"Randolph man charged with human trafficking" by Sarah Roberts and Travis Andersen Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff August 05, 2015
A Randolph man who allegedly preyed on drug-addicted women by having them work as prostitutes, keeping the money they earned, and using violence to control them, was arraigned in Quincy District Court Tuesday on charges of human trafficking and earning a living from prostitution, Attorney General Maura Healey said.
Marvin Pompilus, 30, is also known as “Kise” and has ties to Dorchester. He allegedly posted ads on the website backpage.com and set up appointments at hotels in Randolph and surrounding communities where the women were forced to provide sexual services for fees.
Alleged victims of his trafficking scheme told detectives that he supplied them with heroin and crack to support their drug habits, as payment for their services. Pompilus allegedly kept most of the womens’ earnings from the sexual acts....
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At least he has a defender:
"Amnesty International backs decriminalizing prostitution" by Doreen Carvajal New York Times August 12, 2015
Ay Yi Yi!
PARIS — After days of emotional debates and intense lobbying, delegates from Amnesty International voted on Tuesday to support a policy that calls for decriminalization of the sex trade, including prostitution, payment for sex, and brothel ownership.
It sounds good, but wait a second.
The vote came on the last day of a biennial meeting in Dublin of about 400 members of the human rights organization from 60 countries. They had gathered to set the group’s future policies.
The proposal about prostitution provoked an aggressive lobbying campaign by international groups opposed to sparing buyers and pimps from penalties. Competing petitions were organized by women’s groups and celebrities — including former President Jimmy Carter, who issued a letter on Monday — appealing to the group to maintain penalties for buyers and to “stay true to its mission.”
With the vote by open ballot, Amnesty International’s 12-member board will now hammer out the final draft of a policy that the group will use to lobby governments to repeal most laws that forbid the sale and purchase of sex. The group’s resolution called for a policy that “supports the full decriminalization of all aspects of consensual sex work.”
“Sex workers are one of the most marginalized groups in the world who in most instances face constant risk of discrimination, violence, and abuse,” Salil Shetty, the secretary general of the organization, said in a statement after the vote.
The proposal split human rights activists. Amnesty chapters in Sweden and France pressed the group to support a so-called Swedish or Nordic model, now followed in several Scandinavian countries, that spares prostitutes from penalties but sanctions the buyers with heavy fines and prison terms. Lawmakers in France are pushing new legislation to punish buyers that most likely will be voted on in the fall.
After the vote, the Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution, a French organization, vowed that it would no longer work with Amnesty International. “Amnesty chooses impunity for pimps and johns and not protection from sexual abuse for all women,” the coalition’s executive director, Grégoire Théry, said.
Margot Wallstrom, Sweden’s foreign minister, said she was concerned about the effect of Amnesty’s new policy because it is a respected organization.
“They mixed all these arguments, and that worries me,” she said. “It is a myth about the happy prostitute who does this as a free choice. Unfortunately, I can now hear people saying ‘hurrah’ — all those johns and pimps who run the brothels. It’s a multibillion-euro industry.”
That's a good point, and it makes one rethink the whole idea.
I mean, if you really care about women and not just their "rights...."
Amnesty will give its national chapters leeway to decide whether to support or lobby for decriminalization.
“There are no plans to have a major campaign with a focus on this,” said Sarah Beamish, a board member who will help draft the final policy during the next few months. “It’s really up to each section to take this issue up on the local level. There are no plans for a global focus.”
The exact vote count was not available, but Beamish said the resolution had passed “comfortably.”
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UPDATES:
Man gets 12 years for sex trafficking
State high court affirms anti-human trafficking law
DNA allegedly links inmate to brutal 2011 rape in East Boston
Randolph man indicted on charges he ran prostitution business
