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Migrants Protest at Budapest Train Station; Hungary Says It Is Obeying E.U. Rules; Syrian and Iraqi Refugees Arrive in Germany; ISIS Destroys 1st Century Temple; Second Suspect Arrested in Bangkok Bombing; Markets Slide over Fears of China Slowdown; Pope Allows Absolution for Women Who've Had Abortions; Sex Slavery in America; Aired 10-11a ET
Aired September 01, 2015 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Hi, there, welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN Center.
We begin now with Europe's ongoing migrant crisis. Frustrations boiled over in Budapest, Hungary, earlier when police cleared the main
train station of migrants trying to get to Western Europe. Some migrants chanted, "Germany, Germany," and "We want to leave."
Hungary has said E.U. rules just don't allow it to let migrants without visas to travel west.
Arwa Damon was at the scene at the train station. She joins us now live for more on what happened.
Hi, there, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. And the area around me used to be fairly packed with migrants and refugees.
Most of these are people who fled the wars in Iraq and Syria. They were cleared out over the last few hours by the Hungarian police.
And that is after having been denied boarding onto trains that they had hoped would take then to Austria and to Munich. In fact, there's
still a demonstration that is underway and has been going on all day. People chanting, "Yes, Germany; no, Hungary," calling on Angela Merkel to
do something, pleading with German authorities to somehow pressure the Hungarians to allow them to get on these trains and get out of this
country.
Also calling on the United Nations to intervene. These people, a lot of them have spent days if not upwards of a week living in the streets of
Budapest in circumstances that can only be described as unbearable, many of them saying that they've been reduced to having to live like animals.
There's nowhere to shower properly. There's nowhere to be able to go to the bathroom. There's nowhere to really be able to even get proper food
and water; that's not necessarily a refugee- or migrant-friendly country. In fact, as I've been talking to you right now, there are some fairly
angry-sounding Hungarians walking by.
This population of refugees and migrants has been through so much to get this far, having fled the hell that is their homeland, trekked all this
way across Europe and now they are stuck here because of a situation that they don't really understand.
The laws were bent yesterday; yesterday, people were allowed to board these trains.
Why can't they somehow be bent today? No one can really answer that - - Robyn.
CURNOW: No one can really answer. We are going to have the Hungarian spokesperson, the Hungarian government spokesperson on after you, Arwa.
What next?
What is the sense from the people -- we're seeing live pictures here now -- they seem to be waiting for something.
What are they waiting for?
DAMON: Well, they're hoping that they'll be able to get on these trains. A lot of them were sold tickets. And that's the other thing that
they can't understand. If they weren't going to be allowed to board the trains, why were they being sold tickets if they weren't going to be able
to use them?
Never mind the fact that they can't really get a refund on them. And this is a lot of money. I mean, for a family of six, it cost them around
800 euros to buy a ticket to get to Munich. And this is just money that right now is gone. And they're already cash-strapped because the journey
has taken a lot longer than expected. So they're hoping that by staying in this area, by keeping up the pressures with these demonstrations, that will
finally bring about the needed action of the powers that be that will be able to allow them to get on these trains and just get out of here.
They know that once they get to Germany, they believe the reception there is going to be different. And for them to continue to languish like
this, it's something that is too difficult for so many of them to bear -- Robyn.
CURNOW: OK. Arwa Damon, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Well, as I said, let's get more on what the Hungarian government is saying. Spokesman Zoltan Kovacs joins us now via Skype from Budapest.
Thank you, sir, for being here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK.
Our reporter on the ground and many critics on the ground say humanitarian conditions are just so bad in Hungary that the country's
violating international laws in many ways.
What's your response to that?
ZOLTAN KOVACS, HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: The real problem is that you can shoot pictures at the railway station where these people
shouldn't be. They have these designated areas, temporary shelters provided for them after crossing the border illegally, where they should
stay and wait until the case is being judged.
And there's a procedure all the European states follow, including Germany and Austria. So what we are requiring actually from these
migrants, illegal migrants, is to fulfill Hungarian and international law, there abiding all requirements that are coming from Germany and Austria.
