Global human trafficking roundup (February 26-28, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Colorado: A missing teen's father traveled to speak against human trafficking at a rally. Her teenage daughter was missing since December 28, 2010. The police is spotlighting the ex-boyfriend of the teen's mother as a suspect, since he was the last person who saw the teen. The missing teen's father also said that the police officers wasted a week in search of his missing daughter because of their lack of experience in missing person's case.

Canada: An international watchdogs say domestic helpers may be victims of human traffickers and sexually are abused by the employers. The report recommends that the government must regulate domestic work and recruitment agencies.

EUROPE

Finnland: Many foreign migrants are exploited with labor at shipyards. Twenty workers lived in a small flat room and worked as long as 12 hours a day. They are also placed in industrial buildings even during the winter. However, according to the report, the law is far from protecting these migrants' basic rights.

ASIA

UAE: A carpenter was sentenced to 15 years in jail for sex trafficking seven girls. According to the report, the 28 year old Bangladeshi man locked the victims in an apartment room on the third floor and forced them into prostitution. Police discovered the prostitution ring after one of the victims from Indonesia escaped the apartment by using a rope and reported to the police.

India: Many young women, particularly Muslim girls, are trafficked for forced marriage. One victim from Assam was trafficked to another village and sexually and physically abused when she was 18. Later, her abuser re-sold her to another husband who also physically and sexually exploited her. According to the report, 80% of 100,000 trafficked annually are trafficked for forced marriage.

Indonesia: Three women escaped from a human trafficking ring. They were promised a high paying jobs at a five star hotel in a beach resort. However, after the recruitment agency deducted their salaries, they were forced to drink, sing, and dance erotically with the customers at a local karaoke bar.

AFRICA

Nigeria: Immigration service has installed information technology equipments to fight against human trafficking. The equipments include document fraud readers, scanners, and passenger registration, which will assist the immigration officers to closely monitor who is traveling in and out of the country.

Global human trafficking roundup ( January 21, 2011)

NORTH AMERICA

Georgia: An ICE representative says human trafficking is increasing in Atlanta, but the crime is hard to uncover because victims do not come forward. He also pointed out two growing trends; that victims are becoming as young as 14 and that traffickers increasingly use violence to control victims.

North Carolina: Authority says the number of victims for sex trafficking in North Carolina has increased in recent years. Many female victims are lured into coming to North Carolina with a promise of a better job. The Immigration officers therefore work with local and state authority to combat human trafficking in North Carolina.

Massachusetts: A New Hampshire police is searching for a suspect setting up a girl in a Portsmouth hotel room for prostitution. Police arrested a girl earlier this month at a hotel, where she was working as a prostitute. But, police believes that this incident is part of a large human trafficking or child prostitution ring throughout New England.

EUROPE

Finnland: Four Latvians are convicted of human trafficking through Russia and Balkan states. They smuggled 80 people from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria in 2008 and 2009. The victims also paid $10,000 for smuggling fee. The Latvians received jail sentence ranged between 14 months and 5.5 years. Whether the victims were forced into slavery is unknown.

UK: A female applicant for refuge status is found herself to be in the center of the biggest human trafficking investigation in the north of England. According to the report, she was forced into having sex with men at a massage parlor by gangs members. She was beaten and raped by the gang and forced to work six or seven days a week. Sometimes she was forced to have sex with as many men as 10 a day.

ASIA

Indonesia: Police arrests a new suspect in child prostitution ring. The ring victimized at least 98 children by kidnapping and raping. Police also said that the suspect is one of 18 people who were involved in the child prostitution ring.

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.

Global human trafficking roundup (December 9, 2010)

NORTH AMERICA

Washington: Tacoma woman uses her donut shop for child prostitution. She took two 13 year old girls and forced them into prostitution after taking pictures and post them online. She often met up with johns at donut shop and took the men to the apartment, where two girls are held against their will.

Texas: A 44 year old man was indicted on charges related to human trafficking incident in 2007. He was arrested for kidnapping a 13 year old for more than a week for prostitution in 2007. The victim testified that he and his four accomplice tied her up, drugged, and locked her in a bedroom at a house. If convicted, the man is facing life sentence in prison.

Kentucky: Two men are facing charges on human trafficking. According to the police, they victimized a 15 year old who was under one of the men's care. They both are facing multiple charges including human trafficking, sodomy, rape, and sexual abuse of a minor.

Florida: FBI found 27 people who may be human trafficking victims during the raid. The raid was conducted inside of two homes and one local restaurant. The FBI spokesperson said that 8 of them were found in a residence in Clearwater and 19 people in a Largo home. He also said that they were Asian and Hispanic origin cramped in a small house all together. But, they had all of their basic needs.

Canada: Federal justice minister expressed his disappointment on Craigslist for its failure to remove adult service section. He sent a letter asking Jim Buckmaster, the CEO of Craigslist to remove adult service section on Craigslist Canada last month, but Craigslist has yet to removed the adult service section on its Canadian website. The minister once again urged the company to shut down adult service section as critics say Craigslist facilitate child prostitution and sex trafficking in Canada.

EUROPE

The Netherlands: The council of Armsterdam began a campaign to combat human trafficking. The campaign will focus on sex trafficking of women in the city. Since 2007, the city provided aftercare assistance to the victims including, medical care and social care. Each year, it assists 150 victims, among which 20 are minors. The campaign effort will include awareness raising among johns in red light district, advertisement through media outlets, etc.

ASIA

Indonesia: A woman returned home blind from Saudi Arabia, where she worked as housemaid. She was physically assaulted by her employer for no reason and continuously tortured. She lost her eyesight when her employer repeatedly slammed her head against the wall. According to the statistics generated by a nonprofit, 43 percent of the migrant workers working in Saudi Arabia are exploited by their employers.

AFRICA

Egypt: Approximately 250 refugees from Eritrea are treated like slaves by their traffickers. The refugees paid smuggling fee to their traffickers to enter Israel. But, instead, they are kept in hostage to demand money from their families and friends. The refugees are kept in chain and live under threats and violence.