Forum 'of, for and by' survivors of human trafficking launched

Nasreen (name changed) was 15 years old when she was trafficked to Mumbai and pushed into sex trade.

After spending four months in a brothel, she managed to escape and since then, has been working towards ensuring that no other woman experiences the hell that she went through.

"When I was rescued, I was so traumatised that I could not even remember my name. Every time my name was asked, I would look at the social worker for help. That was my condition," Nasreen, who is 21 now, said.

Saman (name changed) was lured to Delhi from Jharkhand on the promise of getting her a job, but after getting employed as a domestic help here, she was made to starve and also verbally abused.

She managed to escape from the clutches of her employer and reached out to social workers, who helped in rescuing her.

"We are rebuilding our lives and want to be considered as key stakeholders in the decision-making process as regards human trafficking. For long, decisions have been made without consulting us or understanding our life experiences. We wish to play a participatory role in policy formulation, since these laws and policies are about us and they cannot be without us -- our voices and participation," Saman said.

Nasreen and Saman said they were among the over 2,500 survivors of human trafficking who came together to launch a forum that was "of, for and by" such people -- the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT).

The ILFAT said these survivors had fought different forms of trafficking-forced and bonded labour ranging from sex trafficking, begging, being child brides, domestic servitude, to working in brick kilns and bangle factories and had joined forces to develop a coordinated strategy for bringing significant changes at the national level through policy alteration, education and empowerment.

The survivors hailing from different collectives -- Utthan, Bandhan Mukti, Vimukthi, Bijoyini (all from West Bengal), Odisha Migrant Labour Association (Odisha), Jan Jagran Mazdoor Adhikar Manch (Chhattisgarh), Azad Shakti Abhiyan (Uttar Pradesh) and Bihaan Samuha (Jharkhand) -- had a common mission to combat human trafficking and improve access to justice for those who were trafficked, the ILFAT said in a statement released after the launch of the organisation.