The data
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Showing 1–24 of 139
United States US
According to a federal indictment, a mother and daughter in Carolina, Puerto Rico, used beatings, threats, restraint and isolation to force an intellectually disabled woman to panhandle, commit fraud and do domestic labor in their home, at times locking her overnight in a space formerly used to house goats and roosters, and took her Social Security disability benefits.
Switzerland CH
Indian domestic workers employed at the Hinduja family’s Geneva villa were severely underpaid, worked up to 18 hours a day with little or no time off, had their passports confiscated, and had their freedom of movement restricted.
China CN
An Indonesian domestic worker was awarded HK$868,607 in compensation after suffering severe physical abuse by her former Hong Kong employers. The ruling concluded a decade-long legal battle and renewed calls for stronger protection of migrant domestic workers.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan women recruited for domestic work in Gulf states through fraudulent agencies. Abuse confinement wage theft Accused: Unlicensed recruitment agencies with Gulf networks.
United Kingdom
Saudi diplomat's domestic worker held on diplomatic visa. Passport confiscated worked around the clock slept on kitchen floor Accused: Saudi diplomatic family.
France
West African teenager promised education instead forced to cook and clean from 5am to midnight. No pay no schooling Accused: French-Ivorian family.
Lebanon LB
A 23-year-old Ghanaian domestic worker was found dead in a car park beneath her employers' fourth-floor home in Beirut's southern suburbs in March 2020, hours after messaging an activist group for help with the abuse she said she was suffering. Her death is part of a pattern of abuse of migrant domestic workers under Lebanon's kafala system.
India IN
Ismail Ahmed Age: 32 from Nowagaon in Assam Babita Age: 25 Both of these individuals run an illegal placement agency, Ashok Chand. Ahmed was arrested on May 5 from Shakarpur, while he was allegedly trying to sell a minor girl for Rs 1.5 lakh to a decoy customer. During questioning, Ahmed told police that brokers and agents operating in Assam, West Bengal and areas near the Indo-Bangladesh border would send minors to Delhi with promises of a better life. Once here, they would be handed over to an illegal placement agency run by Babita. Seven minor girls and boys, employed as domestic helps, were rescued during the operation — conducted with the help of NGO Shakti Vahini. The traffickers followed two different modules. "Children between the ages of 11-15 were placed in domestic households. Those above 15, especially girls, were sold off in Delhi and Haryana. Girls brought from Bangladesh were promised jobs in modeling agencies. Extreme poverty often led their parents to accept the agents' propositions,'' said an officer. It was revealed that the children had no knowledge either any salary was being paid to them or being sent to their parents for the household work they performed. Most of them had no contact with their parents after coming to Delhi. "The agent was paid a sum of Rs 20,000 to 25,000 by Babita for each minor child. She in turn charged Rs 20,000 to 35,000 from the employer where the children were employed as an initial payment. Then an agreement of 11 months was drawn up with the employer for payment of monthly salary. The monthly salary that was paid was also misappropriated by Babita and it never reached their parents," Mr Chand said.
South Africa ZA
The victim ran away from the family that was keeping her. She got a train where a man said he would help her get back home. He then raped her. The train security found her and called the police.
United States US
On August 22, 2011 Cherry Valera, 44, and Bernard Salvatierra, 46, a married couple from Bellingham, Washington were sentenced by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in connection with their May 10, 2011 guilty pleas. Valera pleaded guilty to harboring an alien for financial gain and Salvatierra pleaded guilty to unlawful employment of an alien. Valera was sentenced to four months in prison and 100 hours of community service during two years of supervised release. Salvatierra was sentenced to 6 months of home detention with electronic monitoring. According to court filings, Valera recruited an impoverished, young woman from the Philippines to be her family’s live-in domestic servant. Valera and Salvatierra employed the victim from August 2006 until September 2009, when she escaped. During her employment, the victim was required to work seven days a week, providing full-time childcare, cleaning, cooking and other domestic services. The victim endured verbal abuse and threats during her stay with the defendants, who paid the victim $200 to $240 per month.
