Human trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry, which globally surpasses the illegal sale of arms and will surpass the illegal sale of drugs in the next couple of years. It’s something that’s been kept hush-hush for so many years, but little by little it’s reaching mainstream and that’s the goal, for everyone to be aware of this because it’s happening everywhere. Hidden Tears Project is a media company that creates short films about human trafficking. Their latest project is called Daddy Issues, which a short film that tells a story of a young girl who is trapped as a sex slave.
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People think human trafficking is a foreign problem, but it’s something that is happening everywhere. Approximately 600,000-800,0000 people worldwide are bought and exploited for forced labor or commercial sex every year and 50% of those numbers are children. Unfortunately, 83% of the victims of sex trafficking cases are American citizens and most of them are aged between 12 and 14 years old.
This is why the producers of Daddy Issues teamed up with experts that have experienced some form of human trafficking. “This isn’t based on one true story of a particular person, but it’s a project that’s been researched thoroughly; we’ve talked with experts and survivors, a combination of different stories, which convey reality,” says Gurvitz.
One of the advisors to the film is Lourdes Nieto, a Chicago police officer that works with human trafficking victims, as well as spends her time bringing awareness on the issue. “I am very excited to be an advisor to the project, which is why I brought on a real victim survivor that could give the writers and producers a real opinion,” says Nieto. As advocates, we can take all the training and have all the book knowledge, but at the end of the day it’s the opinion of victims that really matter.
