"It's time for everybody to look at this and say the buying and selling of human beings for whatever reason is not appropriate in the 21st century and should never be allowed again." - Emma Thompson
photo from npr
Emma Thompson, in addition to her many creative talents, is the Chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation, which works with survivors of human abuse. Through this foundation, she became friends with 'Elena', a survivor of sex trafficking.
Elena's story is a typical one. At eighteen, her father died and money for school dried up. A woman approached her and offered her a job in London as a receptionist. Once Elena arrived, her passport was taken from her and she was told she was to be a sex worker. When she refused, she was put in solitary confinement for two weeks. Afterwards, when they threatened harm to her family, she relented.
Through her years of work, Thompson realized that simply telling people that human trafficking is bad doesn't work; people don't want to about abuse. Instead, she realized that the best way to get the public involved was to tell a story. Inspired by Elena's story, Thompson collaborated with several fine artists to present The Journey Against Sex Trafficking.
"The Journey Against Sex Trafficking uses seven transport containers to illustrate the brutal and harrowing experiences of women sold into the sex trade. This interactive exhibition is based on the real-life stories of young women who leave their home countries in search of a better life but are deceived or coerced by traffickers and forced to work in the sex industry.
The aim of Journey is to show visitors the reality of human trafficking - a crime that happens every day, all around the world - and to encourage the public, politicians and especially consumers to take action."
The Journey Against Sex Trafficking opens in November in New York City.
story source: from UNODC Emma Thompson's Journey
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
LuisG
Unbreakable
JLee Davis
Kathy Riordan
The Dingo Baby and Other Misadventures
aim
Salon.com
Comments
It's truly astounding how blase we are when it comes to sex trafficking. It's like a Holocaust happening before our eyes. Yet we're so...bored and unmoved.
Possibly because it's "just women." I can't help but think that. (And yes, I know children are trafficked, etc. but we're talking about the widespread, massive number of women. Women.)
I hope this exhibit gets the attention it deserves.
It's tragic that you should have to make people look at a thing like this though, simply hearing about it is enough to make my blood boil.
The FBI along with several agencies devoted to addressing issues related to the exploitation of children recently conducted a nationwide operation, arresting almost 900 people in 36 cities and rescuing 52 children who were being used as sex slaves.
commodities. I was disgusted by Emma's comments about the customers container. She didn't want to point the finger at anyone, not to judge anyone, that these are ordinary people buying these services. You just talked about a room that smelled and a bed moving violently, but not pointing the finger? These are ordinary people? They are "Johns" and are committing a crime and funding sex trafficking. Without demand there can be no supply. A good book to read " The Johns" sex for sale and the men who buy it by Victor Malarek. Check out you tube CATW Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. You need to be a bit more honest .
I think there is something you are forgetting here. Sex work isn't illegal in all countries and Thompson is addressing not the buying of selling legal sex, but specifically the use of slaves. Here is a full quote from one of the links I provided above, about what Thompson means exactly when she says she's not pointing fingers:
"Well, if you're someone who buys sex you can go to the madam or whoever is taking the money and say, 'where are your girls from, have they got passports?' You can also report any incidences you see of suburban households that have a great slew of young girls walking in and out for no apparent reason. If you're a shop keeper and some girl comes to you for condoms and tissues and doesn't speak English, you can enquire whether she is alright. You can get involved, you can open your eyes, because this is something that is happening on the street and it might be right round the corner from you. So, it is time for the public to be involved, no one can close their eyes to this, just inform yourself and get active. As for lobbying, you can lobby any number of governments to actually do something about this."
She believes that there are two sets of people responsible - people who walk past these girls every day and ignore them, thinking it isn't their problem, and people who buy sex from sex workers believing that all of them have chosen this life style. She isn't going to point fingers and say everyone is wrong, everyone is guilty, but she is going to show them that what they think is rarely the truth and that it is societies responsibility to make sure.