Global human trafficking roundup (May 11, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Missouri: House offered a unanimous vote to a bill to strengthen anti-human trafficking measure. Under the new bill, trafficker will face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000. Victims of trafficking or forced labor will also be able to seek restitution.

Colorado: Colorado Human Trafficking Task force is taking action against the crime in Colorado Spring. The Task Force representative said that they want to raise awareness and money to train local law enforcement to crack down human trafficking. Currently, lawmakers are trying to attack the prostitution problems with tougher penalties against johns by raising the fine to $5000.

Kentucky: The U.S. attorney announced that a nation wide human trafficking investigation resulted nine indictment on various levels of prostitution charges. According to the court records, the defendants operated brothels using women from Hispanic countries in Tennessee and Kentucky. The women were forced to work Monday through Saturday and traveled between the cities on Sundays. The women were also required to see 30 clients a day and work 50 weeks a year.

Hawaii: Nonprofit groups say that Asia Pacific Economic Conference may lead increase in prostitution in Honolulu. Some of the attendees are from countries that the law against prostitution is not enforced. Honolulu local law enforcement says that they are planning on devote more resources in Waikiki during this event, but that step-up measure is normal for such a big event.

EUROPE

Spain: Police arrested a German man for filming himself sexually abusing his and other children in the age between three and nine. He also distributed the video on the internet pedophile forum, in which he offered the children to other adults for sex with and make similar videos.

ASIA

The Philippines: Two Swedish men were jailed for running a cyber sex den according to the court. On their internet sex site, women would perform for clients. They both received unprecedented life term sentences. Also, three Filipinos who assisted these Swedish men were convicted of human trafficking charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

China: The state family planning officials in Hunan providence have reportedly involved in child trafficking ring for a decade. For the past ten years, the government officials seized at least 20 children from their families and sold each child for $150 to a local welfare center. State officials took away children from families who breached one child policy law or illegally adopted a child.

Global human trafficking roundup (February 12-14, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Florida: Planned Parenthood is urged to support human trafficking victims. The organization is currently under the FBI investigation for assisting abortion process for minor trafficking victims. According to the report, the writer pleads the organization to look beyond the politics to help trafficking victims escape sex industry.

Georgia: The governor introduces a new bill to combat human trafficking. The new bill, if implemented, impose tougher penalties on traffickers and provide better assistance to the victims.

Arizona: A CEO of two health food supermarkets is arrested during the child prostitution sting. He was arrested after arriving at a hotel to meet what he believed was an underage prostitute he met online.

EUROPE

Spain: Police busted a prostitution ring in Madrid. The prostitution ring exploited many young girls from various nationalities in four brothels in Madrid. Police also arrested 11 gang members and charged them with human trafficking and other related crimes.

UK: UK launches the first fair trade hallmark for gold. The supporters of the fair trade argues that it will allow the gold to be fully traceable with a certification. According to UN, gold mining is another industry in which children as young as 5 year old are exploited with labor.

ASIA

The Philippines: A woman was convicted of trafficking Filipino women. The investigation began after she recruited two women with a promise of job that did not exist at that time. She also promised the victims' mothers with high salaries but the cost of recruitment would be deducted from their salaries. The victims were forced to work as domestic servants without compensation. One of them was also forced into prostitution.

Pakistan: Ministry of Labor orders the Federal Investigation Agency(FIA) to stop taking complaints regarding human trafficking or overseas recruitment. Instead, National Action Plan for Human Trafficking will be responsible for taking all complaints related to human trafficking and other crimes, according to the report. FIA, however, argued that the order makes the agency a toothless tiger in prosecuting human trafficking.

China: Online effort to reunite missing children with their parents is flawed, the report says. Some critics argue that traffickers may react to the new campaign by taking the children to underground and more lucrative market.

UAE: Three Asian people are arrested for trafficking girls including a 15 year old minor. According to the prosecution, the victims were lured into coming to UAE and forced into prostitution upon arrival. The victims were also locked into a house that was guarded by one of the suspects.

AFRICA

South Africa: Human trafficking in South Africa alarms the authority. According to the report, traffickers often bring women from Zimbabwe by demanding large sum of money. When victims fail to pay the amount, the gangs confiscate the victims' cellphones and jewelry. The traffickers then call victims' family to ask for money or exploit them with labor or sex.

Global human trafficking roundup ( January 20, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Tennessee: A man is accused of selling a minor for sex online, and police is now looking for more victims of his company. The arrest was made after the parents of the 16 year old victim informed the police of the incident.

Massachusetts: The state Attorney General is unveiling a new legislation to fight human trafficking. The new legislation will make it a felony to exploit people with labor and sex. It will also focus on providing services for victims' aftercare.

District of Columbia: The U.S. department of state estimates that there were approximately 12.3 million people who are trafficked worldwide. But, because of its lucrative nature, the estimates of the victims can be vary, according to the report. Meanwhile, there were only 4,166 successful prosecution of traffickers in 2009.

Texas: A Texan felon admits to sex trafficking a minor. He has been in custody since his arrest in April 2010. If the plea agreement is acceptable to the court, he will spend minimum 15 years in prison but no more than 20 years.

EUROPE

Spain: Spanish Secretary for General calls for complete ban on all newspaper ads for prostitution. She argues that majority of sex ads on newspapers are used to exploit women by criminal gangs and encourages activities like human trafficking. According to the report, Spanish Media generates 60% of revenues from sex ads.

ASIA

Burma: Police charged two soldiers for trafficking 16 Burmese citizens in December 2010. The victims are female in the age between 15 and 48. If convicted, the two soldiers will face a jail sentence for more than 15 years or fines.

The Philippines: The Philippines government tackles corruption involved in human trafficking. The authority wants to clear up its record showing that some of public servants are involved in human trafficking. The newly appointed representative of the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration stated that his department will fully support investigation as soon as investigations show up.

Indonesia: Facebook is used as a channel to recruit trafficking victims, according to the report. The traffickers use facebook to present the victims, and johns contact traffickers after looking through the victims' pictures on facebook.