Update

London: Join ARTICLE 19 at Frontline for Lydia Cacho report on international sex trade

ARTICLE 19 international board member and investigative journalist, Lydia Cacho will discuss her new book on the international sex trade together with ARTICLE 19 executive director, Dr Agnes Callamard, at the Frontline Club on 31 August at 19h00. 

“Lydia never scares of uncovering the truly ugly: that hatred which runs deep in all societies, that which rapes, abuses, maims and kills millions of girls and women. Her voice, modest for herself, is strident for others, the small, the forgotten, and the victims. For that, she has faced violence, abuse, imprisonment and death threats. Her countless international awards for investigative journalism, human rights, anti-corruption, women’s rights, and personal courage testify to Lydia’s exceptional display of courage and determination,” said Dr Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE 19 executive director.

Cacho has faced numerous threats for her investigative journalism. Her 2004 book, Los Demonios del Edén covered allegations of paedophilia among Mexico’s top politicians and businessmen.

Recently, she received a death threat on 29 July 2012 from an unknown man via a handheld radio that she used for security emergencies:

“We have already warned you, bitch, don’t mess with us. ... What is coming next for you will be in pieces, that is how we will send you home, you idiot.” 

Cacho left Mexico after receiving the threat. She will remain outside the country until Article 19’s Protection Programme for Journalists develops a strategy to provide her with adequate protection.

“Lydia Cacho inspires, encourages, protects, empowers. She has modelled what investigative journalism should be for generations to come. She has attacked and shaken a Mexican elite who thought their power allowed them to act with impunity. And she has stood for women’s rights when many of us would have retreated. She does not. I suspect she never will,” added Callamard.

Mexican journalist and campaigner, Lydia Cacho’s book follows the trail of the traffickers and their victims from Mexico to Turkey, Thailand to Iraq, Georgia to the UK. Cacho exposes the trade's hidden links with the tourist industry, internet pornography, drugs and arms smuggling, the selling of body organs, money laundering, and even terrorism. 

Join ARTICLE 19 at the event at 19h00 on 31 August by booking on Frontline Club’s website. Tickets are available from £10.

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