ARUBA'S BABY SMUGGLING OPERATION BUSTED

Sounds like this woman is trying to pull a "Casey Anthony" by claiming her child was kidnapped. At least this baby was saved, unlike Caylee Anthony.

If you are going to be a liar, then you better make sure you're a damn good one...what pieces of human GARBAGE.

Three Arubans involved in selling of baby

19 Okt, 2009, 08:20 (GMT -04:00)

ORANJESTAD/MARACAIBO — Three Arubans have been arrested by local authorities in Venezuela for their involvement with the abduction and selling of a baby. Venezuelan media announced that the corps of criminal investigation (CicpC) had rescued a barely two-month old baby.

Supposedly, eight persons had been apprehended amongst which were Arubans.

One of the suspects, the baby’s aunt, had claimed that the baby had been kidnapped last Friday. At least, that is what she had told her sister, who was the baby’s mother. However, it was she who had sold the baby. It was reported that 18,000 Bolivar (8,373 dollars) had been paid in four installments for the child.

The baby’s aunt had sold the child to an international gang involved in human smuggling. The police had rescued the baby on Saturday evening before the suspects had boarded the airplane.

During the police interrogation, H. admitted that her husband Melesio Riera and her daughter Manifer Johaina Barrios (23) had assisted with this case as well. She also admitted that the baby had been stolen with the help of the Aruban Georgina Currie also names Gina.

Currie had supposedly already been pretending for a while on Aruba that she was expecting. Currie had only worn wide clothing lately to make her family and friends believe that she was pregnant. She had been in Venezuela during last August, supposedly due to so-called pregnancy complications, where she had run up a debt during her stay in the Venezuelan clinic.

Currie had informed her colleagues at work that she had encountered financial problems due to aforementioned debt. Her colleagues had supposedly even helped her out financially. She had left for Venezuela last week to give birth to her so-called baby.

It had therefore been Currie’s intention to purchase a baby in Venezuela. She had even paid a man to act as her husband. The three Arubans, including Currie and another five involved persons, are imprisoned in Venezuela now.

It is not known whether they have a lawyer or if the Dutch embassy is informed of this case. (OF COURSE they don't know this...they don't know their arses from a hole in the wall. No one in Aruba knows what's going on...absolutely PATHETIC.)

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_64004.php

"THE OLDEST PROFESSION IN THE WORLD KEEPS UP WITH MODERN TIMES"?

CITIZENS WANT CHANGE, GOVERNMENT RELUCTANT

Michelle Says So:

Why would the government be reluctant to change the laws of prostitution in order to protect women and children? Could it be that these "legal" businesses give handouts to the politicians so change does not occur?

WILLEMSTAD — In reaction to the public canvassing of girls for the prostitution, the appeal sounds for the legal curbing of this line of business. Prostitution alone is not punishable in the Netherlands Antilles, when it regards adults (eighteen years and older).

‘The oldest profession of the world’ also keeps up with modern times.

An escort bureau has established itself on Curaçao, and presents itself, as well as canvasses for personnel via internet. In addition, the Amigoe was offered an advertisement for webcam girls at the end of last week. Although this was refused, the advertisement still made it in a morning newspaper the next day. “I am making an explicit appeal to the politics to now grab pen and paper to have the law amended”, says the director or Social Development, Keith Carlo, former-chairman of the Child Welfare and fervid adherent of female and child rights.

“Members of parliament should consider not issuing any more permits to escort bureaus. The law should be amended accordingly.”Lawyer Berry Scheperboer also pleads for an amendment of the law. He is of the opinion that a whole lot can be done, but that the political will is lacking. “The ‘legislator should act immediately’, if this is to be tackled”, said the lawyer, as it is now a ‘free for all’.

“We have never had any problems with prostitution as we never departed from the viewpoint that females and children were objects worthy of protection”, according to the lawyer. “It concerns money and not love; the right of the strongest applies.”“If the government states that it cannot do anything, they are right, but they are legislator and they are capable of changing the legislation. Regulations should be implemented that can be enforced appropriately.”

