Protecting the Next Generation from Trafficking

Written by Dustin Tang (Donor Services Officer)

Nepal is one of the countries where human trafficking is rampant. Traffickers take advantage of Nepal’s open border with India to traffick Nepali women and children to India. In recent years, traffickers have been active in social media to deceive poor communities, such as posting job opportunities online and luring poor women to adult entertainment sector for exploitation. According to the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report of the U.S. Department of State, in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, about 17% of adult entertainment venues employ children, while 62% of adult women in the industry entered as minors. The report also mentions that nearly 30% of the child workers in adult entertainment establishments are victims of forced labour, usually as restaurant staff, and later sexually exploited by their employers.

CEDAR has always been concerned about human trafficking, and our partner in Nepal, Asha Nepal, focuses on rescuing women who have been sexually exploited, providing them and their children with a safe environment and counselling, and helping them to reintegrate into society. We began working with Asha Nepal in 2016, and the project’s final phase ran from 2022 to 2024. Our partner has an office in Mumbai, India, to help Nepalese women and their children, who have been trafficked into the red-light districts there, to return to Nepal to live in our partner’s shelter in Kathmandu. In the shelter, they are provided with a safe environment and necessities of life, as well as medical check-ups, post-trauma counselling and psychiatric treatment as needed to recover from the trauma of human trafficking. In addition, our partner provides education or vocational skills training for women and their children, so that the children can learn in school and the adults can earn a living with a skill that will reduce their chances of being trafficked again.

Ketaki (pseudonym) is a 13-year-old survivor in the shelter. A few years ago, her parents fled to India with her and her three siblings because of huge debts, seeking employment opportunities. But two months later, her father left the family. For the sake of her children, Ketaki’s mother tried to search for work, but she could not get a job. She met a man who said he could introduce her to a job, but when she found out it was a job in a red-light district, Ketaki’s mother was reluctant, but she had no choice but to endure the exploitation to support her children. When Ketaki was 11 years old, the brothel owner forced Ketaki’s mother to sell her body because she was at the ‘suitable’ age to work in the red-light district. Due to her objection, she was beaten, kicked and mentally abused. Thank God, Ketaki’s mother later met our partner in the community, and entrusted Ketaki and her siblings to the care of our partner. The children were free from the brothel owner’s clutches, while the mother was remaining in India’s red-light district.

Ketaki was traumatised by her fear of contact with others, and due to poverty, Ketaki’s night blindness could not be cured, and her visual impairment further undermined her self-confidence. After psychological counselling and treatment by the partner, she gradually regained her confidence in contact with others, her vision improved, and she is now studying in Grade Five. In addition to helping the children, the partner continued reaching out to their mother to save her from the red-light district.