If you take a look at what --
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KOVACS: -- the Austrian chancellor has said just yesterday and today, it is impossible to just let these people go at will without documentation
and their identity established to Western Europe. It's impossible what they're asking.
CURNOW: Sir, Hungary is saying you have an obligation to fulfill E.U. laws and regulations. Angela Merkel and some Western nations say Europe
has an obligation to honor the continent's humanitarian values.
It seems like there's a conflict here between rules and tolerance.
What needs to change?
KOVACS: Well, there's no contradiction in there, we believe. Again, these people are arriving illegally to Hungary. There's no reason,
actually, to come to Hungary and therefore to the European Union in an illegal way.
We have always been open -- our borders have always been open for refugees. They obviously need some kind of identification at the very
beginning. And they would receive all the necessary and required and internationally acknowledged shelter provisions that are at our disposal.
But the problem is that they don't follow the rules from the very moment they enter the borders and they don't -- wouldn't like to comply
with registration process. And they wouldn't go to the places where we would be able to provide them.
They go to the railway stations and demand free leave to Western Europe. Again, this is impossible. So there's no contradiction. We are
able and we would -- we are willing to provide everything that would be necessary and required. It is impossible to provide that at the railway
station.
CURNOW: Is this a different scenario?
Is the overwhelming nature of this specific crisis, does that call for flexibility as the German chancellor has said?
Does something need to give, particularly when it comes to E.U. rules?
Or does there need to be a fundamental change to how the E.U. deals with this?
Is this a watershed moment?
KOVACS: Flexibility cannot mean disorder and orderlessness (sic). I mean, we need to reestablish law and order at the borders and in the
procedure through which illegal migrants are being judged, whether they are refugees proper, in real and dire need of shelter and asylum, and economic
migrants, who should be handled in a different manner.
But yes, we had a hearing in Hungarian parliament today. And I think it is very clear that the European system for migrants and refugees is
basically incapable of coping with what we are facing at the moment on the ground.
We have reached 156,000 people let alone in Hungary coming illegally to the country. And that's clearly a burden, not only Hungary but in
Europe is not able to take.
CURNOW: You talk about meetings in parliament; I know that there's another one, I think, on Friday. And the burden and the response,
Hungary's building this fence, some people saying this is just a roundabout way to get extra subsidies for the smugglers because either way people are
going to try and get past that fence. They're just going to have to pay more for it.
I mean, is this fence the right way to deal with this issue?
KOVACS: Well, I'm afraid the name of the story is different. Most of the migrants, we only have estimates, but most definitely up to 80 percent
are using human traffickers to reach their destination. That is Europe, Hungary and obviously their final destination would be Germany or Austria
or Scandinavian countries.
It costs a lot of money and that means major security issue. Over the past 15 years, German estimates show that that deal, that business, has
resulted in something like 15 billion to 16 billion euros profits for human traffickers.
And human trafficking does not start at the Hungarian border. They use human traffickers all along the way from Turkey through four or five
countries. As a matter of fact, the plan is to stop illegal migrants and as a matter of fact it's one of the best tools in -- at the hands of the
Hungarian government to stop illegal and human trafficking through the green borders.
So we would like to channel these people, bottleneck these people, (INAUDIBLE), to be able to handle the flood of migrants.
CURNOW: Thank you so much for your perspective, Zoltan Kovacs there from the Hungarian government, thank you for joining us here at the IDESK.
Want to get some more perspective. Now from Germany, which registered a record number of migrants in the last 24 hours. Our Fred Pleitgen is at
the Central Station in Munich. He joins us now live.
Tell us what you're seeing, what people are telling you.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, there's a lot of people who came in earlier today, Robyn.
It's really interesting because what's happening here in Munich is sort of in a time lapse from what's been going on where Arwa is there in
Hungary, is that in the early morning hours, when people were able to board those trains and come here --
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PLEITGEN: -- there were many, many people who came here and for a little while, the authorities did have some trouble coping with all of
that.