United States US
Cardiologist Javier Julio Arce, M.D. 58, and his ex-wife, Cristina Mier Arce, 55, were charged with harboring a Bolivian undocumented worker — their maid — for 15 years as a virtual prisoner and using her for their financial gain. On June 23, 2011 a grand jury alleged that they kept the woman in their service as a domestic by telling her she would be arrested and deported if she left their home. They allegedly told her falsely that they were depositing money in a bank account in her name when they knew no such account existed. And after promising the woman — identified only as “I. L.” — a monthly salary, they paid her paid her no more than $20,000 over 12 years as she cared for their children, made their meals and cleaned their home and Dr. Arce’s medical office. The indictment also charges that Cristina Arce refused to return the woman’s passport, despite “repeated requests”, falsely telling her it was lost. The indictment said the Arces recruited “I. L.” to travel to the United States and conspired to harbor and exploit her from 1994 to 2006 at the home they shared at 718 Freeman Lane in Elizabethtown. It says that after the couple divorced, Dr. Arce harbored the woman for financial gain from 2006 to 2009 at his residence at 2605 Stonemill Drive in Elizabethtown.
United States US
Juna Gwedolyn Babb, 56, and Michael J. Babb, 55, both of Ellenwood, Ga., pleaded guilty in federal court to felony offenses related to a scheme to compel the labor of a young woman from the Kingdom of Swaziland in southern Africa, announced the Department of Justice. “Schemes like this one target the most vulnerable in our society,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The department is committed to prosecuting individuals who engage in acts that exploit individuals who wish to work in our country.” “This case reminds us that modern day slavery is occurring in our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “This young woman believed that she was only traveling to the United States for a brief visit to help with a wedding. Instead, she was compelled to labor for the defendants for more than two years. It is especially disturbing that the victim was exploited by a minister and his wife.” According to the indictment and information presented in court, in or about March 2005, Juna Babb, while visiting the Kingdom of Swaziland, invited the victim, then a 29 year-old cook, to travel to the United States to cater for a family wedding. In fact, there was no wedding, and Juna Babb instead intended to harbor the woman in the United States and compel her to work as a housekeeper in her home for little or no pay. Subsequently, upon the victim’s arrival at the defendant’s home in Ellenwood, Juna Babb concealed her from detection by law enforcement while compelling her housekeeping services from in or about June 2005, through in or about February 2007. During this time, Juna Babb also threatened the victim over the debt she owed for her travel to the United States, and with arrest and deportation because she was in the United States illegally. Michael Babb, a minister, knew of his wife’s harboring of the victim, as well as the fact that Juna Babb was compelling the victim’s labor. However, Michael Babb failed to notify an authority of the United States as soon as possible of the alien harboring, and affirmatively concealed his wife’s crime by denying that the victim worked as the defendants’ housekeeper to special agents of the FBI. Juna Babb pleaded guilty to the offense of harboring an alien for financial gain, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Michael Babb pleaded guilty to the offense of misprision of a felony for concealing his wife’s criminal conduct and for lying to federal agents. This offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
United States US
Elina Sihombing Age: 47 Recruiting, harboring and transporting individuals for the purpose of forced labor, and removing or confiscating the victims' immigration documents David Girle Age: 54 Both of them are owners of America's Best Value Inn on Picacho Avenue in Las Cruces, NM. The couple was charged with "obtaining the labor and services of two Indonesian women by force, threats of force and physical restraint" according to a criminal complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to the criminal complaint, in 2004, Sihombing and Girle allegedly brought the first of their two alleged victims from Indonesia to Phoenix, Ariz., where they were then living, as a nanny for their toddler and with the understanding that the alleged victim would have the opportunity to obtain an education and prepare for a career. Instead, the victim allegedly was forced to work as a nanny and household help and assisted with remodeling of the couple's residence from 8 a.m. to midnight every day, but was never paid for her work and was never given an opportunity to attend college as she was promised. The complaint alleges that, in 2005, Sihombing and Girle brought another woman to Phoenix from Indonesia who did the same type of work for the couple without any pay. The complaint further alleges that on July 27, 2007, Sihombing and Girle moved to Las Cruces where they purchased America's Best Value Inn and lived on the motel grounds. Sihombing and Girle allegedly told the two victims that, after the motel was remodeled and sold, they would be paid for their labor, according to the complaint. Sihombing and Girle allegedly required their victims to work from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day with no days off. The victims were not allowed to leave the motel and were only allowed access to their families in Indonesia if the contact was monitored by the couple, the complaint alleges. In 2009, the victims allegedly asked Girle about their immigration documents, and he told them he had them for safekeeping. Girle also advised them that their visas had expired. Sihombing allegedly withheld food from the victims as punishment and also threatened to call immigration authorities if the two did not do as Sihombing demanded. The complaint alleges that this type of treatment continued until Jan. 4, 2010, when the two victims left the motel.
