Modern Slavery News Round-up

9 Investigates teenager sex trafficking
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Channel 9 has done several stories about central Florida’s growing human sex trafficking problem. A recent study showed one out of every 12 teens who was given the assessment was a victim of human trafficking. DCF told Welch that local teens of every race and background are being recruited. The experts said parents need to monitor who their children talk to online. They should also be on the lookout for suspicious tattoos because pimps often brand their girls with tattoos.

Number of children being sex trafficked soars
The number of British children being trafficked for sexual exploitation has more than doubled over the last year, according to official figures. Police forces, charities and immigration officials identified 50 young British girls and 6 boys being trafficked in order to be abused as part of the sex industry. The figures represent a 155 per cent increase on the previous year but are thought to be just the tip of the iceberg as much of the problem remains desperately under reported.

Florida ranks 3rd in calls to human trafficking hotline
Jacksonville University professor Nathan Rousseau and local attorney Crystal Freed, are organizing a series of events with Jacksonville University, Artworks For Freedom and other organizations to be held around the area, which aim to bring awareness to the issue. Rousseau said millions of people are caught in the trap of human trafficking -- often kids and women held against their will, sometimes only freed by their own deaths. According to the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, about 2.5 million people are enslaved at any given time by human trafficking and more than 9 out of 10 people suffer from physical or sexual violence.

Artist in residence explores human trafficking in U.S.
Albion College’s Artist in Residence Lea Bult sets the record straight about human trafficking in the U.S. Her “Out of Sight” exhibition promotes public awareness of the horrific prevalence of such modern-day slavery. The gallery features unassuming landscapes such as parking lots, factories and even a massage parlor. Bult often includes a truck or van in these images
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Rights group: Egypt turns blind eye to human trafficking in Sinai
CAIRO -- Scarred, terrified and systematically tortured, the victims of human traffickers in the Sinai peninsula have been largely abandoned to their fate by Egyptian authorities, a leading human rights group alleged in a report released Tuesday. The report by New York-based Human Rights Watch details a brutal extortion racket in which victims, most of them would-be migrants from Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, are beaten, burned and mutilated by smugglers while their anguished relatives – contacted by mobile phone – are forced to listen to their screams.

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

Myanmar military releases 42 more child soldiers
Myanmar authorities released 42 more child soldiers from the armed forces [last] Monday, a move to further end recruitment of under-age children in the armed forces, reported Xinhua, citing local media. The 42 children, who are from across the country;s regions and states, were handed over to their parents in the presence of officials of the ministry of social welfare. The move came after an agreement was signed between Myanmar government and the United Nations in late June on prevention of further recruitment and use of under-age children in the armed forces.

Opinion: Anti-slavery law needs saving

With the upcoming elections, you can't turn on the television without seeing a negative campaign ad or heated news segment giving Americans a glimpse of the political divisions that currently exist in out country. While politicians argue over our future government, we lose sight of how the actions of our current government are impacting the lives of real people right now, like the millions of enslaved men, women and children in the U.S. and around the world at risk if Congress fails to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act by the end of the year.

NY taxi drivers get sex trafficking lesson
New York City taxi drivers will soon not just be taking passengers around the city, they're being asked to help spot potential sex trafficking victims. Under a new city law, drivers should be on the lookout for clues that a passenger is a victim of a sex trafficking activity.In a little under three months the law will kick into effect, and drivers will be required to alert authorities if they see suspicious situations in their cabs which may cause them to believe there is a trafficking victim in the backseat. The city plans to run a training course for the drivers of taxis and private cars for hire. A video is planned to teach what to look for.


A Move That Could Help Reduce Child Labor
Campaigners for the abolition of child labor in India welcomed a Cabinet decision Tuesday which would ban the employment of children under the age of 14. The government's ministers called on Parliament to pass an amendment to the Child Labour Act 1986, a law which, until now, has allowed children below 14 to be involved in "non-hazardous" work. The amendment, if passed, would impose a maximum three-year jail term and 50,000-rupee fine for anyone employing a child under the age of 14 in any kind of work or engaging under-18s in hazardous work. The change would be the most significant development in India's child labor laws since the introduction of a partial ban in 1986, according to activists working for an end to the practice.

Fair Food Program helps end the use of slavery in the tomato fields
Since 1997, the Justice Department has prosecutes seven cases of slavery in the Florida agricultural industry - four involving tomato harvesters - freeing more than 1,000 men and women. The stories are a catalogue of horrors: abductions, pistol whippings, confinement at gunpoint, debt bondage and starvation wages. Thankfully, those enslaved workers may be among the last found in Florida's tomato fields. Today, virtually all Florida tomato growers have joined the Fair Food Program, which includes a code of conduct outlawing debt bondage and requiring human conditions of labor and a more livable wage. Shade stations, toilets and drinking water are appearing in the fields, and educators are spreading word about the code to the harvesters.

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

4 arrested in Florida foster child prostitution ring
Miami authorities are accusing four men of operating an underage prostitution ring.  Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle says most girls were 15 to 17 years old and were in foster care due to previous abuse.  The men lured these girls into the sex trade through cellphones, gifts of clothing and attention.  A problem across the country, these pimps shower girls with attention and then lure them into prostitution. Florida is the third most popular destination for domestic sex trafficking of minors and at least 300,000 children are at risk.

Ottawa bans sex trade business from hiring foreign workers
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced a ban on sex trade industry employees from hiring workers.  "We're protecting them from what they might not know will happen to them when they get to Canada," he explained at a press conference.  Citizenship and Immigration Canada will not process new work permit applications from temporary foreign workers who wish to work in places like a massage parlor, strip club or escort agency.  Representatives of the sex industry are considering challenging the new regulation.

Over 800 held after child-trafficking bust
An operation involving 10,000 Chinese police officers has broken up a child-trafficking ring that was operating in 15 provinces.  802 people where arrested who were selling babies to the highest bidder for up to 5,000 pounds (close to $8,000).  181 children were freed during raids that police say took place simultaneously across China. An unidentified police officer says they are managing the practice , but it's still prominent in certain areas.  However, since it's campaign to combat trafficking started in 2009, 24,000 kidnapped women and children have been rescued.