Traffickers target Kenyan economic refugees
Human traffickers are taking advantage of Kenyans seeking to escape extreme poverty, droughts and rampant unemployment. Anti-trafficking advocates say Kenya lacks existing laws and manpower to combat the problem.
Nepal frees hundreds of former child soldiers
Hundreds of former child soldiers bid their comrades farewell today at a camp in southern Nepal where they have lived since communist rebels joined a peace process. They are the first of nearly 3,000 former child soldiers to be freed from seven camps where they have been confined since a peace agreement in 2006.
107 slave laborers freed in Mexico City
Mexican authorities have freed 107 indigenous people who officials say were being held as slave laborers in a Mexico City factory disguised as a drug rehabilitation center. Twenty-three suspects were arrested…The victims ranged from 14 to 70 years old, and some were tortured…Some victims also suffered sexual abuse..
15 Kyrgyz child slave laborers freed from factory near Moscow
Police have released 15 Kyrgyz minors who had been used as slave laborers at a factory in Noginsk near Moscow, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. “An illegal clothes factory has been discovered in the compound of an industrial facility in Noginsk, where citizens of Kyrgyzstan under the age of 18 were used as workers,” police said in a statement. “The children had their documents taken away and lived in impoverished conditions under day-and-night guard,” police said. “They were forced to work at night.” The children were not paid, and were given no free time. “The children were…punished for disobeying orders or refusing to work,” the statement said.
Walmart Won’t Buy Cosan Sugar Amid Slavery Blacklist
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, suspended a supply contract with Cosan SA Industria & Comercio after the Brazilian sugar maker was added to a government slavery “blacklist.” Cosan said it won an injunction ordering it be removed from the list. Walmart is the first retailer to come out with sanctions against Cosan after the sugar producer was added Dec. 31 to a Brazilian Labor Ministry’s list of companies whose workers operate in slave-like conditions. Walmart’s local unit said it temporarily suspended purchases of Cosan’s Acucar Uniao and Acucar da Barra sugar brands.
Selling Sex on Facebook
Technology is changing industries all over the world faster than they can link their Facebook profiles to their Twitter accounts. Prostitution is migrating online just like everything else. So say goodbye to the era of street corner pimps smoking outside Cadillacs, and hello to the era of slick escort websites, carefully coded Craigslist ads, and online marketing of commercial sex. Call it the age of the e-brothel.
