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	2016 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders (RSF)   The 2016 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), shows that there has been a deep and disturbing decline in respect for media freedom at both the global and regional levels.   Ever since the 2013 index, Reporters Without Borders has been calculating indicators of the overall level of media freedom violations in each of the world’s regions and worldwide. The higher the figure, the worse the situation. The global indicator has gone from 3719 points last year to 3857 points this year, a 3.71% deterioration. The decline since 2013 is 13.6%.   The many reasons for this decline in freedom of information include the increasingly authoritarian tendencies of governments in countries such as Turkey and Egypt, tighter government control of state-owned media, even in some European countries such as Poland, and security situations that have become more and more fraught, in Libya and Burundi, for example, or that are completely disastrous, as in Yemen.   The survival of independent news coverage is becoming increasingly precarious in both the state and privately-owned media because of the threat from ideologies, especially religious ideologies, that are hostile to media freedom, and from large-scale propaganda machines. Throughout the world, “oligarchs” are buying up media outlets and are exercising pressure that compounds the pressure already coming from governments.   All of the Index’s indicators show a decline from 2013 to 2016. This is especially the case for infrastructure. Some governments do not hesitate to suspend access to the Internet or even to destroy the premises, broadcast equipment or printing presses of media outlets they dislike. The infrastructure indicator fell 16% from 2013 to 2016.   The legislative framework has registered an equally marked decline. Many laws have been adopted penalizing journalists on such spurious charges as “insulting the president,” “blasphemy” or “supporting terrorism.” Growing self-censorship is the knock-on effect of this alarming situation. The “media environment and self-censorship” indicator has fallen by more than 10% from 2013 to 2016.   Every continent has seen its score decline. The Americas have plunged 20.5%, above all as a result of the impact of physical attacks and murders targeting journalists in Mexico and Central America. Europe and the Balkans declined 6.5%, above all because of the growing influence of extremist movements and ultraconservative governments.   The Central Asia/Eastern Europe region’s already bad score deteriorated by 5% as a result of the increasingly glacial environment for media freedom and free speech in countries with authoritarian regimes.   The 2016 World Press Freedom Index is seen as a benchmark throughout the world, the Index ranks 180 countries according to the freedom allowed journalists. It also includes indicators of the level of media freedom violations in each region. These show that Europe (with 19.8 points) still has the freest media, followed distantly by Africa (36.9), which for the first time overtook the Americas (37.1), a region where violence against journalists is on the rise. Asia (43.8) and Eastern Europe/Central Asia (48.4) follow, while North Africa/Middle East (50.8) is still the region where journalists are most subjected to constraints of every kind.   Three north European countries head the rankings. They are Finland (ranked 1st, the position it has held since 2010), Netherlands (2nd, up 2 places) and Norway (3rd, down 1). The countries that rose most in the Index include Tunisia (96th, up 30), thanks to a decline in violence and legal proceedings, and Ukraine (107th, up 22), where the conflict in the east of the country abated.   The countries that fell farthest include Poland (47th, down 29), where the ultra-conservative government seized control of the public media, and (much farther down) Tajikistan, which plunged 34 places to 150th as a result of the regime’s growing authoritarianism. The Sultanate of Brunei (155th, down 34) suffered a similar fall because gradual introduction of the Sharia and threats of blasphemy charges have fuelled self-censorship. Burundi (156th, down 11) fell because of the violence against journalists resulting from President Pierre Nkurunziza’s contested reelection for a third term. The same “infernal trio” are in the last three positions: Turkmenistan (178th), North Korea (179th) and Eritrea (180th).   “It is unfortunately clear that many of the world’s leaders are developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism,” said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.   “The climate of fear results in a growing aversion to debate and pluralism, a clampdown on the media by ever more authoritarian and oppressive governments, and reporting in the privately-owned media that is increasingly shaped by personal interests. Journalism worthy of the name must be defended against the increase in propaganda and media content that is made to order or sponsored by vested interests. Guaranteeing the public’s right to independent and reliable news and information is essential if humankind’s problems, both local and global, are to be solved.”   Published annually by RSF since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index is an important advocacy tool based on the principle of emulation between states. Because it is now so well known, its influence over the media, governments and international organizations is growing.   