As long as the government stands aloof, they are an accessory to these practices, according to Scheperboer.

The younger, the better

Basically the proprietors make use of the poverty, which many people, in particular females, contend with on the island. “One third of the population lives under the poverty line. The risk exists that families contending with poverty will exploit their girls to earn money.” He considers it ‘clever’ that they are on the lookout for adults. “Who checks whether this girl (or boy, as this often occurs as well) is fifteen or sixteen year of age; or is it simply the younger, the better.”

For that matter, from the language used in the advertisement for webcam girls, it appears to be directed towards girls rather than mature females: “Are you 18 years or older and not shy? Would you like to have a sideline and flexible working hours? Present yourself for the information gathering. It is perfectly alright to take a girlfriend with you.”

Awareness

In addition to an amendment of the law, Carlo is of the opinion that the government should initiate an awareness campaign. “For example: Don’t let this fool or entice you.”

Deputy Marilyn Alcalá-Wallé (PAR) is in favor of that idea: “We cannot forbid it, and therefore not intervene in the business itself. However, we could warn the population and introduce educative programs. That is an important task for the government, to rear the community to obstruct this matter within their own circles.”The island service Culture and Education will make sure that the activities regarding this area will be well monitored.

Responsible deputy Alcalá-Wallé admits that with the arrival of the new technologies, such as internet, it will become more difficult to keep an eye on all of this. “I am aware that this is developing very quickly, but also the latest developments require contra-developments.”

Escort

It is common knowledge that prostitutes are active on Curaçao – Campo Alegre is the widely known example, but there is also prostitution on the outside. In the past but also nowadays, there are various escort bureaus, which simply make telephonic arrangements for their services aboard pleasure yachts. As far as we are aware, it is new that an escort bureau offers its services locally through the internet.

On the website, Relax Escort Services promises discretion and high quality. The bureau is also interested in employing males and females up to fifty years of age and weighing up to 90 kilos. By the way, these are called ‘models’, and the escort bureau therefore offers ‘dates’.

The website (relaxescortservice.com) states that the models and escorts are not prostitutes and therefore do not accept any compensation in whatever form for sexual activities or sexual contact. “Every amount received by their staff or bureau is only meant for the time spent with the model, or the modeling time for the client”, the bureau emphasizes. The prices start at 175 dollars for a topless body rub (non-therapeutic, according to the website.

The offered package is legion. The bureau offers strippers (male & female), dinner dates, and entertainment for couples, and two or more girls. It is even possible to take an escort on holidays. The hourly rate for an escort is 300 dollars.

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_62885.php

HUMAN TRAFFICKER SABAN BARAN FLEES FROM PRISON--DUTCH CLAIM "TERRIBLE BLUNDER IN THE LAW"

HUMAN TRAFFICKER, SABAN BARAN ESCAPES AND FLEES THE NETHERLANDS

MPs have demanded justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin explain how a convicted and violent human trafficker came to be given a few days leave from prison and then vanished.

Ernst Hirsch Ballin

Saban Baran is currently appealing against a 7.5 year jail sentence for forcing over 100 women into prostitution, together with his brother.

Baran had been allowed home to visit his new baby, born to one of his trafficking victims whom he married from jail in January.

According to the Telegraaf, the Arnhem court gave the go-ahead to the compassionate leave (Compassionate leave??? What about the compassion to the 100 women he victimized? The Dutch need to get with the program, or I'll make sure that Secretary of State, Hillary Rodman Clinton puts the Netherlands on notice!), despite the objections of the public prosecution department, which said he was a flight risk and that it had been tipped off he was making travel plans.

Police say they expect Baran has fled to Turkey and an international arrest warrant has been issued. The Netherlands does not have an extradition treaty with Turkey.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/09/fury_over_human_trafficker_esc.php

Michelle Says So: Well citizens of Turkey, keep an eye out for this monster. The Turkish government could have extradited him, but it's obvious their laws and attitudes are not in the best interest of their people, and are not fit for any human being to live under. He is in your hands threatening the safety of your citizens. SHAME ON YOU. Maybe he's hanging out with Joran van der Sloot now, the professional pimp. Bastards!

