Police told to see prostitutes as victims

Wed Aug 1, 2007 8:40PM IST
By Nita Bhalla
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police must treat prostitutes as victims rather than criminals and crack down instead on clients and human traffickers who force women and children to sell their bodies, activists said on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of women and girls in India are kidnapped, sold, coerced or trafficked for sex in a highly organised, yet illicit trade which is the world's third most lucrative after arms and drugs.
But activists say that while the children and young women are often trapped in slave-like situations, unable to free themselves from their pimps and brothel owners, police treat them as criminals while the real perpetrators get away.
"Hundreds of thousands of victims are invisible and are kept in captivity and have no access to any justice system whatsoever," said Ruchira Gupta, director of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a local charity working against human trafficking.
"On the other hand, the perpetrators of this crime -- the profiteers and buyers that constitute the demand for human trafficking -- are visible and work with impunity."
In India, trafficking and profiting by selling a person for sex is illegal, but paying for sex with a prostitute is not unless she is under 18-years-old.
Almost 6,000 cases of trafficking were registered in 2005, but activists say the real number is much higher and on the rise.
Activists say that women are easy targets for police to arrest and round up in brothel raids and on street corners and police rarely investigate or arrest brothel owners or pimps.
Experts, speaking at the launch of a handbook to help police better enforce human trafficking laws, said police needed to understand the issue better.
"The real problem is not the absence of a legal infrastructure, but the importance of those that are empowered to impose the law to know what to do," said Gary Lewis, South Asia representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
According to the International Labour Organisation, 2.45 million people worldwide are exploited and treated like slaves every year, and another 1.2 million people are trafficked.
Lewis said that, according to some estimates, the global trade in human trafficking generated around $32 billion a year

Victims of trafficking await justice

Mohuya Chaudhuri
Senior Editor, Health and Technology
Friday, July,27 2007 (New Delhi)
It has been over a year now but justice continues to elude Khushi, Reshmi and Sati, (names changed), aged 7, 9 and 14.Viciously abused and even shot at by their employer, a well-to-do architect in Faridabad, Haryana, the three girls are now living in a shelter in Rai, close to Delhi.After three years of abject slavery, when they were forced to sleep naked on the bathroom floor on cold winter nights after a 20-hour grueling work-day and made to eat rice off the toilet bowl, life is slowly seeping back into the children.But even though there's no fear, the past simply refuses to fade away. Khushi, who will be eight soon, spends her time staring out of their grilled windows, the sunlight blinding her. She was abused the most, her vacant eyes reflect the intense trauma that still hovers around her like a shroud.Fortunately, her injuries are healing well. The bullet scar on her thigh is no longer raw and her tiny, weathered hands, which were rotting when she was rescued, are back in shape. But she no longer remembers anything. Her father, her village and the life she led before she was stolen by her uncle and sold into domestic labour through a placement agency.It was through a session of music that some of her roots began to emerge. After much cajoling, she began to sing and it was clear she was an adivasi. She sang beautifully and with each song, her confidence grew. After a moment of surprised silence that greeted her performance since few knew she could sing, she began to open up. She belonged to Chhattisgarh and now wanted to return home. She used to go to school and was her father's favourite. She misses him the most. Khushi rarely spoke, so this was the only opportunity to locate her family. But after some time, she turned away and the moment was lost. It would be some time before she trusted anyone again.Sati and Reshmi were peppy and full of life. They had somehow managed to put the incident behind them. Sati, with her beautiful face and long hair, had faced sexual harassment as well. But she had fought back, yelling and screaming, which warned neighbours that something was not quite right in the three-storied plush building.It was obvious her spirit helped her recover faster but the memory brought angry tears to her eyes.The time spent at the shelter had somewhat reawakened their childhood. They wanted new clothes - pink and red and were eager to watch films. Both of them sang popular Bangla songs that used to blare outside paan shops in their villages in Midnapore district in Bengal. They too had been picked up by traffickers and brought to Delhi. Girls like these go missing from villages across Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Assam and Andhra Pradesh routinely. Some put the figure at one million but those who work in the field say that is a conservative estimate. Intense poverty drives the business of trafficking. Children, after narcotics, have emerged the most lucrative commodity globally. Trafficking has also brought the world closer. There are no borders here. Bangladeshi children can be found in Saudi Arabia, Nepali girls in Mumbai's brothels and adolescents from Andhra in Delhi's red light districts. Hundreds of girls from Jharkhand run homes in the capital.All this, despite stringent laws. Law enforcers often say their hands are tied. The biggest reason for poor arrests and convictions is jurisdiction. Most trafficking cases get stuck because they need coordination between police forces of different states.But it isn't that simple. As seen in the Faridabad case, it is clear that the police force is still ignorant of laws related to trafficking but above all policemen were corrupt and were plaint to pressure. Big names with political connections get away scot-free. Despite breaking child labour laws, which clearly states that employing children below 14 is a crime, the architect in question was not arrested. The children were rescued in a raid, yet the accused walked away. At the police station, despite the presence of the media and NGOs, no case was registered. In fact, the media was intimidated. A few telephone calls and the police wilted. In cases related to children, the crime somehow diminishes in the eyes of the police. Clearly, the problem is more attitudinal than functional.The National Commission for Women, that took up the issue has written several times to police authorities, adding several more charges against the accused. But there has been no response so far.Minster of Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury says criminals who abuse children must not get away. Clearly, the time has come to set an example

University students educating sex workers' children in KolkataBy Soma

Kolkata, July 30: Over hundred college students from West Bengal's Jadavpur University have taken the responsibility of educating children of the sex workers in Kolkata. The students are conducting special education classes in the various red-light areas that include Sonagachi, Tollygunj, Kalighat and others under the State-run voluntary students' programme, the National Social Service (NSS).The students have formed teams of two persons each. They then approach sex workers and persuade them to send their children to attend evening classes conducted by them.Bappa Mullick, the Director with Jadavpur University's Youth Welfare Department, said: "Students go there (red-light areas) regularly from Monday to Saturday. They teach the under-privileged kids and also the sex workers' children in the red light areas. The special classes are open for anyone from the nearby area."Students are also imparting the children training in skills like stitching; embroidery and painting to enable them earn their livelihood. Monica Banerjee, one of the student-teachers, said: "The students are mainly from red-light-area. Our aim is to train and teach them so that they can have a respectable source of income. Also they would be accepted in the mainstream society because of this."Sex workers' children, especially girls, take these classes very sincerely. Most of them view it as the best medium to join the mainstream society. Salina Khatun, the daughter of a sex-worker, said: "I am learning embroidery and stitching here. I am learning this so that I can earn my living through a respectable means. We want to be independent and stand on our own feet but we don't want to go in a wrong profession." Violence, lack of access to healthcare, and HIV infections are causing concern to sex-workers in the country. In 2005, as per there were at least 40,000 sex workers in Kolkata alone as per official estimates.Prostitution is outlawed in the country but the country has over two million sex-workers, most of them living on the fringes of society.The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 [2] makes trafficking and sexual exploitation of persons for commercial purpose a punishable offence. The Act was passed on the lines of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, signed by India on May 9, 1950.Although the Act was amended twice (1978 and 1986), it did not prove to be an effective deterrent to trafficking or sexual exploitation for commercial purposes.The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2006 aims to punish traffickers and provide for stringent punishment to offenders. Of all States, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are considered "high supply" sex workers zones in the country.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/161417.php/University-students-educating-sex-workers-children-in-Kolkata

28 Jul 2007,

In the flesh trade for extra bucks

PUNE: Flashing costly clothes, mobile phones and having fun is increasingly driving college students, especially girls, into the flesh trade. Every year the city police register about 180 cases against prostitutes, but in the last two years, the police have filed four cases under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1956, against female students. Police inspector Bhanupratap Barge, who filed two cases in February and March this year, said that on February 10, the police raided a hotel situated on the Katraj-Dehu road bypass and detained eight girls and two men. Out of the female detainees, one was a small-town, second-year medical student. On March 3, the police detained six girls out of which two were college students from Mumbai. Last year, the social security cell of the city police arrested two girls at Paud road on a tip-off for allegedly running a sex racket. The girls were students in a city college and were fond of good clothes and cellphones. They took up prostitution to earn money for costly items and eating at fancy hotels. The cell also arrested four girls at Hinjewadi on the Katraj-Dehu road bypass last year. Two of them were students. Barge said that these cases have shocked the city police. Students, both male and female, are even offering their services through the Orkut community webpages and escort services. An escort service provider, who identified himself as Menon, told TOI that female students were in demand from customers. “Sometimes, people even ask for their ID-cards before hiring them,” he added. Menon claims there are two college-going girls in his escort service. When asked why these girls have joined, he said they hailed from Uttar Pradesh and could not afford to pay for the hostel, food and transport facilities with their monthly allowances. He told TOI that on each outing the girls get around Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000.

