Human traffickers targeting Nepalese villages following earthquake

Human traffickers are taking young women and girls from Nepalese villages to be exploited in the Asian sex trade, according to a child rights activist. An estimated 15,000 Nepali girls are trafficked each year to work in Indian brothels and there are fears that displacement camps set up after the recent earthquake are already being targeted.

Our teams on the ground in Bhaktapur, Gorkha and the surrounding areas of Kathmandu have seen people going there in the name of relief and promising jobs to children and adolescent girls.

Bhuwan Ribhu from the charity Bachpan Bachao Andolan

There are reports of four children having been rescued by the Indian Armed Border Force (SSB) from Raxaul, the Indian-Nepal border town, on Monday while they were being trafficked. SB Sharma, the director general of the Indian Armed Border Force, told reporters they are working to verify the reports and have stepped up security at the border town. Activists say in recent years many girls have been trafficked to the Gulf States and South Asia. The country has been riven by years of political turmoil that have hindered economic progress and growth. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 7,500 people and caused misery in remote parts of the country where aid is yet to reach.

On our request Indian state governments have increased police presence and vigil on the porous border between India and Nepal to check trafficking.

Rishi Kant, co-founder of Shaktivahini, women’s rights charity

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