From slavery to love
Published: 04 March, 2009, 17:01
TAGS: UN, Human rights
“Back to Love” is a song about slavery and human trafficking. Pop star Valeria has chosen it to perform this weekend at the national final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.
Valeria will compete with 15 other artists vying to represent Russia at Eurovision this year. The winner will be chosen live by the public and a jury on March 7 on Channel One.
Valeria has sold millions of albums in Russia and has performed with a number of European stars, including Robin Gibb and David Richards.
British filmmaker Justin Kerrigan, author of the 1999 comedy “Human Traffic”, is currently working on a video for her latest track “Back to Love”. The short film will be released in three languages, English, French and Russian. It features Valeria as a risky woman saving a girl suffering in captivity.
In real life, Valeria once spent years in similar circumstances. She was mentally and physically abused by her then manager-husband and father of her 3 children.
The singer is Russia’s ambassador to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
As part of her duties, she’s met victims of human trafficking in Moscow treatment centres. Valeria was quoted as saying “she understood them because she suffered probably as much as the girls who were kept in captivity and exploited.”
According to the “Global Report on Trafficking in Persons” issued by the UN in February this year and based on data from 155 countries, the most common form of human trafficking is sexual exploitation, making up 79 per cent. The victims of sexual exploitation are mostly women and girls. One in five of victims of human trafficking are children. The second most common form of human trafficking is slavery, making up 18 per cent.
04.03.2009, 14:24
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