City Bar Justice Center Releases Special Report on 150 Human Trafficking Cases

NYATN member City Bar Justice Center’s Immigrant Women & Children Project (IWC) released a special report, “Spotlight on 150 Human Trafficking Cases.”  This report reflects over a decade of direct representation of low-income immigrant survivors of human trafficking in the New York City metropolitan area and informs the Justice Center’s advocacy and policy recommendations.  The report states, in part, “Of the 150 human trafficking cases, 54.6% involved labor trafficking and 45.3% involved sex trafficking. Domestic work was by far the most frequently reported form of labor trafficking, representing nearly 80% of the labor trafficking cases.”  Read more….

New York City Bar has released its memorandum on the New York Women’s Equality Act

The New York City Bar has released its memorandum on the New York Women’s Equality Act (A.8070), including its analysis of “Part H – Strengthening Sex Trafficking Laws.”  The City Bar’s Committee on Sex and Law supports the greater emphasis on services for trafficked persons, the creation of an affirmative defense where the defendant’s participation was a result of having been a victim of sex trafficking, and the raising of the penalty for labor trafficking to a B felony.  The Committee also noted that Assembly Member Joseph Lentol’s bill, A.7474, creates a private right of action for trafficked persons to seek compensation as well as a right to counsel for trafficked persons seeking to vacate convictions from their criminal records.  Read more.

Read more about NYATN’s memorandum in support of A.M. Lentol’s bill, A.7474.  Please consider signing on.

Read more about NYATN’s memorandum and recommendations on how to make the Women’s Equality Act successful.

Taking Action in the Fight Against Human Trafficking

In commemoration of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, New York Anti-Trafficking Network steering committee member Suzanne Tomatore organized and moderated a panel discussion at the  City Bar Justice Center in collaboration with Pfizer Legal Alliance entitled “Take Action: Stop Human Trafficking Now.” The panel discussion took place at the New York City Bar Association on January 14th and included NYATN member Avaloy Lanning, Senior Director of the Anti-Trafficking Program at Safe Horizon. To read more, click here.

NYATN Members Comments on Trafficking in Persons Report

In The Global Times‘s piece, “Despite good marks, human trafficking remains a problem in US,” NYATN steering committee member Crystal DeBoise, Sex Workers Project co-director, is quoted about how criminalizing sex work impacts trafficked persons.  The article says in part:

“Crystal DeBoise, co-director of the Sex Workers Project, said criminalizing sex work, which is punishable by incarceration in the US, spurs it to go underground, and argued that the more secret the location, the less access health workers and others will be able to help potential trafficking victims.”  Read more….

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) also issued a press release in response to the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report.  NYATN steering committee member Ivy Suriyopas, AALDEF staff attorney, stated, “Continued Presence and temporary visas are among our best tools in assisting trafficking survivors, and the consistently low numbers show that we are not making full use of them in our fight against trafficking.”  Read more….

Model Anti-Trafficking Legislation

Earlier this month, Suzanne Tomatore, Project Director of the City Bar Justice Center’s Immigrant Women & Children Project, attended a drafting committee meeting of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC).

Established in 1892, the ULC provides states with nonpartisan draft legislation designed to provide clarity and stability to critical areas of state statutory law. The open drafting process draws on the expertise of commissioners appointed by the states, and it also utilizes input from legal experts, advisers and observers representing the views of other legal organizations and interested groups.

For more information please click here: http://www2.nycbar.org/citybarjusticecenter/blog/2011/12/15/model-anti-trafficking-legislation/

NYATN Steering Committee Member Crystal DeBoise Will Speak About Sex Trafficking on Anti-Trafficking/Anti-Slavery Day

Socials for Change and On the Issues Magazine are pleased to present Engaged Activism: A Conversation on Global Sex Trafficking – Tuesday, October 18.

RSVP TO http://www.socialsforchange.org

We will be joined by Courage Prize Winners Triveni Acharya, President, Rescue Foundation, Mumbai, India and Lydia Cacho Founder and Director of the nonprofit Women’s Assistance Center in Cancún, Mexico and author of Slaves of Power: A Journey to the Heart of World Sex Trafficking of Women.

Along with Crystal DeBoise, Co-Director, Sex Workers Project and Merle Hoffman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of On The Issues Magazine and author of upcoming book Intimate Wars.

Refreshments begin at 6:00 p.m. The program begins at 6:30pm at the Laura Parsons Pratt Conference Center in the landmark FPWA Building 281 Park Avenue South at 22nd Street.

Freedom Network Conference

The Freedom Network‘s Annual Conference, “The Future of Freedom: Shaping Tomorrow’s Anti-Trafficking Movement,” was in Washington, DC. during Women’s History Month on March 9 and 10.

A CLE, “Immigration Relief for Crime Victims: The T and U Visas”

The New York Anti-Trafficking Network (NYATN), the City Bar Justice Center, and AILA sponsored a CLE, Immigration Relief for Crime Victims: The T and U Visas, on U & T visas on October 18, 2010 at the New York City Bar Association.

Speakers included:

• Shonnie Ball, Safe Horizon Anti-Trafficking Program
• Sienna Baskin, Sex Workers Project, Urban Justice Center
• Suzanne Seltzer, Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer LLP
• Hannah Shapiro, Domestic Violence Immigration Project, Legal Aid Society
• Ivy Suriyopas, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Suzanne Tomatore, Immigrant Women & Children Project, City Bar Justice Center

Materials for the CLE were as follows:

1. The U Visa Manual
2. The T Visa Manual
3. U Visa PPT (uploaded October 19, 2010)
4. T Visa PPT (uploaded October 19, 2010)
5. Practical Application PPT (uploaded October 19, 2010)
6. Hypos PPT (uploaded October 19, 2010)

New Vacating Convictions Law in the News

“New Law Allows Sex Trafficking Victims to Clear Names,” By Karen Zraick, The New York Times, 8.16.10

“‘It’s a hard reality that trafficked people are often arrested, convicted, and released without the justice system realizing what’s really going on,’ Sienna Baskin, co-director of the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, which helped write the bill, said in a statement. ”

 

Quarterly Meeting

New York Anti-Trafficking Network Quarterly Meeting

When: June 17, 2010, 10-am-12pm

Where: City Bar Justice Center, 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036

RSVP: immigration-intern@nycbar.org

Invited Guest Speaker:

Noy Thrupkaew, Fellow, Open Society Institute

Noy Thrupkaew is a freelance writer based in New York City who writes on international affairs and culture. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, The Nation, and The American Prospect, where she is a Senior Correspondent. She previously worked as an Associate Editor of Sojouner: The Women’s Forum and has received Fulbright and International Reporting Project grants to conduct research in Thailand and Cambodia. She is currently a fellow at the Open Society Institute, researching trafficking for the purposes of labor and forced prostitution.

NY Anti-Trafficking Network members will also discuss our latest work

Suzanne Tomatore, City Bar Justice Center will discuss the successful lobby to the NYPD to provide U visa certifications and her recent trip to Mongolia

Ivy Suriyopas, AALDEF will discuss her important work on an Amicus Brief arguing for the rights of trafficked domestic workers to file civil suits against their diplomat traffickers

Sienna Baskin, Sex Workers Project will provide updates to bills before the New York State legislature impacting human trafficking survivors