The French humanitarian association Planète Enfants, active in Nepal since 1998 in defending the rights of women and children, opened on  ist October's first center for prevention against trafficking in women in the border with India, in Nepalgunj, on the road to New Delhi. An estimated 15,000 Nepalese women, aged 13 to 20 years, having left their country with the hope of finding a work are found each year in the hands of traffickers : they are sold in brothels where they have become prostitutes to repay their debt. The center opened Planet Kids aims to fight against this phenomenon. It employs four advisers to inform applicants economic migration of hazards and precautions to take (have papers as a rule, contacts with Indian associations, etc.).. Two

workers social care for those most in difficulty (battered women, abused or without money). Finally, the center also provides radio broadcasts for wide dissemination of the message of prevention. Among the ten poorest countries in the world, Nepal is now victim of a major economic crisis. It has caused the soaring prices agricultural raw materials, floods due to global warming (260 000 refugees in the past two months) and political instability born ten years war between royalists and Maoists. Result: trafficking of women is in full expansion. "Prevention is the most effective way to fight against this scourge" Stephanie said Selle, director of programs, "because it is very hard to help women reintegrate once they are prostitutes." The center was funded by a price of 150 000 dollars awarded in April by the funds from Arab Gulf countries, AGFUND (Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations), under the auspices of the United Nations. Since its inception in 1992, Planet Kids, sponsored by the actor Gérard Klein has distinguished by its exemplary management which enabled him to win numerous price for its actions, including: • 1998: prix des Droits de l'homme de la République française • 2003: price of the initiative of AGFUND • 2007: Special Mention of the High Council for International Cooperation to support women victims of domestic violence • 2008: first prize for "innovative projects in the fight against trafficking" of AGFUND. In ten years, Planet Child feels sensitized 1.5 million Nepalese .

Tags: fight against trafficking, trafficking in women

Posted on: March 12, 2009

Filed under: Human Rights