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NEWS STREAM
Developing Story; Rohingya Crisis; Missing Submarine; Zimbabwe in Transition; Trump White House; Sexual Harassment Scandals; North Korea Threat; Larry Nassar Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault; CNN Freedom Project. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired November 23, 2017 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream."
Reports of violence on Manus Island. Refugees say police have started arrested people refusing to leave the immigration center.
An agreement to send the Rohingya back. Myanmar-Bangladesh signed a deal, but why would the hundreds of thousands who fled want to return?
And preparing for potential battle. We will get into a U.S. Air Force fighter jet with pilots training in the skies over Korea.
A three-week standoff on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea is coming to ahead (ph)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
LU STOUT (voice-over): This is a scene at a detention center on Manus Island. A police operation is underway to get some 400 refugees and asylum
seekers to move to another camp. Officers are accused of sweeping through the center of destroying property and food. The facility was shut down in
October, but hundreds refused to go, saying the new camps are not safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: The detention center was once used by Australia. The process people looking for asylum, but as policy, it rejects applications from
everyone who arrives by boat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALCOLM TURNBULL, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: I think this is some way that can pressure the Australian government to let them come Australia.
Well, we will not be pressured. I want to be very clear about this. Our border security. The integrity of our borders is maintained by my
government. It is maintained by my government, and we will not outsource our migration policy to people smugglers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: And to find out what conditions are in that detention center. I spoke to Nai Jit Lam from the U.N. Refugee Agency. He had been on Manus
Island for the last few days monitoring the situation there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NAI JIT LAM, DEPUTY REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE, UNHCR: We cannot say we know ourselves, but what we have seen through our monitoring missions ever since
before we -- before the 31st of October, is that ever since the center has been closed and power, water, electricity has been cut, the pressure has
been mounting progressively, slowly but surely, on people to leave.
So you -- after that, there was (INAUDIBLE) decision that was rejected to reopen the center. There were announcements by high official government as
well to say that the center has been closed and has to handed back to Papua New Guinea Defense Force. So we knew that this would come, precisely why
today (INAUDIBLE) is difficult to see. But I think that the conditions in the center have been deteriorating badly --
LU STOUT (on camera): Yes, and tell us more about the conditions at the center because not long ago, you were there. As you mentioned, the facility
was closed at the end of October. Four hundred men, four hundred asylum seekers remained on the site. No clean water. No access to water. No
medicines. One can only imagine that the conditions are very dire. What did you see?
LAM: Yes, it is very dire. I think that (INAUDIBLE) like what you said (INAUDIBLE) together with the hot, a very hot and humid weather condition,
we saw that there was significant accumulation of rubbish and waste. So health and sanitation has become a serious problem. Because of the heat,
there were people who are tearing some of the container shelters to have ventilation.
There were people who were digging wells for water as well, both for drinking as well as for washing, so they were constantly doing that at the
same time. There were people who have reported that there have been skin conditions as well because of the unclean water that they are using. So it
is getting -- it is getting increasingly difficult in the decommissioned center.
LU STOUT (on camera): Yes, and despite this difficult and very (INAUDIBLE) conditions, these men are determined to stay put. They refused to leave
because they fear for their safety if and when they move to these new facilities.
{08:05:00] Why do they fear for their safety at these other facilities? How legitimate are those concerns?
LAM: Well, Kristie, actually there are many different reasons that the refugees have said why they are not moving. One reason is because it is in
a way a standoff is a protest and that is the only reason why people are staying in there as well, because they are very angry, they are extremely
angry, and they are extremely angry on how they have been treated over the last four years.
I think they want to take this opportunity to show the world how much -- how angry they are being treated. There are other reasons a well. There are
reasons about security. There are security concerns. We have to bear in mind that even though the refugees have been living on the island for four
years there, they have been living separately from the community, because for most of the time, they were actually at the detention center.
So now to move into the local community without any preparation, without services in place or drastically reduced health services, trauma services,
we have local population tensions that have not been resolved at all. There are no case workers working right now. There are no interpreters. I think
this adds to a lot of the insecurity and fear for the refugee population.
LU STOUT (on camera): Yes, and this has turned, as you put it into a standoff, into a protest, so what can officials do to convince the men
still hold up in this decommissioned facility on Manus Island to leave?
LAM: Well, right now, what refugees have been telling us is that they do not want to move anymore. They are very tired. This -- you know what, I
described earlier, all this are just part of some of the devastating consequences of a decision that was made four years ago by Australia to
forcibly transfer refugees and asylum seekers to Manus Island.