The Index is based on an evaluation of media freedom that measures pluralism, media independence, the quality of the legal framework and the safety of journalists in 180 countries. It is compiled by means of a questionnaire in 20 languages that is completed by experts all over the world. This qualitative analysis is combined with quantitative data on abuses and acts of violence against journalists during the period evaluated.   The Index is not an indicator of the quality of the journalism in each country, nor does it rank public policies even if governments obviously have a major impact on their country’s ranking.   * Access the report via the link below. RSF has published a 60 page report on the growing concentration of a few businessmen on media outlets all over the world. RSF uses the word "oligarchs" to describe those who purchase newspapers, magazines and TV channels on a global scale. China, France, Russia, even the US - no country, no continent can escape the insatiable appetite of these media moguls, many of whom regularly use their media purchases to serve their economic and political interests: http://bit.ly/2adV0Fb Visit the related web page
	Dismantling the business of Human Trafficking by Human Rights First, agencies   May 2016   An estimated 45.8 million men, women and children around the world are today trapped in modern slavery – 28% more than previously estimated. They are enslaved through human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced or servile marriage or commercial sexual exploitation. This is revealed in the 2016 Global Slavery Index, the flagship research report published today by the Walk Free Foundation.   North Korea is the country with the greatest prevalence of modern slavery, with 4.37% of its population estimated to be enslaved. It is also the country with the weakest government response in terms of actions taken to combat modern slavery. The next highest prevalence of slavery is found in Uzbekistan (3.97%), followed by Cambodia (1.65%).   In terms of absolute numbers, India remains the highest with an estimated 18.35 million enslaved people, followed by China (3.39m), Pakistan (2.13m), Bangladesh (1.53m) and Uzbekistan (1.23m). Combined, these five countries account for almost 58% of the world’s enslaved, or 26.6 million people.   The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that 28% more people are enslaved than reported in the 2014 edition. This significant increase is due to enhanced data collection and research methodology. Survey research for the 2016 Global Slavery Index included over 42,000 interviews conducted in 53 languages across 25 countries, including 15 state-level surveys in India. These representative surveys cover 44% of the global population.   The Global Slavery Index also tracks government actions and responses to modern slavery. Of the 161 assessed, 124 countries have criminalised human trafficking in line with the UN Trafficking Protocol and 96 have developed national action plans to coordinate government response.   Some progress has been made by many governments since the publication of the 2014 report. The UK Government introduced the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and has appointed an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. President Barack Obama closed a loophole in US law to now ban the importation of goods made with forced or child labour.   While India has more people enslaved than any other country, it has made some progress in introducing measures to tackle the problem. It has criminalised trafficking, slavery, forced labour, child prostitution and forced marriage. The Indian government is revising legislation against human trafficking, with tougher punishment for repeat offenders. It will offer victims protection and recovery support.   http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/download/   Feb. 2016   This year marks the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. Yet in the world today there are an estimated 20.9 million people enslaved, and the United States is both a source and destination of victims. While the United States would have a moral responsibility to address this problem even without its history of slavery, its legacy heightens this imperative.   Contemporary slavery manifests in various ways. Many trafficking victims are forced to toil in fields, factories, and fishing boats for little or no pay. Others are held captive in private homes. Forced prostitution rings imprison women, girls, and boys in brothels or force them to work in the streets under threat of abuse. What links all these forms—as well as historic American slavery—is the profit motive.   Human trafficking is a lucrative criminal enterprise, generating $150 billion annually in profits worldwide.   Human trafficking continues to be a horrific human rights problem both in the United States and around the world.   Under U.S. law, trafficking in persons is defined as “sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age;” or “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery."   Human trafficking can be a transnational process where victims are recruited abroad and transported across borders into another country where they are exploited for labor and/or sex. However, human trafficking can also be a domestic phenomenon, where little or no transportation is required.   