40% of the Sex Workers adolescents and children

Some as young as 9 years old  Dasra’s ‘Zero Traffick’ Report : 

March 3 - International Sex Worker Day

Dasra, India’s leading strategic philanthropy foundation, The Hummingbird Trust and Kamonohashi Project launch “Zero Traffick”, a report on sex trafficking in India.

Despite increasing public outcry about violence against women in India, systematic large scale abuse in the name of commercial sex work remains socially acceptable. The report aims to draw attention to the growing victimization of women, highlights high impact non profits working on the issue and the outlines the role of philanthropy in scaling their efforts.

Speaking at the international launch of the report at Trust Law Conference in London last week, Clare Mathias, Chair of the Board, The Hummingbird Trust, said “Amongst other reasons, economic disparities and discriminatory cultural practices make young women and children particularly vulnerable to being trafficked. It is important we tackle these issues at source areas”.

Over the last six months, Dasra’s team worked closely with the report sponsors to follow a comprehensive diligence process. They engaged with sector experts, reviewed over 80 non profit organizations in key source and destination areas of West Bengal and Maharashtra and identified the top 13 non profit organizations with the most potential to create sustainable impact.

Talking about the need for non profits, policymakers and philanthropists to work together, Keisuke Motoki, co-founder of Kamonohashi Project, said, "We took the integrated approach in Cambodia to eliminate minor sex trafficking; establishing a community factory in a vulnerable area, as a social enterprise, to create employment for the vulnerable families to human trafficking, and strengthening the law enforcement through capacity building of police in partnership with the Cambodian National Government.We are eyeing good partnership with local NGOs and philanthropists to bring the substantial change in sex trafficking”.

Neera Nundy, Partner and Co-Founder Dasra said, “40% of the victims are adolescents and children, some as young as nine years old. The long term social and health impact of this crisis is frightening”. Pointing to Dasra’s findings, Nundy added, “Trafficking can and must be reduced through the effective implementation of the 4P framework: prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership in source and destination regions”.

Over the next months, Dasra, The Hummingbird Trust and Kamonohashi Project will work together to create awareness about the issue and build an ecosystem of funders, policymakers and nonprofits to create impact at scale on the problem.

About The Hummingbird Trust: The Hummingbird Trust was set up in 2007 to serve as a formal vehicle through which to implement the Mathias family’s philanthropic aims. With three half-Indian teenage daughters the Trustees were particularly struck by the extent of trafficking on visits to India.

Hummingbird believes that human trafficking is an obscene crime and fundamentally an economic activity with a supply and demand side. Hummingbird has strategically prioritised the supply chain of human trafficking and focuses on preventative programming that reduces the vulnerabilities of women and children in Kolkata to being trafficked. www.thehummingbirdtrust.co.uk

About Kamonohashi Project: Kamonohashi Project (Kamo) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It operates in Cambodia and India with an aim of putting an end to the issue of human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.

Kamo tackles this issue based on the evidence backed up by data from the ground, strategies shared with stakeholders on the ground and coordination with the ecosystem of human trafficking. www.kamonohashi-project.net

About Dasra: Founded in 1999, Dasra has become India's leading strategic philanthropy foundation. 

Over the past 14 years, Dasra has strengthened the growth plans of more than 200 non-profits and social businesses, engaged with and educated over 500 philanthropists on strategic philanthropy, enabled over $37 million in funding to social entrepreneurs, and published 22 research reports in education, health and livelihoods.  For more information, please visit www.dasra.org

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