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.

Modern Slavery News Round-Up

Human Trafficking Ring Leaders Arrested in Austin
Police say they arrested the "main pimps" from two human trafficking rings that authorities said forced women into prostitution and moved them around the nation. Two men and a woman who were working in two interconnected rings were arrested Thursday night in Austin. Police found four victims - two from Houston and two from Florida - who were being forced into prostitution, Austin police Lt. Jerry Gonzalez said. Two women - whom Round Rock police took to the hospital because of injuries - told officials that they had been kidnapped in Houston and taken to Austin for the purpose of prostitution and robbing potential "Johns" arrest records said.

In California, an Effort to Fight Human Trafficking
This November, California voters will decide on a ballot initiative that would strengthen penalties for those involved in the sex trafficking of women and children. The CASE Act - or Californians Against Sexual Exploitation - would make those cases easier to prosecute. And if it passes, those convicted of the crime would have to register as sex offenders, which they're not currently required to do. Los Angeles is a major hub for child sex trafficking in the state, though the LAPD does not give out numbers on how widespread the problem is because it is such an under-reported crime. 

Host Nations for Migrant Workers Inefficient in Fight Against Human Trafficking- Binay
Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday said that host countries for migrant workers failed to protect migrant workers' deploring they lacked a strong legal framework to support labor and recruitment policy under international human rights standards. "Human trafficking and human smuggling or illegal recruitment flourish in part because destination countries do not complement the efforts of labor-sending countries at combating these twin evils in labor migration," Binay said in a speech he delivered at the 23rd Conference of the Presidents of Law Associations in Asia (POLA) held in Pasay City.

Republican and Democratic Conventions could spur sex trafficking experts?
The tens of thousands of people expected to attend the 2012 national political conventions may spur sex trafficking in the host cities. Advocates say the start of the Republican National Convention [last] Monday and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte [this week] could create a corresponding increase in the number of workers who may be compelled involuntarily to perform commercial sexual acts, the Charlotte Observer reported.