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Summary: This is a qualitative study of Nepalese girls and women after they have been sold for prostitution into brothels in Mumbai and Kolkata, India - a study of their first days, their years of confinement and their years in sex work after their release.
This is a study of Nepalese girls and women after they have been sold for prostitution into brothels in Mumbai and Kolkata, India - a study of their first days, their years of confinement and their years in sex work after their release. The study investigates the economic forces that drive trafficking from Nepal: the demand of the client, and more important, the demand of the brothel owner. This is not a study of the trafficking process per se - that is, the abduction or purchase of Nepalese girls in Nepal by traffickers and the transportation of girls to the brothels of Mumbai and Kolkata - it is a study of the economic and social system that engenders the trafficking process. The study uses two strong, globally important and imprecise terms to designate the two alternative situations in which trafficked Nepalese girls and women spend their first two to ten years in the brothel: slavery and debt bondage. This is also a study of the living conditions of the greater population of Nepalese sex workers in Mumbai and Kolkata: those who have been given their freedom and, unable or unwilling to return to Nepal, continue their lives as sex workers in India; and a study of Nepalese brothel society—independent, resilient and professional - imbedded in the Indian urban environment. The purpose of this study is to identify ways to prevent the trafficking of girls and women from Nepal. The study leads to recommendations to address the demand for trafficked persons at the root: at the level of the brothel owner. Trafficking is a business, and two tiers of profit generate the demand for trafficked Nepalese girls: the profits made by the trafficker, and considerably larger, the profits made by the brothel owner. The profits made by the brothel owner through the use of enslaved or bonded labourers, whether child or adult, are immense, and range from four to 20 times the profits made by the trafficker. Thus, it is argued that the demand of the brothel owner, not the demand of the trafficker, fuels the trafficking of Nepalese women and girls to India, and that prevention of trafficking must be predicated upon ending the system of slavery and debt bondage in the brothels. All comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. Terre des Hommes Nepal is also very interested to receive documents and research from the field. Contact Reinhard Fichtl ([email protected])