Mira Sorvino and new movie raise awareness of human trafficking

My wife Amy and I recently attended the world premier in New York City of a dynamic new movie, Trade of Innocents. Starring Mira Sorvino and Dermot Mulroney, the action drama highlights the scourge of sex trafficking.
Besides starring in this her third film on human trafficking, Ms. Sorvino also serves as a United Nations ambassador for the cause of raising awareness. As she has noted in interviews,

"Trafficking is everywhere in the world, and the United States is one of the worst offenders. It’s tied with the illegal arms trade as the second largest criminal industry on the earth, just after drugs. It makes $32 billion a year worldwide. There are about 300,000 kids at risk in the US every year, and only one in 100 victims are ever rescued. Once you find out about it, you can’t look away, and once you’ve met someone who has been bought and sold as an object, been beaten and denied their basic human rights, you can’t ever forget that. You meet these survivors of human trafficking and they blow you away with their courage and the misery that they’ve lived through."

Mira Sorvino at world premier of Trade of Innocents (photo copyright 2012 Jonathan Imbody)

I spoke with Mira after the screening, and we discussed the need to raise awareness specifically among health care professionals. In fact, a physician, Dr. Bill Bolthouse along with his wife Laurie produced this film. The Christian Medical Association has developed its own courses that carry Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit, and last year alone physician volunteers on our medical mission trips ministered to over 4,000 victims of human trafficking. As CMA's liaison with our federal government, I have worked with the State Dept., Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to encourage outreach to the medical community (read more).
You can make a difference by learning more and supporting efforts to report, rescue and rehabilitate victims. Start by visiting the movie's web site and Facebook page.