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	Republicans want to turn back the clock on women’s rights in the workplace by Amanda Terkel, Kelly Kleiman Huffington Post & agencies USA   Apr 2012   A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill.   The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act was meant to deter employers from discriminating against certain groups by giving workers more avenues via which to press charges. Among other provisions, it allows individuals to plead their cases in the less costly, more accessible state circuit court system, rather than just in federal court.   In November, the state Senate approved SB 202, which rolled back this provision. On February, the Assembly did the same. Both were party-line votes in Republican-controlled chambers.   SB 202 was sent to Walker on March 29. He had, according to the state constitution, six days to act on the bill. The deadline was 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The governor quietly signed the bill into law on Thursday, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau, and it is now called Act 219.   State Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee), the authors of the Equal Pay Enforcement Act, criticized Walker on Thursday for not informing the public of his actions on SB 202.   “We are finally starting to see progress here in Wisconsin, yet like their counterparts across the country, Legislative Republicans want to turn back the clock on women’s rights in the workplace,” said Hansen.   Women earn 77 cents for every dollar that men make. In Wisconsin, it"s 75 cents, according to the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH), which also estimates that families in the state "lose more than $4,000 per year due to unequal pay."   Business associations lobbied in support of SB 202, according to the state"s Government Accountability Board. Groups like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association all backed a repeal.   Sara Finger, executive director of WAWH, said that the repeal was a "demoralizing attack on women’s rights, health, and wellbeing."   "Economic security is a women’s health issue," she said. "The salary women are paid directly affects the type and frequency of health care services they are able to access. At a time when women’s health services are becoming more expensive and harder to obtain, financial stability is essential to maintain steady access."   Walker is facing a recall election in June. The two frontrunners on the Democratic side who are competing to unseat him, former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, sharply criticized the governor for allowing the repeal bill to become law.   Falk said Walker has "turned back the clock for women across Wisconsin."   "As a woman and as a mother who worked full-time while raising my son, I know first-hand how important pay equity and health care are to women across Wisconsin," she said in a statement to The Huffington Post.   A spokesman for Barrett"s campaign said that Walker"s "ideological civil war includes a war on women, and repeal today of this protection against pay discrimination is a major step backwards for Wisconsin values and basic fairness."   "Tom Barrett knows equal pay for equal work is essential, and failing to stand up for Wisconsin women in the workplace is yet another reason Walker must be defeated this summer," he said.   Aug 2011   Wisconsin says No to Money for Nonprofits, by Kelly Kleiman.   Governor Walker"s ideology requires that people who need assistance seek private charity and that private charity be deprived of the means of assisting them.   Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, not content to interfere with the provision of public services by destroying public-sector unions, has now decided to refuse to sign off on nonprofit grant applications to the Federal government that might “lead to ongoing programs that would need money from state taxpayers later.” The first wave of grant applications deprived of the state’s endorsement would have supported health services, including programs to reduce binge drinking, an unhealthy activity in which Wisconsin leads the nation.   The hard Right has long argued that government services are unnecessary because nonprofits can step into the breach. This claim was always nonsense, but at least its exponents didn’t also take on themselves the task of interfering with the charities’ overwhelmed attempts to do so. Wisconsinites will pay the same Federal taxes whether or not the state receives Federal grants to support its nonprofit sector.   So clearly the point is not to shelter the state’s citizens from confiscatory taxes but to punish people who need help. Governor Walker’s ideology apparently requires not just that people in need of assistance seek private charity but that private charity be deprived of the means of assisting them.   And let’s be clear about the legal antecedents of what’s going on here. Groups of citizens of a single state are being deprived of access to something available to all other citizens of the United States—just as groups of citizens of the states of the Old Confederacy were once deprived of the vote. Then, “states’ rights” was a buzz-phrase meaning “the opportunity to mistreat black people without interference from those durned Feds.”   Now, in Governor Walker’s view, the phrase is even more expansive, meaning “the opportunity to mistreat unhealthy and/or poor people of every race to make the point that those durned Feds have no right to interfere.” Anyone who’s enthusiastic about the states’ rights claims in the governors’ lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act should check out Wisconsin for a foretaste of what states’ rights really mean to the rights of states’ citizens.   The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made clear that citizens’ right to vote trumps states’ rights. Thus—and despite many recent efforts to enact barriers to that right—there’s a reasonable chance that Governor Walker will lose his legislative majority in the next few weeks, whereupon the appropriate state-federal balance can be restored. The Constitution can be restored.
