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CNN WORLD REPORT
AIDS Victims Mistreated in Nepal
Aired July 22, 2001 - 14:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: And tens of thousands of women from India often find themselves in Nepal searching for a better life, but as ILO Television reports, in many cases, that is not what they find at the end of their journey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJA GONRE, ILO TELEVISION (voice-over): Mia is 25 years-old and is dying from AIDS. She is one of Nepal's 25,000 AIDS victims, the majority of whom were infected when working as forced prostitutes. Today, she will be receiving a visit from Kamal, a young waiter who rescued her from a brothel in India. His two visits not only take care of her physical well-being, but help her cope with the difficult past.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They ran away. They said we will come back, I kept waiting. The brothel owner told me I would have to work, I cried so much, they said your parents will not repay us. God, how much they beat us.
GONRE: Out of 100 working prostitutes in India, 26 are estimated to be in Nepal. The majority are forced into the sex industry before they are barely ten-years-old, as this age is guaranteed to fetch a higher price. Demand is met by organized system of trafficking that katers to the taste of its paying clients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We come here to enjoy ourselves, we get our money's worth, we are not responsible for their entire lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If ten clients like you come to a girl every day what will her condition be like in ten years time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): That is her problem: if she is not here, we will not come. The men just leave us here and then disappear, we do not know where we are, once forced into prostitution, we think we will send home a little bit of money, our families are so poor. Let not our little sisters suffer our fate.
GONRE: Since 1996, the International Labor Organization, the ILO, has been supporting the governments of Nepal to combat trafficking, but a new ten-year program launched in May 2001 will provide education and vocational training for girls at risk as well as economic alternatives to the families.
It's aim, to finally eradicate trafficking of children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem is serious. So much women and children have lost their lives. We need urgent action. Through this program the ILO hopes that we can put an end to trafficking.
GONRE: There is an urgency for the program to be effective, in order to prevent thousands of Mia's peers from suffering the same fate as hers. Unlike other forgotten and stigmatized women, however, she has come out to help face her premature end.
This report was compiled by (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from ILO Television for CNN WORLD REPORT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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