In this video by the New York Times, Nicholas D. Kristof visits Cambodia and meets Long Pross, a young woman who was forced into sexual slavery. Nicholas talks to Long about her harrowing experience in the brothels, and then visits what’s left of a brother that has been closed down. Long also discusses her rehabilitation with Somaly Mam, and her dreams for the future. You can view the 5-minute video here:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/03/opinion/1194837193498/the-face-of-slavery.html

Nicholas Kristoff just wrote an op-ed in the New York times about Sina Vann’s heart-wrenching story. Sina was sold into slavery in Cambodia, but escaped (thanks to a raid organized by Somaly Mam), and now works with Somaly to fight human trafficking. From the article:

“After being freed, Sina began studying and eventually became one of Somaly’s trusted lieutenants. They now work together, in defiance of death threats from brothel owners, to free other girls. To get at Somaly, the brothel owners kidnapped and brutalized her 14-year-old daughter. And six months ago, the daughter of another anti-trafficking activist (my interpreter when I interviewed Sina) went missing.”

Check out the full article on the New York Times. Also, you can help the story reach others by voting it up on Reddit, a social news site,  here. It’s already made the front page with over 670 votes, as of the time of this writing!

“Nicholas D. Kristof interviews Somaly Mam, who was sold to the brothels as a young teenager and now runs shelters for rescued girls.”

View the video here

A new op-ed in the New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristoff discusses Somaly Mam’s fight against human trafficking, her new book, and recounts her inspiring story:

“World leaders are parading through New York this week for a United Nations General Assembly reviewing their (lack of) progress in fighting global poverty. That’s urgent and necessary, but what they aren’t talking enough about is one of the grimmest of all manifestations of poverty — sex trafficking.

This is widely acknowledged to be the 21st-century version of slavery, but governments accept it partly because it seems to defy solution. Prostitution is said to be the oldest profession. It exists in all countries, and if some teenage girls are imprisoned in brothels until they die of AIDS, that is seen as tragic but inevitable. “

Read the full article here.