Leading Human Rights Groups to Protest Village Voice Media in NYC on 11/16/11

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 16, 2011 between 4 and 7 PM the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) and over 100 national and international co-sponsors will protest Village Voice Media Holdings, LLC (VVM) at its offices in New York City in front of the Village Voice building, for its facilitation of sex trafficking through its website Backpage.com.

A large portion of VVM's profits arise from its facilitation of sex trafficking. VVM mainstreams online pimping - providing a vehicle for sex traffickers to reach buyers of human beings for prostituted sex. By providing traffickers and johns with a virtual red light district, VVM is aiding, abetting and enormously profiting from sex trafficking. "Civil libertarian and liberal institutions should not be in the position of profiting from and defending the practice of women and children being bought and sold for prostituted sex," says Norma Ramos, Executive Director of CATW.

Our protest is co-sponsored by over 100 leading human rights and anti-trafficking organizations and prominent individuals including Equality Now, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Apne Aap, Alicia Keys, Gloria Steinem, Aboriginal Women's Action Network, Breaking Free, Ambassador Mark Lagon, Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, Temple Committee Against Human Trafficking, and A Call to Men.

Sex trafficking is fueled by the demand for prostitution along with the anonymity and impunity of buyers that websites like Backpage.com provide. According to Melissa Farley, of PRE, "Websites like Backpage.com have expanded the reach of pimps and traffickers. VVM has helped to intensify the humiliation and violence inflicted by johns on women and girls in prostitution." Some have argued that if newspapers like Village Voice are to survive, it's inevitable that somebody will be sexually exploited. We disagree. Publishers of online and print classifieds must take responsibility for the ads they choose to publish and profit from.

51 Attorneys General describe Backpage.com as a sex trafficking hub and call on Village Voice Media to cease being a vehicle for and profiting from human trafficking. Village Voice Media is turning a deaf ear to this clear and unified directive from law enforcement. The purpose of our protest is clear: "We are sending a message to Village Voice Media that by hosting these ads, they are at odds with the human rights community and are in part responsible for the rank exploitation that is human trafficking. The question now remains, will VVM choose profits over human rights principles," says Ms. Ramos.

"If the survival of your business depends on the physical exploitation of people, it's time to revisit your business model," says Robert Benz, Founder and Executive Director, Frederick Douglass Family Foundation and leading organizer of the protest at the VVM headquarters in Phoenix, AZ taking place on the same day.

It would be an act of corporate responsibility if VVM ceased facilitating sex trafficking thereby helping us to create a sex trafficking free Internet.

There will be a press conference at 5 PM at the protest. Speakers include: Sonia Ossorio of NOW-NYC, Jimmy Briggs of Man Up Campaign, Cherie Jimenez of Kim's Project, Faith Huckel of Restore, and Ted Bunch of A Call to Men.

For a complete list of the 100 co-sponsors who join CATW and PRE visit our websites: www.catwinternational.org and www.prostitutionresearch.com

SOURCE Coalition Against Trafficking in Women