PRESS CONFERENCE ON RELEASE OF FILM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

PRESS CONFERENCE ON RELEASE OF FILM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Kline joined forces today at United Nations Headquarters in New York with Antonio Maria Costa, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to promote the release of a disturbing new feature film that sheds light on the inner workings of international human trafficking rings.

Based on a New York Times report from three years ago, the film entitled Trade, which premieres later today at the United Nations, attempts -- in Mr. Kline’s words -- “to put a human face and tell a human story” about a global problem that continues to ensnare millions of men, women and children, despite a 2003 United Nations-led international protocol to combat it.

Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Kline described his role as a Texas police officer who becomes involved in a young Mexican boy’s search for his 12-year-old sister; she had been abducted by a human trafficking ring.  Set in Texas and New Jersey, with several narrative threads, Trade also tells the tale of a Polish girl who is brought to the United States via Mexico under false pretences, then “raped, drugged and put to work” by human traffickers.

“It tells a story with a human face and tries to make it very real without sensationalizing,” Mr. Kline said.  “The movie is gut-wrenching and alarming and disturbing, as it is meant to be.”

Mr. Costa welcomed the film, saying he hoped it would help raise awareness of human trafficking and international efforts to combat the problem.  “It is obviously the modern-day version of slavery,” he said, recalling how UNODC had launched a global anti-trafficking initiative to help swiftly put into action the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. (The Protocol supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime).

He said the human trafficking problem was “worldwide -- in rich countries, in poor countries -- all sorts of slaves, different ages, obviously, different genders, different ethnic groups”.  He added:  “Obviously there is no better way of building public awareness than using the most popular media around the world, which is obviously television and especially Hollywood-type commercial movies.”  The distributors of Trade would be donating 5 per cent of the net revenue of the film in its first month or two following its release to UNODC to help fund its efforts against human trafficking.

Also at today’s press conference was Taina Bien-Aimé, Executive Director of Equality Now, a New York-based non-governmental organization, which campaigns for the human rights of women and girls worldwide, and was co-hosting the premiere of Trade.  She said: “It is rare that Hollywood blends its movies with cause-related activities, but in this exemplary exception, we applaud, not only Trade itself, but the continuing efforts of the filmmakers to ensure the impact of their film in supporting our respective campaigns to end human trafficking.”

Mr. Kline said he hoped that the film would reach as many people as possible.  “It doesn’t have blockbuster written all over it, but one hopes it will have a ripple effect … so the awareness level will be raised as much as it can be.”

* *** *

For information media • not an official record