Today, tens of thousands of children and women across South Asia live in sexual servitude, victims of duplicity, coercion and illegal transportation. While trafficking and the abduction of persons for sexual purposes have existed on the sub-continent for millennia, concerted efforts at prevention have been made only in the last 15 years. Accompanying preventive interventions, in the last decade dozens of non-government organizations (NGOs) and government bodies with the support of donor organizations have been seeking ways to release children and women from the brothels and assist them in returning to their homes and communities, or in some cases starting new lives in South Asian society. Efforts at release are problematic, and at this time are primarily limited to ‘rescue raids’ on brothels to secure children presumed to be trafficking victims, and attempts at intercepting traffickers in the act of transporting people across national borders. At the same time, efforts to assist trafficking survivors to successfully re-enter society – most commonly termed ‘rehabilitation’ (or ‘recovery’) and ‘reintegration’ – are also problematic, and NGOs, governments and donors are now facing challenges that they have not faced before.The challenges of rehabilitation are found in addressing the psychological and physical trauma frequently undergone by victims of trafficking. Children may be deeply affected by removal from their homes, incarceration, rape, physical abuse and repeated forced sexual intercourse, compounded by guilt and social stigmatization for being a prostitute. They may have physical problems resulting from rape and beatings, or communicable diseases such as tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS. While attending to physical trauma is within the experience and capacity of the existing medical system in South Asia, attending to psychological trauma is a relatively new and limited field on the sub-continent. The reintegration of trafficking survivors into mainstream society also has many challenges primarily stemming from South Asia’s socio-economic situation and from its culture, traditions and mores. Prejudice against sex workers – even those forced into the profession is almost universal and is nearly impossible to eradicate. Extreme gender discrimination and patriarchal social rules not only make survivors subject to continued harassment and often rape, but restrict them from finding a place in the working world and from living independently from family or male protectors. In addition, the socio economic situation of South Asia provides few opportunities for any young person, much less a trafficking survivor, to find adequately paid employment, particularly that which provides income comparable to prostitution. In the last five to seven years, NGOs and governments with donor support have established numerous facilities for the rehabilitation and reintegration of child trafficking survivors, as well as survivors of domestic violence, abandonment, rape and abusive labour situations. In some cases, these facilities were established almost overnight, in response to efforts that released children and women from brothel situations or forced the closure of established brothel communities, putting them on the streets. With the best of intentions, NGOs who had previously been working in women’s economic empowerment, legal rights, agricultural development and other areas have established facilities while having limited knowledge and experience in psychosocial care of the abused. Similarly, supporting donors have initiated psychosocial care interventions and promoted government plans of action to address rehabilitation and reintegration while drawing on relatively limited experience in psychology, social work and the operation of care institutions for the abused.
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Publisher:
ILO
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(2002
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Type / Script:
Publication
in English
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Keywords:
CHILD LABOUR, CHILD WELFARE, CHILD SURVIVAL, TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, CHILD ABUSE, HUMANRESOURCES, CHILD PROSTITUTION, LABOUR LAW, CHILD MIGRANTS, CHILD CARE, COMMERICAL SEX WORKERS, AIDS, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, BROTHEL, CHILD PRATICIPATION, CASTE, REHABILITATION, REINTEGRATION, RAPE VICTIMS, CASE MANAGEMENT, PHYSICAL ABUSE, EMPOWERMENT, DISCRIMINATION, CHILD MORTALITY, CHILD NEEDS
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Thematic Group:
ILO
:
International Labor & Labor
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Thesaurus:
12.06.00
- Special Categories Of Workers
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Reference Link:
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