In the video interview above she says the trafficking gangs regularly threaten her life but can't stop her, and neither can the frustrating shortcomings of the Philippines political and legal systems.

Oebanda adds that winning the support of boxing superstar and Filipino hero, Manny Pacquiao has given her a new drive.

It all started when she met a charming man.  "I was in a normal relationship with him for three months," she says.  At the time she was only 14 years old.  She was treated like royalty and fell in love.  A few months later he asked her to elope and she agreed.

"He promised that we would get a house and that we would raise children.  I was naïve and believed everything he said.  We started living together in July and by September he was already forcing me to work as a prostitute," Joanna said.

By then it had become painfully clear that Joanna's boyfriend was in reality her captor, a pimp who preyed on young, vulnerable teenagers whom he recruited in central Mexico with the purpose of forcing them into prostitution.

Joanna says she was forced to have sex with dozens of men for as many as 18 hours a day.  There were days, she says, she would only sleep a couple of hours before starting another long and painful shift, sleeping with strangers who paid only a few dollars to be with her 15 minutes.  The worst part was that if she failed to make at least $600 a day, she faced severe punishment.

"He hit me many times with a phone cable.  He would hit me in the legs and hands.  One time he started beating me with a broomstick.  He beat me so hard that I couldn't even get up afterwards," Joanna said.

According to the Mexico City Human Rights Commission, as many as 70,000 minors in Mexico are victims of human trafficking.  Most of them are subjected to forced labor, but a significant number are forced into prostitution, as in the case of Joanna.

Over the last decade, the problem has crossed the U.S. border.  The arrests of 13 people in New York state in late April suggests pimps are also fond of getting cash, not only in Mexican pesos, but also in U.S. dollars.

According to authorities, the suspects worked a "sex trafficking corridor," transporting women from the small town of Tenancingo, in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala, to the New York area.

Over a period of seven years, federal officials say, dozens of women were exploited; some of them were illegally transported from Mexico.  Once in the United States, they were forced to have sex with as many as 30 customers per day, according to the federal complaint charging all 13 suspects.  Victims were paid $30 to $35, the complaint says.  Their driver would keep half.  The other half went to the pimp, and the victims were left with nothing.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the defendants blatantly lied to their victims in order to recruit them.

"With promises of a better life, the members of this alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell - forcing them to become sex slaves living in abhorrent conditions, and using threats, verbal abuse, and violence – sexual and otherwise – when they resisted and even sometimes when they didn't," Bharara said.

The complaint describes how one victim was smuggled into the United States with her young child.  Once in New York, she was made to sleep on the floor with the child.  But that was just the beginning of her ordeal.  On one occasion, when the woman refused to work as a prostitute, she and her child were forced to stay outside on a cold winter night.

Federal agents conducted raids at six locations, including four brothels in Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Queens.  If convicted, the suspects face anywhere from two years in prison to life.

Humberto Padgett is a Mexican journalist who wrote a book titled "Intimate Portrait of a Pimp." Based on years of research and interviews with victims and pimps, the book describes how Mexican pimps operate and how they exploit their victims.

Padgett says trafficking young women in Mexico has increased faster than drug trafficking in recent years.

"You can only sell a kilo of marijuana once.  But you can sell a woman multiple times, even as many as 60 times per day.  In five years, a woman can make as much as a million dollars for her pimp," Padgett says.

Last year, Mexico approved a law that makes human trafficking a federal crime punishable by up to 40 years in prison.  The law targets not only those involved in sex trafficking, but also other forms of modern slavery, including forced labor and child pornography.

Padgett says pimps force women to stay with them by threatening to kill family members if they escape.

Maria, another former sex slave who asked that her real name not be used, lost her father six months after escaping her pimp.  The now-17-year-old believes the prostitution ring that held her is responsible for his murder.

"More than anything, I feel guilty about my father's death.  Sometimes I think that I should've stayed with the pimp so that he would kill me and not my father," Maria says.

She's back with her family, but still suffers from depression and nightmares associated with the verbal and physical abuse to which she was subjected.