Date:26/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/26/stories/2007072656511300.htm

India sensitive to human trafficking, says Renuka
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Reacting to the annual U.S. State Department report on human trafficking warning India of possible sanctions if it failed to act swiftly on the “world’s largest human trafficking and bonded labour problems,” the Government on Wednesday said it did not appreciate “being watched over its shoulder.”Extradition policy
Talking to reporters here, Minister of State for Women and Child Development (Independent charge) Renuka Chowdhury said no one should question the Government’s commitment in dealing with the issues of human trafficking.
“We are equally sensitive to the issues and yes, there are some peculiar problems in the region which are being rectified. But, we do not like being watched over our shoulder.”
Giving details of a conference on ‘Micro-finance and Women Economic Empowerment in SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Region’ to be held here on Thursday and Friday, Ms. Chowdhury said the issue of human trafficking would be taken up on the first day of the conference and the rescue, rehabilitation, and repatriation of the victims discussed.
She said the Government was also looking at the extradition policy for traffickers and adopting the best practices of other SAARC countries.
According to the Minister, she had written to all State Governments to provide figures on missing children and child labour to set up a quick response system.
She said the Government was now working towards compulsory registration of pregnancy and births.

Rehabilitation for women victims of trafficking

Date:20/07/2007

Andhra Pradesh

#4,000 women affected by the scourge in Anantapur
#They will be trained in the area of their choice for self employment
#Healthcare and special rehabilitation will be given to HIV positive women

ANANTAPUR: The district administration has decided to bring woman, affected by trafficking, back to the mainstream by providing them rehabilitation as per their interests. They will be provided self-employment opportunities and their living standards uplifted.
At a review meeting on ‘Women affected by trafficking’ held here on Wednesday Collector N. Sridhar said mere financial assistance would not help the victims. They would require rehabilitation.
According to unofficial estimates, there were some 4,000 women affected by trafficking in the district. Steps would be taken to rehabilitate all of them and bring them back to the mainstream of life.
They would be given training required for their chosen self-employment and also extending financial assistance.Action against guilty
The affected women would be formed into groups and an officer would be given the responsibility to elicit their opinions, problems and experiences and offer rehabilitation as per their desire.
The brokers playing key role in forcing the women into trafficking would be identified and punished. Healthcare and special rehabilitation would be offered to the HIV positive women.
A helpline would also be opened in the Woman and Child Welfare Department office. Women in trouble would be extended immediate help if information was given to the helpline, he stated.

Child marriages, trafficking on the rise in West Bengal

19/07/2007

A rising awareness against dowry is fuelling the incidence
KOLKATA: A survey conducted across several districts in West Bengal has indicated that a rising awareness against dowry is fuelling the incidence of child marriage and trafficking.
The survey was conducted by Women’s Studies Research Centre (WSRC); the Department of Sociology, Burdwan University; and Centre for Women’s Studies, University of North Bengal, supported by the West Bengal Government’s Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“We found that the traffickers approach the villagers in the guise of grooms without any dowry demand and lure them into marrying off even minor girls,” said Ishita Mukhopadhyay, Director, WSRC, Calcutta University. “The girls are then sold and sent to other places like Mumbai, Dubai or Kashmir,” she added.
“The problem is compounded by the fact that West Bengal lies on the vulnerable international trafficking route, a fact acknowledged by the United Nations, with Kolkata itself becoming a significant source and destination for traffickers,” Dr. Mukhopadyay said.
“The elderly women in the villages acknowledge that child marriages were not so prevalent earlier.” She said that once married, even minor girls were treated as women and they did not enjoy child rights any more.The data quoted in the report (sourced from the 2001Census and the National Family Health Survey) shows a high incidence of child marriage in the State — 39.16 per cent compared to the national average of 32.10 per cent. “Though the Social Welfare Department has been organising awareness campaigns at the block and anganwadi levels, it is hard to eradicate the problem,” the department’s Principal Secretary S.N. Haque said.
While the Government’s focus is on economic empowerment of women through vocational training, and providing financial incentives to prevent girls from dropping out of high school, Dr. Mukhopadhyay felt that police action was needed to reign in traffickers. “There are, after all, hardly any trafficking cases that are registered with the police,” she said

Six rescued from brothels

Six rescued from brothels

By IE
Friday July 13, 03:16 AM
Minor girls were lured to the city with promises of jobs For 16-year-old Mehrunisa Begum (name changed), the midnight knock at Kamathipura's 13 street on Wednesday was a knock of freedom. Mehrunisa was rescued by the Nagpada police during a raid on brothels.
Mehrunisa, a minor from Assam, was conned by a man who brought her to Mumbai promising "a job in Mumbai's flourishing beauty parlour business". She was, however, shocked to find herself in the sleazy lanes of Kamathipura. Mehrunisa was pushed into prostitution and raped repeatedly by many men, according to the police.
The police say after men forced themselves upon her a couple of instances, Mehrunisa just resigned to her fate.
"A customer traced her family in Assam," said Bapurao Pandule, the investigating officer of the case registered in Nagpada police station. After this, her brother was called to Mumbai. The police, along with an NGO, planned the entire raid after they collected inputs on the brothels and minors being pushed into the flesh trade. During the raid, which lasted for around two hours, the police rescued six minors, including Mehrunisa, who will now be sent back to their villages like Rupitarvali, Jalpaiguri and Naogaon.
"All of them were brought to the city with promises of recruitment in fancy beauty parlours with a hefty salary," said Pandule.
The police said that workers from the NGO were very co-operative and ensured that the girls gave correct inputs on their village and background. Unlike other raids, the police personnel ensured that they handled the women well as they offered them help in going back to their hometowns. Hunt is on for the men who lured them to Mumbai after promising them jobs. The owners of the brothels were charged under relevant sections of the Immoral Trafficking Act.

UAE, first convictions under human trafficking law

July 11, 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -
Two Indian nationals were jailed for 15 years in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for human trafficking, the first convictions under legislation aimed at cleaning up the Gulf state's human rights record, the Gulf News reported Wednesday. A court in the emirate of Dubai, one of seven that makes up the UAE, imposed the sentence on an Indian housemaid and driver for forcing an Indonesian woman into prostitution, the English-language daily reported. The UAE introduced last year stiff new penalties reaching life sentences to combat human trafficking in the region, a problem highlighted by the US and some international rights watchdogs. Saudi Arabia remains on a US blacklist of countries trafficking in people that was released last month. Other states in the region, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, were added to the list and were largely accused of mistreating foreign workers, which they heavily rely on

Girls rescued from brothels get married

Saturday March 24 2007
HYDERABAD: The girls rescued from brothels by the CID recently were married to local men at Astha Nivas, a rescue home, at Falaknuma on Friday.
‘‘We haven’t even dreamt of leading a normal life. Thanks to the CID that has rescued us from the brothels and given us a new life,’’ one of the girls who got married told this website's newspaper.
AP Chief Justice GS Singhvi, DIG CID) Ratan and SP (CID) Mahesh Bhagwat were among those present on the occasion.‘‘It is an excellent work done by the CID and the Prajwala.
The lives of the rescued girls have changed and they are free birds now,’’ GS Singhvi said.
‘‘We will continue the rescue operation in the State to prevent human trafficking,’’ Mahesh Bhagwat said.

