23 February 2007

Emancipation Network Helping Asian Trafficking Victims Recover

Partnership for a Better Life

 

A woman sews a garment at her job, provided by Maiti Nepal, an anti-trafficking organization. (The Emancipation Network)

In Kolkata (Calcutta), India, a group of girls and young women is making bags and purses for sale. Any passerby would think they are working at one of Asia's many handicraft cooperatives. But these pursemakers are crafting their products at Apne Aap, an organization dedicated to ending sex trafficking.

Founded by prostitutes who wanted to end their own exploitation and prevent the trafficking of others, Apne Aap, which means self-help in Hindi, is a place filled with recovery and hope for young survivors of human trafficking -- many just 12 or 13 years old.

Apne Aap is one partner of The Emancipation Network (TEN), a U.S. nongovernmental organization (NGO). Singer-songwriter Sarah Symonds founded TEN in 2002 after viewing a film about human trafficking at a film festival in New York. Her interest in the problem sparked, she then visited another TEN partner, Maiti, in Nepal, to learn more about the issue.

In Nepal Symonds saw beautiful products handmade by trafficking survivors who did not have a local market. She took home hundreds of the items and sold them to friends and colleagues at small home "awareness gatherings" and sent the proceeds to Maiti.

 

The Emancipation Network helps women who are at-risk to be trafficked in Calcutta, India, by providing jobs. (The Emancipation Network)

From those gatherings a new idea was born: TEN's Made By Survivors program, which involves more partner trafficking prevention and recovery organizations in Nepal, India, Cambodia and Thailand.  The program purchases items made at these anti-trafficking organizations and sells them in the United States at awareness gatherings in homes, on college campuses, at churches and at meetings of community groups to people who want to do something positive to prevent trafficking and provide economic independence to women and youth at risk of being trafficked. Proceeds from sales go to each supplier organization.

Those who have been trafficking victims can reintegrate into the community, thanks to the skills gained and jobs provided by the program. A young woman’s earning power allows her to move forward in her life and garners respect from family and neighbors, who often blame the survivor for what happened to her.

"The girls are so proud to be making these handicrafts for The Emancipation Network. They never knew they had this talent inside them. So, in this way, your program is already a success," said Smarita Sengupta, Apne Aap’s program director.

Azgara (not her real name), a trafficking survivor at Apne Aap, said: "I wasn’t allowed to go to school, but my brother got to go. I used to be a shy person until I joined Apne Aap. I thought I had no value. But now I feel really smart. ... Girls need to be respected. They need to be independent. Only then will they be safe from trafficking and mistreatment."

Made By Survivors is giving a chance to the survivors of sex trafficking to recover and regain their self-respect and self-esteem.

More information about The Emancipation Network is available on its Web site.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)