Britain is refusing asylum to more former child slaves from nations such as Vietnam, Eritrea and Afghanistan, having denied refugee status to more than 275 non-European victims since 2012 despite fears many will fall back into the hands of traffickers. Between 2015 and 2017, the government denied asylum to 183 people trafficked or enslaved as children – double the total for the previous three years – Home Office (interior ministry) data obtained exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed. Many teenage survivors are then deported to nations where they have no relatives and end up prey once more to traffickers, according to charities that say the spike in asylum denials belies Britain’s vow to lead global efforts to end slavery. “It is incredibly shocking … that the situation is getting worse for young victims of trafficking,” said Catherine Baker, policy officer at the anti-child trafficking charity ECPAT UK.“They are being returned to countries where they have a high risk of being retrafficked,” she added. “If the government is serious about protecting child victims of human trafficking, it needs to ensure that they have long term stability and support.”

Traffickers and dishonest children’s homes are capitalizing on the trend of combining voluntary work with traveling. They encourage families living in poverty to give up or sell their children to orphanages. There, these vulnerable children may be exploited, even abused, malnourished and forced to work. They may even be re-trafficked to other orphanages to repeat the cycle and bring in further donations. We are not suggesting these organizations have placed, or promoted the placement of, volunteers in orphanages that exploit or traffick children. They have made valuable contributions to the communities they operate in. But now, their support is crucial in breaking the cycle of child trafficking and exploitation in orphanages. An estimated 8 million children live in orphanages worldwide, yet 80% of them have at least one parent or family member who is able to look after them, with additional support if needed. It is clear from these numbers that something doesn’t add up.t Chan in Cambodia was beaten, raped, starved and forced to work on the orphanage director’s rice paddies and farms without pay. Now, she is a strong ambassador for the Cambodian Children’s Trust, raising awareness of conditions children face in institutionsThe government of Cambodia has set up a pilot program to reintegrate children into families. Last July, it tasked officials with identifying vulnerable children and overseeing their reintegration into familiesIn Haiti, some families were paid 75 USD to give their children away to orphanages on false promises their children would receive an education, only for them to end up living in slave-like conditions.Vulnerable children being separated from their families and placed in orphanages to attract funding, volunteers and donations from well-meaning tourists is an occurrence reported across Southeast Asia, as well as in Nepal and across Africa.

When a woman arrived at the emergency department at Huntington Hospital on New York’s Long Island after being hit by her boyfriend, hospital staff suspected there was a deeper issue behind her injury. The woman was an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who worked at a local cantina. Her job included getting drinks for customers, but sometimes this meant offering sex as well. Her boyfriend didn’t want her to work there, which is what led to the fight. Medical staff began asking her if she’d ever had sex for money, or whether she had to give someone else part of what she earns, among other things. The screening questions were part of a new program at Northwell Health, a 23-hospital system in the New York area, to help staff identify and support victims of human trafficking. According to a 2014 survey of about 100 survivors of sex trafficking, 88 percent said that while they were being trafficked they had contact with a health care provider, typically someone in an emergency department. To read the entire article, click here https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/24/631517533/hospitals-gear-up-for-new-diagnosis-human-trafficking

Biola University(Cal.USA). Prof. Laura Dryjanska:corso on line sul traffico dei minori in Italia e Argentina. Lezione di Roberto Giua.Intervento parzialmente oscurato su facebook e poi ripristinato.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TBdPnID9oMnJgbi8oYqGgoMoRpC4WXrq/view

https: //drive.google.com/file/1TBdPnID9oMnJgb80YqGgoMoRpC4WXrq/view

Una interessante Lezione  di Roberto Giua per un corso on line della Biola Univ. Tale intervento, poco dopo la pubblicazione su facebook, è stato inspiegabilmente in parte oscurato e poi ripristinato. Si suggerisce di guardare il video anche per i riferimenti al RC Roma Cassia e a Valeria Galletti, coordinatore del Progetto Shadow Children.