"There's no way I'm ever going to feel better," she says.  "They destroyed my life."

Sylvie O'Dy, president of the Committee Against Modern Slavery, said 122 people were freed from bondage last year in France and she believes that figure is the tip of the iceberg.

Tina Okpara was legally adopted in her native Nigeria and taken to France by football star Godwin Okpara and his wife.

Her birth family agreed to adopting the 12-year-old girl thinking she was heading off to a better life, but once in France, she was kept out of school and made to work as a domestic, sexually abused and mutilated. After running away, she eventually managed to convince local authorities of her plight. The Okparas were convicted and jailed.

In another case, a Cambodian refugee named Sok was held in cruel conditions and – according to his lawyer - forced to work by a French mother and daughter who took advantage of his mental incapacity for more than 10 years. Denied medical treatment he pulled out his own teeth with a pliers. Eventually the French women were taken to court. Sok is now a ward of the state.

She has become the face of the Philippines anti-trafficking movement - a woman who has the ear of presidents, royalty and philanthropists around the globe.

Along the way she persuaded the biggest name in the Philippines - boxing legend Manny Pacquiao - to join her fight.

After two years of reporting in the Philippines – from going on police raids in Manila to going undercover in search of human trafficking in remote provinces - CNN can now tell their story.

Rescued girls describe how they were recruited by traffickers, the ordeals they endured - sometimes by men a computer click and half-a-world away - and how Oebanda saved them.

And we go undercover in Manila's bars where girls are available for tourists.  

Now Oebanda is fighting a battle that could truly ruin her reputation and the organization she created - fraud allegations made by Philippine investigators.

(CNN) Like so many Indonesian women, Eli Anita wanted to earn more money than she could at home.

In 2007, she moved to Dubai through a labor recruitment company where, she says, her manager immediately began harassing her for sex, at one point becoming violent.

“He got very angry and he also beat me and kidnapped me in the bathroom for many hours. He locked the door,” she says in broken English.

“And he said 'Eli, just obey to me and I will give you everything.' I said, 'I’m sorry. But I came for working. I will not allow anybody to touch my body or anyone working on my body, like this.' Then he asked me, 'What do you want?'  I said I want another job.”

Eli says her employer offered her a new job in Italy, but she didn’t recognize the place.

She told CNN he said, “I will send you to new country, high technology, good country. Kurdistan is a part of Italy.”

For a village girl from Indonesia, Eli says she had no idea about Kurdistan, in northern Iraq, and at that time in the midst of war.

She says she was flown to Erbil airport under the constant watch of labor company chaperones with about a dozen other women from Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Philippines. She says the labor company took her passport.

“All of them don’t know where is Kurdistan.  I’m asking, 'Where is Kurdistan?' Immigration man said: 'Why do you want to go there?' He keep saying in Arabic, 'It’s very dangerous.' But I have no choice because my agency always by my side and watching me. They are afraid I am running away.”

As they passed army checkpoints with U.S. soldiers, Eli says she slowly began to figure out where they were. She finally convinced one of her minders to let her call her Dubai employer.

“So, I call the agency and say, 'You sent me to Iraq when you telling me it’s part of Italia?' He say, 'Eli just keep quiet. I already received $4,500.' So, I knew at that time, they sell me.”

She tried to run away several times. But after days on the street, she was found by labor agency workers, dragged back and, she says, beaten as a punishment.  She describes the incident vividly.

'Because the agency also kidnap me inside the bathroom and hold a gun to my head. 'If you doesn’t stop all your actions and calling your government, I will kill you.'"

But the feisty Eli says she refused to back down in the face of their threat.

“If you want to kill me, shoot me right now,"  she remembers telling them. “But if you kill me, you send my body back home.  If not I will wake up again! They said 'you are crazy,' majnoon in Arabic.  I said, yes, I’m majnoon because of you!”

Eli finally escaped by secretly contacting the International Labour Organization. They brokered her release from the labor agency and transported her home to Indonesia.

CNN confronted the man that Eli says sold her, trafficking her from Dubai to Iraq.  He refused to talk to us or give us his side of the story.

