When police found 26-year-old Win Farida, a maid from East Java, abandoned on a road in Malaysia, she was carrying the scars of being repeatedly raped by her employer and burnt with a hot iron by his wife.
The couple face eight years in jail for abusing the Indonesian maid under Malaysia’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
In Zamboanga City, Philippines last week, local authorities rescued of 18  people and the arrested a couple in an operation.
According to the victims, they were offered jobs in a palm oil company in Malaysia. They were to take a ferry boat to Sulu from where they will enter Malaysia as illegal workers.
In China, smuggling of women and children from neighboring nations into China is increasing despite efforts to fight human trafficking, a senior police official said.
About 1,500 cross-border cases involving about 2,000 kidnapped women and infants have been handled since 2009, he said.
Some of the rescued women were sold as brides in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces and others were put into prostitution in border areas of Yunnan and the Guangxi Zhuang. Many rescued children had been trafficked in Guangdong and Guangxi for illegal adoption, with boys fetching as much as $6,000 and girls much less.
Many of the suspected traffickers are women.
Canada is not immune from this global problem.
According to Lawyers Weekly, the first major report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on human trafficking in Canada in 2004 estimated that about 600 foreign nationals are brought to Canada for sex trafficking every year. Often young women — primarily from the Philippines, Moldova, China and Romania — are smuggled into Canada or lured to Canada by fraudulent offers of employment. Upon arrival, their passports and visas are confiscated and they are forced to work in strip clubs, massage parlors and “micro-brothels,” which can be set up in hotel rooms, apartment units and even luxury condominiums.
Touched by the plight of human trafficking victims everywhere, Tara Teng, Miss Canada 2011, is taking the fight for justice on the road this summer in a cross-country tour, Ignite the Road to Justice, that kicked off earlier this week.
Ignite the Road to Justice, which runs from August 15 to ending in Toronto on September 4, seeks to ignite a powerful grassroots movement that speaks up for the oppressed, says Teng of Langley.
Teng will be joined by fellow abolitionist, author and former Madam, Tania Fiolleau; recording artist, Kevin Boese; and several human-trafficking informants.
The team will partner with key anti-human trafficking groups in each community to hold events that provide opportunities to educate and stimulate participation to fight human trafficking.  Fiolleau says,
 “This could be your sister, your best friend’s girl, your cousin, niece or even your mother! Anyone from any background can fall prey to human trafficking and exploitation. We must stop turning the other cheek and grab the bull by the horns, unify and stand up in unity and fight fiercely for the oppressed”.
Teng has traveling through California, Thailand, and Cambodia to speak about social justice and to meet some of the women affected by human trafficking.
The 22- year old has been deeply effected by the people she now keeps regular contact with and who have become dear friends.
“I have witnessed human trafficking and other forms of injustice all around the world, but the more you learn about it,” she says, “the more you have to start asking yourself hard questions like, ‘How have I directly or indirectly contributed to this injustice?’”
“It’s a long, uphill battle but I am encouraged because everywhere I look there are concerned citizens standing up and getting serious about ending human exploitation, says Teng. Teng says we will not tolerate this any longer- not in our cities, our nation or our world and that’s the core of this tour.    
“Join us, be a voice and let’s end this injustice in our lifetime,” added Teng.
Teng abolitionist efforts and has earned her a nomination for a Chatelaine magazine Women of the Year 2011 award. From the 32 nominees that include Teng, will be named the Top 20 Under 30. The winners will be announced late in 2011.
This fall, as a student at the Trinity Western University Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa, Teng will intern with MP Joy Smith. Smith has gained support for a new bill that aims to abolish the sex trade by targeting its market.
To support Tara Teng and friends on the national Ignite the Road to Justice Tour, visit ignitetheroadtojustice.com