According to experts, Rhode Island is becoming  a major hub for sex trafficking. From the Providence Journal: When most people think of slavery these days, “they think of the Civil War,” says Shanna Wells, director of the Rhode Island Commission on Women. But in fact, said Wells, slavery is occurring now in neighborhoods around Rhode Island, in the [...]

The FBI has broken up a prostitution ring where 47 children were being exploited. From the AP (via Google News): More than 600 adults have been arrested and 47 children rescued in a three-day roundup targeting people who force children into prostitution. The FBI said the roundup by federal, state and local law enforcement occurred in 29 cities, [...]

The Los Angeles Times has a blog posting on sex trafficking in Lebanon. From Babylon and Beyond: They are lured into Lebanon to work as models, masseuses or dancers in nightclubs. But some of these young Eastern European women, especially from Moldova, are sold by criminal networks to brothels, where they are forced to work as prostitutes. These [...]

A new movie on human trafficking is raising awareness on the issue. From the Washington Post: “Call + Response,” a documentary that seeks to uncover contemporary human slavery in its many forms, opens with a sequence showing four men in a taxi heading to a bachelor party. They are almost giddy, anticipating what they will do and [...]

A new law signed in California attempts to treat underage prostitutes and human trafficking victims not as criminals but as victims.  From the AP (via San Francisco Chronicle): In Oakland, juveniles made up most of the 27 human trafficking prostitution cases investigated there in 2006 and 2007. A San Francisco Bay Area-wide prostitution sting in 2007 caught [...]

New York Times Columnist Nichlos Kristof has a column on one woman’s fight against sex trafficking. From the NY Times: This is widely acknowledged to be the 21st-century version of slavery, but governments accept it partly because it seems to defy solution. Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession. It exists in all countries, and if [...]

A new report bu NGO’s in India has found that up to 10,000 children are trafficked into Northeast India each year. From the Times of India: Not less than 10,000 people, mostly children, are trafficked into the Northeast with a good number smuggled in from Bangladesh, Nepal and other South East Asian countries, surveys by NGOs reveal. Most [...]

Numerous brothels in the City of Houston are surviving despite actions taken by local police.  The areas of prostitution in the city are full of victims of human trafficking and abuse.  From the Houston Chronicle: For years, Gerardo Salazar played the Romeo in dusty Mexican villages, trolling town squares and schoolyards for women and girls he could seduce [...]

A report by the AFP highlights how women are promised jobs in Singapore but end up forcing to work as prostitutes.  From AFP (via Google News): Promised jobs as “entertainers” in pubs and restaurants, many instead find themselves virtually indentured as prostitutes, working to pay back the cost of getting here. Women interviewed by AFP said they were [...]

Nepal’s adoption system is rift with problems that allows the trafficking of children and illegal adoption practices, according to a new report. From eKantipur: Inter-country adoption system in the country has encouraged child abuse including abduction and trafficking of children, according to a report released by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Terre des [...]