By Alex Sum, founder of Human Rights Society ~ In 2012, Human Rights Society (back then we were known as Hope for Justice) had a FAV (free a village) Run around Seattle’s beautiful Green Lake. At the time, I was looking for an organization, a cause, to give our donations towards and was this close to giving it to Somaly Mam Foundation even talking to them about having Somaly Mam come out to Seattle and all. At the same time, I had some trusted anti-trafficking friends in Cambodia telling me the locals there were whispering that Somaly Mam’s story of her being a sex trafficked child were not true. I was quite confused and decided to not associate with Somaly Mam Foundation with the FAV Run due to the risk if the rumors were true. It saddens me to see the, most likely, Somaly Mam fabricated her back story for the cause of raising awareness. We at Human Rights Society do not condone the philosophy of accomplishing things “at all cost.” Sadly, the anti-trafficking world have been talking too much about Somaly Mam vs raising awareness of the plight of the 21 million victims who are slaves. Yes, Somaly needs to be held accountable for her words and the damage caused by her lies, however. For more to this story, read NY Times’ Nicholas Kristof’s blog and the Newsweek expose of Somaly Mam.
HUMAN RIGHTS SOCIETY 