Indian activist Rajeevan profiles child-trafficking

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Indian activist Rajeevan profiles child-trafficking

Postby sam » Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:36 pm

Indian activist Rajeevan profiles child-trafficking
By LOIS DAVIDSON, Sentinel Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, March 8, 2007
http://www.mcphersonsentinel.com/articl ... /news2.txt

Stepping out onto a lit stage, a woman with a strong deliberate voice emanated stories that seemed more like fiction than the truth.

The gender justice and child trafficking stories that Dr. Sarada Sreedeviamma Rajeevan told at McPherson College on Tuesday silenced the audience into stunned disbelief.

This women's rights activist counsels women and girls who have been forced into prostitution and has also counseled tsunami victims. With each session, Rajeevan spreads hope to those who have lost it and fights for their injustices.

Very full of life and passionate about her mission, Rajeevan spoke about the atrocities of child trafficking into the sex trade. She told the stories of many young girls, some who were mothers by age 13.

“We are forced to believe,” Rajeevan said. “Truth is worse than imagination.”

Life is extremely challenging for the survivors of the sex trade. Not only are their children exposed to horrible experiences, but poverty keeps them from gaining their freedom from this way of life. It is difficult for the women to enter into another job and break away from the sex trade because they don't possess the necessary legal documents, such as a birth certificate, to fill out a job application.

“Child trafficking is a business,” Rajeevan said. “That is why it flourishes. The traffickers don't have to ‘buy' a product, the child is already there, generating profit. As long as there is a demand for the product, someone will provide.”

Her proposed solution is to have all nations be conscientious of forced prostitution. Start small and it will grow big, meaning each individual should stand up for what is right. That determination will spread to the family, then to the community, then to the culture and finally to society. Rajeevan said.

She said all countries must join together to find out who is responsible for child trafficking.

“Why can't we control this?” she said. “Trafficking is a big power and what we are doing is chasing it.”

Her book “Scarlet Daughters” tells the stories of trafficked women and the condition in which they live, being exploited by society. She will share her views on this subject in a talk back on Friday evening after the McPherson College production “Speak Truth To Power.”

Because of her outspoken mind, menacing notes have made their way to her doorstep, threatening that if she will not stop, she will be raped. This makes her push through the impossible with a stronger thirst for justice.

According to the preface by Jeanne Smith in “Scarlet Daughters,” the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women approximates that 2.3 million women and children were prostitutes in Rajeevan's homeland, with a fourth of them underage.

More females are trafficked due to the difference between femininity and masculinity of the culture. Rajeevan said that women are observed as being the weaker sex. The importance of gender justice is to bring equality to both sexes.

“The gender justice demands valuing human rights, valuing people's multiple identities and valuing human dignity and ensuring equality to both the sexes,” Rajeevan said. “It relates to the patterns of beliefs associated with masculinity and femininity.”

The 2003 Academy Award winner “Born To Brothels,” directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, features real footage of a Sonagchi, Calcutta Red Light District brothel.

A news reporter taught children of prostitutes to take photos of their lives in order for her to learn more about life in Brothels.

One child took a picture of other children chained around the ankles.

Since there are no babysitters, this is to prevent the little ones from wandering off while the mother must entertain her male companion.

To help these sex trade and tsunami victims, Rajeevan has created musical therapy. Everywhere she speaks, she will sing songs along with audience participation.

To her, this is a connection between the victims and the people listening to her speak, almost like a support system. Those listening have the option to stand up or to ignore it.

For Rajeevan, she stood up.
sam
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