tonight, on "world focus" -- >> ten americans remain in custody in haiti accused of trafficking children. we will have the latest. a french court begins its probe of the 2000 crash of an air france con chord france con widespread attack against gays in jamaa. some people believe the government is actually encouragg the violence. and the envelope, please. a look at the oscar nods for the best pictures that they are watching overseas. from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts from around the globe this is "world focus." major support has been provided by --

good evening. welcome to "world focus." i'm in new york. it has now been three weeks since that devastating earthquake killed at least 150,000 people in haiti. still, most of the quake victims remain outdoors, forced to scramble for food and water. anger at the haitian government is rising. today, the united nations warned that men attack a food convoy. the story making the news is the case of the group of americans accused of illegally trafficking haitian children afte

tried cross into the dominican republic with a bus load of youngsters. tonight, ten americans remain in custody as haitian official dees bait what to do with them. emma murphy of itn reports in tonight's lead focus. >> reporter: behind the boofrs a haitian prison, the american baptists accused of child trafficking. >> we came here to help children who have no one else, children who have been -- either lost both parents in the quake or on the streets that were alone and without anyone to care for them. understand there was no ill intent here. we recognize there has to be safety precautions for the children. we do not want them to fall into the wrong hands. i do understand that completely. i think in our cases, we were really wanting to help those who didn't have any other source of help. >> reporter: a group of ten minnesota and women in custody aiding pastors to find the children however, they are now questioning the guidance th received. they insist no money ever changed hands and there was no plans for to.

>> we may have been deceived by someone saying their parents are dead, please take our child. we have a beautiful place for them to go i can see how parents desperate, lost their homes, lost their jobs would want possibly to have their child go to a better place and even say to us, you know, deceive us into thinking they were not alive when, indeed, they were. >> reporter: they aren't the only ones feeling dereceived. this mother of five children who says she let them go, believing a local pastor was taking them to a better life. the 33 children the baptist group says they grew to love within days are now in care. 10-year-old sabrina is one of those found. she is like many of the others and not an orphan. i miss my mother and father she test. the lady says i would go to a good school and they would visit. sabrina is desperate to go home and wrote down for us wre her family r sh begged for us to let her phone them.

please come and get me is her only request however it won't than simple. these children will be kept in care until it is establis they came to leave their families. what those families were told, whether or not they were willingly let go are questions that will now be central to this investigation. >> psalms 40 says, "i waited patiently for the lord." >> reporter: as the investigation goes on, those at the heart of it continue to seek their god's blessing in order to get through it. that was emma murphy of britain's itn reporting there. there have long been concerns about the trafficking of children from poor countries not just in haiti. for more on vulnerable children around the world, we are joined by patrick mccormick of the united nations children's agency, unicef. thank you very much for joining us. >> pleasure. >> talk a little bit about what's being done to protect vulnerable children in haiti from the type of activity that we have been hearing about this week in the news.

>> well, we are creating what we call safe spaces, which are spaces for these unaccompanied children that have become lost or separated from their families. we need to find them, give them food. we need to take care of them. and that allows us also to protect them against anybody who has got the wrong idea about what you can do with a child in this sort of situation. >> how would you enforce that? there are undoubtedly unscrupulous people thought that take advantage of vulnerable children and more so during times of natural disasters. how do you keep children safe in these kind of circumstances, poor children? >> well, you -- your vigilant. you watch over them. you have the police on your side. you have got -- we have multiple partners, including the authorities, in this case, the haitian authorities who are on this case, especially since the recent -- the news reports of children have been whisked out

of the country. you need all those people. case. you can't ever be 100% sure that you are protecting all of these children but you can be pretty sure, if you have them in spaces, and also you are looking for their families at the same time. so, that is an extra layer of protection once you have found them. >> how do they become vulnerable? how do children become vulnerable in these types of situations? >> in the middle of a big disaster they often wandering around by themselves. they are hungry, tired, very susceptible to anybody coming up and saying, would you like something to eat? or i will -- i will help you find somewhere to sleep or whatever it is. that child is gone. >> and offering them a better life somewhere else, especially if they live in a country like haiti, that also makes them vulnerable, too, and wanting to trust and believe the person approaching them? >>absolutely. it sort of thing goes on in poor countries even when there aren't natural disasters. natural disasters can just make

