Modern Day Slavery in Southeast Asia

Mada Lee

Global Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality

December 4, 2013

Modern Day Slavery in Southeast Asia

            As women, we are viewed as the weakling, the overly emotional one, and “second class” to men. I see these assumptions being thrown around in every day life. Because of this, 12.3 million people across the world are victims of sex trafficking. Of that, 1.39 million are commercial sex slaves and women along with young girls make up 98% of it (Smith). Sex trafficking can also be refer to as “modern day slavery”. It is rapidly growing and is the top third criminal business (Walker-Rodriguez). With the little value that is put upon women, these victims are being subjected to violence and abuse against their will causing them to suffer life-long consequences. There should be more aid to help these women.

            Southeast Asia is viewed as the most profitable region for human sex trafficking because of it’s large population, and the increase in poverty (Kaufman). Women are being trafficked from close neighboring countries such as Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Cambodia, Burma into Thailand, which is the heart of it all (Seager). Cambodia traffics Vietnamese women into their country; proof has shown that the brothels on Cambodia’s islands sold women at sea (Beyrer).

            The sex trafficking industry is well organized. Traffickers know who to attack and the methods to get it done in an efficient way. Girls that come from dysfunctional families that were full of abuse and violence are the easiest targets. They are promised marriage with a life they’ve dreamt of. Traffickers claims how much they love the girls and the money that she made from the service she gives is towards their future together. Another is building a “daddy and daughter” relationship because many of these girls may not have had a male figure in their life to protect them so calling the trafficker daddy makes the girls less likely to break that bond (Walker-Rodriguez). A trafficker confessed to telling his gang to rape a girl and he would come and help making it seem like he “rescue” her and force her to work for him to “repay” him back. As women, we’d think that we wouldn’t do anything to hurt our own kind but the traffickers have someone, typically she’s been with him long enough where she’s gained his trust, recruiting girls. This person is known as “the Bottom” (Walker-Rodriguez). I’ve actually been to a play about sex trafficking where it was about the investigators interviewing “the Bottom”, it definitely confused me why a woman can do this to others but according to Walker-Rodriguez, the reason for why she still kept providing for the trafficker is because of Stockholm Syndrome; the development of feeling so attach to the trafficker that the victim cannot backstab him. These manipulative methods are how this industry is so profitable.

            It is often assumed that the trafficker is a total stranger to the victim but sometimes it can be parents, relatives, friends, significant other, and neighbors (Tan). In Maya’s story, she speaks about getting sexually abused since she was 10 years old and then got married off to a man who had another wife and their two children. Maya ended up in Mumbi Brothel where she got raped for months serving 35 clients a day. She now has tuberculosis and is HIV positive (Janardhanan). This is just one of the many stories that women suffer through everyday on a daily basis. Traffickers take women out of their homeland so they will be vulnerable and due to the language barrier they won’t be able to escape. They are often time lock up in a room with no food until they agree to serve men.

Of course with so many sexual partners, these women develops many health consequences such as infertility, ectopic pregnancy (fetus development in the fallopian tubes instead of uterus), malignancies (tumor involving STI’s like AIDs and cervical cancer), depression, PTSD, just to name a few (Beyrer). With the lack of access to health clinics these women suffered life long consequences. Burma is the second to the last in healthcare services with contraceptives only being available to 18% of the population. The HIV rates are higher for the Burmese sex workers that were trafficked into Thailand than the Thai women working in that industry themselves (Beyrer).

The Southeast Asia countries are appealing to sex trade because it is known for cheap and available sex, their police force is corrupted, and has no involvement with the Western law enforcement (Beyrer). They advertised that Burmese women are more “passive, compliant, ‘unspoiled’, and willing to provide an array of sexual services” compared to Thai sex workers. Traffickers also gone as far as putting these women on the Internet called “sex-for-sale” sites (Beyrer). According to United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Burma has the highest maternal mortality rate due to septic abortion (a form of miscarriage that is associated with a serious uterus infection). Lack of education and poverty leads to being trafficking, and also in the culture women are oppression. There’s a saying in Nepal, “to be born a daughter is a lost destiny” (Janardhanan), women are viewed lower and if a girl was born the oldest, she is expected to provide for the family. In Cambodia, one-third of the trafficked people are children as young as 7 years of age (Tan). After their first sexual encounter with a client, they are then considered “used goods” and their value drop to as low as $2.00 (Tan).

