Running with Atalanta: Human trafficking

Image for U.S. military campaign to combat human trafficking (U.S. Air Force graphic by Airman 1st Class Kyle Cope (© media.defense.gov)

In the mid 1990’s, two young women studied law – one in The Netherlands and the other in Latvia. Years later, their lives would intersect in what the United Nations has called the fastest growing criminal activity in the world: human trafficking. Both women wrote about their experiences: Ruth Hopkins as an advocate, and Anna Ziverte as a victim of trafficking. And both women are critical of the Dutch system that tends to view the victims as criminals. Their stories are told within a tale from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” about the virgin huntress Atalanta who could outrun any man until tricked by the intervention of Venus.

Producer: David Swatling

Broadcast: April 1, 2006

The programme was honoured with the Prix Marulić documentary award in 2006.