Orkut site creates more controversy

Orkut site creates more controversy
Jatin Gandhi and Jairaj Singh
New Delhi, October 20, 2006
First Published: 00:00 IST(13/1/2007)
Trouble is spewing under the eyes of the authorities but no one is willing to act. Orkut – the social networking site that created controversy with its hate India communities – abounds with over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution.
The Information Technology (IT) ministry is already grappling with the issue of anti-India communities. “We will be filing our affidavit within the stipulated period as directed by the Maharashtra High Court,” says Dhirender Singh, Secretary, Ministry of IT. Singh adds that soliciting will also be dealt with. “We will look at what exactly is the contravention of law in this,” he adds.
A simple search on Google’s site Orkut lists many such communities – from ‘Call Girls’ to ‘Sex in Mumbai than Delhi’ – the site carry profiles of men and women across the country bearing emails and phone numbers, some even initiated by open messages (scraps), for interested parties to contact.
HT correspondents posed as potential customers and sent emails to some members in the ‘Call Girls’ communities that have over 5,000 members soliciting sex from Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhopal. “Are you a virgin?” replied one. “I’ll mail you back with my price and place,” went one reply.
Orkut is hugely popular with young Indians. Other popular social networking sites include Hi5, Myspace, Friendster and Yahoo groups. Orkut alone offers a space for open messages that can be accessed by any one of its members, making soliciting that much easier.
With over 100 kinky communities, there are some that offer numbers of pimps and prostitutes. In ‘Call Girls of Delhi,’ a certain Aman has left his number and promises women from all regions. When called, he answers the phone and speaks agreeably but is not ready to reveal much over the phone.
Call one Sachin, whose profile lists him as ‘a pimp and a gigolo’ and he strikes a deal for a bisexual encounter for a price that has to be negotiated. On the phone with HT on Saturday, he said: “I’m willing to have sex but for a price we have to decide; call me in half an hour and we’ll fix up.”
Delhi police officials admit that they are aware of the goings on in these online communities but have never booked any one. Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act prohibits transmission of obscenity in electronic form including the Internet. Soliciting for prostitution is a crime under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA). Yet the police rarely marry the two and prosecute defaulters.
Different departments pass the buck and prostitution through the net escapes the law. “Saying that one is available for sex for a price is not obscenity or soliciting under the IT Act,” says Prabhakar, Deputy Commissioner of the Delhi Police’s Cyber Crimes cell.
“If the messages on such communities are followed through by the police and the transaction is completed, then the person can be booked for prostitution,” adds Prabhakar. The police, however, have not followed this. The Cyber Crimes cell says it restricts itself to cyber crimes and it is for other departments to follow these kinds of leads. The other departments do not. They ask for a complaint first.
“While obscenity is banned, soliciting on the net that does not use obscene language or pictures is not,” says Rajan Bhagat, PRO Delhi Police.
Orkut is filled with indecent pictures and abusive language. But the police say they require a complaint to act. Cyber security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee disagrees. “Under Section 80 of the Act, the police and other execution agencies can themselves take cognisance of such offences,” he says. “If the police feels a certain website needs to be blocked that can be done too, by reporting the mater to the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) under the IT ministry,” Bhattacharjee says.

Date:29/06/2007

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/29/stories/2007062959370500.htm
Hyderabad Two convicted for trafficking
Staff Reporter

#NGO helps girl in pursuing the case
#Housemaid forced into prostitution
#Officials of CID supervise probe

HYDERABAD : A local court here has convicted two persons – Shankar, 26, and his associate Sridevi, 20, in a child trafficking case. This was the first time in the State that the accused in a trafficking case received conviction.
Jail term
While Shankar was sentenced to undergo seven-year rigorous imprisonment, Sridevi was handed down a five-year jail term.
The victim, a 16-year-old girl from Yakutpura, used to work in a house at Chilkalguda as maid. Shankar cast his eyes on the girl when she went to Secunderabad railway station a year ago. He lured her to a secluded place offering some work and sexually assaulted her.
Later, he and his associate Sridevi forced the girl into prostitution. The girl became pregnant. The girl, with the help of a voluntary organisation Prajwala, approached the Gopalapuram police station Inspector Mohd. Ismail who registered a case under Sections 366A (procuring of minor girl) and 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
Officials of the Crime Investigation Department supervised investigation into the case and provided shelter to the girl in a safe place since she had threat to her life from the accused during trial of the case.
=======================================
This is in reference to Crime Number 297 of 2006 U/S 366A, 376 IPC & sec. 3, 4, 5 of ITPA of Gopalpuram police station of Hyderabad City , complainant Dr. Sunitha Krishnan of Prajwala, Hyderabad. Hon’ble 5th Addl.MSJ Court Nampalli has pronounced Judgment on 26/06/2007.
Punishment details
Accused 2- Mental Shanker @ Manjunath @ Sanker S/o Subbaraya Achari, aged 26 yearsn/o Bodhgiri cross roads near Bangalore, Karnataka- Occupation -Trafficker- Punishment- 7 Years Rigorous Imprisonment & Rs. 2000 fine under section 376 IPC, 2 Years R.I. & Rs. 2000 fine U/s 4 ITPA & 5 years R.I. & Rs. 2000 fine U/S 5 ITPA. Accused 1- Sridevi @ Swapna w/o Mehboob Pathan, aged 20 years n/o Uppal, Hyderabad,- Punishment -1 Year R.I. U/s 4 ITPA, 5 years R.I. & Rs. 200 fine U/S 5 ITPA.

Investigating officer- Inspector Md.Ismail (presently SHO of Charminar P.S.)

Victim girl- Tina R/o Hyderabad (identity withheld) age 16-17 Years As the victim was pregnant at the time of rescue and there was a lot of threats to her life with the joint efforts of the police and very specially the CID the victim was sheltered in a safe place.

Commendable work by Dr. Sunitha of Prajwala, Inspector Md.Ismail the then SHO of Gopalpuram P.S. , victim Tina, Mrs Varalaxmi & Sheshu Reddy the Public Prosecutors A special mention of court constable Mr Subba Rao who was a great source of support in ensuring victim witness protection, Director of Prosecution of A.P. and the support from CID, Andhra Pradesh & UNODC S16 Project coordinator Dr. P.M. Nair

Bangalore network

Gang held for prostitution, extortion
16 Jun, 2007 l 0302 hrs ISTl
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

BANGALORE: Deepu earned at least Rs 25,000 daily. While his gang of women solicited customers, his gang, all men, robbed them. They ran this racket for three years as no victim lodged a complaint. Deepu's large team of women and men from across the state and Andhra Pradesh kept his prostitution and extortion business ticking over. One of the accused, Girish, even has a Master's degree in social work. However, Deepu and his 16 associates landed in prison after the central division police laid a trap for them on Friday. Deepu accommodated these women at a house in Yelahanka, RMC Yard and his house in Vidyaranyapura. An old woman, who doubled as a helper and bouncer, took care of them. Each girl earned anything between Rs 24,000 and Rs 30,000 per month. The women would solicit a rich "customer" and get into his car. They'd then tip-off their male colleagues, who followed them in another car and rob the ‘customer'. The gang used to fool the customer by pretending to rob the woman too. After an informant alerted the police about the gang, the team led by DCP (Central) B N S Reddy and Cubbon Park police inspector Ravi Shankar planned the operation. A decoy was sent to one of their usual meeting places, a hotel in Malleswaram. There, of the eight persons, the police nabbed four persons, even as the other four sped away in a van. Ravi Shankar and his team chased them and stopped them at Sadashivanagar. Based on their information, the other nine were arrested. The police seized three cars, three two-wheelers, nine mobile phones and Rs 17,150 from them. Those arrested have been remanded to judicial custody. A case has been lodged against the accused at the Channapatna police station. The other accused are: Prakash (24), Devaraj (22), Nagaraju (27), Madhu (22), Raju (21), Anil (20), Salman (24), Zabiullah (26), Deepa (19), Deepika (19), Reshma (23), Manu (19), Bhavani (27), Ranjani (23) and Ravi (24

