Not My Life is the first documentary film to depict the horrifying and dangerous practice of human trafficking and modern slavery on a global scale. Filmed on five continents over a period of four years, it unveils the many faces of trafficking and tells their haunting stories.
“What kind of society cannibalizes its own children?” asks director Robert Bilheimer. “Can we do these sorts of things on such a large scale and still call ourselves human in any meaningful sense of the term?”
Supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), the documentary explores the issue of trafficking from different perspectives, forced labour in Africa; street begging and garbage picking in India; sexual trafficking in the United States and Southeast Asia; and various forms of child enslavement and abuse in both North and South America.
The film was followed by a brief introduction by the UN on their work to support the EU in their efforts to fight human trafficking, and a Q&A, with:
- Ms. Martina Hanke (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative in Brussels)
- Ms. Dima Yared (human rights officer at the OHCHR Regional office for Europe (ROE) in Brussels)
- Ms. Patsy Sörensen (Founder and director of Payoke, an Antwerp-based organisation which combats human trafficking)
