Kate Bosworth Is Shedding Light on Human Traffickers: They 'Prey on the Most Vulnerable'

Ale Russian
Updated

Kate Bosworth was stunned by what she learned as she dug into the dark world of human trafficking.

The 35-year-old actress now works closely with CAST, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. Her involvement came after she teamed up with her director husband, Michael Polish, on their drama Nona, which tells the story of a girl from Honduras who puts her faith in the wrong person while escaping to America to reunite with her mother.

“Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable in society,” says the actress, who is one of PEOPLE’s 25 Women Changing the World. “So ultimately, it’s very desperate human beings wanting a different life and taking a chance. Though the dangers of their chance are high, in their minds, it pales in comparison from where they came from.”

For full coverage of PEOPLE’s 25 Women Changing the World, pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.

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Worldwide, it is estimated 40.3 million people are trapped in modern slavery; 1 in 4 of whom are children. I’m wearing my values and supporting child victims of trafficking with the help of one of my favorite UK based designers @Beulahlondon. 100% of profits from every t-shirt will be donated to ECPAT UK who work to protect children from trafficking and exploitation. #FreedomForAll ???????? #EndSlavery #LoveBeulah

A post shared by Kate Bosworth (@katebosworth) on Oct 19, 2018 at 10:12am PDT

Bosworth has been working closely with CAST and CEO Kay Buck ever since, traveling the country to meet with survivors and working towards rehabilitating more victims. She also hopes people get more educated on the subject, and that her movie can help shine a light on the problem.

“It’s incredibly inspiring, and these survivors are just insurmountably strong and articulate and intelligent,” she says. “They’re really on an incredible mission. I honestly feel very honored to be a very small part of this and help in any way I can.”

She continues, “If we lose our humanity to something like this, then we’re very lost. I think especially in today’s world and all the things that are happening today, we absolutely lose sight of that.”