Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSc3An5YYMQ
Intro and Q&A with: Prof. Nigel White, Co-Director of the Nottingham International Law and Security Centre
The Whistleblower, based on a true story, is a scathing full-length account of the U.N. peacekeeping effort in Bosnia during the late 1990s. Kathryn Bolkovac is a U.N. policewoman who stumbles into the sordid world of Balkan sex trafficking and finds her fellow U.N. peacekeepers implicated in the trade.
The film opens with two Ukrainian 15-year-olds, Raya and Luba, partying in Kiev before heading off to the home of a devious in-law of one of the girls. He promises them high-paying jobs in a Swiss Hotel, but instead sells them off into sexual slavery in post-civil war Bosnia. On the other side of the world, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Bolkovac has hit a dead end in her own police career and decides to join Democra Services, a private security contractor operating in Bosnia, for opportunity of a tax-free $100,000 salary, the prospect of adventure, and a rare chance to help a war-wracked, ethnically divided country return to the rule of law. What she gradually discovers is a community of U.S. cops and other international peacekeepers corrupted by the moral compromises they make in Bosnia. What's worse, she learns, is that the U.N. diplomatic and peacekeeping corps are the brothels' primary customers, and in some cases they are actually trafficking Eastern European women into Bosnia. Recruited by the top UN human rights officer in Bosnia, she launches an investigation into sex trafficking, but her efforts are undermined by UN bureaucrats and violently opposed by Balkan organised crime elements.
The Human Rights Film Series is a student-led initiative of the Human Rights Law Centre, which was started in 2006 by two LLM students. The Human Right Film Series shows engaging and provocative films which bring challenging human rights issues to life. The context of each film is briefly introduced by a relevant expert followed by discussion. Screenings are organized by a student committee and are free and open to students and staff.
The Nottingham International Law and Security Centre was established in January 2013 in the School of Law in order to enhance the existing research capability in Public International Law with a focus on International Law and Security. Its work focuses on both human security and state security. It is co-directed by Prof Mary Footer and Prof Nigel White.