There are no simple solutions to combating the sex trade. Many
attempts have been made to determine the root cause of this
problem in order to come up with a sufficient solution. However,
the bottom line is the value that we, as a society, place on
human life. From this foundation stem the influences of social,
cultural, economical, political and religious factors, to name a
few.
The tools that we are using to fight the sex trade such as
education, awareness and economic alternatives are not in of
themselves the solution. However, they do serve to provide us
with practical ways to give value to women and girls who might
otherwise be sold for what is assumed to be their economic
value.
1. Prevention
2. Intervention
3. Rest, Recovery and Reintegration
1. Prevention
The following programs and services are designed to prevent
sexual exploitation by raising awareness, promoting education
and providing economic alternatives.
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• Awareness Raising Campaign: An effective and comprehensive
effort targeting communities and individuals at risk using
radio, posters, road signs, and street dramas. Informs about the
procurement and trafficking process; emphasizes the value of
girls and the need for parents to treat their sons and daughters
equally; educates about the realities of the sex trade and the
threat of HIV/AIDS. materials, public radio announcements, and
billboard advertising. |
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• Non-Formal Education (NFE) Classes: 6 month courses that focus
on educating and empowering mothers and other young women living
in high risk areas by teaching literacy and life skills with a
special emphasis on nutrition, childcare, health, reproduction,
and STD and HIV/AIDS awareness. |
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• Skill Development & Income Generation Programs: A continuation
of the NFE classes, Serve Nepal has designed individualized
programs to make women and youth employable and/or provide them
with an opportunity to start their own small enterprise. Serve
Nepal strives to provide start up funds, training and on-going
assistance to sustain the projects, which include Kitchen
Gardening, Goat/Pig/Cow Keeping, and Sewing.
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• Handicraft Business: This business has primarily been designed
to teach women new skills and provide a source of income, and
secondarily to introduce them to various aspects of business
management and operations. The handicraft business also serves
as our income generating strategy based on a 'profit for
non-profit' concept, which will help SN reach
self-sustainability in the future.
View SN Handicrafts |
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For more information on where you can purchase SN
Handicrafts, at this time only available in Alberta, or if you’d
like to place a bulk order please email
serve-nepal@safoundation.com. As this business is in its
infant stages and the girls are just learning these skills we
regret that we must keep our orders at a manageable level.
However, as we grow and the girls perfect their new trade we
hope to offer on line purchasing services in the future.
2. Intervention
5,000 - 12,000 young Nepali girls are being trafficked every
year across a 1,580 km long open border with India, which offers
an easy escape route to traffickers and their unsuspecting
victims.
SN currently monitors two border points to intercept traffickers
and rescue as many girls as we can.
Border intervention alone is not enough however, this offers an
immediate response to what is already happening.
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• Border Monitoring: SN’s main intervention program, designed to
identify and intercept girls who are being trafficked for sexual
slavery and to educate those who might find themselves at risk
once they have reached their destination. With the support of
local police and community leaders we also try to apprehend
suspected traffickers.
SN staff are on duty 12 - 16 hours a day questioning anyone
suspected of trafficking or of being trafficked. Each border
post offers short-term beds to girls we need to hold for further
questioning or in cases where her family needs to be called in. |
SN staff questioning a man at SN border post. |
SN is always looking for ways to expand to cover more of the 35
unofficial, and largely unmonitored, border crossings to
strengthen our fight and rescue more girls.
• Emergency Shelter: In conjunction with Border Monitoring,
emergency shelter is provided to rescued girls who are brought
to SN’s transit home for counseling, guidance, legal action and
medical attention as needed. Family counseling is also a
mandatory aspect of repatriating these girls. For desperate
cases long-term placement is also considered.
3. Rest, Recovery & Reintegration
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• Housing and Care: In collaboration with Peace Rehabilitation
Centre, Serve Nepal’s local partner, Serve Nepal is able to
offer both short-term and long-term care in a safe and loving
family environment. Women and youth who stay in the short or
long term housing receive support, counseling, medical attention
and palliative care. They are also given the opportunity to go
to school and/or learn new skills through our income generating
programs. |
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There are no specific programs that the women/girls are expected
to follow. Nor are there minimum or maximum stays at PRC, just
as long as the need requires. This is not a hostel but a family
home, where each women/child is made to feel a part of and
welcomed to take advantage of the different opportunities as she
is ready.
• AIDS Hospice
Tragically, it is unlikely for girls to return to Nepal unless
they are too old or too sick to ‘work’, which usually means they
have HIV/AIDS. Due to the social stigma attached to any person
suspected of working in the brothels and due to the fear
surrounding AIDS, exploited women and children are rarely
welcomed back home.
If we do not take them in they will survive by the only way they
know how. PRC offers training and counseling to the victim's
families, teaching them how to care for the HIV positive
individuals. If the families are unwilling or unable to do this
the girl is welcomed into the PRC family where she will receive
an abundance of love and acceptance as well as medical care,
skill development, education, legal advice, and anything else
she may need. |