With all these information present it is still difficult for government to stop human sex trafficking. Since these women are being trafficked to other countries, it’ll need every single one to get involved and enforces the laws. They also kept in mind that protecting these women can ironically end up taking away the women’s human rights as in their privacy, and freedom of choice. With all the trauma that has been put onto the women, they may be unable or unwilling to report the abuse because the trafficker has caused them so much fear that they are scare of the consequences that can be taken upon them if they don’t end up escaping (Smith). With the little education that they have, they think that the only way to be free is through paying back their “debt” that they owe the trafficker which is nearly impossible; they charged the women for food, clothing, medical expenses, abortions and on top of that take money from the earnings they made (Tan). The government doesn’t have accurate data, especially with the majority of these third world countries living in poverty they won’t be able to afford the research, and provide aids (Campagna).

Another reason why there can’t be a stop is because people with privilege aren’t using their power wisely. There have been some errors within the government officials. The UN peacemakers have become known for supporting prostitutions and sex trafficking (Smith). Police officers have free access to brothels and don’t have to pay which makes it challenging to catch these traffickers (Beyrer). With the staggering HIV rates increasing rapidly, Thailand has started a service called “100% Condom Campaign” where they give out 100 million free condoms per year to sex workers, but it didn’t make a difference because the undocumented sex workers are unaware of HIV risks and have no ability to negotiate with the clients (Beyrer). The Union Nation established the Palermo Protocol but their inability to enforce it was a downfall (Smith).

            A form of art therapy called “Art2Healing” has recently arise in Asia; it is a non-profit organization that helped the survivors of sex trafficking return to living a normal life. The art therapists are aware of cultural differences because women generally don’t stand up for their opinion. The survivors don’t want to embarrass their family because some time it’s their family that sold them off into the sex world. The therapist slowing but surely builds a relationship with the woman to gain her trusts by not being judgmental and accepting. A Cambodian saying goes , “Once a cloth is dirtied, the value is lost and we have to throw it away.” The women feels like they’re worthless but through this process the women are surrounded by an environment that they know is safe to tell their life story which makes them so powerful. The process involves the women painting out their life story before, during, and after being trafficked. They also talk about their plans for the future, which gives them hope (Tan).

            Through the tragedies that women had undertake, the government has to step it up to put a stop to this. Educating our women is a part of it, but these traffickers are the source. Blaming our women by saying it was their fate or they shouldn’t be wearing this or that doesn’t solve anything. Instead teach these traffickers to stop what they’re doing because like Gladys Lawson once said, “Did you ask to have sex with all those men? Did you ask to be sold as a sex slave?”, the answers are both “no”. No one deserves this kind of life and working together, and enforcing the laws will stop this industry from growing.

Word Cited

Beyrer, Chris, and Julie Stachowiak. "Health Consequences Of Trafficking Of Women

And Girls In Southeast Asia." Brown Journal Of World Affairs 10.1 (2003): 105.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Campagna, Daniel S., and Donald L. Poffenberger. The Sexual Trafficking in Children:

An Investigation of the Child Sex Trade. Dover, MA: Auburn House Pub., 1988.

Print

Janardhanan, Vinod. "Sex Trafficking In South Asia: Telling Maya's Story." Journal Of

International & Global Studies 4.2 (2013): 126-129. Academic Search Premier.

Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Kaufman, Michelle R., and Mary Crawford. "Research And Activism Review: Sex

Trafficking In Nepal: A Review Of Intervention And Prevention Programs."

Violence Against Women 17.5 (2011): 651-665. Academic Search Premier. Web.

23 Nov. 2013.

Seager, Joni. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World: Completely Revised and

Updated. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Smith, Heather. "Sex Trafficking: Trends, Challenges, And The Limitations Of

International Law." Human Rights Review 12.3 (2011): 271-286. Academic

Search Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

Tan, Lydia Atira. "Art Therapy With Trafficked Women." Therapy Today 23.5 (2012):

26-31. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

Walker-Rodriguez, Amanda. "Human Sex Trafficking." N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.

