Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label Ashton Kutcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashton Kutcher. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Ashton Kutcher Quietly Saved 6,000 Children From Human Sex Trafficking


The name Ashton Kutcher is synonymous with acting and his huge fan base indicates that he is no run-of-the-mill actor but one to be reckoned with. The actor who has a huge fan following will definitely increase the number of fans that he has with the new role that he is committed to; that of helping victims of human trafficking.

Kutcher’s non-profit organization Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, of which his ex-wife Demi Moore is a co-founder, has taken a huge leap in helping victims of human trafficking. 

The organization’s efforts have been so effective that with their help, law enforcement has been able to identify 5,894 child sex trafficking victims. 103 children were also rescued from grievous situations of sexual abuse in 2017.

According to data published in the organization’s 2017 impact report, Thorn claims to have upset the plans of 6,608 perpetrators. Through its Stop Sextortion campaign, the organization has also been able to educate 3.5 million teens and has also encouraged more than 140,000 individuals who have been looking for material on child sexual abuse.

The organization which was previously called DNA foundation was started in 2009 with Demi Moore to try and put the brakes on the huge market that exploits children for sex. Kutcher realizes that this grievous issue has swelled to gigantic proportions in recent years because of the internet.

When speaking to 48 Hours about the work that he is doing he commented.

“What we do at our core is we build technology to help fight sexual exploitation of children.” He went on to explain. “You can roll up your sleeves and go try to be like a hero and go save one person, or you can build a tool that allows one person to save a lot of people.”

In February 2017, Kutcher gave a 15-minute speech on modern-day slavery to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the hope of compelling Congress to take some concrete steps towards ending the horrors faced by women and children around the world.

In his speech, he not only spoke about the rights of these women and children that have constantly been violated but also touched upon how he has been trolled and criticized for the stand that he has taken. He has often been told to ‘stick to his day job’ by these critics but he says that what he does now and what his organization stands for is his day job.

He also recounted horrific incidents of young children under the age of ten being raped and content being shared on the dark internet. The Department of Homeland Security had also enlisted the help of his organization in trying to track down the perpetrator of a 7-year-old victim who they had been trying to nab for the past three years.

Ashton Kurcher on Technology



Monday, April 2, 2018

Inside the world of child sex trafficking and the high-tech approach to saving victims

Produced by Chris Young Ritzen  

According to the FBI, sex trafficking of children in this country has become a nationwide problem. And traffickers target troubled girls with low self-esteem -- girls like Alyssa Beck.

Beck was just a naïve 15 year old living in Jacksonville, Florida, when she found herself trapped in a sex trafficker's web.  She would be in and out of their trap for almost five years.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller has been following Beck's story and the horrific world of sex trafficking of kids. It could happen to anyone – that's why actor and activist Ashton Kutcher has taken on this cause to save other young victims.

ALYSSA'S STORY

Alyssa Beck: I was searching for something. …But I didn't know what I was searching for. …I just wanted to be free. …I don't remember being popular when I was growing up. But I always got good grades. …I was really nice and sweet as a child. …But we had problems at home. … There has to be something else. Something better than living like this. …I'm just gonna run away.

Heather Beck | Alyssa's mom: The first couple of times Alyssa ran away, you know, we would get in the car, we would drive around. …I have no idea where she was. I was terrified. Is she in the dumpster or is she in that trash bag on the side of the road and will I ever see her again?

Alyssa Beck: I was a naïve 15-year-old.

Alyssa Beck: I didn't know the streets, so I didn't know the bad things that came with it.

Alyssa Beck: I just thought that it would be fun, you know, maybe party, maybe drink. …But I never would of been prepared for what really happened.

Lawanda Ravoira | President, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: I would describe Alyssa when I first met her as afraid. As cautious. …Her experiences were some of the most violent, the most traumatic, that I've seen.

Alyssa Beck: My every day life was laying there, naked, beaten and allowing guys to come and pay 10, 20 dollars to do whatever they wanted to me.

Alyssa Beck: I didn't know the streets, so I didn't know the bad things that came with it.

Alyssa Beck: I just thought that it would be fun, you know, maybe party, maybe drink. …But I never would of been prepared for what really happened.

Lawanda Ravoira | President, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: I would describe Alyssa when I first met her as afraid. As cautious. …Her experiences were some of the most violent, the most traumatic, that I've seen.

Alyssa Beck: My every day life was laying there, naked, beaten and allowing guys to come and pay 10, 20 dollars to do whatever they wanted to me.

Mac Heavener| Prosecutor: She was being forced to do it.

Mac Heavener: We are talking about buying and selling children for sex acts.

Michelle Miller: How many men?

Shannon Schott | Juvenile justice expert and lawyer:  Fifty. …Over the course of two weeks.

Heather Beck: It never crossed my mind in my wildest dreams that my child was involved in human trafficking.

Ashton Kutcher testifies at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on modern slavery, Feb. 15, 2017.  "I've seen things that no person should ever see," he said.

Sen. Bob Corker | R-Tenn: Our first witness today is Mr. Ashton Kutcher.

Ashton Kutcher [ to Congress]:  As part of my anti-trafficking work, I've met victims in Russia, in India, victims in New York and New Jersey and all across our country. …I've been on FBI raids where I've seen things that no person should ever see.

Kutcher gives emotional testimony at hearing on ending modern day slavery

Ashton Kutcher: I have a hard time talking about this issue without being emotional.

Michelle Miller: Why this cause?

Ashton Kutcher: I was just so appalled … If you don't do something about it, then who are you?

Ashton Kutcher: It can happen to anyone … Traffickers prey on people and they know exactly what's gonna turn their trigger.

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