United States US
Edk Kenit, 29, and Choimina Lukas, 31, a Micronesian couple living in Longview pleaded guilty Tuesday in a human trafficking case in which they were accused of forcing an 18-year-old woman from their homeland to work for them. Kenit and Lukas admitted in federal court in the Western District of Washington that in March 2010 they recruited the victim, identified in court documents as "S.S.," to care for their three children and do cooking and cleaning seven days a week without pay. Kenit, Lukas and S.S. all are from the Chuuk island group in the Micronesian archipelago in the South Pacific. Culturally, S.S. felt bound to obey her elders, who threatened to harm her if she disobeyed, according to court documents. Longview Police Detective Steve Dennis, the initial investigator on the case, said their families apparently knew one another, so Kenit and Lukas "made arrangements to fly her here. They promised her wealth and everything that comes with America." Once S.S. got to the U.S., Kenit and Lukas forced “S.S.” to care for their children without pay, Dennis said. Kenit and Lukas fed the victim and allowed her to live in their duplex apartment at 2008 46th Ave. But in July 2010 they forced her to take a job at Foster Farms and seized her pay until she finally quit the job in October, Dennis said. When she began objecting to her treatment, they hid her passport. Micronesians need only a passport but no visas to enter the United States, Dennis said. So the woman was living and working here legally. However, stripped of her paperwork and unable to speak English, she was left in a frightening situation, Dennis said.
France FR
French Couple (Male aged 66 as of December 2010) and their family (the victim’s domestic duties included care for the family’s grandmother). KNOWN DATES: * 1979 – victim first worked for her traffickers in Senegal * Unknown dates: victim worked for her traffickers in Spain * 1997 Victim transported by her traffickers into France by car (without being controlled by immigration) * 2009 Victim fled her trafficker’s property * Unknown date – arrest of traffickers * Trial – October 2010 * Sentencing - December 2010, Lyon: SENTENCING: one year suspended sentence and “nearly 42,000 euros to the complainant in respect of back pay, rights retirement and compensation.” THE PROSECUTION HAD REQUESTED: two years suspended sentence and two years of probation as well as 60,000 Euro for the victim. This was publicized as France’s first domestic slavery case under Article 224-4-1 of the Penal Code (November 2007). Notice that in this case the unpaid & underpaid labor began in Senegal (1979) & continued during approximately 30 years including some time in Spain before approximately 12 years in France.