Militarization and Activism in South East Asia: Feminist Resistance in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria

Militarization and Activism in South East Asia: Iraq, Turkey, and Syria

by Dua Saleh

Militarization is a process rooted in the belief that violence and war are the most progressive and effective ways to resolve conflict. The military is a site where particular socializing practices manifest, such as violence, homophobia, gender bias, and much more. Such exercises of normative assimilation create a dependency on violence, unbridled power, control/possession of any person or thing that is the other, and ongoing and proliferating warfare. Militarization is also believed to be a gendered phenomenon that originates from the libidinal rage of men in power in celebration of testosterone fueled displays of power and hyper masculinity. In juxtaposition to the commemoration of masculinity, a castigation of women and perceptions of femininity is also a key element of this institutionalized ideology. This is done through mocking femininity and equating it to weakness. (Cockburn 2010)

Militarization is especially prevalent in areas of South Western Asia or the Middle East as a result of globalization. Globalization is a phenomenon that allows for the development of an increasingly integrated. The United States has been increasingly investing in military infiltration of countries within the Middle East. This military investment is due to demand for hard power in the Western World, a desire to stake claim to natural resources, and a colonial mentality that thrives off of the idea that all land is Western property. This is an ideology that stems from capitalistic tendencies of Western societies and the fervent racism that labels countries that are not privileged or white as disposable.

Often time’s militarization is heavily tied to core beliefs that supporting the troops and supporting the military is something that is directly linked to nationalism and patriotism. In Iraq, certain women’s groups such as the “Iraqi-Kurdish women’s movement”-- who fight for both Kurdish feminism as well as nationalism-- are actively seeking out ways to hamper the mental framework and that socialized ideal. This group of women seek out alternative and nonviolent ways to increase nationalistic representations of Iraq on a national scale. Iraq has always been a place that has resisted and opposed US monopoly of power, but the Iraqi-Kurish women’s movement is relentless in pushing an agenda that counteracts interpretations of military control as sole power.  (Al-Ali and Pratt 2011)

Women in the Western world who have served in Iraq or are directly affected by the war because of a lost family member in combat have also been active in besetting any efforts of future militarization in the nation state. Women who were directly in combat in Iraq have been endlessly protesting, rallying, and advocating for an end to the war in Iraq and to send the soldiers back to America. The Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament is an advocacy group that is outspoken against the war. Grassroots movements such as this one recount the death tolls of more than 21,000 men and women at war, the soaring costs of weaponry and utility as well as frivolous spending on the military, and an ever-growing Iraqi unrest as a result of American presence and violence in their country. (Gray 2006)

             The military can be so institutionally based that it begins to shape and control things that would be perceived as innocent or violent free in any other situation. This is not only true of people, but also of material goods, of natural resources, and even of cultural components of everyday life. In Turkey, there are many traditions that are still being practiced is the application of henna. It has been traditionally used in many ways and can be best depicted in this statement by a mukhtar a certain area of Turkey.

“According to our traditions, we only put henna on three occasions. We put henna on the hands of the bride so that she will be close to her husband. We put henna on the hands of the conscript so that he will sacrifice himself for his nation. We put henna on rams when it is sacrificed for Allah. You cannot see any other nation in the world that puts henna on their children when sending them off for military service. We went to the military service like that and our children will go the same.” - Bitlis Öğretmenevi’s  (Acara 2010)

The application of henna became re-appropriated by women in Turkey in order to signify pride in one’s children. Not only is this militarization shaping new cultures and new customs, but it also forces women to support the ideology. Women are forced to assume a religious stance on the military as a noble and desirable site of nationalism. This is a regurgitation of culture that has spilt over from concepts that can be ideologically found in the glorification of war and violence. This visual marker is symbolic of a sacrifice that a mother must make in order to do well by her country through nationalism and patriotism. (Acara 2010)

Turkey is not only full of women who are in support of the government and who are for nationalism through current military action and support.  There are many women in Turkey who are in direct opposition to institutionalized militarism as a masculine area of expression. Women who serve in the military are searching to create new intellectual framework and vocabulary for people in the military. This was movement that spurred in the 1980s as a call for a more active role for Turkish women in combat and need to institutionalize the quest for better status as women. This is a movement that is still active through groups such as the Kemalist women which is a Kurdish women’s rights activists that fights for the rights of women through religious and Islamic feminist thought as well as through liberal or radical feminist ideology. Currently, these radical Turkish feminists are fighting to create a change within the military regime through more leadership positions for women, as well as advocating against violence and abuse against women within the military. (Knaus 2010)

