MTV Asia: A surprisingly good source of information about human trafficking

Several years ago when I was working for a regional UN anti-human trafficking project based in Bangkok, MTV Asia was in the process of launching their End Exploitation and Trafficking (EXIT) campaign, and I was admittedly skeptical about the quality of information and value that the campaign would add in terms of educating and raising awareness about the issue. However, I was happily surprised by this 15 minute mini-documentary (http://www.mtvexit.org/videoGet.php?lang=1&id=76&vdo_cat=1) that MTV EXIT created. While the documentary starts with the most commonly told (but not necessarily the most common) story of human trafficking in which a young woman is trafficked into sex work, it was refreshing to see that it reflected other critical, but often deemphasized, core realities of human trafficking in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia. Specifically, the documentary highlights the prevalence of human trafficking for domestic work, the variety of ways human trafficking occurs, and perhaps most importantly, the trafficking of men. With much of current human trafficking discourse focused almost exclusively on women and children, MTV Asia’s decision to devote one- third of this documentary to telling the story of a man trafficked into factory work puts a much needed spotlight on the need to also recognize the trafficking of men as a serious and pressing issue. In short, the content of this documentary demonstrates MTV Asia’s close consultation with organizations that are actually engaged in anti-human trafficking work and working with trafficked persons. Despite my reservations about the efficacy of some of the EXIT campaign’s other awareness-raising activities, I think that this mini-documentary provides a good, albeit limited, portrayal of the many different facets of human trafficking.

Comments

[Jacqueline]

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