Blogging and anti-slavery come together as one! Via PR Web: First annual bloggers soiree to benefit anti-sex trafficking organization: "Bloggers and anti-human trafficking advocates will take over the Lower East Side Monday, September 27 at Libation NY for the First...
DNAInfo: Real Housewife, Stephen Baldwin raise awareness for modern day slavery: Twitter really does raise awareness! The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Caroline Manzo and actor Stephen Baldwin attended a benefit for the non-profit Stop Child Trafficking Now held...
It's a strange combination at first: avant-garde-ish rap/pop star Kanye West, and Cassius Marcellus Cornelius Clay, a 20 year old, blue blooded Yale student with a penchant for cravats and bow ties. But there are reports that Mr. Clay—whose ancestor was THE Cassius...
The Philippine government rescued 268 victims of human trafficking Wednesday night. Justice Secretary Leila De Lima made the announcement at a press conference this morning, Philippine news network GMA reported today. The raids were conducted with the cooperation of...
A Wall Street Journal article questioning the validity of "corporate social responsibility" (CSR) is the subject of a webcast taking place tomorrow. Titled "CSR and the Role of Business Today —A Spirited Discussion", the webcast will feature thought leaders in the CSR...
Inside Costa Rica: Brazil publishes guide for human trafficking victims abroad: "The objective of the guide is to prevent Brazilians who go abroad from becoming targets of sexual exploitation networks, the foreign ministry said. The booklet, published in English and...
Craigslist representatives testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on sex trafficking of minors this morning. It was the first time the website made a detailed public statement about the recent take down of their "Adult Services" ads. Craigslist removed these...
"The Whistleblower," a feature film about modern day slavery, starring Rachel Weisz premiered to standing ovations at the Toronto Film Festival on Monday. The film is based on the true story of Kathy Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who went to Bosnia in 1999 as a UN...
On September 2, news broke of the biggest human trafficking bust in the history of the U.S. Beverly Hills-based labor recruiting agency Global Horizons Manpower's CEO (an Israeli man named Mordechai Orian) and five of his colleagues where indicted for enslaving 400...
Children & Young People Now: Help for trafficked children caught in cannabis farms: "Children are being trafficked into the UK to work in so-called "cannabis factories". There are now moves to treat those found during raids as victims rather than offenders."...
Lady Gaga was the biggest winner at the MTV Video awards Sunday night. She even won the most coveted prize of all: Video of the Year for 'Bad Romance.' The video's mish-mash of symbolism has sparked much debate as to what it could all mean. One prevailing theory is...
A recent study found that in Canada, the majority of human trafficking criminal cases involve victims who are citizens or permanent residents. In other words, enslavement often happens within Canadian borders. "Control tactics employed by traffickers to retain victims...
Reports came out over the weekend from the United Nations and local media in Nepal, showing that many women are enslaved multiple times. Free the Slaves works with several anti-slavery organizations in Nepal, where poverty forces many to seek employment away from...
THAI WORKERS COME FORWARD IN BIGGEST HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASE IN US HISTORY Via Neon Tommy: Several dozen Thai workers—many of them hiding their faces behind scarves and sunglasses—spoke at a press conference in front of a Thai temple in Los Angeles yesterday. The...
MTV's EXIT campaign is counting down the days until they launch a modern day slavery-themed music video with British rock band Muse. The video, based on the band's song "MK Ultra" from their The Resistance album will be unveiled in full, September 17 through MTV...
Actress Emma Thompson took a lot of heat last month when she criticized Audrey Hepburn for being "fantastically twee" in the 1964 musical "My Fair Lady." When asked what twee meant, Thompson replied that it's "whimsy without wit. It's mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any...
Canada has just launched an ad campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking. Backed by the Canadian government, the Blue Blindfold media blitz is based on the campaign of the same name launched in the UK back in 2007. Based around the motif of people wearing...
Four of the six people indicted in what is being called the biggest human trafficking case in US history have turned themselves in, or are scheduled to surrender by early this week. Israeli national Mordechai Orian, 45, surrendered to authorities in Honolulu on...
Beware of Human Traffickers Masquerading as Manpower Agencies “The largest human trafficking case ever charged in US history” involves Beverly Hills-based Global Horizons Manpower agency, 400 Thai nationals and Hawaii farms. On their website, Global Horizons touts...
It's hard to believe that it has taken this long, but the first ever extensive domestic workers' rights measure was signed into law yesterday by New York Governor David Paterson. The measure bestows basic rights to all New York domestic workers—people employed as...
Yesterday, news broke that Spain dismantled an all male sex trafficking ring. The traffickers lured scores of Brazilian men to Europe with promises of work—but enslaved them instead. Most of the victims were kept on the vacation island of Majorca. The men were forced...
