Sold: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade 2009
Distributed by Films Media Group, PO Box 2053, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-2053; 800-257-5126
Produced by Jody Hassett Sanchez, Pointy Shoe Productions
Directed by Jody Hassett Sanchez
DVD, color, 54 min.
Jr. High - Adult
African Studies, Economics, Human Rights, Middle Eastern Studies, Women's Studies
Date Entered: 12/02/2010
Reviewed by Patricia B. McGee, Coordinator of Media Services, Volpe Library & Media Center, Tennessee Technological University“As many as 12 million people are enslaved at any given time today, many of them young children.” With these sobering words Sold: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade paints a horrifying picture of the multi-billion dollar industry of the buying and selling of children that is flourishing under globalization. In India young girls are tricked by false promises of jobs into leaving their families and are forced into the sex trade. If they try to resist they are brutalized and beaten. This is a flesh trade in “vibrant young flesh.” The younger the girl, the better price she will bring.
In Pakistan very young boys from very poor families—some only 3 years old—are sent to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia to be camel jockeys. In these desert countries they are fed salt water to keep their weight low, suffer permanent damage to their sexual organs from the brutal ride, or fall to their deaths. Pakistan’s slave traders “buy children and sell false dreams.” In Togo, families unable to support their children, send them off to distant relatives in the hope they will do small chores in exchange for school fees. In reality the brokers sell the girls into domestic service and the boys become market or agricultural laborers.
The film follows the valiant efforts of three remarkable modern day abolitionists. Symphorienne Kessouagni in Togo visits the markets and the neighboring villages to make friends with and rescue the exploited children. Sunitha Krishnan, a former Hindu nun, declares she is “not a savior, not involved in charity” instead she runs a complex of schools and small businesses with the goal of training the girls to become economically self sufficient. Ansar Burney, a Karachi attorney, journeys to the Middle East to rescue the child jockeys and even more important to lobby governments to forbid the practice. Recently the UAE outlawed the use of jockeys under age 18.
The children’s stories are appallingly graphic; the images of exploited children are profoundly disturbing. Yet the stories of the rescuers are paradoxically full of optimism, energy, and faith. Representing three of the world’s major religions—Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, these three dedicated individuals believe they are making a difference. Sold: Fighting the New Global Slave Trade is a powerfully inspiring story and highly recommended for all collections.