MTV concerts to spread anti-trafficking message

Written by Vong Sokheng

Thursday, 06 November 2008 Phnom Penh Post

Cambodian and international artists to headline a series of concerts highlighting the reality of human trafficking in Asia Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON Angkor Wat will play host to a concert focusing on the tragedy of human trafficking. AN MTV-sponsored concert against human trafficking is set to take place in Cambodia in the second half of November, the first of seven to be launched in Asia this year. The Cambodia campaign will include four concerts headlined by local and international artists, with anti-trafficking organisations and government agencies distributing information in the famed Angkor Wat complex. Ten Borany, deputy director of the Anti-Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department at the Ministry of Interior said that Cambodia's National Task Force on Human Trafficking is working in collaboration with MTV to host the concerts. "It is good that we can shake hands with MTV and speak together about the dangers of human trafficking," he said. "We see that the problem of human trafficking in this country has lessened since we have begun co-operating more with civil society, and we now we can take action swiftly." The concerts will take place in Kampong Cham, Siem Riep, and Sihanoukville with the involvement of MTV Asia/Pacific, the MTV Europe Foundation and the US Agency for International Development. Human trafficking is the second largest illegal trade after drugs, with traffickers earning more than $10 billion each year through the buying and selling of human beings. The UN estimates that at any one time there are 2.5 million people being trafficked in the world, mostly in Asia. Ten Borany said that the government is establishing a five-year plan for the implementation of its new Law on Anti-Human Trafficking and will set up offices in all of the country's provinces. "I would say we have the situation under control," he said. "It is certainly nowhere near as bad as it has been."