This is good

Truckers fighting human trafficking are trained to be alert to late-night knocks

Because traffickers often exploit the transportation system to move their victims, truckers are at an advantage to spot signs and make reports.

Other truck drivers sometimes call him an everyday hero, in part because he drives a Kenworth rig known as the “Everyday Heroes” T680, but also because of his involvement with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT).

The Colorado-based nonprofit trains truck drivers and various other members of the transportation industry to recognize human trafficking and alert authorities to potential victims. Since its creation in 2009, TAT says they have trained about 845,000 people in the transportation industry, over 700,000 of whom are truck drivers. That’s out of the total 3.5 million truck drivers who are employed in the U.S., according to the American Trucking Association.

A disturbing upward trend

U.N. Report Shows an Increase in Trafficking of Children

One in three human trafficking victims is a child, most victims are female, and traffickers operate with wide impunity, the United Nations said Monday in a report on modern-day slavery.

The 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, also found that the proportion of children among victims appeared to be rising. Its first report, in 2012, said the proportion had been closer to one in four.

In some regions, like Africa and the Middle East, the new report said, two out of three victims are children.

There is a gender issue here, as:

Other statistics in the report showed that girls account for two out of every three child victims, and that together with adult women, account for 70 percent of all trafficking victims.

And the scope is wide:

The report found that trafficking was a problem all over the world, with at least 152 countries of origin and 124 countries of destination. More than 6 in 10 victims have been transported across at least one national border, it said.

We need to find a way to make this less profitable, find the perpetrators, and free those enslaved. It's so pervasive and only recently has it been really studied or even talked about. Even here in Lexington, a couple were arrested for using slave-labour in their stores. I'm not sure how that case is playing out, but the point is, this is all over the place, including in our own backyard. We need to take notice, and support groups that are trying to make a difference at preventing, freeing, and rehabilitating these people.

Troubling

Subway Owners Arrested After Human Trafficking Investigation

Court record: Lexington couple forced undocumented Indian nationals to work in Subway restaurants

This is very disturbing. I'd hate to think that unconsciously I was supporting this by eating there, although none of the ones I frequent were named as belonging to this couple--I've eaten once at the East Main store. Still, it underscores that human trafficking is a huge problem that can be found in unexpected places, and it should be stamped out as thoroughly as possible. No one should ever have to call another person 'my owner'.

I think nine years is a bit lenient for abducting and trying to sell someone so they can be killed, dismembered, and put in potions

Human trafficker jailed for trying to sell albino man: Kenyan sentenced to 9 years in prison for trying to make deal with Tanzanian witchdoctors

But at least he is going to jail. There are 170,000 albino people living in Tanzania. Dozens of people there and in neighbouring Burundi have been killed since 2007.

In a related story:

Albinos in East Africa fear for lives after killings: 10,000 displaced or in hiding due to demand for body parts, Red Cross says

The mistaken belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa's albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make up to $75,000 selling a complete dismembered set.