‘Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking’ (CNN Freedom Project)

In a CNN Freedom Project special report, actress and long-time advocate Jada Pinkett Smith travels to Atlanta – a trafficking hotspot – to try and unravel the complicated web of human trafficking that’s happening in the United States.

The hour-long special report is a gritty, raw look at the human trafficking industry in the United States, the lives of children caught in its web, and those fighting back against this form of modern-day slavery.


‘Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking’ (CNN Freedom Project) airs Wednesday 22 July at 2000 BST / 2100 CET.

In this powerful report, Pinkett Smith and CNN delve deep into the heart of this heinous crime, following undercover officers on raids and rescues of underage victims, accompanying aid workers on outreach missions, and spending time with the survivors in shelters as they share their harrowing stories.

“For me, this project is extremely important because I want the world to understand the dangers that every kid in America is susceptible to,” Pinkett Smith says. “Human trafficking is one aspect of the vulnerabilities and obstacles that we are confronted with. People who sell children are monsters.”

Sex trafficking hit Pinkett Smith head-on when her then pre-teen daughter asked her about the crime in the United States. In disbelief, Pinkett Smith began to research and is now a vocal activist and advocate. Where does sex trafficking start? How do girls get manipulated into it? How hard is it for law enforcement and others to save them? And how can communities help protect children from the men and women who prey on their vulnerabilities?

To get answers, Pinkett Smith sits down with survivors who courageously share their horrifying stories of exploitation and the triumph of their survival.

Pinkett Smith and CNN follow Sergeant Tory Kennedy, head of the Internet Crimes Against Children Division, as he conducts undercover raids to arrest suspected traffickers and rescue underage girls.

Lisa Williams, founder of a safe house and rehabilitation facility for trafficked teens, is featured as Williams counsels the exploited teen highlighted in this special report. And Pinkett Smith comes face-to-face with a convicted female trafficker. Viewers will also hear from aid workers and prosecutors who are working to eradicate this crime.

‘Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking’ (CNN Freedom Project) was executive produced by Jennifer Hyde, the Director of the CNN Documentary Unit, produced by Senior Producer Ken Shiffman, Producer Tina Matherson, Executive Editor of the CNN Freedom Project Leif Coorlim, and overseen by Michael Bass, CNN’s Executive Vice President for Programming.