 Tiny but tough, Blue Angels, rescued girls now working for Maiti patrol the border at Nepalgung |
Maiti Nepal
Though not directly a rescue organisation Maiti Nepal have done amazing work on rescue and continue to do so, working on cross border operations with both the Indian and Nepali police MN staff often join in brothel raids and bring back Nepali girls held against their will by the brothel owners (see Case Study 3). Maiti's main effort is prevention, their Blue Huts sit alongside customs posts on most major crossings into India where teams of blue Angels, girls themselves rescued and now working for MN patrol the borders stopping buses, lorrys and carts checking for trafficking victims. They also carry out prevention work in the surrounding villages.
Rescue Projects in India
Asha-Nepal work closely with two rescue and rehabilitation organisations in India. STOP in Delhi and The Rescue Foundation in Mumbai (Bombay) and Poona.
STOP is a womens rights organisation set up by a group of academics within Delhi University to fight against trafficking and other abuses of women and children. They organise and carry out regular raids on brothels searching for underage girls and women and children held against their will, often in caged brothels.
STOP has its own refuges and carry out rehabilitation and education programmes, medical examinations and advocacy services. They often rescue Nepalese girls and work closely with Maiti Nepal to get them home to their own country where Maiti will care for them until they can be reintegrated back into their own community.
The Rescue Foundation was founded by Balkrishna Achariya, a man with a price on his head from the Bombay Mafia. Asha-Nepal founder Peter Bashford worked with Balkrishna when he was a one man band working out of a friends office back in 1997. The Rescue Foundation now have their own refuge and teams of “detectives” who against all odds will trace and rescue girls often from just an old photograph or a written description. They have close links with a number of rehabilitation organisations like Maiti Nepal in both India and Nepal.
Asha-Nepal have funded projects for The Rescue Foundation in previous years and are looking at further projects with them for 2005.