Plan works to end child trafficking in Nepal
Photo courtesy of Plan staff.
Every year, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Nepalese children are trafficked – transported across borders and sold like commodities for the purpose of exploitation.
Lured by offers of schooling and the promise of making money, children are forced to work in brothels, mines and sweat shops. They work excessively long hours and routinely face violence, intimidation, sexual assault and other maltreatment by overseers. Few receive any wages.
Nepali girls are especially vulnerable. The trafficking of girls for prostitution is currently a multi-billion dollar industry in Nepal, where an estimated 200,000 girls are believed to be victims of the "trade" across the border.
What is Plan doing?
Plan has been actively working in Nepal to fight child trafficking with the support of local government agencies, teachers, social workers and community groups. Plan's programs focus on increasing community awareness of the dangers of trafficking, rescuing victims, ensuring rehabilitation and healthcare, and providing education and life-skills training.
Over the last year, Plan operated centers for the Better Life Option Program (BLOP) in Nepal, educating thousands of adolescents about trafficking and children’s rights. BLOP training was provided to facilitators to teach and empower members of their community to identify and minimize trafficking and sexual exploitation cases in their areas.
Surveillance groups were formed to identify and resolve community problems, and make members aware of the process, causes, methods and channels of trafficking. Workshops, orientations, information booths and street drama have also been successful in educating Nepali people about trafficking risks, safe migration practices, and safe foreign employment.
Plan has provided counseling, shelter, educational support and vocational training to vulnerable youth and trafficking survivors. Children that are not in school have been indentified and encouraged to rejoin. Plan Nepal also implemented a project for the rescue and rehabilitation of children working in hazardous conditions, such as stone quarries and brick kilns, which are considered some of the worst forms of child labor.
At the national level, Plan entered into agreements with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare to work on the issue of child trafficking, the Ministry of Local Development for birth registration, and the Department of Education for early childhood care and development and school construction. A Plan funded project called FACT is also ongoing in Nepal to review and reformulate the national plan of action for anti-human trafficking.
What can you do?
Join us in the fight to stop child trafficking. With your support we can help give children, families and communities in coutries like Nepal the services they need to fight child trafficking.
