Gender and Development

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Nepal

Regional Meeting on Prevention of Trafficking of Girls and Women — Center for Legal Research and Resource Development

Background of the project

In the past decade, over 200,000 Nepali girls and women have been trafficked to India and beyond for sexual exploitation. The clandestine nature of trafficking makes it difficult to obtain accurate figures, however trafficking of women and especially of children is on the rise.

Poverty and the lack of income-earning opportunities outside marriage for women and girls have led to an increase in the pool of recruits for trafficking. Many women and girls are lured by promises of jobs and fake marriages and can be recruited by family members, co-workers, and friends. For widowed, divorced, or abandoned women prostitution may be the only way to access economic resources. Violence against girls and women by husbands and other members of the household as well as by members of the community has also been identified as a major cause for pushing women into prostitution, especially in low-caste households. As female virginity is highly valued in Nepal, trafficking of women and (mostly female) children renders them undesirable candidates for marriage. Women may be forced by economic necessity into prostitution later in life as the result of having earlier been raped or sold.

The low status of women in Nepal produces the conditions under which trafficking, gender-based violence, and prostitution "by choice" occur. Structural gender inequality is evidenced by women's and girls' high rates of illiteracy, their poor health, and their limited access to resources. Women's low status is also a factor behind ineffective government policies and corrupt or indifferent police who do little to prevent trafficking. Moreover, the women and children are often penalized instead of the traffickers or their clients.

Relevant government and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) have been slow to adopt a coordinated, regional approach to curb cross-border trafficking. Trafficking is a regional issue involving more than one national jurisdiction. For this reason and with funding from the Asian Development Bank, the Center for Legal Research and Resource Development (CeLRRd) brought together a number of government and nongovernment organizations from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal in order to discuss strategies to eradicate trafficking at the regional level. The Regional Consultation Meeting on Prevention of Trafficking of Girls and Women was held on 22-24 February, 2001 in Kathmandu.

Project Objectives and Scope

The primary objectives of the meeting were the following:

• to initiate and facilitate networking and coordination of governments and NGOs for a regional response to trafficking
• to expedite the adoption of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) regional convention against trafficking
• to generate support for NGOs in Nepal to intercept girls and women from traffickers
• to create a resolution to draw the attention of the Governments of India and Nepal to address urgently the issue of trafficking
• to mobilize the officials of SAARC countries to address the problem of trafficking at the regional level
• to identify mechanisms for rescuing victims

The 3-day conference was attended by participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sweden, and Thailand. They represented governments, national and international NGOs, and multilateral organizations active in anti-trafficking initiatives. A special feature of the meeting was the inclusion of local participants, representatives from paralegal committees active in trafficking-affected districts, and school teachers and local elected representatives. The paralegal women contributed experiences and concerns gained while building the Community Surveillance System Against Trafficking (CSSAT), a project designed and implemented by CeLRRd over the previous 7 years.

On the first day of the conference, proceedings were directed to briefings from each participant about their programs, their area of coverage, and strategies they had adopted to combat trafficking. Many common problems and strategies were identified. The lack of cooperation within and across borders was described as one of the factors hindering national and regional prevention. The tendency of organizations to work in isolation worked against the need for an efficient network. Isolation was also identified as a problem in the concentration on treating rescued victims without addressing community awareness, attitudes, and education. Recommendations included the need for

1. cooperation among organizations working in places of origin and destination
2. cooperation among organizations and border police
3. greater awareness among parents about the protection and rights of their children
4. increased awareness of trafficking among school children, teachers, and other members of society
5. counseling parents to be more receptive toward reintegrating daughters into the society

The need for sensitizing police, the judiciary, and the media was stressed in order to protect and advance the rights of girls and women.

On the second and third days of the conference, country presentations were made. The need for a clear working definition of trafficking was raised as presenters noted that many definitions were vague, ambiguous, and "offender friendly." The need to take seriously the human rights violations of victims was also stressed. This would include the removal of laws that directly or indirectly discriminate against women and children, adequate representation of victims in court, and protection of victims of trafficking from exposure to public humiliation. Again, the presentations revealed many similarities in the concerns and strategies of the participating countries.

In the final session, the participants got together to chart recommendations for further action. Three groups focused on

1. strengthening information networks among countries, government organizations, national and international NGOs, donors, and individual activists
2. strengthening coordination for the protection of vulnerable girls and women
3. launching advocacy for the prevention of trafficking at the regional level

Project Outcomes

The meeting was considered a huge success by all participants and achieved its primary goal by bringing together different organizations and countries to establish cross-border communication about trafficking and to share ideas, insights, and approaches. The representatives were especially appreciative of the inclusion of local participants working at the grassroots level noting that their perspective was often excluded from such forums. Meeting the paralegal representatives afforded all the opportunity to learn about their work and so impressed a representative from Bangladesh that the CSSAT program will be implemented in that country also. Participants also expressed great appreciation for the opportunity to network with other organizations and with individuals working in the field and considered the meeting a new beginning to addressing trafficking in South Asia.

Participants agreed to a number of recommendations in relation to strengthening networks, regional coordination, and regional approaches to prevent trafficking.

• Recommendations to strengthen the network included
1. collection of data on missing persons with measures to report to local authorities or police
2. identification of the trafficker to be followed by court trial and prosecution
3. identification of communities and areas that are susceptible to trafficking
4. identification of trafficking routes
5. identification of times and seasons when trafficking is more likely to occur
6. identification of the methods of trafficking
• Recommendations to strengthen coordination included
1. networking among the state (district), national, and regional levels by taking down addresses, fax numbers, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and contact points
2. establishing communications at the grassroots, nationals, and regional levels
3. arranging for feedback sessions at the grassroots, national, and regional levels
4. translation of information at the national level
5. sensitization of the judiciary and police
6. establishment of resource centers
• Recommendations to prevent trafficking at the regional level included
1. formation of national and international trafficking taskforces
2. the inclusion in NGO national taskforces of human rights organizations
3. the inclusion on the regional taskforce of representatives from SAARC nations
4. the review and monitoring of each country's national plan of action against trafficking

These recommendations are to be achieved through a variety of measures including networking among SAARC members, collection and compilation of data, establishment of a regional court to handle trafficking issues through the SAARC secretariat/offices in each country, and special police to deal with trafficking. The participants also recommended actions to combat negative cultural values that promote trafficking by reinforcing the low status of women or that blame the victims. It was suggested that this could be achieved largely through cultural means such as movies, street plays, songs, radio, speeches, and meetings.

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