Time for electronics industry to end supply chain slavery
By Dan Viederman, CEO Verité
If you are reading this on a tablet, smart phone or computer monitor, then you may be holding a product of forced labor.
Verité's two-year study of labor conditions in electronics manufacturing in Malaysia has found that one in three foreign workers surveyed was in a condition of forced labor.
Because many of the most recognizable brands source components of their products from Malaysia, almost any device you purchase may have come in contact with modern-day slavery.
FULL STORYRace on to raise $1m in a day to combat human trafficking in U.S.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGcesK0doZA&w=560&h=315%5D
By Leif Coorlim, CNN
A U.S. national campaign is under way to raise more than a million dollars in 24 hours.
The Everyone’s Kids, Everyone Gives campaign is working to raise $1 million for more than 100 non-profit organizations united in the fight against human-trafficking and modern-day slavery.
Like many other hidden criminal issues, accurate statistics on trafficking can be difficult to obtain. Globally, more than 20 million people are believed to held in slavery, according to the International Labour Organization.
The U.S. government estimates anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 children could be “at risk” of being trafficked each year.
The U.S. State Department also states as many as 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year as well.
“Americans need to know that this tragedy is happening here at home, under our noses, and is a reality of our times especially with the influx of child trafficking happening online through sites like Backpage and Craigslist,” says Bonnie Calvin, one of the event’s organizers.
The 24-hour “giving day” will take place on September 16. The aim is to connect donors with information about the issue and the organizations working to end child slavery and sex trafficking in the U.S.
Non-profit partners of the campaign include: GEMS, Humanity United, Polaris, The McCain Institute, and Youthlink.
“These organizations work day in and day out with victims and survivors of child trafficking,” says Calvin. “They provide survivor's recovery services like education, housing, therapy and job placement.
"Beyond that, they provide the hope and direction survivors need to get their lives back on track and pointed to a brighter future.”
"This is what real empowerment looks like to victims and survivors of human trafficking,” says Rani Hong, a sex trafficking victim and now a United Nations Special Advisor for victims.
“Everyone’s Kids, Everyone Gives” is the result of a 2013 Ted challenge. The crowdfunding platform, Razoo.com, is also committing an additional $50,000 in cash prizes to nonprofit groups that receive the most donations on the Giving Day.
“We should not stand for child trafficking and the sexual slavery of children anywhere in the world and especially here at home.” says Calvin.
“We can be an example for the world to follow if we tackle this problem head on and eradicate it forever.”
While India's girls are aborted, brides are wanted
Cultural preference for boys in parts of India results in some of the largest imbalances between males and females in the world. And that creates a demand for brides that human traffickers are willing to meet.
Film maker Carl Gierstorfer visited villages where brides fetch a price and teenage girls are snatched from their families. And he met the people who are fighting to stop this vicious cycle.
Read his story and watch some of his video
Time to get children out of factories and into schools
By Nina Smith
Editor’s Note: Nina Smith is the founding CEO of GoodWeave International, a Washington DC-based non-profit organization that works to stop child labor in the carpet industry.
In a small village in central Afghanistan, 13-year-old Basma is about to start her first day of school –- ever.
She’s a world away from the millions of western children who are now heading back to their classrooms for a new school year.
Only weeks before, Basma was found working on a carpet loom. Her weaving fingers already showed signs of arthritis from holding tools since the age of nine, tying knots for 14 hours a day.
She was rescued by GoodWeave, an international organization I head in the U.S. that seeks to eliminate child labor in carpet manufacturing.
According to the International Labour Organization, there are 168 million child laborers like Basma around the world, forced to sacrifice their youth and their education.
Many of these boys and girls manufacture the very items that American consumers will have purchased this Labor Day weekend in anticipation of the new academic year –- as well as other parents across the world.
The U.S. National Retail Federation estimates that parents will spend $26.5 billion this back-to-school shopping season.
Some of their purchases will include clothes stitched in Bangladeshi factories not far from Rana Plaza, the factory complex that collapsed last year, killing more than 1,100 garment workers including some who were underage.
What's your slavery footprint?
By Allyssia Alleyne
How many slaves work for you? If you’ve answered “zero,” you’re probably way off. At least that’s the premise behind Slavery Footprint, an online survey developed by the U.S. State Department and anti-slavery organization Made in a Free World.
The web interactive invites users to insert information about their consumer habits and lifestyle choices - this covers everything from what sports you play to what products line your medicine cabinet - and then determines approximately how many forced laborers they rely on.
The results are startling. It turns out that if you’ve ever eaten, worn, or used pretty much anything, you’ve likely been complicit in some form of slavery. In fact, Made in a Free World estimates that there are some 29 million slaves in the world today.
But the project’s goal is education, not blame. After completing the survey, you’re encouraged to be more thoughtful about where your products come from, and send pre-written emails to companies asking what they’re doing to address forced labor in their supply chains.
Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think: http://www.slaveryfootprint.org
'End Slavery Now' relaunches Website
"End Slavery Now' has relaunched its website to help people understand more about global slavery and unite those fighting to stop it.
The U.S.-based abolitionist group, founded in 2009, produced the new site to show the global reach of modern day slavery, but also, crucially, to showcase its partners around the world who are tackling the issues.
The site, which took 16 months to develop, includes a news feed, a calendar of events, photo galleries and suggestions of practical ways to help fight slavery.
The group has also produced a video to help people understand its mission.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the relaunch.
Nepal's Organ Trail: How traffickers steal kidneys
On the streets of Kathmandu, the sight of people begging for kidney treatment has become common.
The capital of Nepal is no different from many places in the world where aging populations, poor diets and no health insurance systems mean increased organ disease.
The organ in highest demand is the kidney and black market traffickers are meeting that demand.
CNN Freedom Project's new documentary investigates the appalling illegal trade in kidneys.
Read the full story, watch clips from the documentary and check out TV schedule timesFBI shuts website allegedly linked to child prostitution
The FBI has shut down a website advertising children for prostitution - a move made as part of a broader crackdown on the sex trafficking of minors, law enforcement sources told CNN on condition of anonymity.
FULL STORYNepal's Organ Trail: Coming soon on CNN
The CNN Freedom Project first exposed the horrific practice of organ trafficking in Egypt, with the documentary "Death in the Desert".
Now we travel to a tiny district in Nepal where hundreds of people have had their kidneys stolen by organ traffickers.
The problem has become so widespread, the district has developed the unfortunate reputation as "the kidney bank of Nepal."
CNN's Delhi-based correspondent Sumnima Udas leads the investigation to unravel how traffickers dupe poor villagers into giving a piece of themselves away.
"Nepal's Organ Trail" will air on CNN International at these times:
• Friday June 27; 530am ET, 1130am ET
• Saturday June 28; 430am ET, 9am ET, 330pm ET
• Sunday June 29; 530am ET; 1130pm ET
• Monday June 30; 430am ET
• Tuesday July 1; 530am ET, 1230pm ET
• Wednesday July 2; 130am ET
Condemned by the U.S., can Thailand tackle human trafficking?
Migrant laborers are photographed here on a fishing boat in Thailand's Rayong province - a common destination for trafficking victims.
Trafficking in Thailand's fishing industry has again been highlighted by the U.S. State Department, which on Friday downgraded the country in its 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report.
Now, Thailand shares the "Tier 3" category with 22 other countries, putting it on par in the eyes of Washington with the likes of North Korea, Syria and the Central African Republic in its response to human trafficking.
Thai officials acknowledge they have a problem, but say progress is being made.
FULL STORYOpinion: U.S. must practice what it preaches as it judges others on human trafficking
By Melysa Sperber
Editor’s Note: Melysa Sperber is Director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), a U.S. based coalition that advocates for solutions to prevent and end all forms of human trafficking and modern slavery around the world. The opinions expressed in this article are solely that of the author.
(CNN) - For the past 14 years, the U.S. State Department has used its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report to judge how well the world is addressing modern slavery.
Each year, the report draws much-needed attention to the horrors of human trafficking that flourish everywhere from fishing boats in Thailand and palm plantations in Malaysia, to brick kilns in India and the sex industry in just about every country worldwide.
Hidden behind the shadows, traffickers prey on men, women and children, luring the vulnerable among us with promises of honest employment that are merely a facade for work conditions that are dangerous, exploitative and sometimes deadly.
To date, the TIP Report’s country-by-country assessment has proven to be a powerful motivator, inspiring governments to improve efforts to reduce modern slavery in order to avoid the report’s lowest Tier 3 ranking - a diplomatic black eye that comes with the threat of U.S. sanctions.
The State Department’s power to influence other countries’ anti-trafficking efforts depends on the TIP Report’s integrity.
Human Trafficking: U.S. downgrades four countries in TIP Report
By Leif Coorlim
Washington, DC (CNN) –- After several years of what it says are broken promises, the U.S. government has singled out Thailand, Malaysia, Venezuela and The Gambia for taking insufficient action against human trafficking.
In its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released Friday, the U.S. State Department downgraded the four countries to Tier 3, the lowest possible ranking it gives for national responses to fighting modern day slavery.
The report says there is evidence of forced labor and sex trafficking in Malaysia and Thailand. It highlights Malaysia’s problem with migrants from other Asian nations who seek work on farms, factories and construction sites only to be trapped and have their passports taken and wages withheld.
Every Day in Cambodia
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Looking for a virgin sale every day. CNN investigates with Hollywood star Mira Sorvino.Watch the trailer@cnnfreedom on Twitter
The Numbers
