Ashton Kutchers emotional speech on

fighting child abuse is so important

Nicole Morley for Metro.co.ukThursday 16 Feb 2017 7:37 am

1.2k
Ashton Kutcher, actor and co-founder of Thorn, speaks about ending modern day slavery
and child sex abuse before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Picture: Getty)

Ashton Kutcher has given an emotional speech, imploring US officials to do more to

end child sexual abuse.

The actor and tech investor, a father-of-two, was visibly tearful as he discussed progress
in combating modern slavery in a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
in Washington DC.
 Sexual abuse survivor explains why its vital male victims have a

voice

Kutcher, 39, co-founded the organisation Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, which
builds computer software to fight human trafficking.

Kutcher who has two children, one aged two and one aged three months, with actress
Mila Kunis said: Ive been on FBI raids where Ive seen things that no person should
ever see.

Ive seen video content of a child thats the same age as mine being raped by an
American man that was a sex tourist in Cambodia.

And this child was so conditioned by her environment that she thought she was engaging
in play.

Victims of rape describe the devastating effects of not being believed

and victim blaming

Kutcher revealed that his team received a call from the Department of Homeland
Security, a plea for help to find a seven-year-old girl after footage of her being sexually
abused was spread around the dark web.

Shed been abused for three years and theyd watched her for three years and they could
not find the perpetrator. Asking us for help, he said.

We were the last line of defence. An actor and his foundation were the potential last line
of defence.

Thats my day job and Im sticking to it.

Ashton Kutcherhas two children with actress Mila Kunis (Picture: Getty)

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Kutchers comments to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee follows huge
criticism of classified advertising websites such as Backpage.com, which carry ads that
offer children for commercial sex.

Technology can be used to enable slavery, but it can also be used to disable slavery, said
Kutcher.

Kutchers company Thorn is a tech non-profit that has produced web-based tools to help
police officers identify and locate victims of trafficking.
 Childrens book author 'sobbed like a baby' after US border interrogation

The Spotlight tool, which Kutcher said has helped identify 6,000 victims in six months,
was created after a 2012 sex trafficking survey found that 63 percent of underage victims
reported being bought or sold online.

Kutcher said becoming a parent had propelled his crusade against trafficking.

The right to pursue happiness for so many is stripped away, its raped, its abused, its
taken by force, fraud or coercion it is sold for the momentary happiness of another.

Each year, up to 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked for commercial sex in the
US, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Most sex trafficking victims are advertised or sold online, according to a Senate
subcommittee report that was released last month.

Backpage.com was hit last week with the latest in a string of lawsuits that accuse the
company of promoting sex trafficking by running and rewriting ads that offer children to
be bought and hired for sex.

Ashton Kutcher speaks about child abuse

February 16, 20172:45pm
By David Mercer, Press Association Los Angeles CorrespondentPress Association

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Actor Ashton Kutcher has given an emotional speech to US senators as he called for
more action to tackle child sexual abuse.
The Hollywood star discussed combating modern slavery in a hearing before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee in Washington.

Kutcher, 39, co-founded the organisation Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, which
builds software to fight human trafficking.

The visibly emotional actor - who has two young children with actress Mila Kunis - said:
"I've been on FBI raids where I've seen things that no person should ever see.

"I've seen video content of a child that's the same age as mine being raped by an
American man that was a sex tourist in Cambodia.

"And this child was so conditioned by her environment that she thought she was
engaging in play."

Kutcher said his team received a call from the Department of Homeland Security asking
for help to find a seven-year-old girl after footage of her being sexually abused was
"spread around the dark web".

"She'd been abused for three years and they'd watched her for three years and they could
not find the perpetrator," he said.

"We were the last line of defence. An actor and his foundation were the potential last line
of defence.

"That's my day job and I'm sticking to it."

In a more light-hearted moment at the hearing, Kutcher blew a kiss towards Republican
senator and former US presidential candidate John McCain.