India defends trafficking record

India defends trafficking record
By Jyotsna Singh BBC News, Delhi
The Indian government has defended its efforts in tackling the problem of human trafficking a day after a US report criticised its record.
India was designated as a "Tier 2 watch list" country: it did not fully comply with minimum standards but was making significant efforts to do so.
The government says a lot is being done to tackle the problem, although more needs to be done.
It says efforts are underway to rescue and rehabilitate trafficking victims.
Sanctions possibility
"The world's largest democracy has the world's largest problem of human trafficking," said the US state department's specialist on trafficking issue, Mark Lagon.
The department has warned India would be downgraded to a "Tier 3" category unless it improved its track record.
That would mean that the US would withhold non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aid.
Correspondents say that "Tier 3" countries are also denied access to educational and cultural exchange programmes.
The state department estimates that around 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, and that 80% of them are females used in the sex trade.
The annual report places India as a "Tier two" country for the fourth year in a row.
An official in India's Women and Child Development ministry, however, defended her department's efforts in tackling the problem.
'Unfair'
"We are doing our bit, but more needs to be done," said Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for the Women and Children's Development Ministry.
Non governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area have supported the government's efforts.
"We don't agree that nothing has changed. Legislation has come in place to deal with the issue. It is a clear indication that the pressure on the government is working," Rishi Kant, from the anti-trafficking group, Shakti Vahini, told the BBC News website.
Other women's groups argued that it was unfair that India was being put on the US watch list over the issue, and not Bangladesh or Nepal.
Aid agencies estimate that around 5,000 to 7,000 women and girls are trafficked to India from Nepal and around 10,000 to 20,000 women and children from Bangladesh.
"Nepal, Bangladesh and India need to work together to stop such trafficking," United Nations Development Programme spokeswoman Archana Tamang told the BBC.
"Women and children are not being brought into India only, there is a lot of reverse trafficking taking place as well.
"It is really important for all the three nations to work together as a sub-regional group to remedy the situation," she said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6749983.stm

Trafficking remains India’s bane

Trafficking remains India’s bane
Ganesh Pandey
Posted online: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST
New Delhi, June 11Despite efforts to check trafficking in persons, India has failed to improve its ranking again this year and has been placed in Tier II watch list for the fourth consecutive year since 2004. The ranking implies that India does not comply with minimum standards laid down by the US to combat human trafficking.
Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report is an assessment of steps taken by various countries to check human trafficking and is released annually by the US State Department. The report for 2007 will be released on June 12 in Washington.
Last year’s report had said India was a source, destination and transit country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of forced or bonded labour and commercial sexual exploitation. The report also said the Indian Government had failed to evolve a national law enforcement response to trafficking or failed to vigorously investigate or prosecute acts of trafficking in the country.
In response, the Indian Government took a number of steps to improve its position, including setting up of a special cell in the Ministry of Home Affairs, to look at the problem and device a policy framework for improving the implementation of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. The Bureau of Police Research And Development came out with a training manual on “Human Trafficking Handbook For Investigators” for use in police training in institutes. Besides, amendments in the Immoral Traffic Act are already under consideration and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has already formulated a comprehensive scheme for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.
The US has attacked India’s record on its record of enforcement and prosecution while praising the MWCD for its efforts and recognising that the legal basis for combating trafficking is elaborate and robust

Complete report on US Trafficking in Person 2007

INDIA (Tier 2 Watch List)

Video: U.S. issues world slavery list*

http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/

India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. India's trafficking in persons problem is estimated to be in the millions. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) estimates that 90 percent of India's sex trafficking is internal. Women and girls are trafficked internally for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage. Children are subject to involuntary servitude as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers. Men, women, and children are held in debt bondage and face involuntary servitude working in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories. India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Bangladeshi women reportedly are trafficked through India for sexual exploitation in Pakistan. Although Indians migrate willingly to the Gulf for work as domestic servants and low-skilled laborers, some later find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude, including extended working hours, non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement by withholding of passports or confinement to the workplace, and physical or sexual abuse. Bangladeshi and Nepali men and women are trafficked through India for involuntary servitude in the Middle East.

The Government of India does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking however; it is making significant efforts to do so. India is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a fourth consecutive year for its failure to show increasing efforts to tackle India's large and multidimensional problem. India's anti-trafficking laws, policies, and programs focused largely on trafficking for sexual exploitation and the Indian government did not recognize the country's huge population of bonded laborers, which NGOs estimate to range from 20 million to 65 million laborers, as a significant problem. Overall, the lack of any significant federal government action to address bonded labor, the reported complicity of law enforcement officials in trafficking and related criminal activity, and the critical need for an effective national-level law enforcement authority impede India's ability to effectively combat its trafficking in persons problem.

In September 2006, the central government responded to the need for a central anti-trafficking law enforcement effort by establishing a two-person federal "nodal cell," responsible for collecting and analyzing data of state-level law enforcement efforts, identifying problem areas and analyzing the circumstances creating these areas, monitoring action taken by state governments, and organizing meetings with state-level "nodal" anti-trafficking police officers. However, this nodal cell does not have the authority to investigate and initiate prosecutions of trafficking crimes across the country, as recommended by India's Human Rights Commission and Indian NGOs.

This year, three state governments established, with substantial U.S. Government and UNODC assistance, the first state-level anti-trafficking police units in the country, which has led to an increase in rescues of sex trafficking victims and arrests of traffickers. The central government passed a law in October 2006 banning the employment of children in domestic work and the hospitality industry. In a July 2006 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Maharashtra government could proceed with its plan to seal brothels under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA).

Despite India's huge bonded labor problem, there were no substantial efforts this year to investigate, prosecute, or convict those who exploit bonded labor. Nor did the Indian government take significant measures to prosecute or punish government officials involved in trafficking-related corruption, though it arrested three government officers complicit in trafficking. The government should increase prosecutions and punishments for trafficking offenses, including bonded labor, forced child labor, deceptive recruitment of Indians trafficked abroad, and sex trafficking.

Prosecution

Efforts throughout India to investigate and punish trafficking crimes during the past year were uneven and largely inadequate. The government reported only 27 convictions for trafficking offenses throughout the entire country for 2006. While the government took measures to increase law enforcement against sex trafficking and forced child labor, efforts to combat bonded labor and trafficking-related corruption remained inadequate. The government prohibits some forms of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation through the ITPA. Prescribed penalties under the ITPA - ranging from seven years' to life imprisonment - are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those for other grave crimes. A parliamentary committee has completed its review of amendments to the ITPA that afford greater protections to sex trafficking victims and provide stricter penalties for their traffickers and for clients of prostitution. While the Indian government has not yet passed and enacted these amendments which were drafted in 2004, some jurisdictions reportedly have stopped using the ITPA to arrest women in prostitution. India also prohibits bonded and forced labor through the Bonded Labor Abolition Act, the Child Labor Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act. These laws are ineffectually enforced and their prescribed penalties - a maximum of three years' in prison - do not meet international standards.

This year, the government did not make significant progress in investigating, prosecuting, convicting, and sentencing those exploiting bonded labor. Despite the millions of bonded laborers in India, the government reported arresting only three offenders and confirmed rescuing only 26 adult victims this year. India similarly did not report any criminal investigations or prosecutions of labor recruiters using deceptive practices and debt bondage to compel Indians into involuntary servitude abroad; the unchecked behavior of these recruiters contributes to the forced labor of some Indians working abroad.

