2 July - Conference on Forced Migration

12TH IASFM CONFERENCE ON FORCED MIGRATION

The 12th conference of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) will be hosted by the University of Nicosia, Cyprus, from 28 June to 2 July 2009. This is the first time in over a decade that the conference has been held in Europe.

The theme of boundaries encompasses a range of connections, links and exchanges that are essential to exploring, debating, understanding and creating policies that respond to forced migration.

Borders play a prominent role in forced migration today; definitions of categories of forced migrants, such as refugees and IDPs, policies of interdiction and extraterritorial processing, and metaphors of "fortresses" and free-movement, all rely upon the notion of a border. Geographically at the border between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, the island of Cyprus possesses its own particular historical experience of forced migration and borders, making it a unique and appropriate location for those working in the field. The conference will be attended by scholars, policy makers, practitioners and artists from around the world.

The conference will open on Sunday, 28 June, at 6pm, by Mr. Neoklis Silikiotis, the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Cyprus.
For more information, please contact the University of Nicosia, tel. 22841500.

Case Study: "Trafficked Latin" - #02

Dramatic testimony in trafficking trial
By Alexia Saoulli

‘Clients came to look at us and buy and we would have sex with them’

A 36-YEAR-OLD mother who says she was brought to Cyprus and forced into prostitution, yesterday broke down on the witness stand when she was asked to recount her sexual experiences.

The woman, who was given the name ‘Clara’ by her employers at a Nicosia cabaret, told the Assize Court she had been sold for sex 15 times during the six weeks she was employed there.

The Dominican Republic woman’s testimony was given during the last day of her examination-in-chief by the state prosecution. The 36-year-old is a key witness in a case involving prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The woman’s breakdown came as no surprise. Although she initially came across as composed and self assured, any question requiring details regarding her activities at the cabaret appeared to unsettle her.

During the procedure, the 36-year-old summarised her experiences at the cabaret from when she arrived in Cyprus on April 18, 2008 to when she asked police for help on May 30, 2008.

The story that unfolded in court was of a woman who came to Cyprus to work as a dancer and ended up virtually imprisoned as a sex slave.

She said the cabaret had been fitted with cameras: one at the entrance of their bedroom door, two at the cabaret entrance and one opposite the bar where the girls sat when they weren’t dancing.

They were told to sit straight and not slouch as the boss was watching them from his office, she said.

If they wanted to go and get something to eat, they were accompanied by one of the defendants or someone else who had ties to the cabaret.

“If we said we were going to McDonald’s and went somewhere else, [defendant number two] knew already,” she said.

The witness was a little sketchy about how the money was exchanged between customers and the cabaret. She only knew she got €17 for a ‘private dance’, which involved having sex on the club’s couches, and €50 for leaving with a client after hours. She said the defendants were present when the exchange took place and that she was then instructed who to go with.

The 36-year-old said she was sometimes taken to a hotel or back to the customer’s home where she duly subjected to his sexual urges, because she thought it would be easier.

Sometimes the clients were extremely drunk and aggressive – another time she had to have sex with two young men on the same night.

Before that, she said they had to be on display for the customers in what sounded like a livestock auction.

“[We] had to sit with clients and let them touch us. This was done between 10pm and 1am.”

Staring at the floor, the witness used her hand to wipe away her tears and struggled to regain composure.

“Did you dance during those times at the cabaret?” the prosecution asked.

“Yes,” she said.

As the details of how she was expected to dance “sensually” to attract clients unfolded, the 36-year-old suddenly looked very vulnerable and much younger than her years.

The defence objected, pointing out the witness had come to Cyprus on a contract as a dancer and that how she danced was irrelevant.

The objection was translated to the witness through the Spanish speaking court interpreter prompting the 36-year-old to look up and stare at the defence lawyer in defiance.

“I didn’t know when I had agreed to come as a dancer that I had to take my clothes off. I didn’t understand that I had to dance naked. But I had to do it,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.

The witness added: “Clients came to look at us and buy and we would have sex with them.”

During the woman’s testimony, the six defendants sat in a line staring impassively ahead. Sometimes they fidgeted in their seats and glanced at their defence team but on the whole their eyes remained fixed on the defendant.

“I had to let them touch me and mainly let them do whatever they wanted because what I understood is that they had paid for me and I had to let them do whatever they wanted to me,” she said.

