International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

How torture, inaction underpin UAE’s thriving sex trafficking industry
|

How torture, inaction underpin UAE’s thriving sex trafficking industry

How torture, inaction underpin UAE’s thriving sex trafficking industry African women trafficked into the UAE are forced into debt and subjected to threats and violence, as they are kept in sexual slavery. The case of Christy Gold, who has been charged with sex trafficking in Nigeria, highlights the torment endured by these women in the…

'I had nowhere to go': Labor traffickers are taking advantage of the Massachusetts housing crisis
|

'I had nowhere to go': Labor traffickers are taking advantage of the Massachusetts housing crisis

For eight months, Julio worked as a landscaper in Western Massachusetts, hauling rocks, digging ditches and pulling weeds about 70 hours a week, earning less than two dollars an hour. At night, tired and hungry, the Guatemalan immigrant would be driven back to his employer’s suburban home, where he would head down to the basement…

'Working like a slave': Why human trafficking in restaurants is underreported – WGBH
|

'Working like a slave': Why human trafficking in restaurants is underreported – WGBH

Working in Boston-area restaurants over the last 15 years, Billy often felt like a slave. He was caught in a seemingly never-ending cycle of labor and exploitation, striving to pay off debts, sick from stress and overwork, terrified about being turned over to immigration officials. The 41-year-old Salvadoran immigrant said he started his first restaurant…

US contractors that commit human trafficking must no longer slip through the cracks
|

US contractors that commit human trafficking must no longer slip through the cracks

Startling reports from the Washington Post, NBC News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICRJ) last week paint a sordid picture of the reality of human trafficking carried out by some U.S. government contractors on American military bases abroad. Confiscated passports, false promises of a job, restriction of movement, horrible working conditions — a confluence of factors that points…

Abuses on US bases in Persian Gulf ensnare legions of migrant workers – Stars and Stripes
| |

Abuses on US bases in Persian Gulf ensnare legions of migrant workers – Stars and Stripes

Foreign workers (migrant workers) for defense contractors on at least four U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf are trapped in their jobs by abusive employment practices that they say prevent them from returning home or even looking for better work in the region, more than 30 current and former workers said in interviews. Many…

Pentagon appears to benefit from human trafficking WaPo
|

Pentagon appears to benefit from human trafficking WaPo

US military bases in the Persian Gulf depend on armies of men and women subjected to coercive practices, the paper claims American military bases in the Persian Gulf region use the services of subcontractors who could be classed as victims of human trafficking, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Federal law bans paying taxpayer money…

Some private contractors are accused of abusive labor practices on US military bases – NBC News
|

Some private contractors are accused of abusive labor practices on US military bases – NBC News

Abdulla thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime. After struggling to find work in his home country of Bangladesh, he said a recruiter offered him a chance to work in a restaurant thousands of miles away in Kuwait City for the equivalent of $660 a month. There was a catch: He would have to…

Some private contractors are accused of abusive labor practices on U.S. military bases in Kuwait
| |

Some private contractors are accused of abusive labor practices on U.S. military bases in Kuwait

Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore. “Our taxpayer dollars are being used potentially to support forced labor and human trafficking, and that’s just unacceptable,” a U.S. government auditor said. Watch video here. By Molly Boigon, Andrew W. Lehren, Laura Strickler, Courtney Kube, Anna Schecter and Yousef H. Alshammari Abdulla thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime….

For labor trafficked immigrants, T-visas are a life-saving but flawed relief – WGBH
|

For labor trafficked immigrants, T-visas are a life-saving but flawed relief – WGBH

In 2018, the police came to a home in Saugus, Massachusetts, to rescue Anabelle Masalon, a Filipina housekeeper who had been essentially a prisoner of the family from the United Arab Emirates that employed her. She had been forced to work 21-hour days, earning no more than $400 a month, unable to leave the house…

Trafficking Inc.: Forced labor in Massachusetts – WGBH
| |

Trafficking Inc.: Forced labor in Massachusetts – WGBH

Melba regularly showed up at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2018 to accompany a child she cared for who was being treated there. But nobody noticed — or asked about — Melba’s own suffering. The petite Filipina was miserable, working more than 100 hours a week as a maid and nanny, earning between $400 and $550…