Thompson Co-Curates 'Journey,' an Exhibit That Uses Shipping Containers to Detail Trafficking Horrors

Nov. 9, 2009 — -- Actress Emma Thompson has played fictional characters on the big screen for 20 years, but her latest project tackles the real-life horrors of human trafficking.

The project, an exhibit called "The Journey," highlights the gruesome, heartbreaking conditions many of the victims of the sex trade are forced to endure every day.

"It's a domestic issue ... it's probably around the corner from you," Thompson, who co-curates the exhibit, told "Good Morning America" today.

Human trafficking is a big business around the world.

"You can make $150,000 from one girl in a year ... because moving people around the place is easier than moving guns around," the two-time Academy Award-winning British actress said.

The women are generally forced into the life by someone they know. Many times, a male relative will tell them that they are getting a job, she said. Once they are in the hands of traffickers, the girls are tortured and abused.

The girls hand over their passports, which, Thompson, 50, said, is a big mistake.

Countries such as Sweden prosecute the men involved in sex with trafficked women, which makes it easier for the victims to come forward.

"What we have to do is work out how, as a globe ... we come together and start to really focus our efforts," she said.

The exhibit uses seven shipping containers to document the true life stories of human trafficking victims.

Thompson was inspired to take on the project, in part, after meeting a Moldovan girl named Elena, whom she got to know in 2006 through her work as chairwoman of the Helen Bamber Foundation, a charity that aims to help abuse victims.

"That's when I started to really find out about this very, very hidden crime," Thompson said.

Elena came to the United Kingdom after she'd been promised a good job as a receptionist. But when she entered the country, her passport was taken away from her and she was forced into the sex trade, Thompson said.

"She was sold when she was 19 years old ... her story is very, very typical," she said.