UNODC is cosponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS - UNAIDS
Artistes Unite Against Trafficking
The Delhi International Arts Festival partners with UNODC at "Recognizing the Partnership with the Arts in Making our World a Better One".
12 December 2007
New Delhi, India
Lighting the Inaugural Lamp Executive Director of the Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) Ms. Arshiya Sethi welcomed the dais members and participants, and described a bit about what the International Arts Festival represents, and how it incorporates international elements from the planning and presentation to the film origins to the corporate partnerships garnered for the events. After the lighting of the lamp, UNODC Representative Mr. Gary Lewis addressed the group of 70 Artistes who had assembled for the special session.
Mr. Lewis expressed his pleasure at seeing a group of Artistes seeking involvement in the fight against human trafficking and drug use, and invited participants to join in the cause. He took the opportunity to share with the Artistes the mandate and activities of the UNODC Regional Office for South Asia, and defined and described human trafficking in detail, describing the causes, and what prevention, protection, and prosecution activities are presently being pursued. Mr. Lewis illustrated a mental picture of what a case of human trafficking looks like, describing the "horrible arithmetical choice" that some families face, prompting them to sell a child. He described the push factors created by imbalanced sex ratios resulting from female feoticide, and projected that based upon population statistics, this problem will get worse before it gets better. The 7 minute film "One Life. No Price." was shown to the group to demonstrate the nature and extent of human trafficking in South Asia, and give the issue a human face. Mr. Lewis also announced that the new major motion picture "Welcome" will incorporate a 2 minute version of the film "One Life. No Price." at the beginning of the film at each of the 1000 locations in which it will be shown.
The 5 minute film of the October 2007 Regional Conference was also screened, and Mr. Lewis shared the outputs of the Regional Conference working group on the Role of Arts, Media and Popular Culture. Amongst the points, which called for raising awareness, creating public service advertisements (PSAs), using arts for rehabilitation, forming an Artistes coalition, advocating for legislative changes, and using popular cinema to reach wide audiences, two had already been incorporated into anti-human trafficking efforts since the conference- PSA development and use of popular cinema.
"I'm glad you're here, because you have a voice and visibility, and your work touches many". Mr. Gary Lewis, Representative, UNODC
Ms. Sethi requested Artistes to think about how they can become involved and share with the group what they could offer. They offered the following:
Ms. Kavita Deveity, ODC Dancer- was touched by the "One Life. No Price." film, and encouraged others to raise these issues in their presentations to festivals.
A participant makes a point
Ms. Jyoti Shrivastava, ODC Dancer- announced that after viewing the "One Life. No Price." film, she decided to prepare a choreography on human trafficking, and present it before each show she does, beginning with her performance as part of the outreach activities of the Delhi International Arts Festival on 14 December, and as part of the youth event for DIAF on 17 December
Ms. Rashmi Malik, Spic Macay- Stated that Spic Macay hosts outreach programs in public places and disturbed areas, and can incorporate human trafficking themes into our orientations. Additionally, they can attach a social message to every concert we stage, including our "Music in the Park" concert, which draws a crowd of thousands. They can also include messages during orientations of volunteers. Ms. Sethi recommended that they also include survivors in professional dance performances, and that they offer scholarships to survivors so that they can pursue performing arts
Mr. Pavni Mishra, Disciple of Mashosh Nair- Make sure that programs are long-term and not one-off events. He recommended establishing networks of people within villages that can stage regular theater and dance events for children to participate in. Recommended that each artist link up with an NGO to create such programs. Ms. Sethi encouraged participants to contact UNODC and find out more about which NGOs are doing what.
Mr. Napech Ora, Dancer and Yoga Instructor- He teaches dance workshops, and teaches children show to work with their bodies. "The message won't be absorbed by children if you just talk to them. They need to learn behavior. They cannot merely be told to say no, they need to rehearse saying no." Regarding rehabilitation of survivors, yoga is extremely important. Ms. Sethi agreed that art is a powerful form of therapy.
"I'm glad you're here, because you have a voice and visibility, and your work touches many". Mr. Gary Lewis, Representative, UNODC
H.S. Harsha, Theatre Artist with Shourya Theatre for the past 20 years- He suggested the involvement of grassroots NGOs for proper follow-up and implementation. He recommended that popular local festivals held in Punjab, Jharkhand, and Kerala be targeted as mediums to pass on the message of anti-human trafficking. He emphasized that the messages must be in local languages and the stressed the importance of gaining state government buy-in. He also suggested the inclusion of information on human trafficking in school curriculum for students in class VI and above.
The session next turned to drugs, the other primary thematic area of UNODC's work. UNODC National Officer Ms. Ashita Mittal described the network of NGOs that the UNODC Regional Office for South Asia partners with, and encouraged establishment of tripartite partnerships, encouraging Artistes to let UNODC know if they are going to be traveling to certain areas so that we can link them up with NGOs operating in those areas. Drawing on a participant comment, she affirmed the usefulness that offering yoga would provide in de-addiction centre, and underscored the need to marry the arts with issues of social development.
Mr. Pratik Kumar, a Project Coordinator at UNODC detailed trends and statistics relating to drug use, and described the importance of including liquor and nicotine abuse in that category, and stressed the importance of educating children about the risks of drug use. He described the UNODC program to provide drug awareness training in 200 schools in India, the training of 2000 peer educators in the Northeast, and the multi-year "I Decide" Campaign. Band member Abishek Mishra raised issues he had witnessed people face as drug users, which prompted a discussion about deaddiction centres and the resources available to those seeking to recover, such as helplines.
Dignitaries on the dais: Dr P M Nair, Project Coordinator UNODC; Mr Gary Lewis, Representative UNODC ROSA; Ms Arshiya Sethi, Executive Director Delhi International Arts Festival; Ms Ashita Mittal, National Programme Officer UNODC and Mr Pratik Kumar, Project Coordinator UNODC (From L to R)
Ms. Mittal shared a good practice of Artistes using their talent to reduce drug use: a group of musical Artistes from Shillong created songs about freedom, with lyrics composed by children, and produced recordings of these to spread awareness. A discussion followed about the dilemmas faced by Artistes when the only sponsorship available is from liquor and cigarette companies, and several Artistes stood to announce that they had rejected such sponsorship in the past and planned to continue doing so, even though it costs them chances to perform.
This session marks the next step of the GIFT Initiative in engaging Artistes in the fight against human trafficking as well as a continuation of arts involvement in combating drug use. If you are an artist and would like to see how you can use your art to fight human trafficking or drug use, please call UNODC ROSA at +91 11 4222 5000