The witness, who has two children back home in the Dominican Republic, said she had initially been afraid to tell police she had been recruited by a woman in her home country for fear that she would harm them. This was because one of the female defendants, who had contact with the woman in the Dominican Republic, had made it clear her name should be kept out of things.

She finally decided to file a complaint with police when she had ensured her children had moved home and school.

The 36-year-old managed to leave the cabaret after she sent a text message to one of two other Dominican Republic women who had escaped the same month and were already in a shelter.

She was taken in by police, who raided the premises and asked that she be taken in for questioning. Another woman who also left with her, appears to have changed her mind and returned to work at the cabaret instead of staying with police.

The witness said she thought this might be because the cabaret employees had told them when the first two girls had escaped that they had been tricked and imprisoned. Perhaps the other girl believed them which was why she chose to go back to the cabaret, the witness said.

The accused are five Greek Cypriot men and a 26-year-old cabaret artiste from the Dominican Republic. The men are a 55-year-old cabaret manager, three cabaret waiters aged 66, 62 and 53, and a 55-year-old cabaret artiste agent. If convicted they face a maximum sentence of up to 15 years imprisonment.

The trial continues on June 30.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

Case Study: "Trafficked Latin" - #01

This morning I started following this case:

‘Denied a living wage and forced to have sex for 17euros’
By Alexia Saoulli
(archive article - Thursday, June 18, 2009)

A 36-YEAR-OLD woman from the Dominican Republic yesterday told the Nicosia Assize Court how she had been recruited under false pretences in her own homeland to work in a local cabaret.

Looking composed in the witness stand, the woman described in detail how she had allegedly been tricked into coming to Cyprus to work as a dancer with promises that the island was a stepping stone to Spain.

She said she paid an agent in her own country over €2,000 to make the necessary arrangements including securing a work contract, visa and airline ticket.

The 36-year-old said she had been told that her time in Cyprus would involve nothing more than dancing in the evenings and spending her free time at the beach. She was also promised a monthly salary of €600 plus commission for every drink bought by a client.

Once on the island, none of what she’d been promised by the woman who had allegedly arranged for her to come here materialised.

Forced to entertain clients seven days a week, sometimes for as long as 10 hours, the 36-year-old said she and the other girls never had a day off. Instead they earned €120 a week plus €1 for every drink they had with soldiers and €2 for every three drinks they had with ordinary customers.

Other than providing conversation for patrons they also allegedly had to perform erotic dances and offer their sexual services. Private dances, which occurred between 8pm and 10pm, involved having sex with clients on couches at the far end of the cabaret. The women received €17 for every private dance, she said.

The 36-year-old, who said she had been employed from April 8 until May 30 last year, said the first indication all was not as it seemed was on the first night.

“We were taken into the cabaret and told to sit down… It was around 10pm to 11pm… we became worried because some girls were sitting on top of some clients with very little clothes, dancing erotically,” she said.

Later that night the women, who had all arrived on the same flight from the Dominican Republic, were taken to their room which was above a bar adjacent to the cabaret and were locked in. The room was later unlocked by one of the female defendants who was also employed at the cabaret. The same defendant told her compatriots she was married to one of the male defendants, who the women thought was the cabaret manager, although in fact he is a waiter.

The 36-year-old said they were told the bar was called a ‘spa’. They were instructed to work there from 4pm to 6.30pm daily and have drinks with clients. The latter usually ended up in the cabaret when it opened at 8pm, the court heard.

Her story was frighteningly similar to the account given by a 31-year-old woman who worked in the same Nicosia cabaret. Both women are key prosecution witnesses in a case involving prostitution and trafficking of women for sexual exploitation.

The 36-year-old, who had shoulder length, dark hair and dark skin, was wearing a simple bright green collared T-shirt and jeans. She looked younger than her age while addressing the court through a Spanish speaking translator.

During the course of the morning, the witness named all the defendants and said they had been employed at the cabaret, with some playing more of an active role than others in allegedly pimping the women.

When she was asked to describe the trip to Cyprus including her first night at the cabaret, she was able to do so unfalteringly. Her voice turned to almost a whisper and appeared to become shaky when she was asked to describe two occasions she’d been “sold” for sex.

One time was during a private dance in the club and another was at a hotel near the cabaret in old Nicosia. Regarding the latter occasion she was somewhat sketchy about the details.

