NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2008
Stars Team Up To Stop Child Exploitation
Acclaimed Actor, Watchmaker, Photojournalist And Musician Unite For "LOVE 146"
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From left, Michel Nieto (CEO, Baume & Mercier)and Stephen Baldwin (actor and Love 146 supporter) are pictured at the LOVE146 benefit/exhibit called "Into The Light: Sexually Exploited Children On The Path to Restoration" in NYC on Nov. 20, 2008. (Retna – Henry Dziekan)
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This photo appeared in Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Carolyn Cole's thought-provoking exhibition of photography called "INTO THE LIGHT: Sexually Exploited Children On The Path To Restoration." (Carolyn Cole)
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From left to right - Rudy Chavez (President of Baume & Mercier), Michel Nieto(CEO, Baume & Mercier), Stephen Baldwin (actor and LOVE146 Supporter), Carolyn Cole (Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer) and Rob Morris (co-founder of LOVE146). (Retna – Henry Dziekan)
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Photo Essay Into The Light Carolyn Cole's images of sexually exploited children on the path to restoration.
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Interactive Children In Danger Warning signs, state-by-state child services information and a history of child welfare reforms.
Imagine a little 9-year-old girl, being abducted and sold into slavery, stripped of her innocence and name and then reduced to a number.
It is the reality for 1.2 million children a year - two children every minute, according to UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund).
In honor of World Children's Day on Nov. 20 and in an effort to raise awareness, Baume & Mercier teamed up with the charitable organization LOVE146 to hold a benefit called "INTO THE LIGHT: Sexually Exploited Children On The Path To Restoration" at the Helen Mills Event Space in New York City.
The benefit, which was hosted by actor and author Stephen Baldwin (who starred in "The Apprentice",) included a silent auction, a video presentation and a thought-provoking exhibition of photography by renowned photojournalist Carolyn Cole.
Cole, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2004 for covering the siege of Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, continues to move people with her work.
Her photographs that were on display capture the plight of exploited young children in Southeast Asia, who were preyed upon through sexual violence.
"As a photojournalist, I have always been drawn to the plight of children. Their pained faces are the first I see in places like Liberia, Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan where they fall victim to wars they cannot comprehend," Cole told CBSNews.com. "They pull at my heart during natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, and in impoverished lands like Haiti. But there is one group of children whose lives are hidden from us all until it is often too late, and those are the victims of sexual exploitation."
Baldwin described Cole's photography as "smashing, powerful and heartfelt."
"With Carolyn's photography and with a great turnout largely of Baume & Mercier associates and clients with the goal being, obviously a fundraising opportunity, but I think the big part of the night was the number of people that are unaware of the reality of the situation -- that was for me the biggest success of the night (to reach out to them)," Baldwin said.
Others in Hollywood who have joined the effort to bring attention to human trafficking include Emma Thompson, Ricky Martin, Julia Ormond, Ruslana, Joan Rivers and Amitabh Bachchan.
Inspired by Rudy Chavez, president of Baume & Mercier and Rob Morris, co-founder of LOVE146 , Michel Nieto, CEO of Baume & Mercier, said that he was moved by the compelling photography.
"It's one thing to see a picture and another to be there," Nieto said. "I have three children so it affects me much more."
Poverty is another contributing factor to the sexual exploitation of children.
Cole met 16-year-old Serey, whose parents forced her to find work to help support her siblings. A polio victim, Serey had few marketable skills and ended up in a brothel.
Cole also met Kim, whose sister sold her to a massage parlor, where she was being trained to perform sex acts at age 12.
"The reasons are often complex, but the results are the same, children forced to work in a growing sex trade where demand drives even caring parents to do dreadful deeds. And where respect and the rights of children are often ignored," Cole said.
Although both Serey and Kim are now in safe homes, there are many more children in danger.
"I hope my work will educate people about the hardships these children face, while showing the positive steps being made to combat the problem…one child at a time," Cole said.
