Prevention of Trafficking in Women and Girls

Trafficking is a complex problem that requires a multifaceted approach. Frequently, anti-trafficking initiatives at the state level have focused on legal reform and prosecution. As the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) points out, however, "effective anti-trafficking strategies should never be restricted to post-trafficking criminal prosecutions. 

Prevention of trafficking in women and girls requires examining the factors that contribute to the problem as well as providing education to potential victims. Both government and non-governmental programs should identify women and girls who are at risk for trafficking and provide them with the tools necessary to find work abroad without putting themselves at risk. At the same time, more far-reaching programs that address gender inequalities in the labor market are needed to combat trafficking in women and girls. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights produced a report entitled “Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking” in 2002. It identifies demand as a root cause of trafficking; saying, “[S]trategies aimed at preventing trafficking should take into account demand as a root cause. States and governmental organizations should also take into account the factors that increase vulnerability to trafficking, including inequality, poverty and all forms of discrimination and prejudice.”

Within the broad category of prevention, government bodies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should take both a short-term and long-term approach to addressing trafficking. Short-term actions include education and awareness-raising initiatives. Medium and longer-term projects include lobbying efforts to change national laws, training and technical cooperation projects for law enforcement and the judiciary and improving the social and economic position of vulnerable women.

How to stop women and girls trafficking ?

Women and Girls trafficking is the main problems of rural countries and areas. Women and girls are ensnared in trafficking for promised marriage, better life, educational opportunities etc. So, we can stop women and girls trafficking by giving awareness programme should be launched in every nooks and corner of the country highlighting the bad impacts of the women and girls trafficking. Skill-based training should be given to the women and girls in the rural areas so that they would able to generate income themselves in their own locality.

What is Women and Girls trafficking ?

Women and Girls trafficking is an act of illegal buying or selling the innocent and illiterate women and girls sex business, garments industries and factories etc. It is a burning and rooted social problems prevailing in our society. Because of gender discrimination, illiteracy, lack of job opportunity, they easily accept any kind of economic benefits offered by anyone who are quite unknown. About 4000 to 7000 women and girls are trafficked to the neighbouring countries for sex business. Untimely, the trafficked girls become the victim of HIV/AIDS. Women and Girls trafficking has become a serious problem especially among the poor people.

Women and Girls Trafficking in Nepal

In Nepal, there are tens of thousands of Nepalese women and girls are trafficked each year. They end up in brothels as sex workers or in homes and factories as slaves. They are trafficked within Nepal and to countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the UAE etc. Nepal is traditionally a patriarchal society where women in general and girl children in particular are treated as second class citizens. While this is changing in the cities and larger towns where people are more educated, discrimination still exists in rural areas, especially among low caste and marginalized indigenous communities. This discrimination manifests itself in many ways, but one of the most insidious is the failure to understand the significance educating a girl child. One of the reasons girls are valued less is because, traditionally, they have not been educated. And if they have little value, why educte them. This self perpetuating spiral of ignorance and worthlessness results in girls being seen as expendable commodities, at least in relation to boys, and known risks are put aside if there is a chance that she can find work and send back much needed cash to her family.

Women and Girls are tricked with promises of good paying jobs in glamorous cities, lured by proposals of marriage from handsome strangers and sometimes just taken and sold by middlemen known as dalals. Sometimes their parents sold them to dalals for lots of money. Nepal is a source country for many migrant workers and this has brought a new threat; dalals now pose as manpower agents, actually taking money from the families of the women and girls, promising to find them work in another country, then selling them on as slaves.

Effects and Consequences of Trafficking In Women and Girls

According to the United Nations Population Fund, "perhaps 4 million persons per year" are trafficked. Women and Grils who have been trafficked may suffer from serious physical and mental health problems. Physical abuse can result in serious injuries and lasting health problems; trafficking victims may also contract life-threatening diseases, such as HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis. More general information about the healthcare needs of women victims of violence can be found in the Violence and Health section.

Sexual assault is a traumatic event with physical and emotional effects on the victim. Sexual assault is any sexual activity between two or more people in which one of the people is involved against his or her will. The sexual activity involved in an assault can include many different experiences. Women can be the victims of unwanted touching, grabbing, oral sex, anal sex, sexual penetration with an object, and/or sexual intercourse. Trafficking victims are often made to participate in sexual activities through physical or non-physical force, which can consist of pressure from someone with authority over them, bribery or manipulation or impairment from alcohol or drugs. After experiencing sexual assault, a woman may experience a range of physical consequences and emotional reactions, including severe stress and depression.

Women who work in the commercial sex trade are vulnerable to sexual and reproductive health complications, including sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other gynecological problems. Women who have been trafficked into the sex trade may often not have access to, or are not allowed to use, condoms or other methods of birth control, and may only have irregular gynecological examinations. Such women face the risk of unwanted pregnancies and miscarriages. Women who work as prostitutes experience high rates of abortion, sterilization and infertility.

This type of physical and sexual abuse described above leads to severe mental or emotional health consequences, including feelings of severe guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, substance abuse (alcohol or narcotics) and eating disorders. In extreme cases, the mental anguish can lead to self-mutilation and/or suicide. Victims of trafficking often need psychological care as part of standard medical treatment.

A Kvinnoforum resource book, Crossing Borders Against Trafficking in Women and Girls (1999), contains a list of the common reactions women have after being trafficked as well as a description of the general psychological support needed by victims. The list was complied by Nadejda Kostadinova, a psychotherapist with the Animus Association, a Bulgarian NGO. Ms. Kostadinova also advises "Women need sessions with a therapist in order to share their problems in a secure environment. . . . The role of the consultant is to listen to the woman and to direct the session. She/he encourages the woman to step firm on the ground, to remember her capabilities and to recognize the strength, which helped her to survive."

Women who are victims of trafficking may also face legal consequences. Frequently, when victims of trafficking come to the attention of local authorities, they are charged with violations of local law. The consequence of the illegal acts is often deportation, being sent back to the country of origin, which has a long-term legal effect on the woman's ability to travel again to a particular country. Many countries in Europe are making temporary visas available to the trafficking victims, if they are willing to testify against the traffickers. Even if they are willing to testify, the women are often sent back after the trial has ended. Some countries, however, are creating procedures and regulations that would allow women to apply for permanent residency through their status as trafficking victims.

The Women and Girls Trafficking

               The trafficking of woman and girls for the purpose of prostitution is big business. It has been and still is one of the biggest industries worldwide. These unfortunate women and girls do not lead normal lives, but rather they are bought and sold as commodities. They also usually have no control over their lives and live in conditions of extreme poverty and abuse. Women and girls are ensnared in trafficking in a variety of ways. Some are lured with offers of legitimate and legal work as shop assistants or waitresses. Others are promised marriage, educational opportunities and a better life. Still others are sold into trafficking by boyfriends, friends, neighbors or even parents. Trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, and other abuse is suffered by women and girls all over the world and it is a violation of human rights. These problem is one of international proportion. United States feminists as well as many nongovernmental organizations acknowledge that this is a huge problem that needs to be tackled with greater proportions. We exist in a global political economy, which acknowledges the common mechanisms of sexual oppression and class exploitation which could ultimately eliminate the gulf between there being an "us" and a "them" in society.