By Aastha Kapoor
While I came across
“Inside the brothels”- a report by
Nicholas Kristof which complied a set of 7 real stories on sex trafficking
collected over two decades of his reporting[1], I was astounded by facts that
can cause goose bumps to anyone. The horrendous number of women and child
trafficking and their horrific experiences were astounding.
In prostitution, it is
assumed that it is only by choice that those women are in brothels. However at most
places girls at a very young age when they should be bruising their knees
running across fields playing games are brought into brothels sometimes by
their own mothers. We fail to realise
that most of the women into this field were coerced into it with little chance
to escape, under the burden of family debt that was paid by the selling of
their daughters. Also, these numbers have only been increasing with more and
more girls in the age group of 11-15 and that is because customers pay more for
virgins and they also have little risk of having AIDS. There is little action
from the governments and police because in many countries, it is a part of the well
established sex tourism industry. By the time they realise what they have got
into, they fight only to be returned by beatings and thrashings from their
pimps. With time, they lose that fight and accept it as a way of life. For
those who can yet find some hope and are able to get out, they find little help
in terms of rehabilitation into the mainstream society which ostracizes them
completely. It is difficult to imagine the plight of women who are caught into
these swirls.
Even if and when the
police resorts to taking steps, the arrests made are of these same women who
are a victim themselves and not the pimps who bring them into it, beat them,
sell and buy them like soft toys sold at markets. The arrests made are not of
the customers who pay for them and in return get a receipt. Kristof rightly
compares it to the Slave culture when in 21st century human beings
can be bought and sold.
The trafficking problem
is not limited to the Asian countries of Cambodia, India, Philippines and
Africa but leads further to the most unexpected streets of Manhattan and Wall Street
in United States. The only difference from where I can see it is that once
reported, there is more probability of definite action being taken in the
ultra-developed regions and the chances of reviving back into normalcy and
continuing a normal lifestyle and education are more in West than in countries
where till this date, even the judicial system hasn’t yet overcome the stigma
of victim blaming and there are little resorts for women. It also points to the
urgency of having an international network of governments that freely share
information and take actions, as the problems of trafficking are no longer
domestic issues of nations but global in
nature.
A dignified life is a
human right. These little young girls deserve a chance to escape the dungeons
and to be reunited with society who does not judge them from their past but gives
them a chance to start again. There can be no end to all of it until there is
some action and there can possibly be no action until there is more talking and
sharing and awareness. The stories are all heartbreaking but there is due
credit to give to some others- those few resilient ladies who have fought for
themselves and continue to till this day, the number of organizations and NGOs
who try to help, the journalists who report on these issues, the lawyers who
represent these victims and the people who read, know, talk and share this
information. The fight is still on.
For the entire reports
and stories by Nicholas Kristof:
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