Not your usual 'Dear John' letter

Be forewarned ... this will not be the usual column about what nifty gifts you should offer Dad on this, his day. That subject, I am sure, has already been more than adequately covered by others. This column is about what has too often been a hush-hush subject, a problem created and promoted by men, many who are fathers themselves — the trafficking of young girls who are forced into prostitution.

It is ironic that the very week we celebrate Father’s Day is the same week the State Department will release its annual report on human trafficking.

What is already known, however, is that just in America alone, 300,000 children are sexual slaves. The abduction of a young girl who was kidnapped and held captive for a number of years made headlines recently, but the huge number of other young girls (with an average age of 13) who enter into the sex trade, is hardly talked about.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutchner are putting their celebrity status to work in attempting to illuminate and then eradicate this deplorable practice. They are devoting time, money and energy to their DNA foundation, which is educating the public through a series of brief commercials featuring other celebrities, such as Sean Penn, Justin Timberlake and Jamie Fox.

The theme, “Real Men Don’t Buy Girls,” targets the sexual exploitation of minors. An awareness of problems in their own neighborhood prompted Moore’s three daughters with former husband, Bruce Willis, Rumer, 22, Scout, 19, and Tallulah, 17, to also take up the cause.

Moore says she herself was manipulated and taken advantage of as a teen, and she doesn’t want to see that happen to any girl. Her husband feels equally passionate on the subject, although he admits, “introducing the subject of prostitution will bring most dinner parties to a grinding halt.”

He adds, “About 70 percent of sexual transactions take place on the Web, from craigslist to escort sales, and it is all too easy for men of any age to view pornographic material. The less actual face to face time boys and young men get, the less they understand how real relationships work.”

Kutcher would like to create “Web policemen,” public watchmen who see this as bad and would report it. Research on the trafficking problem took Demi and Ashton to Russia, Haiti and most recently, Nepal.

They are joining with CNN’s Freedom Project, an effort by that station to investigate and bring to an end human trafficking and bonded labor, in a special program to be narrated by Moore called “Nepal’s Stolen Children.”

On the program, she will talk with girls as young as 11 who were duped into following men and women to the big city with promises of jobs, but instead were forced into the brutal life of prostitution. Moore will also profile CNN’s Hero of the Year, Anuradha Koirata, and her organization, Mati Nepal, which has saved more than 12,000 Nepalese children since its founding in 1993.

The program is actually one in a series from CNN’s “Freedom Project,” undertaken by CNN Executive Vice President Tony Maddox. He has committed reporters around the world to investigate and help end this global epidemic. The DNA Foundation believes that for too long, prostitution has punished the young girls involved, while the male clients are not prosecuted.

We need more law enforcement to stop the demand side, as well as rehabilitation and education for the victims. On this Father’s Day, perhaps fathers of young girls might consider their responsibility to help end this unspeakable and abhorrent situation.

“Nepal’s Stolen Children” airs on CNN at 8 and 11 p.m. June 26 and July 2.

- Article by Jean Cherni, founder of the retirement advisory service, Senior Living Solutions. Contact her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds at Hotchkiss Grove, Branford 06405.

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