“Hundreds of thousands of women are sold into sexual slavery each year, victims of human trafficking rings that lure them abroad with promises of legitimate employment in the West.
“As many as 50,000 of these women come from Russia, where ravaged economies and a sagging labor market have forced many women to search for better opportunities abroad. According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, more than 500,000 women from the former Soviet Union have been trafficked abroad in the past five years.” (Click here for more.)
This Christmas, Wendy and I are trying to raise funds to help rescue some of these girls. My post from last week introduced this great need. Some of you had some follow up questions about how such rescue operations work. The ministry we are raising funds for is Children’s Hope Chest, and they recently partnered with India Rescue Mission to help four girls escape from sex slavery in India. Below is an explanation of how this rescue operation went.
Also, if you want to know more about how such rescue operations work in Russia, consider purchasing Priceless
Here is how the rescue went in India:
How do you find the brothels?
Indian Rescue Mission undercover operatives act as customers and get inside brothels or private where girls are forced into prostitution and then search for or ask for minor girls and if they are found they use their undercover camera to capture them and then document it. Then the document is viewed and then an Investigator who is above the Operative will verify the girl’s age and based on his feedback the team will decide whether to conduct a rescue operation or not.
How do you conduct the investigation?
The operative try to engage the girl once at the brothel prior to the raid and then try to collect as much information as he can and then stuffy her background. He will question her of her family, background, her life in the brothel, and other information. Then as she finds customers who are more interested in her personal life than sex, she tries to become friendly and then shares much information out. Also the local informants will share some information about the girl.
Once you have the evidence of trafficking, who do you take it to?
Once we have the proof, we try to go and meet the top Police officer, commissioner or the Superintendent and then pass on the information we gathered and then request them to take action. We are just an organization and we can just say that we are assisting them in the rescue operation. We try to give our manpower like decoy customers or local Panchas (these are the ones that needs to be on the raid and then testify in the court). Also we provide witnesses for the case and also become complainants.
What factors threaten a rescue?
There are lot of risk factors when conducting a rescue operation. They are attacks on the team by the local goons; our faces are revealed and other. Police are often bribed by these pimps, brothel keepers and also hotel owners.
How does the actual rescue take place?
Once the Police are ready for a raid, we sent decoy customers to the targeted location or brothel and then pay money ( the numbers of these currency notes are noted down and are given to Police before we leave for the raid) to the Brothel keeper or manager of the hotel for the girls and engage minor girls which are our targets and then take them to the sex room ( this is just to prove that these girls were offered to us for sex). Once everything is done by the Decoy customers they will give us a signal or a call on our cell phone that they are ready and then the raiding team ( Includes a Police Inspector, the team from the organization, Local Panchas : one male and one female, 2-3 lady constables, 2-3 male constables) reaches the said location and then search for our decoy customers in the sex rooms, and once they are found with the girl, the girls are rescued and the brothel keeper will be arrested.
Once the girls are freed, where do they go?
Once the girls are rescued, they will be send to the Government protective homes and they will be kept there for 4 months and in the meantime if the rescued organization has a home and then sends a request letter to transfer the girls to their After Care home, then the permission will be granted and then they will be sent. But if they do not have they will be placed in the Government home and the home study of these girls are made by the probation officer and if they don’t find any problems from the victim’s parents, then they will be sent back to their homes.
How long do they stay there?
For 4 months.
How are they re-integrated into society?
One of the most important factors that all organizations need to think before they conduct any rescue is that whether they have a AFTER CARE HOME. In the government homes, there will be no proper care and protection. We have cases where Government officers have tried to sexually harass the rescued girls. So sorry to say this, but it’s the fact. So we need a Rescue Home where we can bring these girls here for a proper rehabilitation. In the rehabilitation homes, they will be provided education, self-employment training, medical treatment and also teach word of the Lord for them.
HopeChest has also provided funds for a Christian social worker to visit these four girls in the government aftercare facility and to begin working with them on their recovery and reintegration.
The video below is from our partner in India. The four girls seated in the police station are the four young women who were rescued. You will also see a man in white dress. He is one of the pimps who was arrested in this raid. James conducts an interview about the rescue and the work of the Indian Rescue Mission. And you will also see an exterior shot of the hotel where the girls were rescued.
Solapur Rescue Mission from Children’s HopeChest on Vimeo.
To learn more about Human Trafficking and sex slavery, check out some of these posts:Human Trafficking Posts
- Sex Slaves
- Would You Fight Slavery?
- Rescue Russian Sex Slaves
- Rescue Russian Girls from Sex Slavery
- Stop Her Nightmare
- Another Girl Rescued Today
- Girls for Sale
- Goal Reached!
- I Want to be a Prostitute
- $52,000 raised!
- 31 Million Sex Slaves
- Renting Lacy
- More Than Rice
- Human Trafficking Ring Busted
- The Other Big Game
- Sex Slavery, Planned Parenthood, and Your Tax Dollars
- How to Minister to Prostitutes
- Wisconsin Woman Held as Sex Slave in Brooklyn
- Coked-Up Whore
- Human Trafficking has Many Faces
- Into an India Brothel
- You Need a Girl?
- Human Trafficking Media
- The Son of God is Selling Children
- My Girls Raised $300 to help stop Human Trafficking
- Rape for Profit
- Human Trafficking Statistics
- Help Rescue Girls from Forced Prostitution
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