The global sex industry generates over $30 billion a year, which is why Kristin Keen is often on the side of the highway in Jacksonville, Fla. She routinely walks a section called Philips Highway to meet and talk with prostitutes working on the street. These women wonder why she cares, especially in a place where most transactions are strictly business.

But Keen is not discouraged. Instead, her experiences have pushed her to start a business to give these women a different kind of job.

She is the founder of Rethreaded, a nonprofit organization in Jacksonville, with the goal of fighting "business with business." Keen told her story at North Carolina's Davidson College last week during a human trafficking awareness night in partnership with the campus chapter of the International Justice Mission. more >>

A new report released by Human Rights Watch this week argues that despite the ousting of the Taliban, women and girls in Afghanistan continue to live in precarious conditions with hundreds of females spending years behind bars for committing "moral crimes," which sometimes include being victims of rape.

The report, "I Had to Run Away: Women and Girls Imprisoned for 'Moral Crimes' In Afghanistan," was published by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday and details the circumstances of women and girls in Afghanistan's female detention centers.

The report outlines the "crimes" that send women and girls into detention centers, often for years at a time, which include fleeing a situation of domestic violence or being the victim of rape. more >>

Suu Kyi, a democratic leader hoping to win election in the Myanmar district of Kawhmu, has announced her intention to suspend the campaign and recover from exhaustion.

In a statement released by her party, the National League for Democracy, it was announced that Suu Kyi was suffering from low blood pressure and exhaustion and needed a four or five day break from campaigning. She has traveled throughout Myanmar hoping to spread awareness of her democratic message.

Myanmar is currently led by a military regime. Suu Kyi is hoping to change that with help from the National League for Democracy. The elections being held in the country this weekend are the first since 2010, when the military took power. The NLD has not participated in elections since 1990. more >>

Over 4,000 children lose their lives daily due to drinking unsafe water, exposure to poor sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases (referred to as WASH conditions) and, according to World Vision, eight million children are expected to die this year due to diseases caused by such issues. That is why the organization is using World Water Day as an occasion to draw special attention to the plight of those struggling to survive without clean water.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene are the "foundation for development," according to Randy Strash, a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Strategist and expert at World Vision. World Vision's Clean Water Fund is the main source of revenue for the organization in its work to bring relief to those in need of clean water.

"Water, sanitation and hygiene is absolutely critical for child and community well-being," Strash explained in a recent interview with The Christian Post. "If you don't have access to safe water, if you don't have good sanitation, if you don't have hygiene, all the other improvements are going to be like a band-aid on a major wound." more >>

Nobel Peace Prize Winner and President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defended the country's anti-homosexuality laws in an interview alongside former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday, saying the citizens of her country "like ourselves just the way we are."

In Liberia, acts of "voluntary sodomy" are punishable by up to one year in prison, although newer legislation has been proposed that would increase those penalties.

Sirleaf also added in the interview with the Guardian's Tamasin Ford that she would not pass any harsher penalties against homosexuality, saying, "I won't sign any law that has to do with that area, whatsoever." more >>

Organizers of an upcoming conference that will feature 100 human rights groups say an important purpose for the gathering is to further the success of Invisible Children, Inc.'s Kony 2012 campaign of bringing people together for a common cause.

Regent University School of Law's Center for Global Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law will host its first "Media and the Law: Seeking Justice for the Least of These" conference at the school's campus in Virginia Beach, Va., on March 29-31.

"The wildly successful Kony 2012 social media campaign demonstrated that artists, human rights advocates and legal professionals can work together to confront issues surrounding human trafficking, the legal protection of children, and international religious freedom," organizers of the event said in a statement from the school's law center. more >>