Children at Risk / Anti Human Trafficking

Mumbai is the city of dreams, that can quickly turn to nightmare. The lady that brought teenaged cattle-herder Waheeda from Khatmandu to Mumbai told her she could earn good money doing domestic work. But she sold Waheeda to a brothel keeper instead. She was only 15.

Waheeda met Oasis India staff when they visited her brothel, she smiles when she remembers the Christmas party they invited her to. She has been in the trade for 26 years and was very relieved when she tested negative for HIV. She puts it down to asking her customers to use protection. She also teaches the other girls about HIV.

She hasn’t told her family how she earns her money, saying, ‘If I tell them they will die.’ They still think she is a domestic worker. Now she plans to pay her 'madam' some money so she can leave the trade and work elsewhere.

Read on to find out more about our projects working with children at risk and against human trafficking.

SACMEP

Human trafficking is the fastest growing form of international crime. Some trafficking groups are reportedly switching their cargo from drugs to humans in search of high profit at low risk.

We are developing an anti human trafficking initiative, the South Asia Centre for Missing and Exploited Persons, or SACMEP, which is aimed at preventing vulnerable women and children from being trafficked, prosecuting the traffickers and protecting those who have already become victims of this crime.

We are networking with other charities, the police and the government. In time we will develop more centres in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, providing an international surveillance and information network. In Bangalore we have written software to help the police find missing children by creating an online network between police stations across the state of Karnataka.

>>Read 'Walking Free' - Peter Stanley, STOP THE TRAFFIK

>>Read 'How To Combat Trafficking' - an interview with Ashley Varghese, Oasis India

>>Watch 'No Entry' - Featured at the UNODC GIFT Youth Conference, the video features a teenagers' effort in curbing human trafficking.

>>Read 'If You Love Someone, Set Them Free'

Aruna

Staff at our Aruna project visit brothels in Mumbai, making friends with girls who have been trafficked. They help them access healthcare and teach literacy and other skills at their drop in centre.

Aruna runs a halfway home for women who have left prostitution. Here they receive counseling, education and skills training. When the women are ready to leave and find work, our reintegration team is there to help and provide follow up support.

>>Read Farheen's story

>>Read 'A New Dawn'