Efforts to combat forced child labor remained uneven throughout the country, varying greatly from state to state. In October 2006, the government enacted a ban on the employment of children in domestic work or in the hospitality industry, with penalties ranging from three months' to two years' imprisonment and fines - penalties that are not sufficiently stringent. As of December 2006, state governments had identified 1,672 violations of this ban, based on the 23,166 inspections they had conducted.

However, the government has not yet reported criminal prosecutions or convictions produced from these administrative measures. The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) began public campaigns to raise awareness and prevent child labor, and conducted videoconferences with states to coordinate efforts. Some state and local governments also rescued children from forced labor situations. For example, in New Delhi, police rescued 234 children from embroidery factories and rice mills, although they did not report making any arrests. India did not provide any evidence of convictions for forced child labor, in spite of the hundreds of thousands of children between the ages of 5 and 14 that have been removed from workplaces.

The government conducted at least 43 rescue operations that released 275 victims of commercial sex trafficking from their exploiters; however, these operations were not accompanied with vigorous prosecution of traffickers. The Government of India provided significant in-kind contributions to a two-year U.S. government-funded UNODC project in Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh states, focused on raising the awareness of police and prosecutors on the problem of trafficking, and building the capacity of these police and prosecutors to investigate and prosecute persons involved with trafficking. In contrast to previous years, the government did not arrest potential trafficking victims on solicitation charges during these raids. During the reporting period, India arrested 685 suspected sex traffickers, but there were no reported prosecutions or convictions. The government succeeded in convicting only 27 traffickers across the major trafficking hubs of Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

According to a study produced by the National Human Rights Commission a majority of traffickers surveyed claimed to rely on corrupt police officers for the protection of their trafficking activities. These officers reportedly continued to facilitate the movement of sex trafficking victims, protect brothels that exploit victims, and protect traffickers and brothel keepers from arrest or other threats of enforcement. In Jammu and Kashmir, authorities charged a deputy inspector-general of the Border Security Force, a former advocate general, a deputy superintendent of police, and two former state ministers with trafficking. In January, an official with the Central Bureau of Investigation was also arrested for complicity in trafficking. While those arrested were awaiting trial, there were no reported prosecutions or convictions of public officials for complicity in trafficking during the reporting period.

Due to the intra-state nature of most of India's sex trafficking, the uneven response from state-level governments, and the lack of effective coordination among state police authorities, India should strongly consider expanding the central MHA office to coordinate law enforcement efforts to investigate and arrest traffickers who cross state and national lines. India should also significantly increase prosecutions of those arrested for trafficking, including employers who exploit forced labor, deceptive labor recruiters, and sex traffickers; and impose strict sentences on those convicted. Similarly, the government should significantly increase its efforts to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence public officials who participate in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in persons.

Protection

India's efforts to protect victims of trafficking remained uneven and, in many cases, inadequate. Victims of bonded labor are entitled to 10,000 rupees ($225) from the central government for rehabilitation, but this program is unevenly executed across the country because state governments are responsible for implementing the program. The government does not proactively identify and rescue bonded laborers, so few victims receive this assistance. Though children trafficked for forced labor may be housed in government shelters and are entitled to 20,000 rupees ($450), the quality of many of these homes remains poor and the disbursement of rehabilitation funds is sporadic. Some states provide services to victims of bonded labor, but NGOs provide the majority of protection services to these victims. The central government reported no protection services offered to Indian victims trafficked abroad for involuntary servitude or commercial sexual exploitation, and it does not provide funding to repatriate these victims. The Government of Kerala, however, appointed nodal officers to coordinate with Indian embassies in destination countries to assist victims from Kerala state. Foreign victims are not offered legal alternatives to their removal to countries in which they may face hardship or retribution. Many victims decline to testify against their traffickers due to the length of proceedings and fear of retribution by traffickers without adequate witness protection from the government.

The Government of India relied heavily on NGOs to assist sex trafficking victims, though it offered funding to these NGOs to build shelters under its Swadhar Scheme. In April 2007, however, India's parliament released a report concluding that the Ministry of Women and Child Development had failed to adequately implement the Swadhar program and another program specifically focused on services for trafficking victims across the country. Government shelters are found in all major cites, but the quality of care they offer varies widely. In Maharashtra, state authorities converted one government shelter into a home exclusively for minor victims of sex trafficking this year, and issued a policy permitting trafficking victims to access any of the 600 government homes throughout the state. The Governments of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh also operate similar homes. Though states have made some improvements to their shelter care, victims sheltered in these facilities still do not receive comprehensive protection services, such as psychological assistance from trained counselors, and many victims are not assisted with long term alternatives to remaining in the shelter. The Government of Andhra Pradesh - the state with the largest number of trafficking victims in the country - now provides 10,000 rupees to sex trafficking victims.

The government should improve its protection efforts by enhancing the quality of rehabilitation services available in government run shelters, increasing protection services for bonded labor victims, and encouraging victims to assist in investigations of their traffickers. India should similarly improve its repatriation procedures to ensure that victims are not re-trafficked or further victimized. To protect Indian nationals trafficked abroad, the government should consider training overseas diplomatic officials in identifying and assisting trafficking victims caught in involuntary servitude, and should extend rehabilitation services to these victims upon their return.

Prevention

India's efforts to prevent trafficking in persons were limited this year. To address the issue of bride trafficking, the government instituted public awareness programs to educate parents on the laws against sex-selective abortions and infanticide, and the negative effect that gender imbalance is causing in parts of India. While the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs instituted a system requiring women under the age of 35 going to the Gulf as domestic workers to obtain authorization to leave India, the government failed to provide those traveling overseas with information on common trafficking perils or resources for assistance in destination countries.

The central government did not effectively guard its long, porous borders with Bangladesh and Nepal through which trafficking victims easily enter the country. India also did not take adequate measures to prevent internal trafficking for sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude despite the prevalence of such trafficking to major cities, and increasingly in smaller cities and suburbs. The lack of effective coordination between source and destination states contributed to this problem, underscoring the necessity for a centralized law enforcement authority with intrastate jurisdic

Land of Missing Children

2/19/07
Land of Missing Children
An estimated 30,000 girls are trafficked into the sex industry every year.

Watch the program: Part 1 Part 2

Trafficking in human beings -- slavery -- is the third biggest criminal industry on the planet. Only the trade in guns and drugs exceed the sale of people on the global scales of illegal enterprise.According to the International Labour Organization, two million people are taken, or sold, from their homes into a life of forced labour and sexual abuse every year. The overwhelming majority are women and children. More than half of all people enslaved are turned into sex workers who endure lives of incalculable misery before, most often, dying early, diseased, deaths. In India the problem is acute.
An estimated 30,000 girls are trafficked into the sex industry every year. Some are sold by poverty-stricken parents hoping that their children will find employment as domestic servants. Others are simply snatched off the streets, drugged, raped, and sold to brothel “madams.”Many of these children come from the far east of India -- a region at the crossroads of trade routes with Nepal and Bhutan, which is now a hub of trade in young women. The story of one girl, Pratima, is rare. She was trafficked, rescued, was brought back into the embrace of her family, and is now happily married. Most women who escape the horrors of the business are shunned when they return home, their families refusing to take them in, much less help to heal their wounds.
But Pratima was keen to expose the trade. She told of how she was taken from her home in Siliguri, drugged, and forced onto a train to Calcutta. There she put to work as a prostitute, and then sold on to a brothel in Bombay (Mumbai) known as “Sheila’s.”
We tracked her route into the Red Light district of Calcutta and found the area dominated by a unionized group of madams who insisted that the girls they worked were all over 18, and all volunteers. They were even getting British aid money to run health programs among the working girls. But the sordid reality was manifestly different. Many of the girls were clearly under 18 but none dares say so, and our crew was warned to get out of the area before we were attacked.
We held out little hope of finding Sheila’s until we met up with Balkrishna Achariya, the head of the Rescue Foundation. He ran teams of agents who infiltrated the brothels, found girls who wanted to escape, and then arranged for their rescue, often at great personal risk. And yes, he knew of Shelia’s.
With his help the brothel was identified and sure enough there were under-age girls working there. We took the information to the police where the local commander seemed reluctant to take the matter seriously. “Surely,” he told us. “If there are no prostitutes then ‘decent women’ would be attacked.”
Nonetheless we forced his hand, and arranged to conduct a raid. What we found was medieval. Girls hidden in the rafters, girls in tomb-like underground hideaways. But at the moment of truth, when arrests should have been made, the rescued girls vanished into a crowd of madams gathered on the street. The raid was a farce, a disaster.
But many of the girls were later tracked down and saved from their agonies in what would better be called the “rape trade” by Balkrishna, who sadly perished in a road traffic accident a few months later. And the local police chief who botched the raid soon “retired.”--

