Taking action against human trafficking in Nepal

This week we celebrated Maggy Barankitse's Fondation Chirac Prize for her work with orphaned children in Burundi, and welcomed the announcement that the Nobel Peace Prize was won by three outstanding women from African and Arab societies. We would like to complete the picture by mentioning a very sad condition too many young girls still experience worldwide and the actions some brave men and women are taking to make a change.

Maiti Nepal is an NGO founded by Anurhada Koirala (top picture) and based in Kathmandu, Nepal, whose main task is to rescue young girls, mostly Nepalese, from brothels in India and bring them back to Nepal where they will receive medical treatment and get an education. The young girls, sometimes only seven or eight years old, are bought from alcoholic parents and brought to India, where men from all over the world come to have sex with them. The living conditions are so horrible that the life span of these girls is very short because of AIDS, other venereal diseases and recurrent pregnancies. Maiti Nepal attempts to rescue these girls by sending male volunteers to the brothels, where they obtain the girls' trust by not having sex with them, and then try to escape with them back to Nepal.

Friends of Humanity is happy to see the success thusfar of Maiti Nepal, as we are both very concerned about the conditions of women in the developing world, and we have a special attachment to Nepal and India, two countries where our partners are implementing projects funded by FOH and its supporters.

You can read the full story here.