Here's How Easy It Is For Human Traffickers To Transport Victims Into The US

Story originally published on October 23, 2014

A recent study conducted by the Urban Institute and Northeastern University   reveals how poor training and lack of resources hinders US government efforts to prevent labor trafficking. According to the International Labor Organization, at least 21 million people worldwide are subjected to forced labor.  Victims of forced labor are typically lured with false promises of a lucrative job in the United States in exchange for high recruitment fees.  They are then subjected to hazardous working conditions, inadequate compensation, assault and threats of deportation.  The study showed that US embassies have been unsuccessful in preventing labor trafficking because consulate staff members either fail to interview the victims during the visa application process or are unequipped to respond to signs of labor trafficking. 

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/trafficking-victims-us_n_6023536.html

How to Spot a Trafficking Victim at an Airport

Story originally published on September 30, 2014

Time Magazine has written an article on how ordinary people can assess whether a person may be a victim of human trafficking. People often envisage trafficking victims being bound in a blacked-out van, but in reality victims of human trafficking are often hidden in plain sight. Law enforcement agents are now working more closely with hotels and airlines to detect victims. For example, staff at Delta Airlines are being trained to ask specific questions during check-in, and notice if a person is carrying documents in someone else’s name or shows signs of bruising or wounds. Despite a common misconception that victims tend to be foreigners, 83% of victims of forced prostitution in the U.S. are American. 

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http://time.com/3445807/how-to-spot-a-trafficking-victim-at-an-airport/

IOM to launch anti-human trafficking initiative with US State Department

Story originally published on October 16, 2014

A joint initiative by the International Organization for Migration, the Inter Agency Council Against Human Trafficking and the U.S. State Department hopes to counter human trafficking in Tacloban City, Philippines. The initiative, called ‘Victim Centered Counter-Trafficking Awareness in Typhoon Haiyan Affected Areas in the Visayas’, will operate for two years from October 2014 to September 2016. The goal is to raise awareness of the problem of human trafficking, as well as how to identify its victims.

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http://www.rappler.com/bulletin-board/72198-iom-anti-human-trafficking-united-states

ICE expands reach of smartphone app designed to locate child predators and rescue their victims

Story originally published on October 7, 2014

The U.S. government has designed a smartphone application for the use of the public in the event that they spot fugitive child predators or their potential victims. Last year, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency launched an application called 'Operation Predator app'. Within hours, government agents were able to locate a suspect. Users of the new app can receive news about wanted sex offenders, arrests and prosecutions. Members of the public can also submit tips and share information with family and friends. Since 2003, more than 10,000 people have been arrested for various crimes against children including sex trafficking, distribution of child pornography and traveling overseas for sex with a child.

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http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-expands-reach-smartphone-app-designed-locate-child-predators-and-rescue-their

Network of nuns helping fight human trafficking in PHL

Story originally published on August 2, 2014

Associations of nuns across the Philippines have pledged to help law enforcement agencies and NGOs in the fight against human trafficking in the country. The nuns are part of an international organization called Talitha Kum formed in 2009 to raise awareness of human trafficking worldwide. In the Philippines, Talitha Kum’s members include local law enforcement, congregations of religious women and the Philippine Interfaith Movement Against Human Trafficking (PIMAHT). Talitha Kum has already helped to rescue several trafficked women in Southeast Asia. Recently, a priest on board a ship going to Jakarta, Indonesia noticed that five women seemed troubled and decided to speak to them. Upon hearing of their situation, he called the nuns at Talitha Kum who subsequently called the police. The women were returned home shortly afterward. A Drugs and Crime Global TIP Report published in 2012 by the United Nations states that between 800,000 and two million people are trafficked yearly around the world.

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http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/373060/news/nation/network-of-nuns-helping-fight-human-trafficking-in-phl

Baldoz thanks EU for P6.8 million support for PH's anti-human trafficking and illegal recruitment drive

Story originally published on August 12, 2014

The European Union (EU) has provided financial support worth P6.8 million to promote initiatives against human trafficking and illegal recruiting in the Philippines. The grant will go to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), a DOLE agency. Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz thanked the EU for its assistance and added that she "will ensure that the grant will be used as intended: to strengthen the POEA's capabilities and enhance cooperation between national and local authorities in combating illegal recruitment and trafficking". The grant comes a month after the Philippines and Australia signed the Australia Asia Program to Combat Trafficking In Persons (AAPTIP) agreement. Australia provided funding of AUS$5 million to the Philippines and other ASEAN countries under the agreement. Trafficking and illegal recruiting have remained prevalent in the Philippines; the POEA said that, in 2011, there were 224 victims of trafficking and 135 cases of illegal recruitment.

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http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2131407741640#sthash.7gqlFjTv.dpuf

FBI Sting Spotlights Human Trafficking

Story originally published on July 17, 2014

The FBI recently arrested four men in Arizona following a sting operation that uncovered a human trafficking scheme. The FBI began preparing the sting after it learned last summer about an attempt by several persons to buy sex slaves from Malaysia. Though that offer turned out to be a scam, the FBI was able to gain the contact details of the suspected traffickers. They lured one, Edward Kandl, to a fake sex slave auction after he attempted to buy a mail-order bride for $5,000 from the same website in December 2013. Kandl expressed interest in attending the auction and he arrived at the auction venue with $10,000, where he was subsequently arrested. A search of his home revealed a bed with chains, locks and a room with blacked-out windows. George Steuer of the Phoenix FBI field office stated that "We realized that there was this group of individuals in the U.S who were interested in owning a human slave both for sexual exploitation and domestic labor". According to the annual State Department report, there has been a rise in the prosecution of human traffickers in the U.S. with the Justice Department winning 174 convictions for sex and labor trafficking in 2013.

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http://online.wsj.com/articles/fbi-sting-spotlights-human-trafficking-1405625023