it easier for these people to pounce and use the chaos, the breakdown of law and order, breakdown of infrastructure, small country, border very close by another country, then you are out. >> so, you talked about these safe areas. are those actually procedures then that are in place to protect vulnerable children during the sort of chaotic situations? >> yes. yes. absolutely. i mean, we have been d for a long, long time and the tsunami, posttsunami, the burmese cyclone, this -- and also there's a registration and a tracing program to find the families of these children, which was pioneered after the rwanda genocide. so it is a -- quite sophisticated kind of detective and protection system which we have in place. >> all right. patrick mccormick, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. we would also like to know what you think about this. do you believe that those

american missionaries were justified in trying to take that group of kids out of haiti? you can tell us what you think by visiting the how you see section of our website at world focus.org. survivors thought to give those killed in haiti a proper burial. hundreds gathered for a ceremony at a mass grave outside the haitian capital, port-au-prince, where many of the quakef were hastily buried. the mourners tied black ribbons to a cross in remembrance of the victims. in haitian culture, remembrance of the dead is considered essential to so that their spirits may pass to heaven. in france today, a trial began seeking to find out who was at fault in the 2000 crash of an air france concorde, 130

people died in that disaster. several people have been charged with manslaughter. among them two employees of continental airlines much the airline itself is also being charged in the case. a falling part from a continental jet is said to have contributed to the crash of the air france jet. the trial, much of it to be based on technical evidence is expected to last four months. >> reporter: the crash occurred at paris's charles de gaulle airport in july, 2000. the jet plunged from an altitude of just 16 meters down onto a hotel, killing everyone aboard and four hotel workers. the trial will focus on clarifying exactly what happened that day. it is still unclear who was at fault. an inquiry found that the disaster was caused by a strip of metal on the russian way, believe to have fallen from a u.s. continental airlines plane earlier it reportedly caused a tire on the concorde to burst. debris then hit the fuel tank,

causing the jet to catch fire. but continental disputes this version. >> that's the official version of theevents. we are going to fight it and establish that the concorde caught fire eight seconds before this scrap of metal met with the concorde. so, about 700 meters before. >> reporter: air france could face some tough questioning. earlier incidents indicate that concorde's tires were problematic and one focus in the trial will be whether the jet had undergone proper maintenance. the japanese carmaker, toyota, was hoping to put its recent troubles behind it, saying dealers are ready to begin repairing those sticky gas pedals. however, restoring consumer confidence in the brand may prove to be a much bigger hurdle, as our partner tells must this report, many people believe the company was too slow

to react to signs of trouble. >> reporter: many toyota dealerships like this one in the u.s. are almost empty of clients. and when one does appear, the first question is, when can the gas pedal on his or her car be repaired? customers are phoning their dealers to ask if their model is really safe to drive. the wide coverage of toyota's recall has severely damaged the carmaker's reputation. >> little leery about buying a car from them right now until this whole accelerator issue gets if i canned though. >> i do think they should have done it a little sooner. and i think they should have caught the problem in the factory before they even sent them out. >> reporter: in japan, toyota's managers have been quick to rebut critics who said they were too slow to react to the defect. they insisted they were concentrating on rectifying it.

