CHICAGO (3/16) – In a tremendously moving ceremony at the Freedom Network USA’s annual conference, the national network of organizations fighting slavery honored the CIW for its outstanding contributions to the movement.

The CIW was introduced by veteran federal prosecutor Lou de Baca (back row, far left) of the USDOJ Civil Rights Division, the conference keynote speaker and previous year’s winner of the Wellstone Award. Mr. cDebaca spoke eloquently about the long relationship between the CIW and the Civil Rights Division, dating from the early 1990’s, and how those pioneering efforts helped lay the groundwork for the burgeoning anti-trafficking movement today.

CIW member Antonio Martinez (above, holding award), who escaped a coercive slavery operation in the tomato fields of Florida, accepted the honor. He was cheered on by a large group of CIW members and conference participants as he described his own path to freedom and his activism since that time in the fight against sweatshop conditions and modern-day slavery in the fields.