SHAPATH

An Awareness Campaign

An SCMHRD initiative

SPARSH
CSR,Cell
SCMHRD
 Human Trafficking- Definition
• Modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or
coerced into labor or sexual exploitation.

• A multi-dimensional threat: it deprives people of their human rights

and freedoms

• For children, exploitation may also include forced prostitution, illicit

international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, or recruitment
as beggars

• It is not people smuggling where the request to smuggle is voluntary

 Know the Reality
• Globally about 600,000 to 800,000 people -- mostly
women and children -- are trafficked across national
borders
• India is emerging as a leading destination for human
trafficking in South Asia
• 20,000-25,000 women and children are trafficked
from Bangladesh while 5,000-15,000 are brought
illegally from Nepal annually
• Every day, about 200 girls and women in India enter
prostitution
• Karnataka, AP, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and UP are
the high-supply zones
• Mumbai through Asia’s largest flesh trade center
generates $400mn p.a.
 Human Trafficking and Sexual exploitation

• Involves organized movement of people, usually women, between

countries and within countries for sex work with the use of physical
coercion

• It involves physical coercion, deception and bondage incurred

through forced debt.

• Trafficked women and children are usually taken to brothels where

their passports and other identification papers are confiscated

• Thus they enter the mire of Prostitution

Prostitution is the system that commodifies and dehumanizes the

bodies and persons of women and children of both sexes for the use
and profit of men
 Prostitution- The perilous alternative
Major Factors leading women towards prostitution are:

• Lack of employment opportunities

• Economic disparities
• Social discrimination
• Growing deprivation and marginalization of the poor
• Driven by demand; demand is high for prostitutes
• Pursuing dreams of greater prosperity
• Quick marriages without proper knowledge of the family background
• Physical assault-Rape
• Lure of the tinsel town
 Child Prostitution- A rising menace
“Fresh petals; their life wasted away selling momentary
pleasures for a meal and existence in cubby holes “

• Of the 70% women forced into prostitution 20% are

child prostitutes

• In Mumbai (as per an IHO survey)

– 25% of the child prostitutes had been abducted and sold
– 8% had been sold by their fathers after forcing them into
incestuous relationships
– 20,000 minor girls are brought annually from Nepal
– 15% to 18% are adolescents between 13 yrs and 18 yrs
 Flesh trade- a traumatic vicious circle
Commercial sex workers face hardships everyday:

• Psychological: Stigmatization, social exclusion and

intolerance make reintegration difficult

• Physical: Broken bones, black eyes, concussions ,STDs,

pelvic inflammatory disease , Unwanted pregnancy

• Emotional: Trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, self-

medication through alcohol and drug abuse

• Vicious Circle

• Girls and women in prostitution have a mortality rate

40% higher than the national average
 Pune- In the clutches of the epidemic
Lets hear the story of Seema (name changed)

Kidnapped from Hyderabad and sold in Pune's Budhwar Peth

Valued at Rs. 35000
Physically assaulted
Injected to sooth pain
Sold to about 11000 customers in a span of 11 months

SHE IS JUST 15 YRS OLD

A pertinent question
Do we deserve to be called the Oxford of the East?
 Slow Awakening
• NGO’s: Provide support, providing shelter, counseling
,legal services and raise public awareness about the
issue. Saheli, Akansha

• Save the children of India (STCI): Thrust is on building

community awareness
– Awareness generation and establishment of
necessary support systems
– Sensitisation of local authorities and opinion
makers
– Legal assistance

• An IMPULSE: An initiative with Indian Postal service

• 50 self help groups in Maharashtra are providing

alternative employment opportunities
 Challenges
• Corruption in various agencies

• Lack of education for the girl child- awareness of the basic rights

• Breaking stigma of sex workers to reintegrate themselves

• Lack of Integration between anti trafficking programs and self help

groups

• Societal stigma in accepting the victims

 Let us Come Together
Be the change agents:

• Personal Level
1. Spread awareness, aid an NGO
2. Educate children of the victims
3. Say no to a minor as domestic help
4. Sexual prudence- A matter of grave importance

• Community Level
1. Identify traffickers, Find alternate employment avenues
2. Provide shelter homes
3. Cooperation with Police

• Organization Level: Employee awareness, Network with like minded

organizations
THANK
YOU