It's outrageous that this couple has been allowed into the country and they
need to be run out of town on the proverbial rail.

[Quantess]

7. They were deported, and the girl has been adopted by an American family.

"The couple pleaded guilty to all charges, including forced labor and slavery. They were ordered to pay $76,000, the amount Shyima would have earned at the minimum wage. The sentence: Three years in federal prison for Ibrahim, 22 months for his wife, and then deportation for both. Their lawyers declined to comment for this story."

Read the article if you have time. It's really interesting.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Really interesting - particularly the last paragraph or two

After being released from prison and deported to Cairo a reporter attempted to interview the wife as she disappeared into her home...

"Before the door closed behind her, a little girl slipped in carrying grocery bags. She wore a shabby T-shirt. Her small feet slapped the floor in loose flip-flops. Her eyes were trained on the ground.

She looked to be around 9 years old."

Looks like prison and deportation were really effective.

[LisaL]

10. Well as she is back in her country of origin American laws do not

apply.

[TahitiNut]

2. I'd like to see everything these people own confiscated and turned over to these enslaved children.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Good point! Also, they should be imprisoned for the same amt of time they imprisoned

these children.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. The fed. govt. should have commercials asking people to be on the lookout for this

Anyone that does this needs to be imprisoned, fined and deported.

[GinaMaria]

13. I wonder if there are any prevention of child abuse foundations

that could help pay for a PSA?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

17. I wish I knew. It'd be a great idea wouldn't it? Spreading the news will stop that nt

[Quantess]

6. Very compelling read.

[defendandprotect]

9. Just how far back would the right wing like to take us . . . ???

as far as possible!

[Gwendolyn]

11. The right wing? What do they have to do with this?

[defendandprotect]

12. Oh, sorry . . . it's liberals who give us child labor and slavery . . . !!!

[Gwendolyn]

14. I wasn't flaming at all.

From what I read, this was a case of people bringing in a custom from elsewhere and were duly prosecuted for it.

I understand that dominionists are not repelled by the idea of indentured servitude, but is there info out there that the secular right is okay with it as well?

[defendandprotect]

15. They're also bringing in women involved in sex slavery . . .

Some of those routes are coming thru and ending in America ---

While this is specifically child labor, IMO, we've had lots of instances in America

with women being brought in as domestics and denied most rights -- even imprisoned

in the homes they're working in. I don't think anyone knows the numbers on that.

I don't know that religious thinkers support concepts of enslavement today --

but the GOP has long been sexist, racist and homophobic -- and thoroughly exploitive.

And Christianity usually serves their needs.

Organized patriarchal religion underpins Patriarchy.

As far as I can see, the right wing is out to destroy the Constitution, any democratic

ideals still left over -- has bankrupted our Treasury thru illegal wars and illegal

economic schemes -- and certainly isn't here to protect America economically or socially.

Wherever you see the rise of the right, IMO, you will see increased exploitation of

women and children.

[Gwendolyn]

16. Thanks for answering; I was curious what you meant, and think I misread your post.

From what I've read the sex slave trade is mostly run by global orgs such as the Russian mob, and so I never really equate them with certain party affiliations. They seem to be profiteers who simply follow the money.

I mentioned dominionists because the OT condones indentured servitude, and in their quest to institute a theocracy in the US, some of the more fringe groups have embraced the concept of slavery as set out in the bible.

What you're saying is that the republican party consistently implements policies that facilitate exploitation and I couldn't agree with you more. From that perspective, they certainly do a lot of damage. Those new super detention centers popping up everywhere should be something to watch as these could soon become mass housing for those trapped into forced labor. (Wearing my tin foil hat here.)

I guess I was looking at the issue from a more individual aspect. While republicans tend to be much more rapacious and greedy, they certainly don't hold the patent on criminal activity. Would a wealthy democratic dowager purchase a girl slave from Haiti? I believe some would. John Wayne Gacy was very actively involved in the dem party, yet he was a serial killer. There are certainly other dems who would procure a sex slave. or take advantage of cheap, illegal labor. There is evil on both sides of the fence.

[defendandprotect]

18. From what I understand . . ..

WE have always run the Mafia in Russia ---

and, if you think about it, co-option is a great way to break a nation down.

Yes, I think there is a mix, but they say we direct it and garner the profits.

I'm not recently caught up on Dominionism . . .

Took a quick look at some links -- and I'm always alarmed by the religious right

and their authoritarian spirit.

"Man's Dominion Over Nature"/"Manifest Destiny have given us Global Warming and

I think that's about enough!

AND, I have the same "tin foil hat" you have --- and it works just the same.

Re who would who wouldn't . . . I think it is clear the elites of the world are joined

together in common interest. That's alway been so.