Giri*, 30 years old, currently the director of a Nepalese organization fighting against trafficking, agreed to testify about the hell to which she was a victim in her youth.

Giri, a victim of sexual exploitation in India, tells of her ordeal

“My name is Giri and I am from Nepal.  When I was 5 years old I left with my family for India.  We lived quietly on a farm until my 14th birthday when my uncle arranged my marriage against my wishes and against the wishes of my parents.  One day when I was alone at home a man arrived, declared that he had paid for me and raped me.

My parents and I ran away.  After a time I realized that I was pregnant and I gave birth to a son.  Then a Nepalese farmer who had accompanied us in our flight drugged me and sold me to a brothel.  They forced me to prostitute myself for 6 months and they took away my baby.

One day the police conducted a major “clean up” operation and liberated 500 young girls, all minors, from the brothels of Bombay.  This operation was extensively discussed in the media.  We were put in a center where we stayed for one year, under very harsh conditions, with daily mistreatment by the staff.

There were 200 Nepalese girls, but Nepal refused to repatriate us, claiming that we did not have identity papers and that we were certainly infected with AIDS.  So we organized a demonstration.  The media and the ONG’s forced the government to take an interest in us and finally we were repatriated.  Upon our return to Nepal there were 15 girls, all 16 years old, who had been in the same brothel.  So we decided together to create an organization to fight against trafficking and prostitution.  Since then 5 have died of AIDS, but there are still 8 of us who work for this organization.

I have been reunited with my son, but I have never found my parents.”

*The name has been changed