Washington–Ambassador Luis CdeBaca praised Singapore in a June 27 press conference here for its innovation in combating human trafficking. Singapore has come up with a Human Trafficking indicators card used by police authorities.

CdeBaca is ambassador-at-large at the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

The wikipedia defines human trafficking as “the illegal trade in human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery.”

CdeBaca said in Singapore, police officers are issued a little card that actually has the indicators of trafficking in persons. Instead of waiting for the victim to come to them and say, “I’m a trafficking victim,” the card has questions that the police officers can refer to as a guide.

Among these questions: Is the victim in possession of identification and travel documents? If not, who has them? Have the victims been threatened with deportation or law enforcement? Can they freely contact their friends or families? Is their salary being garnished to pay off a smuggling fee? Do they have freedom of movement?”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the Human Trafficking Report on 184 countries on June 27. She also honored ten 2011 Trafficking in Person Report Heroes, and among them were brave individuals from Singapore and the Philippines. The honorees were chosen from nominees from 184 countries.

CdeBaca said, referring to these heroes: “Those people, from countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guatemala, Finland, India, Namibia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, and others–these are people who have put themselves at risk. They’ve put their careers, sometimes, at risk. They’ve sometimes stood up to the traffickers.”

He added: “Whether a survivor, a government official, or a nongovernmental activist, people who span the globe but are united by one controlling idea, and that is that in the year 2011, slavery should exist nowhere in the world.”