According to the U.S. Sate Department, human trafficking has surpassed the illegal sale of arms and will surpass the illegal sale of drugs.
"It's timely and it’s the third largest business on the planet, which is crazy. It seems that there is this complete and total blackout on it," Baldwin said.
Although Lamont Hiebert, co-founder of LOVE146 and lead singer of Ten Shekel Shirt, wasn't able to attend the benefit, he has made stopping child exploitation his mission.
Hiebert, who won the MySpace Impact Award for Social Justice and was named an "Agent for Change" by GQ Magazine created the song “Fragile” to raise awareness.
"I began to hear about child trafficking and exploitation in the mid to late '90s," Hiebert said in an earlier interview with CBSNews.com. "I was a musician and I started to speak out about these things. I realized that more needed to be done on the ground and it wasn't just enough for me to be a spokesperson."
"I just had to, I was compelled to. I grew up in a house where my mother cared a lot about battered women and abused children. She had a kind of an unofficial women's shelter. People would often come there who were in a bad marriage," Hiebert explained. "I grew up with this example in my mother, who was also a nurse -- someone who had a heart for helping people in general. So, as I got older, I sort of carried that on. I just couldn't imagine not getting involved once I heard the stories of children being abducted and raped for profit."
In the fall of 2002, Hiebert and fellow LOVE146 co-founders, traveled to Southeast Asia and posed as potential buyers in order to get the behind the scenes story of what is really happening to these girls.
Accompanied by undercover investigators, they went to a brothel where 9 to 14 year old girls by the hundreds were sitting behind glass and were identified by a number and sold.
"It was by far the most tragic thing I had ever seen in my life. I just wanted to flee or break the glass, but the rescue process is very involved and it’s not a proper sting operation to do it like that," Hiebert said. "These girls had this really blank stare and looked lifeless and defeated, except for this girl and her number was 146. She looked like had some fight left in her eyes."
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make it legal..brianbwb YOU MIGHT GET YOUR LIFETIME WISH.
Posted by brianbwb at 04:56 AM : Dec 05, 2008
+ report abuse
*************
put that d1ck back in your pants ROMEO..and get a decent nice ADULT FEMALE and have a nice life..
Posted by MrMeatSpin
It has been "booming" for millenia. Sounds like you are all for it.
Posted by DianaScimone at 08:01 PM : Dec 03, 2008
+ report abuse
******
Diana..do us..NO DO THESE PEOPLE A FAVOR and instead of your charity events and ''silent auctions''..to raise our awareness (like this is something new) YOU FOCUS THAT ENERGY to try to remove these regimes..and systems that ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.
I know that road is LESS GLAMOROUS, lucrative and takes a lot of mundane and tideious work UNLIKE THE GLITZ AND SPOTS LIGHTS OF THE MEDIA..
they saved africa with a series of live concerts..
now they are going to save child exploitation with a benefit selling pictures..
sh*t ...child *** trade will be booming pretty soon..
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
Each year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone
- by dianascimone December 3, 2008 10:50 PM EST
- A big shout out to Baume & Mercier, Love 146, Carolyn Cole, and Stephen Baldwin for putting together "Into the Light" to call attention to the global pandemic of child trafficking.
- Reply to this comment
See all 15 CommentsEach year more than 1 million kids are trafficked around the world (and around the corner, as trafficking occurs all over the US, too). One of the things we can do to reduce the number of kids who are trafficked is to educate them, their parents and teachers about the dangers of trafficking. Whenever kids get awareness training, the rate of trafficking plummets. There''s just not enough training, nor in the languages of most at-risk kids.
We''re working on a global awareness campaign called the Born to Fly Project -- aimed at girls, parents, and teachers. You can read more at www.born2fly.org
Kudos again on "Into the Light" and to Love146 for the great work they''re doing to help stop child trafficking.
Diana Scimone
President
Born to Fly International, Inc.
www.dianascimone.com
www.born2fly.org
Twitter: @DianaScimone