It came after McCain told the actor: "Ashton, you were better looking in the movies".

Ashton is the founder Of Thorn, an NGO that calls itself

the digital defenders of children. He works with like-
minded individuals and also the national forces to protect
the vulnerable from being exploited.

Published Thursday, February 16, 2017 11:35AM EST

Last Updated Thursday, February 16, 2017 12:50PM EST

Actor Ashton Kutcher delivered an emotional speech on Wednesday about combating

child sex trafficking before a U.S. Senate committee, in what he called his "day job" as an
activist and technology investor.
Kutcher spoke at length about the challenges involved with ending child sex slavery both
in the U.S., where it is facilitated through the dark web, and abroad, where children in
disadvantaged countries are forced into the sex trade. He also dismissed those who might
suggest he stick to his "day job" as an actor.

"My day job is as the chairman and co-founder of Thorn," Kutcher said, during an
emotional 15-minute speech. "We build software to fight human trafficking and the
sexual exploitation of children."

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Photos

Actor and Thorn chairman/co-founder Ashton Kutcher speaks before U.S. Congress in
Washington, D.C., on Feb. 15, 2017. (CSPAN / YouTube)

Kutcher added that his other day job is as the father of a two-year-old and a two-month
old, whom he is raising with wife Mila Kunis. He told Congress he wants to make sure
all children have the opportunity to pursue their own happiness, whether they're born in
the U.S. or overseas.

The 39-year-old actor, activist and technology investor said he's seen things "no person
should ever see" through his work at Thorn, where he's helped develop software that
prioritizes child sex trafficking cases for police.

"I've seen video content of a child that's the same age as mine being raped by an
American man that was a sex tourist in Cambodia," Kutcher said, in an apparent
reference to his two-year-old. "And this child was so conditioned by her environment that
she thought she was engaging in play."

Kutcher says he was "devastated" when he saw that video, and frustrated that his
organization didn't have a tool to help save the child. "It haunted me because for the next
three months. I had to go to sleep every night and think about that little girl that was still
being abused, and the fact that if I built the right thing, we could save her."

He said he received another call from the Department of Homeland Security, asking if
Thorn had the software to track down someone who had been abusing a seven-year-old
girl for years and sharing the material over the dark web.

"We were the last line of defence an actor and his foundation were the potential last line
of defence," he said.

Kutcher says Thorn has now come up with the technology to address those issues, thanks
to private-public partnerships and the support of Republican Sen. John McCain's
charitable foundation.

Kutcher says software produced by Thorn has helped identify more than 6,000 victims of
human trafficking, including 2,000 minors, over the last six months, according to data
from 25 per cent of users. He says the company's software is now being used by 4,000
law enforcement officials with 900 agencies around the world, and is reducing
investigation times by up to 60 per cent.

"Technology can be used to enable slavery, but it can also be used to disable slavery, and
that's what we're doing," Kutcher said.

Kutcher urged Congress to sponsor more private-public technology projects that aim to
fight child sex trafficking, which is often facilitated through the dark web. He also called
for Congress to improve victim support and foster care networks, bolster foreign aid to
refugees and pressure corporations to build their products in the United States, rather than
using foreign labour trafficking to produce goods on the cheap.

"When people are left out, when they're neglected, when they're not supported and when
they're not given the love that they need to grow, it becomes an incubator for trafficking,"
he said.

Kutcher also said the Syrian refugee crisis must be addressed if the U.S. really wants to
be serious about ending slavery.

"We cannot ignore our support for this issue in that space, because otherwise we're going
to deal with it for years to come."

Kutcher testified alongside Elisa Massimo, president and CEO of Human Rights First.
The hearing was part of Republican Sen. Bob Corker's End Modern Slavery Initiative,
which he launched in February of 2015. The initiative aims to raise billions of dollars to
reduce modern slavery in the United States and abroad through bipartisan efforts.