By host on 4/29/2009 8:20 AM

The number of children trafficked into Britain has gone up 50 percent in the past two years according to a study conducted by the Home Office's Child exploitation and online protectin centre (Coep). Three hundred and seventy-five children have been identified as potentially trafficked into Britain for activities including prostitution, illegal labour, forced marriage and illegal adoption. To read more, click here.

Read More »

By host on 4/28/2009 12:39 PM

  Maximino Mondragon has been sentenced to 156 months incarceration and, jointly with his seven co-defendants, to pay $1,715,588.05 in restitution to the victims of a trafficking ring. The convicted traffickers convinced Central American women to come to Texas with promises of good jobs, and then forced them to work in their bars selling drinks to men. The traffickers threatened to harm the victims and their families if they did not pay off their debts incurred in transit to the US. Click here to read more. Read More »

By host on 4/21/2009 1:45 PM

In the UK, raids across London and the nearby county of Hertfordshire have lead to the arrest of three women and six men on suspicion of human trafficking and the rescue of seven women who may have been trafficked into prostitution. To read the full story, please click here.

By host on 4/7/2009 6:24 PM

The annual profit from human trafficking and prostitution for the Bulgarian mafia is over one billion euros, a RiskMonitor report revealed on Tuesday.

Every year the victims of human trafficking in Bulgaria are around 10,000. The schemes for money laundry of human trafficking profits include luxury boutiques, outlets and car stores.

Read More »

By host on 4/6/2009 3:23 PM

Two Thai men have been arrested for allegedly trafficking workers into the fishing industry in Thailand and then forcing them to work in slave like conditions. Malisa Promkote from the Anti-Human Trafficking Centre and The Mirror Foundation Bangkok said;
“We found migrant boys working, who were just nine to ten years old. Migrants from Burma and Cambodia were hired to work in the boats while there are many undocumented cases of exploitation of labour. They are not allowed to go back for over to two to three years. They are made to work hard for long hours and face acute shortage of food. Some have been beaten up or killed and thrown into the ocean,”
To read more on this story, please click here.

By host on 3/31/2009 2:17 PM

BANGKOK, March 31 (TNA) -The Australian government has chosen Thailand for launching campaigns against human trafficking by publishing a set of two handbooks to be distributed free to Thai women and private organisations in the kingdom which assist children and women victims.

Read More »

By host on 3/31/2009 2:14 PM

Former Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On, who has been at the forefront of the battle against human trafficking, received official recognition on Sunday in a state ceremony at Beit Hanassi.

Gal-On's efforts have resulted in legislation against trafficking and in upgraded police efforts to track down prostitution racketeers and bring them to justice,

Read More »

By host on 3/24/2009 9:19 AM

Every year in Cambodia, hundreds of girls are trafficked and sold into brothels where they are forced to work as sex slaves. Although precise figures are unavailable, analysts say that the rate of trafficking is soaring. Many of the victims endure years of torture and abuse in brothels, resulting in lasting physical and psychological damage.

Read More »

By host on 3/20/2009 3:04 PM

In New Jersey, USA,  a man, originally from Togo in West Africa, has pleaded guilty to trafficking women from his home country to work without pay in his hair braiding centres in Newark and east Orange. When asked if he paid the women, who had to work 16 hour shifts, Dereck Hounakey, 32, answered “no”. Mr Hounakey faces a possible sentence of five years in prison. The read more about this story, please click here.

By host on 3/16/2009 8:38 PM

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Music channel MTV on Monday announced the release of a US government-backed animation programme aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Asia.

The half-hour anime show entitled "Intersection" will feature the voices of Asian film star Ananda Everingham and MTV VJ Taya Rogers and will premiere on MTV Asia on March 20, it said in a statement.

Read More »

By host on 3/5/2009 6:55 PM

One in five victims of human trafficking are children, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told a group of international police officials Tuesday.

Maroni, addressing a gathering of Interpol chiefs at the agency's headquarters in Lyons, France, said the trading of human lives is the third-largest illegal business in the world, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Read More »

By host on 3/5/2009 6:53 PM

5 March 2009 – The United Nations has launched a new campaign, represented by a blue heart, aimed at raising awareness about the millions of victims of human trafficking and rallying support to combat this modern form of slavery.

“There is a lot of ignorance about modern slavery. There is also a lot of good will to fight it,” Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said today as he launched the campaign in Vienna.

Read More »

By host on 2/25/2009 10:00 AM

In the US, police have rescued nearly 50 children, some as young as 13 years old, who had been trafficked into sexual exploitation and have arrested 570 people in an operation over three days in 29 cities. The police say they are still looking for a 16-year-old girl who was active in recruiting other minors.  To read more, please click here.

By host on 2/23/2009 5:05 PM

December is a special month in Argentina. On December 10, 1983 a president elected by popular vote took charge of office, bringing an end to the last civil-military dictatorship and thus starting the recovery of democracy. It was the 25th anniversary of that day this December and evaluations of the period were abundant.

Read More »

By host on 2/23/2009 4:55 PM

RCMP investigators have yet to convict a single person for human trafficking in B.C.

That's even though the specialized officers handle stacks of cases every year and know the hidden crimes happen regularly.Despite the fears of some groups in the B.C. that suspect the 2010 Olympics next year will bring an increase of human smuggling and exploitation, the spokesman for the province's border integrity unit disagrees.

Read More »

By host on 2/18/2009 2:23 PM

A Chinese national known as King James has been arrested in Ghana accused of trafficking Chinese women into Ghana, Togo and Nigeria for sex slavery.

Read More »

By host on 2/16/2009 6:50 PM

UNITED NATIONS—“Dora,” a young Mexican woman, was helped by another Mexican woman to cross the US border in the promise of a good job there. She ended up in Texas, working in a sweatshop and not allowed to go out or even take a shower. v “Sandra” was sold as a child for $400 to a pedophile, who repeatedly raped her for four years.

 

Read More »

By host on 2/16/2009 6:48 PM

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Sexual exploitation and forced labor are the most common forms of human trafficking in the world, a new report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said.

The "Global Report on Trafficking in Persons" is based on data from 155 countries and offers a global assessment of human trafficking and efforts to fight it.

Read More »

By host on 2/16/2009 3:30 PM

A new report published this week by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), claims that human trafficking is a major problem around the world. The head of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, highlighted the fact that in 40% of countries where human trafficking takes place not a single person has been convicted on trafficking charges. He also drew attention to the fact that women and girls were the majority of victims,

Read More »

By host on 2/12/2009 7:54 PM

While it may not be widely acknowledged or recognized, according to some sources involved in farmworker services, the state's widespread plague of human trafficking is even present in some Sonoma Valley vineyards.

"We have ... people getting exploited," said Mario Castillo, outreach manager for Vineyard Worker Services, in a previous interview with the I-T. "The (wine industry) system is well placed to take advantage of people." But while many organizations and growers are doing what they can to avoid it, others say it's an issue they never imagined could occur here.

Read More »