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

A Rapid Assessment
III. Processes of Trafficking
3.1 The Magnitude
of Child Trafficking
“The study of child trafficking is risky. The
previous attitudes and the present problem
are different. Previously it was the problem of
our ethnic group (Tamang) of Nuwakot and
Sindhupalchowk. Now it is the problem
throughout Nepal, and of all the castes and
communities. The concept was that those
trafficked are Tamangs and from the villages,
but it is now in the cities also. Not only
females are trafficked but males too. Previously
trafficking was largely in India but now
trafficking takes place within the country,
into India and other countries,” says a
Sindhupalchowk social worker.
Estimating the incidence of child trafficking is
risky business. Yet it is essential to make a rough estimate
of the number of young girls who are trafficked
for commercial exploitation each year. The information
collected during the Rapid Assessment fieldwork
provides some clues to help determine the incidence
of children trafficked in one year.
Important information was collected in a small-scale
survey conducted by a local NGO, Society Protection Youth
Club, in Ichowk VDC of Sindhupalchowk District. Although
the area covered is limited to only four wards, the results
seem quite reliable in view of the team composition and the
intensive work done during the study 1 . In the four wards
studied, 61 households (20 %) were affected. During a period
of four years, 73 children were trafficked from the affected
households. This translates to an average of five children
trafficked from each Village Development Committee
in the 26 most trafficking-prone districts each year.
Useful information was also collected from
“Helpline”— a local NGO in Gongabu Bus Park. Within
a single year, this NGO rescued 48 girls who were about
to be trafficked. The practice of trafficking seems to also
extend to eleven districts that are not listed among the
26 trafficking-prone districts identified by the Ministry
of Women, Children and Social Welfare 2 . These districts
are Tanahun, Surkhet, Kapilbastu, Rautahat, Bara,
Tehrathum, Okhaldhunga, Bardia, Lamjung, Bhojpur
and Jumla.
Finally, one hundred vulnerable households (the
same as the 100 vulnerable girls mentioned on page
13), were interviewed during the RA fieldwork, partly
to investigate the number of girls trafficked from the
respective villages during the previous year. In addition
to the results from the NGO Helpline above, this
survey data revealed that 53 girls were trafficked from
eleven VDCs and three girls were trafficked from 38
households in three municipalities. This information
also indicated that the average flow of trafficked girls
in one year from one VDC in the 26 most traffickingprone
districts is roughly five girls.
Assuming that an average of five girls are trafficked
each year from VDCs in the 26 most trafficking-prone
districts; and that half that number (2.5 girls)
are trafficked from VDCs in the eleven additional trafficking-prone
districts identified; and that an average
of one girl is trafficked from 38 households in three
municipalities, an estimated 12,000 children are trafficked
every year from Nepal.
Due to the scant information and broad nature
of the assumptions, the figure must be read with caution.
It is obvious that more research is needed. Yet
clearly the use of local data and alternative means of
data gathering can be of great value when estimating
the incidence of trafficking in Nepal.
3.2 Historical Aspects of Trafficking
The history of trafficking in Nepal is yet to be
written. However, local history indicates that trafficking
has been associated with poverty, social exclusion
and ignorance, but associated with the practice
of slavery and the bonded labour system. Understanding
specific contemporary processes of trafficking in
Nepal necessitates in-depth knowledge of the historical
processes of trafficking – and much more attention
than the scant historical aspects recounted in the
following paragraphs.
The origin of trafficking in Sindhupalchowk and
Nuwakot Districts is associated with the historical
relationship between the ruling Hindu castes of
Kathmandu and the indigenous Tamang communities
in the surrounding area. Historically, the Tamangs
were socially deprived, economically exploited and
politically excluded. The ruling class kept young
Tamang concubines in their palaces and mansions.
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