Another place where women have taken it upon themselves to resist militarization and to reform militarization is in Syria. Within recent years, Syria has had a

Syrian women play one of the largest roles in establishing nonviolent protest before the modern day revolution. Protests, rallies, marches galore were almost all established by Syrian women during the political uprise against the ruling regime. Eventually peaceful protests developed into violent upheaval as a shift in attitude unfolded through military intervention. As more shots were fired at civilians, many began to switch gears and depend on the usage of guns and weaponry. Women’s activists in Syria have interpreted this change of pace in protest as a byproduct of deeply institutionalized militarization as well as a way for patriarchal society to diminish the role of women in protest through the use of brute force. (Alwadi 2013)

          News of armed rebellion often overshadows the discussion of nonviolent resistance spurred by female activist in Syria. This is problematic because this is a form of activism that is born in the belief in nonviolent survival—which is performed by women in both grassroots movements and civic groups to keep them alive through transient zones of revolutionary resistance. (Alwadi 203)

          Women in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria have all been active in fighting against institutionalized militarism or through fighting against the systematic products of militarization in many ways. Feminists within the areas of South West Asia are agitated at the military regimes that have gripped their culture and that have left women within their nation at the margins of politics. Activism, scholarly work, and mass protest have been the devices used by women within these countries, which is in direct opposition to the violent nature of militarization.

Citations:

Women in the Military and in Armed Conflict: “The Militarization of Gender and Sexuality in the Iraq War”; http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-531-90935-6_9#page-1; (Feitz and Joane 2008)

Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication; “Between Nationalism and Women’s Rights: The Kurdish Women’s Movement in Iraq”; Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK DOI http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/pratt/publications/mjcc_004_03_06_al-ali_and_pratt.pdf  (Al-Ali and Pratt 2011)

“Silence = War: A new wave of feminist peace activists takes it to the streets.” http://www.kattigray.com/images/articles/msmag.pdf (Gray 2006)

TURKISH WOMEN: A CENTURY OF CHANGE: İstanbul. 47. Volume 6 Number 5. TURKISH POLICY QUARTERLY; http://www.turkishpolicy.com/images/stories/2007-01-womeninTR/TPQ2007-1-06-katharinaknaus.pdf (Knaus 2010)

The Militarization of Henna: Çevrimiçi yayına başlama tarihi: 20Fe Dergi: Feminist Eleştiri Cilt 2 Sayı 2L; Erişim bilgileri, makale sunumu ve ayrıntılar için; http://cins.ankara.edu.tr/kina.pdf ; ( Acara 2010)

COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS: “COUNTRIES AT THE CROSSROADS 2011:

TURKEY”; Central Eurasia Leadership Academy (CELA) and Middle East Leadership Academy (MELA) 2011; http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/TURKEYFINAL.pdf (ALBION 2011)

Gender Relations as Causal in Militarization and War, International Feminist; Journal of Politics; http://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD%202012/2012_5/Gender_relations_as_Causal_Cockburn.pdf (Cockburn 2010)

MILITARIZED ZONES: GENDER, RACE, IMMIGRATION, ENVIRONMENT; A Special Issue of Political Environments ( PE No.10);  http://www.cwpe.org/files/militarized-zones.pdf; (Immigration, Militarism, Environment, and Gender [IMEGE] Task Force 2003)

“Voices of Syrian women in civil resistance”; Open Democracy; http://www.opendemocracy.net/civilresistance/nada-alwadi/voices-of-syrian-women-in-civil-resistance; (Alwadi 2013)

