Aaron Cohen's Blog
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Lastest Missions
- Posted on 04.20.09
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 karaoke bars and brothels we were able to help a young trafficking victim named Natasha. We finally made it back to the hotel about sunrise exhausted after getting her to safety and presenting evidence to the authorities.
Our next mission was two days later in the Golden Triangle, an area that overlaps, Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. I was joined by my guide and other members of the team. Our security was breached and we had to evade the SPDC (Burmese military) spies who would compromise our position. After a change of locations we were in an area that enabled us to get a chance to see the child soldiers. It was hot and sweaty in the jungle in my black Kevlar vest, but necessary gear as the area we were in was contested. We had brought a truck load of rice and medical supplies to deliver to a village that was in the combat zone. The villagers of Banmai were starving as supplies could not get in and they could not get out due to the fighting.
My guide and I had delivered the supplies and were talking to the villagers at their school when the SPDC army showed up and placed my guide, Richard, and I in detention. Fortunately, there were only a handful of soldiers and when word spread instantly in the village of our detention the entire population rushed to the school and began yelling and shoving the soldiers who were vastly outnumbered although armed. By the grace of God, in the ensuing melee, Richard and I were able to escape on motorcycles brought for us by the villagers.
After our escape back to Thailand we was able to get the Wah commander, who was sympathetic to us, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in which he agreed not to use child soldiers. We still must get the other commanding officers, on both sides, to sign the MOUs, so our work has just begun there.
Time forced our return to Bangkok where we had arranged to meet police friends and go on “night frights” to find more underage victims. I took a police friend to a club called Mike’s where there are under age Russian girls. I paid for “Aor” who took me upstairs. I explained to Aor that I needed her help. She took me to an underaged girl who I was able to interview on camera. We went back downstairs; the captain and I left with the tape. Tomorrow morning the police would be back and rescue the girls. With the recorded evidence they have the legal proof. Now we just have to raise the money to place our victims in a rehab program.
It is primarily young people who get trafficked. This is a crime mostly against the youth of the world. The UN estimates two million children worldwide face the horrors of exploitation in the transnational sex trade alone. The youngest child I rescued in Cambodia was 7 years old. The youngest in the Sudan was not yet one year old. It is by drawing attention to this terrible crime that action will be taken by governments. When people come together in a world wide consensus against trafficking we’ll see real change. Trafficking has to be recognized without apology for the abomination it is by everyone before it will stop.
People always ask me what they can do to help. Because kids want to do their own thing they are creative and innovative. The media is always looking for new stories and when groups of young people do something with cultural or political significance the media is quick to pick up the story. Kids are great at spreading the word and can get groups together quickly. What the media decides to report is what becomes the news. Starting with the students of the ‘60s who fought to stop the war in Vietnam – youth groups have always been able to influence government by influencing public opinion. Please do your part, together we can abolish slavery.
For more information, visit http://www.abolishslavery.org
Related causes: Human Rights
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