February 4, 2010
As published by Thomas Hurst, Thomas Hurst/Mars Hill Church
Brace yourself for a new level of horror in Haiti: Vulnerable children and teens sold into slavery and the sex trade, or simply shot in the streets for no reason.
You can take it from an expert on these miseries. Nicolette Gramms, who worked with an human rights agency, the International Justice Mission that specialized in rescuing the victims, writes for The Atlantic that “natural disasters unfailingly bring us new business.” She says:
In today’s world, the twin causes of human slavery — poverty and vulnerability — increase exponentially after natural disasters… Even without the pandemonium unleashed by a 7.0 earthquake, an estimated quarter-million Haitian children are trafficked (into slave labor or the sex trade) within the country each year.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
January 28, 2010
As published by SFGate
California is adding two task forces dedicated to combatting human trafficking.
The California Emergency Management Agency announced Monday it will award nearly $3 million to create the task forces and support the six already in operation.
Agency spokesman Jay Alan says the money will help the state crack down on traffickers and aid victims over a three-year period.
The agency estimates California is among the top states for human trafficking, which can involve forced labor, domestic servitude and other forms of slavery and exploitation.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
January 28, 2010
As published by BBC News
Prague, Amsterdam, Riga, Krakow, they have all become popular destinations for the British stag party industry. But some of the estimated £500m spent each year is also finding its way to criminal gangs trafficking women for the sex trade.
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Visiting a prostitute has become part of many stag weekends
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The British stag party has changed in the past 10 years. The drink down the pub with dad or your mates is gone. It has been replaced with three or four nights in a foreign city, far from prying eyes and geared to meet the stag party’s every desire.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
January 11, 2010
As published by Sina English
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — Continuing his commitment to take action to help end human trafficking, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation on Monday, declaring January 11, 2010 as Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
“Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Victims are held against their will and are subjected to sexual exploitation, forced labor and a host of other deprivations of freedom and dignity,” said the governor.
“This is a most terrible crime, and it’s happening right now in countries across the world, including the United States.”
The governor called for vigilance which “is crucial to rescuing those held captive”, particularly women and children.
“Most victims have been abused, threatened and restrained to a point of being powerless to free themselves,” Schwarzenegger noted.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
January 11, 2010
As published by National Post
Canada’s sex trade industry is a complicated mess. Any time you have humans being actively bought and sold for the purposes of sexual exploitation, things tend to get a little tangled, even scandalous. Especially when it’s happening in your own backyard. A 2008 report by the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) states that “across the country, organized crime networks are actively trafficking Canadian-born women and underage girls inter and intra-provincially, and in some instances to the United States, destined for the sex trade.”
While the images of foreign women in faraway countries holed up in seedy brothels seem morally reprehensible, Canadians should be just as abhorred by images of their own women and children being trafficked within the borders of their True North Strong and Free.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
January 11, 2010
As published by America.gov
NATIONAL SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH, 2010
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
The United States was founded on the principle that all people are born with an unalienable right to freedom — an ideal that has driven the engine of American progress throughout our history. As a Nation, we have known moments of great darkness and greater light; and dim years of chattel slavery illuminated and brought to an end by President Lincoln’s actions and a painful Civil War. Yet even today, the darkness and inhumanity of enslavement exists. Millions of people worldwide are held in compelled service, as well as thousands within the United States. During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we acknowledge that forms of slavery still exist in the modern era, and we recommit ourselves to stopping the human traffickers who ply this horrific trade.
To read more, click here.
January 11, 2010
Published by VRAL.com
Fayetteville, N.C. — North Carolina is a prime destination for human trafficking due to its many highways and interstates, according to Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange.
“It’s out there. It’s out there (and it’s) scary,” she said.
Kinnaird has sponsored anti-trafficking legislation before the General Assembly. She said the weekend arrest of a Fayetteville mother on human trafficking and felony child abuse charges shows that the trafficking trade is more prevalent than most people realize.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
January 11, 2010
Published by Orange County Register
Nearly $3 million will be awarded this year to help combat human trafficking in California, money that will be used to create two additional law-enforcement task forces and fund efforts in Orange County as well, authorities announced today.
The Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force is expected to receive $375,000, said Lt. Derek Marsh of the Westminster Police Department, which is part of the Orange County task force.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
December 5, 2009
As published by CNN World
Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) — “People see me as a strong woman,” Sunarsih says, “but I was broken inside. I was always crying but I don’t want other people to see my cry.”
Sunarsih is not this woman’s real name. She doesn’t want her identity revealed. No one, not even her family, knows what happened to her.
Her story starts 15 years ago, when she was just 17 years old.
“My family was very poor, I had to drop out of school,” she explains. “Then I met many successful migrant workers and their stories enticed me.”
Sunarsih’s situation is not uncommon. Across impoverished villages in Indonesia, becoming a migrant worker is a woman’s only chance for a better life.
But for some, the pursuit of their dreams quickly becomes a nightmare.
Sunarsih went to what she thought was a legitimate company. She received training in the basics of housekeeping, a passport for the first time.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
December 5, 2009
As published by CNN Justice
Who killed 5-year-old Shaniya Davis? Her mother is charged with human trafficking, and many questions remain about what happened. Watch “Nancy Grace” as she digs deeper, tonight at 8 on HLN.
(CNN) — It sounds like the plot of a crime drama or the scourge of a developing country, but human trafficking is a serious problem in the U.S. and America’s children are frequent pawns, experts say.
The case of Antoinette Nicole Davis, a North Carolina mother accused of selling her 5-year-old daughter, Shaniya, into prostitution, highlights one of the most heinous — albeit rare — forms of trafficking within the U.S.
To read the rest of the article, click here.
