Press Release

Sofia, Bulgaria, 16th of August 2006

The MTV Europe Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) continue their collaboration to raise awareness and increase prevention of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation in Europe through a multimedia campaign including an event tour, event programming, public service announcements, and a 19-language informational website.

The ongoing MTV EXIT Campaign (End Exploitation and Trafficking) continues its unique anti-trafficking event tour in Sofia on 29th of August with an open-air concert taking place at the South Park of the capital featuring Ian Brown and New Generation & Cigaretta and a club event at Black Box on the same date featuring Herbaliser, Scratch Perverts and two local support acts, Kink feat. Rachel Row, Ogonek & Cooh, and Mad Bear a. k. a. 54ew@. The event is part of the MTV Europe Foundation’s anti-trafficking campaign, MTV EXIT.

Tom Ehr, Executive Director of the MTV Europe Foundation, commented: “Young people are our greatest resource and hope for the future. Their ambition, creativity, and drive must be nurtured for our society to develop. Issues such as trafficking are avoidable through information and education, and events like this can help to spread awareness and increase prevention of trafficking through music and entertainment.”

The event tour started in Bosnia and hosted events in Albania and Romania before arriving here. It continues on to Ukraine, Belarus and Russia before finally ending in Moldova. These events will act to generate media attention about the issue, provide awareness and prevention information to youth, and direct young people to available resources nearby.

In each territory, MTV EXIT is joining with key anti-trafficking organizations to promote the grassroots work they are doing on the issue and to increase the support for their organizations. In Albania, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) acted as the focal point to ensure that all NGOs were aware of the campaign and knew how they could get involved. The MTV EXIT party in Bulgaria is organized with the special support of ePay.bg®

For more information about the MTV EXIT event in Bulgaria, please contact:
popova@united-partners.com
For more information about MTV EXIT, please contact:
human.trafficking@mtvne.com

Cited in: MTV EXIT campaign, MTV EXIT Bulgaria, 16 August 2006.