UN / EMMA THOMPSON

STORY: UN / EMMA THOMPSON
TRT: 1.29
SOURCE: UNTV / UNODC
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 11 NOVEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE


SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT 2009, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

11 NOVEMBER 2009, NEW YORK CITY

2. Zoom in, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“These two great women have worked hard to highlight the crime of human trafficking. This is one of the issues, most serious issues which we are now putting highest priority to prevent them, to stop human trafficking.”
4. Wide shot, actress Emma Thompson approaching the podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Emma Thompson, Actress/Writer and Chair of Helen Bamber Foundation:
“She was taken a very roundabout route ending up in London, where she arrived three weeks later very disorientated, where a lady said ‘now you owe us fifty thousand pounds, and this is how you’re going to pay for it’ and handed her a great big bag of old, used thongs and said ‘this is what you’re going to do’. And she said ‘what do you mean, I’m not going to do that, I’m not going to do it.’ And I remember Elena sitting and saying ‘I didn’t understand, I really didn’t understand that they would be able to make me’.”
6. Med shot, Helen Bamber
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Emma Thompson, Actress/Writer and Chair of Helen Bamber Foundation:
“It’s Helen’s expertise that over the years has inspired me and given me these extraordinary opportunities to tell stories that change people.”
8. Wide shot, applause
9. Med shot, Helen Bamber receiving award

FILE – UNODC – 12 FEBRUARY 2008, HELDENPLATZ, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

10. Various shots, installation "The Journey"


STORYLINE:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (11 November) joined UN-based journalists in honoring Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and human rights activist Helen Bamber for their work in combating human trafficking.

Speaking at an event organized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Scholarship Fund for Journalists, Ban said that the United Nations was committed to stopping the crime of human trafficking, one of the “most serious issues”.

Emma Thompson, who chairs the Helen Bamber Foundation, is the co-curator of an interactive art installation called "Journey" illustrating the brutal and harrowing experiences of women sold into the sex trade.

Recounting the story of the Moldovan woman – Elena - who inspired the work, Thompson told the gathering that Elena was taken to London for what she thought was a job as a receptionist. But when she arrived, she was told that she owed fifty thousand pounds and a lady “handed her a great big bag of old, used thongs and said ‘this is what you’re going to do’”.

Thompson said she remembered Elena telling her how she “’really didn’t understand that they would be able to make me’”. What followed were beatings, rape, torture and starvation.

After escaping, it was through Helen Bamber’s organization that Elena later found the courage to speak out about her ordeal, Thompson said. That was why Bamber was such an inspiration to her, giving the actress “these extraordinary opportunities to tell stories that change people.”

The Dag Hammarskjöld Fund today honored Helen Bamber with its Inspiration Award, presented by the Fund’s Chair Evelyn Leopold.

Helen Bamber OBE is a psychotherapist who has worked for survivors of human rights abuses since the end of World War II. She founded the Helen Bamber Foundation in 1995. It provides medical consultation, therapeutic care, and practical support to survivors of gross human rights violations and conducts human rights campaigns.

“Journey”, consisting of seven transport containers, was realized as a collaborative work by a dozen artists. The installation was originally shown in Trafalgar Square in London in September 2007. It has since traveled internationally, including to Vienna, Austria, and is currently on view near New York City’s Washington Square until Sunday (14 November).

Emma Thompson has appeared in more than 25 films, at least ten television dramas as well as a host of theatre productions. She is the only person ever to win an Acadamy Award for both acting and screenplay: Best actress for "Howards End" (1992) and best adapted screenplay for "Sense and Sensibility" (1995).

The Dag Hammarskjöld Scholarship Fund for Journalists is managed on a voluntary basis by UN-based correspondents, who raise monies to support it. The Fund brings journalists from developing nations to New York each autumn to cover the UN General Assembly for 10-12 weeks.