News
Funds to provide housing for human trafficking survivors
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A housing assistance program for survivors of human trafficking will be developed in southeastern Kentucky with a federal grant, officials said.
The U.S. Justice Department awarded the $600,000 grant for a short-term housing program that will help trafficking survivors in Bell, Clay, Harlan, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Rockcastle, and Whitley counties, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Friday in a statement.
Kentucky lawyer sentenced on human trafficking charges
FLORENCE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky attorney has been sentenced on human trafficking charges after he was implicated in a former judge’s criminal case.
Robert L. Poole, 53, of Florence, was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison, which was probated for five years with conditions, according to a statement from Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office. Poole pleaded guilty in October to five counts of promoting human trafficking for commercial sex activity in Kenton County.
Longtime Iowa businessman sentenced in sex trafficking case
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A longtime Iowa business owner convicted of using his diner in sex trafficking and drug crimes has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
Hershal James Ratliff, 71, of Council Bluffs, was sentenced Thursday after being found guilty in July of six counts of human trafficking and one count of distribution of a controlled substance to a minor.
Council Bluff
Authorities say mother sex trafficked slain child
PHENIX CITY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama law enforcement officials claim a Georgia woman charged in her 5-year-old daughter’s death had accepted payment to let a man have sex with the child.
An arrest warrant included in court records claim Kristy Siple agreed to accept payment from someone “for having sexual intercourse and sodomy with her minor child.” Authorities arrested Siple this week and charged her with murder and human trafficking in connection with the death of her daughter.
It was not clear from court records if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Mexico holds ex-political boss in sex recruiting scandal
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in Mexico City said Tuesday a judge has ordered a former political boss held in jail pending trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Cuauhtémoc Gutiérrez is the former Mexico City leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century.
Gutierrez resigned in 2014 following reports that his office hired women to have sex with him and placed them on party payrolls.
Portugal lets in Moroccan workers, hopes to stop traffickers
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal and Morocco signed an agreement Wednesday setting out legal guidelines for Moroccans to live and work in the European Union country, as part of an effort by the two countries to fight illegal migration and human trafficking.
The deal came after fears that undocumented migrants seeking a way into the EU were increasingly targeting Portugal, as boats carrying African migrants from Morocco arrived in recent years on the southern Portuguese coast.
Spanish police break up Chinese prostitution ring after tip
MADRID (AP) — Spanish police have broken up a human trafficking ring that forced Chinese women into prostitution in Spain.
The gang approached the women in China and promised them well-paying jobs in Europe, Police Commissioner Carlos Rio-Miranda Iglesias said Tuesday.
Each woman paid the gang between 8,000 and 10,000 euros ($9,100-$11,400). After being flown to Spain, however, they were told they had a debt to the gang, held in unhygienic conditions in apartments and forced to work as prostitutes 24 hours a day, Rio-Miranda Iglesias told a press conference.
More services needed for trafficking victims
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said Tuesday that he’d like like to see more serivces provided for human trafficking victims to help them resume a normal life.
Peterson said he sees a need for more specially trained foster parents who are willing to accept youths who have been trafficked. He said the Nebraska should also increase its focus on “basic life counseling,” such as help finding a job.
Peterson’s comments came at a press conference with Gov. Pete Ricketts, who proclaimed January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Biden Signs Executive Order Targeted at Curbing Human Trafficking, Crime on Native Lands
On Monday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at curbing human trafficking and crime on Native lands.
The Native American communities’ violent crimes rate is more than double the national average, according to The Associated Press. The executive order, signed at a White House summit of tribal nations, the first since 2016, tasks the Justice, Homeland Security, and Interior Departments with working together to combat the issues. The summit is a two-day event with leaders from over 570 tribes in the U.S. attending, ABC News reported.
Abuse support fight 'like being controlled again', say CSE victims
For more than 10 years, victims of modern slavery and sex trafficking in the UK have been able to apply for government support to help them survive their ordeals. But some women say the system is so complex to navigate it has left them feeling “like being controlled again”.
The BBC spoke to two survivors of child sexual exploitation about their long struggle for support.
CVSA plans new human trafficking initiative for early 2022
Next year, a new three-day initiative targeting human trafficking is planned in the U.S. and Canada by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.
The Human Trafficking Awareness Initiative is planned for Jan. 11-13 in the U.S. and for Feb. 22-24 in Canada, according to a news release from the CVSA. The initiatives are scheduled to start on the Human Trafficking Awareness Day in each country.
In this talk, Kanani Titchen M.D. reveals her experiences as a physician whose interactions with trafficked patients opened her eyes to a parallel world previously unseen.
Venezuelan migrants fall into modern slavery through social networks
The Human Rights Center of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (CDH-Ucab) revealed in its most recent report that Venezuelan migrants and refugees are victims of forced labor, prostitution and incorporation into smuggling or drug trafficking networks in Latin American countries. Women, children and adolescents are the most vulnerable groups
EU Anti-Trafficking Day
EU Anti-Trafficking Day is an annual awareness campaign held on October 18. Established by the Council of Europe, it aims to raise public awareness of the global problem of human trafficking, as well as to emphasize the right of all human trafficking victims to justice and compensation.
Some people think that slavery is a thing of the past, that it went extinct as soon as it was abolished. Sadly, they are wrong. Although it is indeed illegal in modern world, there are a lot of forms of contemporary slavery, including child labor, child soldiers, forced marriage, forced prostitution, sexual slavery, human trafficking, and others.
21 years for sex trafficking
A new study released on Thursday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) illustrates the devastating impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking and highlights the increased targeting and exploitation of children during the course of the pandemic.
The study further assesses how frontline organizations responded to the challenges posed and continued to deliver essential services, despite restrictions across and within national borders.
Online prey
A new study released on Thursday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) illustrates the devastating impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking and highlights the increased targeting and exploitation of children during the course of the pandemic.
The study further assesses how frontline organizations responded to the challenges posed and continued to deliver essential services, despite restrictions across and within national borders.
195 arrested
Interpol says police in Africa and Europe arrested 195 people and rescued nearly 500 victims of human trafficking in a vast crackdown on criminal networks led by the France-based international law enforcement agency
PARIS — Interpol says police in Africa and Europe arrested 195 people and rescued nearly 500 victims of human trafficking in a vast crackdown on criminal networks led by the France-based international law enforcement agency.
Partners
“
“Human trafficking is the intentional forcing of another into slavery.””
Asa Don Brown