1. Burma
2. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
3. Nigeria
4. Somalia
5.
South Sudan
6. Sudan
7. Syria
8. Yemen

[In August 2013,] a child came in who appeared to be between 10 and 12 years old, called ‘Abu Bakr.’ His hand had been cut by a piece of metal. [We] talked to his escort, an armed man from ‘Da`esh’ [ISIL] who came and brought him. He said this boy was a guard in their prison in Tal Abyad, and he had the job of whipping prisoners.
– A doctor who worked at a clinic in Tal Abyad in Raqqa governorate, on treating a child injured while serving in an ISIL military camp.

38 2015 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

In Yemen, children are unlawfully recruited and used in armed conflict on the front lines,  to  man  checkpoints, and even as human shields or suicide bombers.

CHILD SOLDIERS PREVENTION ACT LIST 39

2015 TIP REPORT HEROES
Each year, the Department of State honors individuals around the world who have devoted their lives to   the fight against human trafficking. These individuals are NGO workers, lawmakers, police officers, and concerned citizens who are committed to ending modern slavery. They are recognized for their tireless efforts—despite resistance, opposition, and threats to their lives—to protect victims, punish offenders, and

BETTY PEDRAZA LOZANO
COLOMBIA

AMEENA SAEED HASAN
IRAQ

Since July 2003, Betty Pedraza Lozano has served as the founder and director of Corporación Espacios de Mujer, a Colombian NGO that provides victim services to adults, especially women, and children who suffer violence and abuse within the context of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. As director, she promotes and advocates for women’s empowerment and victims’ rights, as well as gender and human rights. She has worked with the Colombian government and international organizations to implement protocols for victim care.
A native of Medellín, Ms. Pedraza focuses much of her attention in the Antioquia department, where virginity auctions, sex tourism, and child pornography are rampant, and women and children are often exploited in prostitution in the mining and tourism sectors. She coordinated an anti- trafficking awareness campaign called “Porque se Trata de Ti,” or “Because it’s all about you,” which provides educational information on prevention efforts, victim identification, and victim services.
Ms. Pedraza is the co-founder of the Colombian Alliance of Civil Society Organizations against Human Trafficking, the first NGO network on trafficking in the country, and represents Colombia in the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women.

Ameena Saeed Hasan is a Yezidi Kurd, a former member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, and a fearless voice for the Yezidi religious minority in northern Iraq. This community has been the target of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since the summer of 2014 when they began kidnapping thousands of members of the Yezidi community, including women and girls who are subjected to forced marriages, sexual slavery, systematic rape, and domestic servitude.
Resolved to assist victims of some of the worst forms of human rights abuses and human trafficking, Ms. Hasan participated in an effort to create a registry of ISIL captives and the locations where they were being held. She also joined a team of activists sponsored by the Kurdistan Regional Government that has helped secure the release of approximately 100 former captives.
Ms. Hasan’s courageous leadership has been vital to support fellow members of the Yezidi community who have sought assistance from the U.S. government in the face of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Iraq. She participated as a civil society representative in the White House Summit to Counter Violent Extremism in February 2015, where she delivered remarks on captive Yezidi women.

2015 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

raise awareness of ongoing criminal practices in their countries and abroad. For more information about current and past Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes, including how to connect with them, please visit the Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes Global Network at www.tipheroes.org.

GITA MIRUŠKINA
LATVIA

NOROTIANA RAMBOARIVELO JEANNODA
MADAGASCAR

Gita Miruškina, an innovative lawyer for the Latvian NGO Safe House, has dedicated her life to assisting victims of human trafficking and enhancing the legal understanding of trafficking in persons in Latvia and the European Union. As one of the principal NGOs working on trafficking in Latvia, Safe House works directly with sex and labor trafficking victims, assisting them in their recovery and providing vital legal aid.
Ms. Miruškina also has been instrumental in alerting the European Union to the issue of “sham marriages”—brokered marriages between European Union passport-holders and third-country nationals, arranged so the latter can become eligible for immigration benefits—a practice that often leads to sex and labor trafficking, especially of women from Eastern Europe.
In the past six years, Ms. Miruškina has assisted more than 150 trafficking victims and acted as their legal representative in nearly 30 trials, including Latvia’s first labor trafficking trial, a landmark case that is still ongoing. Ms. Miruškina’s professionalism and dedication to a victim-centered approach has been lauded by victims and their families, as well as by judges and prosecutors who frequently consult her for professional advice.

Norotiana Ramboarivelo Jeannoda launched the National Union of Social Workers in Madagascar in 2005, which quickly became a leading civil society organization promoting human rights and combating child sex tourism and human trafficking. She is among the most persistent and outspoken members of civil society advocating in Madagascar on behalf of victims of human trafficking. Ms. Ramboarivelo Jeannoda counsels victims trapped in abusive situations abroad, meets victims at the airport who return destitute and in need of care, and coordinates with border police to institute protective measures.
Ms. Ramboarivelo Jeannoda has prodded the government to do more by documenting the numbers of Malagasy victims exploited in the Middle East and of those who have committed suicide as a result of their desperation. She has led civil society groups to plead publicly for the case of transnational trafficking victims. In addition, Ms. Ramboarivelo Jeannoda was instrumental in ensuring that new draft anti-trafficking legislation addressed the needs of victims, and her advocacy efforts led to the adoption of Madagascar’s new National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking  in Persons.

2015 TIP REPORT HEROES