This article is the second in a series of reference aids to support the Anti-Human Trafficking Community and others interested in following online human trafficking (HT) news. In monitoring and comparing various HT news sources, you will often note circular reporting where many of the same news items are reported by multiple news outlets, sometimes with slight variations and often on the same day. News aggregators similarly report many of the same news items because they draw from the same sources. If you cast a wide net in monitoring online HT information spaces, you will discover a greater variety of HT news items. Most HT content contributors use a variety of social media or blogs to flag their articles. For example, search LinkedIn for an author-of-interest’s name, follow them, set alerts, note connections and followers, articles, newsletters, etc.
As the world continues to transform digitally, internet technologies are increasingly being used to facilitate HT, particularly via social media platforms. Traffickers use the internet to identify, recruit, and exploit victims, connect with buyers, advertise, facilitate payment for services, etc. (GLOTiP, 2020). The growth of the internet has also resulted in a decline in the quality of available news (Chen and Suen, 2023; Acemoglu et al., 2023). For instance, today’s social media is a major source of news for many people, but it also exposes them to a substantial amount of false and misleading information (Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017). Journalists/media typically reveal biases, mis-/dis-/mal-information runs rampant, etc. For these reasons, when exploiting news, a healthy dose of skepticism and related source evaluation, information reliability, and critical thinking techniques are required to avoid merely repeating what people have said and establishing the factual basis that puts information into context by judging if the facts support or contradict statements or do not exist at all. Generally, there is an inverse relationship between time and reliability/veracity – initial news reports are often not accurate or complete but over time, the objective truth emerges.
There are more online news sites than anyone has the time to read, monitor, or fully exploit. In addition to the anti-trafficking organizations with blogs, newsletters, etc cited below, there are many others, so will include an article on HT organizations in this series in the future. This article lists HT sites and resources that are free (or freemium), though several also have paid versions. Several sites allow filtering by HT term and a few examples are provided. Recommend using a mix of content readers/email alerts/listservs/etc to keep abreast of HT news.
Groups and Listservs
Google Groups
Anti-Trafficking Resource Network (805 members)
https://groups.google.com/g/ATRNetwork
HEAL Trafficking General Online Forum (over 4,500 multidisciplinary professionals in 45 countries)
https://groups.google.com/g/human-trafficking-and-health-care
Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre (317 members)
https://groups.google.com/g/modernslaverypec
Human Trafficking Activism and Awareness Club (120 subscribers)
https://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=HTAACUVM&H=LIST.UVM.EDU
Groups.io
Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation (CESE) | National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Jisc
ANTISLAVERYKNOWLEDGENETWORK
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=ANTISLAVERYKNOWLEDGENETWORK
BSA Slavery and Modern Slavery Study Group
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=BSA-SLAVERY-STUDY-GROUP
Journals – Human Trafficking
Anti-Trafficking Review
https://www.antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/atrjournal
The first open access, peer reviewed journal dedicated to the issue of human trafficking. It explores trafficking in its broader context and intersections with gender, labor, and migration.
Counter Forced Labor Journal
Current events, news, and legislation concerning forced labor, human trafficking, and modern slavery in our global economy.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence – Human Trafficking
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/do/search/?q=human%20trafficking&start=0&context=8565217&facet=
An open access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing original articles on analyzing exploitation and violence.
Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars – Newsletters
https://www.gahts.com/newsletters
Biannual newsletters contain relevant publications, progress reports, and a spotlight on a researcher. Membership options include Advocate member (free). Members receive free online access to the Journal of Human Trafficking.
Journal of Human Trafficking
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showOpenAccess?journalCode=uhmt20
A peer-reviewed journal on topics (some open access) including, but not limited to:
- Child trafficking
- Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)
- Forced marriage
- Organ and tissue extraction
- Forced labor and slavery
- Involuntary domestic servitude
- Debt bondage
- Child soldiers
- Behavioral and medical consequences of human trafficking
- Anti-trafficking policy and legislation
- Survivor issues, outcomes, and resources
News – Current
EIN Newsdesk Human Trafficking News Topics
Online news monitoring. Users may set up custom email newsletters and RSS feeds or search among thousands of preset news sections. My Alerts feature.
