Virtual reality used to fight human-trafficking with new Indian documentary

Virtual reality – used in gaming to bring players close to the action – is for the first time being deployed to fight human-trafficking, with a documentary chronicling one girl’s descent into the Indian sex trade.

The documentary uses so-called VR technology to immerse viewers into the reality of life for a young country girl who is married off by her father then trafficked into a brothel.

“Virtual reality is a powerful form of storytelling and the cause will get more attention from the world over,” Hannah Norling, of My Choices Foundation, said.

The team hopes to zero in one life to create greater empathy with all victims of trafficking, estimated to total nearly 21 million people worldwide. Of these, an estimated 4.5 million people are forced into sex work, most of them women and girls. Notes to My Father tells the story of one such victim, who narrates to her father the horror of being trafficked.

The 11-minute documentary gives a 360-degree view of village life as she recounts her abduction-to-escape journey that spans the two Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

“Using virtual reality was a strategic choice as it gives a first person experience of another person’s experience. It is emerging as the number one tool to help people engage and react,” said Norling.