Page 54 - 15FEB2019E

Community must help

trafficking survivors

With community-based rehabilitation plans, chances of survivors being able to reclaim
their rights and learn to recognise their purpose in life, are more, writes MALINI BHATTACHARYA

Girls in thousands go missing from traced and their repatriation arrange- ceives near her home is often sketch-
their homes in West Bengal every ments made. ily administered; many go without any
year. Of the 8,137 cases of human In a letter to the NCPCR, Utthan, a sex assessment of their mental health sta-
trafficking reported in the country trafficking survivors council from West tus. Despite receiving training, survivors
I in 2016, according to the NCRB, a to- Bengal highlighted this state of affairs, have been known to remain trapped in
tal of 3,579 cases were from West Bengal. saying, “even if one needs to be in the poverty, some return to sex work, or get
While existing measures to prevent traf- shelter home for any length of time, the trapped again in bonded labor arrange-
ficking are failing to contain incidences question that disturbs us is — are these ments. “Responsibility of shelter homes is
of the crime, the law enforcement sys- shelter homes really doing what they are not just to give them vocational trainings
tem has borne down hard on the illegal supposed to do, in terms of protection which are of no use to them once they
sex trade; the number of raids in red light and rehabilitation? When a woman or are out. Focus should also be on building
districts to rescue victims of traffick- a girl child is placed in the shelter home, their capacity…,” Utthan goes on to say in
ing has gone up in recent years. Conse- she expects it to provide her safety and the same letter.
quently, there have been more trafficker security unlike the place from where she It becomes apparent, then, that reha-
arrests — 1,847 in West Bengal in 2016 has come or rescued. On the contrary, bilitation efforts without a formulated
— although rates of conviction remain our states are funding homes which are reintegration goal comes with a pos-
abysmally low. nothing less than brothels…” sibility of frustration, and when we dis-
As more rescues happen, survivors The custodial model of rehabilitation cuss reintegration-focused strategies
of trafficking enter the early phases of that an overwhelming majority of stake- to help survivors embrace mainstream
their rehabilitation journey, into shelter holders in the sex trafficking survivor’s social living we must consider sustain-
homes. This is a critical time, when the recovery plan adopts insidiously strips able, inclusive solutions designed to
survivor’s trauma is at its peak and vul- the survivor of any role in outlining her empower rather than foster a class of
nerabilities are freshest. She needs help, own rehabilitation plan. Doctors, police, women whose enormous resilience and
and the authorities take this need seri- social workers, civil servants, lawmakers, potential to reclaim their lives are al-
ously. They take her “into custody” and and politicians consult each other (but lowed to be thwarted for lack of oppor-
take over her means to be the agent of not her) to decide what is best for her and tunity. Community-based rehabilitation
her own destiny. Shelter home environ- makes her rehabilitation decisions on models, distinct in character from custo-
ments are often charged with misogynist her behalf. For decades, this has involved dial ones, are outlined around principles
rhetoric and abuse, with sex trafficking post- repatriation healthcare and voca- that enable survivors (in this context, of
victims bearing the brunt of the worst tional training. sex trafficking) with knowledge of their
bullying — until their families can be The medical facility the survivor re- rights and the public services they are

TEHELKA / 15 FEBRUARY 2019 54 WWW.TEHELKA.COM

54-55 Malini.indd 2 2/1/2019 8:24:56 PM