Nepal's Human Trafficking Problem
What could possibly be the worst event that could happen to a child in the United States? Abuse by the family? Losing their family? Never having had any family? You can make a strong case for any of these scenarios, and one is as painful to imagine than the other. Cruelty toward a child in any form will stunt a child’s development, and possibly leave it scarred for life. You wonder who or what would allow that to happen.
And I still don’t think any of the disasters I pointed out can compare to being sold by one’s family. Yet, that is as common in Nepal as trash in the streets or bird dung on my roof.
The prime benefactors are the friendly neighbors to the south, India. Not surprisingly, rural Nepal is the hotbed for fresh brothel/sweatshop labor. The transaction is as easy as contracting STD from said brothels. The children -usually the girls or younger boys- are lured to Kathmandu by a 'friendly' relative. The kid in turn is sold to a ’recruiter’ for a paltry sum, usually in the neighborhood of around 200-300 NR (Nepali Rupees), which amounts to three to four dollars, or a ham sandwich. The recruiter will then turn around and sell the child to a brothel if it’s a girl (anywhere from $500 to $1,300), or to a sweatshop if it’s a boy. The children themselves are lulled into the false belief that they are traveling to Bombay or Delhi for a better job and more opportunities. The reality will quickly introduce and establish itself in the form of rape and physical abuse.
The children are told that they can buy themselves free, as soon as they have managed to pay the money the pimps or factory managers put up for them. Imagine that. If the girl herself was worth only three bucks to her family, what appreciation (depreciation) will she enjoy from the good old men of Bombay? If she’s a Hindi, she will probably think she will have to turn tricks in her next lives as a rabbit, tree etc.
And just what is the leitmotif here, the profit the family expects to gain from selling their children into slavery? Some have told me that the money would help put a (usually) older brother through school or to help buy a house.
If by some miracle the girl happens to return to Nepal, the family is ready to welcome her back, and a lavish celebration is thrown that would make the lost son in the bible green with envy and try to run away from home again. If only. More than that, the girl is refused admittance back home, as she is believed -more than not correctly- that she is disease riddled and will wipe out their entire village. Of course, since most people in Nepal don’t know HIV from HiFi, many neighbors will come to gape at the girl. Sadly, for most of these girls, life is over by the age of thirty, a sad end in a storybook, but a happy coup de grace for them.
When Sher Bahadur Deuba, former Prime Minister of Nepal, was asked by Nepali expatriates in New York what programs were being implemented to prohibit trafficking as well as to rehabilitate homecoming Nepalis from a life in exile, he famously quipped that “there are more pressing matters in this country.” The man couldn’t be more right. The most pressing matter and the biggest problem, of course, is electing complete jackasses like him into office.
What is even more tragic is the fact that international NGO’s who have established offices in Kathmandu to battle the very heart of the problem often directly contribute to it by exploiting children for personal - and frequently sexual - gain. Wicked. That’s like finding out that Mickey Mouse is carnivorous and will actually devour little children at Disney Land, or that Elmo has sold his goldfish Dorothy to Gorton's.
According to the U.S. Department of State, around 12,000 Nepali children, most between the ages of 9 and 16, are trafficked every year, tendency rising. India, with its weak laws and corrupt officials, is no help, either. And because child marriage is perfectly legal in India and Nepal, many girls technically are not smuggled across.
Too bad the girls will only later find out they’re literally in for one hell of a honeymoon. On the positive side for me, I have found a charity worth working for.
And I still don’t think any of the disasters I pointed out can compare to being sold by one’s family. Yet, that is as common in Nepal as trash in the streets or bird dung on my roof.
The prime benefactors are the friendly neighbors to the south, India. Not surprisingly, rural Nepal is the hotbed for fresh brothel/sweatshop labor. The transaction is as easy as contracting STD from said brothels. The children -usually the girls or younger boys- are lured to Kathmandu by a 'friendly' relative. The kid in turn is sold to a ’recruiter’ for a paltry sum, usually in the neighborhood of around 200-300 NR (Nepali Rupees), which amounts to three to four dollars, or a ham sandwich. The recruiter will then turn around and sell the child to a brothel if it’s a girl (anywhere from $500 to $1,300), or to a sweatshop if it’s a boy. The children themselves are lulled into the false belief that they are traveling to Bombay or Delhi for a better job and more opportunities. The reality will quickly introduce and establish itself in the form of rape and physical abuse.
The children are told that they can buy themselves free, as soon as they have managed to pay the money the pimps or factory managers put up for them. Imagine that. If the girl herself was worth only three bucks to her family, what appreciation (depreciation) will she enjoy from the good old men of Bombay? If she’s a Hindi, she will probably think she will have to turn tricks in her next lives as a rabbit, tree etc.
And just what is the leitmotif here, the profit the family expects to gain from selling their children into slavery? Some have told me that the money would help put a (usually) older brother through school or to help buy a house.
If by some miracle the girl happens to return to Nepal, the family is ready to welcome her back, and a lavish celebration is thrown that would make the lost son in the bible green with envy and try to run away from home again. If only. More than that, the girl is refused admittance back home, as she is believed -more than not correctly- that she is disease riddled and will wipe out their entire village. Of course, since most people in Nepal don’t know HIV from HiFi, many neighbors will come to gape at the girl. Sadly, for most of these girls, life is over by the age of thirty, a sad end in a storybook, but a happy coup de grace for them.
When Sher Bahadur Deuba, former Prime Minister of Nepal, was asked by Nepali expatriates in New York what programs were being implemented to prohibit trafficking as well as to rehabilitate homecoming Nepalis from a life in exile, he famously quipped that “there are more pressing matters in this country.” The man couldn’t be more right. The most pressing matter and the biggest problem, of course, is electing complete jackasses like him into office.
What is even more tragic is the fact that international NGO’s who have established offices in Kathmandu to battle the very heart of the problem often directly contribute to it by exploiting children for personal - and frequently sexual - gain. Wicked. That’s like finding out that Mickey Mouse is carnivorous and will actually devour little children at Disney Land, or that Elmo has sold his goldfish Dorothy to Gorton's.
According to the U.S. Department of State, around 12,000 Nepali children, most between the ages of 9 and 16, are trafficked every year, tendency rising. India, with its weak laws and corrupt officials, is no help, either. And because child marriage is perfectly legal in India and Nepal, many girls technically are not smuggled across.
Too bad the girls will only later find out they’re literally in for one hell of a honeymoon. On the positive side for me, I have found a charity worth working for.
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