Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Girls from CNN Freedom Project help bust U.S Child Pornographer

(May 29, 2013) A convicted child pornographer in Pennsylvania was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, thanks in part to three girls featured in CNN’s Freedom Project who provided information to U.S authorities. Jeffrey Herschell, 54, visited an Internet site that showed live sex shows that forced young girls to act out the sexual fantasies of customers. “Whatever the American client wants us to do, we must do it,” Gen (not her real name) told CNN in May 2011 for the CNN Freedom Project Documentary “The Fighters.” An investigator from Homeland Security Investigations, part of the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told CNN the information provided by the three girls was vital to the case against Herschell. The inquiry was led by several U.S. agencies, the Philippine National Police and the non-profit group Visayan Forum Foundation, which fights modern-day slavery. 


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Friday, May 17, 2013

World-renowned boxer Manny Pacquiao joins fights against human trafficking

(17 May 2013) - Manny Pacquiao has partnered with anti-trafficking organization Visayan Forum to help victims of human trafficking in the PhilippinesThe organization, headed by human rights pioneer Cecilia Flores-Oeband, has helped more than 15,000 young girls since it began. Cecilia and Visayan Forum run halfway houses for girls all over the country, four support centres for domestic workers and one safe house, a home for those worst affected.