But since then, what Munich has put in place -- and it really is quite remarkable -- is a massive logistical effort.
I mean, if we pan around here, we can see they've brought masses of food here. They've brought medication here. They've brought water here.
There's medical facilities here.
So all the trains that do arrive and do have refugees on them, what happens is the police fix them up at the platform. They then walk them
over here, where they get a medical check. They then get food, water; they can stay here and then very, very quickly, they get put on buses to then be
brought into temporary shelters.
And that is a process that has sort of been growing throughout this day and is one that actually does work quite effectively.
What's going on right now, it seems to us, is that there is a lot of aid available here in Munich. But there's fewer and fewer people actually
coming here and arriving here at the Central Station. And it looks as though that might be because they simply aren't able to get on trains in
Hungary there.
But it's certainly a situation where we really have to -- do commend the folks here in Munich for just a lot of aid donations that are coming
in.
So certainly the city of Munich and Germany, at least in this part, certainly appears to be ready to take in a lot more people than are
actually coming at this point in time -- Robyn.
CURNOW: OK. Fred Pleitgen there, thank you so much for bringing us that from the ground, clearly different responses in different countries
across Europe, pointing to ambiguity at the very heart of what it means to the European and how to get in there and belong. We'll continue to cover
that story here at CNN.
A new arrest in Thailand's shrine bombing: coming up, police detain a man near the border as he was trying to cross into Cambodia.
Plus U.S. market opened with a plunge as fears grow again over China's economic slowdown. Stay with us.
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CURNOW: Welcome back.
Two more Ukrainian soldiers have died from wounds they suffered during Monday's clashes in Kiev. That makes three national guardsmen who were
killed; a grenade went off outside parliament after lawmakers approved a first round vote on giving more autonomy to separatist regions in the east.
Some Ukrainian nationalists are angry at the move. The peace accord between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists calls for the decentralization of
power in rebel-held areas.
The world has lost one of its most culturally significant pieces of architecture. The United Nations says ISIS has destroyed the Temple of Bel
in Syria's Palmyra. ISIS consider pre-Islamic antiquities sacrilegious. Here's Nick Paton Walsh with that story.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The jewel in the crown of Syria's millennia of rich history.
The Bel Temple, dating back to the 1st century, when Palmyra --
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WALSH (voice-over): -- the City of Palms, was the crossroads between the Roman and Persian Empires. Yet it is no more, the U.N. has confirmed
after locals reported Sunday hearing an explosion loud enough, it was said, for the deaf to hear.
This image is from last week, when ISIS leveled a neighboring temple, Baalshamin, named after a Phoenician god. They'd long threatened to drag
this vital trace of irreplaceable history into the their world of destruction -- and did with crude devices.
Satellite images showing how total its descent into rubble was. The U.N. said late Monday that satellite images seem to confirm the total
destruction of Sunday's victim, Bel Temple, despite witnesses saying earlier Monday they thought its columns that withstood the rise and fall of
empires may still have been standing.
ISIS' obsession with destroying what is dear to all other cultures has not stopped at property here. The bespectacled curator of this open air
museum, Khaled al-Asaad, Palmyra's antiquities chief, dragged into a square a week ago and beheaded, his body then hung in public with red twine.
ISIS, many say, are in an obsessive competition with themselves to outdo their last ghastly outrage. It was with some relish they released a
video of their elaborate dismembering of the Iraqi city of Nimrod and of Mosul's museum, a millennia of thought and endurance wiped away by a
culture worshipping death and the seconds of dark fascination they can conjure with videos on social media.
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CURNOW: That was Nick Paton Walsh reporting there.
Well, authorities in Thailand are interrogating a second foreigner they call a very important suspect in last month's Bangkok shrine bombing.
Police arrested the man near the Thai-Cambodian border. Our Saima Mohsin joins us now from Bangkok via Skype.
Hi, there, Saima. Just give us a sense of who this person is. Do we know?
