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Terre des hommes Foundation deserves congratulations for
bringing out this Handbook for decision-makers on “Trafficking and
Exploitation in the Entertainment and Sex Industries in Nepal”. The
Handbook provides the profile of the entertainment and sex industries
and the trafficking of women and children. As it brings out the
perspective of respective stakeholders, we hope the document can
contribute as technical reference for decision-makers for handling
the challenges on the respective issues.
This Handbook forces us to look harder and closer at the existing
problem of human trafficking and exploitation in our own country.
It reveals that the extent of exploitation that the women and children
endure in the cabin restaurants and massage parlours and even in
the guest houses is serious both in terms of internal and external
trafficking of women and children. Talking about the impact of the
entertainment and sex industry the Handbook says that a decade
ago, Nepal had not faced serious exploitation of women and children
due to internal trafficking. Much concern has been raised about
external trafficking of women and children to India. The times have
changed. The country faces the problem of trafficking of women and
children to India and beyond, together with the problem of internal
trafficking. In the context of the depth of the problem, internal
trafficking also needs serious efforts for making entertainment industry
a dignified sector of the industry. The human rights of this vulnerable
population need to be protected. The enactment of the comprehensive
“Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act 2064” has
2010 Terre des hommes www.tdh.ch 6
Preface by the Special Rapporteur
VICTIMS ARE CLOSER TO US THAN THEY APPEAR
presented Nepal as a model country in South Asia; a country in
which human trafficking has been acknowledged and in which there
are strong legal provisions to address it. Most significantly, the inclusion
of the issue of internal trafficking in this Act ensures safeguarding
the rights of the trafficked survivors and the prosecution of the
perpetrators. Now the time has come for us to realize this in
practice.
As a priority, let us make concerted efforts to ensure that the rights
of the Nepali children are realized, as endowed by the Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - the convention that we have
ratified two decades ago. Thus, it is our legal and moral obligation
to bring back the stolen childhood of these children, and the people
who have vision and power to change the scenario is you, the
decision-makers.
It is right time for all decision-makers: civil society leaders, Constituent
Assembly members, government officials, journalists, diplomats,
opinion leaders and also parents of the children and children
themselves to take the decision now, so that no children are subjected
to commercial sexual exploitation and abuse in the name of
“entertainment”. And no adult is trafficked to and exploited in the
entertainment industry.
Ms. Padma Mathema
Special Rapporteur
National Human Rights Commission