RESCUE. RESTORATION. JUSTICE

 According to the Global Slavery Index 2014, an estimated 38.5 million people are in slavery today. At 14 million, India has the highest number of slaves in the world. The UNODC estimates that 58% of all human trafficking cases are for the purpose of sex-trafficking.[1]

 Gandhi once said, “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” Do we feel weak? Understaffed? Overwhelmed by the enormity of the work? Yes, to all of those. Does that change anything? No. Exploitation of young girls is not acceptable in our world. We must have the will to stop it. Despite the overwhelming numbers, Freedom Firm is determined to provide rescue, restoration and justice to victims of sex trafficking in India.

Our undercover operatives locate minor girls enslaved in brothels and document the crime. This information is then reported to the police. The team, along with the police, raid the brothels, rescue the girls and arrest the brothel keepers and traffickers. The rescued girls are then placed in shelter homes and criminal complaints are filed against the oppressors.

We then work with judicial and welfare structures to advocate for protection, opportunity and justice for each girl. Laws prohibit the exploitation of minor girls but there is a huge gap between the law and its implementation. Our legal team works with public prosecutors to build a case against the perpetrators. Rescued girls are empowered to testify against their abusers and help bring them to justice. Every trial and conviction creates a deterrent and raises the cost of sex trafficking in India.

With well over 350 girls rescued, each girl’s journey after rescue looks different. Their needs, locations and levels of assistance are as diverse as the girls themselves, and our restoration program is therefore adapted accordingly. Our social workers seek to ensure that once rescued, girls remain safe and free from the risk of re-trafficking. The holistic aftercare program includes counseling, home investigations to ensure safe reintegration, follow up visits, education & healthcare support, employment opportunities, an annual camp, and a long term relationship of advocacy and care, thus ensuring that each girl is given the tools she needs for a life of dignity and self-worth.

Ruhamah Designs, a jewelry making business, is Freedom Firm's most tangible method of achieving the long-term goal of getting girls back on their feet and functioning in society after the trauma of trafficking. Ruhamah Designs is a platform for rescued girls to engage in productive work that also restores the whole person to healthy living. Business managers along with social workers help young women learn how to work in a structured environment, relate to authority and peers in a healthy way, invest in the future through savings and obtain relevant education and skills. 

Over the last 10 years, we have seen what makes a big difference. Quite simply, but agonizingly slow, it’s about persevering every time, whether we seem to be winning or losing. It’s all the tiny steps towards justice. It’s meeting with the same police again and again to beg them to do a raid. It’s filing writ petitions in court to stop illegal proceedings. It’s opposing bail for the perpetrators. It’s the thousand kilometre train ride to see if a girl is still safe with her family after rescue. It’s the perseverance of our staff that put their lives on the line; the social worker who gives HIV counseling gently with sensitivity; the investigator who goes undercover in the brothel and risks temptation and exposure; the production manager in our fair trade business who insists on quality because she knows anything else erodes dignity in the employees.

Arpana’s Story

Arpana was rescued three times, once by the police and twice by us. At the shelter home, she actively resisted attempts at friendship and refused to listen to descriptions of a future life beyond prostitution. When Arpana’s brothel keepers claimed her, the government rubber stamped her return back to prostitution. After her second rescue, she responded angrily to overtures of friendship, saying, “this is the only work I can do, there is nothing else for me.”

 When Arpana was released once again to her perpetrators, the government’s refusal to protect her only reinforced her belief that to struggle against her fate was completely hopeless. Our investigators found Arpana once again in a brothel and she was rescued for a third time. This time though, when our social worker approached her in the government remand home, a transformation had clearly taken place. All traces of hostility and defiance were gone. She said, “Didi (sister), this was the third time I was rescued. I think God must have a plan for my life.”  

Over the next 2 years, as she waited to be transferred to a good shelter home in Mumbai, Arpana seemed determined to continue holding on to her hopes of a new beginning. Seizing an opportunity to stand for justice, Arpana boldly testified against her brothel keeper and told the court how she had been forced into prostitution.

Unbroken by her circumstances - born into a family that forced its daughters into prostitution, the seeming hopelessness of trying to resist what society dictated, and her own fears of the futility of starting a new life - in the end, she chose to believe that facing her fears and fighting for her rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was worth the effort.