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	Younger girls being forced into prostitution in economic crisis by Belinda Goldsmith, Reuters   Younger and younger girls are being dragged into prostitution because of the global economic crisis.   At least 21 million people are in forced labor, meaning they have been coerced or deceived into jobs which they cannot leave, figures released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) this year showed.   The ILO said about 4.5 million of these, mainly women and girls, were victims of sexual exploitation and overall the human trafficking trade was estimated to be worth $32 billion a year.   Ruchira Gupta, founder of Indian charity Apne Aap Women Worldwide that works with prostitutes in 10 red light districts, said cuts in funding to women"s projects had reduced the options open to women and girls other than prostitution.   "We are seeing the number rise in these 10 red light districts while the age of the girls is falling," said Gupta, adding the average age of female prostitutes in India was between nine and 13.   "We need to invest more in girls and women so that there are options other than prostitution, organ trade, or becoming child soldiers."   While the ILO figures suggested modern-day slavery has risen to a record level, the data came with the caveat that it was hard to estimate numbers as victims were often scared to come forward and there was a lack of records in most countries. Rising poverty was blamed for driving more women into the sex industry against their will.   David Batstone, president and co-founder of anti-trafficking organization Not For Sale, said the global financial crisis as well as political instability created vulnerable communities at risk of exploitation.   "Where there is economic deprivation, without the rule of law to ensure the rights of people, they will be taken advantage of," said Batstone.   Batstone said his organization found that three out of every four prostitutes plying their trade from shop windows in the red light district of Amsterdam were now from economically desperate communities in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.   One such prostitute, Tsvetelina Ivanova, from Bulgaria, said once women were forced into prostitution it was hard for them to break away if they had a pimp, and move into a more normal job.   Lawyers told the conference that laws may exist to combat human trafficking but there were "pitifully few" prosecutions in wealthy nations like the United States where it was often overlooked or in poor countries where some families sell their children into servitude.   "Trafficking of forced labor anywhere in the world is about exploitation in the fruit and vegetable industry, on fishing boats, in brickworks," Batstone said.   Britain"s shadow foreign and Commonwealth secretary, Douglas Alexander, said cuts in government spending on foreign and legal aid were also undermining the fight against trafficking and limiting legal action by victims.   "This is a constraint in every one of our countries," Alexander told the conference. "It is making the situation worse for victims of trafficking."   The ILO study, released in June, said 56 percent, or 11.7 million, of people in forced labor were in the Asia Pacific region, 18 percent in Africa, and 9 percent in Latin America.
	Grettel’s quest for justice by UN Human Rights Office in Mexico   Shortly after 4 a.m. on 16 September 2009, Grettel Rodriguez Almeida, a young lawyer from the State of Yucatan in Mexico, was stabbed several times with a kitchen knife by her boyfriend, Germán Alyn Ortega Hernández.   “He came to me and stabbed me on the face,” Grettel recalls. Immobilized, she could only use one hand to defend herself. “I could not move. I used my free hand to fight back. These are from defensive wounds,” she explains, as she shows her scars.   Grettel was also stabbed in the neck and the abdomen. She was rushed to the hospital by her parents who heard her screams. The doctors sutured her wounds without anesthesia to save her life.   Her boyfriend was arrested soon after and confessed attacking Grettel.   But that was just the beginning of Grettel’s quest for justice, for herself and for all the women victims of domestic violence.   Although Ortega Hernández was formally charged and indicted for attempted murder, the crime was later reclassified to aggravated assault. After spending 1 year, 8 months and 25 days in prison, he was set free.   Grettel started living in constant fear as her former boyfriend started harassing and threatening her again. He would send her threatening messages via Twitter and on her phone. “I was scared for my life,” Grettel says.   But Grettel did not give up. She was committed to take the case to Mexico’s Supreme Judicial Court. She researched some past cases of attacks on women and decided to make her story public, and to seek assistance.   “I was shocked to hear a young woman tell me how she was stabbed seven times by her fiancé – only to face the indignity of seeing him freed in court, by a woman judge, who thought she was being too harsh on him,” said UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay referring to Grettel’s story during a visit to Mexico in 2011.   In support of Grettel’s case, the UN Human Rights Office in Mexico filed an amicus curiae brief. An amicus curiae is a person who participates in a case not as a party but as a ‘friend of the court’.   In it, the Office drew the Court’s attention to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women to which Mexico is a party. The Office stressed that “the failure to duly investigate and punish violence in the private sphere sends a message of social acceptance” and that “the administration of justice must avoid reinforcing prejudice and stereotypes that justify, tolerate or minimize the intrinsic gravity of acts of violence against women.”   After several setbacks and months of struggle, on 31 October 2012 Mexico’s Supreme Judicial Court ordered the reinstatement of attempted murder charges against Ortega Hernández.   Grettel also received support from the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City; human rights non-governmental organizations, in particular Centre Prodh, and State officials.   Grettel welcomed the decision of the Court. “What I wanted was to have the case re-examined, because this was never done before for a victim. I wanted to set a precedent. I knew I was swimming against the tides. It is meaningful that the trial will begin all over again,” she says.   Grettel studied law because she wanted to “save the world” or work for the United Nations. She believes that “everything happens for a reason”. “I am alive and should not be; my dream is to “save the world”. I know it is not possible, but I am doing my little part, and I hope it is useful to someone else.”   The day the case was reclassified, Grettel started her own research and came across the word femicide. “I did not know what it meant but I became curious and looked for more information: I read about a lot of cases and I saw myself in all of them. The difference was that I was alive and many other victims were not. This is what gave me the strength to stand up and make my voice heard.”   According to the 2011 report by the Mexican National Institute for Women, in Mexico 5 out of 10 women aged 15 years or older have been victims of domestic violence and 13.5 per cent of women have been victims of physical violence in their homes. However, only 2 out of 10 women victims of domestic violence have sought help. Visit the related web page
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