Forwarded from StopFamilyViolence.org for your information. This is an issue the Network will be giving more focus to in the coming months.

 

 

Hello Stop Family Violence Activists!

This week, the last week of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, there are more special programs that I think will be of interest.

On October 24 and 25, at 9PM ET/PT Lifetime Television premieres its first-ever miniseries, “Human Trafficking,” a two-part film, starring Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino and Golden Globe winner Donald Sutherland, that brings to light the often hidden, but growing problem of the international sale and trade of human beings into modern day slavery.

The U.S. government estimates that each year up to 800,000 people are coerced and forced across international borders into slave labor and/or sexual exploitation, while millions more are trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Eighty percent of all trafficking victims are women and girls. And the U.S. government estimates that criminals are making $9.5 billion a year from this industry. At a recent Lifetime event in Washington, DC, to spotlight the issue and help inform the miniseries, U.S. Ambassador John Miller, who heads the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, called human trafficking “THE women's emancipation issue of the 21st century."

For more information visit http://www.lifetimetv.com/movies/originals/humantrafficking.html

For more information on human trafficking see the following websites
Amnesty International USA http://www.aiusa.org
Tahirih Justice Center http://www.tahirih.org
Equality Now http://www.equalitynow.org
Free the Slaves http://www.freetheslaves.net

If you or someone you know is a victim of trafficking and needs help contact the Department of Health and Human Services Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888
To report suspected trafficking crimes to law enforcement, call the U.S. Department of Justice Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force at 888-428-7581 or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at 866-DHS-2ICE.

On Thurs Oct 26 at 10 pm ET PBS will air Destination America: Breaking Free – a woman’s journey, about women who immigrated to the US to find refuge from the violence in their lives.

In the world they left behind, women were second-class citizens, dominated by law and custom by men. Some feared for their lives. Others were searching for new opportunities. Guatemala native Rodi Alvarado fled after a decade of beatings by her husband. Her petition for political asylum may become a landmark case. If she is granted asylum, her case will set a precedent that will allow other women refugees escaping gender based violence to get asylum. Rosa Cavalleri left Italy in 1887, a simple woman married to a brutal husband. Today, she is celebrated in her home town as a woman who challenged tradition, who broke away and made a new life for herself in America. Ferdows Naficy and her two daughters, Mahnaz and Farah became independent women in America. Their story of why and how they left Iran is a chilling, instructive tale of what it takes to break free.
For local show times please see http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/prog_stations.html

For more information on Rodi Alvarado and asylum for victims of gender based violence see
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/campaigns/rodi/
Human Rights First http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/asylum_02.htm

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If you appreciated PBS’s documentary Breaking the Silence: Children’s Stories, please contact your local PBS station to express you appreciation. Find your local station here
http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html

Many of you have written to express your frustration that your local PBS station did not air Breaking the Silence: Children’s Stories. Please check your local listings, as some stations will be airing the film this week, or in November, or at other times.
Check local listings here http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules

If your local station is not showing the film – it’s time for local activism! Rally a group of friends in your community and ask them to join you in calling the PBS station and asking them to air this important documentary.

Many others have written to ask how they can obtain a copy of the Breaking the Silence DVD. I have been in touch with Dominique Lasseur, and he tells me he’s making plans for that now. We’ll keep you informed!.

Meanwhile – there’s another excellent documentary on the same topic you may also be interested in
Small Justice: little justice in America’s family courts http://www.smalljustice.com
It’s available for purchase at http://www.intermedia-inc.com

Enjoy the shows!

Together we can.. http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org
Irene Weiser