From producer Sam Kiley

India struggles to stop trafficking of women

POSTED: 2350 GMT (0750 HKT), June 6, 2007

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Meena discovered she had been sold by her boss while riding in an auto-rickshaw headed to New Delhi's red-light district.
The 12-year-old was working as a domestic servant in Calcutta when the homeowner told her about a good-paying job at his sister's house in India's capital. But instead, she was sold to a brothel owner and forced into prostitution for little more than a place to sleep and the occasional meal.
Her ordeal lasted four years and Meena, now 21, says it left her "a very angry person."
"The anger comes suddenly," says Meena, who asked that her full name not be used because of the stigma associated with her past.
Beneath the surface of India's rapid economic development lies a problem rooted in the persistent poverty of hundreds of millions of Indians. Rights activists say thousands of poor women and girls are forced into prostitution every year after being lured from villages to cities on false promises of jobs or marriages.
Much of the attention on human trafficking focuses on the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people -- about 80 percent of them women or girls -- who are trafficked across international borders every year, and, in many cases, forced to work as prostitutes or virtual slaves who perform menial tasks.
But those numbers don't include victims trafficked within their own countries -- a problem that has long plagued India, a country large and diverse enough that traffickers can take victims from one place to another hundreds of miles away where a different language is spoken and there's little chance of the women finding their way back home.
"This is a challenge to India's contention that it is both democratic and modern," said Ruchira Gupta, founder of the anti-trafficking group Apne Aap. "In this day and age, when democracy is supposed to exist in India ... we have so many slaves."
Traffickers rarely caught
The secrecy of the underground business makes it difficult to track, and the estimates for the numbers of India's victims each year vary widely.
But this much is known: the government estimates there are 3 million sex workers in India, at least 40 percent of them children. And thousands of them are believed to have been unwittingly lured into the work by traffickers, rights activists say.
Most of the girls come from India's poorer states. A family member or friend approaches the girl's parents about a well-paying job in the city or the chance for marriage with little or no need to pay a dowry.
In some cases, parents sell the girls directly. Prices range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
Traffickers are rarely caught. The U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking last year that India's law enforcement response to the problem was weak and prosecutions rare.
" Women are being rounded up for soliciting in a public place, but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade -- the buyers, the pimps, transporters." - Ruchira Gupta, founder of Apne Aap
In Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of sex workers, only 13 traffickers were arrested in 2005, and none were convicted, according to the State Department. The situation was similar in other cities.
"One of the best ways to prevent trafficking is to increase convictions of trafficking -- and this is not happening," said Gupta. "Women are being rounded up for soliciting in a public place, but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade -- the buyers, the pimps, transporters."
Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for India's Ministry of Women and Child Development, said the government is "trying to do more" about the problem of sex trafficking, but he declined to specify what steps were being taken.
What becomes of the girls? There are many pitfalls. HIV infections among sex workers are widespread in a country with an estimated 5.7 million people infected with the disease.
And women who manage to escape are often rejected by their families, leaving them poor and alone in a society where family means almost everything.
Rebuilding lives
Meena's childhood before being sold into prostitution was filled with long days of domestic work in the rural eastern state of Jharkhand. She received little or no pay, she said, but "I was so poor, I could not leave."
At the urging of her mother, she moved to Calcutta for what she was told would be a paid maid's position. When her boss then sent her to New Delhi, Meena never found out the price she brought on the human trafficking market.
She was rescued from the brothel by STOP, an anti-trafficking group founded in 1998. She lives in the group's shelter on the western edge of New Delhi, a large two-story white house with long hallways situated amid the farm fields that spread out from the city's edge. There are vegetable gardens, and the women who live there embroider and cook for each other.
It's run by Roma Debabrata, a 59-year-old academic who founded STOP. Two years ago, the group built the 22-room shelter where more than 40 women attempt to rebuild their lives.
Debabrata's goal is to make the girls and women in the house function "like a normal family."
"I don't expect miracles from them. They're very normal people and they're being nurtured here in very natural surroundings," she said. "We want them to go from victim to survivor to activist. It's a long journey. You're completely drained out."
The organization has built an information network, with tips called in to a hot line operated out of an unmarked office. The staffers work with local police to raid brothels and rescue endangered girls.
Some are resettled with their families or married, aided by STOP's counseling services.
But for many, moving back to their villages is not an option.
"I love to be here because I've got my mother, my father, my siblings," said Meena, referring to her house mates. "I never feel this is someone else's home. It is my own."
Copyright 200cast, rewritten, or redistributed.7 The Associated Press

. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broad

seattlepi.com
Last updated June 6, 2007
India combats trafficking of women
By KATHERINE SAYREASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW DELHI -- Meena discovered she had been sold by her boss while riding in an auto-rickshaw headed to New Delhi's red-light district.
The 12-year-old was working as a domestic servant in Calcutta when the homeowner told her about a good-paying job at his sister's house in India's capital. But instead, she was sold to a brothel owner and forced into prostitution for little more than a place to sleep and the occasional meal.
Her ordeal lasted four years and Meena, now 21, says it left her "a very angry person."
"The anger comes suddenly," says Meena, who asked that her full name not be used because of the stigma associated with her past.
Beneath the surface of India's rapid economic development lies a problem rooted in the persistent poverty of hundreds of millions of Indians. Rights activists say thousands of poor women and girls are forced into prostitution every year after being lured from villages to cities on false promises of jobs or marriages.
Much of the attention on human trafficking focuses on the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people - about 80 percent of them women or girls - who are trafficked across international borders every year, and, in many cases, forced to work as prostitutes or virtual slaves who perform menial tasks.
But those numbers don't include victims trafficked within their own countries - a problem that has long plagued India, a country large and diverse enough that traffickers can take victims from one place to another hundreds of miles away where a different language is spoken and there's little chance of the women finding their way back home.
"This is a challenge to India's contention that it is both democratic and modern," said Ruchira Gupta, founder of the anti-trafficking group Apne Aap. "In this day and age, when democracy is supposed to exist in India ... we have so many slaves."
The secrecy of the underground business makes it difficult to track, and the estimates for the numbers of India's victims each year vary widely.
But this much is known: the government estimates there are 3 million sex workers in India, at least 40 percent of them children. And thousands of them are believed to have been unwittingly lured into the work by traffickers, rights activists say.
Most of the girls come from India's poorer states. A family member or friend approaches the girl's parents about a well-paying job in the city or the chance for marriage with little or no need to pay a dowry.
In some cases, parents sell the girls directly. Prices range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
Traffickers are rarely caught. The U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking last year that India's law enforcement response to the problem was weak and prosecutions rare.
In Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of sex workers, only 13 traffickers were arrested in 2005, and none were convicted, according to the State Department. The situation was similar in other cities.
"One of the best ways to prevent trafficking is to increase convictions of trafficking - and this is not happening," said Gupta. "Women are being rounded up for soliciting in a public place, but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade - the buyers, the pimps, transporters."
Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for India's Ministry of Women and Child Development, said the government is "trying to do more" about the problem of sex trafficking, but he declined to specify what steps were being taken.
What becomes of the girls? There are many pitfalls. HIV infections among sex workers are widespread in a country with an estimated 5.7 million people infected with the disease.
And women who manage to escape are often rejected by their families, leaving them poor and alone in a society where family means almost everything.
Meena's childhood before being sold into prostitution was filled with long days of domestic work in the rural eastern state of Jharkhand. She received little or no pay, she said, but "I was so poor, I could not leave."
At the urging of her mother, she moved to Calcutta for what she was told would be a paid maid's position. When her boss then sent her to New Delhi, Meena never found out the price she brought on the human trafficking market.
She was rescued from the brothel by STOP, an anti-trafficking group founded in 1998. She lives in the group's shelter on the western edge of New Delhi, a large two-story white house with long hallways situated amid the farm fields that spread out from the city's edge. There are vegetable gardens, and the women who live there embroider and cook for each other.
It's run by Roma Debabrata, a 59-year-old academic who founded STOP. Two years ago, the group built the 22-room shelter where more than 40 women attempt to rebuild their lives.
Debabrata's goal is to make the girls and women in the house function "like a normal family."
"I don't expect miracles from them. They're very normal people and they're being nurtured here in very natural surroundings," she said. "We want them to go from victim to survivor to activist. It's a long journey. You're completely drained out."
The organization has built an information network, with tips called in to a hot line operated out of an unmarked office. The staffers work with local police to raid brothels and rescue endangered girls.
Some are resettled with their families or married, aided by STOP's counseling services.
But for many, moving back to their villages is not an option.
"I love to be here because I've got my mother, my father, my siblings," said Meena, referring to her house mates. "I never feel this is someone else's home. It is my own."


