TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

Box 3.1 Key issues and concerns
Key issues
Loss of houses
Destruction of school
Health and hygiene
Description
‘Our houses have been destroyed’
‘We are living in a tent and cannot sleep at night’
‘We have no space or privacy’
‘Our shelter cannot stand up to the storms’
‘We do not know when we will have a new house’
‘We cannot go back to school’
‘We are scared to go back to school’
‘Our school materials have been destroyed’
‘We are finding it difficult to study’
‘We do not have safe drinking water’
‘Toilets have been destroyed’
‘We are getting sick’
‘We do not have access to health care’
Source: summarized from the study of Plan Nepal, Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision (2015)
The study established the impact of earthquake on children’s wellbeing, protection and future.
Children are basically found to be: i) in grief and sadness at deaths of family members, friends and
acquaintances; ii) they have strong feelings of loss, fear and other psychosocial impacts of the
damage and destruction; iii) they also reported that their domestic and other chores increased; iv)
concerns about not having adequate food and v) concerns about increased risks of abuse and
exploitation were also raised.
Children, especially girls reported that they are afraid of abuse and exploitation at the tents. This is
because they are sharing shelters with extended families and community people. In several FGDs,
the study team found that children were increasingly feeling vulnerability to sexual abuse,
harassment and trafficking. For example, ‘in Bhaktapur girls referred to being touched and having to
sit on the laps of drunken men; in Gorkha, girls referred to being pinched and sexually harassed in
their tents; and in Nuwakot some girls reported that their names had been put on lists for Indian
schools and that they were afraid of being trafficked’. The feeling of insecurity can be generalized
from the following three children’s feeling:
“Living under the sky increases our exposure to abuse.”
– girl aged 16, Sindhupalchok
“I don't like it when the adult men in the tent touch our cheeks.”
– girl aged 8-12, Ramechhap
“We should give priority to stop child trafficking and rape of those who are living in tents.”
– girl aged 16-18, Sindhuli
The study findings showed that the key priority and expectation for future for the children in postearthquake
scenarios are i) having an earthquake protected home; ii) getting back to school; iii)
access to clean water, sanitation and health care and iv) protection from all types of abuse, violence,
exploitation and trafficking.
3.4 Evidences of Trafficking of Women and Children after the Earthquakes
Records of Nepal Police indicate that a total of 1,233 women and children were reported to be
missing after the earthquake of April 25, 2015 to the end of September 2015 from across the
country (Table 3.9). Among the recorded missing persons, a large majority are females (82%) while
rest 18 percent are males. By age groups, 35 percent are children while the rest 65 percent were
adult women. The highest percent of the missing children and women recorded is in Kathmandu
valley (28%), followed by Pokhara (26%).
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