FRAUD, LAUNDERING, SMUGGLING, AND INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRADE, OH MY!

MICHELLE SAYS SO:

Sure, this is in Bonaire, and not Aruba, but it is part of the Netherland Antilles, which most likely means that others in the area do or have done the same things.

Yes, we have corruption in our own country (as many people love to argue with me), but this isn't about the United States. It's about Aruba and The Netherland Antilles, and it just goes to show how shady and conspiratorial they are...all the while calling themselves the "best" in the Carribean. What a load of crock this is.

MAYBE these people's actions will set an example for other wrong-doers. But probably not...

KRALENDIJK — Former minister and deputy Burney El Hage (UPB) ìs a suspect in the investigation on fraud, laundering, gold smuggling, and international drug trade, according to the ‘order for house search’ of which the Amigoe came into possession.

Burney El Hage

In the ‘order for house search’ of the Court in First Instance, El Hage is mentioned as suspect just like Willem van Wijngaarden, and Albert de Groof who have both been apprehended; the latter has been transferred to Curaçao. Van Wijngaarden’s wife, Yvonne de Vries, is also mentioned as suspect in the order. El Hage and De Vries have not been apprehended.

Deza (Directorate Economical- and Labor-Affairs) are also mentioned in the aforementioned order as a location, which required searching. Various sources have confirmed the authenticity of the document.

The Public Prosecutor (OM) of the Netherlands Antilles is not revealing anything about the investigation (Surprise, surprise...). The order for house search does not state what these persons are being suspected of. However, there is a list summarizing the documents and administration, which were to be confiscated from a number of companies and real estate- and development projects.

The companies from which the administration should be confiscated according to the order are Questron, Independium Trust, Emphora Fisheries, Struijk Overzee, Kaya Grandi Corporate Service, Bonaire Precious Metal & Minerals, and Bonaire Precious Metals Refinery. Justice requested the Board of Governors to hand over the administration on the issuance of ground leases, as well as minutes of meetings, reports, and conversation notations as of January 2006.

In addition, all administration regarding the Blue Lagoon-project must be confiscated, according to the order, as well as data on a number of properties in Nikiboko and Sabadeco.

In the framework of the (international) investigation, eighteen house searches were carried out on Bonaire last week Tuesday and another four the day after. A house search was also carried out at the residence of UPB party-leader Ramonsito Booi, in addition to the house searches at the residences of El Hage and Van Wijngaarden. Booi’s name does appear on the order, but he is not considered a suspect. The 39-year old Anthony Marsera is the main suspect in the investigation and was apprehended on Bonaire last Tuesday.

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_62446.php

BOYCOTT WATCH REPORT: ARUBA BRIBED AIRLINES & HOTELS TO REPORT FALSE TOURISM

July 21, 2009

Boycott Watch Exclusive - Special thanks to True Crime reporter Michelle Simonsen for her blog entry which resulted in this report.

In a February, 2008 appearance on Fox News, Boycott Watch President Fred Taub discussed how tourism was down in Aruba while Neil Cavuto reported skyrocketing tourism numbers. While that may have been confusing to some viewers, Fred Taub and his numbers were vindicated today in a report by Natalee Holloway and true-crime blogger Michelle Simonsen where she quoted an Aruban official admitting Aruba paid American Airlines a bribe to keep flying to Aruba despite low tourism.

In Michelle's report, Aruba claims the low tourism numbers were because of terrorism and terrorist threats, but that clearly means boycotts in English. The fact is that Aruba denied the affect of the boycott inspired by the disappearance, and we believe murder of Natalee Holloway. In fact, Aruba first claimed that tourism was up when the numbers were actually down in light of the boycott, a story Boycott Watch broke by exposing a Central Bank of Aruba report showing the Aruba economy shrinking between six and eight percent when Aruba tourism officials claimed tourism was up ten percent.

