In 1993 Abdul Momen, director of the human rights organization Women and Children International, traveled to Tungipara, Bangladesh, where more than one thousand children had been reported missing. The children's mothers told Momen that the children had left with labor contractors who promised to find them good jobs in the Persian Gulf region.

Circulating rumors alleged that the children had been abducted and sold into slavery—the girls stocked brothels in India and Pakistan, and the boys served as camel jockeys (boys who ride camels in races) for rich men's entertainment. After months of investigation, Momen concluded that the rumors were true; the children of Tungipara were slaves. Many people are unaware that slavery still exists all over the world. From the Middle East to the United States, from Eastern Europe to South America, men, women, and children work in slavery or in slavery-like conditions. Anti-Slavery International, the...