Resource Center

Stories

The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast.

These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need.

Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:



Search results for "slaves" ...

  • Mauritania: Slavery's Last Stronghold

    Two CNN Digital reporters traveled to Mauritania -- a West African nation that became the last country in the world to abolish slavery – to document a practice the Mauritanian government denies still exists. Spending nearly a year to gain entry into the country and conducting many of their interviews at night and in covert locations, John Sutter and Edythe McNamee went to great lengths to uncover the tragedy of multigenerational servitude in Mauritania. They met people who’ve never known freedom; people who escaped slavery to find their lives hadn't changed; and abolitionists who have been fighting against slavery for years with minimal results. It was only five years ago -- in 2007 -- that the country finally passed a law that making slavery a crime. So far, only one slave owner has been convicted. The United Nations estimates 10% to 20% of Mauritanians live in slavery today. But the country continues to deny slavery’s existence and attempted to subvert Sutter’s and McNamee’s reporting by assigning to them a government “minder.” Nonetheless, the two succeeded at putting a face on a shocking practice that is similar to slavery in America before the Civil War, in which people are born into slavery and rarely escape. Their report – “Slavery’s Last Stronghold” -- featured a variety of mediums, including personal video accounts and written stories featuring firsthand accounts from freed slaves and one man’s transformative journey from slave owner to abolitionist. It also included related stories – such as the story of escaped Mauritanian slaves now living in Ohio. In response to the initiative, CNN iReport, the network’s global participatory news community, gathered messages of hope and support to be shared at a school for escaped slaves in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

    Tags: slavery; Mauritania; Africa; freedom

    By John D. Sutter; Edythe McNamee

    CNN

    2012

  • Factory Slaves

    The investigation into the plight of migrant workers follows the story of a young girl who left her home in Cambodia on the promise of a good factory job but arrived only to become a debt-bonded slave.

    Tags: migrant workers; slaves; Cambodia; Far East

    By Dan Rivers; Kocha Olarn; Jonathan Wald; Andy Carey; Charlie Miller; Theerasak Nitipiched; Fi Sibbet

    CNN (Atlanta)

    2011

  • Fields of Terror-The New Slave Trade in the Heart of Europe

    People from poor countries are becoming modern day slaves as they are lured in on false pretenses and then being held captive. They were promised “good salaries, accommodations, and food”, but instead were beaten and threatened if they asked for these items. These people were becoming slaves and provided many local restaurants with fresh foods from the surrounding fields. Even though this was all happening, many people were continuing to get away with having these modern day slaves and no one was stopping them.

    Tags: Czech Republic; Eastern Europe; illegal immigrants; gangsters; criminals; labor; force; manual labor; work

    By Adrian Mogos; Petru Zoltan; Doru Cobuz; Vitalie Calugareanu; Vlad Lavrov

    n/a

    2009

  • A Crime So Monstrous

    "Skinner digs deep to find slaves, slave traders and slave masters in the frontlines of the third world war zones, in rotting urban ghettos, even in suburban America."

    Tags: third world; modern slavery; human trafficking; sex trade; debt-bondage;

    By E. Benjamin Skinner

    Free Press (New York)

    2008

  • The Email Trial

    After requesting records from the Harris County Sheriff's Office to investigate possible corruption of the local County Commissioner, over 750,000 emails were deleted.

    Tags: e-mail; slave labor; surveillance; ranch house; text message; shredding;

    By Wayne Dolcefino; Steve Bivens; David Defranchi

    KTRK-TV (Houston)

    2008

  • Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy

    "The book uncovers three labor environments where modern-day enslavement or near-enslavement of immigrants has taken place on American soil." Bowe looks at outsourcing, unpaid and illegal immigrant workers, and other loopholes in the American business system.

    Tags: immigrant; immigration; outsourcing; India; Kuwait; Saipan; Florida; Oklahoma; employee; employer; PepsiCo; Tropicana; John Pickle Company; clothing; factory; Gap; Target;

    By John Bowe

    Random House

    2007

  • Human for sale 'dons' exposed

    "This cross border investigative story unmasked a complex web of human trafficking syndicate operating in the West African sub region where young girls and in some cases children are sold into prostitution in Europe and America. The eight month long investigative scoop finally led to the smashing of the syndicate in a sting operation led by this journalist. 17 girls who were about to be sold were eventually rescued in the operation, with two suspects busted.

    Tags: human trafficking; undercover reporter; sex slaves; Ghana; sting operation; Anti-Human Trafficking Unit; concubine

    By Anas Aremeyaw Anas

    The Crusading Guide (Ghana)

    2007

  • Sex Slaves in America

    The story is "the culmination of a year long investigation into the underreported epidemic of the forced trafficking of educated foreign women into the United States to work in the growing sex industry of massage parlors, strip clubs and cantinas in major American cities."

    Tags: human trafficking; sex slaves; sex industry; sex rings; Detroit strip clubs; Houston cantinas; San Francisco's massage parlors; human rights violation

    By Grace Kahng; Erika Trautman; David Kelley; Meredith Vieira

    MSNBC

    2007

  • Against Their Will, Human Trafficking

    Focusing on human trafficking among American teenagers. These teens are "seduced or kidnapped into a life of forced prostitution." Trafficking not only happened in the lower socio-economic or immigrant communities. CBS also examines "sex slavery in wealthy white communities." Finally They look at solutions.

    Tags: human trafficking; sex slaves; sex slavery; Department of Health and Human Services; prostitution; kidnapping; runaways; Abolitionist church movement; NGO

    By Michael Bass; Nanci Ross; Kim Kennedy; Michael Mancini; Tracy Smith; Lindy Smalley

    CBS News

    2007

  • Slaves in Amazon Forced to Make Material Used in Cars

    In Brazil, Peru and Bolivia hundreds of thousands of unemployed men and women are being recruited for slavery. The workers for the slave-camps make charcoal, while being forced to live without housing, electricity or plumbing, and without pay.

    Tags: slave labor; Amazon; South America; labor camps; malaria; tuberculosis; Whirlpool; Nucor; Latin America; Ford; General Motors; Nissan; Toyota; car companies

    By Michael Smith; David Voreacos

    Bloomberg News (New York)

    2006