Ricky Martin helps to fight human trafficking

San Juan: Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin`s foundation is training people to fight against child abuse and human trafficking.

About 50 representatives of the NGOs Amnesty International, New York Human Trafficking Task Force and Alliance, Puerto Rican Psychiatric Association, Education and Rehabilitation Society of Puerto Rico and Community Initiative participated in the first training workshop held here Monday. The Ricky Martin Foundation launched the campaign "Se Trata" (human lives for sale) in partnership with Doral Financial Corporation about a month ago. The campaign follows a joint study by the foundation, the University of Puerto Rico and Johns Hopkins University. It aims to counter prostitution, child pornography, sex tourism, slavery, forced marriage and labour. Executive director of the foundation Bibiana Ferraiouli described the workshop as "historic" since it coincided with the release of the US State Department`s 2010 report on human trafficking. The report probes the situation in 177 countries. According to Unicef, 1.2 million children are trafficked annually worldwide for labour and sexual exploitation. IANS