United States US
Hsien-Hsien “Jacqueline” Liu, 64, of Taiwan, residing in Overland Park, Kan., waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty on November 18, 2011 before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to the charge of fraud in foreign labor contracting for fraudulently obtaining two Filipino servants for her residence. By pleading guilty, Liu admitted that she fraudulently entered into employment contracts with two Filipino housekeepers, whom Liu then brought to the United States to work for her on B-1 visas. Liu paid them significantly less than the contractual amount and forced them to work excessive hours. In November 2010, Liu recruited and solicited a female citizen of Manila, Phillippines (identified in the plea agreement as Female Victim #1) to come to the United States to work as a housekeeper for her residence. Liu sent a signed contract via both Federal Express and fax from Kansas City, Mo., to Manila, which contained fraudulent terms of employment. The employment contract, which was used to obtain a B-1 visa for the victim, required that she be paid $1,240 per month to work 40 hours a week, eight hours a day. It only required her to be present in the residence during work hours. Liu admitted that she did not intend to comply with these terms. From March 6, 2011 to August 2011, contrary to the terms of the contract, Liu only paid the victim $450 a month, increased her work hours to 16-18 hours per day, and required that she work on the weekends and holidays. Liu had surveillance cameras installed inside the residence to monitor the victim and did not allow her to leave the residence without supervision or permission. The government’s investigation uncovered evidence that Liu had earlier engaged in the same conduct with another employee. Although the original federal criminal complaint charged Liu with conduct related to Female Victim #1, the affidavit filed in support of that complaint referred to a second victim. As part of the plea agreement, Liu is required to accept responsibility for the prior victim (identified in the plea agreement as Female Victim #2), also a woman from the Philippines, whom Liu employed in 2009-2010. Liu is the Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office located in Kansas City, Mo. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) is one of 13 offices responsible for maintaining close unofficial relations between the people of the United States and the people of Taiwan. They are generally the equivalent of a consulate of a foreign government, but the United States does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.
United States US
Deputy Sheriff Alfredo Navarrette ICE Trained Navarette admitted to passing information about the sheriff's crime-prevention operations to the group, Arpaio said. The deputy also was accused of being part of a separate human trafficking ring that smuggled illegal immigrants from Arizona to California. Navarette, who was once assigned to sheriff's human smuggling unit and was cross-trained as a federal immigration agent, regularly smuggled loads of illegal immigrants, Arpaio said. Detention Officer Sylvia Najera ICE Trained Detention Officer Marcella Hernandez ICE Trained All three officers were ICE trained. They are accused of tipping off drug traffickers and human smugglers about ongoing investigations. Hernandez allegedly had an ongoing personal relationship with a major drug kingpin and was 8-months pregnant with his child. According to court documents, she arranged the transfer of multiple heroin loads and allowed her boyfriend's drug trafficking organization to use her two houses as stash houses. Najera also allegedly had ties to a big drug trafficking ring. Perhaps the most shocking revelation is that Navarrette used to work in the anti-human smuggling unit for a short time, and when officers raided his house, they found two illegal immigrants being housed inside. According to court documents, 37-year-old Navarrette was a member of the drug trafficking organization and drove load vehicles, laundered money, and transported illegal immigrants from Arizona to California, among many other duties.
United States US
A couple lured a Brazilian woman (who the wife knew as the victim was a childhood friend) to the U.S. by offering her free lodging at their home and work as the family’s housekeeper and nanny for $1,500 a month with the promise of pursuing a nursing degree and a better life for her and her son. However, once the victim began working, her traffickers took her passport from her, withheld pay and food, was physically attacked by the wife, and was sexually molested by the husband. The traffickers claimed to have immunity and therefore any accusation made by the victim against them would be fruitless.
Saudi Arabia SA
A family from Saudi Arabia including a man, woman and their children hired a live-with domestic helper from Sri Lanka through a hiring agency in Saudi Arabia. After five months, Mrs. L.G.A. returned home to Sri Lanka, where after her arrival it was discovered she had 23 nails and one needle, some as long as 2" throughout her body. According to L.G.A: "I had to work continuously since I had to do the chores of all the occupants and when I wanted to take rest due to tiredness, they inserted the nail in my body as punishment.I had to work from dawn to dusk. I hardly slept. They beat me and threatened to kill me and hide my body."
United States US
According to a recent federal indictment, Alfred Edwards, 73, and Gloria Edwards, 60, both of Upper Marlboro, Md.,forced a Filipina woman to work for them, threatening and assaulting her. The couple enticed the victim to come to the United States to work as their domestic servant, according to the five-count indictment. The woman was an impoverished, uneducated, mother of eight, officials stated. The defendants promised her a salary that would support her children in the Philippines. According to the indictment, the defendants gained a false visa for the woman, and confiscated her documents after she arrived. They forced her to work for 13 hours a day for ten years, using a scheme of threats, assaults, withholding of documents, withholding of pay, and a peonage contract to coerce the victim’s continued service.
