When IJM began operations in Guatemala in 2005, the staff were well-advised of the huge challenges they would face. Though the Guatemalan government has taken many positive steps to create a justice system based on the rule of law, this system has been slow to respond to the needs of the children who rely on it for protection from sexual violence. Before the IJM office opened, other experts in the field warned that fighting for justice in Guatemala would be an uphill battle – that victories would be rare and hard-fought.

PHILIPPINES- The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has ordered the permanent closure of seven clubs in which trafficked minors were prostituted, following an appeals process initiated by the IJM Philippines legal team. The bars were initially closed in January 2006 after IJM conducted operations in cooperation with the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation – Violence Against Women and Children Division to remove minors held in prostitution at the bars.

IJM’s investigations team has been providing training courses for international police departments since 2003 as part of its efforts to build capacity in local justice systems. In Cambodia, IJM’s investigations team has just concluded a training course for 25 members of Cambodia’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department.

INDIA – On February 28, IJM assisted the local government in a surprise operation at two farms suspected of holding an elderly man and several boys in forced labor. The boys had been purchased, in effect, by the owners of the farm, who advanced cash to their parents. Illegal by Indian law, advances like those offered to the boys’ families are often used to compel labor for years as the lender swells the owed sum through massively inflated interest charges and other spurious fees. These debts can eventually pass down through families, enslaving multiple generations on the basis of a small, decades-old advance.

A perpetrator in an illegal land and property seizure case has been convicted and is currently serving six months in jail for his role in violently stealing the home of an elderly female relative after her husband’s death. Related trials against the perpetrator continue and may result in more serious convictions. Since becoming operational in 2002, IJM Uganda has served many clients in recovering their stolen land or property through the court system and through mediation, but this case marks the office’s first criminal conviction for a perpetrator of illegal land and property seizure. A major victory in Judith’s* case, the conviction also holds special significance due to the rarity of convictions for this type of crime in Uganda.