Later, when Joran Van Der Sloot was exposed as having a direct link to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, there were several media reports of vandalism at the Van Der Sloot home by people who were hurt economically by the Aruba boycott, all the while Aruba was still reporting record tourism numbers. A few months ago, however, Boycott Watch reported that Aruba finally admitted Aruba lied and that Boycott Watch was right about their tourism reports all along.

Today we have the new revelation that Aruba bribed American Airlines, and probably others airlines as well to keep their flight schedules, no doubt because Aruba did not want to admit to actual lower tourism numbers. As a corollary, Boycott Watch believes hotels must have been bribed to block out rooms as well to create the illusion of sold out vacation packages, which explains why hotel rooms were booked when airlines tickets were sold, apparently to ghosts, and this news has caught up with politicians in Aruba who are appear to be running like rats from a sinking ship as the Dutch government investigates the Aruba leadership.

By bribing airlines to fly empty planes to Aruba, Aruba maintained the appearance of high tourism numbers while the airlines still made money on those flights, probably calling their flights booked. This correlates to the time Aruba claimed to be "investing" in its infrastructure to boost tourism, and Boycott Watch now understands what that those investments were.

"I remember hearing news reporters saying they were unable to get hotel rooms in early 2008 which contradicted my reports of few tourists shopping in Aruba, and the reason is now clear - hotel rooms were made unavailable so potential tourists felt urgency to book hotel rooms, and to fool the reporters - Aruba created an artificial demand - Aruba lied again, and we are busting them again" said Fred Taub of Boycott Watch.

Previously, Boycott Watch also reported how a double murderer escaped from an Aruba jail because Aruba is so incompetent, that they left a large ladder inside the jail so every prisoner could escape. "The incompetence in Aruba is staggering" commented Fred Taub. To erase the stigma of the Natalee Holloway disappearance, Carlos and Charlies, the bar Natelee was last seen in, has had its name changed to "Senior Frog's," but Boycott Watch has seen little evidence of real change in Aruba.

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba16.htm

ARUBA: "CRISIS? THERE IS NO TOURISM CRISIS!"

ORANJESTAD – Last Friday, Minister of Tourism Edison Briesen responded to a news article, which had appeared in a local morning newspaper on July 9th. In that article, Otmar Oduber, one of the AVP-candidates responded to an assumed decrease of the tourism on Aruba.

According to Oduber, the decline of the tourism was due to the poor governing of MEP. “We are the only ones who have arranged for a more substantial publicity of Aruba within the Caribbean” Briesen commented. “We invested 18 million florins in the market to achieve this.”

According to Briesen, the tourism had considerably increased during the first eight months of 2008. “That was a record year”. The article also mentioned that the American tourism was threatened in view of terrorist attacks.

In the article, Oduber remarked that at the time, there was the threat that several flights to Aruba would be terminated, and that this did not materialize because the former premier Henny Eman negotiated with various airline companies in the United States. “This is entirely incorrect”, says Briesen.

BRIBERY?

According to Briesen, the former premier Eman only approached American Airlines to negotiate an arrangement where AA would receive 50,000 florins per month if the flights continued. “Until now, I have never seen a plan from AVP for tourism-improvement”.

On the comment that the tourism has decreased lately, Briesen responds as follows. “The tourism has decreased worldwide due to the economical crisis.” According to Briesen, there is no report of a crisis on Aruba in spite of the recession, as Oduber assumes in his article. “The hotels are not fully booked, but they are certainly not empty.”

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_59844.php

Michelle Says So:

Let's look BEYOND the fact that the United States is having an economic crisis. Let's look at the facts about how tourism has forever scarred Aruba. For over four years Aruba has been living in a fishbowl with the entire world looking down on them and their every move. Some don't care, but PLENTY DO.

Writer and commentator, Fred Taub, of Boycott Watch.Org, wrote 15 articles on Aruba's tourism crisis from 2005 through 2009 due solely to the conspiracy of Aruban law enforcement and government to cover up the murder of Natalee Holloway, and the non-prosecution of Joran van der Sloot.