Originally released back in 2009, 'Red Light' follows the plight of girls kidnapped and sold into brothels in Cambodia. Lucy Liu, who is a co-producer of the film, narrates. It will be airing on Showtime September 9, 8pm. Lucy Liu became a UNICEF Ambassador in 2005....
UN LAUNCHES FUND TO ASSIST SLAVERY SURVIVORS UN Announces "Global Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons." Ten years ago, the UN General Assembly first officially recognized the need to combat human trafficking by implementing the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress...
A brief article appeared over the weekend in The Palm Beach Post with the headline: "Human trafficking becoming epidemic in Florida." The piece was likely a response to the recent rash of modern day slavery arrests reported in the sunshine state. All but one of these...
Don't confuse human trafficking with human smuggling. One is a form of slavery, the other is an act a person consents to. (For a good definition of human trafficking, go here.) In a report, written in 2005 titled "Trafficking in Persons in the United States, a Report...
Here is a round-up of news coverage surrounding the discovery of 72 massacred migrants in the town of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Reports say the murder victims may have also been victims of human trafficking—an increasingly lucrative crime. CNN: Lead...
The Economist: A review of The Clapham Sect: How Wilberforce's Circle Transformed Britain by Stephen Tomkins (Lion Hudson): "Readers will probably turn first to the sections on slavery and Sierra Leone, where released slaves were taken, supposedly to enjoy...
As Congressman of the Sarangani province in the Philippines, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao seems to be making the eradication of slavery and human trafficking a high priority. In July, about a month after being sworn into the House of Representatives, Pacquiao spoke...
Change.org and California-based anti-human trafficking organization Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking just launched a petition calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign two pieces of legislation that seek to eliminate slavery in California's supply...
Wunmi Mosaku stars in 'I Am Slave.' Channel 4, UK: 'I Am Slave,' a TV drama on contemporary slavery in London will air on Monday as part of the channel's "Slavery season.": "From the director of Death of a President and the writer of The Last King of Scotland, and...
Associated Press: Donald Tump files suit claiming copyright infringement by a Lithuanian "Mrs. Universe" pageant. "One of the main thrusts of the Lithuanian pageant was awareness of human trafficking, which continues to plague many East European countries....
The devastating flood that has ravaged Pakistan for almost a month, has left an estimated four million people homeless. An article in The Epoch Times last week warned that instances of human trafficking were likely to rise during these kinds of natural disasters. In...
Several celebrities—including Robert Pattinson (shown here), Sienna Miller, Kim Cattrall and Matt LeBlanc—gave artistic renditions of their handprints to The Body Shop, U.K., in support of the cosmetic chain's anti-slavery campaign, "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children...
Ron Soodalter, co-author (with Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales) of The Slave Next Door has posted a piece on Huffington Post, calling for support of the California Transparency in Supply Chains act. This bill would require California companies that make over...
Texas Governor Rick Perry held a press conference yesterday calling for tougher laws against human traffickers, saying: "Human trafficking preys on the hopes and the dreams of the victims. They get promised better lives, not just for themselves but for their families....
Pakistanis sit on the floor of a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter during an evacuation mission from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, August 4th, 2010. Photo by Horace Murray. The Epoch Times: Pakistani flood unleashes wave of human trafficking: "'There are predators in...
Ron Soodalter is the co-author, with Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales of The Slave Next Door, exposing modern day slavery in the U.S. The book comes out in paperback August 23. The American humorist Will Rogers once said, “It ain’t that we’re so dumb; it’s just...
ABC News: Florida sting nabs 15 men looking for sex with children:"Nabbed at an undercover, surburban home rigged with cameras, the men now face a variety of sex-related charges. They drove from all over central Florida, Judd said, responding to ads placed on...
Earlier this week, we reported that Nucor, the biggest steel manufacture in the U.S. and the the biggest buyer of Brazilian pig-iron, has agreed to take steps to eliminate slavery in its supply chain. Pig-iron is used by virtually every car manufacturer, including...
The Body Shop has partnered with anti-slavery organizations Somaly Mam Foundation and ECPAT to create the Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People campaign. As part of this campaign, The Body Shop launched a petition last week, to collect signatures to be...
Domini Social Investments takes a pragmatic approach to advancing social causes: only invest in companies that are socially and environmentally responsible. The $1.8 billion firm’s CEO and co-founder, Amy Domini literally wrote the book on socially responsible...
Some great news from our friends at the Green Rural Development Organization (GRDO)—one of the leading anti slavery organizations in Pakistan. GRDO succeeded in bringing 39 bonded laborers into freedom. The organization sent an email announcement to Free the Slaves,...
Today on CNN, Free the Slaves board member Siddharth Kara reports on evidence of slavery in Bangladesh's shrimp processing industry. The Bangladeshi shrimp industry yielded $550 last year, with the majority of its product going overseas—half goes to the EU, and one...