Women trafficking: Booming business
Pramod Raj Sedhain
Are you or a female member of your family planning to go abroad in search of better prospect or a better work? If so, think carefully and think twice before you make such important decision. It has been found in recent years that most of the women who strive to go to foreign countries for employment find themselves being sold by human traffickers. Due to the Nepal-India open border, some agents find women-trafficking a profitable business these days. What appears is that, these agents happen to be crafty fellows, who deceive women of rural areas with their luring stories of how much money they can earn once they go abroad. Eventually several women fall prey to such false stories. Women surrender to men with high hopes and aspirations of going abroad where they believe their life becomes lot much easy.
The main route for women trafficking is the Indian border of Raksaul, from where they are sent to other cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Their fake passports to enter Gulf countries are made in these cities and the agents handover these women to Gulf agents, who are responsible for taking them to their final destination. The agents get handful of money for supplying women and their job ends there. And the dreams of those poor women get shattered when they finally realize that they have not taken as domestic workers but have been sold to some rich elites as sex workers.
Various NGOs have been working in border areas to stop these illegal activities of human flesh but the efforts are simply not enough, and there is a need of more intensive involvement from all sectors of society. Service Awareness Centre and Maiti Nepal are among many organizations involved in border cites to stop women trafficking. Both organizations claim that significant numbers of women have been saved from being sold in the past years. The data of Maiti Nepal says it has saved 232 women in 2008 and 172 women until the month of November alone. But the fact and figures are far smaller than the actual number of women who are trafficked each year. Several meetings between security officials of India and Nepal are held annually to tackle the issue but have so far proved ineffective and the government has failed to address the issue effectively.
There is no accurate statistics on number of women trafficked from Nepal. The country has Human Trafficking Act 2043 to tackle these illegal activities but the government finds itself in a difficult position to implement the act effectively. The then government had even registered the “Human Trafficking Act” on 10th Falgun 2058 BS. The government is well informed about the illegal activities but has done very little to enforce the law.
Daughters go cheaper in Ichok
Interestingly, one finds it difficult to see young girls above ten years in the village of Ichok, which is neatly eight-hour walk from Melamchi bazaar. This small village with Tamang majority lies in a complex geographical position and the people here live in hand-to-mouth situation. Life is hard and what they earn is hardly enough to feed their family for six months. But the bitter truth of this village is that parents here even do not step behind to think before they sell their own young daughters and wives in fulfilling their daily needs. And some men have been trying hard to change that scenario here.
Pasang Tamang has been working to stop local women from being sold since a decade. Those who saw him as a major obstruction in their mission even tried to assault him physically, but that did not stop him. Numbers of girls who spent their lives in household in the village left for what the villagers here call the “big city” Mumbai. Many of them have returned with AIDS or other STDs but the wave of going to the “big city” has not ended yet. They have rather switched over to Gulf States as their destination in recent years. The locals of the village say that the agents have rather started to traffic women in more organized and legal way. They now assist women to make passports and recruit them as domestic helpers for some Middle East countries. Till this date, 20-25 women flock everyday in District Administration Office to make passports. Political interference and protection to the women traffickers has made the situation even worse. It is believed that hundreds and thousands of women abroad are forced to work as sex labors and the consequences they face are beyond one’s imagination. But the government’s effort to stop women trafficking has not been sufficient. The unemployment, expensive life, high price of daily commodities, and the social imbalance due to 13-year long insurgency have forced many women to leave their home behind in quest of money. Although there are handful of organizations that work for rescuing women, lack of coordination between them has not been able to produce significant outcome. Ichok is just one example. Several remote villages of the country share similar stories and with the continuing poverty; this is not likely to stop anywhere soon.
Gulf countries lure Nepalese women
Data shows that about 150,000 women are sold every year in South Asia for forced prostitution. According to independent statistics from different sources, 5-7 thousands Nepali women are among those 150,000 women trafficked for prostitution annually. The survey of World Population Foundation says that more than 100,000 Nepali women have been trafficked to this date and the number is increasing by 10,000 each year. The survey shows among them 75% are generally unmarried girls, 20% married women, and the rest 5% are girls below the age of 15. Another separate study of International Labour Organization further reveals that more than 12,000 Nepali women are sold for prostitution every year. It is estimated that there are currently more than 200,000 Nepali women working in Indian brothels. Similarly, the listing of 26 districts of Nepal as maximum women trafficking region further demonstrates the dire situation. Ironically, the government has no official figure of women who have been rescued and returned back. Furthermore, reestablishing or rehabilitating them in the society has been yet another major challenge. As the agents have started to supply women to other countries, the number of Nepali women in Indian brothels has decreased by 20% in recent years. That is largely because of the hefty sum of money the agents receive from supplying women to other countries than to India. Sources say Nepali women are sold for as much as 75 thousand NRS in India while the agents could double their profit if they are able to supply women to other countries. This has created shortage of Nepali women in India and the price for them has once again soared up.
Experts say poverty, open cultures, and wars are major factors for increased women trafficking and that the problem is epidemic in all South Asian countries. It is clear to all that women trafficking have complex chained networks expanded in many countries. More women are at risk of being potential victims of human trafficking groups unless governments of all South Asian countries do not form common standards to fight the problems.
