Oslo Freedom Forum 2012 Starts Tomorrow

Human Enslavement Statistics At All Time High, Actress Julia Ormond to Address Watch live streaming video from oslofreedomforum2012 at livestream.com OSLO (May 6, 2012)—Julia Ormond, Emmy-Award winning actress and founder of the Alliance to Stop Slavery & End Trafficking (ASSET, www.assetcampaign.org), will be on hand at the 2012 Oslo Freedom Forum (May 7-9, 2012 in Oslo, Norway) to speak about the need to end enslavement within supply chains. As part of the Forum’s schedule of keynote speakers, panels, and discussions, she will be appearing with Cambodian author and human rights advocate Somaly Mam, former slaves-turned-abolitionists from Haiti and Nepal, Liberian youth entrepreneur Kimmie Weeks, and Benjamin Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous, in the session Slavery in the Shadows. This session will be live streamed at www.oslofreedomforum.com at 2:30pm Central European Time on Tuesday, May 8. For the full schedule of events, click here. More people currently are enslaved than at any time in recorded history, and Ormond has long been an effective advocate for policies and practices to eradicate enslavement. Fueled by her powerful voice and relentless advocacy, ASSET served as chief organizational sponsor of the passage of the California Transparency in Supply Chains Law (CTSCL), which has become a model for federal legislation in the United States and Europe. In Oslo, Ormond will address how the CTSCL is designed as a tool that can be used to improve best practices around labor throughout global supply chains, and be the delivery mechanism for securing global human rights around decent work. In her film career, Ormond is best known for her commercial success appearing opposite Harrison Ford, Sean Connery and Brad Pitt in popular films such as First Knight, Sabrina, Legends of the Fall and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. As an outspoken activist, Ormond has delivered expert testimony before the U.S. Congress and the United Nations, where she is considered by key government officials to be an expert resource on human trafficking and enslavement. She also served as U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to Combat Slavery and Trafficking, and is the Founding Chair of FilmAid International. The 2012 Oslo Freedom Forum will also host the inaugural Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, to be awarded by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. The Havel prize will honor the brave men and women who use their creativity and courage to protect and defend the human rights of every individual. For inquiries, please contact info@oslofreedomforum.com.