Thank you for your kindness in coming to see me yesterday at the shelter. Your words brought great joy to my broken heart. I turn 15 on Monday. After being used by so many men, I can see that my days will soon come to an end. My illness gets worse with each passing day. I can hardly eat. The food has no flavor. It is sour like so much of my life. I will not see my 16th birthday. I look back on that day when I left my family’s home. I was only twelve then. I was so happy. So full of life. I had such hopes and dreams. Now look at me. I will never marry. I will never have children. I will never have grandchildren. I will not grow old. The day that first man took my virtue was the day my God died. He and all those other men stole my life away. I was just a child. Why did nobody come to help me? I have stopped asking why this happened to me. I have even stopped feeling angry. I need you to promise me. I need you to do what you can to prevent any other girls from falling into this hole. Promise me you will end this evil. Promise me you will never stop trying. I don’t care about myself. I’m done. Don’t let any more of our sisters go through what I went through. My spirit is already dead inside. My body will soon catch up. How can this happen to a child? Where are all the good men? Where are our protectors? Where is our humanity? Promise me. Jeana

I was particularly pleased to have with me as presenters a long time anti-slavery activist and friend, Rotarian Carol Metzker from Pennsylvania, and Ann Marie Jones who is a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation. Both gave very powerful presentations whilst Ann Marie testimony reduced many delegates to tears, including this presenter. I was also pleased to show at the Breakout Session a short film entitled “Freedom Rings” which has been produced by Freedom United (the largest modern anti-slavery community in the world) in partnership with our Action Group to combat the evils of contemporary slavery. To find out more about the partnership proposal between Freedom United and RAGAS, please first watch the film by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/EYhAsWnR8C4 and then visit the relevant website http://www.freedomunited.org/ragas which is mentioned towards the end of the film. If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved with the fight against human trafficking and slavery, just fill out the simple form provided online and you will be contacted shortly afterwards by an activist from Freedom United (from page 3)

If you only have a few minutes to spare in your busy daily schedule, please do turn  straight to page 3 and click on the link which opens up the 6 minute film we showed at the Action Group’s Breakout Session in Toronto. The film explains the concept of Freedom Rings and the partnership between Freedom United (the largest modern anti-slavery community in the world) and RAGAS (the Rotarian Action Group against Slavery).  At the end of the film the CEO of Freedom United, Joe Schmidt, refers to his joy in partnering “with one of the great powerhouses in making change” Joe is of course talking about “Rotarians”. As former RI President Kalyan Banerjee reminded us a few years back. “We are the doers of our communities, the leaders, the ones who are most involved, who see the problems and have the means to find the solutions.  We are the worldwide network of inspired individuals who translate their passions into relevant social causes to change lives in communities”

The United States State Department has released its flagship Trafficking in Persons report, highlighting the state of human trafficking around the world and ranking countries on their efforts to tackle the crime.Yet the section of the report that has garnered the most attention so far is the part on “child institutionalization and human trafficking,” which notes that, “Removal of a child from the family should only be considered as a temporary, last resort.” To read the entire article, click here https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/28/politics/state-dept-trafficking-annual-report/index.html

Un fenomeno poco noto ai genitori e spesso sottovalutato anche dai pediatri: è la “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS), ovvero “Sindrome del bambino scosso”, anche conosciuta come “Trauma cranico abusivo” (AHT). Si tratta delle conseguenze anche drammatiche di una forma di maltrattamento i. Mancano, purtroppo, dati epidemiologici a livello europeo e anche per quanto riguarda l’Italia non esistono dati certi sul fenomeno, ma si ritiene che l’incidenza possa essere di 3 casi ogni 10.000 bambini di età inferiore ad 1 anno, Terre des Hommes ha lanciato, nei mesi scorsi, in collaborazione con 6 eccellenze ospedaliere pediatriche italiane la prima campagna nazionale di prevenzione e sensibilizzazione contro la SBS Non scuoterlo!

