Human trafficking survivors demand policies to address their need

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, July 3: Survivors of the human trafficking have pointed out the need for formulating policies to address their necessities.

We are suffering from injustice. We got sold. It is like someone beating you and escaping, and you are being blamed for having been beaten. The society still has this distorted, unjust and inhuman perspectives about us, which still creates barriers for us from coming openly, they shared their plight.

The survivors of the human trafficking shared this on Wednesday at a research workshop on participatory research involving women survivors (living with HIV/AIDS) of human trafficking.

Charimaya Tamang, President of Shakti Samuha, viewed that social integration is very important for the survivors and that challenges have mounted with the new trend of human trafficking.

Dr. Rita Dhungel, one of the principal investigators of the research team, informed that the survivors will be involved in the research as co-researchers which will help them include their own experiences and transform themselves as they talk with other survivors during the research.

At first, some 50 survivors will be trained on data/experience collection and they will reach out to survivors in Kathmandu and Makawanpur of Bagmati province and Dhanusha district of Madhesh province.

Our approach is community action research and we wish to develop an effective community leadership strategies to address challenges faced by the survivors, she said.

Dr. Dhungel, who is an assistant professor at the University of Fraser Valley, Canada, added that the research will provide inputs to the government, policy makers, sensitize media in addition to enhancing personal growth and transformation of the survivors.

She said that present research that started from February this year and will be complete by 2025 end is a kind of follow up research of the one conducted in 2013 on the same issue.