Kadapa author listed on literary website
June 6 2007 15:05 IST
KADAPA: Popular novelist from Kadapa district Vempalli Gangadhar finds place alongside the top 10 authors list published on ‘India Net Zone’, a literary website.He was selected for his work Molakala Punnami’, which is put on the website along with works of Sunil Gangopadyaya, Maha Sweta Devi, Mulkraj Anand, Javed Akthar, Asha Purna Devi, Jabnad Das, Buddha Dev Ghosh, Dharmaveer Bharathi and KM Munshi.His work Molakala Punnami a compilation of short stories was released by Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.The main attraction of the book is its narration. The style, characterisation are interesting and the dialogues between them are engaging, the review article on the website mentioned.Gangadhar, who is working as Telugu Pandit in Peddaputha ZP High School in Vallur Mandal received recognition for his story ‘Silabandi’ at the age of 29 itself. Till now 50 essays, 30 stories and two compilations of his got published.His Nethuti Manyam story, which has the proposed uranium project in Kadapa as background, received best story prize from popular monthly magazine Vipula. ATA (American Telugu Association) selected his Mainam Bhommalu, for an award.Trafficking of girls from Thandas to flesh trade is the central plot of this story. His many essays on social issues were published in the form of book ‘Kathanam’ and it was funded by Telugu University.The compilation also has articles on Gulf War, interviews of Arundathi Roy, Seshendra Sarma. Gangadhar, who is an active participant in ‘Telugu Bhasha Udyamam’ had worked as PRO for Kadapa Police department during VC Sajjanar’s time and acted as coordinator for Souvenir for Kadapotsav - 2003.He also worked with Amrutham, Sneha Brundam and Jagruthi social organisations and is active member of Regional Network for Prevention of Immoral Trafficking. Currently doing his MPhil on ‘Faction Kathalu - Oka Pariseelana’, Gangadhar wrote ‘Pune Prayanam’, which is based on the experiences of Thanda women forced into flesh trade and it will be published shortly.

Problem on paedophiles

The company of bad men

The company of bad men

Friday June 1 2007 15:28 IST

Sumati Mehrishi

Traveling sex offenders (TSOs) are very much on the prowl at Indian tourist destinations. On May 9, Richard Borodig, a British national was arrested from the Anjuna Beach, Goa. The paedophile-suspect is out on bail. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Police nabbed Alan Jay Horowitz, a US national listed among the 100 most wanted men in New York, in Mahabalipuram. Horowitz, a traveling sex offender and child psychologist was spotted in Bangalore before he came down to Mahabalipuram.

With Horowitz’s arrest, the issue of unregistered “children’s homes”is increasingly causing concern. This is what the Goa based NGOs have been trying to tell the media and people over the years; that tourism related paedophilia is not Goa’s problem alone, as is commonly believed. According to Nishtha Desai of Child Rights in Goa, an NGO based in Panjim, sexual abuses on children by tourists happen at other Indian tourist destinations as well, but the cases are never highlighted. “Kerala, Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra and Mumbai, it’s happening all over India,” she says.

“I fear it’s going to get worse in India, as the trouble deflects from other countries owing to international pressure,” says, Thierry Darnaudet, President, Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), an NGO working against TSOs in Cambodia and India.# Vidya Reddy of Tulir, a Chennai based Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, agrees. She says, “With Sri Lanka, Thailand and Philippines strengthening their response toTSOs, an increasing trend of travel to India among this category of individuals has been reported by alarmed law enforcement in the source countries. Perhaps, they realise that child sex tourism is not considered a significant issue at the moment in our country; with our laws and their implementation fairly lax. There is no dearth of vulnerable children in our country who can be exploited.”

TSOs follow certain patterns in their movement. According to Thierry, “There are TSOs who come to Puri every year and travel to Darjeeling.” He adds, “They return to Puri and leave for Chennai from where they travel to Mahabalipuram, Kovalam (in Kerala) and Goa.” They believe in lying low if they fear a watchful eye and operate at some other tourist destination. They befriend their prey and pose as philanthropists.

In India, NGOs helping the police fight the menace have faced problems owing to lack of “proper” evidence and witnesses turning hostile. According to Desai, the ten year old girl who was seen being let out from the front door of Borodig’s house when the police came cracking down, says that the man “molested” her. One of the few cases where a child has talked about her offender, “however her statements have not been recorded under Section 164 Cr PC before the magistrate”. “The suspect-paedophiles, when out on bail usually operate through other people. We have to keep an eye on them,” adds Desai.

“Spend a night on the town with kids from Britain and Bombay in Baga”. This is no invitation to a children’s party at a seaside locality in Goa. Unfortunately, unnoticed so far by child rights activists in the country, this line in a chapter on North Goa in Lonely Planet, a travel guide shows how openly (or subtly) the state is being projected as a child sex tourism destination — an “image” the Goan government and NGOs are trying so hard to eliminate.

According to sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), “children’s homes” in Goa “are a classic case” of how funding the ‘have-nots’ is a cover up for suspected-paedophile activities. CBI, which is handling the Goa sex scandal involving children’s homes “is aware of the happenings in Mahabalipuram.” #Incidentally, it was in December 2006 that people at an NGO noticed that there was information on “children’s homes” in Mahabalipuram in Lonely Planet on Tamil Nadu. NGOs collectively wrote to Lonely Planet in February this year. “Lonely Planet wrote back saying that they will look into it,” says a volunteer at an NGO. A few months ago, Mahabalipuram saw the shutting down of unregistered “children’s homes”.

According to A Amalraj, Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram, there are no specific cases of child abuse by TSOs reported in Mahabalipuram. He says,“We hardly receive any specific complaints of this nature in the area. We need to receive complaints to take action.”

TSOs and child sex abuse: Different Issues

When the Nithari case came into light, attention and arguments shifted from sexual abuse against children by traveling paedophiles to that happening at the domestic front. “Cases of child sex abuse (CSA) within the community are far more prevalent than cases of tourism related sexual abuse,” says Nishtha Desai. However, can we afford to ignore tourism related CSA? “It is important to address the problem and to prevent the institutionalisation of tourism related CSA,” adds Desai. Thierry believes that paedophilia is one end of CSA, where the person “once a paedophile will always remain a paedophile, hence is far more harmful than a child sex abuser.” He warns, “TSOs usually keep a back up of child pornography on their computers, so that once they return to their home country they can look at images. Plus, they will always look for children they can abuse at their home country. They have a number of victims, cutting across geographical boundaries.”