Eli now works with Migrant Care in Jakarta, Indonesia where she shares her experience with other would-be migrants workers as a cautionary tale.

(CNN) - A Mauritanian anti-slavery activist, Biram Dah Abeid, will be honored on Friday by the human rights group Front Line Defenders. Abeid, who is the head of a group called IRA Mauritania, was featured last year in the CNN documentary "Slavery's last stronghold." Mauritania, a desert country in West Africa, was the last country to abolish slavery; and an estimated 10% to 20% of its population lives in some form of slavery, according to Gulnara Shahinian, the UN's special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.

The Mauritanian government has denied slavery's existence in the country but does operate a program for formerly enslaved people.

Abeid was selected from 100 nominees in 40 countries, according to Front Line Defenders. The award, given to "human right defenders at risk," will be presented at a ceremony in Dublin, Ireland, and will be given by Irish President Michael Higgins.

"Biram Dah Abeid has been threatened, defamed and harassed because of his work defending human rights and against slavery in Mauritania," the group says in a press release. "He has been arrested and ill-treated on several occasions and in April 2012 he was 'disappeared' for several weeks into a secret, high-security government facility, without being able to contact his family and without any legal assistance. It is believed he would have been killed but for the international outcry. He was released in September 2012 but has chosen to continue his work inside Mauritania.

"Despite the constant harassment and threat of arrest Biram has sworn to continue the struggle until slavery is finally eliminated in Mauritania."

His 2012 detention followed a demonstration in which Abeid reportedly burned religious texts that condone slavery.

Front Line Defenders produced a YouTube video with more information about Dah Abeid's work in Mauritania.

By Bibek Bhandari, Special for CNN
Kathmandu, Nepal - Bijaya Limbu is an experienced circus performer who enjoys his art - but his introduction to the traveling showbiz lifestyle came through human traffickers who bought him from his parents.

While other children watch the circus in awe, Limbu was just nine when he was first forced to work in a circus.

He says he was trafficked from Nepal to a circus in India, and forced to perform for four years until he was rescued.

Limbu's story highlights the state of human trafficking in Nepal, where poverty coupled with lack of awareness fuels the trade in children.

He says "agents" approached his parents and that his parents agreed to let the agents take their son away. He says he doesn't exactly remember how much the agents paid his family.

Limbu says he was taken to "some part of India," was trained at a circus, and would perform three shows a day.

He doesn't talk much about those days at the circus. He says there's no point scratching the scars.

Now 21, Limbu is back in Nepal and a star of Circus Kathmandu, which is made up largely of child trafficking survivors. Eleven of its 13 members have suffered through trafficking.

Formed in 2011, Circus Kathmandu is also Nepal's premier professional contemporary circus group.

Limbu says he and his fellow survivors see Circus Kathmandu as a place to perfect the skills they once had no choice but to learn.

"Before I was forced to do this," said Limbu, who is also a national gold medal-winning gymnast. "But here I am, still doing circus because I love it. I'm incorporating what I learned before [at the Indian circus], and showing my talents at Circus Kathmandu."

And Circus Kathmandu is presenting a slice of the reality of trafficking on stage. 

Its latest show, "Swagatam (Welcome)," mirrors real life events and explores the subject of human trafficking.

The 45-minute show with popular Nepali, Hindi and English songs, includes monologues telling deeply personal stories of trafficking in Nepal.  

According to the latest report from National Human Rights Commission, Nepalese children are trafficked for the "purpose of sexual exploitation and labor exploitation including circus performances within Nepal and to India."

The report estimates that 5,500 people were trafficked in 2010. In 2011, it estimates 11,500 people were trafficked or targets of attempted trafficking. The country lacks specific data on how many of those were children.

The U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report 2012 states that the "Government of Nepal does not comply with the minimum standard for elimination of trafficking; however it is making significant efforts to do so."

Kiran Rupakhetee, Under Secretary at the Government of Nepal's Secretariat for National Committee for Controlling Human Trafficking, insisted his department, which falls under Nepal's Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, is "concerned and focused" on implementing the policies.

