NEWS: Fruit pickers ‘brainwashed’, child marriage survivors speak out

Exploited Fruit Pickers in Victoria 'Brainwashed' October 30, 2017 An undercover Malaysian journalist has uncovered abuses of migrant workers working on fruit farms in Victoria, Australia. Saiful Hasam, a reporter from Utusan Malaysia, spoke to victims on a farm in Swan Hill in northern Victoria, where they recounted how they had been lured abroad by promises of good jobs. Instead, they were "paid a pittance, kept in overcrowded homes with exorbitant rent and effectively trapped in debt bondage."

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Survivors of Child Marriage Speak Out in West Africa October 28, 2017 As she sits on the floor and holds her baby, she is panicked and tears fill her eyes. Her husband, nearly 20 years older, might kill her if he knew she was telling this story. Speaking anonymously, she says she was married at age 13 in the West African nation of Guinea because her parents feared she could harm her marriage prospects by having premarital sex.   READ NOW

Traffickers Targeting the Homeless in the UK October 31, 2017 UK charities are warning that traffickers are targeting homeless people, exploiting them for slave labor under false promises of work and accommodation. Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that traffickers are bold enough to prey on the homeless at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and support groups.

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227 Migrants Found in Forced Labor in Sicily Eight arrests have been made and legal proceedings launched against 33 farming companies in Sicily after police raids found over 220 migrant workers -- mostly Romanian women -- were being exploited for their labor and sexually assaulted.  Read Now >>

Palm Oil Giant, IOI, Announces Major Labor Reforms Palm oil company, IOI Corp Bhd, has announced major labor reforms -- a move lauded by NGOs including Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Finnwatch, and Tenaganita as setting a new standard in the industry. Read Now >>

Ghana Receives $5 Million to Fight Trafficking The US government has awarded $5 million USD to anti-trafficking organizations in Ghana with a particular focus on child trafficking and forced child labor. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Free the Slaves were the two institutions awarded funding. Read Now >>

UK's Foreign Domestic Workers in Limbo More than 17,000 domestic workers come to Britain each year - mostly to work for wealthy families visiting from Gulf countries - but many live in fear of being deported if they try to leave an abusive employer. Read Now >>

Who Will Pick the Cotton in Uzbekistan? This September, the Uzbek government made a surprising announcement: after years of forcing students, teachers, and doctors to harvest cotton the government was now reversing this policy in a move to address forced labor in the agricultural sector. Read Now >>

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