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Checking Girl Trafficking
Strong Legal Provision And Awareness Needed

By Uttam Maharjan

GIRL trafficking has assumed alarming proportions in the developing countries like Nepal, where there is gross discrimination against women due to age-old patriarchal concepts. It would indeed be saddening to note that even after 26 years since the first World Conference on Women was held in Mexico in 1975 that no remarkable changes have taken place in the status of women. In fact, women have been exploited in society in one form or the other. And trafficking in girls and women may be taken as a gross violation of human rights.

The main factors responsible for encouraging girl trafficking in Nepal are poverty and ignorance. The other factors are the open border with India, non-enforcement of the ID card system, difficulty in identifying the traffickers or brokers and girls going to be sold, the tendency of women workers to cross the border in search of work and so on. The important transit points through which the girls are taken across the border are Kakarvitta, Sunauli, Jogbani, Chapkaiya, Bhadrapur, Pashupatinagar, Gaur, Mahendranagar, Krishnanagar, Banbasa, Koilabas and Jayanagar.

Mostly the rural girls who are uneducated and naive are taken across the border and sold in such Indian cities as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune and Silugudhi. Some girls are even taken as far as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand.

The rural Nepalese girls having problem to lead a hand-to-mouth existence, would easily give way to the temptation of a good job and better life in the cities. The trafficker, who are always on the look-out for such girls, would adopt any means to fulfil their heinous objective. And such girls finally end up in brothels in India or elsewhere.

Some girls flee their homes to escape domestic violence or exploitation at the hands of their parents or step-parents and land in the cities, only to be ensnared in the unsuspecting traps set by the unscrupulous persons, who would fob them off with tantalising promises and lure them on to prostitution.

It is estimated that there are over 200,000 Nepalese girls in Indian brothels, leading a hellish life. And 7,000 to 10,000 Nepalese girls are estimated to be trafficked across the border every year. It is reported that such girls are compelled to satisfy at least 5 to 25 customers a day. If they refuse, they will have to suffer excruciating torture.

The girls forced into prostitution are always prone to catching HIV/AIDS and other venereal diseases. Such Girls who have developed venereal diseases are forcibly evicted by the brothel keepers. At times, police raid on the brothels also help in rescuing some victims. The girls, whether evicted by the madams or rescued by the police or others, find it difficult to adjust themselves to society after they have returned home. Such returnees are often considered the dregs of society even by the intelligentsia.

However, there are certain rehabilitation centres run by NGOs or other organisations. The girls who want to live decently by forgetting their ghoulish past may find shelter in such centres, where they are trained in skill development and other vocational activities so that they may earn a livelihood on their own. After all, social mobilisation is an important aspect that would help the victimised girls to lead a dignified life.

It would be appropriate to note herein that the fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing in 1995, which was a positive achievement in terms of improving the lot of women. After this conference, the Ministry of Women was established in our country. And various programmes have since been embarked upon to put a stop to girl trafficking. Special programmes have also been initiated in 26 districts badly affected by the specter of girl trafficking, public awareness programmes in 50 districts and social training programmes in the badly affected VDCs.

The efforts of the government alone may not be adequate to check girl trafficking, the efforts on the part of the NGOs, human rights groups and civil society are equally important. The patriarchal social fabric, which often treats women as sex objects from a consumerist point of view, sets the stage for men to exploit women sexually or otherwise. Therefore, such a social structure built upon hollow ideals must be dismantled and in its place an egalitarian society should be built. For this, the national campaign for public awareness against gender discrimination should be spread to every nook and corner of the country, focusing especially on the rural areas.

Similarly, programmes such as income generation, skill development and employment generation should be launched in order to prevent the rural women from drifting towards the city areas. Such programmes have two benefits. One, the rural folk can utilise and improve their latent skills. Two, the locally available resources may be ingeniously harnessed. This will also lead to rural development-which is considered a springboard for overall national development.

There are complaints that the laws are not strong enough to deter the girl traffickers due to their weak implementation and inherent shortcomings. The government should, therefore, take the initiative in amending the laws so as to make them strong, comprehensive and appropriate in the present-day context.

At a time when women’s empowerment is at the centre of discussion all over the country, the problem of girl trafficking should be addressed by the government by forging a partnership with various NGOs, human rights groups and civil society. After all, men and women have equal rights, which has also been guaranteed by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal. But as things stand, women have been treated as second-class citizens for centuries.

Now the time has come to reconceptualise the role of women in society and recognise their economic work. To allow women to live a dignified life, the gruesome practice of girl trafficking and any other forms of mistreatment against women must come to a halt without any delay. This will definitely be an added advantage in the field of women’s empowerment.

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