Modern-Slavery News Round-Up

All Hands on Deck: Renewing the Call to Combat Human Trafficking Spet. 25: One year ago today, President Obama announced the Administration’s commitment to lead the fight against human trafficking during a seminal speech at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. ...Over the past year, we’ve made great strides and increased our efforts in order to realize the President’s vision. However, we still have so much more to do. The President said in his remarks one year ago, “It ought to concern every person, because it is a debasement of our common humanity. It ought to concern every community, because it tears at our social fabric. It ought to concern every business, because it distorts markets. It ought to concern every nation, because it endangers public health and fuels violence and organized crime. I’m talking about the injustice, the outrage, of human trafficking, which must be called by its true name – modern slavery.”

Michigan: Human trafficking: 19-bill package aims to curb 'modern day slavery' in Michigan, help victims Michigan state Sen. Judy Emmons on Thursday unveiled a 19-bill package intended to crack down on human trafficking and offer help to victims of a crime that many call a form of "modern day slavery." The bipartisan package, to be formally introduced next week, features bills that would provide safe harbor for victims, eliminate the statute of limitations for trafficking offenses, allow victims to sue their captors and enable a prosecutor to utilize wire tapping while building a criminal case.

Florida: Statewide human-trafficking initiative focuses on children A new statewide initiative championed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi aims to end human trafficking by encouraging parents and children to discuss the dangers of talking to strangers online. The "From Instant Message to Instant Nightmare" crusade, unveiled Friday, includes billboards, mall displays and bus-shelter posters asking parents and children to educate themselves about sex traffickers who target children, tweens and teens online.

A Bold Plan to Aid Sex-Trafficking Victims As understanding of the cruel dynamics of sex-trafficking has grown in recent years, a consensus has emerged among criminal justice professionals that it makes more sense to treat people charged with prostitution as the exploited and abused victims a vast majority are, rather than as criminals. An important new initiative by New York State’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, aims to put that humane insight into practice. A handful of cities across the country, including Baltimore and Phoenix, have specialized courts that deal with sex-trafficking offenses. On Wednesday, Judge Lippman announced the creation of the nation’s first statewide system of specialized criminal courts to handle prostitution-related offenses and make services available to help sex-trafficking victims escape their abusive situations and forge new lives.

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Legal Blow for Families of Slain Nepali Laborers
U.S. court rules that lawsuit against defense contractor KBR over alleged trafficking & death of 12 Nepali men will go to trial in 2014 - court dismisses some claims against KBR but others will proceed. Supreme Court precedent leaves little legal ammo for the families of Nepali laborers who were executed after a defense contractor allegedly trafficked them into Iraq, a federal judge ruled. Ramchandra Adhikari is the lead plaintiff in the 2008 action alleging that U.S. military contractors duped 13 Nepali men into indentured servitude. With promises of a $500 monthly salary, many of the men allegedly believed they would be working at a luxury hotel in Jordan. When they learned that they were actually on their way to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, the large brokerage fees they owed allegedly kept the men from turning back for home, according to the complaint.

South African Bill helps tackle human trafficking
The Western Cape has seen a spike in the number of people freed from the clutches of human traffickers over the past few months. The introduction of specialized units focusing on human trafficking syndicates in the Western Cape has seen at least 13 cases being investigated, eight of which are in court. And nine women or girls have been rescued in the past two and a half years, according to police. But despite these strides, there have been no convictions to date. At the end of last month, the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill was signed into law, giving the country for the first time a statute dealing specifically with human trafficking. It carries a maximum penalty of R100 million or life imprisonment, or both, if convicted. Until now, the law dealing with trafficking has been fragmented.

N.J. Sex Trafficking Law Trips on Speech Grounds
 New Jersey cannot enforce a new human-trafficking law that opponents say would criminalize the indirect publication of sex ads depicting minors, a federal judge ruled. In a federal complaint filed June 26, the Internet Archive claimed that New Jersey's Human Trafficking Prevention, Protection, and Treatment Act "would impose an intolerable burden on free speech." "Because of its vague and expansive language (e.g., 'indirectly' 'causes' 'to be displayed' an 'implicit offer'), the law could be applied to any web site that provides access to third-party content, including user comments, reviews, chats, and discussion forums, and to social networking sites, search engines, Internet service providers, and more," the nonprofit digital library claimed. Village Voice Media's Backpage.com LLC moved for a preliminary injunction the same day, and the two suits were later consolidated.

Anti-slavery group calls for boycott of 2022 Qatar World Cup
Evidence is increasing of forced labor in the Qatari construction industry responsible for building the World Cup infrastructure for 2022, Aidan McQuade, the director of Anti-Slavery International told EurActiv. “If that is borne out I think it would be an extremely sad state of affairs,” he said. “It would be a dreadful pity and an enormous shame on all of us if we are prepared to participate in a world cup that has been brought to us by slavery.”

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Human Trafficking Fighters Improve Rating for Wyoming
 The leading organization in the global fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery lauded the state of Wyoming on Wednesday for finally adopting a law to combat the practices. The Polaris Project lifted its Wyoming rating from zero to tier two, with four being the highest, as a result of the legislation signed into law by Gov. Matt Mead last winter. Wyoming became the final state to adopt a statute outlawing human trafficking. Federal authorities previously had prosecuted such cases in Wyoming.

