Sex Slavery in Nepal: The Ugly Present Truth

Nepal is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. Children are trafficked within the country and to India and the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation or forced marriage, as well as to India and within the country for involuntary servitude as domestic servants, circus entertainers, factory workers, or beggars. NGOs working on trafficking issues report an increase in both transnational and domestic trafficking during the reporting period, although a lack of reliable statistics makes the problem difficult to quantify. NGOs estimate that 10,000 to 15,000 Nepali women and girls are trafficked to India annually, while 7,500 children are trafficked domestically for commercial sexual exploitation. In many cases, relatives or acquaintances facilitated the trafficking of women and young girls into sexual exploitation. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009  [full country report]

            It is very sad that even in the times of technology and marvels of science, human trafficking is a reality in Nepal. The other alarming fact of course is that our  unique cultural system known as "Deukis," whereby by rich zamindars (feudalistic agricultural families) having no children through a legally married wife, procure these young girls from poor rural Nepalese families and after initiating them into the household through the temple rites are taken as mistresses cum slave bonded laborers to produce offspring. Later on, as the girl gets to be over 30 years and grows older, she is forced into prostitution. There is no respite to what the poor Nepalese girl has to suffer on in life once initiated into this system. In 2007 according to a UN report, there werel nearly 30,000 deukis in Nepal compared to 1992, when there were 17,000 deuki girls according to Radhika Coomaraswamy in the UN Special Report on Violence against Women.

       

     “The Day my God Died”(click this to buy from amazon for $3.99) is in my opinion, the most heart-wrenching documentary. Narrated by Oscar Winner Tim Robbins and Winnona Ryder, it shows you the stories of poor uneducated girls from rural Nepal who are drugged up or misled, often by their very trusted men. And then sold to the brothels in India, mostly Bombay. This is a must watch. Thanks to PBS! It is also amazing how they have such good insight in the issues in Nepal better than even us Nepalese realize. This documentary brought me down to tears, but filled up with rage and disgust at the same time. And since then, I had wanted to write about it for a while now. Young girls as little as 7 years old are sold for as little as 50000 NRs(less than 1000$). That is the price of a life for them. Yesterday she was a little girl. Today she is a prostitute.”

The film provides actual footage from the brothels of Bombay, known even to tourists as “The Cages,” captured with “spy camera” technology. It weaves the stories of girls, and their stolen hopes and dreams, into an unforgettable examination of the growing plague of child sex slavery. Girls are gang-raped, beaten and forced to service up to 20 clients a day as they are held in perpetual sexual servitude. The film also introduces us to the heroes of the movement to abolish child sex slavery – non-profit organizations which rescue and care for former sex slaves. 

Children are the commodity consumed by the voracious and sophisticated international sex trade. Recruiters capture them, smugglers transport them, brothel owners enslave them, corrupt police betray them and customers rape and infect them. Every person in the chain profits except for the girls, who pay the price with their lives. Sexual servitude is a virtual death sentence. During the making of the film, in Bombay alone, 90 new cases of HIV are reported every hour and the girls suffer up to an 80% HIV/AIDS infection rate.

It is hard to sum up the video. For those with slower internet speeds, try and rent/buy it from your local store or download from here: http://www.videobb.com/video/Pm10LxRPwsmE .

Click on Download and you can watch it when it’s done. I know it’s an hour long but after you’re done, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t seen this before!

With Anuradha Koirala winning CNN Hero of the Year, everyone rejoiced. But little do we know the pain behind the real stories. We all voted for her and no doubt, she has been struggling for the cause selflessly for decades. We had a moment of joy but that was all for most of us. Even the Nepalese media didn’t take some to go behind the story. There are many ways to contribute. Many NGOs such as Maiti Nepal are working day and night for prevention of trafficking and the rehabilitation of the abused. Do what you can! At least share the stories, share this video, spread the word. That’s the least we could do.

 Also read: http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/opinion/22kristof.html?ex=1177473600&en=c2997ca054bb7389&ei=5121&emc=eta1