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China police rescue 32 trafficked Vietnamese brides

Farmers see “buying” a woman from abroad as cheaper than paying a dowry for a Chinese bride.

CHINESE POLICE HAVE rescued 32 Vietnamese women who were sold as brides to farmers in an operation aimed at curbing the practice in the impoverished countryside.

Authorities arrested 75 suspects who were allegedly part of a ring that lured women to southwest China’s Yunnan province with promises of tourism and work, Yunnan Public Security Department said in a statement posted on its official social media account.

The victims were kept in large numbers in “captive families” in Yunnan, close to the Vietnamese border, in remote, mountainous areas before being sold to people in six provinces in central and east China, state broadcaster CCTV said.

When one victim tried to escape, “two men caught me and beat me with a steel pipe,” she told reporters. “They threatened me when I refused to be their bride.”

Bride trafficking is a serious problem in China, where women are sold to men, mostly in rural areas, who cannot find wives at home because of the country’s huge gender imbalance.

Sex-selective abortions

The problem is particularly serious in impoverished areas, where farmers see “buying” a bride from abroad as cheaper than paying a dowry for a Chinese bride.

For decades, the country’s strict one-child policy led many traditional Chinese families, who prefer sons to daughters, to have sex-selective abortions, skewing the country’s gender ratio.

Police began investigating the case in September 2015 after discovering a woman, who did not speak Chinese, had been sold as a bride from Vietnam for 80,000 yuan ($11,600), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The 32 rescued women are being transferred back to Vietnam, CCTV said.

Chinese police “rescued and repatriated” 1,281 abducted foreign women in 2012 alone, most of them from Southeast Asia, the state-run China Daily reported. Human traffickers could face the death penalty in China.

Read: Pentagon considers renting a floor in Trump Tower to store nuclear launch codes >

Read: ‘I will put a round in you, sir’: Armed men walk into US police station to ‘lodge complaint’ >

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 9:50 AM

    A lot of raids and rescue in a lot of countries the last week… Big one in California over 400 arrested,. Haiti another one,. Now China.. Norway recently as well… Keep it going rescue them all and arrest those responsible..

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 9:59 AM

    Amazingly this one I didn’t see on the journal.
    Nearly 500 arrested in California human trafficking raids.
    NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Almost 500 people were arrested in a crackdown on human trafficking in California, police said on Wednesday, in raids that also led to the rescue of more than 50 victims, including children.
    https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trafficking-arrests-idUSKBN15G5J6&ved=0ahUKEwi3nqnv34LSAhXnIsAKHXJkB9gQFggcMAA&usg=AFQjCNHCCE3JwCcYg6NL3y08EBjtkEF0ig&sig2=jkdBjeyFVeqyS2syKKQnqw

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    Mute Pat O'Dwyer
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:24 AM

    @LITTLEONE: It can be dangerous for journalists reporting on such matters , because it very often involves prominent figures. Since broadcasting this episode of Pizzagate which is related to the mass arrests last week, host Ben Swann has apparently gone into hiding.
    ‘Why Hasn’t Any Investigation Taken Place?’ CBS Host Defends Pizzagate Conspiracy

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-hasnt-any-investigation-taken-place-cbs-host-defends-pizzagate-conspiracy/

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 11:08 AM

    @LITTLEONE: These stories need to be approached with considerable caution.

    http://fox5sandiego.com/2017/01/31/watch-live-da-announces-arrests-rescues-in-operation-targeting-forced-prostitution/

    Look again at the figures in this operation. Of the ‘over 400′ arrests:

    238 were for prostitution (in other words consensual sex workers)
    142 were for solicitation (ordinary blokes paying for sex)
    36 were for suspected pimping

    Further down the article, the number of people ‘rescued from human trafficking’ is 2 and even then we aren’t given the circumstances. This operation involved 160 law enforcement from 18 jurisdictions. Suddenly this story becomes much more about disapproval of paid sex rather than a supposed human trafficking epidemic.

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    Feb 9th 2017, 11:34 AM

    @David On Tour: How do you know that all 238 prostitutes were consensual sex workers? There are those who have been forced into prostitution and are doing it

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    Feb 9th 2017, 11:45 AM

    @Anne Marie Devlin: First of all, they were specifically classed as arrested (not ‘detained’ or ‘rescued’) and clearly listed separately from the two listed trafficking victims. Secondly, when these operations are followed up on by the media, they almost invariably result in very few or no actual trafficking victims being found.

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:02 PM

    @Pat O’Dwyer:

    Pizzagate is a hoax.

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:13 PM

    @David On Tour: is it not true that nearly 500 were arrested in California? Yes. The figures don’t delve into specifics. The 238 for prostitution . Do you know for a fact they were not being held against their will? They could easily be victims of human trafficking. It does happen…

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:18 PM

    My comment still stands David. That it’s amazing that the story did not make the headline here on the journal.. considering the high amount of arrests made…

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:24 PM

    @LITTLEONE: The link I posted headlines ‘over 400′ and breaks down the figures rather well I’m sure you’ll agree.

    Several American journalists (including those on reason.com) do follow up on these operations and when sex workers are listed are being arrested, criminal charges against them invariably follow, while lists of coercively trafficked individuals from that group do not.

    No-one is suggesting that coercive trafficking doesn’t happen, but it’s nothing on the scale claimed by certain media outlets and in many cases veers perilously close to fake news.

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:26 PM

    @LITTLEONE: ”Several hundred consensual sex workers and customers arrested in America. Two suspected trafficking victims found.” Does that really need to be posted on the Journal?

