Stop Violence Against Women

Trafficking: Background

 

Speech delivered by Actor Paul Sorvino on behalf of his daughter Mira Sorvino at the Lifetime TV reception for the mini-series Human Trafficking. United Nations, New York, October 20, 2005.

Distinguished members of the United Nations, ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, I would like to express a hearty good evening and thank you for coming. I am so sorry to miss the event because of my shooting schedule, but am thrilled to be able to speak to you through my father, a far abler speechmaker than I!

What you are about to experience is a rare thing in filmmaking; a fearless exploration of one of the darkest areas of human behavior, made with dignity and compassion by the brilliantly talented Christian Dugay. I must commend lifetime and Robert Halmi for their passionate commitment to social change and extraordinary entertainment, and Donald Sutherland and Robert Carlisle for their pitch perfect performances. I feel honored to be associated with this project.

I have been Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women campaign ambassador for over a year. When I read the script, I thought it was an ideal opportunity to combine human rights activism with powerful entertainment. We have had a tremendous ride together promoting awareness of the issue, speaking across the country and influencing policy on Capitol Hill, and it has only just begun.

Trafficking in humans means slavery. Period. Somehow, in this day and age, we, the human race, have not been able to shake this age-old scourge. I have stared into the eyes of people who have been trafficked, and seen souls that have been excoriated by their owners. They have been treated as something infinitely less than human, all their dignity and human rights stripped from them.

And all of this for the traffickers' love of money. Those involved in sexual slave labor (about fifty percent of the trafficking victims in the United States) have endured a rape of the body that occurred not once but an endless number of times over years, and all trafficking victims endure a rape of the spirit.

They undergo beatings and a kind of psychological dominance connected to a terror of losing their own life, or even more importantly, their families' lives.

As a mother I know I would do anything to protect my children, and at least thirty percent of the women trafficked internationally have children as well. In speaking to one trafficking victim, she said everything had been taken from her by her owner, and all she had left to offer was to protect her family by living through his torturous treatment. And so her hell continued, exactly as he planned.

I appreciate the United Nation's efforts to address this horrendous problem.
We at amnesty international strongly encourage the UN to support the recommendations of Jordan's ambassador to the UN, Prince Zaid Raad al-Hussein from his March report on trafficking and peacekeepers. In particular, to implement the report's recommendation to create criminal and disciplinary accountability for members of peacekeeping missions involved in trafficking, and a professional investigative capacity for peacekeeping operations.

We are thrilled that the United States Senate has approved the United Nations protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. We acknowledge the importance of multi-lateral solutions to address this worldwide problem. I know every single one of you in this room will do everything in your power to fight this issue in your home countries, as we are committed to doing on our own shores. Let us all join forces; we cannot stand by and let this sickening practice continue. This should be the century in which together we wipe slavery off the globe forever.

Thank you very much.