[…] The Government of Italy fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. During the reporting period, the government continued to vigorously investigate and convict trafficking offenders and continued to implement its progressive victim-centered approach for the rescue, reintegration, and repatriation of trafficking victims in Italy.

[…] President Obama said, “I’m grateful that this fine public servant has agreed to join my administration, and I am confident that with Secretary Clinton he will be an indispensable part of our team as we work tirelessly to stand up for human rights and the rule of law. I am confident that his unique experiences and proven ability will make him a strong advocate for our values and for justice around the globe.”

[…] A little more then seven years ago, a bipartisan coalition in Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. That Act gave us several important new tools in the fight against human trafficking. Equally important, it was the sign of a shift in the government’s approach to this appalling crime, to a model that treats victims as victims, and puts them front and center, in enforcement, in prevention, and in the restoration of their rights.

[…] In a move at odds with bureaucracy’s reputation for stodginess, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is partnering with MTV (Music Television) on a campaign to warn young people about the dangers of human trafficking.

[…] Pastor David Brown and his wife, Julie Brown, of the French Protestant Church have worked tirelessly for the past three and a half years, often at great personal risk, to assist sub-Saharan trafficking victims and clandestine migrants in Morocco.
The Browns see 150 to 500 new migrant cases each month in Casablanca and Rabat.

[…] A reporter with an independent Ghanaian newspaper, Anas Aremeyaw Anas was responsible for breaking two major trafficking rings in Accra in a year’s time. He worked undercover for eight months, exposing the ring’s methods of transportation and the identities of immigration officials who were accepting bribes in return for overlooking fake visas and passports. Anas made recordings of his interactions, which allowed him to collect evidence that could be used by the police to prosecute the traffickers who were sending girls to Europe for prostitution.

[…] Good morning. As many of you know, combating human trafficking is a top priority for the Bush Administration. Human traffickers prey on the most vulnerable of our society, particularly women and children, and they use that vulnerability to enslave them. We began issuing the Trafficking in Persons Report eight years ago, when President Bush first came to office.

[…] Italy is a destination and transit country for women, children, and men trafficked transnationally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are traf-ficked mainly from Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Albania, and Ukraine but also from Russia, South America, North and East Africa, the Middle East, China, and Uzbekistan. Chinese men and women are trafficked to Italy for the purpose of forced labor.

[…] She cited one “disturbing discovery” in particular: “Although more countries are addressing sex trafficking through prosecution and convictions, the petty tyrants who exploit their laborers rarely receive serious punishment. We see this as a serious shortcoming, and as we move our efforts forward, we and our allies must remember that a robust law enforcement response is essential. “

[…] After recruiters painted a beautiful picture of foreign job prospects, Aye Aye Win, a Burmese national, and some 800 Burmese migrants willingly traveled to a shrimp-farming and -processing factory and were forced to work day and night, were never paid and were forbidden to leave the remote barbed-wire-fenced compound. When she tried to escape, she was tied to a pole in a courtyard, beaten and denied food or water. She was freed by Thai police in 2006.

[…] Early this summer reports emerged of over one thousand farmers, teenagers and children, including some who were mentally handicapped, forced to work for little or no pay in scorching brick kilns, enduring beatings and confinement in worse than prison-like conditions. This was a form of modern day slavery that shocked not only the international community, but prompted an outcry among Chinese citizens and a forceful reaction from the authorities.

[…] “There is a growing movement of trafficking for labor,” according to Mark Taylor, the senior coordinator for the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The global value of trafficked labor is estimated at $9.5 billion, he said. Taylor spoke July 19 at the State Department during a three-day conference called “Defending the Defenders,” designed for government and nongovernmental organization personnel dealing with issues on democracy, human rights and labor.