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They still don't have a name or an age for us, Robyn. This time around, they are being very cautious. We've
had a lot of false starts, haven't we, over the last few days and I think the Thai authorities have learned from their mistakes before where they,
over the weekend, had said a suspect they had arrested was the main suspect.
They declared he was a Turkish national but his passport turned out to be a forgery.
So this time around, they are playing it very safe. What they have told us is that he is not Thai; he is a foreigner. They picked him up on
the Thai side of the Thailand-Cambodia border and they say that he speaks English.
Now they believe he entered the country illegally and he was trying to do the same exiting the country illegally as well. He was on his own when
police picked him up this morning and they have now brought him back to Bangkok for further investigation and questioning.
They say that they will not give his identity or confirm if he is indeed that man that was identified as the main suspect from CCTV footage,
wearing the yellow T-shirt, clearly leaving that backpack that he came into the shrine with underneath the bench and shortly afterwards the bomb went
off.
They won't identify him until they've carried out fingerprint testing, photo analysis and they're saying DNA as well -- Robyn.
Saima Mohsin, thanks for that update. Thanks a lot.
Well, let's take a look at Wall Street. Want to go to New York. The Dow Jones is down; here's a live look at the big board, down over 350
points. World markets really seeing some heavy selling as new data suggests China's economy is slowing.
Well, Maggie Lake joins us from CNN's bureau in New York.
What do you make of these numbers? I mean, it's been very volatile the last few weeks and I think people warned us, warned investors that this
was going to be sort of the new normal.
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN HOST: It is and it certainly seems like that's the case, Robyn. Anyone who thought we were going to just pack it up and put
August behind us woke up to a rude awakening today, really, when U.S. trade got started.
You know, we were lower earlier in the day but we've really picked up steam with the losses as we headed into the open. And we've been sitting
right around these levels, down about 350 points, give or take.
There is renewed concerns about China's growth; that's the catalyst, as you mentioned, today disappointing manufacturing data there. But a lot
of traders, including one we just talked to last hour on "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" are saying, listen this is still the remnants of a correction; U.S.
stocks went up for six straight years. That never happens. Now we're trying to reprice where they should be, what does it mean if China's
slowing? And can the U.S. economy grow strong enough to offset some of that?
We just don't know yet.
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LAKE: And so in that environment of uncertainty, you have a lot of nervousness. And that's what's playing out. Remember, we've seen very big
moves in oil as well. So a lot of sort of short-term momentum, people in, people very -- investors very nervous, they're sort of selling first and
asking questions later.
The good news, if there is any here -- and I'm going to end on this note with you -- is that it's not the 1,000-point loss we saw last week.
Things were weaker; they opened but then they sort of have been stopping right here. We didn't see that complete panic and cascade that we saw last
week.
So things still, against that context, seem like they are certainly orderly; people are just nervous -- Robyn.
CURNOW: OK. Maggie Lake, thanks so much for that update and we'll keep an eye on those numbers, of course.
Well, coming up, Pope Francis makes an announcement about abortion; how church policy is shifting for women who had the procedure.
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CURNOW: Well, the Roman Catholic Church views abortion as a moral evil and until now, women who've had an abortion were automatically
excommunicated from the church.
But today, Pope Francis announced a radical shift in the church's policy on abortion. This all a part of his effort to create a more
inclusive climate change.
Our Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher, joins me now live from Rome.
What does all this mean, Delia?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, this is a change from what has been the standard practice in the Catholic Church; that is,
when a woman has had an abortion, she was automatically excommunicated by the very fact that she had the abortion.
And in order to lift that ban of excommunication, a bishop's permission was needed.
What the pope has done today is say we no longer need the bishop's permission. The ban for excommunication can be lifted by any priest if the
woman goes to confession.
So what we have here is what is a small shift but perhaps with larger repercussions because the pope's aim in all this is to welcome people back
into the church who may have felt alienated. And in addressing in particular the issue of abortion, which we know has been one of the main
fundamental moral issues for the Catholic Church in the past decades, at least, he's doing it -- taking it kind of head-on in dealing with people
who have felt ostracized.
