AARON COHEN'S BLOG
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Lastest Missions
- Posted on 04.20.09
Related causes: Human Rights
I returned from a retrieval mission in Mexico, one of a series, that left me little time to recuperate before beginning arrangements for our missions to Cambodia and Thailand. The Abolish Slavery mission is to combat human trafficking and restore dignity to victims. We organize and coordinate investigations and field operations to find, identify, and retrieve men, women, and children from slavery, providing for their safe aftercare and rehabilitation. This puts us on the cutting edge of stopping human trafficking. After meeting with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington D.C. it was on to tactical operations command meetings. One of our objectives was to free child soldiers, and another was to rescue women forced into brothels in Thailand.
Bangkok is an international city that is marketed as a sex tourism destination. It is a hub of human trafficking. This trip I was hoping to retrieve girls trafficked from Russia. After spending the night in karao...Read More -
Aaron Cohen tweeting in the Burmese jungle
- Posted on 03.11.09
Related causes: Human Rights
Human rights activist and Causecast leader Aaron Cohen has been tweeting up a storm in Burma, where he unexpectedly had the opportunity to travel and is negotiating the release of child soldiers from militant groups. His group must avoid encounters with the forces of the State Peace and Development Council, the military regime that has held control of Myanmar since 1988.
His experiences over the past days have been truly inspiring as he posts messages and photos via Twitter. Below is a recap of his latest tweets from Myanmar and Bangkok (times indicate when updates appeared in Pacific Daylight Time):
March 7, 3:32 AM: Our security was breached going in. as our body guards evaded the SPDC spies sent to compromise our position.
March 7, 3:33 AM: We bought six large bags of rice, medicines and anti biotics and went in with the Wah National Army in Myanmar Burma.
March 7, 3:34 AM: The fighting is getting too heavy to remain where we were with the constant pop, sizzle of bull...Read More -
The Cambodian Incident
- Posted on 09.10.08
Related causes: Human Rights
Hi I’m Aaron Cohen, a human rights activist who works in the area of slave retrievals. That’s right! Slavery is NOT history. It’s the fastest growing illegal business in the world. I started my activist career in the music business and parlayed the parties we had making concerts and music festivals into a modern-day “Jubilee” movement to free slaves around the world. I began my career combating human trafficking initially as a fundraiser, but over time I took on the fieldwork and eventually ended up as the scout, sent out to find the lost children who had been sold into the sex trade. I wrote this prose poetry journal entry after a round of slave retrievals in Cambodia in November of 2004, when I was filled with the emotion of seeing death and children lost in the night.
For a long time now I have worked undercover and have assessed the phenomenon of slavery from the inside. Our teams have retrieved thousands of children from human trafficking over the years in more than 23 count...Read More -
What is The Jubilee Act?
- Posted on 09.09.08
Related causes: Human Rights
I would like to take a moment to tell you about a importance of a bill waiting to be passed by the full Senate, The Jubilee Act.
The Jubilee Act cancels impoverished country debt, prohibits harmful economic and policy conditions on debt cancellation, mandates transparency and responsibility in lending from governments and international financial institutions, calls for a new legal framework to restrict the activities of predatory "vulture funds," and calls for a U.S. audit of debts resulting from odious and illegitimate lending.
On Thursday, June 7, 2007, the Jubilee Act (HR 2634) was introduced into the US House of Representatives by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), and on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007, the Jubilee Act (S 2166) was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT).
Now, in 2008, we would like to see the Jubilee Act passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the President.
...Read More