A Global Problem:   According to a May 2014 report from the International Labor Organization (ILO):   An estimated 21 million victims are trapped in modern-day slavery. Of these, 14.2 million (68%) were exploited for labor, 4.5 million (22%) were sexually exploited, and 2.2 million (10%) were exploited in state-imposed forced labor.   Forced labor takes place in many different industries. Of the 14.2 million trafficking victims exploited for labor:   7.1 million forced labor victims work in construction, manufacturing, mining, or utilities; 3.4 million forced labor victims are domestic workers; 3.5 million forced labor victims work in agriculture; 55% of trafficking victims around the world are women and girls and 45% are men and boys.   15.4 million victims are aged 18 or older, with the number of children under the age of 18 estimated at 5.5 million.   The Asia-pacific region accounts for the largest number of forced laborers—11.7 million (56% of the global total). Africa has 3.7 million followed by Latin America and the Caribbean with 1.8 million.   Countries in central, south-eastern and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have 1.6 million. The Developed Economies and European Union account for 1.5 million. There are at least 600,000 victims in the Middle East.   Human trafficking does not always involve travel to the destination of exploitation: 9.1 million victims of forced labor moved either internally or internationally, while the majority, 11.8 million, were subjected to forced labor within their place of origin.   Victims spend an average of 18 months in forced labor, although this varied with different forms of forced labor.   Human trafficking earns profits of roughly $150 billion a year for traffickers, according to the ILO. The following is a breakdown of profits, by sector: $99 billion from commercial sexual exploitation; $34 billion in construction, manufacturing, mining and utilities; $9 billion in agriculture, including forestry and fishing; $8 billion dollars is saved annually by private households that employ domestic workers under conditions of forced labor.   According to the 2015 State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, there were only 10,051 prosecutions and 4,443 convictions for trafficking globally in 2014.   Of the estimated 14.5 million forced labor victims worldwide, only 418 cases of forced labor were prosecuted globally in 2014, according to the US Department of State, a 65% decrease from 1,199 cases prosecuted in 2013.   Modern slavery: We have to stop human trafficking, by William Bell.   It was not that long ago that many Americans did not realize slavery existed as a real and rampant problem around the world. Thanks to the tireless works of advocates, including survivors, public awareness of human trafficking has grown. It is now more widely known among Americans that millions of people—20.9 million, according to the International Labor Organization—are enslaved. The United States is also both a source and destination of victims.   Sex trafficking gets most of the attention, and understandably so: it is a horrific crime. But many Americans are also beginning to understand that the products they use and food they eat can be tainted by slavery and trafficking in businesses supply chains.   Late last year, an Associated Press investigation found that major American chain retailers and restaurants were selling shrimp harvested by enslaved workers in very dangerous conditions.   An increased awareness has led to new laws to better help protect victims. But it has not produced the kind of financial investment needed to begin to dismantle the business of human trafficking, the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. Consider this: the U.S. government spends more money in the War on Drugs in a month than it''s spent combating trafficking in the last fifteen years.   It is estimated that over the last decade all governments and non-governmental organizations have spent an average of $124 million a year combined fighting trafficking. It is no wonder, then, that few perpetrators pay for their crimes. According to the 2015 State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, there were only 4,443 convictions for trafficking globally in 2014.   While it is essential to invest in the rescue and care of victims, the virtual impunity for perpetrators means that they continue to prey on vulnerable people and every victim rescued is replaced with new victims.   Money alone does not guarantee success—this effort also requires innovative law enforcement, continued public pressure, international cooperation, and collaboration between government and the private sector—but an insufficient investment guarantees failure.   The U.S. government is in a position to crack down on this insidious industry. Without sustained leadership, traffickers will continue to be able to operate without fear.   The United States should seek to reduce substantially the number of victims by implementing policies and practices that dismantle the business of trafficking.   http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/campaigns/bankrupt-slavery http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/understanding-modern-slavery http://www.walkfree.org/ http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/default.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Slavery/SRSlavery/Pages/SRSlaveryIndex.aspx Visit the related web page
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