Modern Slavery News Round-Up

New RCMP Unit Being Created to Fight Human-Trafficking: In Canada, the federal Public Safety Minister, Steven Blaney, indicates that a new Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) unit has been created with the main goal of collaborating with law enforcement partners to fight human trafficking locally and internationally. A major task of the RCMP is to spread awareness of the issue among the younger generation and members of indigenous populations.


Eritrea's Military is Trafficking the Nation's Children, Report Says: In the Human Trafficking Cycle: Sinai and Beyond, a report compiled by Dutch and Swedish researchers, the authors shed a light on a nefarious practice targeting Eritrea’s most vulnerable: “Eritrean youths are being kidnapped by senior military officers, smuggled into Sudan and held to ransom.” The victims are tortured and their screams played to families on mobile phones. Some are able to raise funds and are freed, but others are not so lucky and end up being sold to Bedouin traffickers in Sinai.

Men Freed after 'Slavery' Raids in Bristol Area: In a pre-planned raid of eight properties in three travelers’ sites near Bristol, England, law enforcement agencies have rescued three men believed to be victims and arrested seven persons on suspicion of trafficking, three women and four men. The operation is viewed as an example UK’s commitment to fighting the crime of modern day slavery.

How Text Messages Help the Polaris Project Zero in on Human Trafficking: A few months ago, a worker monitoring a hotline for the Polaris Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to combating human trafficking, received a text message from an 18-year-old woman in distress. The woman, a sex-trade worker, was trapped in a motel room with her pimp and she secretly used his mobile phone to send a text seeking help. The Washington-based group moved quickly to alert authorities, who ultimately arrested the pimp.

2013 State Ratings on Human Trafficking Laws

The Polaris Project has rated all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 10 categories of laws that are critical to a basic legal framework that combats human trafficking, punishes traffickers and supports survivors. 39 states passed new laws fighting human trafficking in the past year and as of July 31st they were rated (Tier 1). The states of New Jersey and Washington have perfect scores, meaning that they have governmental laws the fulfill all 10 categories and large improvements have been made to Arkansas, Wyoming, Mississippi, and New Jersey. Ratings are showing that 32 States have passed significant laws to combat Human Trafficking and should continue to take additional steps to improve and implement its laws(Tier 1), 11 States and DC have passed numerous laws to combat human trafficking (Tier 2), 6 States have made nominal efforts to improves laws to combat human trafficking and should take major steps{Tier 3) , and 1 state has not made legal effort to enact a basic legal framework to combat Human Trafficking and should actively work to improve Laws.
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FACT: 28 States (55%) passed new laws to combat Modern Slavery in 2011

Polaris Project has been tracking and ranking all 50 states plus the District of Columbia in one of four teirs based each states laws to combat modern slavery since 2007. The ratings are "based on 10 categories of laws that are critical to basic legal framework that combats human trafficking, punishes traffickers and supports survivors." In 2004, only four states had laws to combat modern slavery. However in 2012, 48 states plus District of Columbia now have some type of new laws. Mary Ellison, Polaris Project's Director of Policy,  stated that "...over the past year, 28 states, or 55 percent of the states, have passed new human trafficking laws."

1. Teir 1 (7+ points): States has passed significant laws to combat human trafficking, and should continue to take steps to improve and implement its laws.
2. Teir 2 (5-6): State has passed numerous laws to combat human trafficking, and should take more steps to improve and implement its laws.  
3. Teir 3 (3-4): State has made nominal efforts to pass laws to combat human trafficking, and should take major steps to improve and implement its laws.
4. Teir 4 (0-2): These "Faltering Four" states have not made nominal efforts to enact a basic legal framework to combat human trafficking, and should actively work to improve their laws.

Massachusetts earned the 'most improved' distinction on the Polaris Projects 2012 State Ratings on Human Trafficking laws, for enacting a comprehensive anti-Modern slavery law in November  2011. The new ranking moved the state from the bottom teir in 2011 to the top teir in 2012. In reponse to the improved ranking Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley stated that, "Massachusetts has taken major steps to combat the egregious crime of human trafficking, and we are pleased that this report recognizes those efforts."

South Carolina, West Virginia and Ohio were also rated 'most improved' for taking concrete steps to address modern slavery. Meanwhile, Wyoming, Arkansan, Montana and South Dakota were included in the bottom teir for minimal effort to pass legislation. Wyoming, according to the report, is the only state that has failed to pass any robust laws against modern slavery at the state level.

While states like Washington (11 pts) and Massachusetts (10 pts) are clearly at the top of the list, every state can -and should- do more to improve and implement anti-modern slavery laws. It is necessary to have strong anti-modern slavery laws to not only increase prosecutions to punish and hold traffickers accountable, but to also provide local support to the survivors. Bridge to Freedom Foundation plays a critical role in helping the survivors transit from "survivng to thriving".

Check how your state rates on human trafficking laws in 2012