Women and Immigration: Burma, Mexico, and Somalia

The process of immigrating is one that millions of people endure every year, however it can be extremely long, complicated, stressful, and expensive. In this blog I will focus on Burma, Mexico, and Somalia because they have a strong immigration representation in Minnesota. Each of these countries are considered to be crisis zones and rape in war zones are very common in these countries (1). Immigration affects women from each of these countries in different ways; but there are also things that burmese, mexican, and somalian women have in common as they leave their home country in attempt to create a new home in foreign land. The reasons that people have for deciding to immigrate is also different, but for now I will only look at people who are forced to leave their homes in fear of their life. This September I started an internship with World Relief Minnesota, as the Immigration Program Intern. It is through this internship that I learned more about the process that refugees must endure to no longer feel like their life is in danger. When a person flees their home and crosses an international border they are then a refugee and more times than not end up living in a refugee camp. However, if the person does not cross a border but the remain in their native country, they are then considered an Internally Displaced Person (IDP). Throughout the following paragraphs, I will discuss immigration; and how nationalism and national security has affected the lives of refugee and internally displaced women in Burma, Mexico, and Somalia.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is one of many countries with a history of violence and conflict. Besides burmese people, there are multiple ethnic groups in Burma; the  Rohingya, Hmong, Lahu, Lisu, and Karen (among others). These indigenous populations have been discriminated against for many years through what some call an ethnic cleaning. In 1982, the Burmese Government put in place the Burma Citizenship Law which states that many of the indigenous groups were no longer citizens of Burma. “Approximately 750,000 Indigenous Peoples have been forcibly displaced by the Burmese state. With their villages destroyed and their fields sown with land mines, many of Burma's Indigenous Peoples are internally displaced or forced to live in refugee camps in Thailand (2)." We have many people from the Hmong ethnic group that have immigrated to Minnesota but for the purpose of this blog I am going to focus mainly on the Karen ethnic group because they also have a large population  in Minnesota but we do not hear about them as often.

As the ethnic cleansing commenced, many people decided it was too dangerous to stay in Burma and they fled to other countries such as Bangladesh, China, and notably Thailand. It has been estimated that “140,000 mostly Karen refugees fleeing civil strife, political upheaval and economic stagnation in Burma live in remote camps in Thailand near the border (3)." According to the Burmese government, children born outside of Burma of Burmese parents whom fled to another country are not considered citizens. For example, if a Burmese couple flees to Thailand then has a child, their child will have no birth certificate because their parents do not have any type of citizenship papers. On the other side, Thailand refuses to recognize these immigrants in any form, so these thousands of people are considered stateless. Because Thailand does not recognize them neither as citizens nor refugees, it becomes extremely difficult and complicated for families to improve their current situations.

Out of the families that have been considered a refugee, when they get the chance to leave it is normally  only the mother or father that gets placed. The parents then have to decide who will stay and then which children, if any, get to leave. This puts a huge strain on the family, either way it goes. The mother is often times the one that stays behind with her children while her husband leaves and establishes a life in a foreign country. While the father is away, the mother is left to take care of her children which becomes difficult as a she basically lives as a single parent; she must balance taking care of the kids while finding a way to make money. It may take a few years before the father is able to start a petition to have his wife and children brought to him. There are only a few options that he can choose and each has very strict requirements and a high cost associated with each of them. Through my internship I have had the opportunity to sit through an appointment in which a man is filling for a I-730 family based petition. Some of the questions he was expected to know for the application were extremely difficult even for me to answer, I could not imagine how hard it would be if I did not have any physical records. Rape and other crimes against humanity are pretty common among refugee camps, so sometimes the family decides to send the mother and children first. Often times it happens that even if all of the application fees are paid, and everything is filled out perfectly, the Thai government does not allow the family members to leave because they do not have any records of them being in the refugee camp in the first place.

Many organizations in South-East Asia have developed with specific goal in mind, normally in hopes of helping women and children. A list of some of these organizations can be found here, as well as when they were established and what their focus is. There are also local organizations with aims at helping the thousands of people that flee their homes and now live in poverty stricken refugee camps. American Refugee Committee (ARC) is one example; it "...provides primary health care, water and sanitation activities, gender-based violence prevention and response services and innovative economic opportunities to refugees and migrant workers (4)." Another example is the Karen Organization of Minnesota, which helps refugees settle here in MN in various ways. National security in Burma is best described as currently unstable, as the use of political power has been abused and caused so much conflict. The Burmese government was very nationalistic when it made the Burmese Citizenship Law, but has been a push for the amendment of it. Ceasefires have been declared so there is not as much shooting, but there is still a long way to go until both the Burmese government and opposition forces are on the same page.

