C
contemplative
Guest
Sunitha Krishnan
The number of people who are trafficked into the sex trade across international borders is estimated to range from 700,000 to two million each year. And that doesn’t include those tricked or kidnapped within large countries like India. Most victims are inducted into the trade at age 10 or earlier, and many are young girls who are sold into prostitution and sent to brothels in big cities and tourist areas. Those lucky enough to be rescued take months to unlearn the sexualized behaviors and demeanor they’ve acquired, and a significant number are also infected with AIDS as a result of rape or incest.
Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on one woman’s activist efforts – Dr. Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of the anti-trafficking organization Prajwala — to combat sexual violence and slavery in India and throughout Asia. “The sense that thousands, millions of children have been sexually violated and there’s this huge silence about it, angers me,” Dr. Krishnan explains. “There’s so much desensitization, normalization of exploitation, internalization of trauma … I don’t know what their future is. We just take one day at a time. My effort is to see that their smile is restored every day.”
Read the full story
The number of people who are trafficked into the sex trade across international borders is estimated to range from 700,000 to two million each year. And that doesn’t include those tricked or kidnapped within large countries like India. Most victims are inducted into the trade at age 10 or earlier, and many are young girls who are sold into prostitution and sent to brothels in big cities and tourist areas. Those lucky enough to be rescued take months to unlearn the sexualized behaviors and demeanor they’ve acquired, and a significant number are also infected with AIDS as a result of rape or incest.
Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on one woman’s activist efforts – Dr. Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of the anti-trafficking organization Prajwala — to combat sexual violence and slavery in India and throughout Asia. “The sense that thousands, millions of children have been sexually violated and there’s this huge silence about it, angers me,” Dr. Krishnan explains. “There’s so much desensitization, normalization of exploitation, internalization of trauma … I don’t know what their future is. We just take one day at a time. My effort is to see that their smile is restored every day.”
Read the full story
This story is very inspiring. I wonder about the Catholic brother who helped her found Prajwala.