k kk k
www.facebook.com/asianaid
notes from the field
Asian Aid
to be vulnerable
June 2013 // Issue 4
Stories and Photos by Joshua Moses Š 2013 Asian Aid Australia.
A day spent with Asian Aid partner, Oasis India, on an Anti Human Trafficking Raid
2013 | issue 4
morning k It’s an early start for me, at least am earlier than normal. 4.15am wake-upcall to meet the Oasis team at 5.15am, and make our way to Hindupur, a small city just inside the state of Andhra Pradesh.
textiles through bonded labour, is also known for operating as an informal brothel, where the young girls enlisted are forced to undergo severe sexual harassment and abuse while working and living onsite.
The Oasis team has invited me on a ‘raid’ to intercept a group of children who are being trafficked to a remote textile factory in Tirpur, two states south in Tamil Nadu. I’m told that once the children arrive at the factory they are unknowingly bonded and forced to work off an insurmountable “debt”, with the lucid promise that if they can repay it, they can earn their freedom.
A member of the Oasis team tells me that this form of trafficking, where victims are utilised for multiple purposes in addition to forced prostitution, is becoming more popular throughout India. He says it is a far more difficult process to work against, as many of the children and their parents agree to go willingly to these factories as a way out of their impoverished circumstances.
4:15
The factory, although used for the production of
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
kk k
Three Oasis Field staff use am Islamic Burkas as disguise for the interception, as three other field staff board a bus to go from Hindupur to Pavagada, the victims’ home town.
9:00
When the bus leaves, Oasis India’s Executive Director Anita Kanaiya and I find a place to rest and wait to find out where the interception will take place. While watching the local villagers come to collect water for their day’s activities, Anita explains that as a rural villager, when you have no alternative source of income [heavy drought in recent years has depleted the local farming industry], forcing you each day to spend hours fulfilling simple tasks just to support your
family [like collecting drinking water], why would you say no to the promise of a stable income through work at a factory?
“Desperation and lack of understanding are the vices traffickers use in order to manipulate villagers into willingly signing up for these factory jobs,” she says. “Following the rescues we conduct, we go back to the villages and towns that are targeted to educate those communities on what exactly they have been rescued from.”
2013 | issue 4
afternoon k
The informant rings to say that pm there is a car full of underage girls preparing to leave the village with one of the head traffickers. We get ready to write down the vehicles’ license plate numbers as they will soon be en route to the bus station.
1:00
We hear that the traffickers have changed their plans. The informant has sent news that they are now going to go direct by bus to Tirpur, rather than stopping at Hindupur Train Station, where we, along with local police, had planned to intercept.
2:40pm
www.facebook.com/asianaid
The phone calls have increased in pm frequency, as have the concerned tones of the Oasis field staff and the informants relaying the traffickers’ every move.
3:20
The informant rings again, saying that 45 children are currently being transported by bus, and that an additional SUV is believed to be carrying between 12 and 14 girls, all minors. The traffickers driving the bus and SUV are now planning to drive straight through Hindupur, bypassing the local police, bound for the factory in Tirpur. The bus and the SUV have left the village at
www.asianaid.org.au
kk k
different times. This raises concern for the Oasis team. If they choose to intercept one before they have located the other, they could tip off the other to change routes. Anita and the police confer as to what their next move will be.
with Tamil Nadu identification will be very small, meaning the Oasis team has now narrowed down their pool of potential vehicles. We now head north to the town from where the traffickers have left, hoping that we will cross paths along the way.
We’ve now been informed of the pm license plate numbers for both the bus and the SUV. In India all license plates include a state abbreviation. The informant says both vehicles are sporting Tamil Nadu identification. This is the state where the factory is located. As the operation is currently being conducted in Karnataka, the number of vehicles
5:00
2013 | issue 4
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
kk k 2013 | issue 4
evening k
5:55pm
The bus and the SUV have both been intercepted during a high-speed chase. When we arrived on the scene I boarded the bus and the SUV to obtain photo documentation of all the children on board, as evidence.
We discover that the bus [men, women, and children] is full of villagers who have been promised work in the Tirpur factory. The majority of minors on board are teenage girls, but there are also a small number of teenage boys, a handful of older men, and fewer older women.
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
kk k
We are now on our way back to Pavagada, the small village from where the majority of people have been taken. The Pavagada Police and Anita conduct interviews with the traffickers and the children on board the bus and the SUV. I am allowed to film interviews with four of the trafficked girls, but not to film the interrogation of the traffickers.
7:00pm
The Oasis team have been negotiating with the local police for hours now, as to whether this truly was a case of trafficking. Anita, Oasis Team Leader, and Mr Sathya, another Oasis staff member, insist the traffickers should be arrested for transporting minors to a factory known for its operations in bonded labour. The police however are finding it difficult to process this as a case of trafficking since the parents of the older children have consented. The minors are excluded. This kind of ‘reception’ is unfortunately common in cases of trafficking in rural communities. Local police in many remote towns/cities try to avoid the due process required to see these cases through, particularly if traffickers are able and willing to pay bribes to see the charges dropped. As Anita and Sathya continue to defend the rights of children against forced labour, I get to reflect on the stories of the young girls who believed the opportunity of ‘work’ at the Tirpur factory was the best option.
One of the girls interviewed said her father had passed away. In rural villages, it is often very challenging for widows to continue providing for their families. Widows are often forced to find menial work and in many cases require the assistance of their children to work alongside them to ensure the survival of the family. No wonder offers of ‘work’ can be so well-accepted.
2013 | issue 4
night k
We begin to drive away from the Pavagada police station, homeward bound. The children, whose parents were able to collect them from the police station, were able to go home for am the night. Older children, who could prove their identity, left too. Some of the minors have to stay at the CWC (Child Welfare Committee) Office until their guardians come. The case has been filed and it will require further documentation and political ‘massaging’ to ensure it is processed effectively. Further negotiations will continue tomorrow.
12:30
We have been awake for over 20 hours. Everyone is tired and hungry. I am home, and after a quick 40-min snooze, I have to prepare the footage and photos for am the local news teams to run this evening. The story is to be played on a national Indian new channel at 7pm tonight and a short recap to be featured on a few state news channels, newspapers, and websites.
5:30
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
kk k
It’s my first real encounter with human trafficking, and I have learned a lesson or two.
I have seen just how efficient traffickers are at coordinating and managing the ‘flesh’ industry. I have learned that upholding the rights of vulnerable people requires a higher level of determination and courage. I have seen that human trafficking is often a by-product of extreme need and poverty, but also a result of lack of knowledge and understanding. Collectively, we can do something about both of these things. I have learned that counteracting the ‘flesh trade’ in India requires a lot of resources and funding. But I have also learned that as long as people like Anita and organisations like Oasis can count on the support of aid agencies like Australia’s Asian Aid, change is possible. Yesterday, 42 children were rescued.
2013 | issue 4
“
kk k
If we are to teach real - Aryton peaceSenna in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children.
”
mahatma gandhi
hang out, see what’s new and share a thought with us at...
www.facebook.com/asianaid