It is entirely man-made, entirely preventable humanitarian crisis. What is important right now is to try to find a solution, a solution for refugees
and asylum seekers outside of Papua New Guinea. That needs to be done very soon because otherwise, we fear that the situation might grow increasingly
worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Nai Jit Lam of the U.N. Refugee Agency there describing the difficult and dire situation at the decommissioned detention center in
Manus Island.
For the first time, the United States has labeled the crisis in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing. It was just over a week ago when the U.S. Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson visited the country. At that time, he said he couldn't call it ethnic cleansing until further investigation. On the back of that
announcement, Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a deal today to send hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar.
CNN's Ivan Watson has been reporting on the crisis from the ground of Myanmar. He brings us the latest.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, after immense suffering and allegations of astrocities as well as the exodus of more than
600,000 Rohingya Muslims across the boarder from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh, now government officials from both countries have announced an
agreement for the repatriation of these refugees.
We don't have the time frame yet. We don't have real details about how this could be implemented. But this is a sign of a step towards both government
trying to come to some resolution of this crisis. It is not clear also what fresh diplomatic pressure from the United States government, what role that
may have played in pushing both governments to announcing this repatriation agreement.
For the first time, the U.S. secretary of state has used very tough language against the Myanmar government over this crisis. Rex Tillerson
issuing a statement that said, "these abuses by some among the Bermise military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous
suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh." He went on to say
it is clear that the situation in Northern Rakhine State constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.
The Myanmar government has flatly denied accusations that its security forces have engaged in what one U.S. State Department official described as
systematic plan and organized ethnic cleansing. If there is going to be repatriation program, implementation will be key, will traumatize people
there to go back to their home villages, some of which have been burned.
[08:10:00] Will any of them have any documentation left to prove that they once lived in Myanmar? And the agreement is not clear whether it will get
to the crux of the crisis which is that historically, the Myanmar government refuses to recognize the citizenship, the citizen rights of
these community of Rohingya Muslims, denying them access to health care, education, and even the right to travel freely within the borders of
Myanmar. Kristie?
LU STOUT: Ivan Watson there. Now, we have links in our website to organizations working on the ground. You can see what the Rohingya refugees
are going through as well. Find it at CNN.com/impact.
Time may be running out as rescuers stepped up the search for an Argentine submarine that went missing just over a week ago. Forty-four crew members
are on board and so far, the multinational search has been fruitless. But we have just learned that Britain and Russia have sent new assets to help
find the missing submarine. Authorities are concerned the sub could soon run out of oxygen.
Stefano Pozzebon is in Mar Del Plata. That is where the submarine was headed before went missing. He joins us now live. Stefano, with time
against them, the search is getting ever more urgent. What's the latest?
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Kristie. Unfortunately, the latest news is that everybody here is waiting for the news that the San Juan has
finally been located. This hasn't happened yet.
But just to show you how the whole nation of Argentina has been gripped by the story, here is a copy of the national newspaper El Clarin (ph) who of
course puts the news about the submarine, the story about the submarine in the front page news, and asked themselves about an explosion that might
have happened in the hours just before San Juan lost contact with its own base here in Mar Del Plata a week ago.
So the whole (INAUDIBLE) asking themselves what happened in those critical hours and what's left with those 44 crew members. Kristie?
LU STOUT: Yes, a lot of concern about the oxygen supply for the 44 crew members on board that submarine. Is the oxygen supply running low? Is it
running out?
POZZEBON: Yes. It maybe running out, Kristie. Nobody specifically knows because (INAUDIBLE) expect that the tank of the oxygen supply that the San
Juan is equipped with can last about seven to eight days.
If in the worst case scenario possible that San Juan is immersed in the bottom of the Southern Atlantic Ocean, then maybe at this point after more
than eight days, it seems that San Juan made its last contact with the home base here in Mar Del Plata, then maybe -- the Argentina Navy is hoping that
San Juan was able to snorkel which is to put up a tube and recharge batteries and oxygen for its 44 crew members.
Oxygen may be really, really running out and in it's in critical hours at the moment. Kristie?
LU STOUT: Yes, that would be a much needed lifeline for the crew. Have you been able to talk to some of the relatives of the missing crew? How are
they coping and just holding on during this difficult time?
