Five minors rescued from Maharashtra brothels, August 5, India

Strengthening law enforcement response to human trafficking: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/india/vacancies/TORs%20psychosocial%20needs%20assessment%20_%20prosecution%20procedures_%20revised.pdf

Rehabilitation for survivors:
http://aasara.blogspot.com/2007/07/rehabilitation-for-women-victims-of.html

Save the Children:
http://www.savethechildren.in/india/key_sectors/child_trafficking.html

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=249479

Five minors rescued from Maharashtra brothels

Express News Service

Kolkata, August 5: The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), which was inaugrated a month back, has rescued seven young girls from Mumbai and other suburbs of Maharashtra and brought them back to Kolkata. A six-member team went to Maharashtra to rescue the girls, who were trafficked from South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas. The girls were sold in various parts of Maharashtra for being used as commercial sex workers. The AHTU team visited Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Kalyan of Maharashtra and rescued the girls. Of the seven, five are minors. Six of them are from South 24-Parganas and one is from Barasat in North 24- Parganas. Officials said in most of the cases, the touts were either female traffickers or young men. After questioning the girls, AHTU officials have not ruled out the involvement of acquaintances or relatives. Officials said that one of girl’s father had sold her to tout, who had taken her to Maharastra. “After conducting a preliminary investigation, we believe that one of theminor’s father might have taken a sum of Rs 1 lakh from the tout,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, DIG, CID. At present, the girls are staying in a city-based NGO. They will be handed to their parents. But if the parents are involved in the trafficking, the girls will not be returned to them, officials stated. “Many cases have been reported from South 24-Parganas. We will send more teams to Maharashtra soon to rescue more girls from different parts of the state,” added Mukherjee. According to police data, in four different operations conducted in the past three months, 20 traffickers were arrested and 14 child victims rescued. Recently, the state government has decided to form a network to fight the menace of human trafficking. The social welfare department will act the nodal agency. The health, backward classes welfare, self-help group and self-employment, panchayat and rural development departments will be a part of the network. Police, CID, NGOs and the state women’s commission will play a key role in the initiative. The primary objective of the network, the first of its kind in the country, is to spread awareness among the people both in the city and the rural areas so that they do not fall prey to this menace. The network comes with the assurance of economic independence and proper rehabilitation of victims. The state government has allotted Rs 1 crore for this purpose. The network was formed following a report on human trafficking prepared jointly by three Calcutta, North Bengal and Burdwan universities.

Police told to see prostitutes as victims, New Delhi, August 1

http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-28771420070801?sp=true

Police told to see prostitutes as victims

By Nita Bhalla

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police must treat prostitutes as victims rather than criminals and crack down instead on clients and human traffickers who force women and children to sell their bodies, activists said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of women and girls in India are kidnapped, sold, coerced or trafficked for sex in a highly organised, yet illicit trade which is the world's third most lucrative after arms and drugs.

But activists say that while the children and young women are often trapped in slave-like situations, unable to free themselves from their pimps and brothel owners, police treat them as criminals while the real perpetrators get away.

"Hundreds of thousands of victims are invisible and are kept in captivity and have no access to any justice system whatsoever," said Ruchira Gupta, director of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, a local charity working against human trafficking.

"On the other hand, the perpetrators of this crime -- the profiteers and buyers that constitute the demand for human trafficking -- are visible and work with impunity."
In India, trafficking and profiting by selling a person for sex is illegal, but paying for sex with a prostitute is not unless she is under 18-years-old.

Almost 6,000 cases of trafficking were registered in 2005, but activists say the real number is much higher and on the rise.

Activists say that women are easy targets for police to arrest and round up in brothel raids and on street corners and police rarely investigate or arrest brothel owners or pimps.
Experts, speaking at the launch of a handbook to help police better enforce human trafficking laws, said police needed to understand the issue better.

"The real problem is not the absence of a legal infrastructure, but the importance of those that are empowered to impose the law to know what to do," said Gary Lewis, South Asia representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
According to the International Labour Organisation, 2.45 million people worldwide are exploited and treated like slaves every year, and another 1.2 million people are trafficked.
Lewis said that, according to some estimates, the global trade in human trafficking generated around $32 billion a year.

UK: Sex slave escapes from brothel, July 24

A TEENAGE sex slave escaped from a brothel and sought help from residents.

The Vietnamese girl, who cannot speak English, appeared at the home of Christine Bonner in Milton Road, Gravesend, at around 8pm on July 18.

She later told a translator she had been sold as a sex slave and had escaped from a house.

Shop worker Mrs Bonner, 65, said: "She was sitting on my wall and then started looking through my window. I rang my daughter who came over with her friend."

Her daughter, 38-year-old mum-of-two Kerri Bonner, said: "We gave her a cup of tea and biscuits.

"She was holding the cup like it was a baby. We just cuddled her and tried to comfort her."

The housewife added: "It's the last thing you expect.

"I will never forget this girl until the day I die."

Miss Bonner said the girl's eyes were "souless".

She added: "You could see she had been to hell and back. When the police came she was cowering and became frightened again.

"As she left she bowed to each of us. I wish I could have done more to help her."

Miss Bonner's friend Samantha Bunn, a mum-of-two who lives in Stanley Crescent, Gravesend, said: "She was a child. She only looked about 16 or 17 years old. She was scared and crying. She said her name was E."

The 33-year-old added: "I feel disgusted. You know it goes on and see it on TV but you don't expect it to happen in Gravesend.

"She had lots of white bags stuffed inside her bag. They looked like nappy sacks."

Mrs Bunn said officers told her they would try to get the teenager to point out the house she escaped from. The women do not know where the house is.

A police spokesman said: "Patrols attended immediately and the woman was taken into custody at Gravesend police station before being put into the hands of the immigration services."

And a Home Office spokesman said it does not comment on individual cases.

He added the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, which aims to combat child sex abuse, published a report on the extent of child trafficking on June 11.

The writers of the report believe 330 children were trafficked into the UK between March 2005 and December last year.

Later this year a police-led operation, Pentameter Two, will aim to rescue trafficked women and girls from commercial sexual exploitation.

12:31pm Tuesday 24th July 2007

By Vicki Foster