Nepal Trafficking in Girls With Special Reference to Prostitution: A ...

A Rapid Assessment
The individual questionnaire did not cover the
whole story of trafficked girls. Every girl has different
stories of trafficking, and in most instances case
histories proved much more effective in capturing the
many facets of trafficking. A related problem is the
extreme bias of key informants. Key informants of
NGOs tended to exaggerate the problem. Police officials
would tell us stories of heroic police work in
controlling trafficking. VDC representatives would
pretend that the VDC was well aware of and concerned
about trafficking in the locality. Some seemed sincere,
but others were not.
2.6 Ethical Issues and Informed Consent
The fact that children possess much less power
than adults compounds the inherent power relations
during research. Thus, utmost care was taken to ensure
that respondents were participating of their own
free will, and that the rights of the child were fully
respected in the research process. Trafficked girls are
not simply victims of unfortunate situations, but are
also competent and capable individuals, whose integrity,
morals and safety must not be compromised in
the name of research.
Still, asking respondents about their personal
experiences and lives proved to be an ethical issue of
considerable dimensions. Some re-established girls are
happily married with two or three children, and do
not want to remember the past. In the case of girls
who have been reintegrated into their families, the traffickers
may have been close relatives.
Throughout the various stages of the research
and in particular in preparation for each individual
interview, utmost care was taken to avoid unnecessary
risks. The help of local NGOs and key informants
proved extremely valuable in deciding whether or not
to approach a respondent and/or her family. Further-
more, before filling out the questionnaire, the interviewee
was briefed thoroughly on the content and
scope of the research, and only then asked for consent.
The respondents were also made fully aware of
their right to confidentiality as well as of their right to
decline, i.e. that he/she could say no at any time during
the interview.
A related ethical issue is that a number of the
respondents and especially girls intercepted in the process
of trafficking would tell one story at first and
would then tell another story in a repeat interview.
Girls engaged in prostitution in Nepalgunj were reluctant
to tell their names and their caste/ethnic identities
due to fear of police brutality if it became known
that they were of higher castes. Apart from police brutality
and the fear of exposure, there are many reasons
why such girls lie, and this made it very difficult
to build rapport with trafficked girls within the short
period designated for field research.
The research team continuously resisted requests
for compensation or promises. When interviewing
trafficked girls, no problems of this kind emerged.
Yet some key informants and representatives of government
or non-government organizations expected
and/or requested compensation in exchange for their
time. Mentioning that ILO was sponsoring the research
proved helpful in some cases. The researchers explained
to key informants that the research would not
necessarily result in implementation of programmes
in their areas.
Leading NGOs accused the research team of violating
the human rights of the trafficked girls, voicing
particular objections to the section of the questionnaire
relating to working conditions in Indian brothels.
However, the respondents themselves voluntarily
provided such information. In presenting their stories,
pseudonyms have been used to ensure confidentiality.
1 In other words, one might conclude that the stories of the girls in the
rehabilitation centres are so in demand that they now have a market value.
2 In general, local level NGOs were extremely helpful. One such was the
youth club formed by local people in Ichowk of Sindhupalchowk District, where one
third of the Tamang households are reported to be affected by trafficking.
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