May 2012

MUMBAI, INDIA – As IJM and police arrived, an auto rickshaw sped away from the lodge that was doubling as a brothel. The girls had been ordered to leave immediately, as the manager feared the rescue team that was on its way.

The rescue team was indeed looking for the girls – who they believed were victims of sex trafficking. The lodge was empty, but the search was far from over. A surveillance team started to follow the auto rickshaw, determined to find the girls.

The Thane City Anti-Human Trafficking Unit tracked the rickshaw into a dirty slum in a suburb of Mumbai.

NAIROBI, KENYA – This week, Dominic was released from prison after languishing there for 8 months. He had been charged with Robbery with Violence and incarcerated, despite the fact that not a single witness ever stepped forward to substantiate the charges against him.

Last year, a robbery occurred at the construction site where Dominic worked. Three weeks later, he was arrested. The fact that he had showed up for work every day since the robbery should have raised a flag that the charges were false, but Dominic was simply sent to prison to wait for a trial.

CEBU, THE PHILIPPINES – This week, two traffickers were sentenced to life in prison for selling girls and women for commercial sexual exploitation. Two of the 15 young women who were rescued nearly four years ago were present for the court's ruling.

After waiting for 45 months, both trafficking survivors were overjoyed that justice had finally been done. "I realized the dream that I longed for – that those people who abused us will be punished by the law," said one of the survivors.

CHENNAI, INDIA – This week, IJM assisted government officials to rescue 16 children, women and men from a rice mill.

Three years ago, IJM helped local authorities with an operation on the same rice mill to free a different group of forced labor slaves. When the rescue team arrived on Tuesday, the rice mill owner was not present because he was in court facing charges for the previous offense.

A dozen people received official release certificates, emancipating them from slavery in the rice mill and entitling them to government rehabilitation funds.