Banks globally eye UK scheme giving accounts to trafficking survivors
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation Lucia, a sex trafficking survivor, flashed her new debit card and ran her finger along her name embossed on the plastic. The 44-year-old Congolese nurse was trafficked to Britain last year, abandoned by her captors and is seeking asylum in the country, but she was locked out of the financial […]
SOUTH AMERICA: SEX TRADE FLOURISHES IN PERU’S AMAZON DESPITE CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL MINING
ANASTASIA MOLONEY, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how, despite a military crackdown, prostitution is continuing around illegal mining activity in the Amazon…
Singapore tackles “pop up” sex but little help seen for victims
Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaThomson Reuters Foundation Singapore is clamping down on landlords whose rental flats serve as “pop up” brothels but campaigners said on Thursday it would do little to help the women who are trafficked into sex work. The government announced tougher sentences this week in a bid to stamp out a trend for temporary […]
POSTCARDS: STATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTESTS NEW YORK’S DECRIMINALISATION EFFORT
ROSIE DAWSON, of Religion News Service, reports…
Fighting sex trafficking with soap at the US Super Bowl
Thomson Reuters Foundation Ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl, tens of thousands of unaccompanied men will arrive in Atlanta to schmooze and be schmoozed, but most of all to party. That brings sex trafficking to the top of the agenda for US authorities such as the Atlanta Police Department and the FBI, and for smaller organisations […]
UN raps nations for ignoring victims trafficked at home
Thomson Reuters Foundation Countries are ignoring the growing number of people trafficked within their own borders, focusing instead on the international trade in human beings, a top United Nations official said. UN special rapporteur Maria Grazia Giammarinaro said children were also increasingly vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers, be it for sex, begging or even their […]
ESSAY: FACT CHECK – HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ENSLAVED IN THE WORLD TODAY?
In an article first published on The Conversation, MONTI DATTA, of the University of Richmond in the US, surveys the data on slavery…
Desperate Venezuelan migrants fall prey to sex slavery in Colombia
Thomson Reuters Foundation Trapped and held captive in basements and bars across Colombia, growing numbers of Venezuelan women are falling prey to sex trafficking rings as mass migration from Venezuela to neighbouring Colombia shows no signs of abating, campaigners and prosecutors said. Destitute migrants fleeing Venezuela’s economic collapse and medicine shortages are being targeted by […]
Will sex trafficking survivors find their voice in India’s #MeToo movement?
Thomson Reuters Foundation As India’s #Metoo movement gains ground, campaigners hope sex trafficking survivors will feel more empowered to speak out about their experiences, which could raise awareness of the crime and help convict perpetrators. The movement has spread across India over the past couple of weeks, as women flood social media with stories of […]
Award-winning film casts light on “vicious cycle” of sex trafficking
Thomson Reuters Foundation An award-winning film about a Nigerian woman trapped in the sex trade in Austria aims to shine a light on the cycle of abuse and poverty fuelling sexual slavery, the director said on Tuesday. Sudabeh Mortezai said she hoped that Joy, which won the best film award at the BFI London Film […]