Every year, up to 1.2 million children fall victim to trafficking, and many remain undetected, hidden from national authorities and anti-trafficking organisations. Of global trafficking victims, 66% are girls. Often, these victims are young migrants seeking refuge, only to become vulnerable to trafficking and its inherent exploitation. The horrifying “business” of human trafficking is thriving, generating billions in profit at the expense of the lives it destroys.
Paul Hutchinson was managing the multi-billion-dollar investment fund he co-founded, as well as working with several charitable organisations when he received a phone call that would alter the course of his life. He was told that rescuing 100 trafficked children in Colombia required more than just the usual philanthropic cheques he had become accustomed to writing. He would have to become part of an undercover operation at great personal risk.
The request was extremely dangerous, with unimaginable reasons underlying its urgency. The events that transpired as a result of that fateful phone call not only transformed Paul’s perspective but also became the foundation for his new purpose – to eradicate child trafficking and its root causes. The organisation he founded as a consequence, the Child Liberation Foundation, is to date responsible for over 70 undercover missions in 15 different countries, recovering more than 5000 children.
In this interview, Paul Hutchinson, entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and executive producer of the highly successful film “Sound of Freedom,” partially based on his experience in Colombia, shares his extraordinary journey: one that saw him leave the investment fund he co-founded to spearhead a global movement to create a world in which every child can experience safety, freedom, and hope.
