Causecast

by JONATHAN HARRIS, Managing Editor

Upon first meeting him, Causecast leader Aaron Cohen is an intimidating guy. He’s 6’5”, with long, deep black hair and his face shows the years of travel, drug abuse and danger that you’d expect from someone with his resume. All this, however, comes before speaking to him.

After being in the Causecast office for a few minutes, he spotted our executive staff, his old friends. Then came the smile, the hugs and the laughter that distances Cohen from the rough-riding international adventurer of his persona.

Aaron Cohen is a slave hunter. He travels abroad, pretends to be a sex tourist, and rescues women as young as eight from bondage and forced prostitution. His job is like an excursion through a Pasolini film, experiencing the darkest side of humanity for the chance to redeem a few young and shattered lives. How did Cohen come to have this occupation? Why did this surfer kid from Orange County, CA, decide to regularly risk his life to rescue sex slaves from Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East? These questions are answered in the new book, Slave Hunter: One Man’s Worldwide Quest To End Human Trafficking, written by Aaron Cohen with Christine Buckley.

Yes, the questions are answered, but not right away. For the first 40 pages, Cohen and Buckley take the reader on a dangerous, emotionally-draining trip to Cambodia, where we are introduced to his work. A slave hunter, it turns out, spends the first night of his mission “Night Frighting,” going undercover from brothel to brothel and snapping photographs of girls likely to have been trafficked. The experience is raw and visceral. At one of his first stops, he meets three young sisters, all of whom claim to be 18, but whom Cohen knows are younger (the youngest one, he thinks, is eight or nine). He chooses the youngest girl and takes her to a room. He says he just wants to talk and gets some pictures, a process the girl looks accustomed to. At the end of his investigation, he asks for a massage, to convince her that nothing is wrong. She looks relieved.

Cohen visits four or five brothels in a single night, taking many photographs, being introduced to many young girls by the mamasan, the madam of a Cambodian brothel. When he has all the information he needs, the police get involved. A series of raids are planned and executed. The girls are rescued and temporarily brought to a secluded staging area, where they are met by a care worker. They are confused and frightened. They have been brutalized and raped, and they’re not sure if their liberators are the good guys. It’s a demoralizing scene that shatters any fantasy we may have held that slavery no longer exists in the world. It’s real and it’s ruining the lives of innocent people.

Then we’re back in the ‘80s and get a glimpse into the man who would become the slave hunter. He grew up in Costa Mesa, a few miles from Newport Beach. His mother was a former fashion model whose beauty had been destroyed by breast cancer. Cohen stayed at home with his mother throughout much of his childhood, studying the Bible and playing music. Both of these interests endeared him to Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Ferrell in 1987. The two were close friends for years, and Cohen was integral in the creation of the Lollapalooza festival as well as a frequent Ferrell caretaker during his frequent drug binges. It wasn’t long, however, before Cohen’s continuing education and spirituality influenced his next move: relieving the debt of the Earth’s poorest citizens. With his influence, Farrell, Bono, Bob Geldof, and other musicians were supporting the Jubilee 2000 Coalition, a group that called for a complete cancellation of Third World Debt by the year 2000. This Drop The Debt campaign became Cohen’s link to philanthropy, and changed his world forever.

Once a rock and roll sidekick, Cohen is now his own boss, traveling the globe to help some of the world’s most unfortunate. His nonprofit organization, Abolish Slavery, seeks to completely end the illegal human trafficking trade worldwide. Cohen’s book pulls no punches. It forces you to come to terms with modern-day slavery and see that no country, not even the United States, gets a pass on this issue. Upwards of 15,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. every year and about 50% of these are children, forced into slave labor or sexual coercion.

The goal of Slave Hunter is not just to shock you, however, but to inspire you to act. This story has the power to do that. Even its co-author, Christine Buckley, expresses surprise that meeting Cohen inspired her to “put [her] life on hold for almost two years to help him tell this story.” It is a hidden tragedy, a chronicle that so often is left out of modern news and politics. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent Washington Post editorial on the subject likely surprised even the most ardent of news junkies. From her article:

To some, human trafficking may seem like a problem limited to other parts of the world. In fact, it occurs in every country, including the United States, and we have a responsibility to fight it just as others do. The destructive effects of trafficking have an impact on all of us. Trafficking weakens legitimate economies, breaks up families, fuels violence, threatens public health and safety, and shreds the social fabric that is necessary for progress. It undermines our long-term efforts to promote peace and prosperity worldwide. And it is an affront to our values and our commitment to human rights.

The issue of human trafficking is reaching its tipping point. Very soon, it will no longer be possible to ignore, and Americans will demand action. Aaron Cohen’s Slave Hunter is the catalyst. It tells this story with startling clarity and will show you exactly what you can do to help.

Slave Hunter is available at bookstores everywhere. The hardcover is currently 34% off at Amazon.com. You can also read the first chapter of Slave Hunter through Simon & Schuster’s website.

Be sure to follow Aaron Cohen on Twitter for daily updates on the book, human trafficking around the globe, and how you can help.