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A film documentary titled "Traffic" was released Friday afternoon in Beijing, officially launching the "MTV Exit" campaign in China. MTV Exit is a global movement against human trafficking initiated in 2004 by the international entertainment giant Music Television, or MTV.
What can a showbiz enterprise do with such a solemn issue? Our reporter has the story.
Reporter:
The about thirty-minute-long documentary "Traffic" is the lead feature of the MTV Exit campaign in the Asian-Pacific region. It aims to raise public awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking that is currently plaguing the area.

Simon Goff (M), Director of MTV Exit-Asia, Dan Piccuta (L2), Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy to China, Li Yifei (R), Managing Director of MTV Greater China, pose along with two VJs from MTV on the media conference releasing the documentary "Traffic" for the MTV Exit anti-human trafficking campaign Friday afternoon September 21, 2007 in Beijing. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]
According to the United Nations' definition, "human trafficking" means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people, by means of abduction, deception or other forms of force, for the purpose of exploitation, such as prostitution, forced labor, slavery or even the removal of organs.
This crime seems graver in the Asian-Pacific region. A report released by International Labor Organization in 2005 showed that nearly 2.5 million people were victims of global human trafficking and 60% of them were from Asia.
By telling the true stories of three Asian victims of human trafficking, "Traffic" gives an insight into the realities of trafficking. It addresses the part that everyone plays in the issue, and provides information on how individuals can protect themselves against trafficking, as well as what everyone can do to help end the exploitation and trafficking.
Inexperienced young people between the ages of sixteen to twenty-four, who make up the majority of MTV's audience, are particularly vulnerable to this threat. Simon Goff, Director of MTV Exit-Asia, says that by broadcasting the instructive documentary on its music channels, MTV hopes to teach the youth self-protection when entertaining them.
"We're talking with our audience. It's a peer to peer thing. It's not like a message that is coming down from your parents to say 'don't do this' or 'do that' or 'don't do that'. We talk to them about music. We talk to them about movies, about style. And this is one element of that. We're just talking to them about a serious issue that is going on. We're conveying information about something that is really important. You know that's the major difference ¨C we speak in their language."
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