Interstate 65 stop leads to human trafficking charges

A traffic stop last week on Interstate 65 near Dayton could be linked to human trafficking out of Mexico, according to court documents filed Thursday in Tippecanoe County.

Twelve people, including an 11-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl, were found riding in the five-passenger SUV. One child was allegedly sitting on the floor under another passengers' legs.

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Transformed Women Meet to Discuss Book on Anti-trafficking

Fall Creek Wesleyan Church in Fishers, Indiana, is sponsoring a book club open to all interested women.

Led by Indy-area author, Heather Gemmen Wilson, the group’s first book will be "Not for Sale, the Return of the Human Slave Trade and How We Can Stop It" by David Batstone.

Read the book before the group meets; no other preparation is required.

Meet on Friday, August 28, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Borders book store at Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville. Contact Heather (thisheather@gmail.com) with questions.

Transformed Women meets quarterly to discuss relevant books, because they believe that “words are a form of action, capable of influencing change” (Ingrid Bengis).

Americans Buying Sex "Must be Sensitized to the Harm they Cause Women": Cong. Chris Smith

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) chaired a joint briefing of the Congressional Caucus on Human Trafficking and the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus last week which featured the unveiling of a new report on sex trafficking of minors in the United States.

"The United States has come far in the fight against this modern day slavery, yet there is still a lot of work to do, particularly regarding the sex trafficking of minors," said Smith, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, and one of the most outspoken pro-life congressmen. "It is a problem all over the world and the United States is no exception. There are new victims in our country every day."

The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, America's Prostituted Children, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and performed by Shared Hope International, details domestic child sex trafficking.

The report assessed four components of domestic minor sex trafficking: identifying the victims; prosecuting the traffickers; combating demand; and providing protection, access to services and shelter for the victims - mostly teenage girls.

Experts estimate that at least 100,000 American minors are victimized in America each year...Read more

Attorney General named to national group with federal, state and local officials

Crime-fighting trends, election fraud among Zoeller's committee assignments

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller last week joined a top-level committee of state attorneys general, county prosecutors and U.S. Attorneys that will focus on setting crime-fighting priorities.

Zoeller visited the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C. last week in his new role as a member of the Executive Working Group on Prosecutorial Relations or EWG.

The committee includes the state attorneys general of Indiana, Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin, as well as several U.S. Attorneys from federal court districts and county prosecutors and district attorneys from cities around the nation. Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill is also on the EWG.

"Serving in the Executive Working Group on Prosecutorial Relations gives Indiana a seat at the table as all levels of law enforcement compare notes and evaluate the crime trends we should focus on in coming years," Zoeller said. "My predecessor, former Attorney General Steve Carter, was a co-chair of the EWG that helped zero in on issues of immigration and human trafficking; and I recognize the importance of this partnership."...Read more

Child trafficking a serious threat here: NGOs

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Child trafficking in Malaysia is a serious threat but there is no proper collaboration amongst government agencies to combat it, said Rumah NurSalam adviser Dr Hartini Zainuddin.

“Not one of the 15 cases against arrested child traffickers have made it to court since the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Act was implemented in 2007,” she added. Read more

Modern-day slavery rears its ugly head around the globe

Human Rights

Tom Porteous, the director of Human Rights Watch in London, told Deutsche Welle that "the major factor contributing to sex slavery is supply and demand. There is a huge demand for prostitution and an equally huge supply of participants because of the economic situation in the world."

An estimated half a million women are trafficked annually for the purpose of sex slavery. They are exported to over 50 countries including Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States. Sex slaves are smuggled taking a route known as the "Eastern route" from eastern European countries, through Poland and subsequently into European Union countries. The cities of Prague, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt are common final destinations for the slaves.

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USA: Activism to Stop Human Trafficking

Global Voices


Human trafficking in the United States is an often undetected problem because the victims are usually hidden from the public view. The victims are enslaved into illegal jobs often in the sweatshop labor or clandestine sex services. Frequently the victims are minors brought into the United States by organized crime cartels.

The organization Stop Child Trafficking Now estimates that over 2.5 million children—most of them girls—are sold into the sex trade every year. Victims can be as young as 4 or 5 years of age, who often are abducted from their homes never to be heard from again. Human rights groups and individuals are working towards educating the local community about this issue as well as making efforts to combat human trafficking in the U.S. and helping victims caught up in the human trafficking networks.... Read more