Mexico faces similar issues to those of Burma when it comes to violence within indigenous groups. In 2011, there were around 160,000 IDPs (5) due to conflict within different indigenous groups and violence from the drug-cartel. “The federal government has yet to officially acknowledge the displacement caused by drug-cartel violence, but opposition parties have taken steps towards political and legal recognition of the phenomenon (6)." According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR) transnational crime movements such as the cartels in Mexico have really affected the amount of people that will be given access to asylum. Xenophobia plays a large part in this as well, because countries are less willing to allow refugees or asylees into their country when they fear them. Women immigrants often times are paid less than other women that are citizens, and definitely get paid less than men of any status. The violent climate in Mexico right now is very unsafe in many cities. The cartels have been known to engage in rape activities, human trafficking, kidnapping, and murder. National Security in Mexico very low, there is proof of corruption in the government as officials have been paid off by drug lords, and many other incidents. There has also been nationalism issues in Chiapas, Mexico between indigenous groups. Though there is not much documented information about it, there are ethnic groups in Mexico whom have not had religious freedom and who have been discriminated against. Action has been taken to improve the lives of people that are affected by the audience. "Development agencies have provided support to IDPs: in Chiapas, for example, UNDP has promoted the integration of indigenous IDPs in their places of displacement, through livelihoods projects within its wider development strategy for indigenous people (7)."

Finally, Somalia has one of the highest IDPs in the world at 1.1 million in 2012 (8) . So many people are fleeing the country because of the lack of food and water, as well as the countries instability. "Living in unprotected and congested IDP settlements, women and girls are particularly exposed to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and are often denied access to assistance by IDP committee leaders or to adequate legal redress (9)." Like Burma and Mexico, there are serious national security issues that are taking place in Somalia. The conflict between Al-Shabaab - an Islamist armed group, and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) worries many people and when crimes are committed  TFG often times does little investigation, if any. 'Mama' Hawa Aden Mohamed is a Somali woman who has stood up for many women IDPs and refugees. What some may consider one of her biggest accomplishments is that she opened the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development in Somalia. This school is geared towards women and young girls that have been displaced and sometimes victims of rape. "The center provides secondary education as well as life skills training so that the students can become financially independent  shape their own futures and play a more active role in Somali society (10)." Her service to the issue was recognized in the form of an award called the Nansen Refugee Award.

National security and nationalism in Burma, Mexico, and Somalia have all contributed to the number of refugees and IDPs from each of these countries. It is because of nationalism that many ethnic groups face discrimination or are force to leave their homes. The status of national security in a country also affects the lives of countless people, especially women, as they are often times the targets of war-terrorism and crimes against humanity. Though there is work being done by many non-governmental organizations and even some government-placed programs, women of these countries face many hardships and burdens that no one should ever have to endure.

WORKS CITED

1)Seager, Joni. "The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World". 4th ed., New York: Penguin Books, 2009. 03 December, 2013.

2)"Myanmar (Burma) Country Profile". Cultural Survival. 29 November, 2013. http://www.culturalsurvival.org/Burma%20Country%20Profile

3)"East & Southeast Asia: Burma". The World Factbook: November 12, 2013. 28 November, 2013. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html

4) "Thailand Factsheet". American Refugee Committee.  03 December, 2013. http://www.arcrelief.org/site/DocServer/ARC_factsheets_Thailand.pdf?docID=2486

5)"North America: Mexico." The World Factbook: November 4, 2013. 28 November, 2013. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html

6)"Mexico: Displacement due to criminal and communal violence". Internally Displaced Monitoring Centre: December 31, 2013. 28 November, 2013. http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/(httpCountries)/031D4DA9792CF185802570A7004CFD1A?OpenDocument)

7)"Global Overview 2011: People internally displaced by conflict and violence". Internally Displaced Monitoring Centre: April 2012. 02 December, 2013. http://www.nrc.no/arch/_img/9633536.pdf

8)"Africa: Somalia". The World Factbook: November 12, 2013. 28 November, 2013. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html

9)"2013 UNHCR country operations profile - Somalia". UNHCR. 02 December, 2013.  http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e483ad6.html

10)"Nansen Refugee Award presented to Somali winner "Mama" Hawa". UNHCR: October 01, 2012. 02 December, 2013. http://www.unhcr.org/50694d2d6.html