Rehabilitating the trafficked still a weak link in trust chain

Sadly, legal loopholes see only one in 10 girls getting reintegrated in a year

I dream of earning a decent living
I wish I didn't have bars on my windows
I dream of having good dreams at night

These are some of the many dreams of sex trafficking survivors in Mumbai-based Rescue Foundation's shelter home. These might seem attainable to the average person on the street. However, activists, community-based organisations working on rural health and survivors themselves believe that given the state of the present law - and the lacunae in the draft Bill on Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) to be tabled in Parliament later this year - these dreams stand no chance of becoming a reality.

Although the draft Bill states that every survivor has the right to be rehabilitated, it is vague on the details. "It specifies neither the responsible agency, nor any budgetary allocation for rehabilitation," says Triveni Balkrishna Acharya of Rescue Foundation. It doesn't seem much of an improvement on the present system, which practically re-victimises survivors of trafficking by forcing them to spend between one and three years in government-appointed shelter homes, where they are given counselling and vocational training. Many women, who have lived in these homes, attest to the fact that they are jail-like and not particularly conducive to their rehabilitation.

"I wasted one whole year of my life being 'rehabilitated'," says Kamini, aged 20. Until last year, when she danced in a Mumbai bar, she often got up to Rs 35,000 in tips in a single evening, even though none of the money ever came to her. "When I ran away from there and was directed by the court to spend a year in a shelter home, I was expected to learn tailoring and artificial jewellery making to earn a 'decent' living in the outside world," she says. Instead, when she wanted to train as a journalist, it took the shelter home months of cutting through red tape to grant her permission to do so.

At Rescue Foundation's home in Kandivali, Mumbai, a handful of lucky inmates have been chosen to undergo hotel management training. They will have to be escorted to and from the hotels where they will be trained by the Foundation's staff. "But, at least it gives me a chance to acquire a skill that gives me the chance of a decent livelihood when I am finally repatriated home," says Drishti, an 18-year-old trafficking survivor from Bangladesh.

The rest, however, face an uncertain future. Take the case of Swaroopa, who has been granted permission by the court to return home but is waiting to be accorded a police escort. She is desperate to return to her village in West Bengal, as her son is alone there, being looked after by her neighbours. During this waiting period, she is earning what she can by working in the shelter home's kitchen. "I worry about how I will earn a living once I return home," she says. "I don't think there is much scope for an inexperienced tailor back in my village." Acharya is quick to acknowledge the loopholes in the system, stating that at present, barely one in 10 girls is rehabilitated successfully every year. Researchers and activists argue that to be successful, rehabilitation of survivors has to be compassionate, long-term and, if possible, in their own milieus. "At present, the understanding is that once a girl is rescued, kept in a shelter home for a court-specified period of time and then returned to her family, she has been duly rehabilitated," says Roop Sen of Kolkata-based Sanjog, a technical resource organisation working on children and women's rights, who has helped draft this Bill. "But it is not as easy as that." Studies conducted by Sanjog on the experiences of sex trafficking survivors after they return to the family fold suggest that many are worse off than they were in their pre-trafficked condition, highlighting the poor impact of their supposed rehabilitation. "When these girls return to their families, they face stigma, adjustment issues, low self-esteem and the same grinding poverty that drove them into the hands of traffickers in the first place," he says.

In fact, Sen and co-author Uma Chatterjee's report Bringing It All Back Home finds that 85 per cent of survivors suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dysthymia (depression stemming from untreated PTSD) years after rescue and supposed rehabilitation. "It is imperative for the law to focus on long-term and non-institutional care for trafficked survivors," Sen adds.

Meanwhile, out of the shelter home, Kamini is living in the home of a fellow journalist. She is experiencing a normal family life for the first time, since it was her father who had auctioned her at the age of 14 to her grandmother's brothel originally. She has learnt to design pages but is happiest when covering Bollywood events. "It feels great to meet film stars as a journalist - and remember that I once danced in a bar to their hit songs," she says. "I wish other girls were as lucky as me."
PUTTING THE RIGHT BACK INTO RIGHTS
Toolkit to combat trafficking

• A safe, secure environment
• Opportunities for social, personal and economic development
• A framework to ensure continued physical and mental well-being
• Emotional, social support over a period of time