New Light started its fight against human trafficking, rescue and rehabilitation, fifteen years back. But only in 2012 did New Light give a name to its struggle against human trafficking, called Unmochon, its Anti-Human Trafficking wing. We mainly work on rescue, rehabilitation and restoration. We work with Community Based Organizations in areas like the North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad etc and also other smaller NGO's with similar views and aspirations.
According to some estimates, worldwide, as many as 27 million people end up as victims of human trafficking annually. 80 percent of the victims are female and up to 50 percent children. Majority of the victims are used for sexual exploitation and others for bonded labor, domestic work, military conscription, marriage, illicit adoption, sport, begging or organ harvesting.
The majority of sex workers who come to Kolkata via trafficking are not kidnapped but lured, coaxed and cajoled with false promises or offer of help out of a crisis situation. Force is used later after the women (girls) have already been sold. Mashis (brothel owners/older sex workers) use friendship, sympathy, also veiled threats to convince the women that it is now in their best interest to conform and begin working.
Kolkata is a source, destination and transit point for human trafficking. The city receives women from Bangladesh and Nepal as well as from the rural districts of W. Bengal and neighboring states. According to a recent newspaper report, more than 2500 young girls disappeared without a trace over a one year period- most of them likely victims of trafficking. The city functions as a transit place from where Indian, Nepalese and Bangladeshi women are taken to red-light areas in other cities such as Mumbai, or even to other countries in the Middle East.
Our Collaborations:
www.girl2b.org
www.girlsnotbrides.org
The journey from being a helping hand to roll bidis in a family based occupation, [ According to Wikipedia, a bidi or bedee is a thin cigarette filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in Tendu leaf] to the proud owner of Sahina Ladies Tailor has not been a bed of roses. Not certainly for Sahina, the young and petite college girl from Mamrejpura hamlet dominated by minority community in Farakka famous for the Thermal Power station and a barrage across river Ganga. Meet Sahina who despite of many challenges showed the courage to open a tailoring shop after learning the skill as a participant of Unmochon, an initiative to stop Child Marriage and trafficking in person.
The story started one year back when she got enrolled herself in the tailoring unit of Unmochon started by New Light from a rented space in Maheshpur, a town in Farakka. New Light is a registered no-profit organization committed to stop gender based violence on women and children and addresses the root cause of trafficking in person. Unmochon is an innovative programme started by New Light a while back to empower poverty stricken families especially women, with livelihood skills so that they can earn and invest their earning in the education, health and wellbeing of their children and save them from the risk of trafficking for illegal acts. Incidentally, Child Marriage is also a form of trafficking and Murshidabad is one of the districts which records a huge number of child marriages. Due to lack of livelihood opportunities most of the young survive by rolling bidis. Traditionally, all the family members, including children and elders, are engaged in rolling bidis all through the day for a paltry sum of money [ Rs 30/- for 1000 pcs ] which are then collected by the bidi factory owners from them against payment. This doorstep service is a convenient system for a conservative community where the women of the family are earning from the convenience of their households. However, the cost being paid for this work is beyond imagination and long lasting. It is causing grave health hazards for all due to inhalation of tobacco while working for very long hours. It is affecting education of the children especially the girl child, robbing their childhood and impacting on wellbeing of all the family members. Unmochon aims to break the shackle of this hazardous trade by offering respectable skill training as a strategic approach which aims to save girl child from the clutches of early marriage and help them to be in school.
Sahina, being a vulnerable young adult at risk, got herself enrolled in the tailoring and stitching course a year back with the consent of her family. Like most of her neighborhood, her family also belongs to the economically weaker section of society. Her father Ashraful Haque, ferries snack items from village to village, to keep the fire burning at home. It is a hard life for them but Ashraful always encouraged his children to study. Sahina, her two younger sisters and brother all are studying. Ashraful even bought Sahina a sewing machine on loan after few months of her training so that she and her sister both can practice at home. This gave her an edge over other students. She was regular for her classes and learned to stitch baby garments, women,s clothing, blouses and petticoats among other things very fast. Three months ago she opened her Tailoring Shop – Sahina Ladies Tailor with much hope of running her own business. She earned around Rs.2000/ in the first two months itself. This gave her confidence to dream big. Sahina is now planning to buy one more machine. She had handed over major part of her earning to her father to lesson his burden a bit. Rest of the amount she had invested for her college education. Sahina wants to upgrade her skills and learn new items and that’s why she had enrolled for advance training. In the ensuing festive season she is hopeful of a good earning for herself. Sahina is confident to go far with her venture.