POZZEBON: Yes. Relatives and friends of crew members come and pass by everyday here in the Mar Del Plata. We spoke with a few wives. We spoke
with brothers and sisters of some of the crew members of the submariners that are on San Juan.
Most of them are still gripping to the last glimmer of hope. They say that faith is what is keeping them holding on. And they are sure that soon, they
will be able to hunt their relatives again. But of course, the time is really running out. Kristie?
LU STOUT: Yes, and the tributes for the missing that I see behind you there at the naval base. Is this sort of a collective public show of support and
hope for the search?
POZZEBON: Yes, precisely. We call it yesterday a makeshift memorial. Mar Del Plata is a naval community that lives in combination with this home
base. And of course, the news about San Juan spread out and people have been taken by the story, grieved by the story. Hundreds of people are
coming in and they put flags and banners.
Most of the messages that you can read and see on these gates are messages of hope, saying that the crew will soon be home. And most of them are from
kids from local schools here in Mar Del Plata where their relatives or the crew members work and live everyday. It's a whole sense of a community
coming together and hoping for the best. Kristie?
LU STOUT: Yes, absolutely beautiful messages of hope behind you. Stefano, thank you so much for your reporting. May there be a breakthrough in the
search for the
[08:15:00] 44 missing crew members. Thank you.
Now, the man known as the "crocodile," he has returned to Zimbabwe. The incoming president has made some hefty promises, but (INAUDIBLE) that he
won't be that different from his former boss.
Also ahead, Donald Trump says Americans have a lot to be thankful for. His rosy holiday message proceeded by a rant on Twitter. I will tell you what
got him upset, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream."
Zimbabwe's incoming president has promised refresh start for the nation following almost 40 years of Robert Mugabe as president. Emmerson Mnangagwa
returned to Harare to the cheers of thousands. He had left the country after Mugabe (INAUDIBLE) as vice president. And now he is set to be sworn
in as Mugabe's successor, but there is apprehension about what he will do.
David McKenzie joins us now from Zimbabwe's capital of Harare. David, Emmerson Mnangagwa in a speech that he delivered once he arrived, he says
that this is a start of a new democracy. What else did he say on his return to Zimbabwe?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, first things first, this is certainly not a democracy because this has been
basically a coup that has put him in power. But he did say a lot of things that people would appreciate in terms of kick starting the economy and
bringing Zimbabweans together. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMERSON MNANGAGWA, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF ZIMBABWE DUE TO SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF ZIMBABWE: I appeal to all genuine people of Zimbabwe to come
together. We work together. No one is more important than the other. We want to grow our economy. We want peace in our country. We want jobs.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Well, Kristie, certainly a hero's welcome from the ZANU-PF ruling party supporters there. We were there. You certainly got the sense of the
man coming with a considerable amount of power because of the way he is managed to push Robert Mugabe out of office. He did talk a great deal about
what they need to do next.
One thing he didn't mention was election. He has to hold election before August next year. That's where a lot of people are asking whether he will
be a new kind of Zimbabwean leader or just more of (INAUDIBLE). Kristie?
LU STOUT: That's a question because many people call Emmerson Mnangagwa a junior carbon copy of Robert Mugabe. So, will things be different under
him?
[08:20:00] MCKENZIE: We have to wait and see. Certainly he has made all the right noises that might placate the international community. He as an
individual is on the U.S. sanctions because of his involvement in (INAUDIBLE).
We recently spoke to U.S. ambassador. He said, well, it all depends what happens next. If Zimbabwe can conduct a free and fair elections, then they
might consider loosening those sanctions and pushing for business investment.
I think everyone is kind of in this moment of euphoria post the Mugabe 37 years in power. We are kind of looking to see what signals might come from
Mnangagwa. He will be sworn in on Friday here in Harare and make his first formal speech as the leader of this country. That will be a key moment to
see what exactly he is looking to achieve in his first few months in office. Kristie?
LU STOUT: And the fallen couple, Robert and Grace Mugabe, what will happen to them?
MCKENZIE: Well, what know from a few days ago from a source very close to those negotiations that prior to resigning, he had done a deal to have
immunity from a new prosecution and also to keep some of his assets. We spoke to a military spokesman today who said also they will guarantee their
safety. So it seems like Robert Mugabe is going to stay in the country for now.
There is at least some latent depreciation of him. He was of course originally a liberation hero here in Zimbabwe. I'll be interested to see
whether he is invited to the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa in a way that will continue this show of constitutionality that they been trying to
put on despite still no police being on the streets and army, the effective control in this country, except for obviously Mnangagwa who has now come
back.
