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Valeriya's "Back to Love" Helps Trafficking Victims Back to Life

Valeriya and IOM have joined together because of a shared
commitment to assist trafficked individuals to overcome their
trauma and return to a normal life.

Her commitment to fight human trafficking began long before she
was officially appointed as a Goodwill Envoy for the International
Organization for Migration in August 2008.

Back in 2007, she lent her talent and energy to the filming of a
counter-trafficking video clip, which was successfully broadcast on
several Russian TV channels, ensuring thereby that IOM's preventive
message reached millions of potentially vulnerable young people
throughout the Federation and beyond.

A few months later, Valeriya approached IOM to visit a
rehabilitation centre for victims of trafficking in Moscow. There,
she spent hours listening to and empathizing with traumatized
victims of trafficking.

This experience only deepened her commitment to work with IOM in
the global fight to end human trafficking in all its forms.

She subsequently took part in many roundtables, press
conferences and public debates with the same fervor to speak out on
behalf of all those silent victims of human trafficking.

In February 2008 in Vienna, Valeriya joined other world
celebrities such as Grammy award-winning singer Ricky Martin and
Oscar-winning actress Emma Thomson to lend her name to IOM's
efforts to support the "End Now" global campaign against
trafficking.

In August 2008, in recognition of her commitment, she was
appointed as IOM's Goodwill Envoy to fight human trafficking in the
Russian Federation.

Valeriya is the first Russian celebrity to dedicate her time and
international fame to raise awareness of the plight of victims of
trafficking. The sale of her latest album (250,000 CDs to date) has
been an effective vehicle for the dissemination of
counter-trafficking messages.

"I have now decided that all proceeds of my new single should go
to the important cause of eliminating human trafficking across the
world, led by the International Organization for Migration. I hope
my music and work highlight the counter-trafficking cause with my
profits now also to benefit the work of the IOM."

Thanks to her talent, dedication and generosity, IOM will now be
able to help many more victims of trafficking in the Russian
Federation find their way back to life.

To find out more about Valeriya, please go to "paragraph-link-no-underline" href="http://www.valeriya.co.uk/"
target="_blank" title="">http://www.valeriya.co.uk/
.

For more information on IOM's counter-trafficking work in the
Russian Federation, please visit "paragraph-link-no-underline" href="http://www.no2slavery.ru/"
target="_blank" title="">http://www.no2slavery.ru/
or
contact:

Alberto Andreani

IOM Moscow

Tel: +7.495 797 8722

Email: "mailto:aandreani@iom.int" target="" title=
"">aandreani@iom.int
.

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