INDO-NEPAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING POST EARTHQUAKE PERSPECTIVE; CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES Compiled by Dinbandhu Vats Edited by Ajay K. Jha Indo-Nepal Human Trafficking Post Earthquake Perspective; Concerns and Challenges Compiled by Dinbandhu Vats Edited by Ajay K. Jha Copyleft August 2015 Cover picture & layout by Rajneesh Shrivastava Published by PAIRVI, G-30, First Floor, Lajpat Nagar-III, New delhi - 110024 Contact: 011-29841266, 65151897 | email:
[email protected] website: www.pairvi.org s Nepal begins to recover from its deadliest disaster, the Acountry’s youngest survivors are now at a higher risk for another calamity of getting sold into the human trafficking trade. The two earthquakes that rocked Nepal on April 25 and May 12, 2015 killed over 8,500 people and caused extensive loss to swathes of countryside in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Bengal that borders Nepal.1 According to the Nepal government, the tiny Himalayan country stares at losses estimated at about 10 billion US dollar— nearly half of its gross domestic product of 19.64 billion US dollar.2 The United Nations estimates that 2.8 million people have been displaced after the earthquake and its aftershocks flattened their homes.3 Women have been disproportionately affected by disasters and the social breakdown that accompanies calamities has made them vulnerable to sexual abuse. Children need more than just material and physical relief after such an event. Confronted with scenes of destruction and death, many children have developed post-traumatic stress disorder. Left untreated, they could be prone to lasting psychological damage and emotional distress. Human trafficking is reportedly rising post earthquake along the India-Nepal border and unsuspecting Nepalese minors are being sold in various big cities of India under the pretext of providing jobs.4 Traffickers often pose as recruiters, offering non- existent jobs to desperate young women and girls, whose plight has become worse after the earthquake.