“The first night, they forced me to have sex. When I refused, they held me down, beat me and raped me. I was 7 years old,” said Gina, a survivor of the sex trafficking trade and one of several girls featured in the documentary The Day My God Died.

Tonight, in the HUB Auditorium, there will be a free screening of the documentary, which reveals the stories of young girls sold into sexual slavery in Mumbai, India.

A four-person discussion panel will follow the screening.

“Human trafficking is one of the major atrocities in existence in the 21st century,” said Sutapa Basu, Ph.D., the executive director of the UW Women’s Center and one of the discussion panelists.

Basu has testified in front of Congress about legislation concerning mail order brides and has been involved with anti-trafficking conferences on campus.

“[It’s] easy for students to be unaware of the impacts human trafficking has right here in their communities,” Basu said. “This screening is an opportunity to become familiar with a very important human rights issue and learn the first steps of how to be an advocate for victims and influence public policy.”

The documentary is a small window into a world rarely seen by outsiders, Basu said. The girls sold into slavery call the day they were kidnapped “the day my God died.”

Rescued girls share their stories of being beaten, choked and raped by their customers. Her first day at the brothel, Gina was raped by 14 men. Now, she is dying from AIDS.

The documentary also introduces some of the men and women who are fighting against sex slavery.

The panel also includes associate professor of international studies, Sara Curran, who directed a report called “Human Trafficking: A Spotlight on Washington State” in 2006; Norma Timbang, a former program evaluator for Washington state’s trafficking response coalition; and Ye-Ting Woo, a co-chair of the Washington Advisory Committee on Trafficking, which works with various agencies and organizations to identify and help trafficking victims.

The screening is hosted by the UW Chapter of International Justice Mission and Pi Sigma Alpha at the UW.

“Human trafficking is abusive, yet sadly, highly profitable,” said Arian Mossanenzadeh, president of Pi Sigma Alpha. “With the screening and panel discussion, we hope to increase awareness of the multifaceted nature of human trafficking.”

Across the globe, nearly 2 million children are in the commercial sex trade, according to UNICEF. After drugs and weapons, human trafficking is the world’s largest criminal enterprise, according to the U.S. Department of State.

[Reach reporter Joy Yagi at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]