Shakti Samuha’s Magsaysay win calls attention to plight of trafficked women

The spectre of human trafficking looms large over Nepal. According to the Family Planning Association of Nepal, an estimated 200,000 Nepali girls and women are currently working in Indian brothels while around 7,000 more are trafficked every year. Domestic unemployment has meant that many Nepalis are seeking jobs overseas. The perils of poverty and unemployment have driven them far from home and not always to a familiar world. Police recently arrested 14 Nepali women from an Indian mujra bar in Kenya as they lacked work papers. There are reportedly 90 Nepali women working illegally in six Dar es Salaam bars in Tanzania. Most of these women were promised passage into the US and Europe via third countries in Africa and Latin America. Earlier this week, 10 Nepalis were among 94 people arrested while trying to sneak into the US via Mexico. For most of these men and women the promises of a dream land never materialise. Many of the starry-eyed women end up working as bar dancers or sex workers, never reaching their final destinations while men are forced to take up menial jobs for little pay. More often than not, they find themselves working in an alien world where they do not speak the local language nor have any other means of livelihood. Many land into trouble when the authorities round them up for overstaying their visas or possessing false documents. Once deported, many try to migrate again, bereft of any employment prospects at home.

Working to rescue and rehabilitate such victims of trafficking is the Shakti Samuha, which must be congratulated for winning this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. The Samuha has the unique distinction of being the world’s first anti-trafficking organisation that is run by survivors themselves; all of the board members and most of the staff are victims of trafficking themselves. The Award recognises “their passionate dedication towards rooting out a pernicious social evil in Nepal, and the radiant example they have shown the world in reclaiming the human dignity that is the birthright of all abused women and children everywhere.” Since 2004, the organisation has rescued over 600 victims of trafficking, whom they’ve rehabilitated through four shelter homes in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Sindhuli. In 2011, the US government had awarded Charimaya Tamang, one of the founding members, with a ‘Hero Acting to End Modern Day Slavery Award’. The Magsaysay further highlights their work and brings to international attention the hazards of human trafficking in Nepal.

However, efforts to combat human trafficking need to be institutionalised to be more effective. The US State Department’s 2012 Nepal Trafficking in Persons Report recommends that the Nepal government strictly implement the Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act 2007, which prescribes 10-20 years imprisonment for those convicted of trafficking. The government must also “institute a formal procedure to identify victims of trafficking and refer them to protection services”. Instead of punishing victims for prostitution or possession of fraudulent documents, efforts must be made to seek out the agents and traffickers who facilitate such practices.

Published on: 26 July 2013 | The Kathmandu Post