(Sound/Up off top bottles clinking)

00.59.58.00

THIS IS INDIA IN THE 90S…

(Sound/up market noise)

WHERE ANYTHING CAN BE BOUGHT FOR A FEW RUPEES.

THREE BLOCKS WEST OF THIS BAZAAR... IS  WHERE THE COMMODITY MARKET AND

SEX TRADE MEET.

(Sound/up street noise)

THIS IS FALKLAND ROAD, BOMBAY'S NOTORIOUS RED LIGHT DISTRICT.

00.22

IT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST SEX MARKETS IN ASIA.

IN THIS CITY ALONE, AN ESTIMATED 250,000 GIRLS WORK,

FEW COME ON THEIR OWN.

THE MAJORITY ARE TRICKED, KIDNAPPED AND SOLD INTO PROSTITUTION.

BOMBAY IS A WELL KNOWN PLACE TO FIND CHILD SEX.

00.47

THE YOUNG ONES ARE HIDDEN DEEP INSIDE.

UP THIS WOODEN STAIRCASE, LIVING QUARTERS ARE SMALL AND CROWDED.

A FOUL SMELL LINGERS IN THE AIR...

THIS BROTHEL IS HOME FOR HUNDREDS OF GIRLS WHO’S ONLY CONTACT

WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD ARE CUSTOMERS.

DOWN THE CORRIDOR, THESE MEN HAVE PAID FIFTEEN RUPEES THAT’S JUST FIFTY CENTS (CDN.)  FOR AN ENCOUNTER WHICH LASTS ONLY A FEW MINUTES.

THE YOUNG GIRLS ARE NEVER PAID FOR THEIR WORK,

01.24

THEY  MUST WORK OFF THEIR PURCHASE PRICE, THE MONEY THEIR MADAMS SPENT TO GET THEM.

THIS MAY TAKE YEARS AND THE ONLY MONEY THEY MAY SEE

ARE TIPS FROM SATISFIED CLIENTS.

(Sound/up girl making bread)

ANITA, SOLD AT THE AGE OF TEN IS A HARDENED PROSTITUTE.

AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS SHE NO LONGER DREAMS OF LEAVING.

PROSTITUTION IS ALL SHE KNOWS.

LIKE SO MANY OF THE OTHER CHILDREN HERE,

HER DAUGHTER SLEEPS IN THE BED NEXT TO HERS

AS SHE SERVICES CLIENTS.

MADAMS ARE AWARE CHILD PROSTITUTION IS ILLEGAL.

02.06

WHEN THEY HEARD A FOREIGN CAMERA WAS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

THEY HID THESE YOUNG NEPALESE GIRLS IN THIS SECRET ATTIC.

THEY ARE THIS BROTHEL KEEPERS PRIZE MERCHANDISE.

SOME AS YOUNG AS NINE YEARS OLD COMMAND THE HIGHEST PRICE,

DESIRED BY LOCALS AND ARABS FOR THEIR FAIR SKIN AND VIRGINITY.

MOST OF THE GIRLS ENSLAVED INTO PROSTITUTION IN INDIA COME FROM NEPAL

MAYA HAS WORKED IN THIS BROTHEL FOR SIX YEARS,

AFRAID TO GO BACK HOME, SHE FEARS HER FAMILY AND SOCIETY WILL

REJECT HER BECAUSE SHE IS A PROSTITUTE.

MAYA:  “I cannot  read or write. I came to Bombay to survive.

03.00

I’m not happy, but how can I go home now that I’m spoiled.”

(Transition to Nepal Sound Up music)

THE KINGDOM OF NEPAL IS A LAND OF STUNNING NATURAL BEAUTY.

(Sound Up Nepalese music)

IT IS OFFICIALLY THE ONLY HINDU COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

BUDDHIST TRADITIONS REMAIN STRONG, BROUGHT BY THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF TIBETAN MIGRATION.

LANDLOCKED BETWEEN IT’S BIG NEIGHBOURS INDIA AND CHINA.

03.50

NEPAL IS ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.