Trial Date Set in Sex Trafficking Case. 
A federal judge in Wichita has scheduled an October trial for three people charged in a sex trafficking scheme linked to Asian massage parlors. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on Wednesday issued an order scheduling an Oct. 15 trial for Gary H. Kidgell; his wife, Yan Zhang; and employee Xiuqing Tian. They are accused of conspiring to recruit women from around the country to come to Wichita to work at massage parlor, then coercing them into prostitution.

From Foster Care into Sex Trade. 
Every year, federal and state governments pour millions of dollars into combating sex trafficking through local and federal law enforcement agencies. But the emerging link between the child welfare system and child sex trafficking in the United States underscores the need for a new tactic, one that addresses the social origins of child sex trafficking.At the end of July, the FBI’s Innocence Lost initiative, the wing of the agency tasked with addressing domestic child sex trafficking, conducted its annual three-day Operation Cross Country. During these 72 hours, federal agents across the country “recover” juvenile victims from sexual exploitation and arrest their exploiters. This year, the agency boasts that it saved 105 children and arrested 152 pimps. According to U.S. law, anyone under 18 and involved in the sex trade is considered sexually trafficked.
 
Kansas Anti- Human Trafficking Efforts Gain Attention.
Kansas is earning national recognition for its efforts to combat human trafficking. An annual report from the "Polaris Project" puts Kansas in the top group of states in fighting human trafficking crimes. The report ranks Kansas in a tie for 11th-best overall. Last year, the state ranked in the bottom third. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt credits a new state law for the jump. Enacted earlier this year, it increases services for human trafficking victims and strengthens support for enforcement of anti-human trafficking laws.

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Third of girls in 42 countries forced in to child marriages
More than one-third of all girls are married in 42 countries, according to the U.N. Population Fund, this in reference to females under the age of 18. The highest number of cases occurs in some of the poorest countries, the agency figures show, with the West African nation of Niger at the bottom of the list with 75 percent of girls married before they turn 18. In Bangladesh the figure is 66 percent and in Central African Republic and Chad it is 68 percent. Child marriage is not common in South Africa, where prosecutors are investigating what charges can be brought in the case of a 13-year-old epileptic girl who was forced to leave school and marry a 57-year-old traditional healer in January. Reducing child marriages is key to achieving U.N. millennium goals to improve child mortality and reduce maternal deaths, according to Malawi's Health Minister Catherine Gotani Hara. She said teen pregnancies accounted for up to 30 percent of maternal deaths in that southern African country.

Human-trafficking bill clears key hurdle in Kentucky legislature
A House bill that would stiffen state penalties for human traffickers and provide more services to trafficking victims, recently took a major step toward becoming law. The measure would add more teeth to Kentucky's 2008 human trafficking law. It would provide more training for law enforcement on human trafficking, allow police and prosecutors to seize assets of those involved in human trafficking, and earmark money from the seized assets to pay for victim services. The bill also allows human trafficking victims to receive treatment rather than jail time, a provision sometimes referred to as safe-harbor protection.

The proposal also would require people to report human trafficking to authorities, an essential provision of the bill, said the bill's sponsors, Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Burlington, and Rep. Sannie Overly, D-Paris. Since 2008, advocates have treated 101 human trafficking victims, but there have been only 18 prosecutions — 16 using state law and two using federal law. The vast majority of those cases involve the selling of Kentucky children for sex by someone they know.

MS-13 Gang Members Sentenced to Prison on Sex Trafficking Charges
Jonathan Adonay Fuentes, aka “Cheesy” and “Crazy Boy,” 21, of Clinton, Marlyland, was sentenced to 120 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for sex trafficking a juvenile female as part of a prostitution enterprise operated by the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha Thirteen (MS-13). According to court documents, Fuentes assisted his fellow MS-13 gang members from the fall of 2009 through the spring of 2010 run a prostitution ring that specialized in selling juvenile girls for commercial sex. Fuentes admitted in court that he transported a teen girl within Virginia and Maryland to engage in sex with clients.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with assistance from the Fairfax County Police Department and HSI, all of whom participate in the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force. Assistant United States Attorneys Zachary Terwilliger and Patricia T. Giles are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Support bills to fight human trafficking in Connecticut
Connecticut is moving on several parallel tracks when it comes to serving children. Medical, legal, housing and social services are provided through a number of state and non-profit agencies. Several organizations are raising awareness of trafficking with the general public and training law enforcement officials, judges, school officials and others to recognize and report possible cases of human trafficking. And in recent years Connecticut's Legislature has responded by passing several laws related to the care and custody of child victims.

With three bills in total being pushed, one is Senate Bill 45, An Act Concerning Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking, is sponsored by Sen. Martin Looney of New Haven. Among other things, it calls for the, "... superior court to freeze the assets of an accused trafficker and require truck stops and liquor permit premises to post the telephone numbers for state and federal anti-trafficking hotlines." 79 cases of potential human trafficking incidents at truck stops across the country were reported in 2011, the latest year for which statistics are available. Although Connecticut is not among the top five states for trafficking incidents at truck stops, all you have to do is travel up and down I-95 in the early morning hours to realize the number of truckers that can be reached with prevention information.

Senate Bill 149 and House Bill 6136,  are the other two bills which appear to be legislation that remit harsh punishment for those persons who are victims of human trafficking. Considering that many of the participants involved in these actions are young and unaware as to how to escape, these bills are an attempt to offer them an escape and new life. All the bills stated are waiting for public hearings to be scheduled.