Concert To Promote Human Traffiking Awareness Press Release

First-Ever Rock Concert at Angkor Wat Temple Raises Awareness About Human Trafficking

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2008
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA – An international line-up of rock musicians took a stand against human trafficking at a recent concert at the Angkor Wat temple sponsored by the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, a project supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This was the first rock concert ever performed at the massive 12th-century temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was bathed in floodlights for the event.

More than 1,200 fans spilled from the bleachers to the edge of the jungle to hear The Click Five from the U.S., Placebo from the U.K., 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.

"We’re here to call attention to human trafficking, a form of slavery that is as big a problem today as perhaps anytime in history," Placebo lead singer Brian Molko told the invitation-only audience. The concert also featured traditional Khmer dancers and clips from Traffic: An MTV Special, a documentary about human trafficking that was funded by USAID.

USAID is supporting the MTV EXIT campaign in Asia, an on-air, online (www.mtvexit.org) and on-the-ground drive to raise awareness about and prevent human trafficking. The project is run by the MTV Europe Foundation, a London-based charity, with additional support by MTV Networks Asia/Pacific. Local donors are assisting the Cambodian campaign in four major cities throughout the country.

U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Piper A. Campbell told the crowd to be wary of job offers that seemed too good to be true and urged them to report suspected traffickers to authorities, community leaders or non-governmental organizations. Volunteers distributed MTV EXIT anti-trafficking bracelets and wallet-sized leaflets in the Khmer language with hotline numbers to concert goers.

MTV EXIT Director Simon Goff said, "Millions of people are currently living in slavery as a result of being trafficked. This is a grotesque human-rights abuse and we must all act to stop it."

For more information about USAID and its programs in Cambodia, visit www.usaid.gov.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.