So the significance of the pope's move today is not that before women couldn't have been forgiven for having an abortion; it is that he's making
it easier, as it were, for them to do it without needing the permission of the bishop -- Robyn.
CURNOW: But there's a timeframe here.
GALLAGHER: There's a timeframe, that's correct. The pope today said that this will be valid for the Jubilee Year. This is this Year of Mercy,
which he called for, which begins on December 8th, runs through November 20th of next year.
And this Year of Mercy is meant to encompass all of those people, bringing them back into the fold. And this is one of the steps that he's
taking to try to bring people back who have felt ostracized from the church.
So when he said it's for this year, of course, it remains to be seen what will happen after this. Because you know, in fact, in many cases,
some priests have already been doing this. Some bishops have already given permission --
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GALLAGHER: -- to priests to forgive the sin of abortion.
So that is likely to continue even after this year. But this year, the pope wanted it to be this Year of Mercy; that's one of the big themes
of his pontificate, Robyn. And so it's a way for him to kind of kick off and remind people that for him, no matter the rules are, the overarching
theme is that there is forgiveness and whatever you've done, you can come back to the Catholic Church -- Robyn.
CURNOW: And it's within that scene, within this pope's narrative, that he's having this day of prayer today, a mass within the next half an
hour or so -- also focusing on the environment, another key theme for this pope.
GALLAGHER: Well, and another new thing that he's instituted this year, saying September 1st is going to the World Day of Prayer for what he
calls the care for creation, for the environment and just under an hour from now, he will be in St. Peter's Basilica, leading a prayer service for
this day.
This is something which the Eastern Orthodox Christians have celebrated since 1989. And so Pope Francis wanted to join the Catholic
Church with them to remind people of the importance of the environment. We know that he wrote his encyclical mostly on the environment.
Of course, it's all with an eye to some of the international meetings that are coming up in New York last week of September on climate change at
the U.N. And the pope will address that assembly; also in Paris, they will be discussing a new fundamental agreement in December on global warming.
So all of these steps that are being taken by the pope are meant to promote and raise awareness on the issue of the environment and climate
change, but also to effect real change at the international level -- Robyn.
CURNOW: And also, very radical moves from this pope, who's really not scared to have his voice heard -- Delia Gallagher in Rome, thank you.
You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Still to come, the European Union is anything but united when it comes to the ongoing migrant crisis. We'll
look at efforts to change that.
Plus you'll hear from a 17-year-old girl who says she was promised a glamorous life but instead found herself branded and forced to sell sex
instead. All those stories after this break.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Here is a check of the headlines.
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CURNOW (voice-over): Police in Thailand have arrested a second suspect in connection to last month's shrine bombing in Bangkok. The man
was detained while trying to illegally cross the Thai-Cambodian border. Authorities say he's a foreigner and they're working to verify his
identity.
Pope Francis has announced a major shift on abortion. Until now, women who've had an abortion were automatically excommunicated by the
Catholic Church and they need the permission of a bishop to lift the ban.
But the pope says any priest may absolve a woman of sin during the Holy Year that runs from December 8th through November 20th of 2016.
Shouting, "Hungary, no; Germany, yes," crowds of angry migrants protest at a Budapest main train station. Instead of boarding trains to
leave the country (INAUDIBLE).
A spokesperson for the train station says it is now back open. She says the sheer number of migrants overwhelmed operations and that many had
documents that were just not in order.
Well, our Atika Shubert is in Berlin, one of the prized destinations for these migrants fleeing war and poverty.
Hi, there, Atika. We've just spoken to the Hungarian government spokesperson earlier on in the show. And the Hungarians are emphatic that
they're obligated to enforce E.U. laws. They cannot, they say, let people without the proper documents get on these trains.
And there seems to be this clash between what's expected under law but then the humanitarian obligations.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in one respect, Hungary is absolutely right. The law is very clear with the E.U., that anybody
traveling within what they call the Schengen area of the E.U. needs the proper visa.
