Lilja 4 Ever

To start with a series on human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children and women: “Lilja 4 ever” (2002), Lukas Moodysson, Sweden

 

In former Soviet Union Estonia, 16-year-old Lilja is so excited about moving to the US with her mother. But things turned out differently and she is left alone, with no money, no family, at the mercy of a frustrated aunt. Volodya, her younger friend, rejected by his father, brings her love and friendship. But one day she falls in love with the handsome, attentive and caring Andrej. When he asks her to come along to Sweden, where he lives, and offers her a job there, she cannot believe that her dream will finally come true. She will finally start a new life.

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Some fact and figures about human trafficking:

• Trafficking of women and girls is the third most profitable organized crime industry after drugs and guns
• The United Nations estimates that as many as 4 million women and children are forced into prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation every year
• Every thirty seconds, another person becomes a victim
• UNICEF reports that across the world, more than one million children are entering sex trade every year and that approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years
• There are currently 27-30 million individuals in slavery today, 70-75% of whom are sex slaves
• Sex trafficking is one of the fastest growing businesses in the world