Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Award recognizes impact of anthropologist’s work on human organ trade
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an anthropologist at UC Berkeley, was honored by the American Anthropological Association with the first ever Anthropology in Public Policy Award for her trailblazing work shedding light on the dark practice of human organ trafficking. Scheper-Hughes was instrumental in founding the Berkeley Organ Watch project, an endeavor focused on monitoring the organ-transplant trade for abuses.

Nigeria frees 16 girls, women in ‘baby factory’ raid
Police in Owerri, the capital of the Imo State in Nigeria, raided a home and rescued 16 girls and women, ages 14 to 19. All were in various stages of pregnancy and allegedly being forced to have the babies sold. The male owner of the home had registered it as a non-governmental organization promoting women’s and children’s issues.

US: Human trafficking a worry in post-typhoon Philippines
Thousands of women and children in the Philippines risk falling prey to human traffickers in the aftermath of last month's catastrophic typhoon, lawmakers and the chief US aid agency warn. Natural disasters are events that greatly contribute to the great supply of vulnerable people who are in danger of being exploited by opportunistic traffickers. This is why it is integral to create safe spaces for women and children affected by typhoon Yolanda.

Human trafficking victim speaks out
A gripping firsthand account by a young woman of her long and challenging road from captivity to freedom and growth.

Protests as France debates Bill on Prostitution
Protesters both for and against an anti-prostitution bill that would decriminalize prostitutes but fine their customers continue to demonstrate outside France's National Assembly as lawmakers debate.

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Awareness Of Human Trafficking Is Increasing, But 'So Is The Problem' 

Every day, men, women, and children around the world are stripped of their basic rights and trafficked as sex workers, forced laborers, involuntary servants, or for their organs. The International Labor Organization estimates that human trafficking -- fed by poverty and corruption and facilitated by organized crime -- victimizes more than 20 million people globally. On the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Economic and Environmental Forum in Prague, RFE/RL correspondent Richard Solash spoke with Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the OSCE special representative for combating trafficking in human beings, on the latest trends in the battle against the epidemic.

China Contractor Again Faces Labor Issue on iPhones

As Apple [prepared] to unveil the latest iPhone this week, the company’s manufacturing partner in China, Foxconn Technology, is coming under renewed criticism over labor practices after reports that vocational students were being compelled to work at plants making iPhones and their components.  Foxconn has acknowledged using student “interns” on manufacturing lines, but says they are free to leave at any time. But two worker advocacy groups said Monday that they had spoken with students who said they had been forced by their teachers to assemble iPhones at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, in north-central China.

Trafficked children in UK council care 'going missing'

Some children trafficked into the UK are going missing from local authority care, a Council of Europe report says. It says there are indications that increasing numbers of people are being brought into the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour. The council raises particular concerns over a lack of secure and suitable accommodation for trafficked children who end up in local authority care.

It calls for better trained supervisors or foster carers for them. The Council of Europe's Greta (Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings) says reports suggest a "significant" number of trafficked children in local authority care go missing and some end up rejoining those who exploited them in the first place.

Romania, Bulgaria make trafficking cases priority
At least 540 Bulgarians were victims of human trafficking in 2011, while Romania investigated nearly 900 similar cases last year. The increase, attributed to sexual exploitation, confirms that the two countries remain both source and transit areas in teh region for such illegal activities, experts say. In Romania, the number of the cases in 2011 is up from 717 the previous year. At the same time, anti-human trafficking authorities indicted 480 persons in these cases, compared to 407 in 2010. More than 270 offenders were convicted, up from 203 two years ago. In Bulgaria, of the 112 offenders convicted last year, 95 received a court sentence for sex trafficking.

NGO founder 'shocked' at USAID 
An emotional Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda on Friday denied the charges filed against her by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for allegedly falsifying documents to hide the misuse of at least P210 million ($5 million) in funds donated to the Visayas Forum Foundation Inc. (VFFI), a nongovernmental organization she founded in 1991. The VFFI president said she was “shocked by the malicious attack” on the NGO  that she had “built for 20 years with blood, sweat and tears,” but vowed to “continue to provide services for victims of exploitation and human trafficking” (and allow) “our body of work to speak for itself.”
The USAID asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in August to probe the foundation over funds for the group’s projects that it said were missing.

Prop. 35 gets tough on human traffickers
Chris Kelly, a former Facebook executive and 2010 Democratic candidate for attorney general, is bankrolling a November ballot measure that would stiffen penalties in California for human traffickers and create new requirements for sex offenders. Proposition 35, whose opponents have no formal organization or funding, would increase prison sentences for traffickers from five to eight years to 12 years to life, depending on the circumstances. It raises the maximum fines from $100,000 to $1.5 million and requires that the money be spent to help trafficking victims and to assist law enforcement agencies prevent trafficking and rescue victims.

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

27 million live in slavery 
In her unveiling of the annual human trafficking report, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton revealed that up to 27 million people are living in slavery around the world.  Fortunately, the report also showed that governments are becoming more aware and beginning to instigate tough new laws and programs to help victims.  Only 33 countries complied fully with laws in place to end human trafficking, but five countries moved up from the bottom blacklist including Venezuela and Myanmar.  According to the report, the countries "took a number of unprecedented steps to address forced labor and the conscription of child soldiers..."  A total of 29 countries have been upgraded to a higher ranking, which means, according to Ms Clinton, "governments are taking the right steps."

Wal-Mart supplier accused of forced labor
A group of immigrant workers has recently gone on strike in an effort to get Wal-Mart to drop its contract with Louisiana-based seafood company, CJ's Seafood.  Headed by Ana Rosa Diaz, one of the workers from Mexico on a H-2B work visa, the group claims that CJ's Seafood forced them to work 24 hours without overtime pay, locked them in the facility and threatened physical violence to prevent people from taking breaks.  "Our boss threatened us and our families...," says Diaz.  The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) has verified the claims and the company is now under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Government rescues 106 would-be trafficking victims 
The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) in the Philippines has rescued some 106 persons who were being smuggled overseas this month.  85 of the rescuees were saved on board the ML Kadrina between the boundaries of islands.  "We intercepted 150 persons who were on board.  But only 65 were officially declared on the ship's manifest," says Vice President Jejomar Binay.  10 other persons were saved after they caused a scene to catch IACAT agents' attention in an airport terminal.  As of right now the Philippines is in the Tier 2 status in this year's Global Trafficking in Person's Report.