The battle against underage sex trafficking in India is a harrowing and at times seemingly impossible effort with statistics estimating that as many as 1.2 million children of ages as low as 7-years-old being forced into prostitution.
Compounding an already tragic situation is the fact that only a handful of cases are ever brought to trial -much less leading to a conviction- with the most recent statistics in 2015 showing that there were a scant 55 proprietors brought to justice.
In an effort to address the problem, J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam has partnered with Netherlands-based social rights organization called Free a Girl that aims to use education to address the problem, with the raising of public awareness is just one element of an initiative the agency
Part of the program is the “School for Justice,” that educates young women who were previously employed in brothels. The curriculum doesn’t focus solely on general education, but on guiding students toward a career in law.
The first class started recently with nineteen former underage sex workers aged of 19 to 26. The hope is that once they have completed their studies that they will become aggressive fighters in the battle to bring the orchestrators of child prostitution to justice.
“The program is already busy providing tutoring for next year’s class to get them up to the necessary level,” said JWT Amsterdam executive creative director Bas Korsten in an interview with Adweek.
“Also, what we are doing is new and pretty radical, so the girls who have signed up are real survivors. It takes a lot of courage, since signing up for this school is not without danger. There have been serious threats, which is also the reason why we’re not disclosing the location of the school. But we believe the first class will inspire many others.”
Bollywood actress and activist Malika Sherawat talks about the School for Justice:
CREDITS
Client: Free a Girl Movement
Founder: Evelien Hölsken
International Campaign Manager: Nicole Franken
International Campaign and Programme Coordinator: Tripta Biekram
Campaign Producer: Manon Langelaar
CEO and Spokesperson: Francis Gracias
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam
Executive Creative Directors: Bas Korsten, Marcel Hartog
Creative Directors: Friso Ludenhoff (concept), Maarten Vrouwes (concept)
Creative Art: Maarten Vrouwes, Guney Soykan
Creative Copy: Friso Ludenhoff
Business Director: Erik-Jan Koense
PR Director: Jessica Hartley
Connection Strategist: Angelique Schreuders
Senior Concept Producer: Catherine van Acker
Concept Producer: Linda Jansen
Producer: Sanne Kragten
Screen Producer: Lotte de Rooij
Producer Digital: Reinier Slothouber, Sandra Balke
Visual Designer: Robert Harrison, Ronald Mica
Production Company: New Amsterdam Film Company (Juliette Stevens)
Editor: MRTN editing (Timo Vonk)
Sound: Studio Alfred Klaassen
Music: MassiveMusic
Grading En Online: Captcha!
For more info visit Free a Girl on the web.
