LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - International Justice Mission Bolivia is hosting training programs for Bolivia’s Special Anti-Crime Forces (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Crimen) on strategies to combat sex trafficking.

MANILA, PHILIPINES – On June 30, 2008, a perpetrator convicted of trafficking for sexual exploitation was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay damages to her victims, who were represented by IJM Manila’s legal team. The sentence marks the Philippines’ 11th conviction for human trafficking since the country’s anti-trafficking legislation came into effect in 2003. “This conviction is a clear statement that the trafficking of minors is simply unacceptable in the Philippines,” explains Carmela Andal-Castro, Director of IJM Manila.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – On May 28, 2008, it took only an hour of deliberations for a federal jury to return a guilty verdict against U.S. citizen Michael Pepe, on trial in U.S. federal court for violently sexually abusing seven young girls in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.