Human Trafficking News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com
Human Trafficking News by Country
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/all_countries
Human Trafficking News by U.S. State
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/us_states
Press Releases
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/pr_archive
Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/action-against-trafficking-in-human-beings
Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/blue-heart-campaign-against-human-trafficking
Child Laundering News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/child-laundering
Convention on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation & Sexual Abuse News
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/global-alliance-against-traffic-in-women
Human Traffickers News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/human-traffickers
Human Trafficking & Bonded Labor News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/human-trafficking-bonded-labor
Human Trafficking & Child Labor News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/human-trafficking-child-labor
Human Trafficking & Forced Labor News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/human-trafficking-forced-labor
Human Trafficking & Sexual Slavery News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/human-trafficking-sexual-slavery
ILO & Human Trafficking News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/ilo-human-trafficking
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/national-center-for-missing-exploited-children
National Human Trafficking Resource Center News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/national-human-trafficking-resource-center
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/office-to-monitor-and-combat-trafficking-in-persons
Polaris Project & Human Trafficking News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/polaris-project-human-trafficking
Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea & Air News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/protocol-against-the-smuggling-of-migrants
Sex Trafficking News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/sex-trafficking
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/supplementary-convention-on-the-abolition-of-slavery
Trafficking in Persons Report News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/trafficking-in-persons-report
Trafficking Protocol (UN TIP Protocol) News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/un-tip-protocol
Trafficking Victims Protection Act News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/trafficking-victims-protection-act
UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/un-convention-against-transnational-organized-crime
UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking News
https://humantrafficking.einnews.com/news/un-global-initiative-to-fight-human-trafficking
Global Display of Human Trafficking Incidents and News Events
https://human.globalincidentmap.com
Interactive Global Map. Users can filter by Country, Date (Today – Last Month), City, Infrastructure Affected (generally applies to other, non-HT maps), Severity/Importance (applies to other, non-HT maps) and Incident Type:
- Human Trafficking – Slavery
- Human Trafficking – Prostitution
- Human Trafficking — Other
- Human Trafficking — Court Cases
- Human Trafficking – General News
- Organ Trafficking
- Human Smuggling (not HT – recommend unchecking this filter)
Google Alerts
A tracking tool that sends you instant/daily/weekly notifications via email/RSS from any HT search term or phrase you want to track. Gmail account required. Multiple alerts allowed.
Google News – Human Trafficking
News – Foreign
4News UK – Slavery
https://www.channel4.com/news/search?s=slavery
9News Australia – Trafficking
https://www.9news.com.au/trafficking
A21 – Newsroom
https://www.a21.org/content/newsroom/grcjtc
ABC News Australia – Human Trafficking
https://www.abc.net.au/news/topic/human-trafficking
Al Jazeera – Human Trafficking
https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/human-trafficking
BBC – Human Trafficking News
https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c77jz3mdmr3t
Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking – Blog
https://www.canadiancentretoendhumantrafficking.ca/blog
ChannelNewsAsia – Human Trafficking
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/topic/human-trafficking
Council of Europe – Action against Trafficking in Human Beings – News
https://www.coe.int/en/web/anti-human-trafficking/news
End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) International – News
EuroNews – Child Trafficking
https://www.euronews.com/tag/child-trafficking
European Commission – News – Human Trafficking
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/whats-new/news_en?f%5B0%5D=oe_news_title%3Ahuman%20trafficking
Europol – Newsroom – Human Trafficking
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom?q=human%20trafficking
Evening Standard – Human Trafficking
https://www.standard.co.uk/topic/human-trafficking
Exodus Road – News Center
https://theexodusroad.com/news-center
France24 – Human Trafficking
https://www.france24.com/en/tag/human-trafficking
Global Business Coalition Against Trafficking – News and Events
Global News – Human Trafficking
https://globalnews.ca/tag/human-trafficking
Hope for Justice – News and Media
https://hopeforjustice.org/news-media
Curator for WEF Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking interactive map.
Independent – Human Trafficking
https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/human-trafficking
International Centre for Migration Policy Development – Trafficking in Human Beings – News
https://www.icmpd.org/news?topic=45386&contentType=
International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children – Press
International Justice Mission – Trafficking and Slavery – News and Media
https://www.ijm.org/news-media
International Labor Organization – News – Human Trafficking
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/lang–en/index.htm
Internet Watch Foundation – News and Media
https://www.iwf.org.uk/news-media
Interpol – News and Events – Human Trafficking
https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events
ITV News – Human Trafficking
https://www.itv.com/news/topic/human-trafficking
Mekong Club – News and Events – Modern Slavery
https://themekongclub.org/news-events
National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children – News
https://www.dutchrapporteur.nl
NDTV News – Human Trafficking
https://www.ndtv.com/topic/human-trafficking
Observer Research Foundation – Human Trafficking
https://www.orfonline.org/tags/human-trafficking
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – News – Human Trafficking
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – News and Press Releases – Human Trafficking
Stop Modern Day Slavery – News
https://stopmoderndayslavery.org
The Conversation – Articles on Human Trafficking
https://theconversation.com/global/topics/human-trafficking-6044
The Economic Times – Human Trafficking
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/human-trafficking
The Guardian – Human Trafficking
https://www.theguardian.com/law/human-trafficking
The Indian Express – Human Trafficking
https://indianexpress.com/about/human-trafficking
The Laundry – Human Trafficking
https://thelaundrynews.com/?s=human+trafficking&submit=Search
Thomson Reuters Foundation News – Slavery
https://news.trust.org/trafficking
Trafficking News
United Nations – Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons – News
United Nations News – Human Trafficking
https://news.un.org/en/tags/human-trafficking
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – Human Trafficking News and Stories
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/latest-news.html
World Economic Forum – Strategic Intelligence – Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
https://intelligence.weforum.org/topics/a1G680000008hMHEAY
Interactive map with 8 primary topic areas:
- Experiences of Exploitation
- Vulnerability and Resilience
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Civil Society Responses
- Partnerships and Cooperation
- Legal and Policy Frameworks
- Global Economic Impact
- Perpetrators
Primary topics areas linked to 40 sub-topics, e.g. the Perpetrator topic links to:
- Illicit Economy
- Social Justice
- Informality
- The Digital Economy
- Information and Communications Technology
- Corruption
- Roles of Religion
- Internet Governance
- Justice and Law
Select map topics area(s) to identify the most relevant publications, videos, data, events, initiatives and stakeholders in those areas. Requires account (free).
