The Imagine Foundation, a Cleveland-based organization that seeks to raise awareness and present solutions for ending child slavery worldwide and Operation Broken Silence, an organization that works to combat modern day slavery, today released a report entitled, ‘The Cleveland Backpage Report: An Analysis of Human Trafficking and the Online Sex Industry in Northeast Ohio.”  The research examines the connection between commercial sexual exploitation and the online industry and provides recommendations to curb demand and sex trafficking in Ohio.  The report proposed thre

The U.S. prosecuted a record number of human trafficking cases last year, the Department of Justice noted in a “Trafficking in Persons” report released by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Sec. Clinton reported that in the 2010 fiscal year, federal law-enforcement agencies charged "181 individuals and obtained 141 convictions in 103 human-trafficking prosecutions." The numbers do not include state cases.

Through the work of the commission, the six sub-committees have created comprehensive reports which have increased media coverage on the issue of human trafficking in Ohio, increased the public’s understanding, helped to support the changes to Ohio’s human trafficking laws, evaluated the services needed for victims, and provided training and identified others who needed to be trained.

A first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction was released by the Department of Justice. The report assesses dangers to youth from pornography, on-line predators, sex tourism and commercial sexual exploitation. Specific goals and strategies are established in the report with one of the strategies being the targeting of the 500 most dangerous sex offenders in the country.