	UN urges countries to boost their efforts to combat human trafficking by UN News & agencies   3 April 2012   At a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Member States are called on to increase their collaborative efforts to prevent human trafficking and protect its victims.   “Where traffickers use threats and weapons, we must respond with laws and prosecutions,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said during at a meeting at the UN General Assembly in New York, entitled “Fighting Human Trafficking: Partnership and Innovation to End Violence Against Women.”   At any given time across the globe, some 2.4 million people are victims of human trafficking, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which adds that the crime generates $32 billion annually, rivalling the profits reaped by the illicit trade in arms and drugs. Every year, thousands of people fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad, with women comprise two thirds of trafficking victims.   In his remarks, Mr. Ban emphasized that countries need to tackle the broad factors that lead to human trafficking, such as extreme poverty. He also noted that migration is also closely linked to this issue, requiring States to take action on relevant policies.   “Women are lured out of their homes and countries with false promises. They are stripped of their passports, their dignity and their personal security,” Mr. Ban said. “To protect people from such exploitation, countries have to coordinate their labour and migration policies.”   Mr. Ban called on countries to adhere to the treaties that aim to stop human trafficking, in particular the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and stressed that resources would be needed to tackle the problem.   “I welcome this dialogue’s focus on closing the gap between commitments and actions. Far too many women and girls fall through the cracks and land in the unscrupulous arms of traffickers,” Mr. Ban said. “But I have to be clear. It will take resources to build a bridge from words to deeds.”   He encouraged all those in attendance to contribute to the UN Trust Fund on Human Trafficking, which provides humanitarian, legal and financial aid to victims of trafficking through a range of avenues, including governmental, inter-governmental and civil society organizations.   Echoing Mr. Ban’s remarks, the General Assembly’s President Al-Nasser said the money received by the Fund so far was not enough.   “The Fund needs strong and continued support of Member States, and civil society, especially the private sector and the media, if it is to success as an engine for the delivery of assistance to victims,” Mr. Al-Nasser said in his remarks to the meeting.   He noted that human trafficking represents an appalling form of human rights abuse, and underlined the importance of protecting those vulnerable to it: women, children and migrants.   “Human trafficking is also one of the fastest growing criminal industries, rivalling the trafficking of illicit drugs and arms,” the Assembly President said, calling on individuals to back global strategic efforts that tackle this issue from all its aspects, including prevention, prosecution and victim assistance.   “Whether an individual, an organization, a State, I urge everyone to speak out against this terrible crime that does unspeakable damage,” he added.   26 March 2012   A comprehensive approach through laws, education and international cooperation is needed to end modern-day slavery, the President of the UN General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, said today.   “The terrible impacts of slavery and the slave trade are still felt to this day,” Mr. Al-Nasser said in remarks delivered on his behalf to a General Assembly meeting to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.   “They have devastated continents and countries. They have led to profound social and economic inequalities, and have given rise to hatred, racism and prejudice.”   In 2007, the General Assembly designated 25 March as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to honour the 28 million estimated Africans who were violently removed and cast into slavery, mainly in colonies in North America, South America and the West Indies.   In his remarks, Mr. Al-Nasser emphasized that Member States must work tirelessly to eradicate modern slave-like practices that have emerged in the forms of racism, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.   The General Assembly President also underlined that existing international instruments on slavery “should be fully utilized to bring about necessary change in attitudes and customs, to punish the offenders, and to support innocent victims in re-gaining their lives and dignity.”   “Let us learn from the horrors and sacrifices of the past, and ensure through concrete actions and results that slavery in all its forms is forever eliminated”.   March 17, 2012   Death of a two-year-old shines spotlight on human trafficking.   The death of a battered two-year-old girl in India has thrust human trafficking in the country into the spotlight.   The girl, dubbed Falak by doctors, was taken to a New Delhi hospital in January by a 14-year-old girl who claimed to be her mother.   Doctors say Falak had severe head injuries, broken arms, branded cheeks, and bite marks covering her body when she was admitted.   For two months Indians followed the story as she underwent multiple surgeries. But on Thursday she suffered a cardiac arrest - the third in her short life - and died.   The case made headlines across the country, but it was just the beginning of a much darker story.   Once police began looking into the case, they uncovered a suspected human trafficking ring.   According to reports, the teenage girl who took Falak to hospital had been sold into a brothel. She began living with Rajkumar, a man she met through the brothel.   One day, he allegedly brought home baby Falak.   The woman believed to actually be Falak"s biological mother, 22-year-old Munni, was tracked down in Rajasthan.   Munni had been sold by her first husband to another man.   She was reportedly forced to leave the baby with the teenager when she was sold. She also left behind her two other children.   The Indian home ministry says it is a case of human trafficking.   "This has turned out to be one of the biggest sex rackets involving minors and child prostitution and sale of women for marriage," Raaj Mangal Prasad, the head of India"s Child Welfare Committee, told CNN.   "This shows this is a classic case where the magnitude of trafficking has come to light."   The girl is now in a juvenile home and Rajkumar has been detained by police - one of a handful of people arrested.   Shocking statistics   The case has reignited debate about human trafficking in India, a country with a population of 1.2 billion people.   The UN defines human trafficking as "the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them".   It notes it is difficult to get a clear number of the amount of people affected because it is an underground crime.   However, the UN estimates that at any one time 2.5 million people are victims of trafficking across the globe, and the most common form is sexual exploitation.   In a 2011 report the US State Department ranked India as a tier 2 country in terms of human trafficking, meaning it does not do enough to eliminate trafficking but is taking steps to curb the problem.   "Ninety per cent of trafficking in India is internal, and those from India"s most disadvantaged social economic strata including the lowest castes are particularly vulnerable to forced or bonded labour and sex trafficking," the report said.   "Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of forced prostitution ... cities popular for tourism continue to be vulnerable to child sex tourism. Indian nationals engage in child sex tourism within the country and, to a lesser extent, in other countries."   In a 2003 report the National Human Rights Commission of India estimated that nearly 40,000 children are abducted in India each year, with around 11,000 of those never being found.   The NHRC estimates that almost half of the children trafficked within India are between the ages of 11 and 14.   According to the US State Department, the Indian government "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking ... but it is making significant efforts to do so".   Last year India ratified the protocol to prevent people trafficking and it also prohibits some forms of trafficking - including for sexual exploitation and forced labour - in its local laws.   But critics say the laws are not effectively enforced and a clear definition of trafficking is not provided.   Delhi-based writer Namita Bhandare says there is plenty more that can be done to stop cases like this happening again.   But she argues that the "biggest stumbling block" is a lack of willpower to bring about concrete change.   The Immoral Trafficking of People Act, urgently in need of amendment, does not even define trafficking.   There is no standard operating procedure on how to respond to a missing child case. Most states do not define who is a missing child. There is no centralised data base on missing children.   There is little gender sensitisation at the enforcement and administrative level.   Police stations lack manpower and funds to appoint dedicated personnel. Visit the related web page
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