Panida was sold into forced prostitution at age 14. She went to the city to find work and raise money for her family since her father had passed away and her mother was suffering from AIDS. She was deceived and then trafficked instead. However, she was rescued by local police with IJM assistance before she was abused by her first customer. She is now home in Northern Thailand, completing ninth grade. |
Several young women in forced prostitution anxiously wait as IJM and local authorities in south Asia raid a brothel. The trauma and confusion during the raid is difficult for these young women. IJM secures safe aftercare where rescued victims can begin to heal, go to school, receive medical care and experience a new life of freedom. |
Nandi was sold into forced prostitution by her father as a young girl. She was rescued by local police with IJM assistance in 2003. Nandi died of AIDS in early 2004, contracted while she lived and worked in the brothels. AIDS and death are the reality for far too many victims of sex trafficking. As she struggled in her final days, Nandi asked IJM staff, “Why didn’t you come sooner?” |
Nandi
|
—US Federal Bureau of Investigation |
Manna was sold at the age of 14. She was rescued at age 16 in a raid led by a former victim IJM had previously rescued from forced prostitution. Manna was one of four girls rescued from a soundproof dungeon under the brothel where the girls were often held during raids. Now 18, Manna is living in an aftercare home, attending school and hopes to be a social worker. In 2004, her brothel keepers were convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. |
Victims of forced prostitution are often held in small, confined areas like this narrow loft above the ceiling of a brothel in south Asia.
|
—United Nations
|
Renuka ran away from an arranged marriage as a young teenager. She was then offered a job as a domestic servant in the city, but she was deceived. Instead, she was trafficked and sold to a brothel for $230. Reunka was forced to serve up to eight customers each night. Her owner would beat her and threaten to kill her if she ever tried to escape. IJM investigators documented the abuse and worked with local authorities to raid the brothel and rescue Renuka. IJM pursued the case against Renuka’s abusers and saw her brothel keeper and traffickers sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. Renuka now enjoys a new life of freedom. She told IJM staff that her dream was to care for children, especially those without parents. In early 2005, she visited the US to share her story with IJM supporters. She was also able to visit Disney World, which was a highlight of her trip. |
Renuka cares for a young girl at an orphanage where she now lives and serves as a housemother. |
| After a raid to rescue minors, including Renuka, from this brothel, local authorities closed the facility by bolting the doors and placing a paper seal across the top to effectively shut down the trade of minors at this location. |
 |
| |
| BACK | NEXT |
