In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
Dramatic events unfold in Croatia and Ukraine. The first girl drowned, the second one died from a drug overdose. The main suspect in these deaths, however, soon turns out to be innocent - and dead too. While detective Vladimir and reporter Stribor struggle to solve these murders in Croatia, the niece of Olga, an Ukrainian philanthropist, goes missing in Kyiv.
Young women from Lithuania and Russia are taken to Belgium by a gang involved in the sex trade to work as sex slaves.
Sex Slaves is a 2005 documentary by Ric Esther Bienstock which was created in association with CBC, Channel 4 and Canal D. It provides a firsthand account of international human trafficking by going to the countries such as Moldova and Ukraine where girls are recruited, then following the trail to the various countries and locales where they end up. Interviews with traffickers, experts, police vice-squads and former sex slaves, along with undercover footage, provide a glimpse into the frightening reality and scope of the problem. One husband's journey is documented as he attempts to rescue his pregnant wife who was sold by a trafficker who befriended them, to a notoriously powerful and violent pimp in Turkey. Sex Slaves won numerous awards, including a 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism, the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club of America, a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television, a British Broadcast Award for Best Documentary and a Royal Television Society Award from the UK, among others.
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