United Kingdom GB
Antonia Pearson-Gaballonie, age 36, of New Lane, Acomb, York. She was married to the victim's brother but he was posted to Wiltshire and she refused to move with him. She then hired the victim as a nanny for her children and forced her to clean the house naked, beg for her food as well as beaten. Pearson-Gaballonie later married Neil Pearson, age 35, who was also convicted of aiding and abetting his wife in committing assault. The jury heard Pearson-Gaballonie had been previously married to Miss Sandeman's brother. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/5328158.stm
United States US
From DOJ Press Release - Feb 2, 2010 ====================== Arlington, Texas, Couple Convicted of Forced Labor and Other Crimes for Holding Nigerian Woman in Domestic Servitude . http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/February/10-crt-118.html . A federal jury has convicted an Arlington, Texas, husband and wife, Emmanuel and Ngozi Nnaji, of engaging in a nine-year scheme to compel the labor of a Nigerian victim as their domestic servant, the Justice Department announced. . According to the evidence at trial, Emmanuel Nnaji and Ngozi Nnaji enticed a widowed Nigerian mother of six to come to the United States to be their domestic servant by falsely promising a salary and support for her children, who she was struggling to support. . The defendants procured fraudulent immigration documents, confiscated the victim's documents, harbored her in their home, compelled her to work long hours with no days off for little or no pay, used a scheme to isolate her and restrict her communications, withheld her documents and pay, and refused her requests to return home or be paid. The defendants also failed to provide support for the victim's six children in Nigeria, limited and monitored contact with her family in Nigeria, isolated her from normal society in the United States, and refused to allow her to regularly attend church. According to the evidence at trial, Emmanuel Nnaji sexually assaulted the victim and made her fearful to call the police.
Russia RU
In the summer of 1998, Schneider traveled to Moscow, Russia where he told two ballet instructors at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography that he was willing to provide “assistance” to students attending the academy. The instructors identified a 12-year old student whose family could no longer afford to pay his board. Schneider convinced the boy’s parents to allow him to live with Schneider in an apartment a few blocks from the school. From the fall of 1998 until 2004, Schneider engaged in a sexual relationship with the victim, bringing him to Philadelphia for a summer program in 2001, then returning to Moscow with the victim in August 2001 to continue the sexual relationship. Schneider paid for private ballet lessons at the apartment, and provided the victim with food and clothing. But he told the youngster to keep their relationship a secret. They had oral sex approximately three times a week and later anal sex about four times a week when he was 14 and 15 years old. The victim was exploited sexually (as a domestic sex servant), with the provision of room and board as a means of coercion.
South Africa ZA
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20100422124204355C380047 The trafficker involved in this investigation is a woman who is suspected to be a part of a larger trafficking ring run out of a warehouse that she owns in Parow, Cape Town. Operating under the guise of an employment agency, they would target girls in rural areas in the Norther Cape (such as Prieska) and bring them to Cape Town under the promise of providing a better life and good jobs with good salaries. Instead the girls found themselves working in the woman’s house or in the shops of people that she knew. The girls were often accused of making a mistake with the till in the shop and would receive large cuts in their pay – some never saw a pay cheque at all. Those who were lucky enough to work in the woman’s house would receive the occasional portion of rice and meat, but usually they were only fed dry bread in the morning and baked beans for supper in the evenings. After being rescued one of the young women told the officers that she had had a miscarriage the week before, but had not received any medical attention. She said that when she had told the warehouse owner, she simply replied that t was “not her problem.” Although the woman who owned the warehouse claimed that the girls could leave at any time, the young women told police that they were locked into the property at night and that they were not allowed to leave the warehouse. They were held captive and not even allowed to approach the front of the warehouse, but were told they must remain at the back.