GENEVA, March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The Essam and Dalal Obaid Foundation (EDOF), which has a strategic partnership with CNN to support the CNN Freedom Project and its March 14 #MyFreedomDay Initiative, is pleased to congratulate CNN and the Freedom Project Team on a highly successful event. #MyFreedomDay involved a wide array of activities aimed at calling attention to the continuing problem of modern-day slavery. The activities included students from hundreds of schools on six continents making anti-slavery signs and sharing them on social media; activists, journalists, and NGOs facilitating and broadcasting anti-slavery messages and conversations; and celebrities like Usain Bolt and Simone Biles posting videos on what freedom means to them. 

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"To see the massive global scope of the #MyFreedomDay's March 14 events is deeply inspiring," said EDOF's CEO, Dr. Nawaf Obaid. "We chose to provide support to CNN for its Freedom Project not only because we believe contemporary human trafficking is a major problem that must be stopped in our lifetime, but because CNN has such an excellent track record of engaging a worldwide audience in its advocacy events. #MyFreedomDay far exceeded our expectations and we could not be happier with the results."

While the #MyFreedomDay Initiative was supported by CNN's large TV network, it was on social media and the Internet that the event really flowered. On the day of the event, there were more than 10,000 posts to the #MyFreedomDay hashtag in a digital conversation that extended across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Youtube. Over 160 million Facebook timelines were reached with the #MyFreedomDay message, which doesn't even include non-CNN or private Facebook accounts. Tweets were posted to the hashtag from over 100 countries, and #MyFreedomDay trended on Twitter in Nigeria, the UAE, the Philippines, the UK, and the US. Freedom Project videos were watched more than 5 million times and the Freedom project stories had 4.3 million page views, with around 400,000 people viewing the #MyFreedomDay Snapchat story and more than 2,600 #MyFreedomDay posts on Instagram.

While most of the above activity came from the hundreds of schools participating in #MyFreedomDay, there was also a lot of sharing and messaging from anti-slavery activists, NGOs, journalists, and celebrities. The Global Slavery Index, Stop the Traffik, The Freedom Fund, and numerous other anti-slavery NGOs got involved as well.

As Tarek Obaid, EDOF Founder & President, points out, "This wrap-up, like #MyFreedomDay itself, shows how profoundly committed the CNN network is to the Freedom Project's success and to the positive impact it can bring in the fight against human trafficking. And this is a commitment EDOF shares with them. It is totally unacceptable that slavery still exists in our world, yet to see so many young people, activists, and renowned public figures expressing their resistance to it, one begins to have hope for ending it."

#MyFreedomDay was carried out by the CNN Freedom Project. The Freedom Project's mission is to amplify the voices of the victims of modern-day slavery, highlight success stories, and help unravel the tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life. EDOF joined the CNN Freedom Project in order to support this vision, to raise awareness of what credible organizations are doing to end human trafficking, and to increase global awareness about the problem among the business community.

The Essam and Dalal Obaid Foundation was started in 2014 by the sons of Essam and Dalal Obaid in order to carry on their parents' humanitarian spirits. It is a global non-profit organization that supports medical research and care as well as the efforts of state and non-state entities in fostering peace and dialogue among people. EDOF's goal is to make a difference in improving the lives of people everywhere as it joins the daily effort of its fellow advocates to raise awareness, educate, and build bridges.

More information about the EDOF and the CNN Freedom Project can be found at www.edof.org/en/partnerships/cnnfreedomproject

Media Contact:

Christelle Marquette
Tel: +41-22-818-61-20
christelle.marquette@edof.org

SOURCE EDOF