What industry earns more money than major league baseball, and the national basketball, hockey and football leagues combined? Sex trafficking and forced labor. It’s a $32 billion industry. On Sept. 25, President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting human trafficking in all federal government contracting. The order applies to federal contractors and subcontractors working in […]
sex trafficking
Buy her bag, not her body
Nomi Network, a non-profit organization that trains survivors of sexual slavery to produce products that will sell in the global market, was named after an 8-year-old survivor of sex trafficking in Cambodia. Nomi was so mentally disabled after her treatment as a sex slave, that she will spend the rest of her life in a […]
Women: just pawns in the game
Mobster and human smuggler Bill Bedini was back in Albania after jumping bail in Texas. “This [is] payback to your Uncle Edmond for when I was in the United States,” he said as he beat two young women, nieces of the Albanian man who testified against him in the U.S. A human weed, Bedini kidnapped […]
Tampa Bay hub for human trafficking
Many people know the phrase “modern day slavery” but don’t realize it’s happening in their hometowns. Florida state representative Rachel Burgin admits she was unaware of the problem’s severity until she attended a national conference in Washington, D.C. and sat next to a woman who started an international organization to stop human trafficking. “She told […]
Make slavery a household word
I was nearly speechless last week when a friend asked, “What is modern day slavery?” “Women forced into prostitution,” I blurted. “Forced farm labor!” Is what I see and read about every day invisible to the average American? Twenty-seven million people–the population of Saudi Arabia–are enslaved today. Human trafficking is so lucrative drug dealers are […]
Slavery continues despite war, amendment
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. While the war was fought over a fusion of slavery and states’ rights issues, slavery didn’t end in the United States until December 1865 with passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Or did it? Consider these current event stories: Green […]