BRINGING TRAFFICKING AWARENESS
TO THE FOREFRONT
The World Cup is not only one of the biggest international sporting events on the planet, it is also, unfortunately, a huge magnet for human trafficking, often targeting vulnerable children, says Bill Horan, president of the global humanitarian organization, Operation Blessing International.
To help fight trafficking in Brazil, host country of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Operation Blessing International (OBI) has created 1 Real: The Other Side of the Coin, a documentary that is being shown in all 12 World Cup match cities in order to educate families and to help them protect their children from human trafficking.
Says OBI president Horan, human trafficking is a billion dollar industry that exacts a heavy toll, especially on innocent children.
“When large sporting events come to town, young girls are at heavy risk. Not far from where a FIFA World Cup match will be played, a family member or sex trafficker will sell a young child to a predator for as little as fifty cents, or 1 Real, the currency of Brazil,” says Horan.
The 1 Real documentary cites a governmental report which states that some 40,000 children and adolescents disappear annually in Brazil, with roughly 15% of these cases going unsolved. David Darg, vice president of international operations for OBI, says “Operation Blessing is focused on the six thousand children each year who are never found; many are known to have been abducted for the trafficking industry.”
In 8 of the 12 World Cup venue cities, OBI is conducting additional anti-trafficking awareness, prevention, and intervention efforts, in addition to hosting screenings of the film. These vulnerable communities are Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Salvador, and Rio de Janeiro.
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