The Freedom Blog is starting a new feature, the Human Trafficking Notebook, to let our readers know that human trafficking — the business side of modern-day slavery — is an everyday occurrence somewhere around the world.

The reports are gleaned from a daily scan of newspapers, broadcast media, RSS feeds and internet blog sites that focus on contemporary slavery issues.  Links to the the referenced source will be included.

If you read or hear something about trafficking in your locale, please forward them to me at pbernish@nurfc.org.

We start with a report from the Associated Press about the rescue of 22 women and children from a trafficking ring that had operated in south China for more than two decades.  What’s most noticeable about the report is that the trafficking of the victims occurred inside China.  This is a little known fact about trafficking:  much of it occurs within a country’s borders.

A trafficking case in which the victims were transported internationally comes from Louisiana, according to USA Today.  A class action lawsuit alleges that hundreds of Filipino women recruited to teach in Louisiana schools were instead caught up in a classic example of debt servitude, in which the women were exploited through usurious loans, unsavory living conditions and the extraction of as much as 30% of their salaries.

“It was close to slavery,” said Mary Bauer, lead attorney in the lawsuit set to be filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Federation of Teachers and the law firm Covington & Burling. “There was fraud on a number of levels here.”

Attorneys for the defendants denied all charges.