Despite increased awareness, the modern-day slave trade is the fastest growing crime industry in the world, enslaving nearly 30 million individuals. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: “After drug dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second-largest criminal industry in the world.” Slavery is wrapped up in almost every industry’s supply chain, tainting the food we eat, the clothes we buy and the electronics we love.

The International Labor Organization estimates that 20.9 million people are victims of forced labor globally. From 2003—2006, 20 percent of all detected victims were children. Between 2007 and 2010, the percentage of child victims had risen to 27 percent.  Forced labor victims can be found in the world’s restaurants, fisheries, brothels, farms and homes, and among many other activities. It is estimated that the number in the US reaches into the tens of thousands. Click here to read more