In March 2012, Nepal endorsed the National Plan of Action Against Trafficking in Persons. The policies focus on preventing trafficking and prosecuting traffickers, as well as building centers for rescued survivors.

But Rupakhetee adds it does not have in place a plan for rescuing the victims of trafficking in India.

So far, that's been down to non-governmental groups and people like Shailaja CM. She was responsible for rescuing most of the survivors who are now in Circus Kathmandu.

CM says she has been rescuing victims since 2004 and has been involved in 42 rescue missions. So far, she says she has helped rescue around 500 children from India, 390 of them from Indian circuses.

She says going on a rescue mission is like going to war - she has to combat the enemies and return victorious with the children. She says there is always a risk of getting killed.

"But it's the kids that gives me the courage," said CM, who now works with the non-profit Sano Paila's Nepal Rescue Agency. "You can't look at the danger and just give up. You have to look at the situation of these children - they're being exploited. Someone has to do something."

The members of Circus Kathmandu are an example of what rescued children can achieve.

Anjali Chhetri, 20, is reluctant to talk about her past. Like most of the troupe members, she wants to focus on the present and has her future goals set. She is determined to be involved with the circus and help change people's perception of it.

The circus, she said, has a negative connotation in Nepal. It's "not a bad profession," Chhetri said as she looked at her colleagues warming up for the show in Kathmandu. "We're just showing our skills and our talent. It's our profession, and we're proud of it."

For most of the team members, the circus is also their source of income. They get a monthly salary of 8,000 Nepalese rupees (about $94) in addition to other benefits and allowances.

But the 13 members, all in their early 20s, also dream of building a national and international identity for their craft.

It all began when Robyn Simpson, co-founder of Circus Kathmandu, visited Kathmandu for a workshop in 2010.

She said: "These children had the skills and the potential. There was an opportunity for them to show what they could do. We just thought of establishing a professional company and let them perform as a career."

Since then, Circus Kathmandu has produced three shows - "The Demon's Spell," "Dakini" and "Swagatam."

Simpson, who travels to Kathmandu every six months to train the troupe, said: "Everything we thought was a possibility is now a reality."

But for some of its members, the experience is still emotional, as the memories of their Indian torment collide with their dreams for the future.

Simpson said: "It's been an important process to get the group to feel that they can reclaim their past and acknowledge that they wouldn't be where they are now without that. Now it's a way of catapulting them into the future."

And according to the group, the future looks promising.

After numerous shows locally, Circus Kathmandu is now planning its international debut later this year in London.

For most members of Circus Kathmandu it will also be their first time on a plane.

Chhetri says she is excited at the prospect of performing overseas and letting people know about Circus Kathmandu.

Limbu says he is "eager to see London." He recognizes it is an opportunity to not only showcase his skills but also build a positive image of the circus at home.

"We need to break the stereotypes and let people know circus isn't bad after all," he said. "Nepal doesn't have any professional circus group, and we're breaking barriers."

He added, "I feel free now, and want to make circus my future."

Pacquiao, who is also a lawmaker in his native Philippines, teamed up with campaigner Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, who has spent 20 years trying to protect victims of sex slavery and forced labor.

CNN spent two years documenting her struggle as she enlisted the help of Pacquiao. The resulting full length film premieres on CNN International on May 17 and 18. Watch the trailer here.

To draw worldwide attention to the horrendous crimes and to help the victims, CNN and iReport is joining forces with the End it Movement, which launched its red X campaign in February.

Download the Fighters-End It boxing glove here, share it with your friends and join The Fighters to end modern-day slavery.

Click to open the image if you want to share on your social media.

The Fighters shows how one person can make a difference on the ground. End It helps by raising awareness in countries hundreds or thousands of miles away.

From February 1 through April 9, End It encouraged people to look at modern-day slavery - many of them learning about the extent of the issue for the first time - and to mark an X on their hand as a symbol of their support.

