Of human bondage ...

I'm not referring to the Somerset Maugham novel, but to the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report, released last week, and available here.

This annual report examines various forms of human trafficking between and within countries around the world, including various forms of involuntary servitude, forced child labor, sex slavery, and c.h.i.l.d sex tourism (shudder). Not exactly pleasant reading; at the very least, reading the report makes you appreciate how fortunate we in the US truly are. We're certainly not perfect, but we're light years better than most of the world, particularly the Third World, when it comes to basic human rights.