Lost Daughters – An ongoing tragedy in Nepal

Young women used in prostitution wait for customer/exploiters in Mumbai’s red light district. They face routine violence from pimps and customers and a wide range of diseases and adverse health effects — from sexually-transmitted diseases and tuberculosis, to rape, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide, and murder. Image: Kay Chernush US Department of State

Drug use, too, among girls who have been in the brothels for extended periods of time causes many problems as these girls are returned home to families and home communities. Girls who have received no assistance with drug rehab often try to return to their life in the brothels because of their intense addiction.

“Injection drug use appears to be extensive in Nepal and to overlap with commercial sex. Another important factor is the high number of sex workers who migrate or are trafficked to Mumbai, India to work, thereby increasing HIV prevalence in the sex workers’ network in Nepal more rapidly,” says World Bank Asia (2008).

Predominant drugs abused by trafficked girls working in Mumbai brothels includes cough syrup, cannabis, heroin and propoxyphene (Darvon), along with alcohol and mild tranquilizers. Addiction in the brothels is common among the young prostitutes there.

The next morning as Tamang walked slowly on the street of his village, he went to talk to his good  friend, Murali. Many years ago, there was a severe famine in the village and Tamang’s field had no yield. It was Murali who proved himself and gave Tamang 48 lbs of corn and 32 lbs of rice for the season. It was Murali who didn’t accept any repayment of the loan. Tamang had never forgotten such generosity.

As Tamang walked the village street he saw a crowd had gathered as a rising noise came from a stream of people. Tamang was startled. He had seen this kind of crowd and uproar only once before at the time of the election in Nepal. What kind of unexpected calamity had fallen in the village? Tamang headed straight toward the house of Murali.

 

The average stay for most girls in a brothel is not short. Brothel stays for girls who have been rescued average 12 – 36 months inside the brothel system. Unfortunately, those who cannot be rescued are trapped for many more additional years. Even with current ongoing attempts to rescue girls by rescue agencies, countless girls fall desperately through the cracks.

At the border between Nepal and India rescue agencies attempt to inspect cars for young girls who appear to be trafficked. But even with this, girls and traffickers do make it through. These car searches and border interviews are usually done without the assistance of police or Nepal government agencies.

As Tamang walked closer to Murali’s home people began shouting. Then, through a break in the crowd Tamang saw his friend, Murali’s daughter laying on the ground. Her dead body was on the edge of the street. She was filled with death. Had died of HIV/AIDS and someone had thrown her body there. 

“The poor soul!” cried an old woman in desperation from the street. “Who was the one who killed this girl at such a young age?” she asked. “She never spoke a bad word to anybody. Such a good girl who has now become a victim of such an evil fate!” 

“The high rates of HIV infection seen among these survivors of trafficking, indicates a need for greater attention from the public health community to this population and to prevention of this violent gender-based crime and human rights violation,” said the 2007 JAMA report.

“In Mumbai and Pune, for example, 54% and 49% of sex workers, respectively, were found to be HIV-positive (NACO, 2005). A large proportion of women with HIV appear to have acquired the virus from regular partners who were infected during paid sex. HIV prevention efforts targeted at sex workers are being implemented in India. However, the context of sex work is complex and enforcement of outdated laws often act as a barrier against effective HIV prevention and treatment efforts. Indeed, condom use is limited especially when commercial encounters take place in ‘risky’ locations with low police tolerance for this activity.”

“Controlling trafficking has been compounded by the conflict of the last ten years,” said Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba, Executive Chairperson of Samanata Institute for Social and Gender Equality in Kathmandu in a September 2008 interview with photo-journalist Mikel Dunham. “The communities (in Nepal) became poorer and some of them had no recourse but to try to find a means for a livelihood. During and after the conflict, there was a lot of displacement, a lot of women came to the urban centers, and most were not equipped to get into jobs. They were not educated–no skills. So a lot of them became ‘dancers’, you know? So now, it’s like a phenomenon. Every town you go to, you have all these dance bars. It’s just a front for brothels,” Dr. Deuba added.

