The Salvation Army Development Office Australia in partnership with The Salvation Army India (Western Territory) based in Mumbai is pioneering a new project aimed at combating human trafficking through the development of community based initiatives in India. The program will ultimately reach a total of ten communities (five urban and five rural) directly impacting a minimum of 3,500 individuals and indirectly impacting possibly four times this number. This response to the problem of trafficking is an innovative, action-oriented process through which communities identify and develop strategies to address health and social concerns.
About the Country
India is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. It is the second most populous country in the world.
According to World Bank statistics, approximately 350 million people in India live in poverty with approximately 70% in rural areas. The custom of providing a dowry for young and adolescent girls is onerous for many poor families so the girl children are sent to major cities with the promise of good jobs and a better life. However, once they arrive in the city they are quickly taken by agents who sell them to brothels as sex slaves. Some girls are sold by their families to be maids in the larger cities. Unfortunately they often end up being abused by their employer or sold on to a brothel.
Prostitution is illegal in India as is sexual exploitation or the abuse of persons for commercial purposes. Unfortunately, the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act of 1986 which criminalises such activities is not regularly enforced. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands young women trapped in India’s thriving sex trade industry. Experts say the number of prostitutes in India is close to eight million with more than a million of those believed to be children and adolescents.
These children are trapped in a life of abuse, a lack of liberty and disease. Because they are at the mercy of adults and dependent on the brothel keepers for food and shelter, they can see no alternative way of looking after themselves.
Men, women and children from India are trafficked for sexual and commercial exploitation; trafficked people are taken through India on their way to other countries; and trafficked people end up in India. Internally in India, young girls are sold and transported to large cities where they end up in Red Light Districts.
Trafficked people can find themselves trapped in prostitution, pornography, cybersex and sex tourism. They are also trafficked into servitude of different types - domestic labour, industrial labour, agricultural labour, debt bondage, begging, organ trade, camel jockeying, false marriage and adoption.
Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and is a bustling metropolis in the western state of Maharashtra. It is here that The Salvation Army has commenced work hoping to rescue younger girls from the sex trade. Many have been sold into this field due to pressures of poverty in their home and village locations.
Explanation of the Project
This is a program to learn how to prevent trafficking and rescue young women who have been sold into prostitution.
In the targeted Red Light Area of Mumbai (approximately 5 Km), there are more than 6 000 young women and girls in prostitution - a situation they are powerless to change. Many of the young women have children who are neglected and left alone while their mothers 'work'. The children experience poor nutrition, no education and are left for hours to fend for themselves in a dangerous situation.
The girl children of the prostitutes are looked after by the brothel keeper until they reach 14 – 16 years of age after which time the girl is forced into prostitution often against the mother’s wish. Some mothers agree for their children to be used for prostitution because of a debt they have not been able to repay. The boys are also neglected and deprived of a good healthy living and an education. Later on, they are trained to be pimps, managers and watchkeepers of the girls.
The program offers them
• a safe alternative to sex work through programmes such as skills building for income generation. It will give them an opportunity to return to their families, attend school or to learn skills through training programme.
• the use of two Drop In Centres in the Red Light Districts where counselling, health and child support advice is given. Referrals to health clinics are provided.
• a choice as to their behaviour and future. For women with children, the program will provide those children with a safe place to stay, with food and educational activities and in turn provide the mothers with a chance to try alternative work through the skills training offered.
50 self help groups in various divisions of Maharashtra are providing training to the women to help them address the problem of finding alternative work. This will be further developed in this project and will increase the strength of the women empowering them to resist the temptation to move to the cities for work.
The village bank or self help groups for women have become a support and empowering mechanism. Women support each other, learn about human trafficking and the tricks of those who attempt to entice them to the cities with job offers or money incentives. The self help group also provides the women of the village with a voice to demand improved health, economic and social conditions for themselves and their families. This aspect of the project is central to the prevention of trafficking by providing women with alternative economic choices and alleviates poverty.
Considerable networking has been done by project and CARE staff to find organisations working in the area with whom the Salvation Army can work and to whom they can refer their own clients for services not provided by The Salvation Army. Currently the project team is working with Oasis India, Committed Communities Development Trust, the Navjeevan Centre, Aapne Aap, P.S.I,Sathi, Social Activity Integration, Women's Welfare Society, Nagpada Neighbourhood House, International Justice Mission plus numerous other NGOs working in the same field. The Salvation Army uses local clinics and Salvation Army HIV centres, Government hospitals, Government observation home, local police, The Women's and Children's Welfare Society as support services.
Challenges and lessons learned so far:
• Young children have been sold in rural areas and they do not know their parents or home village. This means birth papers and identity papers need to be obtained if the child is to access schooling, welfare or government services later in life. Lack of identity papers also makes it almost impossible to reunite children with their parents.
• Corruption in various agencies is an issue. Some rescued minors have been re-sold to brothel owners. International Justice Mission (IJM) is a useful ally for prevention of this activity. It is difficult to develop trust with women and girls as they have been cheated and abused. The Salvation Army uses former prostitutes for our program to develop trust with the women and girls because they understand the lifestyle and problems facing them.
• Women in the Red Light District do not trust new comers and move houses regularly. Brothel owners discourage the girls (minors) from going out on the streets and they are not allowed to attend school. Because of the fear of stealing or kidnapping children, young girls are not allowed by their mothers to the leave the house/brothel in the Red Light District.
• The difficulty in enticing mature women out of prostitution is made worse by the fact that they feel stigma/shame because of their past but through counselling and friendships found at the Drop In Centre, this can be reduced.
• The anti trafficking program is more effective when integrated into another community development program such as Self Help Groups as they complement each other.
History of the Project
The Salvation Army intends, with this program in India, to bring hope to a very dark reality by confronting human trafficking with a community-based initiative. We recognise that one of the main causes of this activity is poverty with women and children being enticed by economic pressure. Often they have no other choices due to their own poverty.
The Salvation Army globally has an initiative to develop a response to the issue of sexual trafficking. The Salvation Army Australia Development Office is part of a network of Salvation Army offices from developed countries which is contributing to this response. We know through this Salvation Army network and from our research that a number of NGOs are tackling the problem of street kids in Cambodia, Vietnam and India to name just a few. The story of a street kids program in Mumbai prompted the thought that, to make our contribution to the prevention of sexual trafficking more practical, we should learn from and collaborate with small NGOs who are entering this field of community work using their skills, techniques and experience.
About the organisation
As a community based organisation in 111 countries, The Salvation Army has been doing development work for over a hundred years. Our work has the added advantage in that the development projects we are involved with are delivered and managed by the receiving communities, for the benefit of the whole community. It’s done this way because we are the community. There is no middle man or woman. We live in the same communities as the people we are working with. Where there is a need, The Salvation Army as part of that community, wants to help meet that need. We work alongside our neighbours, friends and family and call on our global network to help. We also work inclusively, without discrimination to race, gender, religion or creed. For more information on what The Salvation Army is doing throughout the world visit our international website at www.salvationarmy.org
The Salvation Army Australia Development Office (SAADO) is the development office for The Salvation Army in Australia. It co-ordinates funding and program implementation in developing countries including India in collaboration with in-country partners, mostly The Salvation Army in that country because of their extension local knowledge and experience.