Sex Trafficking: Dangerous and Ultimately Deadly

In a dingy room, no more than three feet in diameter, there is a battered poster of Shah Rukh Khan peeling off of the wall in the corner. In the other corner, battered as well, quiet and fearful eyes dart towards the doorway, praying to god that no one steps through them. These eyes have seen more than can be imagined, more than should be imagined. Then, a middle-aged man stumbles in, smelling strongly of liquor and paan. Those same eyes wince in pain and then clench in silent acceptance. 

The girl is at most, twelve, thirteen, and she is one of as many as 200,000 commercial sex workers who are currently living in the big sex trade cities of India: Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata, according to CPAmedia. A blatant human rights violation and public display of the lowest state of women in South Asian society, these trafficked girls and women are trucked into India from Nepal at a rate of nearly 10,000 per year, often with the acquiescence or cooperation of state officials, according to Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW). 

Prostitution is illegal in both Nepal and India, yet the trafficking of girls remains a highly secretive yet increasingly lucrative business. According to Work of Women (WOW), an NGO based in the United States, because of the 1,740 mile long, permeable border between the two nations, criminals involved in the trafficking industry find it very easy to manage their businesses, free of any barriers.  In most cases, these victims are either sold into bondage by poverty-stricken members of family, or tricked into submission through empty offers of employment. Indian and in many cases, Nepali dalals (middlemen), especially target girls in rural Nepali villages where the isolated environment provides the ideal scenario for dalals to deceive the mostly illiterate population. The demand for Nepali girls is especially high because they are regarded as naïve and therefore easier to cheat.  Also, because they are living in a foreign country, they are also less likely to run away because of the unfamiliarity of the environment and the lack of language skills.

The state of women in general in Nepal is, unfortunately, one of the most pitiful in the world. The country was named the worst place to be a woman in South Asia, grouped with Haiti as the worst in the Americas, Yemen in the Middle East and Sierra Leone in Africa, according to Foreign Policy’s list of the worst places to be born a woman. Because women have been marginalized as a gender for ages, violence against women, including the trafficking of women is an issue that experiences difficulties when trying to garner public attention and support. However, a recent article by Surya B. Prasai of Global Resource Expert in the American Chronicle reveals a shocking reality that has the potential to affect not only women, but men as well.  In his article, Prasai refers to a statistic from the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) that states that in a short span of time, the rate of infection of the HIV virus has increased nearly 150% in women and by 210% among children. Prasai says that among the Nepali women trafficked to India and forced into the sex trade, nearly 40% of them were HIV positive by the time they were repatriated.

Nepal is a nation where HIV/AIDS has become a major issue in recent years, rising from less than 300 cases every 100,000 to between 80,000 and 120,000 with the influx of returning sex workers. The article claims that more than 17,000 are expected to die each year in the coming decade because of the virus. However, commercial sex workers are not the only carriers of the virus. Prasai also adds that much of the transmission of HIV is due to the high number of Nepali men who work as migrant laborers in India and visit the brothels of Bombay. Because of this alarming spike in infection, there has also been a spike in human rights group and other activism facets through which a fight has begun to be waged against this illegal trade as well as the virus. There are currently over 80 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) established in Nepal that have dedicated their work to the sex trade and HIV/AIDS issues. One of the most well-known organizations is Maiti Nepal run by Anuradha Koirala, who has helped countless girls escape traffickers, and now houses about 60 women and girls in the home. 

Solutions for this huge and quickly spreading issue range widely from international treaties to controversial measures to legalize the sex trade to demands for better reproductive health services and sex education. Nepal as a state has also made some efforts in cracking down on the trade, in a treaty that it signed in 2002 with seven other South Asian nations, including India and Pakistan. A more controversial opinion that has been proposed in an article on NepalMountainNews.com by Dr. Laxmi Raj Pathak, director of the National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC), states that as sex is the main means of HIV transmission, the sex trade needs to be legalized. However, Pathak adds that if legalization is not possible then we need to go for its “proper management”.  A more popular approach to the effort of curtailing HIV’s spread is that if sex education is improved and if reproductive health services such as contraceptives or check-ups are easily available, then through awareness and education, the prevalence of the virus could be curbed. 

Although HIV/AIDS has been always considered a disease most prevalent in Africa, this virus knows no boundaries and the Nepali people must realize that it is a problem that is being spread due to harmful and mostly illegal practices. Although the government has raised this issue at SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summits and such, many activists believe that these efforts will not amount to much and that grassroots movements remain the best way through which they can educate the public and raise awareness about the grim realities of the sex trade and the HIV virus.