By Brandon Cottrell 
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – According to the Global Slavery Index, released Thursday by the Walk Free Foundation, an anti-slavery charity, Haiti ranks among the countries with the highest prevalence of slavery.  Of the 162 countries ranked by the Index, Haiti had the second highest proportion of slaves, behind Mauritania, a western African nation.

In addition, the top ten countries on the Global Slavery Index account for three quarters of the 29.8 million people currently living in slavery.  India, which has a slave population of over 14 million people, has the greatest slave population.

The United States came in 134^th, with an estimated slave population of 60 thousand.

Kevin Bales, one of the authors of the Index, when asked why slavery continues to persist, said that, “the reasons varied from country to country, but one constant was that it remained a hidden problem.”  He hopes that that the Index will provide “a bit of a wake up call” to the world’s governments.

The Index used reports from governments and non-profit organizations, as well as statistical estimates in making its determinations and considered a range of practices including forced labor, bonded labor, human trafficking, forced marriages, and the use of children in the military.  It draws on over ten years of research and claims to contain the most authoritative data on slavery conditions.

In Haiti 2.1% of the population, or 1 of every 48 people, are enslaved.  Most of the slaves, however, are children.  One in ten children are “trapped” in a system of child labor and are referred to as “restavecs.”  They serve families that they are sent to and are generally responsible for preparing meals, fetching water from wells, cleaning, doing laundry and emptying bedpans.  Generally, they sleep on the floor, are up at dawn and are often subject to physical and sexual abuse.  Many run away but according to the report they are often “trafficked into forced begging and commercial sexual exploitation.”

The Walk Free Foundation represents Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s commitment to preventing global slavery.  Other global leaders such as former U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates are involved in the Foundation.

Clinton acknowledged that the study was not perfect but she hopes that it “urge[s] leaders around the world to view this index as a call to action, and to stay focused on the work of responding to this crimes.”

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Mauritania, Haiti Top New Global Slavery Index – 16 October 2013

CNN – India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria On Slavery’s List Of Shame, Says Report – 17 October 2013

USA Today – Mauritania, Haiti Top New Global Slavery Index – 17 October 2013

Washington Post – Worldviews – 17 October 2013

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – A bipartisan compromise proved successful Wednesday when the Democratically-controlled Senate passed a bill to raise the federal debt limit and reopen the federal government. The bill, which passed 81-18, must now pass through the Republican-controlled House, where Republican leaders have reluctantly agreed to see the bill pass.

 

If the bill passes in the House, it would arrive on President Obama’s desk for signing by Thursday, which is the deadline for the current debt limit.  “I will sign it immediately,” the President said, adding “we’ll begin reopening our government immediately.”

The proposed legislation would fund the federal government through January 15 and allow the Treasury Department to increase the debt limit through February 7.

Speaker John Boehner said he would bring the bill to the House floor for a vote but made no indication that he was giving up on the fight to bring down US debt.

“Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president’s health care law will continue,” Boehner said.

Amid news of the Senate compromise just hours shy of the debt limit deadline, Wall Street saw stock prices soar.

Wall Street experts have taken the political posturing in the past two weeks in stride, never honestly considering that Congress would allow the government to default on its loan obligations.

Tom Franks, a managing director at TIAA-CREF, a retirement fund management group, said of the potential default: “We knew it was going to be dramatic, but the consequences of a U.S. default are just so severe that the base case was always that a compromise was going to be reached.”

While default was averted, financial experts worry that the shutdown and partisan arguments have damaged faith in US reserve currency. Simon Derrick, a senior analyst at Bank of New York Mellon said foreign exchange investors like China will look for ways to diversify investments beyond an over-reliance on the dollar.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – US Debt Deal Hope Triggers Stock Market Rally – 16 October 2013

Al Jazeera – US Senate announces last-minute debt deal – 16 October 2013

BBC News – US debt ceiling: Senate passes US budget deal – 16 October 2013

CNN – Senate approves bill to end shutdown, avert possible default – 16 October 2013

Time – Stocks Surge After Senate Reaches Deal on U.S. Debt – 16 October 2013

By Brandon Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – As Mexico divests much of its attention to cracking down on the nation’s drug cartel and related violence, there has been a surge in the number of extortions.  This year alone there have been 5,335 reported exertion attempts, which is already as many attempts as all of 2012.

An increasing number of the extortions are based on Internet usage.  Experts say that criminals can gain access to information on social networks, which they use to take advantage of a person’s excessive trust.  They determine what a person looks like, their age, address, and financial and family information  Then, they use phones and/or computer messages to “extort or commit some type of illegal action against the [targeted] person.”

Mexican authorities believe the increase in extortion is attributable to their efforts in breaking up the drug cartels.  They say as the chain of command in a cartel is destroyed, many of the gunmen and traffickers routinely employed by the cartel become desperate for income and resort to extortion.  The desperation is evident in the targets of extortion, which include multinational businesses and corner stores.

Vacationers have also been targeted.  Guests at dozens of hotels have reported that they received calls from strangers claiming “they would be kidnapped if they didn’t pay.”  According to security officials, the amount of payment demanded has ranged from $380 to $1,500.  While most vacationers report the crime to security and do not pay, the threat of extortion is still unsettling.  Security Expert Jorge Chabat says that extortion “affects all economic activity [and] it discourages investment [in Mexico].”

