LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Anti-slavery advocates say they are encouraged by recent successes in combating the practice even though statistics show a resurgence in human trafficking.

Gathering Monday in Los Angeles at the first annual Freedom Awards ceremony, organized by the Washington non-profit group Free the Slaves, anti-slavery leaders said grassroots groups around the world are taking the lead in the movement, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

"It's a huge problem and we have a long way to go, but we're ahead of where I thought we would be," Kevin Bales, an author and co-founder of Free the Slaves, told the newspaper, adding that he believes slavery could be eliminated within 25 years at a cost of $11 billion.

One award recipient was James Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian who escaped child slavery to become a bank manager and now is leading a program that is rescuing and preventing other children from suffering a similar fate, the Monitor said.

Advocates also cited Comissao Pastoral de Terra and Reporter Brasil, two Brazilian groups fighting to eliminate child slavery in the Amazon where children are forced to clear-cut forests.

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