On the other hand, you have what Germany has done, which is essentially throw the doors open for those Syrian and Iraqi refugees that
want to come here.
And there are three main points, really, that have been made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. One is that Syrian and Iraqi refugees can be
processed here and that they will be -- their registration as refugees will be sped up as a result of the conflict back home.
The other is that instead of processed back in another E.U. country, the first E.U. country where they entered, they can be processed directly
here. Now what that means really is the last point, which is what they call the Dublin protocol, which says that you must register in the first
country you enter into in the E.U.; really doesn't work.
And this is something that Angela Merkel said last week. It doesn't work; it is the law but we need to find a better way. And that is
Germany's appeal to countries like Hungary.
CURNOW: So what happens next? Because the Hungarians are also saying, listen, this is chaotic. E.U. -- this is just not working.
There's an emergency meeting two weeks down the line.
Do you see there being very fundamental changes to the E.U.?
Or is there just going to be another kind of cobbled-together solution?
SHUBERT: I think it's very hard to get all of these member states to agree on one joint asylum policy. This is what the chancellor is asking
for and that's why this summit is being convened. But it's very tough to do.
The reality is, however, that by Germany saying it is effectively ignoring the Dublin protocol and opening its doors, it means that suddenly
neighboring countries like Hungary have to adjust in some way.
And while it may seem chaotic in Hungary, it's not chaotic in Munich, for example, for those hundreds of refugees are now coming over. They're
being processed efficiently; they're being -- having health checks and they're being found temporary places to live.
And that is the way Germany wants to see this model.
And I should point out, it's not just the government that is taking these actions; a lot of this has actually been led by private citizens that
have come out with refugee welcome parties; they've come out with big signs that say, "Refugees welcome."
And there are a lot of private initiatives to say the government is doing the right thing by welcoming these refugees and we shouldn't be the
only ones in Europe to do this.
CURNOW: Hard to tell the difference, though, also. I'm quoting, again, the questions put out there by the Hungarian spokesman, hard to tell
the difference between an economic migrant and a refugee from Syria, fleeing the devastation there.
It's the lack of control, I think, that is concerning many people, not just the Hungarians, but many Europeans, even though they understand the
humanitarian necessity behind this.
SHUBERT: Well, absolutely. And this is a point that Angela Merkel has made very clear as well. There needs to be a clear definition on who
is a refugee fleeing war as opposed to a migrant who comes --
[10:35:00]
SHUBERT: -- from perhaps a place that has more -- that is more politically stable but is fleeing poverty. And this is something that
Angela Merkel wants to see made clear throughout the E.U. And what she has called for are more processing centers in places like Greece, Italy,
Hungary, where those refugees and asylum seekers are first coming across.
That way, they can be more easily identified and then streamlined to the country that they need to go to. She says also that Europe must still
reserve the right to turn back migrants who are not here fleeing persecution or fleeing conflict.
It's clear that she's not saying everybody come to Europe but specifically that refugees should be given a place here.
CURNOW: And also then, the real questions about forged documents and all of that. But that is an issue, another complication in this already
very emotional issue.
Atika Shubert, thanks so much.
From 40 down to four, ahead, New Zealanders get a look at the finalists in their national flag competition. But many are less than
thrilled with the designs.
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CURNOW: Now to our CNN Freedom Project and the focus on human trafficking.
This week, a look at how some girls have been branded by their traffickers and pimps. It's a practice they use to signify ownership.
CNN's Sara Sidner spoke with a 17-year-old girl, who says she was sold a dream that never came true.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From her childlike giggles and her sunny disposition, you'd never know the fear this teenager
has lived in for years.
But every time 17-year-old Adriana looks into a mirror she has a mark to remind her.
SIDNER: Tell me about what's tattooed across your chest.
ADRIANA: This right here?
SIDNER: Yes.
ADRIANA: I call it my war wound. It's -- the name is "Kareem (ph)." And I got it when I was about 14 years old and he was one of my pimps.
