President Barack Obama calls human trafficking 'modern slavery'

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama is calling human trafficking “modern slavery,” outlining new steps to combat the exploitation of workers and children in the United States and overseas.

Obama says in an address to the Clinton Global Initiative that he doesn’t use the term of “slavery” lightly, saying it evokes a painful past for America. But he says the United States and the international community need to step up efforts to help more than 20 million victims of human trafficking around the world.

The president says new teams are dismantling human traffickers and “we’re putting them where they belong: behind bars.”

The White House is issuing new executive orders strengthening prohibitions against human trafficking in government contracting, making it apply to all federal contractors and subcontractors.