News – U.S.
ABC News Alert – Human Trafficking
https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/human-trafficking
ABC7 – Human Trafficking
https://abc7.com/tag/human-trafficking
AEquitas – Human Trafficking
Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking – Press Releases
American Military University – Edge News – Human Trafficking
https://amuedge.com/?s=human+trafficking
AP – Human Trafficking
https://apnews.com/hub/human-trafficking
CBS News – Human Trafficking
https://www.cbsnews.com/tag/human-trafficking
CNN – Human Trafficking
https://www.cnn.com/search?q=human+trafficking&from=0&size=10&page=1&sort=newest&types=all§ion=
Collective Liberty – Human Trafficking News
DeliverFund – Human Trafficking News & Blog
Interactive Map and news items grouped by Operations/Arrests, Awareness, Additional Articles.
ECPAT-US – Newsroom
https://www.wearepact.org/newsroom
Exodus Road – News Center
https://theexodusroad.com/news-center
Foundation United – Global Solutions to Eradicate Sexual Exploitation – Newsroom
https://www.thefoundationunited.com/news-room
Human Trafficking Institute – News
https://traffickinginstitute.org/category/our-stories/in-the-news
Human Trafficking Search and Freedom United – Newsroom – Modern Slavery
HT-RADAR – Monthly Update Newsletters
McCain Institute – Blog – Combatting Human Trafficking
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children – Blog
https://www.missingkids.org/blog
National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center – Blog
National Human Trafficking Hotline (Polaris) – National Statistics
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/statistics
Newsweek – Human Trafficking
https://www.newsweek.com/topic/human-trafficking
New York Times – Human Trafficking
https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/human-trafficking
PBS News Hour – Human Trafficking
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/human-trafficking
Polaris – Blog
https://polarisproject.org/blog
Politico – Human Trafficking
https://www.politico.com/news/human-trafficking
Psychology Today – To End Human Trafficking
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/end-human-trafficking
Shared Hope International – News
Thorn – Blog
Truckers Against Trafficking – Newsletters
https://truckersagainsttrafficking.org/newsletters
USNews – Trafficking
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center – News and Information
https://nhttac.acf.hhs.gov/about-nhttac/news
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Customs and Border Protection Newsroom – Media Releases
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/media-releases/all
Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations – News Releases and Statements – Human Trafficking
U.S. Department of Justice
DOJ Email Updates
https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOJOJP_COMMS/subscriber/new?qsp=all_listed_topics
DOJ – Human Trafficking Press Room
https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking/press-room
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Law Enforcement Bulletin – Human Trafficking
FBI – News – Press Releases – Human Trafficking
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases
National Institute of Justice – Human Trafficking
https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/crime/human-trafficking
U.S. Department of Labor
https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases?agency=All&state=All&topic=All&year=all&page=0
Bureau of International Labor Affairs – Child and Forced Labor Reports
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings
U.S. Department of State – Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons – Remarks and Releases
https://www.state.gov/remarks-and-releases-office-to-monitor-and-combat-trafficking-in-persons
U.S. Government Accountability Office – Human Trafficking
https://www.gao.gov/search?keyword=%22human+trafficking%22
Previous Series Articles
In Search of Human Trafficking – Terms, 21 Sep 2023
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/search-human-trafficking-terms-john-caulfield
Chen, H., & Suen, W. (2023). Competition for attention and news quality. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, forthcoming. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mic.20210259
Acemoglu, D., Ozdaglar, A., & Siderius, J. (2023). A model of online misinformation (No. w28884). National Bureau of Economic Research.
https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/2023-10/A%20Model%20of%20Online%20Misinformation.pdf
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of economic perspectives, 31(2), 211-236.