MISSING GIRL SPARKS BOYCOTT IN ARUBA

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba1.htm

ALABAMA GOVERNOR ENDORSES BOYCOTT

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba2.htm

THE OTHER ARUBA COVER-UP

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba3.htm

ARUBA TOURISM CONTINUES TO FALL--BOYCOTT STRONGER THAN EVER

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba4.htm

ARUBA TAKES ACTION TO COUNTER BOYCOTT

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba5.htm

ARUBA'S FALSE CAMPAIGN TO DISCREDIT BOYCOTT

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba6.htm

IS THE NEW EVIDENCE SOMETHING ARUBA COVERED UP?

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba7.htm

ARUBAN PROSECUTOR PROVES BOYCOTT WATCH IS RIGHT

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba8.htm

ARUBA REACTS TO BOYCOTT AND NEW QUESTIONS

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba9.htm

ARUBAN BOYCOTT OVER? NOT IF YOU ARE 18!

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba10.htm

ARUBA'S TOURISM CAUSED MILLIONS IN ECONOMIC LOSS

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba11.htm

ARUBA: CORRUPT OR INCOMPETENT?

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba12.htm

BOYCOTT WATCH WAS RIGHT!

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba13.htm

ARUBA: MORE LIES, LESS SAFETY

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba14.htm

BOYCOTT WATCH CHALLENGES ARUBA TO ANSWER QUESTIONS

http://www.boycottwatch.org/misc/aruba15.htm

With all the negative media attention put on Aruba, it's not just our economics that are failing your island. You know who the people are who are failing you.

It would be so easy to fix to come clean, provide REAL JUSTICE, and punish those responsible for this mess. Then we would all go away.

But no one is planning on going anywhere right now.

Know that.

"ONWARD HO"--DUTCH CONFIRMS INVESTIGATION ON ARUBA

Ank Bijleveld-Schouten shouts to Oduber, et al.

Bijleveld confirms investigation on Aruba--"No Matter What"

WILLEMSTAD/THE HAGUE — No matter what, an independent investigation will be carried out in order to get a more systematic view on the status of the government on Aruba.

State Secretary Ank Bijleveld-Schouten of Kingdom Relations (CDA) confirmed this once again today in a letter to the Lower Chamber on the eve of a general consultation on July 1st. She is assuming that based on last week’s conversations with amongst others, the Aruban Minister President Nelson Oduber (MEP), a communal investigation order as yet could be arranged.

“This and that should appear within short. If it turns out that this cannot be done together with Aruba, then the National Council of Ministers will be the commissioner for such an investigation”, Bijleveld wrote.

In her letter -where she looks back on her business trip to Aruba and Curaçao from June 22nd, up to and including June 25th- Bijleveld emphasizes that she is worried about the judicial upholding and good governance on Aruba.

“I consider it important to carry out an independent investigation in order to obtain a more systematic view of the situation on Aruba”.

She said she made agreements with Oduber on the drawing up of a plan of approach as how to crystallize this factual investigation. “From this factual investigation it must become obvious which measures are required by Aruba, or if the worst comes to the worst, by the Kingdom to improve the public administration and the constitutional state.”

Read Entire Article Here:

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_58939.php

ODUBER'S COOPERATION IN CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION? "OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

Aruba will approach UN if the Netherlands

enforce corruption investigation

ORANJESTAD — Aruba is contemplating an official compliant with the committee for decolonization of the United Nations, if the Netherlands enforce the investigation on corruption and misgovernment without the cooperation of the island.

“Over my dead body!”

Premier Nelson Oduber (MEP) responds to the news that the Netherlands if necessary will execute the investigation without cooperation.

He insists: Aruba will not cooperate.

The Premier emphasizes once again, that the Netherlands cannot carry out an investigation on the functioning of the democracy and the constitutional state, without the cooperation of Aruba. The Kingdom government can intervene if there is a question of a serious threat of these two points based on the Statute, but there is no question of that according to Oduber.

He also had a message for Guusje (the Dutch minister of Internal Affairs, PvdA): “read the Statue and explain to me how you are going to carry out this investigation, as the cooperation of the Public Prosecutor and the police is required, and these resort under Aruba”.