LU STOUT: David McKenzie reporting live for us from Harare. Thank you, David. Now, U.S. President Donald Trump, he just tweeted out a Thanksgiving
message. He says that America is "starting to do really well." But I must say he was tweeting a different tune. Instead of giving thanks, Mr. Trump
went on (INAUDIBLE) tirade. Joe Johns tells us what set him off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one
country.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President- elect Donald Trump vowing to unify the nation before taking office. Mr. Trump spending his first Thanksgiving as commander in chief in Florida,
where he is airing his grievances in a series of tweets, insisting he was the one who deserved credit for the release of three UCLA players arrested
in China for shoplifting.
LAVAR BALL, FATHER OF LIANGELO BALL: If he said he helped, that's good for his mind. If you helped, you shouldn't have to say anything.
JOHNS (voice-over): President Trump slamming LaVar Ball as an ungrateful fool and a poor man's version of Don King after he repeatedly refused to
thank the president for helping bring his son home. The president also reigniting his feud with the NFL, blasting Commissioner Roger Goodell for a
new idea of keeping teams in the locker room during the national anthem.
President Trump's defense of embattled Alabama senate nominee Roy Moore is putting him at odds with members of his own party, who've called for Moore
to drop out. Mr. Trump all but endorsing Moore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is an accused child molester better than a Democrat? Is an accused child molester better than a Democrat?
TRUMP: He denies it. Look, he denies it. He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And you know, you have to listen to him also.
JOHNS (voice-over): But despite the president's comments, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee
refusing to restore funding to Moore's campaign. Now, Moore's campaign communications director has resigned after the mounting allegations against
the senate candidate. Trump now insists he wants Moore to win to advance his agenda. A critical vote needed to pass his tax reform bill.
TRUMP: We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Joe Johns reporting. Roy Moore is just one of many prominent men in the U.S. facing accusations ranging from sexual abuse
to harassment. The accused include Hollywood heavyweights, journalists, members of congress. Just this week, The Washington Post reported that
eight women are choosing former CBS co-anchor Charlie Rose of making unwanted sexual advances.
On Tuesday, we learned that three CBS news employees have come forward with allegations of their own. Now, HLN's Erica Hill is a former co-anchor of
Charlie Rose. And she says after reading the allegations against the veteran journalist that her blood began to boil. During her news program
called "On the Story with Erica Hill," she made emotional remarks, saying that silence
[20:25:00] is no longer an option. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, HOST, ON THE STORY WITH ERICA HILL: One thing that has surprised me personally in all of these revelations as we talk about it, is
how little attention I too payed to a lot of events in my own life and my own career and it is not because they didn't impact me, it is because like
so many women I know, I downplayed what was happening.
Whether because I was afraid of the consequences or because I simply told myself it wasn't really that bad. And I really was just there to do my job.
A job I had earned. But the truth is we don't need to grade our experiences to decide whether they are worthy. When you're demeaned and you're
degraded, it is wrong.
I haven't been physically assaulted, and it is really sad that I consider myself almost lucky to have avoided that. But the news especially these
past two days has brought back a lot of moments. I realized now I had blocked out. And it has been an emotional kick to my gut. And it also helps
me find my voice.
A lot of those moments I blocked out until last night, when friends and former colleagues and my husband, remind me of far too many moments they
had witnessed and that I had shared. The boss who when I was 21 telling we should go for coffee or he just wouldn't be able to stop himself from
coming across the desk to kiss me. I laughed it off at the time. I went for coffee to get out of that uncomfortable office.
Because I was too smart to fall for those games, I told myself. He put his move on a wrong woman. For a man who so many journalists look up to, the
one who berated me for in his eyes, not showing enough respect to my new co-anchor, by daring to join in on a segment on our show that we were
supposed to do together, with a co-anchor who made it very clear that I was in the way, who decided I would be allowed to speak on our program, when he
pointed at me.
Imagine a 70-year-old man pointing his finger at you, that's the signal that I was allowed to ask a question. What an honor to be given a privilege
of doing my job, with a point. Every single day and sometimes it came with a smile. Did that mean I was supposed to thank him?
And you know, I wonder whether this or any other moments were worthy of your time, because (INAUDIBLE) big deal, because that's what we do if we
want to keep our jobs and get ahead. We don't rock the boat. Don't get so upset about a dirty old man. Stop being so sensitive. But the truth is
every single moment is worthy.
