Sex trafficking in Nepal drags in more victims
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| Anu Tamang, left, an anti-trafficking activist, talks to Catholic youths at Assumption church in Kathmandu. |
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation and slave labor has reached unprecedented levels in Nepal which is affecting not only women and children, but also men Caritas has warned.
Increasing numbers of people are being sold or duped into a life of misery some 100 Catholic youths were told at a special awareness gathering at Kathmandu’s Assumption church on Sept. 4.
Caritas organized the event ahead of Nepal’s fourth National Anti-Trafficking Day on Sept. 5.
During the program, the youths heard the harrowing tale of Anu Tamang who was infected with HIV before being rescued from a Mumbai brothel 15 years ago along with 400 other girls.
She now works for “Shakti Samuha” (Strength Group), an NGO which works to prevent others suffering the same fate.
It’s estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Nepali women and girls are trafficked to India every year.
“We must be the ones to save others from being trafficked, even by their own family members,” she said.
Around 2,000,000 children are thought to have been trafficked from Nepal to other countries, said Rupa Rai, Caritas Nepal’s women’s desk chief.
In Kathmandu itself some 20,000 girls are involved in the sex trade, she said.
But it’s not just the working classes who are affected, she told ucanews.com.
Even middle-class women are being trafficked to the Middle East, seduced by the prospect of attractive jobs and handsome salaries, she said.
Men are also being trafficked for homosexual exploitation and for cheap labor, she said.
“We used to think only girls or women were trafficked but now we know that anyone can be exploited. We should raise our voices against such inhuman behavior,” said one Catholic youth Jerome Ghale, 21, after the gathering.
The government must act to stamp this out, said Sabina Tamang, 19.
“At the same time, we youths also have vital roles to play.”
Source: ucanews.com
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