Asked why she had worked in the ‘spa’ and why she had agreed to have sex, the 36-year-old said she had been afraid to defy the bosses because she would be sent home.

“I had borrowed a lot of money to leave the country and if I had financial problems before they would magnify if I went back,” she said.

“[Defendant number 2] told me I had to go. It was more out of fear. If I said no I would be sent back to my country,” she whispered.

Yesterday’s hearing was not without disturbance with tempers running high as usual. When one of three defence lawyers was caught laughing during the witness’ testimony, the hearing took a turn for the worse and within minutes the situation spiralled out of control.

Initially the trial had gotten off to a good start with a seemingly calmer atmosphere than the day before. But this mood was short-lived and only half an hour into proceedings President of the Nicosia District Court Yiasemis Yiasemi was forced to call an extraordinary 20-minute recess when the same defence lawyer denied laughing and instructed the court not to raise its voice at him.

The accused are five Greek Cypriot men and a 26-year-old cabaret artiste from the Dominican Republic. The men are a 55-year-old cabaret manager, three cabaret waiters aged 66, 62 and 53, and a 55-year-old cabaret artiste agent. All six are connected to the cabaret where the 31-year-old was employed last year and deny the charges. If convicted they face a maximum sentence of up to 15 years imprisonment.

All six continue to work at the same cabaret.

The trial continues on June 23.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

Cabaret owners cause mayhem

this is a hilarious article!

Cabaret owners cause mayhem
By Elias Hazou
(archive article - Tuesday, February 17, 2009)

Who are we supposed to bring? Jennifer Lopez?

MILITANT cabaret owners went on the rampage yesterday, occupying the Interior Ministry building, accosting a senior government official, blocking roads and generally making a nuisance of themselves in the streets of the capital.

A group of some 100 protesters yesterday staged a demo outside the Presidential Palace, demanding that the new stricter hiring conditions be lifted. While a delegation requested a meeting with the Undersecretary to the President Titos Christofides, the rest deployed smack in the middle of Demosthenis Severis Avenue, blocking traffic.

Several banners were hung on railings, one of them reading: “The government is sensitive about the human rights of foreigners, but it tramples on the constitutional rights of the ‘natives’.”

“With these new rules, Cyprus will become one of a handful of countries in the world where strip joints are banned. Great! Now we can join the ranks of Saudi Arabia and the Vatican,” said Kleitos Kleovoulou, owner of the Mirage cabaret in Limassol.

“If this is all about vice, you just can’t regulate morals by passing laws. It’s not a theocracy,” he added.

Kleovoulou, who worked at Las Vegas’ Olympic Garden Cabaret before returning to Cyprus, said the new rules were a guise to run cabaret businesses into the ground.

“Hypocrisy, that’s what it is. If the government really wanted to crack down on sexual exploitation of women, there are other ways of accomplishing this. But because they can’t come up with clever ideas, they want to chop off the head, as it were, and be done with it,” Kleovoulou told the Mail.

Under the new regime, performers must be hired in dance troupes of four. They must also have papers proving they are professional dancers with a minimum of two years paid experience and dancing qualifications. Where necessary the artistes will have to show they are “well known” in their own country or internationally.

Cabaret owners say these are impossible stipulations that will drive them out of business, which they suspect is the government’s ultimate goal.

Previously, cabaret owners could hire any foreigner who was over 18 with repeated reports the women were being forced into prostitution by their employers. The procedures were changed after the Cyprus Republic came under fire for allowing trafficking of women under its very nose.

Having gotten nowhere with the Palace, the delegation returned to the main protest, furious with the Under-Secretary to the President for refusing to see them. A few unflattering expletives were heard about Christofides.

The dejected crowd then decided to march onto the Ministry of the Interior to carry their protest there. Throughout the two-kilometre walk, they deliberately shunned footpaths, instead marching in the middle of the street and causing a minor bottleneck at the Honda traffic lights.

Having reached their new destination, the cabaret owners demanded an audience with Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis.

Outlandish scenes ensued when the protesters spotted Lazaros Savvides, the Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry, in his limo. A group of about 30 gathered menacingly around the car, hurling abuse at Savvides, whom they consider to be the ‘mastermind’ of the new regulations.

A hapless Savvides was forced to exit the limo and head to the minister’s office on foot.

“Here, let me escort you to your office,” one demonstrator sarcastically remarked.

