By IANS
New York : Some of Bollywood’s biggest stars have joined the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to curb human trafficking in India.
Amitabh Bachchan, John Abraham and Preity Zinta feature in a two-minute video, “One Life, No Price” – aiming to raise awareness of this form of modern-day slavery and spur action to prevent and combat this practice. It will be shown before the new Hindi comedy film, “Welcome”, releasing this Friday throughout India.
Stars of “Welcome” – Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar, Katrina Kaif – are also recording messages in support of the cause, a UNODC press release said.
UNODC’s partnership with the Indian film industry is part of a broader programme called UN GIFT (Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking), launched in March to bring governments, the private sector, academia, civil society and the media together to combat the scourge of human trafficking.
Human trafficking covers forced exploitation mainly of women and children in prostitution, and as bonded labour in factories and homes.
Over 100,000 fall victim every year to this crime against human rights in South Asia alone, mainly in India.
In “One Life, No Price”, produced by UNODC’s regional office for South Asia, John calls human trafficking one of the worst forms of modern day exploitation.
And Preity lends her voice for creating awareness against the inhuman practice, for the need to provide protection and rehabilitation for those rescued, and punishing the perpetrators.
The video concludes with Amitabh’s endorsement: “No human person, no child or woman, should be enslaved. Let us strengthen the hands of those fighting this battle.”