(Sacramento, 3rd March) The Coalition LLC (Coalition Fight Music) in association with UFC/Pride FC Legend Phil Baroni have partnered together to launch an International effort/ad campaign highlighting the rising epidemic of Human Trafficking. Human Trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings (mainly women and children) for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor, a modern-day form of slavery.

The premise of the “Man Up” campaign is to have well known mixed martial artists raising awareness of Human Trafficking/child sexual exploitation occurring here in the U.S. and encouraging the MMA community to “get involved”.

Phil Baroni says: “I wanted to do what I could to make a diference, it’s the right thing to do. As a professional athlete and at times a public figure, I felt deeply inside that I should Man Up and join the fight against Human Trafficking and help bring awareness to such a horrible crime. It’s basically modern day slavery taking place here today in America.”

CFM says: “We’re honored to be a voice for the voiceless and champions for those who are often overlooked and forgotten. We look forward to making Human Trafficking a thing of the past.”

Human trafficking is defined as: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (Source: Wikipedia.com)

The United States of America is principally a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually. It is estimated that California is amongst the top 3 states in the nation for human trafficking. By its very nature, human trafficking, in all of its forms, is largely hidden from view. This is due in part to the large immigrant communities, within California, which provide for good concealment of a trafficking operation – in many cases, these persons can be hidden in plain sight. Many of these communities are not trusting of law enforcement and tend to maintain cultural norms – some which dictate maintaining silence in the face of illegal enterprise. (Source: Wikipedia.com)

Leave a Reply