Lara Dutta Hosts Premiere of USAID-Funded MTV Special to Raise Awareness About Human Trafficking in Asia

September 18, 2007

MUMBAII –Actress Lara Dutta today launched Sold: An MTV EXIT Special, a hard-hitting documentary serving as the cornerstone of the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign to raise awareness about and prevent human trafficking. Dutta narrates the USAID-financed film, which focuses on the victims, traffickers and people touched by trafficking. A worldwide criminal enterprise worth an estimated US$7-$10 billion annually, human trafficking ranks second only to the illegal drug trade as the largest source of income for international organized crime.

“This film is meant to save lives. Through MTV, it will reach millions of young people, the group most at risk in Asia,” said U.S. Consul General Michael S. Owen, speaking at the film’s premiere in Mumbai. The U.S. Agency for International Development, MTV Networks, and the MTV Europe Foundation united for this project to reach 380 million households in Asia.

Sold: An MTV EXIT Special will air on September 22 at 7 pm, September 23 at 1 pm, and on September 28 at 11 pm on MTV India, with additional broadcasts scheduled through October.

“USAID funded this project with MTV because of the unique opportunity that MTV Networks provide to reach hundreds of millions of people in a region that accounts for many of the world’s trafficking victims,” said Olivier Carduner, Regional Mission Director for USAID in Asia. “Raising awareness about human trafficking will encourage communities to promote the law enforcement and victim outreach efforts that are needed to stop this form of modern-day slavery.”