FORCED ABORTION ON U.S.TERRITORY

WASHINGTON, Apr 3 (LSN) – USA Today reported this week about a U.S. administration report on human rights abuses in the Mariana Islands, which are part of U.S. territory. The report contains eyewitness accounts of slave labor, forced prostitution, and forced abortions in the Pacific island chain lying between Hawaii and the Philippines.  Seven undercover agents investigating abuse allegations for the U.S. Interior and Labor departments compiled the report. Foreign workers, mostly Asian, are lured to the islands to work as maids or factory or farm workers, often told that they were going to the USA. About 42,000 foreigners work there. Wendy Doromal, a human rights activist who lived on the islands for 11 years and helped draft the report, noted that the farm workers often live in shelters more suited to animals than to humans.  A Senate hearing is underway to extend normal U.S. immigration and minimum-wage laws to the islands.