Global Slavery Index: India Has Highest Number of Slaves at 18.4 Million

Daily News and Analysis, India, 5/31/2016

Almost 46 million people are living as slaves globally with the greatest number in India but the highest prevalence of slavery in North Korea, according to the third Global Slavery Index released on May 31, 2016. The index by Walk Free Foundation increased the estimate of people born into servitude, trafficked for sex work, or trapped in debt bondage or forced labour in the world to 45.8 million from 35.8 million in 2014. Incidences of slavery were found in all 167 countries in the index, with India home to the largest total number with an estimated 18.4 million slaves among its 1.3 billion populations.

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Nauru Legalises Homosexuality, Criminalises Marital Rape And Slavery

The Huffington Post, Nauru, 5/31/2016

The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru has legalised homosexuality, replacing its century-old criminal code with a new law that also criminalises slavery and broadens the definition of rape to apply to married and unmarried couples. In addition, the Crimes Act 2016 also decriminalises suicide. Nauru announced on May 27, 2016 that the Crimes Act 2016 would replace the Nauruan Criminal Code of 1899. The Government’s decision to decriminalise homosexuality and suicide - in compliance with obligations under international treaties - showed ‘progressive leadership’.

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Pune’s Gay Rights Group to Host Queer Play Readings

The Times of India - Pune, India, 5/31/2016

The city's queer community will host play reading sessions of two of its recently censored plays, Freddy and Purushottam , for the first time in the month of June. Freddy, which has received a censor certificate the last week of May, 2016 after 14 cuts, is a black comedy about masculinity that is prevalent in Bollywood. Purushottam, cleared by the Rangbhoomi Prayog Parinirikshan Mandal (State Theatre Censor Board) in the year 2015, had four cuts, due to explicit content, cuss words and sexual similes and metaphors.

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How Child Sexual Abuse Became a Family Business in The Philippines

The Guardian, Philippines, 5/30/2016

The United Nations says, there are tens of thousands of children believed to be involved in a rapidly expanding local child abuse industry already worth US$1bn. In some areas, entire communities live off the business, abetted by increasing internet speeds, advancing camera phone technology, and growing ease of money transfers across borders. And while perpetrators download photos and videos to their hard drives – providing authorities with a virtual paper trail and usable evidence – criminals are finding anonymity in encrypted live-streaming programs.

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Proposed Anti-Trafficking Law Makes Rehabilitation a Right

The Times of India - New Delhi, India, 5/30/2016

The draft anti-trafficking bill is an omnibus legislation that addresses investigation of inter-country trafficking, provides for rehabilitation as a victim's right and commits government funds for the purpose. Unveiled by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, the bill introduces economic penalties like seizure of property and new offences like administering drugs or alcohol to victims, injecting of chemical substances or hormones for exploitation and registration of placement agencies. Trafficking is the third largest organised crime in the world and the bill, made public for consultation, envisages an investigating agency along the lines of CBI to tackle human trafficking from across the borders.

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Govt Pulls the Plug on Gender Resource Centres

The Times of India - New Delhi, India, 5/29/2016

Delhi Government issued a terse order on 27 May, 2016 bringing to an abrupt end the former Congress government's flagship Gender Resource Centres project under the Mission Convergence scheme. Many of the voluntary organisations have come together under the banner of the ‘National Forum for Action on Convergence (Delhi Chapter)’ to counter the move. In a statement they asserted, ‘This arbitrary order of Delhi government will result in closure of nearly 103 GRCs, 26 extension centres, five homeless resource centres, five district resource centers, 43 Awaaz Uthao Centres working on women's safety , one Mother NGO for GRC and another for the homeless. This will render almost 2,000 people unemployed in one stroke without having given prior notice.’

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Thai Team Bags World Bank Award

The Nation, Thailand, 5/28/2016

A Thai team of four public health researchers and community activists has won an award from the World Bank for creating an initiative aimed at preventing violence against female sex workers. The award for ‘Trauma-Informed, Community-Engaged Violence Prevention for Female Sex Workers in Thailand’ was one of nine awards given to teams from around the world by the World Bank Group and the non-profit Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) in recognition of innovations to prevent gender-based violence.

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Online Sex Racketeers Prey on Actor, Model Hopefuls

The Hindu – Thiruvananthapuram, India, 5/27/2016

Fledgling cine actors and aspiring models hailing from poor families are increasingly turning victims of online commercial sex rackets, according to the Crime Branch (CB). CB Inspector General S. Sreejith told The Hindu that third parties who profited from advertising and arranging paid sex online for rich clients compelled such young hopefuls into this trade by cunningly portraying their job as lucrative ‘adjustment or compromise work’, a polite euphemism for underage prostitution and sex-trafficking, in their secret circles.

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Indonesians Hail Stiffer Penalties for Sex Offences

The Straight Times - Jakarta, Indonesia, 5/26/2016

Indonesians have mostly welcomed President Joko Widodo's move to introduce tougher penalties for child sex offenders, which include chemical castration and the death penalty. Previously, the maximum sentence for a child sex offence was 15 years' jail. ‘This crime threatens and endangers the soul of our children. Sexual crime has disturbed peace, security and public order,’ Mr Joko said after signing the Perppu, or decree.

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Let’s Talk About Sexuality, Hong Kong: Young People Need To Know About Sex and Relationships

South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 5/25/2016

So many people in Hong Kong are afraid to talk to young people about sex. The truth is we should be more afraid of the consequences of not talking to them. A lot of Hong Kong’s sexuality education seems to be abstinence-based – don’t have sex. It is rapidly apparent that the existing approach of trying to hide sex from young people is not only illogical in the internet age, it’s also dangerous. Those between 20 and 29 now make up the largest proportion of new HIV infection cases in Hong Kong.

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