Gender Equality India Project #21006

Rescuing Girls Sexual Exploitation in India Nepal

by Free a Girl

Project Report | Jul 17, 2017
From hopelessness to healing

By Free a Girl and Freedom Firm | -

From hopelessness to healing – fighting child prostitution

Free a Girl aims to fight child prostitution in India, a country where many young girls fall victim to this horrendous industry every day. Victims are kidnapped, sold by their parents and friends, forced into marriage and lies about job opportunities. Instead, they are sold into prostitution, raped, enslaved, and suffer from emotional and physical long lasting scars. With the help of donations, we can rescue girls, give them rehabilitation, medical and legal assistance, and help them reintegrate in society in a new chapter in their lives.

Free a Girl has been able to rescue thousands of girls with the support of local partners. Last year from January to December, our local partner Freedom Firm rescued31 girls in the 12 raids. With the help of donations, Free a Girl was able to help give support, assistance and preparation for the victims for cases which were prosecuted. Aftercare support was already being provided for the 124 girls previously rescued as well as to the 31 newly rescued such as medical care and psychosocial support, vocational training, life skills and educational classes. Continuous follow ups were conducted in order to assure girls previously rescued remained safe and well.

Our team expanded their search to other smaller areas where girls were rescued closing a brothel over 150 years old. Our search also found that help and resources are needed in 3 other areas where in 2016 we rescued 17 girls.

We would like to thank our local partners and donors who help us fight child prostitution in India. With your help, Free a Girl has been able to help girls that have been trafficked through rescue and rehabilitation as well as prosecute the offenders. In India, where thousands of girls are trafficked every year, help is urgently needed.

Prena (name has been changed to preserve anonymity) is one such girl that benefited from our interventions– she is a 14 year-old from a Bedia community in Madhya Pradesh. This community is known for its tradition of prostitution of girls. Local partner, Freedom Firm, received a call from the Nagpur police station with information about Prena, who was being forced to prostitute in Mumbai by a woman named Bishnu. Bishnu is actually the main accused in another case of a girl that was previously rescued.

When a bogus customer from the rescue team went to Bishnu’s brothel he saw that it was the same brothel where another girl was previously rescued. Prena was seen there with wounds on her body from the horrific abuse she faced at the hands of her customers and brothel keeper. Even though Prena looked no more than 14 years old, the brothel keeper had made a fake I.D card that showed her age as 16 years.

With the help of the Nagpur police, Prena was rescued and is placed in a safe governmental home where she can begin recovery. As for Bishnu, the brothel keeper, she is in custody, and we hope this time she will be denied bail and eventually convicted for her crimes.

Girls like Prena can start healing, have a better life and be hopeful again with your help. Free a Girl would like to thank everyone that has donated and continues to donate to these efforts to end child pro

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Mar 29, 2017
A snapshot of the work in 2016

By Free a Girl and Freedom Firm | -

ACTIVITIES & RESULTS

Rescue

Conducted 12 raids and rescued 31 girls from January to December 2016.

Legal

Provided witness details, logistical support and preparation assistance to the Public Prosecutor in 3 cases in Nagpur and surrounding regions.

Rehabilitation

Aftercare support given to 124 girls and for the 31 newly rescued girls. Provided vocational trainings, counselling, health care, life skills and basic literacy for the girls that are part of the vocational training in a government home and Freedom Firm’s social enterprise Ruhamah Designs.

Reintegration

31 home investigations/ follow ups were performed to ensure that previously rescued girls are safe and reintegrating well into mainstream society.

SUCCESSES

Rescue work in Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra has become increasingly difficult as brothel owners are very careful with prostituting minors given the regular presence of NGOs and law enforcement agencies. So the team has added a their focus on other areas where there is great need. While the rescue team were exploring new areas they found minors in two smaller cities in Madhya Pradesh. Raids was conducted and minors were rescued in both these places. It was revealed that after one of the raids in a brothel – which was over 150 years old – it was closed down. It is a strong success that these rescue activities contributed to the closure of the brothel. The rescue team has found three districts in Madhya Pradesh where the need is greatest, where already 17 minor girls have been rescued in 2016. Therefore, expanding rescue operations from Maharashtra to Madhya Pradesh has proven to be effective.

We thank all our donors and partners working with us on this project to fight against sexual exploitation of girls. Your contributions allow us to liberate and support girls that have been subject to this horrific crime.

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Dec 13, 2016
New beginnings for rescued girl

By Freedom Firm (local partner) and Free a Girl | -

This project aims to rescue girls that are being sexually exploited in brothels in India. The following case gives a glimpse into what these girls face and what it means for them to receive support and training after being rescued.

Prisha* was rescued in September 2014 by the rescue team along with local law enforcement from Pune’s red-light area. Unlike most other girls who are forced into prostitution by their families, Prisha was kidnapped and then sold to her brothel keeper. At first, she refused to work but then thought it would be good to save money and run away. She was never given any money but was given food and clothes in exchange for having sex with customers.

After her rescue, Prisha was placed in a short-stay home for rescued women where she participated in several vocational courses and built her skills and confidence. She was recently selected as a hotel management trainee and after her training, she will be placed in a 4 or 5-star hotel. She told the social worker, "whatever I wanted, the kind of environment I wanted to work in, and that’s what I got. I am very happy, and I can’t wait to begin work."

Prisha completed her training in January and joined the hotel as full-time staff. In a recent conversation with Freedom Firm’s social worker, a partner of Free a Girl, Prisha sounded extremely happy and well adjusted to her new life.

We would like to thank the supporters of this project for contributing to enabling such positive outcomes for girls like Prisha. After surviving being forced into prostitution in a brothel and dealing with the traumatic experiences, it is often very difficult for girls like Prisha to reintegrate an become mainstreamed into society again. Finding a job can be very difficult given the stigma associated with being a survivor of forced prostitution. Interventions such as these, which include vocational training and lifeskills and sexual and reproductive health and rights trainings, are therefore much needed for girls to obtain jobs and gain awareness, independence and self-sufficiency.

*The name has been changed to protect the identity of the survivor

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