human trafficking

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32 Teen Moms Rescued From Nigerian 'Baby Factory'

Babies sold for use in occult rituals or as slaves

(Newser) - Nigerian police have rescued 32 pregnant girls aged 15 to 17 from what they termed a “baby factory” in the southern city of Aba. Police allege that the women who went to the Cross Foundation clinic were forced to sell their babies for around $170 to $190. The hospital’...

X-Ray Scanner at Mexico Checkpoint Spots 513 Migrants Inside Trucks
 Truck X-Ray Nabs 513 Migrants 

Truck X-Ray Nabs 513 Migrants

People wedged into two trucks suffered dehydration, lack of air

(Newser) - Mexican police saw something shocking when they aimed their X-ray scanners at a pair of tractor trailers at a checkpoint in Chiapas. The trucks were jammed full of 513 illegal migrants, many of them suffering from dehydration, the AP reports. Though air holes had been cut in the top of...

Swedes Jailed Over Philippines Cybersex Den

Men receive life sentences for running online porn business

(Newser) - A pair of Swedish men who ran a live online porn business in the Philippines have received life sentences for human trafficking. Police discovered 17 naked women, some of them underage, when they raided the business in a small town in the southern Philippines, the BBC reports. The women would...

Teen Prostitution: America&#39;s Human Rights Scandal

 Teen Prostitution: 
 America's Human 
 Rights Scandal 
NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Teen Prostitution: America's Human Rights Scandal

Child prostitutes are victims, not criminals, writes Nicholas Kristof

(Newser) - The sexual trafficking of girls "is more similar in America and Cambodia than we would like to admit," writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times . Teen prostitution is "one of our country's biggest human rights problems." These teenagers are victims, not criminals, and the...

France May Crack Down on Johns to Stop Sex Trafficking

Clients, not hookers, target of bill aimed at freeing trapped women

(Newser) - France is considering making prostitution illegal—but by cracking down on clients, not hookers. Cops may fine or jail Johns in a bid to combat human trafficking. Experts believe 80% of some 20,000 sex workers in France are foreigners forced into the work by traffickers. "There is no...

Demi and Ashton's Anti-Sex-Slave Ads: Huh?

These PSAs may be for a good cause, but they are baffling

(Newser) - You have to commend Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore for taking on the issue of human trafficking with a new series of ads featuring a host of their celebrity pals. “Too bad the ads are completely befuddling,” complains Richard Lawson of Gawker . “See, Real Men don’t...

Want a Cambodian Wife? Tough Luck if You're Over 50

You better make more than $31K a year, too

(Newser) - If you're an American looking for a wife and happen to be, well, broke and old, there's no point in looking in Cambodia. Under Cambodian law, it's now illegal for the country's women to marry foreigners who are age 50 and up, or who make less than $30,960 a...

Cops Rescue 11 Smuggled Kids From Phoenix Home

They had been brought to the US from El Salvador, elsewhere

(Newser) - Police found 11 children allegedly being held by human traffickers at a house in Phoenix today, KNXV-TV reports. Authorities arrested three suspects in connection with what's being called a drop house, where children as young as 2 years old and from as far afield as Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador...

FBI Busts Human Traffickers Who Lured 400 Thais to US

Six accused in biggest human trafficking case in US history

(Newser) - A US recruitment company lured 400 Thai laborers to the US, confiscated their passports, tore up their contracts, and forced them to work, according to a federal indictment filed yesterday. The indictment names six people, four from Global Horizons Manpower Inc.—including the CEO—and two recruiters based out...

Cartel Shootout Kills 21 Just 12 Miles From Arizona Border

Gangs clashed over control of smuggling corridor

(Newser) - A massive shootout between rival drug and people-smuggling gangs left 21 people dead just 12 miles south of the border with Arizona, Mexican authorities say. The clash erupted in a remote area along a prime smuggling corridor in Sonora state, AP reports. All the dead are believed to be gang...

In a First, Human Trafficking Report Includes US

State Department acknowledges slavery still exists

(Newser) - The State Department will include the US in an annual report on international human trafficking for the first time, the Daily Beast reports. Previous administrations have kept the US off the list, but the Obama administration changed that policy. The US gets a 1 out of 3—meaning it is...

Women: Scientologists Made Us Abort

Pregnancies punished with shunning

(Newser) - Women in the Scientology sect who became pregnant were ordered to have abortions—and were punished with manual labor, interrogation, shunning, and separation from their husbands if they resisted, according to a lengthy expose in the St. Petersburg Times . Former members of the group known as Sea Org also recount...

Sex Workers Hustle to Greet Soccer Fans

South Africa expects influx of 40K prostitutes

(Newser) - Prostitutes from around the world are making their way to South Africa hoping to make a fortune from frisky soccer fans at next month's World Cup. Authorities predict 40,000 sex workers will arrive to greet 500,000 foreign fans. Most are coming from South Africa's impoverished neighboring countries, although...

Craigslist's New Cash Cow: Sex Ads

Site doubled the price, stopped donating profits to charity

(Newser) - For a free site, Craigslist is doing all right: The classified-ad behemoth's profit is projected to climb 22% over last year, reports the New York Times —driven almost entirely by its controversial sex ads, which have been connected to prostitution, human trafficking, and one murder charge. In response to...

12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid
12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid

12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid

Selling teen sex a 'new low' for crime family: fed

(Newser) - New York City's Gambino crime family reached a "new low" with the trafficking of a minor to have sex with high-stakes poker players, a US attorney said yesterday as he announced charges against 14 alleged mobsters. Twelve of them are already in custody. Other charges include loansharking, drug trafficking,...

Arabs Buck Ban on Child Camel Jockeys

10-year-old kids still used in dangerous sport

(Newser) - Children as young as 10 are still being used as jockeys in dangerous camel races in the United Arab Emirates, despite a law banning the practice. Observers from the group Anti-Slavery International photographed children racing at a recent event in Abu Dhabi attended by police officers and government officials, the...

1,000 Kids a Year Forced Into Sex Slavery—in Ohio

Sweatshop labor also rampant in human trafficking hub

(Newser) - Each year in Ohio some 1,000 US-born children are forced into the sex trade and about 800 immigrants are sexually exploited or pushed into sweatshop labor. Weak trafficking laws, poorly informed law enforcement, and the state's proximity to the Canadian border combine to make Ohio a hub of human...

Haitian Parents Turned Over Kids to US Baptists

Villagers contradict missionaries' account

(Newser) - Parents in an earthquake-devastated Haitian mountain village who feared their children would starve handed the kids over to the American missionaries accused of trafficking , villagers said yesterday, contradicting the Baptist group's claim that the children were turned over by orphanages or distant relatives. Many of the parents said they won't...

Escaped Criminals Raping, 'Running Wild' in Haiti

With prisons empty, outlaws abound in Port-au-Prince

(Newser) - Police believe horrific crimes are becoming commonplace in Haiti’s tent cities, as prisoners who escaped during the quake prey on survivors. “Bandits are taking advantage to harass and rape women and young girls under the tents,” Haiti’s police chief tells the Times of London. The earthquake...

Haiti Slows Adoptions Amid Trafficking Fears

Prime minister will now personally approve transfer of any child

(Newser) - Haiti is dramatically slowing airlifts and adoption proceedings for Haitian orphans out of fear of human trafficking. Adoptions were fast-tracked after the recent quake to make room in orphanages, but now the government is concerned that children with living family may be sent abroad or scooped up by traffickers and...

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