Lucy Liu, USAID Highlight Human Trafficking
FrontLines - November 2009
By Ashtar Analeed Marcus
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Lucy Liu
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WASHINGTON—Actress
and UNICEF Ambassador Lucy
Liu spoke out against human
trafficking and lauded USAID
efforts to increase awareness at
an Agency symposium Sept. 16.
“The main issue is awareness,”
Liu said in an interview
with FrontLines on the sidelines
of the event. “Awareness is the
first thing to do. It might be
overwhelming. But you start
small, start by understanding,
going on the Internet, volunteer
if you want, start spreading the
word…Most people are surprised
and don’t know about
[human trafficking].”
Liu is best known for her starring
roles in the Charlie’s Angels
movies and in Kill Bill: Vol. 1.
But her fight against trafficking is
not done with martial arts—it is
done by bringing the lives of victims
into the spotlight and urging
others to join her advocacy.
“There is hope…I believe this
because of devoted individuals
like yourselves, UNICEF, and
USAID,” Liu said before
a packed ballroom here. “My
hope is that you will share my
outrage.”
Human trafficking is most
often associated with sexual
exploitation, but also includes
children and adults who are
forced into soldiering, begging,
factory and farm work, domestic
servitude, and human organ
sales, panelists said throughout
the event at the Willard
Intercontinental Hotel.
USAID spent a total of $134
million on anti-trafficking
activities between fiscal years
2001 and 2008. And every year
the United States produces a
Trafficking in Persons Report,
which details trafficking
by country.
Estimates show that human
trafficking takes in $10 billion
worldwide, second only to drug
trafficking. Every year between
700,000 and 4 million people
are bought and sold. Many victims,
both boys and girls, are
as young as 7 years old—some
are younger.
UNICEF’s Susan Bissell, a
symposium panelist, called it the
“commodification of children
and childhood.”
Throughout the day, panelists
and audience members gave
emotional testimony, referring
to the sale of humans worldwide
as “cannibalizing our planet’s
youth,” and noting that “children
are prime prey for traffickers all
over the world.”
Poverty and human trafficking
are strongly linked, experts said.
Marilyn Carlson Nelson,
chairman of Carlson Wagonlit
Travel, spoke on the tourism
industry’s responsibility to
combat sexual exploitation of
children. “We believe that all of
us must work against the root
cause of this issue, which in most
cases, is poverty,” she said. “We
must create and support options
for employment which take away
the desperation felt by parents
who sell children into slavery in
order to provide for the rest of
the family.”
Liu worked with USAID
and MTV EXIT on a multimedia
animated series targeting
young viewers to increase their
awareness of human trafficking.
On television, the series has
reached 560,000 households.
Liu is also the producer and
narrator of Red Light, a feature
film on the personal stories of
young trafficking victims.
“This is an environment that
knows the history and what’s
going on in the world,” Liu said
of USAID and the development
audience she addressed. “But a
lot of people don’t know what’s
going on in the world.”
★
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