Background
The successful
reintegration of sexual trafficking survivors into Nepalese society is
challenging. This paper aims to explore the trafficking process, abuses faced
during sexual slavery,and the challenges faced by women and girl survivors for
successful reintegration.
Method
This exploratory study
used qualitative methods to identify that poverty, illiteracy, lack of
opportunities, and varied social stigma initiate the victimization process, and
continuity of this vicious circle increases the risk for (re)entrapment.
Result
The reasons for sexual
trafficking have also become the reasons for restricting survivors from
opportunities for growth and mainstreaming.
Conclusion
Non-existent support
systems, detachment from familial ties, being outcast by society, and an uncertain
livelihood make reintegration difficult for survivors.
...Period of sexual slavery
The lives of the survivors during
sexual slavery at the brothels speak of severe abuse. Arriving at a new place,
without any acquaintances, and being subjected to continuous sexual slavery
broke down the women. It was noted that the repeated physical violence and
unwilling monotony of being just an object of sexual gratification caused the
development of sudden suicidal tendencies in most of the trafficked survivors.
I landed in Hong
Kong in the evening and was immediately taken to a hotel. After reaching the
hotel, my passport was seized and then I was told that I had been sold for
prostitution. At times, I used to hide in the warehouse filled with shoes and
cover myself with the boxes. I felt that committing suicide was better than
selling my body.
The survivors are cut off from the
outside world and forced to live in conditions similar to a prison. The
captors, on the other hand, use all kinds of methods to continue the
enslavement of the trafficked; any documents of identification and money remaining
to the survivors were immediately seized, and their movements were always
monitored and restricted.
For three months, I
didn't know that I had already been sold. There were almost seventy women from
different countries in the building where I was kept. For three months, I kept
nursing four to five children and learning the language. At the end of the
three months, I was shifted to another room but in the same building. Since
then, I had to offer sexual services to six to seven men during a day. After
exactly a week, I thought of killing myself rather than living a life in hell.
The living room of the house was ornamented with spears and swords; I managed
to grab a spear and was determined to kill myself by plunging a spear in the
electric circuit box. I remember waking up at the hospital with bandages below
my waist. I stayed in the hospital for a month receiving treatments for my
injuries and burns. After being discharged from the hospital, I was taken to
the same house and kept under even stronger captivity on the twenty-fifth
floor. I decided to escape using a rope made out of curtains, bedsheets, wire
and quilt covers. I managed to reach the ground but my hands, knees, and legs
were hurt badly and I was bleeding profusely. I walked into the Nepalese
embassy, bleeding heavily with just a cloth wrapped around my body.
The survivors were subjected to
severe inhumane practices. The consequence of continued physical abuse and
repeated abortions also increase health risks. The survivors have to remain at the
mercy of their captors if they develop any known symptoms of diseases, and
spending money for health checkups does not fall in the priority list for these
captors.
After reaching
Lebanon, my passport was immediately seized and I started living as a prisoner
in a big house. Later on, I realized that I was in a house where I had to
sexually serve the owner and guests visiting the house. I found out that I had
been sold for $1000. I felt like killing myself when I had to sleep with the
drunken Arab men, but the constant thought of my child back home stopped me
from committing suicide. I got pregnant twice and both times I was taken to a
hospital for abortions. Later on, I was sent back to Nepal after two years with
nothing but a developing child in my womb...
1Department of Health and Caring Sciences,
Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
2Department of Community Medicine,
Kathmandu Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal
*Correspondence to: Pranab Dahal, Department of
Health and Caring Sciences, Linnaeus University, SE-391 82 Kalmar, Sweden,
Email:es.unl@lahad.banarp
Responsible Editor: Isabel Goicolea, Umeå University,
Sweden.