The enforcing of an investigation is considered by Aruba as tarnishing of the self-government and this is in defiance of the international treaties according to the Premier. Moreover, he seriously wonders whether Aruba should remain in the Kingdom.

“They call us villains, for everything; whilst not so long ago, we were quoted as an example in the Kingdom for the success of the separate status, by the same parliamentarians. If they continue to kick us around, there will come a time that we must confer with the population whether we should step out.”

Oduber stated that it would be wise if Minister of Justice Rudy Croes (MEP) would meanwhile take up the matter with the United Nations committee in London. In any case, he is not frightened. “I will calmly wait how they will go about this, as we will not cooperate. If the Netherlands subsequently takes measures against Aruba, then we will cross that bridge when we get there.”

State Council of Ministers

The Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba in the Netherlands, Frido Croes, will disclose Aruba’s official reaction today, in which amongst others, the matter of the salary increases of the members of the Communal Court of Justice (and the Public Prosecutor) is mentioned.

Aruba is of the opinion that in an investigation on corruption, the role of the State Council of Ministers must be considered, as they namely neglected giving their approval upon the assessment thereof. The assessment of the new salary structure/legal position was established against the legal rules, says Aruba. After all, the Antillean government should have first consulted with Aruba on this matter. Furthermore, the judges personally drew up the Land Resolutions without the official personnel procedure and then submitted these directly to the Antillean Minister of Justice, according to Aruba. The Antillean Minister of Justice then had the Governor ratify the resolutions.

Aruba states that they verbally raised this matter with the Dutch Minister of Justice, Ernst Hirsch Ballin. However, no action was even taken.

Plan of approach

This morning, Premier Oduber said that in spite of the current escalation, he stills considers the conversation with the Dutch State Secretary Ank Bijleveld-Schouten (Kingdom Relations, CDA) of last Monday as positive. “We made good agreements. The problem is that in this case, her boss is answerable to the Upper Chamber, and that’s when they will drop us.”

Oduber is now strongly considering whether to broadcast this sort of consultations. “As each time we consult, it seems they hear different things and then something different appears in writing.” According to him, Bijleveld did promise on Monday, that the agreed upon ‘plan of approach’ to improve the functioning of the democracy and the constitutional state will be available only after the elections in September.

Villains

The comment of the Dutch PVV-parliamentarian Hero Brinkman –who called Nelson Oduber (MEP) one of the largest criminals on the island – elicited heated reactions on Aruba, especially from the party favored by the press.

The headline of the newspaper Solo di Pueblo on the front page read: “Brinkman’s mother is a villain!” Oduber stated that Brinkman himself should be investigated. “Ask him why he left the police corps. If we on Aruba are villains, then he is the villain of the police.”

Politicians of the opposition responded positively to the announced investigation by the Netherlands. “Nel is now being taken by his own horns”, says parliamentarian Otmar Oduber (AVP) referring to Oduber’s nickname: the Premier is called ‘old bull’. RED states to support the Dutch Minister Guusje ter Horst: “The Oduber cabinet defaced the international image of Aruba.”

Attorney General ‘biased’

According to Premier Nelson Oduber (MEP), the Netherlands does not want to include the Aruban Attorney General Rob Pietersz in the study group with which Aruba initially wanted to carry out the investigation on corruption with the Netherlands. Oduber stated this earlier in a letter to his Dutch colleague Jan Peter Balkenende.

An Aruban-Dutch study group consisting of amongst others members of the Advisory Council, the Council of State, and therefore also the Attorney General, would investigate what the true facts were on misgovernment and corruption – which State Secretary Ank Bijleveld-Schouten (CDA) of Kingdom Relations reported to the Dutch parliament. However, Bijleveld told Oduber that the Attorney General could not be included in the study group, as he was ‘biased’.

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_58633.php

NETHERLAND ANTILLES PLACED ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING WATCHLIST!

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Tuesday expanded the U.S. watchlist of countries suspected of not doing enough to combat human trafficking, putting more than four dozen nations on notice that they may face sanctions unless their records improve.