SIDNER (voice-over): Adriana says it all started when she was 13, rebelling and decided to run away from home. She says she went to a party
and met a guy who promised her the glamorous life. But she soon found out that in order to get anything, she had to work for him, out here selling
sex.
SIDNER: What were you feeling at 13 years old and all of a sudden you find yourself in the life of an adult?
ADRIANA: I felt awesome. I thought I was just too cool. I knew everything, I as was doing everything. No one couldn't tell me anything.
That's exactly what it was.
SIDNER: And what was he doing for you?
ADRIANA: Nothing. He was just selling me that dream.
SIDNER (voice-over): That dream has been sold to countless girls, who also end up bearing the marks of ownership.
These photos from the Van Nuys vice unit of the Los Angeles Police Department show just how prolific branding is.
A trafficker's initials on a girl's face, a nickname --
[10:40:00]
SIDNER (voice-over): -- on her thighs, images of money bags, a blatant message on her neck, "F you, pay me," even a bar code like an item
in a grocery store.
LAPD Captain Lillian Carranza says she first noticed the trend about five years ago.
CAPT. LILLIAN CARRANZA, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is just another way to not only control them, to let them know you belong to me,
also to let other pimps know, hey, this individual belongs to me.
SIDNER: Like property?
CARRANZA: Exactly. This is no different than when you or I would mark our shirts or a lunchbox or lunch for the day with our name in order
to let everybody else know, hey, this is our property.
SIDNER (voice-over): For Adriana, as the months tick by, the work grew increasingly grueling, her trafficker demanding she make a certain
amount of money. She worked day and night, sometimes in life-threatening situations.
SIDNER: So guns pulled on you?
ADRIANA: Yes.
SIDNER: Knives?
ADRIANA: Knives, yes. I've gotten a few knives before. And it's very scary.
SIDNER: How do you live with that fear?
ADRIANA: You don't. You can't live with it. You kill yourself at night. That's what you do to live with that fear.
SIDNER: What?
ADRIANA: No. You don't live with that type of fear.
SIDNER: What do you do with it?
ADRIANA: You suppress it.
SIDNER (voice-over): She says pimps encourage girls to take drugs and get them hooked so they can work 24 hours a day. Adriana says she refused
and instead tried to disengage mentally.
ADRIANA: You have to. I mean, because I didn't do drugs, I had to find a way of coping with this. I mean, it's very disgusting. It's nasty.
You feel so uncomfortable.
Naturally, you're going to be traumatized, whether it's a gun to your head or a knife to your belly, whether it's you being raped or robbed or
whatever it is, naturally you're going to have some type of trauma behind it.
And because you have been sold dreams and you've fallen in love over and over again and that's all you're looking for, you get hurt a lot,
because none of it is real.
SIDNER: Did you ever think when you were branded that it mirrors what they used to do to slaves?
ADRIANA: Yes. I believe this is modern-day slavery, definitely.
SIDNER (voice-over): But she has so far decided to keep the brand right where it is and insisted on showing her face to let other girls see
they don't have to live in shame.
SIDNER: How do you go forward and live a different life?
ADRIANA: I don't know.
SIDNER: Still trying to figure it out?
ADRIANA: Yes.
SIDNER (voice-over): Adriana is working towards a high school diploma but the future is fuzzy because the life, as she calls it, keeps pulling
her back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Brave young woman. Be sure to catch the third part of Sara's special reporting, great reporting, tomorrow. You'll hear from a survivor
who is raising money to help other victims who've had their branding covered up for good. Join us for that in the next IDESK tomorrow.
Well, in New Zealand, it's down to the final four. We're getting our first look at the top designs that could replace the current national flag.
They were unveiled earlier in Wellington. Voters will rank their favorites in a referendum starting in November with a final vote next year.
They could also decide to keep the flag which has been in use since 1902.
I think I know which one's my favorite. But anyway, you go and have a look online at cnn.com.
I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for watching here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. "WORLD SPORT" is up next.
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