>> we also think we need to deal with the problems ickly. thus, we decided to recall swiftly and we think this is the best way not to betray the trust of our customers. >> reporter: toyota has been regaining investors' confidence on t tokyo stock exchange. snares the compa re by almost 5% on tuesday. the recall of about 4 million vehicles worldwide had sent shares plunging by almost 20%, driving its market value down to 19 billion euros. fresh on the heels of the dispute between the united states and china over the sale of arms to taiwan, another roadblock in relations between the two countries is re-emerging. this time it is the dalai lama who is at the center of the [pt. president obama has signalled his intention to meet with the buddhist leader. the chinese government is warning him not to do so.

china views the dalai lama as an enemy, accusing him of pushing for the independence of tibet from china. in other news from china, the problem of tainted milk has again reared its head you may remember that in 2008, more than 300,000 chinese children were sickened by milk tainted with the chemical mel la mean. at least six children died. a recent investigation found that tainted milk was still being proced, the chinese government today launched an emergency crackdown pulling milk from the shelves in several provinces. the government is promising to put an end to the problem of bad milk, a promise it also made

back in 2008. today, america's top military commander, admiral mike mullin, told congress that gays should be allowed to openly serve in the u.s. military. but as you are about to learn in tonight's signature story, not every government fellow embraces homosexuals. take the caribbean island of jamaica. there, attacks and even the killing of gays is said to be commonplace but rather than trying to put an end to the attacks, some believe members of the government are actually encouraging the violence. our correspondent recently traveled to jamaica. here is her report. >> reporter: friday afternoon, four men dressed as females narrowly escaped a mobbing in downtown kingston. just last week, a man was beaten because he was dressed as a female. >> the issue against gay men, especially mob violence is definitely a rarity. >> reporter: stacy ann jarrett is the executive director of

jamaica aid supports for life where she works closely with jamaica's embattled gay community. >> an individual, you he verbal attacks, now you have physical attacks, where it was one-on-one. it is a group most definitely nate tack. >> reporter: while photos like these showing a mob attack on a cross-dressing gay man are rare, individual reports of violce are common. >> two weeks ago, two guy nearly killed me. >> reporter: these gay men acry grilled to appear on camera as long as their identities are concealed. >> people are being shot. people are being burned down. >> i had to respond tos late at night, early mornings, all day when i am at my job. >> reporter: carlene who asked her last name and face not be revealed, runs the hotline at j flag, the main gay rights

advocacy group in jamaica. >> we are going to be the orgtion to sta-- the organizati to let people stand up. you have no place in this function, we shouldn't be here, we shouldn't exist. >> reporter: for representative ernest smith, a member of jamaica's ruling labor party, the very existence of j flag is an offense to his country's laws and moral codes. >> i am very concerned that homosexuals in jamaica have become so brazen, they have formed an organization. they are on the street. in fact, they are abusive. they are violent and something that must be looked into. >> we are not saying that gay people should be obliterated from the face of the earth. we are not saying that. my government never said that.

my government never say that. but because the behavior pattern is in breach of all decency, guess what, keep yourself to yourself. do notry to impose your fix on others. don't force others to accept you and your filth. >> jail gaye people in jamaica always have to hide because once you are discovered to be gay that could mean the end of your life. >> that's not true. they are lying. they are seeking publicity. >> reporter: representative smith, like many people here, believe that most reports of anti-gay violence are simply false. >> persons in jamaica are not, without warning are attacked and beaten. it is mostly because of jealousy. >> a very recent excuse for doing nothing and not only for

doing nothing,but stigmatizing the very group being attacked in the first place. >> reporter: dr. robert carr, the executive director of the caribbean vulnerable communities coalition says that many jamaicans believe that gay life should be violently suppressed. this video shot at a gay birthday party two years ago triggered widespread violence when it was released on the stpeared on the nightly news. this next report shows just how disturbing the trends have become. >> believe it or not, these are all males. this footage has been circulating on the internet a tape of men cross-dressed at a party. but is it a case where these individuals are not becoming too brazen? >> one concern is that their mode of dress is deliberate and they are now flaunting it as a normal way of living. >> reporter: we were told that several gay men who appeared in the video were killed and others, like this young man, had to flee their homes. >> my friends called and told me

that they would gang up on me and kill me. >> a lot of gay men and lesbians attacked are reluctant to seek services and report it to the police for fear of victimization at that end. >> if you allow yourself to direct such venom and hatred against a particular population that people feel is acceptable to beat them and kill them, you are upping up a pandora's box you really don't want to open up. >> hiv was killing, use a condom. but it is not done. >> if you don't believe that a population h the right to exist, then you could care less if they caught a deadly infection, it doesn't matter if they live die. they have no business existing in the first place. >> reporter: for world focus, i'm in kingston, jamaica. africa is another place where gays find themselves in danger.

