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Kick Off of the World Cup 2006 Counter-Trafficking Campaign

IOM, the MTV Europe Foundation and the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) are
today launching a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise
awareness among football fans that many women will be trafficked
into Germany and forced into sexual slavery to meet an increased
demand for prostitution during this year’s World Cup.

The PSA, which is offered rights free and free
of charge to all broadcasters worldwide, directs viewers to a
website ( "http://www.mtvstreaker.com" target="_blank" title=
"">www.mtvstreaker.com) where they can obtain hotline
information for anonymously reporting to the German authorities any
cases of trafficking and forced prostitution they may
encounter.

“An increase on the demand side for
sexual services during a major global sporting event, whatever the
country, will inevitably attract traffickers who will see an
opportunity to turn a quick profit,” says IOM head of Counter
Trafficking Richard Danziger. “This is why we have decided to
team up with the MTV Exit Campaign. The campaign message is a
strong one and we hope it will jolt viewers into changing their
attitudes."

IOM estimates that some 200,000 people are
trafficked into and within Europe every year, the majority of them
women and girls for sexual exploitation.

The PSA is part of MTV’s ongoing EXIT
campaign to end exploitation and trafficking, in partnership with
Sida.

MTV EXIT is a joint project of MTV Networks
Europe and the MTV Europe Foundation (a registered UK charity) to
raise awareness and increase prevention of the trafficking of women
and girls for sexual exploitation in Europe.

MTV EXIT includes MTV feature programming
presented by Angelina Jolie, Gavin Rossdale, Helena Christensen,
and Howlin’ Pelle from The Hives; awareness and prevention
events across Europe and a 14-language youth-oriented website ( class="paragraph-link-underlined" href="http://www.mtvexit.org"
target="_blank" title="">www.mtvexit.org) with information
on counter-trafficking organizations and hotlines.

This initiative has also received financial
support from the World Childhood Foundation "paragraph-link-underlined" href="http://www.childhood.org" target=
"_blank" title="">www.childhood.org

For further information, please contact:

Richard Danziger

IOM Geneva

Tel: +41 22 717 93 34

Mobile: +41 79 413 69 34

E-mail: "mailto:rdanziger@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">rdanziger@iom.int