Daily Archives: April 15, 2014

Friday, April 11th, 2014 Issue 15, Volume 18.

Starting this month local businesses will have to post notices with information about organizations which seek to eliminate human trafficking and slavery as a result of a California Senate Bill that became law in January.

California Senate Bill 1193 will require certain types of business such as alcohol vendors, transit stations, airports and urgent care centers to post signage or a notice of some sort in both English and Spanish as well as one of nine other languages, depending upon what county the notice is posted.

The standardized notice that some businesses will need to start implementing encourages individuals engaged in activity that they cant opt out of to call either the Human Trafficking Resource Center or California Coalition to Abolish Slavery.

The following notice is what California businesses will Advertisement [ Casa Tiene Vista ] need to make visible:

"If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, construction, factory, retail, or restaurant work, or any other activity call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or the California Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) at 1-888-KEY-2-FRE(EDOM) or 1-888-539-2373 to access help and

services."

Businesses that are required to post a notice but do not post one could be subject to a $500 fine for their first offense and a $1,000 fine for each subsequent offense, according to the wording of the

bill.

For more information about the bill and its contents, visit its corresponding page on the California State Senate website: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1193.

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Local businesses now required to post human trafficking notices

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. REUTERS/Glenn Greenwald/Laura Poitras/The Guardian

Reuters won in international reporting for its coverage of the violent persecution of a Muslim minority in Myanmar who in efforts to flee often fall into the hands of brutal human-trafficking networks.

The celebrated prizes, awarded by Columbia University, are the most respected in US journalism and can bring badly needed attention and recognition to newspapers and websites suffering from economic pressures and budget constraints.

The prize-winning work by the Guardian US and The Washington Post in the Pulitzer's public service category was based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details of global electronic surveillance by the US spy agency.

Reporting on the leaks not only sparked international debate over the limits of government surveillance but prompted President Barack Obama to introduce curbs on NSA spying powers.

"We are particularly grateful for our colleagues across the world who supported the Guardian in circumstances which threatened to stifle our reporting," Guardian Editor in Chief Alan Rusbridger said in a statement.

"And we share this honor, not only with our colleagues at The Washington Post, but also with Edward Snowden, who risked so much in the cause of the public service which has today been acknowledged by the award of this prestigious prize," he said.

Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum last year after the US Justice Department charged him with violating the Espionage Act.

In giving Reuters its first Pulitzer for text coverage, the board commended Jason Szep and Andrew R.C. Marshall for their "courageous reports" on the Rohingya, who in their efforts to flee the Southeast Asian country often fall victim to human-trafficking networks.

"For two years, Reuters reporters have tirelessly investigated terrible human-rights abuses in a forgotten corner of the Muslim world, bringing the international dimensions of the oppressed Rohingya of Myanmar to global attention," Stephen Adler, Reuters editor-in-chief, said in a statement.

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NSA stories take Pulitzer prize

BLADE STAFF

The League of Women Voters of the Perrysburg Area is bringing a discussion on human trafficking to town Tuesday evening.

State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), legislative sponsor of two Ohio human-trafficking laws, will lead the discussion at the Way Public Library starting at 7 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.

Ms. Fedor sits on the Human Trafficking Commission as chairman of its legislative and legal subcommittee.

Legislation she sponsored, enacted in 2009, created a penalty enhancement for human trafficking and created a task force to study the problem in Ohio. Human trafficking in 2010 became a stand-alone, second-degree felony.

In 2012, she sponsored the Safe Harbor Act, which established harsher penalties for the solicitation of minors.

The library also will show the film Blade Runner at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Mercy Family Activity Center, with a book-club discussion afterward. Admission and refreshments are free of charge, no registration is required, and copies of the book upon which the film was based will be available for checkout.

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Human trafficking talk at library