Human traffickers have been good at persuading poor parents in quake-hit districts to part with their children

 

I am a martial art trainer and enjoy watching martial art movies. Recently, I watched a Thai movie Skin Trade directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham, which stars Dolph Lundgren and popular Thai actor, Tony Jaa. The movie shows how teenage girls are smuggled from Cambodia and Thailand into the United States via Mexico.

 

I was touched by a scene where smugglers abandon a vehicle along the border, and teenage girls inside the container eventually die from either heat stroke or suffocation. Trafficked girls are subjected to brutal gang-rapes, beatings and sexual abuse. The brokers torture girls and force them into prostitution.

 

I know that skin traders are not always powerful gangsters. They can be anyone with proper networking channels backed up by local law enforcement agents, customs officers, police, manpower agencies and politicians. If traffickers weren't backed up by powerful forces, how would it be possible to transport Nepali girls and women abroad with authentic legal documents via India to destinations like Malaysia, Hong Kong, Russia, Pakistan, the UAE and other Gulf states? Most trafficked girls belong to Janajati and Dalit communities.

 

These days, China is becoming a new hub for Nepali girls via Kerung border in Dhunche, Rasuwa. Nepali brokers usually arrange marriage of Nepali girls with Chinese men. These poor girls end up as laborers, bar dancers or as prostitutes. Again, the skin traders can be anyone: neighbors, friends, lovers, husbands and even parents. Here skin trade means recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of commercial sex, in which sex is induced by fraud, force, or coercion.

 

After the Great Earthquake, around 245 children were reportedly rescued from traffickers. These hapless children were illegally placed in children's care homes. Many children are still missing; some are probably already sold to brothels. Vulnerable families who have lost everything to the quake are now targets of human traffickers. The cunning traffickers have been convincing parents with promises of better life for their children and accordingly poor parents are willingly giving away their wards to traffickers, especially in quake-hit districts.

 

Skin trade is an organized crime. Even though slavery has been long since abolished, in reality it is a thriving, multi-billion dollar industry, generating up to US $35 billion annually. The UN believes that somewhere between 27 and 30 million individuals are currently involved in flesh trade and Southeast Asia is a hotspot for such activities.

 

It's the same story in South Asia. Every year thousands of girls are sold into Indian brothels; very few of them make it back to Nepal with the help of Nepali and Indian police forces and related NGOs. Some of these rescued girls are pregnant and some give birth before they are sent back. Many of these girls suffer from sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. UNICEF reports that as many as 7,000 women and girls are trafficked from Nepal to India every year, and around 200,000 are now working in Indian brothels.

 

Besides cross-border trafficking, skin trade is flourishing inside the country as well. Many uneducated village girls are lured to cities with promises of good jobs. They are then sold to dance bars and professional escort services.

 

We need to eradicate this blot on humanity but we are still one step behind traffickers. NGOs like Maiti Nepal have been rescuing trafficked girls from different Indian brothels. There needs to be greater awareness on human trafficking through campaigns targeted at vulnerable women.

 

There is legislation against human trafficking; but the enforcement mechanism is weak. Being a martial art trainer, I am doing my best to empower teenage girls and women through awareness and self-defense classes. These classes are effective in preventing teenage girls and women from becoming victims but no organizations are interested in it. They focus on making lawmakers and police personnel aware about flesh trade. It's as useless as preaching to the choir. A huge part of their budget is squandered in seminars.

 

It would be better if NGOs adopted new ideas like awareness and self-defense classes for girls and women and lobby for their incorporation in the school curriculum. Such kind of awareness class and lessons could be more effective in ensuring their security.

 

The author is a meditation practitioner and women's self-defense expert