Sunitha needs your attention....

Finally I found time to watch Sunitha Krishnan’s presentation on TED.

I did read about her much earlier in a magazine and other bloggers GVK and IHM have already mentioned about her TED presentation in their own blogs in a compelling manner. Yet, I felt that the least I could do was mention her in my own blog though she and the cause that she has taken up deserves much more attention.

Sunitha herself is a victim and she says that she could never remember the incident clearly but the anger she felt was very intense and it is always the anger part that she remembers. It is this anger that led her to act. In her blog she writes thus.. There was a time in my life when I used to think if I meet God on the road, I may just kill him/her with my bare hands.

It took time for the healing and she again writes thus: In that journey I also realized that God is not somebody I might meet on the road…he/she is everywhere, in me, around me and with me. And then I started feeling the God experience in this journey which not only touched the fragile soul of the child but also my angry soul.

She starts the presentation with the story of three children who were rescued after being raped brutally.

In her presentation she neither moralises nor offers a solution. I think in her struggle she has realized that the task is very difficult and would remain so since the world where we live is a very complex one.

We as a society have justified prostitution in our own way. Let me jot down some of them.

- It is age old and it has been there and will always be there. (Men hunted animals for food, rubbed stones to get fire but does not do it anymore .. they evolved out of it.) For many this is the only business they want to do since the return is high. An article in the New York Times in February 2008 stated that officials estimate that sexual transactions in Amsterdam (where prostitution is legalized) account for about 100 million US dollars per year. The demand is high and hence the supply will be maintained. I am not sure if the demand earlier was for children as young as 3 years and if not, then either the demand has increased out of control or the supply has dwindled.... or our society has become much perverse. (Sunitha has rescued both boys and girls)

- If prostitutes are not there in a society then the rest of the women will be affected. It means to say that me or you are able to walk free in this society since the needs of a section of the society are being taken care of by these unfortunates and that we should just forget the fact it includes children too. One should also ignore the fact that these children and some others were never given a choice.

-Men and women are built differently and men just cannot control themselves as much as the women. Since I am from the female category maybe it is not like the urge to eat a chocolate or to purchase the beautiful set of jewelry on display. But then it discredits men (still in majority?) who has a control over these urges.

I am not sure if there is a real solution to this malady although some say that legalizing this trade could make it safer. But then statistics especially in Netherlands which legalized in 2000 tells otherwise.

In the Netherlands, women in prostitution point out that legalization or decriminalization of the sex industry cannot erase the stigma of prostitution but, instead, makes women more vulnerable to abuse because they must register and lose anonymity.

Thus, the majority of women in prostitution still choose to operate illegally and underground.

Legalizing this trade may help only those who seek the service but not the ones who are required to do this service. It may give those seeking it, protection and dignity in the society but not to the ones who are offering the service. Those seeking the service may still have a heart attack if he finds out that his sister, daughter or wife is also offering this service.

Legalizing prostitution or adultery may also help in cases such as the current "hot news" haunting the Congress party in Kerala. They know not what action to take since they fear they themselves may not come clean.

As for child trafficking/prostitutes the story in Netherlands is also not different.

Another argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that it would help end child prostitution. In reality, however, child prostitution in the Netherlands has increased dramatically during the 1990s. The Amsterdam-based ChildRight organization estimates that the number has gone from 4,000 children in 1996 to 15,000 in 2001. The group estimates that at least 5,000 of the children in prostitution are from other countries, with a large segment being Nigerian girls (Tiggeloven: 2001).

We may not be able to do much but our apathy and our attitude to the victims have to change. We cannot also close our eyes to what is happening around. Sunitha herself was ostracized from the society for two years when she was just a victim. At a time when she deserved all help from the society, it turned against her. Later when she tried helping other victims she was yet again targeted and bullied. (She lost the sense of hearing in one ear and one of her staff was killed during a rescue operation0

A few more links...

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/netherl.htm
http://www.unesco.org/courier/1998_12/uk/ethique/txt1.htm#e1

Trafficking for another reason..

Women in India are now being trafficked for baby boys! says UN...

Punjab and Haryana continue to exploit the girl child. A new United Nations report released on Wednesday reveals that girls and women are not only trafficked to these two states to improve the skewed sex ratio but also, and mainly, to bear male children. Once they give birth to a boy, they are usually sexually exploited and either abandoned or passed on to another man.

So far, it was believed that poor women from Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, were being trafficked to Punjab and Haryana to fill in the shortage of women for marriage. Now, the study conducted by the UNDP reveals that women are mostly trafficked to bear male children. “The woman is either abandoned or passed on to another man after the birth of the male child,” the study — covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal — says.

Human Trafficking

Recently many of the Gulf Countries were black listed for Human Trafficking. Wikepedia, gives the following explanation for the same.

Trafficking of human beings is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. Trafficking involves a process of using illicit means such as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability.

Exploitation includes forcing people into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. For children exploitation may include also, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for begging or for sports (such as child camel jockeys or football players).[1]

UN has recommended certain principles and guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking.

Well, this is a fact and we see them around daily. Most of them are from Bangladesh and their monthly wage can start from a mere KD 10/- (35 USD). There isn’t anything much one can do with this money. And most of them would have paid 1-2 Lakh(1500USD) Bangladeshi Taka to secure a Visa! Which means they are bonded for life if they wish to repay this amount. One can see them as scavengers, looking for pepsi cans, bottles etc. to be sold to the recycling companies. If they are not doing this they could be seen selling CD’s, Vegetables and fish. In this process, they are often rounded up by the Municipal authoriites or even by the locals. I myself witnessed a Bangladeshi being manhandled while selling CD's. After the manhandling all his Cd's were taken away by the local youth! But during the process, this over zealous guy was shouting that it is "aram" for he is selling porn and ruining the youth!

And yes, some run brothels and even act as spies for the local police.

As they say, sometimes we let ourselves be abused, and this has happened in these Gulf countries too.

One cannot blame just the local government alone. Neither the Indian government nor the Bangladesh government are serious in controlling this menace. In this case the Philippine Embassy is the strongest and they have taken all the measures to help their citizens. As for Indians, they are well aware of the situation in the Gulf, but are still willing to take the risk. Either they are too frustrated back home or they are highly optimistic! Most of the recruitment offices are run by expatriates and hence they are the masters and the teachers of this game. For construction jobs the if the Ministry is paying 150 KD for the labourers, the sub contractor will pocket a good percentage and pay the workers a miniscule amount. Even if they are provided accommodation, the same will be cramped and horrible.