Obama throws the spotlight on Human Trafficking
When I called Obama and asked if he would mention human trafficking in his address, I didn’t know if he would go for it, but he did agree to the BBQ a week on Sunday. However, it went out there, and three cheers went up in the office as the president of the United States … Read more
A smokey sweet global news round
Smokey Activists in Africa are upset about the government’s decision to promote tobacco production but not just because smoking is predicted to be the leading cause of deaths worldwide by 2030 killing 8 million people a year. Tanzania has already seen an increase in trafficking onto tobacco plantations so if there is an increased … Read more
Trafficking in your country – 2011 TIP Report
This week the U.S. Department of State released their 2011 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report. What can you use the TIP for? The TIP is a good resource for trafficking information in countries all over the world. The 2011 report there are 184 countries listed and ranked. If you want to know about trafficking in … Read more
GLOBAL News Round 25.3.2011
Trinidad and Tobago The Slave Trade Act was passed 204 years ago today. In T&T they are commemorating the day with the inaugural celebration of Human Trafficking Awareness Day. In recognition of the day, the Caribbean Umbrella Body for Restorative Behaviour (Curb) has launched an online network which they hope will help end human trafficking and … Read more
GLOBAL News Round 12.3.2011
Jamaica One man: It is rare that victims of trafficking are willing to come forward and help the police but one Indian man has. He became a victim of human trafficking by the hands of the company previously employed for and has stepped up to help the police in Kingston to fight forced labour. After … Read more
Global Newsround 01.03.2011
Argentina In an attempt to curtail human trafficking within it’s borders, the Argentinean government is considering punishing anyone who pays for sex. The proposal has started a heated debate between women’s rights groups and sex workers. The Association of Women Prostitutes stress the difference between sex work where consent is given, and trafficking which they … Read more
Global News 08/02/2011
Zimbabwe “They put you on the phone and beat you up while your relatives are listening.” Established, organised criminal gangs specialising in human trafficking, known locally as Omalaitsha, have flourished under President Mugabe. Working in conjunction with the Guma Guma gang, which is described as “a brutal network of border control thugs”, the Omalaitsha traffik … Read more
Will Super Bowl 2011 be the only game in town?
The connection between human trafficking and major sporting events has proved to be a rather moot point over recent years. Unfortunately, much of the heat around the debate has been caused by arguments over statistics, rather than arguments about how best to ensure that there isn’t a connection. Joseph Stalin may not be someone … Read more
Global News 28/01/2011
Indonesia The client looks through the photos and contacts the website administrator when they’ve decided which one they’d like to purchase. It’s the kind of online shopping that happens every second of every day across the internet. But this time it’s different. The website? A Facebook group. The site administrator? A human trafficker. The products … Read more
Global News 13/01/2011
Ohio, US The manager of Starbucks in Cleveland, Ohio said he was unaware of what was going on. Staff swiping a few dollars from the till for themselves? Giving their favourite customers and extra marshmallow? Customers writing graffiti on the toilet door? No – on all three counts. He was unaware that when a man, … Read more
Global News 06/01/2011
France “It feels like we have broken up a completely medieval gang structure.” Those were the words of a clearly quite taken-aback Parisian police chief. A Bosnian man, Fehmi Hamidovic, is believed to be behind this operation which trafficked young girls from the Balkans to the French capital for the purposes of forced begging and … Read more
Global News 15/12/2010
Iceland A lot of people have pointed out that the recent publication by WikiLeaks of US Embassy cables doesn’t seem to have told us much we didn’t already know about the world. But there’s no doubting it will give rise to a few rather awkward conversations and several red faces in diplomatic circles. It appears … Read more
Diplomatic Immunity – Getting Away With It…
As a child I spent a few years languishing in an annoyingly posh primary school feeling a bit out of place. With a trumped-up school comes a trumped-up version of the typical school bully. I can’t remember his name, but this nine-year-old was extremely well-versed in international criminal law, which he used to devastatingly good … Read more
Global News 25/11/2010
Thailand / US If you want a ‘happy ending’, it depends, of course, on where you stop your story. This article from the LA Times is a perfect example. A Thai victim of human trafficking who has just been reunited with his family at LA International Airport after 6 years describes it as the most … Read more
Global News 18/11/2010
US Last week in New York, the UN launched a fund which will provide legal, humanitarian and financial aid to victims of human trafficking. Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon summed up the plight faced by trafficking victims quite neatly: “Many victims end up stranded, friendless… and may not ask for help because they … Read more
Global News 04/11/2010
US Baseball is not a thing that I know much about, or have ever really paid much attention to. I remember playing it a few times in PE lessons at school and recall the teacher instructing me to “swing really hard in case I hit it”. I feel that this teacher may have failed to … Read more
Global News
South East Asia: A series of successful arrests has hopefully brought to an end a human trafficking operation that spanned Thailand and Laos. A police raid on a bar led to the discovery of 12 Laotian girls being held in a Holiday Inn hotel in Muang Lop Buri. This raises the question yet again of … Read more