Because when we stay silent and when we downplay the bullying, the misogyny, the harassment, the uncomfortable moments, all we do is feel
their gain and we let them win in their quest to remind us who they believe hold all the power. But the truth is they don't hold all the power anymore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Absolutely. Erica Hill, thank you. Hill says that sexual harassment, whether physical or not, all comes down to a clear abuse of
power. You're watching "News Stream." We will back after this short break.
[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines.
A police operation at a decommissioned detention center in Papua New Guinea to get some 400 refugees and asylum seekers to move to other camps. They
say that they won't go because new camps aren't safe. Officers are accused of sweeping to the center of destroying property as well as food.
Myanmar and Bangladesh has signed a deal to send hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar. They fled the country, reporting
atrocities at the hands of Myanmar's military. But the army has repeatedly said they only attack terrorists and not civilians.
Now it has been more than a week since an Argentinian submarine carrying 44 crew members went missing. Forces from several countries are scouring the
South Atlantic, looking for the missing sub. Russia and Britain have sent a new assets to help. Authorities fear the sub could be running out of
oxygen.
Turning now to tensions on the Korean Peninsula. U.S. fighter pilots trained the skies over South Korea in preparation for potential conflict
with the North. CNN's Alexandra Field went along to the ride.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a few seconds we're fully vertical. U.S. Air Force Captain Kyle Miller, call sign
Diesel, takes us straight up to 13,000 feet. I'm strapped in the back, straining to stay conscious, feeling the gravity and the weight of it all.
That's the commander of the eighth Fighter Wing Colonel David Shoemaker and this happens every day, a practice face off with North Korea.
DAVID SHOEMAKER, COMMANDER, EIGHT FIGHTER WING: We practice just some of the basic maneuvers for air to air or some of the basic bombing patterns or
bombing maneuvers. We also practice the ability to survive and operate on the ground.
FIELD (voice-over): Kunsan is the southernmost U.S. airbase in South Korea. It's home to two U.S. F16 fighter jet squadrons. Flying time to North
Korea? Twelve minutes.
What do the first few hours of a conflict look like here at Kunsan?
SHOEMAKER: Time isn't measured on the clock, it's measured in casualties. And the faster we can get on the job, the less casualties we'll see
particularly in Seoul in the opening volley of that war.
FIELD (voice-over): In wartime, Kunsan could expand up to four times the number of service men and women currently serving here. An essential seat
of U.S. and South Korea operations and a prime target.
SHOEMAKER (voice-over): We expect that North Korea is going to target any of our military bases that are here in the South.
FIELD (voice-over): What kind of threat could North Korea present to the base here?
SHOEMAKER: We worry about their short range ballistic missiles here, and we know that they have chemical weapons at their disposal.
FIELD (voice-over): They stay ready to fend off a ground invasion from North Korean special forces and to take the fight north, from the air.
SHOEMAKER: Having an air-to-surface capability, being able to take out the long range artillery that would be bombarding Seoul.
FIELD (voice-over): This is the third tour at Kunsan for Colonel Shoemaker. It's undeniably different.
We know that North Korea has advanced in its capabilities, in its missile capabilities. Have you changed the way that you do things at all?
SHOEMAKER: It is a mindset shift of why it is so important and the seriousness with which all of the airmen and soldiers here at Kunsan
airbase take our exercises and our training.
FIELD (voice-over): This is Diesel's third flight in two days. He puts us on the ground as the sun sets, the supersonic jet now quiet, its pilot
always ready.
Alexandra Field, CNN, Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Stunning footage there. Now, you're watching "News Stream." Still to come, on CNN's Freedom Project, we will reintroduce you to Fedna, a
young Haitian girl we met in 2011, who was rescued from domestic servitude. See what she's accomplished six years since we first told you her story.
[08:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Broadcasting live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream."
The former doctor for USA gymnastics pleaded guilty on Wednesday to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for sexually abusing
underage girls. And all 125 victims say Larry Nassar assaulted them. Some of those charges were dismissed in a plea agreement. In court, Nassar
apologized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY NASSAR, FOMER DOCTOR FOR USA GYMNASTICS: For all those involved. I'm so horribly sorry that this was like a match that turned into a forest
fire, out of control. And I pray the rosary every day for forgiveness. I want them to heal. I want this community to heal. I have no animosity
towards anyone. I just want healing. It's time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: He was the U.S. team doctor for Olympic games. The first police complaint came from former gymnast Rachael Denhollander. She says that
Nassar abused her on five doctor visits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RACHAEL DENHOLLANDER, FORMER GYMNAST: We have yet to hear the truth from MSU, USAG, and USOC. Officials who kept Larry in power for decades.
