Sex trafficking is an issue in the United States that is bigger than some people realize. It can be defined as “the trade of humans in the form of sexual slavery or forced labor.” The rise of the Internet makes it easy for traffickers to lure in people, especially young girls.
This is an issue that actor and entrepreneur, Ashton Kutcher, cares about deeply. In 2008, he and his ex-wife, Demi Moore, tried to tackle the issue and raise awareness towards it. Their mission statement was to eliminate sex- trafficking and child exploitation over the Internet. Through their passion, they created the program, the Thorn Task Technical Force, where currently they have identified and rescued over 6,000 trafficking victims and captured over 2,000 traffickers.
Recently, Kutcher spoke out on the topic on the Senate floor, using his high profile for a greater cause. Seeking more funding at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he passionately spoke and even broke out into tears regarding human sex trafficking and a video he referenced, involving a young girl who was seemingly brainwashed because of the situation of human trafficking she was put in. The speech can be watched here.
This is a subject that hits home for Kutcher, especially recently, when in November he welcomed his son, Dimitri, with wife Mila Kunis, joining big sister Wyatt. Looking to further “defend the right to pursue happiness,” he plans to create more programs in his organization to shorten investigations from three years to three weeks and to make sure that technology helps makes under-resourced agency jobs easier.