When they again received word they were getting nowhere with the Ministry, it sparked a mad rush for the minister’s office, with at least one man falling over as he ran up the stairs of the colonial-era building.

Up until that point, the atmosphere had been fairly subdued, but once tempers flared the demonstrators decided to occupy the central building housing the minister’s office.

The crowd eventually scattered around 4.30pm, but not before causing more traffic mayhem in the streets outside the Ministry. There were minor scuffles with police, and the demonstrators even argued and jostled with exasperated motorists madly honking their horns.

At the end of the day, all the cabaret owners got was a promise of a quick-fix: the requirement for artistes to have prior dancing experience would be suspended for six months.

This failed to satisfy the majority, and they came away from the ministry with vague threats of further disruptive actions.

Mirage cabaret’s Kleovoulou told the Mail one way of clamping down on sexual exploitation would be for authorities to interview prospective artistes as soon as they set foot on the island.

“That way, the girls would know exactly what their job involves, and with this information they would then choose to stay or leave. The choice would be theirs. Long gone are the days when artistes were forced to go out for sex with customers…today hardly any cabaret does that. And if they do, then I say arrest them and shut them down.”

Antonis Neophytou, a bartender at another Limassol establishment, said 500 families would be left on the street unless the new regulations were thrown out.

“Out of 100 cabarets, only 65 remain because the owners can’t meet these criteria. Business already took a hit from the financial crisis…and now this is like the final nail in the coffin for us.”

Demetris Kolokassis, owner of Matrix cabaret, said that the new rules were both unfair and absurd.

He said that visa applications for artistes have since been transferred from the Interior Ministry to the Labour Ministry. The latter, however, does not yet have the mechanisms in place and is unable to process applications. In the meantime, cabarets are running out of artistes as their contracts expire.

“In which other similar profession do you ask employees for two years’ prior experience? And what’s all this nonsense about the dancers having to be ‘famous’ in their own country? Who are we supposed to bring? Jennifer Lopez?”

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009

http://www.helenbamber.org

Exploitation, violence and atrocity are words familiar to all of us. No one likes them, and it’s only natural to shut them out. We are a collective of human rights specialists who respond with compassion and creativity to the legacy of cruelty.

We work with survivors of genocide, torture, trafficking and rape who seek safety and refuge. We draw upon their inner resources, providing them with practical support and treatment to deal with their pasts and build new futures

Our clients are courageous but vulnerable people. The mental scars are expressed through nightmares, horrifying flashbacks and self-loathing. We help to mend what was broken in a safe and supportive environment, where restorative relationships enable survivors to feel whole again.

The Journey against sex trafficking

Website of the "Journey"

Cyprus Anti Trafficking activist group

Cyprus Anti Trafficking activist group

15-yrold thought she was going to Die

My girl thought she was going to die
By Marianna Pissa
THE FATHER of a 15-year-old girl savagely beaten by a racist mob yesterday described the moment his daughter thought she was going to die.

But Manoah Duku told the Sunday Mail that he forgave his daughter’s attackers, as protesters yesterday gathered in Nicosia, calling for action before such racist violence spiralled out of control.

Margarita Duku fell victim to an unprovoked racist attack on Thursday night, when she was badly beaten by 40 youths – boys and girls – after a volleyball match between Akaki gymnasium and Stavros gymnasium, a Strovolos secondary school.

“When I went to pick her up she was crying and she was explaining what had happened to her,” her father Manoah Duku told the Sunday Mail yesterday.

“They kicked her, punched her, pulled her hair and kept chanting ‘Blacks out of Cyprus’.”

Margarita, who is a Cypriot national, was a player on the Akaki team. The attack occurred at the end of the game, won by the 15-year-old’s team. “Margarita was attacked when she went to defend a teammate who was hit by a girl from the other team. When Margarita’s coach tried to defend her, he was physically threatened and was pushed out by the mob,” Duku explained.

“At first she was attacked by one of the other team’s players and then suddenly everyone pounced at her, boys and girls…

“I forgive them because they didn’t know what they were doing. Christmas is a time for forgiveness and if they are real Christians they should know that there is only one God for all people, no matter the colour of their skin. Margarita feels the same pain as any of them would feel if they suffered such a beating.

“When the police arrived, the beating stopped. Margarita was taken into a room for safety and even though the police were there, the mob was kicking the window, trying to break in to get to Margarita,” he said.