Bryson Vogeltanz, chief steward for End It, said: “The Fighters is a powerful, real-life story of what is happening in the Philippines. End It has hundreds of thousands of people who now know about slavery and they want to do more.  They want to change their lives to help end slavery.

“People like Cecilia are doing the groundwork of rescue, restoration and prevention. We are the awareness side, promoting what they are doing. There are hundreds of fighters like Cecilia who are in the trenches doing great work.”

He added: “Whether civil rights or apartheid or modern-day slavery, it ends when ordinary people use their influence. When we make it a priority in our lives, in our part of the world, then the world can change.”

Advocates are dynamic voices for change. Those voices often have a simple beginning. Two years ago, if 13-year-old Ravi was told that he would become a leading advocate against child labor in India, he would have taken that statement the same way that people treated him  - “as a joke.”

When his father fell ill when he was 8 years old, Ravi was forced to quit school and work to pay off his family’s never-ending debts.  For two years Ravi toiled in a small shack making wire brushes to clean machine parts in the city of Kanpur, India.

It was not the life he wanted to lead. However, Ravi’s life took a turn at age 10 when a social worker for World Vision found Ravi on the streets and got him out of forced labor and back into school.

Now at 13, Ravi wants to prevent his peers from being forced into a life of slavery and is a leading advocate for stronger child labor laws in India.

He has been personally responsible for freeing at least five other children from slavery situations similar to his own. He rose from the ashes of his experience to use his voice as a powerful tool to rescue others. No matter the obstacles he faces, he keeps working for a brighter future for children in India.

The fight against human trafficking, also known as modern-day slavery, is not an easy one. There are good days and there are bad days. When President Barack Obama signed into law the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) as part of the Violence Against Women Act on March 7, the U.S. had a really good day. It was a long-awaited day brought about entirely by the power of people’s voices.

For nearly two years, thousands of passionate advocates around the U.S. pushed tirelessly for the passage of the TVPRA - the centerpiece for all U.S. anti-human trafficking laws.

I had no idea how we would get the TVPRA across the finish line, but stories like Ravi’s kept me in the fight; and then in February it happened.

When the advocates got loud, Congress jumped into action. Their voices allowed the most powerful country in the world to reclaim its position as a global leader in combatting slavery around the world and within its own borders.

But the fight is not over. The law is renewed with the president’s signature but now comes the next step: turning that signature into action.

This week the president released his budget request for next year.  It’s definitely a mixed bag.  The Administration is literally putting its money where its mouth is.  It’s now up to Congress to see this goal become a reality.

Right now Congress is deciding where limited amounts of money should go and debating what federal programs will get funded and which ones will get cut. They need to hear again from those same strong advocates that funding the provisions of the TVPRA is critical to the success of the law.

It’s hard to talk about money, but when it comes to implementing our laws against modern-day slavery, money saves lives.

During these times of fiscal restraint, it’s important to point out that what we’re asking for is not new spending. We believe in a responsible federal budget but do not believe cuts should be made on the backs of the most vulnerable, especially when the amounts are so small.

According to the International Labor Organization, human traffickers bring in at least $32 billion a year.  U.S. government funding to fight international and domestic modern-day slavery accounts for only 0.003% of the federal budget. This week the president released his annual budget.  The U.S. is currently spending 10 cents for every $32 a human trafficker earns.  That small amount goes a long way.  It should be protected.

These small but vital amounts of money help support services for trafficking survivors, strengthen law enforcement and prosecution of traffickers, and fund prevention programs both domestically and internationally.

The limited amount that goes to fund the U.S. fight against modern-day slavery is critical and will ensure that the gains that have been made through the passage of the TVPRA are sustained.

The renewal of the TVPRA proved the power of our voices.

In the Senate, the final vote was 93-5 in favor of the law. The yes votes included some of the most fiscally conservative members of the Senate.

Take two minutes out of your day and call or email both Senators and your Congressman.  Thank them for passing the law and then ask them to support funding to implement the law.

We have the momentum and we can see the finish line.  With the power of your voice, you can elevate voices like Ravi’s and work to ensure there are many good days ahead in the global fight against modern day slavery.