AP News
July 10,
200
Katmandu
- Nisha and Geeta watch every woman who crosses out of Nepal
at theKakarvitta border point, trying to spot those destined
to be sold into brothels in India.They know
what to look for.
The two
female border guards, ages 19 and 21, had been lured from
their mountain villages and sold as sex slaves to Bombay
brothels by people who promised them jobs in the city and
escape from hard rural life.
"We
were deceived and taken across the border to serve as sex
slaves, but we can still prevent more of them from facing the
same fate,'' said Geeta, who for the past two years has stood
guard 12 hours a day at the border post 330 miles east of
Katmandu.
She and
her partner, who talked on condition their full names not be
used, nab at least 20 potential victims and traffickers a
month.
"The
police were too busy checking for criminals and smuggling at
the border, they had no time or did not even bother to check
for traffickers,'' said Anuradha Koirala, who runs Maiti
Nepal, a shelter for women who escape and make it back home.
"Now
these women who already have the bitter experience can point
them out for the police.''
Maiti
Nepal operates patrols at six border points and plans
eventually to cover all 26 crossings into India.
An
estimated 200,000 Nepali women work as prostitutes in Indian
brothels. Now the Nepalese government, police and
organizations such as UNICEF have joined forces to combat
trafficking of women to India.
Finding
traffickers is made more difficult by the long, open border
the two countries share, and the fact that Nepal and India do
not require visas to cross into each other's territory.
An
estimated 7,000 women are taken to Indian brothels every year,
yet only 130 trafficking cases have been prosecuted, according
to advocate groups.
"Due
to the lack of evidence, about 58 percent of these cases end
up in a not-guilty verdict,'' said Sapana Malla, an advocate
with the Katmandu-based Forum for Women and Development.
"The only evidence we have here is the story of these
women, which often is not enough to convince the judge.''
A legal
process that can take years also discourages those who do
escape, women's advocates said.
"When
the case does come up in court, the law says intention of sale
has to be proved, which is difficult. Most cases are dismissed
on technical grounds,'' Malla said.
Her group
and other agencies have proposed legislation that would lessen
the women's burden of proof.
Convicted
traffickers face up to 20 years in prison. But Malla said
those who are arrested and jailed are mostly poor, without the
backing of powerful people with money.
"This
is an organized crime where even members of parliament have
been involved in the past,'' Malla said.
At
Katmandu's central jail, half of the 84 female inmates have
been charged with trafficking and face sentences averaging 10
years.
"The
actual traffickers and their leaders are never arrested. We
have often seen the real traffickers get released from this
very jail,'' said Nirmala Lama, 30, serving a 10-year sentence
for trafficking. "A very notoriously known trafficker
served only two years sentence and left after offering a bribe
of $2,850.''
Nepal
police have opened a separate department staffed by female
officers to deal with cases of women and child victims, and
run awareness programs.
"We
are not only sensitizing the community but also our own force
so they know how to deal when victims come forward,'' said
Govind Prasad Thapa, deputy superintendent of police.
Still,
thousands of Nepalese women continue to end up in brothels in
the Indian cities of Bombay, New Delhi, Ahmadabad, Silguri and
Patna every year.
"It
is a big business and powerful people are involved. It is a
spreading and growing phenomenon,'' UNICEF Director for South
Asia Nigel Fischer said. Experts say the economic conditions
in Nepal, where more than 40 percent are poor, is part of the
problem.
"The
real problem here is the low value placed on women,'' Fischer
said. "For people in South Asia, it is a sin to be born
poor and a woman.''