in uganda, the government recently considered a law which would make homosexual behavior punishable by death. today in the southern african neighboren of malawi, a man was arrested for hanging posters which read gay rights are human rights. gay sex is illegal in malawi, punishable by u to 14 years in jail. malawi, which recently assumed the presidency of the african union, has also drawn international attention for its prosecution of a gay couple who married in a traditional wedding ceremony. so, to take a wider look at the issue of gay right us s in afri we are joined by the director of the lesbian, gay, gender and intersex rights initiative at the open society institute and he joins us from washington, d.c. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me on the show. >> so, we just heard that homosexuality is illegal in

malawi witmall lou -- malawi. are there anti-gay laws and how are they enforced? >> the example in malawi is very common in africa there are 31 africa countries that still criminize homosexual conduct and there are efforts to even introduce more onerous criminal statutes in a number of countries that have come up over the last couple of years. for example, many of your view letters know about uganda, where a statute already exists that criminalizes homosexual conduct but even a worse statute is currently being considered it is also important to know that there are also some positive examples. south africa was the first country in the world to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in its constitution and, again, even though a lot of african countries retain these statutes there are also efforts under way to reform statutes in a positive

direction in a number of african countries. >> do you think that mosexuals are more stigmatized in africa than other parts of the world? well, i think in africa, again, one of the positive things that we have seen happen is really are the emergence of lesbian and gay movement throughout the entire continent, so that in every subregion of the continent, and also in almost every single country, there are now active gay and lesbian organizations working on a local level to raise the visibility of discrimination against gay and lesbian people. i think in part, because of that growing visibility, more conservative elements of society have also begun to react and there's been a kind of backlash. and so, more conservatives, individuals in society are calling on their governments to do something about this growing visibility of gay and lesbian people, transgender people in african countries. >> do you think that there's been much of an outcry from

civil society and human rights groups about this situation? >> there has been a reaction from civil society. it's been a trend, you know? over -- it's very true that many of the gay and lesbian groups that exist are very new organizations. some of them just a few years old. and they have often been very isolated from other groups in civil society, even other human rights organizations, but we do see a growing trend where human rights organizations, globally and also on the regional level in africa, are becoming more engaged with gay and lesbian rights issues. in the example of u began dark one of the really positive things that we've seeng$ is th emergence of a local coalition, not just of gay and lesbian groups but women's organizations, human rights organizations that are working together on a local level to oppose this really terrible piece of legislation this's currently being considered. >> okay, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you.

if it's february and you love the movies, that can only mean only one thing, you are undoubtedly glued to the television for the annual cavalcade of awards shows. and today, the biggest of them all, the oscars announced their nominations for the best of the best. but this being an international news program, we would like to note that the world of movies goes well beyond george clooney and meryl streep, which brings us to today's oscar nominations for best foreign language film. among those getting an oscar nod was an israeli film set in the city of jaffa. the film features a cast of almost all nonprofessional

actors. this is the third year in a row that an israeli film has received an oscar nomination for best foreign language film. twoilms from south america also got notes, "the secret in their eyes" from argentina follies testimony of detectives and prosecutors on their 25-year quest to solve a murder that's gone cold. and from peru, "the milk of sorrow"he story of an indigenous woman struggling to cope with an illness. the french film "the prophet" made the short list, the story of a young criminal sentenced to one of ance's toughest prisons. there he falls in with the loaders of a prison gang and rises in the ranks. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> and finally there is "the white ribbon" from germany. the story of a young man trying to overcome the tyranny of village elders it won the top

prize at last year's cannes film festival. and the oscar goes to -- well, for that, you will just have to wait until march. and that's it for now, but don't forget, you can find more news and perspective at world focus.org. thank you for joining us and good-bye. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com