South Korea school takes a stand

An entire high school in South Korea is taking a stand to end slavery.

It started when Elizabeth Pruitt, an English conversation teacher at Yeong Gwang Girls High School in Gunsan, South Korea, and her co-teacher assigned their class to make group presentations about a current event. They pulled up CNN.com on a big screen to give them some project ideas.

How to help: The role of technology

Although the basic characteristics of slavery haven’t changed over time, the ways in which we can fight against this atrocity have. Victims around the world are still being physically and emotionally abused, as well as economically exploited, but we are constantly learning and developing new ways to assist the victims and track down the traffickers.

How to help: Who’s in the fight?

This past week, on Jim Clancy’s The Brief, we have focused on young activists who are serving as role models in the fight against modern day slavery.  Our guests included Bradley Myles, the Executive Director and CEO of Polaris Project; Zach Hunter, author and founder of the Loose Change to Loosen Chains campaign through IJM; and Cheryl Perera, Founder and President ofOne Child.

How to Help: Travel and tourism

Throughout the week, Richard Quest, of Quest Means Business, has tackled the issue of sex tourism - the act of traveling to another country with the intention of soliciting sex from prostitutes.  While this may seem condemnable in itself, the real tragedy occurs when these prostitutes are children who have fallen victim to sex trafficking.

We started the week off with a success story in Dan Rivers’ piece on Thai sex trafficking - the Thai Police busted a sex slavery ring, rescuing nine young boys who had been held captive and abused.  The ring leader was sentenced to 84 years in prison (later halved because the convicted cooperated with investigators and the court), and a monk who admitted to abusing the boys was sentenced to 21 years in prison.  While a definite success, there is still much work to be done.

Fighting child sex slavery in Thailand – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery - CNN.com Blogs

Fighting child sex slavery in Thailand – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery - CNN.com Blogs: "Thai police recently busted a sex slavery ring, rescuing nine boys and arresting a Buddhist monk. Police footage shows the monk in possession of several fake guns. Experts working the case say he and another Thai man bought boys, held them prisoner and then sold them to Westerners for sex.
The leader of the ring was sentenced to 84 years in prison for human trafficking and sexual abuse, a sentence that has since been halved because the judges said he’d cooperated with investigators and the court. The monk, who has been expelled from the clergy, received a 21-year prison sentence for trafficking and sexually abusing under-aged children.
CNN's Dan Rivers reports."