Latest Forced labor News
Japan holds first memorial for 'all workers' at Sado gold mines but blurs WWII atrocity. Why?
SADO, Japan (AP) — Japan held a memorial ceremony on Sunday near the Sado Island Gold Mines, listed this summer as a UNESCO World Heritage site after the country moved past years of historical disputes with South Korea and reluctantly acknowledged the mines' dark history. However, it has not...
California voters reject measure that would have banned forced prison labor
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have rejected a measure on the November ballot that would have amended the state constitution to ban forced prison labor. The constitution already prohibits so-called involuntary servitude, but an exception allows it to be used as a...
California voters reject proposed ban on forced prison labor in any form
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have rejected a measure amending the state Constitution to ban forced labor in any form. The constitution currently bans it except as punishment for crime. That exemption became a target of criminal justice advocates who are concerned...
California voters pass initiative to make some shoplifting and drug offenses felonies
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters decided on 10 ballot measures including one that would turn some nonviolent crimes, like shoplifting, into felonies again, and another that would make the state’s minimum wage the highest in the nation. Here’s a look at some of the...
Nevada voted to make abortion a constitutional right. What to know about key ballot measures
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A ballot question to enshrine Nevada’s abortion rights in the state constitution has received its first nod of approval from voters, who must also approve the measure in 2026 in order to amend the constitution. The measure passed early Wednesday morning. ...
Takeaways from The Associated Press investigation into sexual abuse of incarcerated women
As part of a sweeping two-year investigation into prison labor, The Associated Press found that correctional staff nationwide have been accused of using inmate work assignments to sexually abuse incarcerated women, luring them to isolated spots, out of view of security cameras. Many cases follow a...
A pizza shop owner is sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for threatening workers with deportation
BOSTON (AP) — The owner of two Boston-area pizza shops convicted of forced labor for using physical violence and threats of reprisal or deportation against employees living in the country illegally has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison. Stavros Papantoniadis, 49,...
Altogether fitting and proper? Trump repeatedly compares himself to Abraham Lincoln
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Four score and seven years from now, the mystic chords of memory may recall the way Donald Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, lauded him one day and lambasted him the next. It is altogether fitting and proper that our descendants would examine why the 45th...
Voters in California and Nevada consider ban on forced labor aimed at protecting prisoners
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California and Nevada voters will decide in November whether to ban forced prison labor by removing language from their state constitutions rooted in the legacy of chattel slavery. The measures aim to protect incarcerated people from being forced to work...
US bans new types of goods from China over allegations of forced labor
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it would ban the import of goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese maker of artificial sweetener, accusing both of being involved in the use of forced labor from China's far-west region of Xinjiang. ...