(Sound Up woman beating wheat)

AGRICULTURE EMPLOYS OVER 90% OF THE PEOPLE.

YET, THERE IS LITTLE WORK AND EVEN FEWER CHOICES.

GIRLS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE FAMILY INCOME

AT AN EARLY AGE.

THE MAJORITY ARE ILLITERATE AND THE WOMAN OF NEPAL HAVE LITTLE

CONTROL OVER THEIR OWN LIVES.  TRADITION ALWAYS PLACES A LOWER

VALUE ON GIRLS THAN BOYS.

IN THE REMOTE DISTRICT OF NUWAKOT, 

04.34

A FULL DAY’S WALK FROM THE NEAREST PAVED ROAD

IS ONE OF THE MAIN CENTRES FOR CHILD TRAFFICKING.

THE NUMBER OF GIRLS MISSING HERE ARE ONE OF THE HIGHEST

RATES ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY.

LITTLE IS SAID, BUT THERE ARE NO TEENAGE GIRLS SEEN AROUND

THIS VILLAGE OF CHISAPANI. 

THEY HAVE BEEN LURED AWAY BY PROMISES OF GOOD JOBS AND

THE GLAMOUR OF BOMBAY.

CHILD TRAFFICKERS ARE DRAWN BY THE INNOCENCE OF LOCAL VILLAGERS

AND THEIR DESPERATE POVERTY.

THIS FAMILY’S DAUGHTER TWO YEARS AGO.

RUPA TAMANG DOESN’T KNOW WHERE HIS DAUGHTER IS,

BUT BELIEVES SHE’S BEEN TAKEN TO BOMBAY.

RUPA TAMANG:  “How to stop it.  What to do.  Such a police force,

05.26

Such a big society and still the girls just vanish.

Naturally, I do feel sad, I lost my own daughter.

You see, for me, those people who traffick their lives should be taken.”

 (transition to Kathmandu natural street sound/market sounds)

AT AN UNDISCLOSED JAIL IN KATHMANDU,THESE MEN ARE PART OF A

GROWING TRAFFICKING RING THAT SELLS YOUNG GIRLS TO PROSTITUTION.

25 YEAR OLD GANESH RARKI IS A RICKSHAW DRIVER. HE SOLD HIS OWN WIFE,

FOR 500 Rupees OR ONLY 12 DOLLARS (Cdn.)

GANESH RARKI:  “I DID NOT DO IT DIRECTLY.  I WAS NOT ALONE.

06.28

I WAS INFLUENCED BY OTHER PEOPLE. I’M NOT A PERSON FROM THE CITY.

I HAVEN’T WATCHED TELEVISION IN MY LIFE.  HOW TO SAY WHY I SOLD

MY WIFE…MAYBE FOR MONEY?”

BOTH MEN ARE NOW SERVING 10-15 YEARS FOR THEIR CRIME.

(SoundUp bus goes by)

HELP FOR THOSE WHO ESCAPE PROSTITUION IS HARD TO FIND.

THE LUCKY FEW END UP HERE...AT MAITI NEPAL

 IT IS ONE OF THE FEW NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROVIDES A SAFE

HAVEN FOR CHILD SEX WORKERS AND DESTITUTE YOUNG GIRLS

WHO ARE AT HIGH RISK FOR THE SEX INDUSTRY.

(Sound Up rice tossing)

RECENTLY RESCUED FROM INDIA

07.25

THESE GIRLS RETURNED TO  THEIR HOMELAND...

ONLY TO FIND A COUNTRY AGAINST THEM

AND FAMILIES WHO WON'T TAKE THEM BACK

BECAUSE THEY ARE PROSTITUTES AND HIV POSITIVE.

THE NEPALI POLICE INTERROGATED THE RESCUED GIRLS

WITH THEIR OWN CAMERA.

FOR FEAR OF EXPLOITATION AND UNWANTED PUBLICITY

ALL OTHER MEDIA WERE BANNED FROM PHOTOGRAPHING

THE GROUP. 

THE POLICE TOOK THE PICTURES THEY NEEDED AND LEFT

AS QUICKLY AS THEY CAME.

