A new report by Save the Children Uganda has revealed that there is an extensive child trafficking problem in the border towns of the country. Children from Moroto District and the neighbouring Katakwi District are being trafficked to Busia, Tororo, Kampala, Mbale, Jinja, Iganga districts and even into Kenya. The report says that children are being sold, kidnapped, and sent into labour and sexual exploitation in a “food for work” exchange.
Dr. Kato Nkimba, a consultant with Save the Children Uganda said “Parents who sell off their children do not have food to feed them. We all know the consequences of such a practice: child slavery and labor, child prostitution and sexual exploitation, marriage, child sacrifice and organ harvesting,”
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The alleged leader as of a human trafficking ring, identified by the police as Lukasz Z, has been arrested in his native Poland. The ring allegedly trafficked hundreds of Polish workers to southern Italy to work on tomato farms. The workers were offered good wages and accommodation, but instead it is alleged that they faced beatings, threats, little or no wages, poor accommodation, sometimes sleeping in the fields, and virtual imprisonment.
Police raided labour camps near Bari in July and released more than a hundred workers. These raids, and subsequent questioning of victims has lead to the arrest of the Polish man this week. Police have already arrested 30 people I connection with the case. To read more about this and related stories, please visit “The Raw Story” by clicking here.

An 80 year old Thai national has been arrested on charges of human trafficking, after being stopped at the Thai border attempting to bring 5 young Cambodian women into the country at Poi Pet. The man claimed he had never been to Cambodia before, but more than 500 images of young Cambodian women were found on his camera, and it is suspected that these were pictures of trafficking victims. The pictures were of girls between 12 and 20 years old. Police General Cheng Sokom of the Thai border province of Banteay Meanchey said “We are continuing investigations to find out who else may have helped this man to run this ring and how many girls have been trafficked to Thailand this way,” To read more about this and related subjects, please visit Bangkok Post by clicking here.

Police in the Italian city of  Pavia have arrested three people on suspicion of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape. The arrests are the culmination of a campaign that started in 2004 when a young Moldovan woman came forward with testimony that she had been trafficked, abused, raped and tortured by Italian and Albanian nationals. Working together with the Bari flying squad, the police have now arrested the people they think ran the human trafficking ring. For more information on this and related subjects, please visit AGI Online by clicking here.

Two people, Juan Mendez and Cristina Perfecto, have been charged in Memphis, USA with trafficking a Mexican girl into the country and forcing her to work as a prostitute. It is alleged that the girl was promised that she could send money home, but in fact Mendez and Perfecto kept the money earned from her sexual exploitation. The couple were arrested as part of a major police operation in the Memphis area, involving 150 police officers. To read more about this and related subjects, please visit Eyewitness News by clicking here.