Regardless of your opinion on Ashton Kutcher’s acting skills, he has demonstrated remarkable strength of character and deep compassion in his personal life.
For those unfamiliar, Kutcher has been actively fighting against human trafficking for several years, reportedly saving the lives of at least 6,000 individuals.
According to PEOPLE, Kutcher and his former wife Demi Moore established Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children in 2012, a nonprofit dedicated to locating and rescuing victims of child sex trafficking.
What started as a vision to empower the voiceless has transformed into a powerful initiative making significant progress against one of society’s most shocking and reprehensible issues: trafficking.
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore established a non-profit organization named Thorn to fight against sex trafficking. In 2017, they reported identifying 5,791 child victims and successfully rescuing 103 of them.
— Karen (@OZ2USA) September 22, 2020
According to a report from 2017, Kutcher and Moore’s initiative, which collaborates closely with law enforcement, has helped identify approximately 5,984 victims of child sex trafficking and has rescued 103 children from situations where their sexual abuse was recorded and shared.
The nonprofit aims to develop technology that protects innocent children from sexual predators. Currently, they have dedicated teams of staff and contractors from more than 21 states working on this mission. Reports indicate that Thorn has played a role in identifying and apprehending 6,608 offenders.
“In essence, what we do is create technology to combat the sexual exploitation of children,” Kutcher mentioned in an interview with 48 Hours.
“You can choose to roll up your sleeves and act like a hero by saving one person, or you can create a tool that enables one person to save many.”
In 2017, Kutcher delivered a speech encouraging Congress to take more action in safeguarding vulnerable women and children globally.
“I’m here today to advocate for the right to seek happiness. It’s a straightforward idea: ‘the right to seek happiness,’” he stated.
“This right is granted to all of us by our constitution. Every citizen in this country is entitled to pursue it. I believe it is our duty as citizens of this nation, as Americans, to extend that right to others, to one another, and to the entire world. However, for many, the right to pursue happiness is taken away — it is violated, it is mistreated, it is seized through force, deceit, or coercion. It is traded for the fleeting happiness of someone else.
A cause that is truly honorable and worth fighting for, I believe we can all agree on that. However, Kutcher has unfortunately become a target of abuse and criticism from cowardly online trolls who hide behind their screens, telling him to ‘stick to his day job.’
At 42 years old, and a father to a young child with his wife Mila Kunis, he has a straightforward yet powerful response for them:
‘I’ve come across video content showing a child the same age as mine being raped by an American man who was a sex tourist in Cambodia, and this child was so conditioned by her surroundings that she believed she was just playing,’ he stated.
He went on to say: ‘I’ve been on the receiving end of a phone call from my team, requesting my assistance because we had received a call from the Department of Homeland Security, informing us that a 7-year-old girl was being sexually abused and that footage was circulating on the dark web. They had been monitoring her abuse for three years and could not locate the perpetrator, asking us for help.
‘We were the last line of defense—an actor and his foundation were potentially the final line of defense. That’s my day job, and I’m committed to it.’
Wow, Ashton Kutcher, I truly appreciate all the incredible work you’re doing. I don’t know about you, but I am yearning for a world where individuals cannot be exploited and preyed upon to satisfy the twisted fantasies of a select few.
If you’re interested in contributing to Thorn’s mission, you can find a link to their website here.
I sincerely hope that Thorn’s amazing efforts continue to save lives and bring to justice those who deserve to be behind bars.
