THE trafficking of human beings occurs for various nefarious purposes such as forced bonded labor, domestic servitude, child labor and arguably the most devastating – sex trafficking. Traffickers use coercion or abduction as tactics to lure or force their victims into a vulnerable state from which they are then taken to locations far from their homes and forced to perform duties in dangerous conditions with no chance of escape. This is also called modern day slavery and these victims of trafficking are cut off from all forms of communication and transportation. With no control over what they eat, when they sleep and who they can see, victims of trafficking no longer have rights over their own bodies and are in an enslaved state.
World Day Against Trafficking
World Day Against Trafficking is observed each year on July 30th to raise awareness on trafficking and to examine the current trends and developments used by traffickers. These trends include the use of social media platforms by traffickers to identify and lure victims, according to the Polaris Project. Traffickers assume false identities online to befriend unsuspecting girls and women on the internet and convince them to meet in person where they are taken against their will. The internet is also used to disseminate pornographic material that involves the victims, also taken without their consent.
The 2023 theme of World Day Against Trafficking is to reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind. As our societies, technologies and cultures change, the methods of traffickers adapt to these changes and anti-trafficking efforts must be one step ahead to prevent the crime of sex trafficking.
Here are 5 NGOs across India focused on the rescue and rehabilitation of women and children saved from forced prostitution:
Guria
In the early 90s, the founder of Guria was so impacted by the suffering of women and their children in red light districts that she and her husband adopted three children of a woman who had been forced into prostitution. Often, the children of women in brothels become victims of rape and sexual assault. Guria is an NGO in Uttar Pradesh that focuses on stopping the next generation from inadvertently entering the sex trade as well as rescuing and rehabilitating sex workers. In this video, the founder of Guria recounts the rescue of a two year old who had been raped so brutally that her vagina had become bruised and mangled, leaving the toddler in need of medical care and counselling:
Once the women have been rescued, they are given counselling, health and nutritional support, vocational skills training and legal intervention to help them rebuild their lives. The children of the women are supported through food and education so they can go on to have safer and better futures. To help Guria, donate here to rescue more women and children from forced prostitution.
Swadhar
The children of women forced into sex work are often left unsupervised and roam the streets alone while their mothers are forced into the brothels. To rescue and protect these children, Swadhar runs a facility equipped with a creche, kitchen, preschool and a learning center so the children can be safe from the dangers of the red light district. Swadhar goes from door to door in the brothels to speak to the women about sending the children to their facility where they can be kept safe and provided with nutritious food and child-friendly activities to help them learn and grow. “This is what children need”, explains the founder Sanjivani Hingne, “but the brothel is not the place to get it”:
Swadhar looks after the children’s health and hygiene, provides 3 healthy meals each day, gets them ready for school and keeps them safe. The Pune-based NGO currently takes care of 200 children but needs support to take care of more children. Because of the NGO’s care, many children have gone on to complete their education and are on their way to a better future. To help Swadhar, donate here to ensure children escape the dangers of the red light district.
Rescue Foundation
Conducting daring rescue raids in brothels, Rescue Foundation helps girls and women escape the red light district and keeps them safe in one of their four shelter homes in Mumbai, Boisar, Pune and Delhi. Once at the homes, the girls and women receive immediate medical attention, trauma counselling from mental health organizations and a wide range of skills training to enable them to build their vocational skills and secure safe employment. Triveni Acharya, a former journalist, founded Rescue Foundation to respond to the silent cry of girls and women forced into sex work against their will and raped by multiple men each day, as she describes here:
These girls are victims of trafficking that are brought from other states to red light districts in a part of the country they are not familiar with, reducing their chances of escape. Rescue Foundation saves and rehabilitates around 600 girls each year, and your charitable donation can help the NGO rescue many more. To help Rescue Foundation, donate here and give these young victims of trafficking a way out of the torture they are forced to endure.
Kat-Katha
Once a woman or child is forced into the red light district, she is “broken”, which is a term used for the sexual and psychological torture that is inflicted on her to the point where she “accepts her fate”. Because she is forced into this helpless condition, she often feels ashamed and believes that she will not be accepted outside the walls of the brothels. But these women can create their own futures, despite what has happened to them in the past, explains the founder Gitanjali, and this is exactly the mission of Kat-Katha, an NGO in Delhi that provides alternative livelihoods to women who have left forced prostitution:
Kat-Katha provides a guiding hand out of the brothels and into their shelter home called Dream Village. Here, the women are given mental support, literacy classes and job-training in tailoring and cooking as well as internship and employment opportunities. Their children are enrolled in schools and given life skills lessons. To help Kat-Katha, donate here and change the futures of women brave enough to leave the brothels they were forced into.
iPartner India
In many cases, family members are the ones responsible for sending or selling their young daughters into red light districts. Instead of spending the next few years getting accustomed to dealing with puberty and the joy of growing up, little girls are sent far away from their homes and families and into brothels. In the red light districts, these young children are unable to understand what is happening to them. iPartner India, an NGO based in Rajasthan, provides these girls with an education in a residential school located far from their homes, before their parents sell them to traffickers. Equipped with an education, the girls can now go on to create safer futures for themselves and the next generation.
iPartner India seeks to break the cycle of trafficking that happens in this particular part of the country. Since many of the families are from low-income communities, selling their daughters to traffickers may seem to be their only option. But with the intervention of iPartner, education is offered as an alternate solution which will keep the girls safe. To help iPartner India, donate here to protect girls from being sold to traffickers.
Sex trafficking is one of the most disturbing crimes to happen in our world, especially when it involves children. This World Day Against Trafficking, help these NGOs rescue and rehabilitate trafficking victims with your charitable donation.
Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.
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