You are young and pretty, with wide eyes and an appreciation of beautiful things, so when an aunt invites you to go with her to the markets in the big city, of course you want to go. Why wouldn’t you? But when you end up in a brothel, betrayed by someone you thought cared about you, forced to do things you don’t want to do, sexually and physically abused, your dreams have been smashed to pieces. A 12 year-old girl sold by your aunt for a few rupees into a life of prostitution from which there may well be no escape.

This is a true story. It is repeated time and time again in India.

[trapped]

Whether girls are enticed, deceived or kidnapped, many of them find themselves locked up in a brothel and forced to have sex with clients. If they try to resist, they may be beaten mercilessly with belts, sticks or iron rods until they submit. If that doesn’t work, they may be forced to drink alcohol until they are drunk, or drugged in other ways, and given to the client while unaware. So begins a life of slavery.

Every day, these girls are forced to have sex with 10 - 25 customers, but the horror doesn’t end there. Many ‘owners’ want to breed the girls. Their sons become bonded labourers, and their daughters become prostitutes. In addition, the owner now has hostages to force the mother to cooperate. Keeping the children away from their mother brings emotional and mental pressures.

Although the primary victims of sex trafficking are women and girls, there is also a trade in boys.

[violence and illness]

For those who are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation, there is not only the humility and indignity, and denial of freedom, but there is a huge risk of violence against the women and girls from both clients and brothel owners. Trafficked sex workers are threatened if they should try to leave or escape. There is increased risk of illness and death due to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. When a sex worker becomes ill, they are likely to be cast aside and left to suffer since they are now useless to their employer.

[scale]

Sex trafficking is modern slavery. Official figures show that there are 3 million prostitutes in India, and of these 1.2 million are children. Some NGOs believe that there may be as many as 15 million sex workers in India. Either way, the proportion of those who are trafficked, coerced, deceived or forced by circumstances is considerable.

Although most sex-trafficking is to supply girls for brothels and escort agencies, increasingly trafficking is taking place for pornography, including filming and live feeds for the internet, and to feed the growing appetite for sex-tourism.

[dalits]

The vast majority of those trafficked for sex are Dalits or Tribals (from India’s indigenous tribes), who fall below the caste system. Most trafficking – some 90%  ̶  is internal to India, much of it being interstate. There are some areas and routes where this trade is flourishing, for example, from the north east of the country into Delhi. There are also large numbers of Dalits and Tribals  ̶   women and children  ̶  trafficked into India particularly from Nepal and Bangladesh.

DFN UK wants to see an end to sex trafficking in India. End Dalit Trafficking. [Read more...]

Panel photo: RACHEL ROBICHAUX. Used by kind permission.