Our laws are full of loopholes. For instance, who will trace the several “missing” pedophiles in India? Why cannot the pedophiles be arrested when they are “lying low” waiting to strike in some other part of the country? Why is there a delay in prosecution? Why isn’t corruption among “lower ranks” of police at tourist destinations checked when the higher ranks and general public are aware of what is going on? What about keeping check on those Indian paedophiles who were convicted for child sex abuse in the US and deported to India, under Operation Predator, a crackdown by the US department of homeland security and immigration and customs enforcement ICE? They roam free. Sources from the CBI say, “ Indian investigating agencies and the police have little to do with the issue of deported criminals. The country’s legal system has to deal with the problem.” According to Chennai based advocate Geeta Ramaseshan, “There are issues of jurisdiction involved here. There has to be some act of crime in the country if a person has to be prosecuted.”

Also, the legal system, according to Ramaseshan does not use the word “paedophile” at all. “The law still has to a define a huge area in this respect. There are a few bills pending on the same issue. A lot of understanding of the existing laws is needed to bring the changes. I think, more important than the issue of bails are matters like evidence, the defining of the offence against children. Then, sensitisation of the judiciary is required. Remember, punishment for crime is a defensive mechanism. More important is to prevent it.” She points out.

An expert, on the condition of anonymity, has a few suggestions to make. He says, “To improve the situation in our country, we should first locate the missing paedophile-suspects. Next, we should be strict with laws and their implementation on paedophiles; like the kind of laws we have for people involved with narcotics. Paedophiles should be arrested, prosecuted and convicted in time and should be banned from entering India after they serve their sentence here. They should just not be given time to lie low. Also, there’s need for more advanced forensic labs in tourism destination states to handle such investigations.”

A volunteer from an NGO based in Tamil Nadu rues the fact that the issue of TSOs is of low priority in the list of crimes for the government and the police force. The Home Ministry should take some steps in this direction,” says she. #We are watching #Goa authorities have displayed warnings to suspected-paedophiles at various beaches. But due to the scanty presence of tourism police on Goa beaches, “unhealthy” interaction between tourists and children on the beaches goes unchecked.

At the Vagator beach, one of the few lesser crowded beaches in North Goa, “Sharon Stone” settles down on sand with a bowl full of strawberries. “You can call me Sharon Stone. My real name is difficult for foreigners like you to learn,” says she. “Anjelina”, “Kate”, “Julia” (usually from states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka) when they get back to selling sarongs, knick-knacks, souvenirs — throw names of hotels, middlemen, and sometimes phone numbers. No cop in sight, the only way to cut short the nuisance on beaches is to approach the restaurant owners (who provide the sun beds); do warn tourists and vendors against “any objectionable act”. From Vagator to Palolem, from Calangute to Colva, the trick really works. This way, visitors and local people can really help curb the problem at such open spaces. However, there’s another trend which Goans seem to ignore ; of single parents landing with their kids at shacks and beach side hotels. These tourists hire a local lad for “baby sitting” during the day; during the evenings, the local lad doubles up for the other job.

At Puri, another tourist destination which came in light for TSOs last year, Thierry says, “things usually pick up during the season time (November to January).” “I have got information on a few foreigners who take interest in clicking pictures of naked children on the beach. I just want to tell the TSOs that we are watching them.” he adds. Thierry believes that by being alert and watchful, you can really mount pressure on the paedophiles to move out of the locality.

TSOs-hotel-travel industry: The Nexus

NGOs and child protection organizations over the world are aware of the nexus between TSOs, hotels and the transport industry. Taking clues from the trends, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), a network of organizations working worldwide to eliminate sexual exploitation of children has suggested a “code of conduct” for the hotel and travel industry. The code is currently implemented by 17 countries including Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. ECPAT runs programmes like, in-flight videos to warn travelers against child sex abuse. Air France, Corsair, Nouvelles Frontieres, Lufthansa and Austrian Air are already using it. “ECPAT USA has designed and distributed an educational brochure to inform Americans about the extra-territorial provisions of US law against child sex tourism,” says their fact sheet. In India, ECPAT’s ‘Please Disturb, an Inter-sectoral response to Traveling Sex Offenders’, was presented by Tulir in Chennai last year, to build awareness among the tourism and travel sector here. “We expect a lot from the hotel and travel industry in this regard. Their inputs can really help us crack down on such cases,” adds Amal Raj.

The vastness of our country and the sluggish judicial system shouldn’t really discourage any hope for improvement. So, the next time you see a suspicious element on the prowl at one of the tourist destinations, help authorities “mount pressure” on him. TSOs will then think twice before “deflecting” to India.

Around 70 per cent children don’t report abuse More than 1 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade each year

An estimated 30 percent of the sex workers in Phnom Penh are under the age of 18 Out of the 9800 child sex offenders arrested in US under Operation Predator, 85 per cent are foreigners (including Indians)

Roughly around 10,000 paedophiles come to Goa each year and 1000 children are at risk in a single area in Goa Number of children involved in the sex industry in India in 1994 according to ECPAT : 400,000

A rehabilitation plan for trafficking victims
26 May, 2007 l 0214 hrs ISTlHimanshi Dhawan
TIMES NEWS NETWORKSMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
NEW DELHI: A draft plan for rehabilitation of trafficking victims has proposed confiscation of assets and proceeds of brothel-owners and traffickers to finance a ‘compensation fund' for the victims. The fund will be used for legal and medical protection of victims. This is part of the integrated action plan to prevent and combat human trafficking with special focus on children and women drafted by the ministry of women and child development. The plan, that has been okayed by the Planning Commission, is likely to be implemented in the next few months. Trafficking of human beings is one of the fastest growing forms of criminal activity generating unaccountable profits annually. The ministry is working in consultation with ministry of home affairs, National Commission for Women and National Human Rights Commission on the issue. The draft plan recognises non-brothel based exploitation as a major emerging threat where trafficked persons are forced to pose as attendants, masseurs and bartenders. India as a growing destination for child pornography and sex tourism is also a focus area and the WCD ministry has proposed that special attention must be paid to vulnerable areas like massage parlours, escort services and party hostesses to prevent linkage between trafficking and non-brothel based prostitution. The ministry has suggested that special measures be taken for rapid identification and protection of child victims while creating specialised cells at the Central, state and district levels for rescuing victims. Amongst the recommendations placed by the government in tackling the problem are setting up of a confidential database on traffickers including brothel-owners, gharwalis and cultivating a network of informants for specific information on trafficking activity. Besides medical examination of victims after their rescue, the government has proposed rehabilitation, re-integration and repatriation of victims. The draft plan proposes the need for alternative institutions and non-government organisations as opposed to police and government organisations.

Anti Trafficking rescue operation in Bangalore city

Date:11/05/2007 URL:
Andhra Pradesh - Others
Sex racket busted
Staff Reporter
MACHILIPATNAM: The Nuzvid police on Thursday busted a woman trafficking racket and rescued 12 girls who were being forced to enter the flesh trade in Bangalore, besides arresting five persons, including two women, on the charge of trafficking.
12 rescued
The police arrested K. Raju (44) of Rajahmundry, Chandan Gowd (22) and Hakki Jagadeesh, both from Karnataka, Sunitha of Nuzvid and Sirisha of Hanuman Junction.
Of the 12 victims, four were from Karnataka, two each from Nuzvid in Krishna district and Kolkata, one each from Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Nepal and Mumbai.
With the help of the State CID, women protection cell and the Bangalore police, the police went to Bangalore and raided a brothel at Vydhyanarayanapuram, from where they rescued the victims and arrested the five accused