LE 10 COSE DA SAPERE: 1) COS’È LA SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME?
La “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS) ovvero “Sindrome del bambino scosso” è la conseguenza di una grave forma di maltrattamento fisico prevalentemente intra-familiare ai danni di bambini generalmente al di sotto dei 2 anni di vita: il bambino viene scosso violentemente per reazione al suo pianto inconsolabile, con conseguente trauma sull’encefalo e successive sequele neurologiche. 2) A CHE ETÀ SI MANIFESTA IL PICCO DI INCIDENZA DI QUESTO FENOMENO?Il picco di incidenza della SBS si ha tra le 2 settimane e i 6 mesi di vita, periodo di massima intensità del pianto del neonato, 3) QUALI SONO I FATTORI SCATENANTI QUESTA “SINDROME”?Scuotere il bambino, in genere, è la risposta ad un pianto “inconsolabile”,Gli adulti, sentendosi impotenti, possono attivare – anche inconsapevolmente lo scuotimentonel tentativo di calmare il neonato. Spesso, lo scuotimento avviene proprio per mano deii genitori, nonni, babysitter, educatrici del nido. i principali fattori “di rischio” che potrebbero aumentare la probabilità di SBS sono: famiglia mono-genitoriale, età materna inferiore ai 18 anni, basso livello di istruzione, uso di alcool o sostanze stupefacenti, disoccupazione, episodi di violenza in ambito familiare e disagio sociale. 4) QUANDO E PERCHE’ SCUOTERE UN BAMBINO DIVENTA PERICOLOSO?Lo scuotimento violento, anche se solo per pochi secondi, è potenzialmente causa di lesioni molto gravi, soprattutto per i bambini al di sotto dell’anno di età Giochi abituali o comportanti maldestri dei genitori non provocano invece lesioni da scuotimento, 5) QUALI SONO I PRINCIPALI SINTOMI/SEGNALI CHE DOVREBBERO ACCENDERE UN “CAMPANELLO D’ALLARME”?Vomito, inappetenza, difficoltà di suzione o deglutizione, estrema irritabilità, letargia, assenza di sorrisi o di vocalizzi, rigidità o cattiva postura, difficoltà respiratorie, aumento della circonferenza cranica disarmonico rispetto a peso e altezza, difficile controllo del capo, frequenti e lamentosi pianti inconsolabili e, nei casi più gravi, convulsioni e alterazioni della coscienza, fino all’arresto cardiorespiratorio. 6) QUALI DANNI PUÒ PROVOCARE LO SCUOTIMENTO VIOLENTO?
Le conseguenze della SBS possono essere di diversa intensità e gravità. I danni di tipo neuro-psicologico provocati dallo scuotimento possono manifestarsi, nei primi mesi di vita del bambino, sia da un punto vista motorio che del linguaggio. 7) POSSONO ESSERCI CONSEGUENZE ANCHE PSICOLOGICHE?Scuotere un bambino può provocare gravi ed importanti esiti anche a livello psicologico, dando vita a problematiche relative allo sviluppo psico-motorio,8) LA SBS PUÒ ESSERE CAUSA DI MORTE?
La SBS può portare anche al coma o alla morte del bambino fino in 1/4 dei casidiagnosticati.9) QUALI COMPORTAMENTI I GENITORI DOVREBBERO ASSOLUTAMENTE EVITARE DI FRONTE AL PIANTO DI UN NEONATO?Il pianto del bambino, nei primi mesi di vita, sembra davvero inconsolabile. Qualunque sia il motivo, non bisogna mai scuoterlo per calmarlo..Sono, invece, tante altre le soluzioni che si possono mettere in atto per cercare di calmare il pianto di un neonato: cullarlo nella carrozzina, fargli fare un giro in macchina, un bagnetto rilassante, oppure fasciarlo con un lenzuolo piegandogli gli arti in modo che ritorni nella posizione fetale, o ancora fargli sentire un fruscio o un rumore continuo (come un phon o una lavatrice o un aspirapolvere). Ma se il pianto non si ferma lasciare il bambino in un posto sicuro e allontanarsi fino a quando non si è riacquistato un certo equilibrio. O in alternativa, chiedere aiuto ad altri membri della famiglia 10) COME È POSSIBILE PREVENIRE LA “SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME”?La prevenzione di ogni forma di abuso o maltrattamento minorile in generale e della SBS in particolare può essere effettuata attraverso il ricorso a diversi strumenti, tra cui: corsi di formazione per i genitori sul pianto dei neonati, per imparare a riconoscerlo e a gestirlo; una maggiore sensibilizzazione dell’opinione pubblica su questi argomenti; un piano di sostegno/intervento di sollievo per le famiglie sopraffatte e per i genitori che si sentono in difficoltà nel prendersi cura del loro neonato.

La campagna Non Scuoterlo! è condotta in collaborazione con Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino – Ambulatorio Bambi; Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico – SVSeD – Soccorso Violenza Sessuale e Domestica di Milano; Ospedale dei Bambini “Vittore Buzzi” di Milano; Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova – Centro Regionale per la Diagnostica del Bambino Maltrattato Unità di Crisi per Bambini e Famiglie; Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Meyer – GAIA – Gruppo Abusi Infanzia e Adolescenza, Firenze; Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Policlinico – Giovanni XXIII di Bari – Servizio di Psicologia – GIADA – Gruppo Interdisciplinare Assistenza Donne e bambini Abusati. La campagna ha il patrocinio della Società Italiana di Neonatologia (SIN), l’Autorità Garante per l’Infanzia e Adolescenza e Pubblicità Progresso.