The horror of human trafficking: Emma Thompson's Journey

Folks, I try to keep informed about the world around me. But, like most relatively comfortable Americans, I really don't have a clue about the things that go on every day in many less fortunate parts of the world. One example of this is the plight of human trafficking.

I recently came upon an article discussing this topic - specifically, the trafficking of women into a forced life in the sex trade. The article was an interview with English actress Emma Thompson, who works with a British organization called the Helen Bamber Foundation to publicise and drum up public support on this issue. Last year, Emma Thompson put together a project which drew upon the experiences of one of the many women forced into this hellish situation, and illuminated the experience from start to finish.

The result was an interactive installation called Journey, which was a collaborative effort with several acclaimed artists. It was presented in London's Trafalgar Square a year ago, and has since been exhibited elsewhere around the world. It will be coming to the US sometime in 2009; Thompson says she is attempting to get clearance to set the installation up in New York in the spring.

I cannot put into words how brutally moving this installation is. It forces the viewer to see this life for what it is, and to see how cruelly and mercilessly these women are treated. With the promise of a good job in another country, impoverished women are lured from their families and homes to become pawns in the sex trade, existing in relative slavery and forced to endure physical, mental, and emotional horors which no human being should ever have to live through.

I wanted to share the information here, in the hopes that more of us might become educated and aware of this issue. I do realize that it's easier not to look, and I will warn you that the links below will take you to material which you may find very difficult to watch or read. But if you want to make a difference, please check these out and spread the word. The more people know about this situation, the more we can use our energies to try and fight it. Donate to the cause, write to a governmental official, join the Facebook group for the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking ( affiliated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), and keep your eyes open. Most importantly, don't look away.

Emma Thompson narrates a short overview of the Journey installation:



A public service announcement on behalf of the UNGIFT:



Information about human trafficking from the UNODC:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/index.html

The horror of human trafficking: Emma Thompson's Journey