American Airlines, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Viacom Co-Sponsor Day of the Girl Fundraiser for ECPAT-USA
AMERICAN AIRLINES, CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL AND VIACOM CO-SPONSOR DAY OF THE GIRL FUNDRAISER FOR ECPAT-USA
ABC’s Juju Chang to M.C.
For tickets and information, visit ECPAT-USA’s Day of the Girl event site.
New York City (October 3, 2018) — American Airlines, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and Viacom are co-sponsoring a fundraising event to support ECPAT-USA, the country’s leader in fighting child sex trafficking on October 10, the evening before the U.N’s International Day of the Girl. ECPAT-USA will gather advocates, change makers, and special guests to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, in particular trafficking and exploitation, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights. ABC-TVs Juju Chang of ABC News Nightline Co-Anchor will be the master of ceremonies for the event.
“Children across the United States continue to be bought, sold, and used for sex. While ECPAT-USA works to protect all children from commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, this event underscores the urgency of our work today in ending violence against girls and the barriers that keep them from reaching their full potential,” said Carol Smolenski, ECPAT-USA Executive Director.
“American Airlines and our 130,000 team members around the globe are committed to supporting the fight against human trafficking and child exploitation,” said Alison Taylor, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Distribution. “We have a unique role to play in this effort. Every day, we transport more than half a million passengers. With the training program in place for our team members, we are in the fight against this terrible practice. We conduct our business in a manner that protects human rights and the rights of children within our sphere of influence.”
“Our parent company, Carlson Companies, and CWT, have a long history of commitment to the cause that dates back to 1999,” said Brian Mogler, senior vice president, global supplier management, at Carlson Wagonlit Travel. “At CWT, we’ve established an anti-human trafficking task force composed of colleagues from all regions and functions and have trained employees so they can better understand and recognize the issue. We’ve sent over half a million travel alerts on electronic tickets issued in the US to destinations where child sex tourism is prevalent. We know that more work needs to be done. With our partners at ECPAT and other organizations already in the battlefield, we are committed to the long term fight to end human trafficking and any and all forms of child exploitation and abuse.”
“We are proud to host this event in support of ECPAT-USA and its leadership in the fight to eradicate the commercial exploitation of young women and children,” said Lori Nicholson, Head of Global Business Services, Viacom. “Sex trafficking has absolutely no place in our society.”
“ECPAT-USA has been working closely with our partners in the travel industry to educate their employees, who are best placed to identify and stop sex trafficking. We are grateful that American Airlines, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Viacom are now supporting us by sponsoring this event and helping us continue and expand our work,” Smolenski said.
The gala event will be held October 10 at 6 pm at Viacom, 1515 Broadway, New York. More information about the event and sponsorship opportunities can be found at ECPAT-USA’s event site.
The ECPAT-USA event is being held in advance of the official UN holiday, International Day of the Girl on October 11.
ABOUT ECPAT-USA
More than twenty-five years ago, ECPAT-USA became the first U.S.-based nonprofit to work on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children. ECPAT-USA started with sex tourism, helping to get legislation passed that ensured that Americans who traveled abroad to buy sex with minors could be prosecuted in the US for sexually exploiting children in other countries.
As the leading policy organization in the United States seeking to end the commercial, sexual exploitation of children, ECPAT-USA focuses on awareness, advocacy, policy, and legislation. ECPAT-USA is a member of ECPAT International, a network of organizations in more than 93 countries with one common mission: to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children around the world. For more information, visit ecpatusa.org.
About Juju Chang
Juju Chang is an Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC News’ “Nightline.” She also reports regularly for “Good Morning America” and “20/20.” Chang was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2017 Front Page Awards for her in-depth personal narratives and investigative reporting set against the backdrop of pressing national and international news. She has also reported extensively on human trafficking in the US and around the world, including child sex trafficking in America. View Juju Chang's full biography.
About American Airlines Group
American Airlines and American Eagle offer an average of nearly 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American has hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. American is a founding member of the oneworld® alliance, whose members serve nearly 1,000 destinations with 14,250 daily flights to 150 countries. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL. In 2015, its stock joined the S&P 500 index. Connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.
About Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected. We provide their travelers with a consumer-grade travel experience, combining innovative technology with our vast experience. Every day, we look after enough travelers to fill more than 260 Boeing 787s and 100,000 hotel rooms - and handle 105 events. We operate in around 150 countries, and in 2017 posted a total transaction volume of more than US$ 23 billion.
Please follow us on Twitter @CarlsonWagonlit and Linkedin.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling entertainment content - including television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, games, consumer products, podcasts, live events and social media experiences - for audiences in 183 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, VH1, TV Land, CMT, Logo, Channel 5 (UK), Telefe (Argentina), Colors (India) and Paramount Channel, reach approximately 4.3 billion cumulative television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. Paramount Television develops, finances and produces original programming for television and digital platforms.
For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com. Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.