On the grisly sight of Marali’s daughter Tamang thought of his own his daughter and wife. He thought of the conditions of his family, of his life, his home. He was paralyzed with grief. He fell over the body of the young girl and started crying. Now we have to live a pathetic life here,” he said. “We are in Sindhupalchowk, as thousands of young girls who are living in the rural areas are the victims of trafficking!”

 

The 1999 “Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation” states that over 200,000 Nepali girls exist to supply the world as sex “products” for sale. Along with India, China, Eastern Europe, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other regions, many nations have also been areas that receive and use Nepali girls in the sex-trafficking and porn industries. In 1999, the city of Hong Kong was the second largest destination for trafficked girls from Nepal.

Along the 1,740 mile border between Nepal and India, smuggling a girl is still very easy today.

The district of Sindupalchow is not the only district guilty of smuggling girls. The rural districts of Makwanpur, Dhading and Khavre are also very involved in the ongoing trafficking of girls in sex-exploitation.

“The government has made stringent laws, but again, the problem is enforcement. Most of the traffickers are very rich. They buy the lawyers. They have money to hire top-class lawyers. They may be even paying bribes to come out of it. And the other thing we have noticed is that most of the women who are trafficked are poor. So even if they come back and they file a case, eventually, they’re pressured by their family, who are paid off by the traffickers to keep quiet. And the legal system in Nepal takes forever for a case to be resolved. That has been one problem… When the traffickers are caught, very few are brought to justice,” continued Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba, as she outlined the ongoing problems of enforcement against trafficking in Nepal.

_____________________________________________________________________

In an emmy award winning film, Executive Director of Apneaap Women Worldwide, hero Ruchira Gupta, works with the brothels of Mubai that continues the degradation of the children of women who have been trafficked from Nepal to serve in India’s sex-industry. This is a 6:29 min film excerpt.

______________________________________________________________________

For more information on sex-trafficking in Nepal link to:

Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation – College of Arts and Sciences, University of Rhode Island and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Norway

Fallen Angels – photo essay by Thomas L. Kelley

Trafficking and Human Rights in Nepal: Community Perceptions and Policy and Program Response, 2001 – Horizons, Population Council & The Asia Foundation

Litigation, Girl Trafficking in Nepal – INTS 4945 Human Rights Advocacy Clinic, Jennifer Aengst, 2001

Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063 (2007) – UNDP, United Nations Development Programme

HIV Prevalence and Prediction in Nepalese Sex-Trafficked Girls – JAMA, American Medical Association, 2007

_________________________________________

Sources for this article include: Friends of UNDP – United Nations Development Programme, Maiti Nepal, CIPA – Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, FWLD – Forum for Women Law and Development (Kathmandu), UNDP – United Nations Development Programme, The Asia Foundation, US Department of State, JAMA – American Medical Association, University of Denver – Human Rights Advocacy Center, UNODC – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The World Bank – HIV/AIDS South Asia Report, Nepal Branch of Statistics Offices – Central Bureau of Statistics, photographer, Mikel Dunham, WILPF – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Human Rights Watch, Opportunities and Choices Reproductive Health Research Program, Southhampton, UK, 1996-2001 and Terre des hommes Foundation – Kathmandu.

________________________________________________________

WNN correspondent, Kamala Sarup, specializes in reporting and writing stories on peace and anti-war issues, women, democracy and development. Some of her other publications include: Women’s Empowerment in South Asia, Nepal; Prevention of Trafficking in Women Through Media; Efforts to Prevent Trafficking for Media Activism.

2007 Pushcart Prize nominee, humanitarian journalist and award winning playwright, Lys Anzia, is founding director for Women News Network – WNN. Lys is strongly dedicated to bringing issues of global women’s equality and human rights to the public through the use of media.

____________

©Women News Network – WNN
No part of this article release may be reproduced without prior permissions from WNN.

_______

1 2

Short URL: http://womennewsnetwork.net/?p=706