A group that rescues women and girls trafficked from Vietnam to China says the closure of the border due to COVID-19 has hindered efforts to help victims escape slavery and sexual exploitation.

In an effort to combat a practice called “fish laundering,” the European Union and Sweden pledged US$52 million in the beginning of September to various marine agencies in the Pacific who are supposed to monitor and crack down on fraudsters.

European and African leaders developed an emergency plan for combating Libyan human smuggling networks. The plan would also give victims stranded in detention camps an option to return home, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Britain’s anti-slavery commissioner called on Monday for stronger measures in combating modern slavery of Vietnamese migrants who are increasingly exploited in nail bars, cannabis farms or as sexual workers.

The financial sector has "underutilised tools" at its disposal to prevent and disrupt human trafficking and modern slavery, according to a new report by a UN think tank published Tuesday.

Police in Romania announced Wednesday they had carried out raids in a rural mountain town where locals had kidnapped dozens of mentally and physically disabled people, enslaving them for work and forcing them to fight for entertainment.  

The Swedish retail giant IKEA has been reported to the US Customs Department for importing duvet covers made in Turkmenistan.

Thai prosecutors have called their first witnesses in the trial of 92 suspected human traffickers in the Rohingya “Boat People” smuggling case, the UK Telegraph reported.