Not For Sale hosted the debut 2011 Asia Pacific Forum on Human Trafficking in Chiang Mai, Thailand last week.

Global leaders including Kru Nam, Director of Not For Sale Thailand, David Batstone, Founder and President of Not For Sale, and Pastor Eddie Byun, Onnuri Church, South Korea were just some of the respected speakers to take to the stage at the hugely successful event.

With an estimated 1 million South Korean women enslaved in brothels in South Korea and an estimated 30,000 Cambodians trafficked into Malaysia in recent years, Not For Sale felt it was essential to host this event in the region.

The innovative summit, which attracted hundreds of attendees and was covered by CNN, was tailor-made to take the conversation and vision for the anti-slavery movement to a higher level within this region.

During her keynote, Kru Nam urged people to rethink their priorities. “Some people think economy and money are more important than children. They are wrong,” she said.

The forum also followed Not For Sale’s recent launch of bases in Korea and Australia, and is modeled after successful forums in the United States.

For two days, abolitionists, community leaders, and regional experts in the areas of law, government, media, and civil society from across the world convened to discuss and explore creative solutions that will enact a cultural shift in the Pacific Rim.

During the event, Dave Batstone encouraged people to take action by downloading Free2Work: “One million people using Not For Sale’s Free2work app would result in a tipping point in corporations becoming more responsible.”

He also stressed the importance of social enterprise in the fight against modern-day slavery, saying: “Social enterprise is not charity. Charity is good, but it has its limits. Move from charity to social enterprises that allow for us to know that within 10 years we can reduce or eliminate the charity we need.”

Following the event, Rev. Kevin Austin, Director of the Abolitionist Faith Community Not For Sale said: “After two months of travel – from Brazil to Seattle to California to Cambodia and Thailand – I see the edge of the tipping point. What we are doing is working. I have a surge of hope and, though exhausted, am energized.”