Simean knew something was wrong when her 15-year-old younger sister Savoeun failed to show up at the factory where they both worked.<\/b><\/p>\n
With both daughters helping to support their family, even one day off would put a great deal of strain on the family. What concerned Simean the most was a woman she had seen hanging around Savoeun at the factory the previous few days.<\/B><\/p>\n
Simean asked her coworkers where her sister was. The answer sent a chill through her body: her sister said she was leaving Cambodia for Malaysia. Simean then ran to call her mother. She knew time was not on her side.<\/B><\/p>\n
While Simean was alerting her parents, Savoeun was on a motorcycle taxi as it swerved in and out of the chaotic traffic of Phnom Penh.<\/B><\/p>\n
She held tightly onto a plastic bag containing the few items she had been told to take with her – among them a change of clothes and her older sister\u2019s birth certificate.<\/p>\n
The woman had promised to quadruple her salary if she went with her to Malaysia to take a job as a caregiver.<\/B>
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\nSavoeun said yes – just like a lot of people in the world\u2019s richest nations would if someone offered such a huge rise. But for Savoeun it could have been a fatal mistake.<\/B><\/p>\n
When Savoeun arrived in the capital city, the stark reality became clear. She was being shipped to Malaysia to be sold to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a familiar story of traffickers preying on the desperate. Human trafficking like this is modern day slavery.<\/p>\n
It touches every country on earth and today, there are estimated to be more than 20 million slaves in the world; more than during any other time in human history.<\/B><\/p>\n
For more than a decade, governments around the world have worked hard to develop laws and responses to the $32 billion trade in human beings, according to U.N. figures.<\/p>\n
From 2000 to 2012, the United States was a global leader in combating modern day slavery.<\/B> The centerpiece of that leadership was found in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA).<\/p>\n
This law directs the U.S. response to human trafficking both domestically and around the world. The law emphasizes prevention of the crime; the protection of survivors, and the prosecution of traffickers.<\/p>\n
In 1999, a 12-year-old girl was taken from Savoeun\u2019s village. She was raped and killed.<\/B> Community members admit they didn\u2019t take any action because back then, no one knew what to do.<\/p>\n