| USAID HIGHLIGHTS |
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| Through the Power of Music, USAID and MTV Team Up to Fight Human Trafficking |
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Siem Reap, Cambodia
December 7, 2008
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Tens of thousands of people packed the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh on December 12 to hear performances by American band the Click Five and some of Cambodia’s biggest musical artists, the last of four concerts held across Cambodia to raise awareness about and combat human trafficking. The MTV EXIT (End Trafficking and Exploitation) campaign, a project supported by the United States through USAID, also featured concerts in Kampong Cham and Sihanoukville and the first rock show in history at Angkor Wat, the 12th Century temple that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. |
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At the Olympic Stadium, USAID Mission Director Erin Soto thanked the artists for their contribution. “Through the power of music, you’re helping to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking in Cambodia,” she said. “With education and awareness, we can work together to defeat it.” |
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In Siem Reap on December 7, more than 1,200 fans attended a ground-breaking show that featured a floodlit Angkor Wat as its backdrop. The Click Five, English rock group Placebo, American Grammy Award-winner Duncan Sheik, Australian pop star Kate Miller-Heidke, Cambodian hip-hop legend Pou Klaing, and Cambodian pop stars Sokun Nisa, Meas Soksophia and Chorn Sovanrech performed. |
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The Kampong Cham and Sihanoukville concerts were also a rousing success, drawing tens of thousands of provincial residents to events that normally occur in Cambodia’s major cities. At all of the concerts, volunteers distributed MTV EXIT anti-trafficking bracelets and wallet-sized leaflets with hotline numbers for victims or those in danger. |
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The Cambodian concert series is part of an ongoing campaign by the United States through the USAID, the MTV Europe Foundation and MTV Networks to fight human trafficking in Asia. USAID and MTV together have produced documentaries and public service announcements about human trafficking, an MTV EXIT website (www.mtvexit.org), and are now planning a series of concerts in other countries in the region. |
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