Human trafficking

February 13, 2008 -- (SANTA FE) — New Mexico Attorney General Gary King’s legislative priority, SB 71, making human trafficking a state crime has cleared its last hurdle in the Legislature. After a Senate vote of concurrence, the bill, sponsored by Senator Mary Jane Garcia, is on its way to the Governor for an expected signature.    » read more »

02/01/2008 -- Aiming to build on the success of the partnership between the U.S. Border Patrol and the California National Guard, California Governor Schwarzenegger urged President George W. Bush to continue Operation Jump Start. The Governor requested, in the following letter, that the President maintain full federal funding until the mission is complete, so the shared goal of a strong and secure border can be realized.    » read more »

27 November 2007 -- Britain is among a number of European countries cracking down on human trafficking, a virulent form of modern-day slavery. The UK is a main destination in the international human trafficking market and, in the latest drive to stop the crime, police say they are targeting gang leaders and their trade routes.

Joanne is not her real name. She wants to remain anonymous. She says that when she left her war-ravaged home in Rwanda, she thought life would get better.

"It felt like a new chapter, a new life, a new beginning and I was desperate for that," she said.    » read more »

October 29, 2007 -- An examination of the types of human trafficking occurring in two of Ohio's largest cities found that child prostitution is more common in Toledo while forced labor is more likely to be identified in Columbus, according to a new RAND Corporation report.    » read more »

September 20, 2007 -- [WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) announced today that their bill, The Trafficking in Persons Accountability Act, was unanimously passed by Senate Judiciary Committee and will be sent to the floor for further action. This important bipartisan legislation will close a legal loophole that currently prevents the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people in the United States who have committed the crime of human trafficking in other countries.    » read more »

June 27, 2007 -- [WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, and Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), who serves as Ranking Member of the subcommittee, today introduced legislation that will close a legal loophole that currently prevents the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people in the United States who have committed the crime of human trafficking in other countries.    » read more »

Annual observance intended to enhance fight against human trafficking

June 27, 2007 -- Washington, DC – The U.S. Senate has approved a resolution by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John Cornyn (R-TX), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Dick Lugar (R-IN) to create a National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness, to be observed on January 11 of every year.

The Resolution is intended to raise awareness about human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery.    » read more »

19 June 2007 -- Today’s observance of Juneteenth marks the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. America’s civil war had ended at Appomattox, Virginia in April, 1865. But on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the news finally reached Galveston, Texas: masters could no longer consider slaves their private property.    » read more »

16 June 2007 -- China has opened a national investigation into a slave labor scandal in central China, where as many as 1,000 people are believed to have been forced into a brutal human trafficking ring.

China's official Xinhua news agency says a team of investigators will be sent to brick kilns and coal mines in Shanxi and Henan provinces, where more than 500 people, many of them children, have been freed in recent days. Officials say they believe hundreds more could be trapped at the work sites.    » read more »

NGOs Work To Eradicate Human Trafficking, Help Victims

Worldwide efforts raise awareness and thwart illegal activities

Washington 12 June 2007 -- U.S.-funded nongovernmental organizations around the world are working to prevent human trafficking, provide resources to victims and arrest and prosecute child-sex offenders.

From Africa to Europe to Asia, initiatives are raising worldwide awareness of the illegal practice of human trafficking.    » read more »

Strengthens Penalties and Provides Assistance to Victims

June 6, 2007 -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders today announced the enactment of legislation that will strengthen penalties against human trafficking and provide assistance to victims.

The legislation, hailed by leading advocacy groups and others, includes the following provisions:

* Creates a class B felony for those who engage in sex trafficking;
* Creates a class D felony for those who engage in labor trafficking;    » read more »