Celebrities Worldwide Join Forces With Free a Girl to Raise The #VoiceForJustice Campaign

The third ‘School for Justice’ launched in Asia to fight sexual exploitation of children Mumbai, Maharashtra, India – Business Wire India In an effort to support child survivors of sex trafficking to voice their demand for justice, celebrities and influential voices worldwide have joined hands with Free a Girl – an international not-for-profit that rescues girls from sexual exploitation - to launch the #VoiceForJustice campaign and create a wide ecosystem of strong supporting voices that will fight for the child survivors of sexual exploitation in their journey to demand justice.

The third ‘School for Justice’ launched in Asia to fight sexual exploitation of children Mumbai, Maharashtra, India – Business Wire India In an effort to support child survivors of sex trafficking to voice their demand for justice, celebrities and influential voices worldwide have joined hands with Free a Girl – an international not-for-profit that rescues girls from sexual exploitation - to launch the #VoiceForJustice campaign and create a wide ecosystem of strong supporting voices that will fight for the child survivors of sexual exploitation in their journey to demand justice. The campaign comes after the success of Free a Girl’s School for Justice (SFJ) programme in India – that has been educating rescued girls to become lawyers, police officers, journalists and more to change the system from within – and it’s first graduate Sinaj, a survivor and now a lawyer. Commemorating this, Free a Girl is also officially opening, its first-ever SFJ in Kathmandu, Nepal where every year more than 12,000 girls are trafficked. With the power of social media, eminent personalities across the globe such as Sapna Bhavnani (Indian Celebrity Hairstylist), Padma Shri Anuradha Koirala (Nepali Social Activist), Nadia Murad (Iraqi Nobel Prize laureate, human rights activist), Mariane Pearl (French journalist), Famke Janssen (Hollywood actress) and many more, will be joining the #VoiceForJustice campaign and lending their voice to the cause.

Every year two million child victims are sexually exploited worldwide, the vast majority are girls, and less than 1% of the perpetrators get convicted. The survivors of these horrific acts feel unable to report them due to feelings of shame, fear of reprisals, and lack of faith in the legal system. Asia has long been a pivot for sex trafficking, with a high concentration of such activities and impunity in the region. Supporting the launch of School for Justice Nepal and the #VoiceForJustice campaign, Sinaj, a survivor and the first graduate of School for Justice from India says, “As I come closer to achieving my feat of becoming a lawyer, I want to fight for and inspire girls who have suffered at the hands of their perpetrator. I also want to urge everyone to share their voice for justice, to encourage survivors of sexual exploitation to take the first step towards justice.” To commemorate the launch and rally supporters from India and Nepal in the fight to curb child sexual exploitation, Free a Girl hosted a panel discussion, bringing together strong supporting voices including Meenakshi Arora (Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India), Tara Kaushal (author of the bestselling book ‘Why Men Rape’), Pranaadhika Sinha Devburman (survivor & activist) and Bishwo Khadka (Chairperson, Maiti Nepal).

On the launch of School for Justice Nepal and the #VoiceForJustice campaign, Evelien Hölsken, Free a Girl founder, says: “We all need to speak up for the child survivors of sexual exploitation, so we are asking women all over the world to raise their voice for justice. Together we can fight for a better future and make sure that the perpetrators receive the justice they deserve. The problem is getting bigger by the day - so we need to take action, now.” About Free a Girl Free a Girl is dedicated to fighting sexual exploitation of children and impunity. We rescued almost 5,000 minor girls worldwide in the past 12 years. As well as rescues, we focus on tackling impunity with our School for Justice program. Free a Girl works with fourteen partner organizations in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Iraq, Laos, Nepal, the Netherlands, and Thailand. The organization has its own office in the Netherlands, the US, and India. Notes to editors For more about Free a Girl, go to: https://www.freeagirl.com/ For More about School for Justice, go to: https://www.freeagirl.com/how-we-work/special-programmes/school-for-justice/ For more information about the Voice for Justice campaign, go to: freeagirl.com/voiceforjustice SOME SOURCE MATERIAL HERE • It is estimated that 99.1% of sexual violence cases in India, go unreported – According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 2015-16 - https://www.livemint.com/Politics/AV3sIKoEBAGZozALMX8THK/99-cases-of-sexual-assaults-go-unreported-govt-data-shows.html • According to the UNICEF, it is estimated that as many as 200,000 Nepali women and girls are currently working in the Indian sex industry - https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/nepalsuccess1.pdf • According to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) reports from 2009, there are an estimated 1.2 million children involved in prostitution in India - http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/11/india.prostitution.children/index.html?iref=24hours • In 2015, a total of 1658 cases of child trafficking were registered under the POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) Act 2012, of which 5003 were taken to trial, 384 completed trial and only 55 resulted in convictions. The conviction rate for CSEC cases in 2015 was 14.3% while that of case pendency stood at an unacceptably high 92%. https://ncrb.gov.in/sites/default/files/crime_in_india_table_additional_table_chapter_reports/Chapter%206A-15.11.16_2015.pdf (Check Page 5, under Disposal of Crimes Relating to Child Trafficking by Courts) To View the Image Click on the Link Below: Free a Girl launches #VoiceForJustice, in an effort to support child survivors of sex trafficking to voice their demand for justice PWR PWR

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