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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:33 PM

    @David On Tour: Are you denying nearly 500 were arrested? Are you saying that nearly 60 of these are confirmed as being victims of trafficking including children? The operation was 3 parts . There was more than 2 your getting very worked up ? Why .
    From your own link you posted . It clearly says
    “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” also resulted in the recovery of 28 sexually exploited children and 27 women, now that’s not 2 so why are you claiming something else? Strange

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:42 PM

    Here David the full quote from your article..
    Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” also resulted in the recovery of 28 sexually exploited children and 27 women, according to the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force.

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 12:44 PM

    That makes it 55 not 2. So why are you claiming only 2?

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 1:29 PM

    @LITTLEONE: ”The operation also focused on rescuing victims of human trafficking. As a result two people were rescued including a 16 year old girl.”

    ”Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” also resulted in the recovery of 28 sexually exploited children and 27 women”

    The distinction here is between ‘victims of human trafficking’ and ‘sexually exploited.’ Any minor selling sex is being sexually exploited, but is not necessarily a human trafficking victim. Hence the different definitions in the article.

    To give a more local example, in 2014 the Garda simultaneously raided 23 premises across the country being used for prostitution in a supposed ‘rescue’ operation. Not one coercively trafficked person was found.

    To give a few more examples, the average age of entry to prostitution is supposedly 13, the US Superbowl involves thousands of trafficked prostitutes and over 300k US children are in danger of being sex trafficked every year. All of these claims have been comprehensively disproved yet are still being quoted by some politicians and various media outlets.

    No-one is ”getting worked up”. I’m merely pointing out the facts rather than the hype. The dismal failure of the US ‘war on drugs’ is being replaced by the ‘war on prostitution’. Disapproval of paid sex is fine, but creating a moral panic and spreading entirely false statistics helps no-one.

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 3:20 PM

    @LITTLEONE: Funnily enough David. That’s from San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force.. now why would they be involved if it was not human trafficking surely it would have been some other department…
    Operation Reclaim and Rebuild” also resulted in the recovery of 28 sexually exploited children and 27 women, according to the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force.

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 3:37 PM

    @LITTLEONE: The San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force were understandably looking for victims of human trafficking and according to this article, appear to have found two. There is no definition given here of ‘sexually exploited’, but it’s clearly a different thing to human trafficking.

    Just out of interest, do you personally feel that a country so supposedly concerned with ‘women and girls’ should be arresting, charging, fining and imprisoning women who are engaged in sex work?

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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
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    Feb 9th 2017, 3:46 PM

    @David on tour. Not being trafficked does not preclude not being forced to work as a prostitute

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    Mute LITTLEONE
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    Feb 9th 2017, 3:51 PM

    @David On Tour: do you think the children were there voluntarily? So that’s not 2 but 28.

    I think law enforcement should carry out these raids,. Operations , Because as this as proven children were involved as well being sold,. Being sexual exploited. As for getting in to who should be arrested that’s not what I am posting about. Your obviously got an interest in this topic. I do not . But the fact children were involved , then I would say it was a good thing this happened and it should continue to happen. The operations to uncover what’s going on..

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 5:12 PM

    @LITTLEONE: It’s an unfortunate fact in America that some minors (many of whom are runaways from abusive homes or institutions) engage in ‘survival street prostitution’. A large percentage are found to be acting independently (not pimped or trafficked) as outlined here:

    https://phys.org/news/2014-04-underage-sex-trafficking-pimps-problem.html

    Sex with an underage person is quite rightly a very serious crime. However, finding an underage person does not necessitate huge raids with mass arrests and incarcerations. In countries where sex work is decriminalised, levels of trafficking and the abuse of minors is extremely low, partly due to the excellent communication between law enforcement and sex workers in general. The American idea of criminalising sex workers is almost unique in the West and very clearly counter-productive.

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    Mute David On Tour
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    Feb 9th 2017, 5:22 PM

    @Anne Marie Devlin: That depends very much on the definition of the term ‘trafficked’, which varies widely depending on who you’re talking to. Some regard all sex workers as being trafficked.

    However if someone is being coercively forced to sell sex, either by violence, blackmail or deception, that is indeed defined (officially via The Palermo Protocol) as trafficking.

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    Mute Qwerty
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    Feb 9th 2017, 9:44 AM

    The Chinese…

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    Mute Qwerty
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:22 AM

    …a great…

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    Mute Hello there friend
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:25 AM

    Bunch…

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    Mute Robin Basstard
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:37 AM

    of…

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    Mute Alan Wiley
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:42 AM

    LADS !

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    Mute Mike Brady
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:39 AM

    “The problem is particularly serious in impoverished areas, where farmers…”
    ‘Seriously impoverished’ farmer pulls 11,600 dollars out of his arse to get his hole? Obviously not too facking impoverished so. Has the meaning of the word impoverished changed or something coz I can’t even imagine how poor I must be.

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    Mute Lurfic
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    Feb 9th 2017, 11:38 AM

    Why are comments closed on the nurses article?

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    Mute Tweed Cap
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:20 AM

    And did you, Kum Hia Nao, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?
    Yeah, I certainly did father.

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    Mute Keelan O'neill
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:32 AM

    Ya wha?

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    Mute Qwerty
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:51 AM

    Come here now.

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    Mute Brianog2
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    Feb 9th 2017, 10:47 AM

    What will happen to them when they go back to Vietnam?

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    Mute Val Martin
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    Feb 9th 2017, 11:20 PM

    So babies are aborted because of their gender and Trump is a bad man.

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    Mute Kieran Jones
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    Feb 9th 2017, 2:36 PM

    I hope they don’t lose my bride ! 4000 she cost me.

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