Stars Team Up To Stop Child Exploitation

This story was written by CBSNews.com's Melissa Castellanos

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."