According to federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez, “The person who is a victim of extortion lives in a state of permanent kidnapping [and] they live in fear.”  Dr. Roman Gaviria, an extortion victim, has echoed that sentiment.

Gaviria, who received calls demanding $20,000, had three armed men barge into his pharmacy; he was able to escape and killed two of the men in the process.  He says that from now on his “life has been an imprisonment in my own home.”  Although police officers are stationed near his pharmacy, he sees members of the gang that stalked him lurking and believes they are being protected by corrupt police officers.

While reported extortions are at an all time high, authorities believe that the majority of extortions go unreported.  Sanchez, meanwhile, is not sure whether there is an increase in the number or whether people feel more comfortable going to the police.  Either way, according to the National Statistics Institute 92% of extortions are not reported.  Additionally, NSI reports that extortion is the second most common crime in Mexico, trailing only robbery.

 

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Mexico’s Crackdown on Drugs Spurs Extortion Wave – 14 October 2013

First Post – Internet used as extortion tool in Mexico – 14 October 2013

IBN – In Mexico, The Internet Is Also An Extortion Tool – 14 October 2013

Washington Post – Mexico’s Crackdown On Drugs Feeds Expanding Wave Of Extortions – 14 October 2014

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States –  Focus over the government stalemate shifted to the Senate Saturday, where leaders are in talks to end the nearly two week shutdown.  Word of negotiations between Senate leaders from both parties came in the wake the Senate’s rejection of a bill that would increase the government’s debt ceiling.

Talks between Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell  on Saturday were their first face to face meetings in four months and their first in person negotiation about the government shutdown.

“The conversations were extremely cordial but very preliminary of course – nothing conclusive, but I hope that our talking is some solace to the American people and to the world,” Reid said.

While resolving the shutdown appears a high priority for the Senate, the rare session held Sunday had one item on the agenda: resolve the debt ceiling issue before markets open on Monday.  A near party line vote on Saturday failed to pass an increase to the debt limit problem.  Conservative members of the Senate cited the lack of clear plans to cut spending as reason for voting against the bill.

“This bill would have taken the threat of default off the table and given our nation’s businesses and the economy the certainty we need,” the White House said in a statement.

In the wake of Congressional debate over the shutdown and debt ceiling, many Americans have taken notice of the role of the federal government in their daily lives.

Political leaders from both parties have taken to characterizing the nature of the shutdown in a way that highlights their differing views of the role of government.  President Obama highlighted the federal government’s role as a source of jobs for hundreds of thousand of Americans as well as a place for farmers and small business owners to obtain loans.

Conservative members of Congress have used the shutdown as a demonstration of the impact that a smaller government would have on Americans.

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican House member from Tennessee said, “People are going to realize they can live with a lot less government.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Shutdown Driving Debate Over Role of Government – 13 October 2013

The Economic Times – Shutdown debate moves to US Senate as debt deadline creeps up – 13 October 2013

Al Jazeera – Government shutdown: Senate takes center stage in budget debate – 12 October 2013

BBC News – US shutdown debate shifts to Senate – 12 October 2013

The Washington Post – Government shutdown debate grates on Congress members’ moods – 12 October 2013

By Brandon Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PYONGYANG, North Korea – Myunghee Bae, the mother of Kenneth Bae, arrived in North Korea yesterday and planned to meet with Kenneth this morning.  In a statement earlier this week Myunghee said she didn’t “really know what to expect for [her] trip” and that all she wants is to see her son.

Kenneth was arrested in November 2012 as he entered Rason, North Korea.  The North Koreans say Kenneth, a Christian missionary and operator of a tourism business in China, used his business to set up bases for the purpose of toppling the North Korean government.  Kenneth’s trial and conviction occurred during a time of high tension between the US and North Korea, which stemmed from a North Korean nuclear test and a large scale US-South Korea military exercise.

Although tensions have since eased, the North Koreans revoked an invitation to U.S. envoy Robert King, who in August had been scheduled to travel to North Korea and negotiate Kenneth’s release.  All the while, Kenneth’s health has been deteriorating.

Kenneth, who was sentenced to 15years of hard labor but could have been sentenced to death, has been in a hospital for the past two months.  Myunghee says Kenneth is suffering from diabetes, an enlarged heart and back pain, among other ailments.  She also said that when she last saw Kenneth during a video prison interview that “he looked so different and he lost so much weight.  I could not believe that prisoner was my son.”

Myunghee also said that, “As a mother, I worry endlessly about his health” and that she wants “to see him, comfort and hold him in person.  I miss him so much.”  She hopes that through her visit she can encourage Kenneth to hang in there.  She had tried to see him sooner, but North Korea had denied her earlier visitation requests.

In recent years, North Korea has arrested several US citizens.  While North Korea maintains that the arrests resulted from such citizens preaching Christianity or threatening the government, the US claims North Korea is using these detained citizens as “bargaining chips.”  There is still hope Kenneth could be released in the future, as in the past, North Korea has released US citizens after high-profile visits from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

 

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Kenneth Bae’s Mother in North Korea to Visit Her Imprisoned Son – 11 October 2013

BBC – Jailed US Man Kenneth Bae’s Mother In North Korea Visit – 10 October 2013

CBS News – Kenneth Bae’s Mother Travels To North Korea To Visit Son – 11 October 2013

CNN – Kenneth Bae’s Mother Visits North Korea To See Imprisoned Son – 11 October 2013