Thousands of Nepali girls working in Indian sex market – Nepal News
17.000 NEPALI GIRLS IN INDIAN SEX MARKET
There are 17,000 Nepali women forced into prostitution in India’s Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Calcutta redlight centres alone. Anju Chhetri and Manju Thapa of the Asmita women’s publication group arrived at this number by conducting on-the-spot investigation in every brothel in the redlight areas of India’s four cities. As claimed by Chhetri and Thapa, 15,000 Nepali women in Mumbai, 300 in Delhi, 500 in Pune and 1,200 in Calcutta are sex workers. Chhetri and Thapa also claimed that over 5,000 Nepali women are taking up the world’s oldest profession in Gorakpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Surat and Nagpur redlight areas.
Speaking at the workshop related to the women and children trafficking, media engagement, study, conclusion and exchange of experiences held in Nepalgunj yesterday, Thapa admitted though that they could not claim that their research was 100% true. She added that an earlier estimate, which had put the number of Nepali women sex workers in India at between 1 to 2 lakh, had been proved baseless.
They said they had collected the figure by visiting Mumbai’s main brothels – Kamati, Bhiundi, Jamuna Mansion, Bareli, Grand Road and Bhandrup; Puna’s Budharpet; Calcutta’s sonagachhi, Kidderpore, Bowbazar, Kalighat, and Delhi’s GB Road. Thapa pointed out that most of these sex workers were below 18 years of age. Anju Chhetri said they talked personally to the Nepali women in the brothels of India in course of doing research. Chhetri added, “Most of them fall prey to the avarice of family members. Local brokers come second in the line of the process of selling them there.” Speaking at the workshop, Sabin Gurung of Maiti Nepal quoted the International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics, saying over 10,000 Neplai women are trafficked to India into the sex trade every year. Journalist Purna Lal Chuke, who presided over the workshop, said that the although researchers and rescuers did not face big problems in rescuing the women, the main problem was rehabilitating them. Till date, Maiti Nepal has rehabilitated 1,500 trafficked women.
Source: The Himalayan Times, March 26, 2005
Anuradha Koirala – 2010 CNN Hero of the Year
In November 2010, Anuradha Koirala from Maiti Nepal, an organization fighting human trafficking and sex slavery was named “2010 CNN Hero of the Year”
“Since 1993, she has helped rescue more than 12,000 women and girls. Through her organization Maiti Nepal, she has provided more than a shelter for these young women and girls rescued from sex slavery, she has created a home for them. It is a place for them to heal, go to school, learn a skill, and for some who are infected with HIV/AIDS, it is the place where they can spend their days surrounded by love.
Demi Moore sees plight of sex slaves
Actress Demi Moore partners with CNN Freedom Project for a compelling documentary. A passionate advocate for victims of human trafficking herself, Moore travels to Nepal to meet 2010 CNN Hero of the Year Anuradha Koirala and some of the thousands of women and girls Koirala’s organization has rescued from forced prostitution
keyterms: sex market, indian, trafficking, girls, slaves
