Despite all the problems that this country faces on a daily basis at the end of the day we can consider ourselves pretty lucky. We have our freedom, we can choose what we want to do each and every day and although there is crime in the United States it’s nowhere near the level that other countries face. The things that go on overseas are deplorable and sickening. From child sex slaves to human trafficking it’s enough to make most people want to change the channel or turn the page when these issues are brought to their attention.

If you have two minutes please read this press release. What former MMA fighter Cameron Conway is doing should be brought to light and is just another instance of how truly special mixed martial artists truly are.

BANGKOK,  –September 26, 2012 –  Cameron Conaway, an award-winning
author and former MMA fighter who once trained under Renzo Gracie, is
now fighting an epic battle that reaches far beyond the cage, the
battle to end human trafficking. More than 27 million men, women and
children are held as slaves, and UNICEF reports that each year nearly
2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade.
Conaway has made it his mission to become their voice as he travels
throughout Asia and visits human trafficking conferences and refuge
shelters.

Human trafficking is a truly global crime. It is not only happening in
places like Bangkok, even Los Angeles is a hub. Conaway has done
extensive research on sexual and labor exploitation practices in the
U.S. and abroad and has seen its effects first hand.

According to Conaway, “When you look into the eyes of a 5-year-old
Bangladeshi boy who now has HIV as a result of being used as a sex
slave, or of a handicapped 11-year-old Thai girl who has lived in the
back of a van for years as part of a mobile brothel, or even of the
father who was sold the fake promise of a better job and then beaten
into slavery – these moments leave imprints on your being, they make
you realize what’s worth fighting for.”

Conaway, who is deemed by many as the ‘MMA fighter who fights human
trafficking,’ has participated in many human trafficking conferences
including the 2012 ‘Slavery No More’ Conference in Los Angeles, the
2012 ‘Not For Sale’ Asia Pacific Forum in the Philippines, and he was
the only American at the 2012 Human Trafficking Roundtable in
Chittagong, Bangladesh. Conaway was also invited to speak at the 2012
International Symposium on Combating Human Trafficking in Bandung,
Indonesia due to his advocacy work.

Conaway went on to say, “We need penal reform, more sustainable
business models and education, deeper collaborations, more
psychologists and reintegration specialists…the list goes on. People
have referred to me as the fighter who fights human trafficking, but
the true warriors are the ones out there battling this each day. The
more involved I become, the more I see how my MMA training was
preparation for this battle.”

Conaway has spoken extensively on the topic of human trafficking in
villages throughout Bangladesh and has expressed in several media
interviews that his fight is now outside of the cage and for the
attainment of basic human rights for the world’s most vulnerable
populations.

The accomplished author also garners attention for the cause through
his writing. Conaway has written many features on the topic and was
even given rare access to the dangerous shipbreaking yards of
Chittagong for an essay titled “Of Ships and Men” which was published
in July by The Good Men Project.

Cameron Conaway – mixed martial artist, human rights activist and
acclaimed author, has come to be known as the “Warrior Poet.” He
shares intimate details of his life’s struggles both in and out of the
cage in his compelling autobiography ‘Caged: Memoirs of a Cage
Fighting Poet’ and has championed many causes through his writing.

‘Caged: Memoirs of a Cage Fighting Poet’ has received numerous awards
including the “2012 Reviewers Choice Award” and can be purchased at
Amazon.com.  Famed MMA broadcaster Mauro Ranallo is the voice behind
the audio version of the book, which will be released in the coming
months. For more information on Cameron Conaway, his work and his
causes, please visit www.cameronconaway.com.

About Cameron Conaway:

Cameron Conaway has come to be known as the “Warrior Poet.” His
autobiography ‘Caged: Memoirs of a Cage Fighting’ has won numerous
awards, including the “2012 Reviewers Choice Award. Conaway has taught
Shakespeare for Ottawa University, is an award-nominated teacher of
creative writing for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. He has
received the Richard Russo Award for Creative Writing, is an
NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer and was the University of Arizona’s
2007-2009 Poet-in-Residence. He is currently the Poet-in-Residence at
Mahidol University’s Tropical Medicine Research Center where he is
working on a book about malaria, the killer of 2.7 million people each
year. Conaway’s debut collection of poems “Until You Make the Shore”,
which highlight’s the need for penal reform based on his experience
teaching in an all-female juvenile detention center, will be released
in March of 2013.

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