Fatal Promises: Fighting 21st century slavery

August 31, 2009 by Kat Rohrer

 I became aware of human trafficking after reading an article in the New York Times in 2005. I was so moved and angered by what I read that I began researching behind the headlines. The more I delved, the deeper my concerns became and I finally decided to make a film on human trafficking.
My initial intent was to capture the realities of Ukrainian women who daily fall victim to sexual exploitation. However, as I began filming I found that the brief was too small - human trafficking involves a myriad of crimes against humanity.
Then I travelled to Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria and throughout the US. We met with NGOs, the International Organization of Migration, UN representatives, ex-Ambassadors of the US, experts, activists and, most importantly - victims, both male and female.
Thanks to these frank interviews, my concept for the film shifted from telling the horrifying stories of victims to exposing how we, as a society, are failing our fellow human beings and tolerate, mainly through ignorance and apathy, the modern-day enslavement of men, women and children.
In my 80-minute documentary I want to show how those in power, both in the developing as well as in the developed countries, pay lip service rather than take action to meet the demands of NGOs, struggling to get laws passed and to help the victims of this horrific crime.
The survivors I met are truly remarkable people who have been through unimaginable ordeals. It is their voices and their anger that I want the public to hear. I also wish to show up the hollow rhetoric of the politicians and pundits who claim to be tackling this problem in their respective countries.
I understand that the global community is faced with a myriad of tough issues, from economic and environmental disasters to hunger and war, but human trafficking absolutely violates our most basic human rights as well as the dignity of those so unfortunate to fall victim to them.
No one should ever be denied his or her basic right to freedom. So how can we as a conscientious society tolerate slavery in 21st century?
My duty is to those survivors of human trafficking I have met, and to all those formerly, currently or potentially being trafficked. It is to make sure that their stories are heard and I hope Fatal Promises, which premieres in New York on 15th September, will act as a catalyst and wakeup call.
 
 

Check the Fatal Promises website for screening information
 
From September 15th to September 21,THE JOURNEY, an interactive exhibit co-created and curated by Emma Thompson, will be open to the public from 12-8pm daily in New York City on West 59th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue. Staged initially in Trafalgar Square, London in September 2007 and again in Vienna in February 2008.