Factsheet End Child Trafficking

The documentary, , is directed, written, and produced by the Academy Award Nominee Robert Bilheimer to comprehensively depict the cruel and dehumanizing practices of and modern slavery. The school talk aims to nurture students’ empathy and global view toward children.

Filmed on five continents, in a dozen countries, Not My Life features interviews with trafficking victims and their advocates which enable Hong Kong students to contact a world that is difficult to imagine and to empathize with victims who were the domestic servants in Washington, beggars in Africa, ten year-old girls raped in United States, truck stops or brothels in India.

THE FISHING BOYS OF LAKE VOLTA It is estimated that 7,000-10,000 fishing boys work on the shores and in the waters of eastern Ghana’s Lake Volta. Born into poverty, many of these boys are given away or sold to relatives or strangers who promise to teach the boys the fishing trade and give them a better life. Removed from their families and homes, the fishing boys find themselves on a vast manmade lake that will become a virtual prison for the remainder of their childhood years. The fishing boys are denied medical care, the opportunity to attend school, and are forced to work long, 14 + hour days year-round.

With the help of advocates such as Eric Peasah, Director of Right to be Free and consultant for the International Organization for Migration, some of these boys are set free. Eric negotiates with the boys’ traffickers for their freedom. His program offers the fisherman assistance in the form of a small loan to support their fishing, new supplies, or the chance to learn a different vocation. Additionally, they must sign a social contract agreeing to release any remaining child laborers in the future, or they will face criminal prosecution.

SEX TRAFFICKING IN THE USA For girls in the U.S., the average age of entry into is 12-14 years of age. In nearly every case, the girls are controlled by pimps using both physical abuse and emotional control. In this segment, we meet Angie, a young teenager from who, after deciding to run away from home, was forced into prostitution and trafficked at a truck stop in America’s heartland.

Special Agent Mike Beaver of the FBI says that, “Angie was, by all accounts, an all-American girl.” Angie came from a good home, with a good family and even attended private school. But, as Sheila White of GEMS talks about in Not My Life, “This [human trafficking] really can happen to anyone.”

Angie was rescued during , an FBI sting operation that led to the arrest and conviction of more than 15 pimps and traffickers working throughout the American mid-west. Most of their victims were young teenage girls.

© UNICEF HK/ 2016 Factsheet End Child Trafficking

DOMESTIC SERVITUDE As a young girl, Debra left her home in Tanzania to work in the United States. With the promise of a good-paying job and a better life, she was hired to work as a caregiver for a family in Washington, DC. When she arrived, Debra found herself forced to cook, clean, and care for her employer’s children day in and day out, all without pay.

Working with Polaris's National Human Trafficking Hotline, FBI Agent Greg Bristol, was able to gain Debra’s trust and help her out of her trafficking situation.

Many cases of domestic servitude like Debra’s remain hidden behind closed doors. In fact, it is estimated that some 14.2 million people worldwide are victims of forced labor in industries including agriculture, construction, domestic work, and manufacturing.

Organizations such as Polaris work with survivors and victims of human trafficking, providing with them with the support, resources, and services they need. In 2014, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 21,413 calls, 818 of which pertained to cases involving labor trafficking.

GARBAGE PICKERS The Ghazipur landfill in the city of is a poisonous place. It is illegal for children to set foot here, but the city needs their services to process some of the 9,200 pounds of trash that is produced in New Delhi, every day. Children here are forced to work sun-up to sun-down, and are paid virtually nothing. Many suffer from malnutrition, physical handicaps, and every child is subject to disease from exposure to toxic pollutants — exposure which has been found to be equally or more harmful to a child’s health than certain infectious diseases like malaria.

For these children, hope lies in the work of organizations like Chintan, an advocacy group dedicated to freeing children from wastepicking in areas including the Ghazipur Landfill. Their mission is to provide customized education for children vulnerable to wastepicking, working with their parents and teachers to ensure that every wastepicker child and every child from a wastepicker family is able to reject a life in trash, even as an adult.

For more, please visit http://notmylife.org/

© UNICEF HK/ 2016