The State Department's annual "Trafficking in Persons Report," the first released since President Barack Obama took office, placed 52 countries and territories -- mainly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East -- on the watchlist. That number is a 30 percent jump from the 40 countries on the list in 2008.

Several previously-cited nations were removed from the list, but new countries cited for human trafficking problems include Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Iraq, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates, according to the report.

The report also placed the Netherlands' Antilles, a self-governing Dutch territory in the Caribbean, on the watchlist.

"With this report, we hope to shine the light brightly on the scope and scale of modern slavery so all governments can see where progress has been made and where more is needed," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said as she released the 320-page document.

Inclusion on the watchlist means those countries' governments are not fully complying with minimum standards set by U.S. law for cooperating in efforts to reduce the rise of human trafficking -- a common denominator in the sex trade, coerced labor and recruitment of child soldiers.

If a country appears on the list for two consecutive years it can be subject to U.S. sanctions.

Seventeen nations, up from 14 in 2008, are now subject to the trafficking sanctions, which can include a ban on non-humanitarian and trade-related aid and U.S. opposition to loans and credits from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The penalties can be waived if the president determines it is in U.S. national interest to do so.

Those 17 countries include traditional U.S. foes like Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, but also American allies and friends such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Malaysia, another U.S. partner was added to the list of worst offenders as were Zimbabwe, Chad, Eritrea, Mauritania, Niger, and Swaziland.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/16/expanded-human-trafficking-watchlist-puts-dozens-countries-notice/

DUTCH INVESTIGATION INTO ARUBAN GOVERNMENT, NAMELY PROSECUTION

By our correspondent Christel van Bebber

ORANJESTAD/ THE HAGUE — In her letter to the Lower Chamber today, the State secretary of the Kingdom Relations, Ank Bijleveld-Schouten (CDA) stated that there would be an investigation into the government of Aruba. 

In her letter, she gave a number of her own observations on the judicial process on the island and is of the opinion that a ‘combination of signals are so alarming that there is reason to investigate in order to get a complete picture of the status of the government

 of Aruba’. 

On the base of the results of that investigation, the State secretary will view if further measures must be taken and on which level this should take place.

During a debate in the Upper Chamber last week, Bijleveld said she worries about the status of the government on Aruba. In the letter she forwarded to the Lower Chamber today, she gives a few observations from which she concluded to open an investigation. 

For example, the Public Prosecutor cannot sufficiently focus on the prosecution of offences. This is the actual task of the Public Prosecutor, but this comes off badly due to amongst others, understaffing. The National Criminal Investigation Bureau appears so overloaded by corruption investigations, that other cases are shelved, says the State secretary.

The Public Prosecutor in Oranjestad should have six public prosecutors, and there are only four. “Not because there are insufficient qualified candidates, but on account of a salary discussion”, according to Bijleveld’s letter to the Chamber. 

Furthermore, the boss of the Public Prosecutor, the Attorney General, is losing so much time on troublesome files and solving discussing with the Netherlands, that he barely has time to prosecute. 

“This fact, in combination with the in comparison large amount of corruption reports in the politics and the bureaucracy, worries me”, Bijleveld writes. “”After all, the adequate functioning of the Public Prosecutor is one of the pillars of the constitutional state”.

Communal Court

Another pillar, which worries the State secretary, is the legal authority, which she meanwhile told the minister-president Oduber. Bijleveld reminds the Chamber, that Aruba barely cooperated with the realization of the Communal Court of Justice. Eventually Aruba agreed with the majority of the enactment, which resulted in the realization of the Communal Court.

There is also understaffing in the prison. Bijleveld points out that the situation in the police cells and the prison has improved after the visitation of the European Committee regarding the prevention of torturing, and inhuman and degrading treatments of punishments (CPT). 

The physical circumstances have been dealt with, but she also observed that there are still insufficient qualified personnel and that the treatment of prisons leaves much to be desired. Her main point of concern in this area however remains the aliens’ detention, where not one point of improvement has been implemented since the CPT-visit.

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/artikel_57146.php