Separatist, Para-military, Military, Intelligence, and Political Organizations

International / Transnational Groups

Modified 15 January 2010

Human Rights Watch — International organization critical of many governments. http://www.hrw.org/

Pirates — Not software pirates, but the traditional sort that hijack ships, steal cargo, and kill crew. Avast!

• The International Maritime Bureau says that pirates now break into freight companies' computer systems, change order forms, arrange for changes in shipping, and then intercept the shipment. This is especially a problem in the China Sea and around Indonesia.
  • IMB runs the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre.
• The U.S. Coast Guard has information on maritime security and piracy:
  • Click on "Anti-Piracy" at http://homeport.uscg.mil/
  • The Coast Guard Journal had an article "International Piracy on the High Seas".

Slave traders — Yes, slavery is still practiced in several countries.

• India, Pakistan, and Thailand have brothels staffed with children purchased from destitute families. India (and maybe Pakistan?) also has children chained in place making carpet, clothing, and soccer balls.
• Israel has brothels staffed by Slavic women from the former USSR and poorer parts of eastern Europe. They are enticed by traders promising secretarial work, then sold to brothel owners who hold them in captivity.
• Slavery is wide-spread in Maritania, Chad, and Sudan. The slave trade there is quite traditional, including life-time purchase, branding, and breeding. Note that Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, is great pals with Moammar Khaddafi, leader of Libya. Also note that Libya has supported a long-running slave trade in northern Chad, capturing locals and selling them into slavery in Sudan. Ironic, huh?
• Some Persian Gulf nations have systems of indentured servitude and south Asian child brides. Some Bangladeshi laborers and Indian child brides may be more purchased than hired or wooed.
• Slavery is still widely practiced in west Africa — Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Nigeria, and Togo [BBC news, 5 Aug 1999].
• For details and background on modern-day slavery:
  • 1998 Washington Post articles re Israeli trafficking in Slavic women.
  • New York Times, 11 Jan 1998, re trafficking in Slavic women.
  • Reuters, 6 Nov 1997 and 23 Aug 1998 re Israeli trafficking in Slavic women.
  • BBC, 3 April 1998
  • Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2000, pp A1,A8, re slavery in India.

Anti-slavery groups using the Internet include:

• American Anti-Slavery Group
• Anti-Slavery International
• Christian Solidarity International — Among other human rights activities, they have raised money to buy Sudanese slaves and set them free. UNICEF is actually against this, as they say it just increases the regional market for slaves, and the money paid usually goes to purchase weapons or support slaving operations. http://www.csw.org.uk/
• The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization — interested in the nations and peoples not represented as international organizations like the U.N. Since this includes people and nations like Tibet and Kosovo, they are at odds with national governments.

• http://www.unpo.org — The main, official site.
• http://www.unpo.ee — Sort of a mirror of the main site, but with different information, or at least organized differently, based at Tartu, Estonia.

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