NYATN celebrates 10 years of providing direct services to almost 1,000 survivors of human trafficking

NYATN is celebrating 10 years of providing direct services to almost 1,000 survivors of human trafficking.  We are the first in New York to promote the rights of survivors of human trafficking.  We bring together the voices of those with first-hand experience of the injustices of human trafficking, who work consistently to meet the needs of trafficked persons, and who advocate for a more rights-based and responsive policy towards trafficked persons.  Read more highlights about NYATN’s work over the past decade.  Please join us in honoring our anniversary at our Networking Breakfast in May.

NYATN will speak at New York Law School on “Modern-Day Slavery… The Legal and Social Issues”

NYATN Steering Committee Member Ivy Suriyopas, staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, will speak at New York Law School on “Modern-Day Slavery… The Legal and Social Issues” on April 18, 2012.

Freedom Network Conference 2012 in New York

Freedom Network (USA) hosted its annual conference in New York on March 21 and 22, 2012.  The theme was “Beyond Rhetoric: Human Trafficking Work in the Field.”  Click here for more information about previous conferences.

Sienna Baskin, Lynly Egyes, John Temple, and Monica Ryan

Sienna Baskin, of NYATN member organization Sex Workers Project, hosted a panel on innovative approaches to investigating and prosecuting human trafficking at the Freedom Network Conference. Panelists included Lynly Egyes, staff attorney at the Sex Workers Project, John Temple, Assistant District Attorney in the Sex Crimes Unit at the New York County DA’s Office, and Monica Ryan, Trial Attorney for the Department of Justice.

Stephanie Richard, Ivy Suriyopas, David Abramowitz, and Daniel Werner (not pictured, Melissa Broudo)

Ivy Suriyopas, of NYATN member organization Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, co-facilitated a panel on “Cutting-Edge Anti-Trafficking Legislation: The Changes and Their Impact” with Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking’s (CAST) Stephanie Richard at the Freedom Network Conference.  Panelists included David Abramowitz, Vice President, Policy and Government Relations at Humanity United, Daniel Werner, Deputy Legal Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Melissa Sontag Broudo (not pictured), Staff Attorney at the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center.

New York will host the annual Freedom Network Conference during Women’s History Month

The Freedom Network will hold its annual Freedom Network Conference on March 21-22, 2012 at the City Bar Justice Center.  This year’s theme is “Beyond Rhetoric: Human Trafficking – Work from the Field.”  Click register.

City Bar Justice Center’s Suzanne Tomatore Discusses Servile Marriages and Laws Against Human Trafficking

Lawyers.com features a piece entitled, “Woman Enslaved Through Arranged Marriage,” which quotes NYATN Steering Committee Member Suzanne Tomatore.

The blog states in part: “’I think it’s great progress for prosecutors to look expansively at the human trafficking law and use the law to the extent fully envisioned by the law makers,’ says Suzanne Tomatore, an attorney who is director of the Immigrant Women & Children Project at the City Bar Justice Center.”  Read more….

NYATN Honors International Human Trafficking Day with a Panel Discussion – “Emerging Issues with Trafficked Youth”

Emerging Issues with Trafficked Youth

Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 6:00-8:00pm

Suzanne Tomatore, Christa Stewart, Laura Matthews-Jolly, Jayne Bigelsen, and Martina Vandenberg

Featured speakers include:
Jayne Bigelsen
Director of Anti-Human Trafficking Initiatives at Covenant House International
Suzanne Tomatore
Director of the Immigrant Women & Children Project at the City Bar Justice Center
Martina Vandenberg
Partner at Jenner & Block LLP
Discussion moderated by:
Laura Matthews-Jolly
Equal Justice Works Fellow, Sponsored by Greenberg Traurig

This discussion is free; however, space is limited.
Please RSVP to lmatthews-jolly@nycbar.org by January 6, 2012 with your name and organization.

New York Anti-Trafficking Network Honored by Families for Freedom

Families for Freedom had their 5th annual fundraiser on December 2, 2011, at Judson Memorial Church. The New York Anti-Trafficking Network was one of the groups that were honored as part of the New York State Working Group Against Deportation. We provided the working group with a trafficking fact sheet and helped with the letter to Governor Cuomo on Secure Communities. The certificate honors “New York Anti-Trafficking Network for their commitment to immigrant rights and for their support in the fight to keep our families together.” We are grateful to be part of such a great coalition!

UAE Embassy Couple Indicted for Trafficking Indonesian Mother and Daughter

Update: In a related matter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania indicted three people, Nura Ziadeh, Rashid Ziadeh and Mannatullah Ziadeh, alleging that they recruited foreign nationals to serve as domestic workers and harboring them for commercial gain.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is representing the mother, “S.S.” (as she is referred to in the indictment, U.S. v. Mervat Tolan and Nabil Talaat), as she cooperates with federal authorities as a witness in the criminal proceedings.  Click here for the complete press release.

Upcoming Webinar Training: Identification and Intake Best Practices and Recommendations Regarding Youth and Trafficking

How We Identify and Document Youth at Risk of Trafficking

What are the recommended best practices for identifying formerly, currently, or potentially trafficked youth at intake? Recent studies have found that survivors under the age of 18, male survivors, transgender survivors and labor trafficking survivors are underserved in NYC. This Webinar will provide easily-asked-questions that programs can begin using immediately as well as long-term considerations for changing intake forms to better inquire into trafficking and preventing re-victimization. This Webinar will address the challenges to serving trafficked youth, available resources and ways to support survivors and promote self-sufficiency.

Presenters:

 Suzanne Tomatore, Director of Immigrant Women and Children Project – City Bar Justice Center;

Laura Matthews-Jolly, Staff Attorney/Equal Justice Works Fellow at Immigrant Women and Children’s Project – City Bar Justice Center

Facilitated by James Bolas, Director of Education, Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services

 TRAINING DATE and TIME

Thursday, December 15^th: 1pm – 3pm

For more information or to register, contact Mhirsch@empirestatecoalition.org

NYATN Expresses Deep Concerns about Secure Communities (S-Comm) to House Representatives

NYATN signed onto a letter to Representatives Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) to express our deep concerns about the effect that Secure Communities (S-Comm) will have on immigrant survivors of human trafficking and other forms of violence.  It states, in part: “New York State, especially New York City, is a destination for trafficked persons….  A trafficking survivor is more often than not arrested while a trafficker remains at large signaling the continued shortcomings of local law enforcement in meaningfully promoting efforts to identify and protect them.  These arrests often trigger the mandatory detention of the trafficking survivor who then faces the uphill battle like other victims of violence in securing adequate legal representation and navigating through a deportation system that offers few options and remains fraught with due process violations.”  See the complete letter.