Global human trafficking roundup (July 20, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Canada: Hamilton police receives funding supports to fight human trafficking in the area. The funding will be used to increase education campaign, special investigations targeting sex trade, etc. Last year, Hamilton police arrested ten adults and a youth in connection to the largest human trafficking case in Canada.

Georgia: Authorities found a missing 15 year old Wisconsin girl and her infant son. The report says that she was a victim of sex trafficking in Georgia. The victim has been missing since May 2011, when she ran away from home in Belmar Hills, Wisconsin. Police are still investigating to discover who was involved in sex trafficking the victim.

US: U.S. authority launches a public campaign to fight against human trafficking. The campaign includes the ads based on the feedback from Homeland Security. The ads will run across the states including District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. The campaign's primary target is to countermeasure labor trafficking in the U.S.

North Carolina: human trafficking is an ongoing problem in the state, police says. The crime is so lucrative that it is difficult to track it down, according to the police. Currently, the legislation is available to help victims in the state, but the funding is for the initiatives are up for discussion in Congress.

EUROPE

UK: Home Secretary warned that human traffickers likely would target Olympics. The warning came as the Home Office launched a new measure to combat human trafficking. The Home Office will examine tougher penalties to seize assets from the convicted smugglers and traffickers.

Turkey: Human trafficking persists to be a problem in Turkey. One woman shares her story as a victim of sex trafficking in Turkey. She came to Istanbul to be a housekeeper after responding to a newspaper advertisement. But, upon arrival, she was locked into a house for several months and forced into prostitution. One law enforcement pointed out the male dominated culture and inadequate law enforcement as main causes of human trafficking in Turkey.

Czech Republic: Police dismantled sex trafficking ring that preyed on Czech women in Britain. The investigation was conducted in cooperation with British police. The police arrested six people that recruited young Czech women for sham marriages and prostitution.

ASIA

Myanmar: Myanmar steps up its effort to combat human trafficking. The authority established 26 new special police squads to curb female trafficking in the border region. It also increased its awareness raising effort by using pamphlets, billboards, etc. to combat human trafficking.

India: Police arrested a placement agency owner for running a human trafficking ring. He allegedly recruited girls from rural area in Assam for domestic servants. The victims, however, never received the wages.

The Philippines: Three women were charged with trafficking other women and children. According to the report, the arrests were made during the operation conducted by IJM and the Intelligence Unit. Police also rescued eight victims during the operation.

AFRICA

Nigeria: The national authority announced that over 20,000 girls were sex trafficked in Mali last year. Young women were subject to forced prostitution as well as emotional and physical abuse by the traffickers. They were also required to see at least 20 men a day. The critics point out the Nigerian government's failed effort to combat human trafficking in the country, such as Operation Timbuktu.

South Africa; A woman was sentenced to life in prison for trafficking three girls from Mozambique. According to the report, the convicted trafficker locked the girls in the age between 14 and 17 in a house and forced them into prostitution.

Global human trafficking roundup (May 5, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Indiana: Federal authority busted a human trafficking ring in Indianapolis. The multi state ring brought women from abroad and prostituted them in Hispanic community on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Police also arrested 19 people including four men and three women appeared in Federal court earlier this week.

Hawaii: The second suspect pleads guilty in largest U.S. human trafficking case. He is one of the eight people charged in an alleged human trafficking case exploiting 400 Thai workers on Hawaiian farms. With the guilty plea, he could face up to five years in prison and "three years on probation as well as pay a $250,000 fine and restitution to the victims."

Arizona: The Department of Public Safety found a dozen of trafficking victims at a drop house during the raid. The raid was conducted after the investigators received a tip from a family i Florida that their family member was being held for ransom in somewhere in Phoenix area. The investigators round 10 victims and six suspects during the raid. Some of the victims are bound for sex industry. The house was located in the middle of an upscale suburban community.

Washington: Governor signed a new bill into a law to combat child prostitution. Under the new legislation, allow police to record telephone calls involving underage victims when the victims give consent. It will also allow minors to help police with investigations. The new law will go in effect in the beginning of August.

EUROPE

Czech Republic: National authority said that the federal law enforcement has been unsuccessful in fighting against labor trafficking. She said that traffickers no longer use violence but rather targeting their vulnerable positions as a method of control. She also added that the new method of control has been very difficult to prove, and it is often not considered as a crime at all.

Ireland: Two men are scheduled to be extradited from Lithuania to Northern Ireland on charges involve human trafficking. The charges are related to a human trafficking incident in 2006 and include abduction, false imprisonment, rape, and human trafficking in and out of UK.

Belgium: Europol report says that organized criminals in Europe increasingly rely on technology and social media to defraud victims. According to the report, extensive use of Internet is used for recruitment and marketing of human trafficking victims.

ASIA

Pakistan: Age old religious practice continues to fuel slavery of innocent children. According to the superstition, women whose first born has a very small head are obliged to sacrifice the first born at a shrine as servants to protect her subsequent children from being disabled by birth. Once the mothers wishes are fulfilled, their first born are left in the premises of a tomb. These children also are forced to wear steel helmets to restrict their growth and used for begging in the various parts of the country.

AFRICA

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe is criticized for failing to counteract human trafficking in the country. The country is the transition point of many women and children trafficked from Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Mozambic to South Africa. Zimbabwean women and children are also trafficked to Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia. Yet, the county has no legislation to fight against human trafficking.

Swaziland: Law enforcement rescued eight boys who were trafficked for labor exploitation. They were lured with a promise of high paying jobs in South Africa but ended up cutting trees for approximately .80 cents per each. The boys also found other victims who were trafficked to South Africa from Swaziland at the destination for the same reason.

Global human trafficking roundup (April 27, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Hawaii: An anti-human trafficking bill passed its conference committee. The new bill, if implemented, will criminalize labor trafficking in Hawaii. According to the report, the bill may well be on its way to the governor's desk for his signature after the final reading at House. Hawaii reminds as one of the four states with no comprehensive anti-human trafficking legislation.

New York: Hilton Worldwide signs a tourism Code of Conduct to combat child trafficking and sexual exploitation. Though thousands of hotel industries signed the Code worldwide, Hilton worldwide is only the fourth U.S. company to agree to work with ECPAT-USA.

EUROPE

Czech Republic: Authorities announced that the number of human trafficking cases has increased over the past. The authorities uncovered 24 cases in 2010, an increase from seven in 2009. Also, police rescued 76 victims last year, up from 42 victims in 2009. In particular, the report notes that victims of labor exploitation include Mongolians, Romanians, Bulgarians, and Vietnamese.

ASIA

Tonga: The court made the first conviction in a human trafficking case. A Chinese national was convicted of multiple charges, including human trafficking, keeping a brothel, and running a prostitution ring. The Chinese national is facing maximum penalty of 25 year jail sentence.

India: A former cricketer was charged with human trafficking on Wednesday. According to the report, he allegedly trafficked Indian children to UK with a promise of allowing them to play cricket abroad. He also collected money from the children. Police however discovered that he was traveling with a forged passport, and the cricket team he claimed does not exist.

Malaysia: Law enforcement made over 700 arrests up until March this year. They also rescued 50 women, 55 men, and 23 children during the same period.

Azerbaijan: Authority announced that three women are charged in connection with three human trafficking cases. One woman was charged with trafficking other women for sexual exploitation in UAE, and the other two women were charged with sex trafficking young females to Turkey.