 THEIR STORIES ARE HEART BREAKING...SRIJANA WAS 13 WHEN SHE WAS KIDNAPPED

FROM HER VILLAGE IN NEPAL AND TAKEN TO INDIA.

SHE SPENT THE NEXT FOUR YEARS OF HER YOUTH SERVICING 10 CLIENTS A DAY.

HER INTRODUCTION TO PROSTITUTION WAS SWIFT AND BRUTAL...

SHE WAS RAPED BY SIX MEN.

SRIJANA:  “They asked me to do the job.  I said I wouldn’t because we are girls.

08.28

Once we do this kind of job, we lose our respect, then they cursed my father

and mother, held me down and did it.”

FEAR TACTICS WERE USED ON 16 YEAR OLD DEVI.

SHE WAS NEVER ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE BROTHEL

THAT BECAME HOME FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS.

DEVI:  “For three days they did not give me anything to eat.

They said they would kill me, put me inside a machine and they didn’t care if they

lost the 60 or 70,000 rupees  they spent to get me.”

ANURADHA KOIRALA IS THE CENTRE DIRECTOR.

09.18

SHE IS FIGHTS HARD TO END CHILD TRAFFICKING AND SAYS THE LACK

OF COMMITMENT TO THE GIRL CHILD IS PART OF THE PROBLEM.

ANURADHA KOIRALA:   “ Prostitution you do it by will. Trafficking is like…

without your will, you are sold away.  You are taken to someone elses’s place and

sold like a cow.  Even if I want to sell someone else’s cow I have to ask.

If I want to sell your shoes I have to ask.  Here people don’t ask.

They just cheat you and take you and sell you.

On Camera Question:  How do you fight back?

ANURADHA KOIRALA:  “We are doing it.  We are trying to get hold of the criminals

we are doing awareness campaigning, we are doing prevention work, we are trying to do…

but only NGO’s working in this field will not do anything. Government has to come and

above all, the attitude of the whole Nepalese has to change.”

SOME DAYS AT THE SHELTER ARE HARDER THAN OTHERS...

10.20

ON THIS DAY EMOTIONS RUN HIGH.

(Sound/Up of girl crying)

On camera question:  Why is she crying?

ANURADHA KOIRALA:  “She’s got no one, except one brother and he doesn’t want to

accept her.  She says , where will I go, where will I stay.  I said,  I’m there.

PUJA HAS SAID LITTLE SINCE HER RETURN FROM BOMBAY.

10.57

SHE SPENDS  MOST OF HER DAYS WAITING FOR A FAMILY MEMBER TO CLAIM HER.

ILLITERATE AND HIV POSITIVE, PUJA IS ONLY THIRTEEN YEARS OLD.

MAITI NEPAL WILL TAKE CARE OF HER AND THE OTHERS,

GIVING THEM THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO SURVIVE...

LILA KOIRALA IS THE MINISTER OF WOMEN AND  SOCIAL WELFARE FOR NEPAL

SHE SAYS HER COUNTRY IS LIMITED IN WHAT IT CAN DO TO PREVENT PIMPS FROM

LURING YOUNG GIRLS INTO PROSTITUTION.

LILA KOIRALA:  “The people in our country are not conscious, they are not educated.

They are not aware that if they sell girls that’s it’s wrong.  As long as a society has no

education, there is unemployment and poverty, the problem will not be solved.”

(Sound Up music playing)

AND AS A COUNTRY SEARCHES FOR SOLUTIONS...

12.07

THERE ARE DAYS WHEN MUSIC AND LAUGHTER FILL THE ROOMS OF MAITI, NEPAL...

(Sound Up girls laughing)

THEIR ADOLESCENT JOKES ARE A SOBERING REMINDER HOW YOUNG

 THESE CHILDREN ARE...

THEIR INNOCENCE LOST...AND AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE AHEAD,

THEY ARE VICTIMS OF A CRUEL DESTINY.

BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME, IN A LONG TIME, THEY ARE FREE.

KRISTINE GALKA REPORTING.

ENDS

12.46