The Body Shop Says: Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People

By Lisa Germinsky
Thursday, September 23, 2010 5:30 AM ET

 

Help these purveyors of beauty eradicate one of the world's ugliest crimes.

 

Warning: this is not going to be pretty. Every year 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex. In the United States alone, over 200,000 children will be involved in commercial sexual exploitation. Those are just estimates — the true numbers are likely higher. It's an ugly issue that one beauty company is determined to eradicate.

 

This week at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, Tonic had the pleasure of speaking with Phil Kowalcyk, president of The Body Shop North America. He brought us up to speed on the Commitment that the socially-conscious beauty giant accepted in partnership with ECPAT, "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People."

 

The three-year initiative, valued at $11.5 million, boasts a two-fold mission: first, to raise funds for intervention and rescue from trafficking; and second, to inspire long-term change. The current initial phase of raising money and gathering names for a petition will continue until the end of 2011. They will then present the millions of signatures to lawmakers and leaders around the globe, appealing for better legislation, awareness and prevention of child sex trafficking. Currently they have secured 2,640,040 million signatures. Since launching the US arm of the campaign in August, they've collected a remarkable 500,000.

 

"It has the potential to break your heart, until you realize, this can change," Kowalcyk tells Tonic. He continues, "Earlier today someone said, 'Intellectually you can almost understand poverty, violence, the spread of HIV/AIDs, but you can't understand taking advantage of children.'"

 

And things are changing. Organizations such as the Somaly Mam Foundation are doing courageous work and making remarkable strides in liberating victims and empowering survivors. A survivor herself, Mam, was born into poverty and sold into the sex trade as a young girl by a man who posed as her grandfather. Mam has made it her life's work to eradicate the possibility that others will share her fate. The nonprofit has successfully touched the lives of over 6,000 children through rescue and recovery, education and reintegration.

 

Westerners no longer have the luxury of thinking this is a faraway problem in the developing world. This year, upwards of 300,000 children will be exploited by the sex industry across all 50 states. With the exception of New York, Washington and Connecticut, children picked up for prostitution can be arrested and prosecuted in the US. To make matters worse, only three shelters exist for the nearly 300,000 children involved in sex trafficking. Activists and lawmakers are working diligently to create safe harbors around the nation.

 

Tonic asked Kowalcyk what people can do to help and he offered up three very specific, simple actions:

• Sign the petition online or in any Body Shop location.
• Learn these two facts and share them: 1. Sex trafficking is the third highest crime in the world behind drugs and firearms. 2. 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex every year.
• Purchase products from The Body Shop. Either, the Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream, of which 100% net proceeds go to ECPAT, or the Stop Sex Trafficking Bag for Life, of which 100% of net proceeds go to Somaly Mam.

It should be noted that The Body Shop is not one of those global corporations who recently got hip to the importance of social action — you'll never catch them tagging a random cause marketing campaign onto the launch of the latest Body Butter scent. This beauty brand was born to do good. It's an inside-out kind of thing.

 

Dame Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976 on the principle that businesses have the power to do good. An activist herself, Roddick believed that by creating a product that inherently makes a difference in the world, she could enable consumers to become activists by making a simple purchase. According to the company website Roddick once said, "Activism isn't listed on The Body Shop® labels as an ingredient, but it is there as surely as the bergamot and hemp oil."

 

If she were alive today, Dame Roddick would surely be proud of her legacy.

 

Respectfully submitted from: http://www.tonic.com/article/the-body-shop/