“Instead of taking her straight to the hospital, which was only down the road, the police took Margarita back to her school in Akaki and waited for me to go pick her up to take her to the hospital,” Duku said.

Duku took his 15-year-old daughter to the hospital with severe injuries and she was admitted for treatment. Since Thursday night, Margarita has undergone various medical examinations to determine whether there is any damage to any vital organ. No fractures have been diagnosed. According to Duku, Margarita is aching all over and the family do not know when she will be discharged from the Makarios children’s hospital.

“I spoke to the police today and they told me they are still investigating the incident,” Duku said.

According to Doros Polycarpou, leader of immigrant support group KISA, “No one was arrested. No statements were taken. No one was charged.”

KISA held a protest yesterday on Eleftheria Square in an effort to raise awareness about the incident and to stamp out such violence in the future before it takes on even more tragic dimensions.

A statement from KISA described the attack as “one of the most serious crimes concerning racist violence in Cyprus, since the reason of the attack was the young girl’s skin colour…

“Unfortunately, the racist venom has been allowed to poison the souls of a portion of our youth.”

Margarita has five other siblings, 23-year-old Eva, Monica 16, Mallas, the only boy in the family, who is 11, and Chrystalla and Maria aged five and three respectively, who were both born in Cyprus.

Manoah and Elizabeth Duku came to Cyprus from Sudan in August 2001 with their children. “Margarita’s grandfather, my father-in-law, is Cypriot. Margarita spoke Greek and was attending Greek school in Khartoum, Sudan before we moved to Cyprus”.

Duku, who works as a road technician for a well-known Cypriot development enterprise in Libya, came to Cyprus last week to spend Christmas with his family.

“Margarita naturally feels angry over the attack. She thought she was going to die. She was crying for help and no one was around to help her. Over the eight years that we have been here we have been insulted several times for being black but it never got physical,” Duku said.

Racist attack on 15 yr.old girl

Massive attack against 15 year old of African origins
KISA CALLS TO RESIST RACIST VIOLENCE


In the evening of 18 December, International Migrants Day, a 15-year old student was taken to the Emergency department of Nicosia General Hospital, suffering from severe injuries caused by a group of 60 young persons in Strovolos after a volley-ball match. This is one of the most serious crimes concerning racist violence in Cyprus, since the reason of the attack was the young girl’s skin colour, who is a Cypriot national of African origins.



The young attackers shouted at their victim that they did not want any foreigners there (in Cyprus) and that she should return to her country of origin! The team’s couch, who tried to defend her, was also threatened to be beaten up. The incidence may be an unusually extreme form of racist violence but it nevertheless takes place in a broader social framework, where racist attitudes and discrimination against migrants and refugees (concerning employment, housing and other aspects of daily life) are now dominant.



Incidents of this kind are not irrelevant to the stigmatisation of migrants by politicians, part of the media and people in prominent positions in society, with racist generalisations, as for example the continuous reference to “illegal migrants,” even when referring to refugees from Iraq, Palestine, etc, linking the presence of migrants to unemployment and crime, concealing their positive contribution to the economy and society and the absence of effective practices of social integration.



Unfortunately, the racist venom has been allowed to poison the souls of part of our youth. The police, who have persistently shown total lack of sensibility towards incidents of racist violence (and which are not even recorded as such), appeared at the scene of the crime but not only did they not carry out any investigation or arrests but also refused to accept the written complaint of the victim’s father.



The African Community in Cyprus is living in fear since last night’s attack. KISA demands the thorough investigation of the incident and the punishment of those guilty of the crime. This is of course the bare minimum and cannot in itself solve the larger problem. What is absolutely necessary is the implementation of a comprehensive policy on migration and asylum that will safeguard migrants’ rights, respect of diversity and the social integration of migrants, refugees, children of mixed marriages, and others. It is also necessary to introduce a comprehensive action plan against racism, xenophobia and discrimination.



KISA calls on students and youth, and especially the schoolmates of those involved in the beating up and their friends to isolate the perpetrators and show their solidarity to the student and her family. Finally, KISA calls for a protest meeting against racism, which will take place tomorrow, Saturday, 20.12.2008, at 11:00 a.m. at Eleftheria Square, in order to put an end to such incidents before they take on even more tragic dimensions.


19.12.2008