Officials who ignored repeated reports of sexual assault. Officials who brushed the victims off as unable to tell the difference between a medical
exam and sexual violation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Olympic champion Aly Raisman herself a victim tweeted this, "court referring to Larry as Dr. Nassar, I am disgusted. I am very
disappointed. He does not deserve that. Larry is disgusting. Larry is a monster, not a doctor."
In today's CNN Freedom Project, the story that six years in the making. In 2011, we met Fedna, a shy young girl who was the victim of a type of
domestic servitude. But now, she is receiving education and looking forward to what the future holds for her. Michael Holmes has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Fedna.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fedna, glad to meet you.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We first met Fedna in October 2011, while filming "Common Dreams," a CNN Freedom Project
documentary that aimed to shed a light on the issue of restavek in Haiti.
Local non-profit say as many as 400,000 children work as domestic servants in Haiti's restavek system, a traditional practice where children are sent
to live with a relative or a friend in the hopes that children will receive an education in exchange for doing household chores. But too often, the
children are exploited, doing work beyond their years and left vulnerable to all manners of abuse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is doing work that is beyond her physical strength, that is beyond her capabilities, work that the adults should be
doing.
HOLMES (voice-over); Fedna was just eight years old, living as a domestic servant in her grandfather's house. Like most restavek children, she had
never been to school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's never been to school.
HOLMES (voice-over): Most restavek children especially the girls do not attend school. Through negotiations with an advocate from the nonprofit
Restavek Freedom Foundation, Fedna's grandfather agreed to let them take her to school the next day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said he would be fine with us to come in and get her to take her to school tomorrow.
HOLMES (voice-over): Six years later, the CNN Freedom Project went back to Haiti to find Fedna. Now 14 years old, she still lives with her grandfather
[08:40:00] and she is still in school.
FEDNA JEANTILIEN, FORMER RESTAVEK (through translator): The big difference in my life is that now I can read and write.
HOLMES (voice-over): Fedna says being in school has been life-changing.
JEANTILIEN (through translator): I feel really good for all that I've accomplished. And I have learned so much. All the things that I've learned,
I apply them in my daily life and I share them with other children as well.
HOLMES (voice-over): Samuel Jean Baptiste is Fedna's child advocate. He says she has grown from a shy, tentative girl into a confident young woman.
SAMUEL JEAN BAPTISTE, CHILD ADVOCATE, RESTAVEK FREEDOM FOUNDATION: She has motivation. She is devoted to learn. She is working very hard. And I am
really happy for her. And I hope and I am sure that she will reach her goal one day and very, very, very soon because she has motivation for that.
HOLMES (voice-over): Fedna's grandfather says he is grateful to Restavek Freedom for the opportunity to send Fedna to school and he is optimistic
about her future.
ASSEGNE JEANTILIEN, FEDNA'S GRANDFATHER (through translator): I really hope that she will become somebody.
JOAN CONN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RESTAVEK FREEDOM FOUNDATION: I think now as we work with him and we talked to him about giving her time to play and
giving her time to study, things are getting better for this child and her life has improved. And she is a beautiful, beautiful child.
HOLMES (voice-over): Fedna says she still does chores at home but she is grateful that she has been allowed to make her education the top priority
in her life.
JEANTILIEN (through translator): It's important to me because I go to school, I believe I will become somebody in the future.
HOLMES (voice-over): Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Fedna, we are so proud of you. Coming up tomorrow in our latest CNN Freedom Project series, we will meet a woman from Nepal who was once
trapped in modern-day slavery in Egypt. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until just last year, she says she was trapped in what is known as modern-day slavery. She tells us she was a maid for a rich Arab
family in Cairo. She was exploited, she says. Abused, a prisoner. (INAUDIBLE) says she was never allowed to leave the house without
(INAUDIBLE). She even says her passport was confiscated.
When I raise concerns, they would say, we could kill you and throw away your body, and no one would ever question us, she recounts.
The power dynamic was clear. She says she was enslaved. And it lasted for six years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Join us Friday to find out what she is doing about the thousands of Nepali women and children who were sold into slavery every year. This is
part of CNN's Freedom Project series all this week right here on CNN.
That is "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Rhiannon Jones is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
END
