Stand With Girls,
Stop Child Trafficking
Photo: Girl who is advocating to end child marriage in Maguindanao. © Plan International / Michael Perfecto
By adding your name, you’re standing with the millions of girls and young women around the world in demanding that we stop child trafficking.
Girls like Mala*.
CONTENT WARNING: Mention of child trafficking and physical, sexual and emotional violence.
22 years ago when she was just 16, Mala* was trafficked from Nepal to India where she was sold to a brothel.
“I was locked in a room and forced to do sex work. I was not allowed to talk to my family. I lived the worst life.” .Forced to have sex with multiple men a day affected Mala mentally and physically, something she describes as a form of torture. Just as she had nearly given up hope of ever escaping, she was rescued from the brothel by family.
Mala thought being married would protect her so she agreed despite not knowing him.
“I was confined and kept hidden in a room by my husband. He refused to introduce me to his friends and family. We did not have a marriage certificate. After three years of marriage, I gave birth to my daughter,” she says.
Due to trauma, Mala suffered a mental health breakdown which brought on a paralysis attack. With her husband gone, Mala decided to go back to Nepal with her daughter.
In Nepal, she was reunited with her family and with support from the Rural Awareness and Development Organisation (RADO), Plan International’s partner for the Prevention, Tracking, Education, and Transformation (ProTEcT) project, she received food assistance, and support to start a goat farming business, receive her citizenship, and a birth certificate for her daughter.
Photo: Mala*, 39, and her daughter are now living happy, safe and independent lives. © Plan International
Will you stand with us to help end trafficking?
18-year-old Rahimat is firm that she will be the voice for girls who are not able to advocate for themselves.
Rahimat comes from a remote community where traditionally girls are not encouraged to continue their education, but instead to marry.
The two issues that Rahimat feels most passionately about are child marriage and human
trafficking. Her village is located on the border of India and girls and children are being promised jobs and offers of marriage across the border that don’t exist. Instead, they are often sold into slavery or sex work.
As a Plan International Youth Ambassador, Rahimat worked with the ProTEcT project to find ways to help educate people about human trafficking and how to keep children safe online. The group have created a Facebook messenger, called Maya ChatBot, which is designed to alert and inform against online risks, teaching children and their families how to keep safe when using the internet.
Using data and armed with facts, Rahimat helps people in her community to understand the importance of girls having access to an education, teaching them about the social and economic benefits to the whole community as well as the mental health impacts on the girls themselves.
I want to be a role model and once I have my degree, I want to go back to my community to inspire other girls and even their parents in my district and beyond.Photo: Rahimat, 18, is a committed campaigner for girls’ rights . © Plan International / Pramin Manandhar
Want to go further? Join Change for Girls to help end child trafficking and empower girls to choose their own future.
Plan International Australia’s programs help all children thrive, and girls take their rightful place as equals. Without poverty, violence and trafficking.
By educating girls, their families and communities on the dangers of trafficking, and putting protective measures in place, we can keep girls safe from the trauma that Mala endured.
Will you stand with us to help end trafficking and support girls to reclaim their life stories?
*Names have been changed to protect identities.
About Plan International Australia
Put simply, we’re the charity for girls’ equality.
We tackle the root causes of poverty, support communities through crisis, campaign for gender equality, and help governments do what’s right for children and particularly for girls.
We are here to ignite the creativity, talent and ideas of girls in all their diversities. We are informed by evidence, and always learning.
A better now for her. A better future for everyone.