From Nepal to India
Touch Nature was originally set up in Nepal in 2001, employing primarily single mothers as well as providing a crèche and childcare facility for their children. However, due to the political situation in Nepal and some unavoidable circumstances, we relocated to Kolkata, India.
With Kolkata housing one of Asia’s largest red light districts as well as being an active hub for the prostitution of Nepalese women, we decided that our skills and experiences could best be put to use by helping Kolkata's trafficked women. Hence, in 2012, Touch Nature India was born.
- Our Story -
Kolkata's Sex Trade
Kolkata is home to India’s largest red light district, which is also one of Asia’s largest. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, an estimated 10,000 sex workers are based in the notorious Sonagachi red light district alone, where they live and work under the appalling conditions of overcrowded multi-storey brothels. Apart from Sonagachi, Kolkata houses multiple red light areas in the South including districts in Kalighat, Baruipur and Tollygunge.
A family living in an urban slum in Sonagachi, Kolkata, India.
Source: UN Photo/Kibae Park
Of the hundreds of thousands of women and girls who are trafficked into India for sex work, a large number are from Nepal. According to several studies, an estimated 5,000-10,000 Nepali women and girls are trafficked into India every year for forced prostitution, and an approximately 200,000 Nepalese women are involved in India’s sex trade.
Many victims are simple, good-natured folk whose only desire is to escape from the abject poverty of their remote hillside villages. Victims of trafficking are often lured into joining the sex trade by the false promises of pimps and mercenary middlemen, or are forced into it by their husbands and family members. Unwanted daughters and wives are sold to brothels for sums of between US$200-US$600. A girl's assessed worth may range from less than a water buffalo, to slightly more than a video recorder, depending on her beauty.
Once sold, most victims are subject to physical and psychological torture and abuse tantamount to modern-day slavery: they are held in debt bondage for years, raped, severely beaten and threatened. Some young girls are no more than 10 years of age, and are made to serve anywhere between 3 and 40 men a day. Many of the trafficked often end up being traffickers of their own family members themselves, perpetuating the vicious cycle. Touch Nature hopes to play a part in liberating girls from this cycle by giving them a new hope in dignified labour.