NEPAL
RAPE FOR PROFIT
Trafficking of
Nepali Girls and Women to India’s Brothels
Hundreds of thousands of women and children are employed in Indian
brothels—many of them lured or kidnapped from Nepal and sold into conditions
of virtual slavery. The victims of this international trafficking network
routinely suffer serious physical abuse, including rape, beatings, arbitrary
imprisonment and exposure to AIDS. Held in debt bondage for years at a
time, these women and girls work under constant surveillance. Escape is
virtually impossible. Both the Indian and Nepali governments are complicit
in the abuses suffered by trafficking victims. These abuses are not only
violations of internationally recognized human rights but are specifically
prohibited under the domestic laws of both countries. The willingness of
Indian and Nepali government officials to tolerate, and, in some cases,
participate in the burgeoning flesh trade exacerbates abuse. Even when
traffickers have been identified, there have been few arrests and fewer
prosecutions. Rape for Profit focuses on the trafficking of girls
and women from Nepal to brothels in Bombay, where they compose up to half
of the city’s estimated 100,000 brothel workers.
(155X) 6/95, 96 pp., ISBN 1-56432-155-X, $7.00/£5.95
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