Operation Red Alert | A united voice to end large scale sex-trafficking in India by 2025.

Part Of

Part Of

Tag: Our Stories

Jaanvi’s Story

Posted on by admin_redalert
  • CATEGORY: OPERATION RED ALERT

Jaanvi’s Story

On May 16th the Red Alert Helpline received a call from a village in West Bengal claiming that a 13-14 year old girl was to be married off and that we must come stop it. The wedding date, she said, had been fixed for May 22nd. Operation Red Alert treats every Child Marriage case with the urgency of a potential trafficking case, and our team immediately activated our local Implementing Partners Sabuj Sangha to provide localized support.

On May 16th the Red Alert Helpline received a call from a village in West Bengal claiming that a 13-14 year old girl was to be married off and that we must come stop it. The wedding date, she said, had been fixed for May 22nd. Operation Red Alert treats every Child Marriage case with the urgency of a potential trafficking case, and our team immediately activated our local Implementing Partners Sabuj Sangha to provide localized support.

On May 17th Sabuj Sangha reached the village, and started by obtaining proof of age of the minor girl, Jaanvi*. They did not connect with the caller to ensure her anonymity was protected for her safety, so the proof of age was obtained from the school. Jaanvi, it turned out was 15 years old and indeed set to be married within a week. Indian law forbids marriage for girls below the age of 18, so with the school-verified proof of age, Sabuj Sandha went to the village Panchayat (leader) and government Development Officer to get their support in approaching the parents and educating them. Fortunately, both the Panchayat and Development Officer agreed to go accompany the visit to Jaanvi’s parents.

Sabuj Sangha was able to educate the parents the Indian legal restrictions protecting girls from child marriage, as well as the dangers to the health, education and long term wellness of girls who get married too early. With the support of the Panchayat and Development Officer, they were able to convince Jaanvi’s parents that marriage was not the right choice for their daughter and get their written agreement that they will not get her married, but keep her in school until completion.

Jaanvi will head back to school when it reopens after summer holidays on June 12th, and has the commitment of her parents as well as local leadership that she will stay there until she graduates. With the backing of local leadership as well as local NGO Sabuj Sangha, Jaanvi can be confident that her parents will not succumb to societal or economic pressures to send their daughter off.

After school reopens, Operation Red Alert Implementing Partner Sabuj Sandha will follow up to ensure that Jaanvi is in school and thriving.

In this case, we do not have information on whether the marriage Jaanvi was headed for was legitimate or a trafficking threat. The reality is that many rural child marriages either immediately or eventually result in trafficking and forced sexual exploitation. We are proud of our Helpline team and Implementing Partner Sabuj Sangha for their quick work to help Jaanvi, and each of the other cases they regularly receive.

Operation Red Alert conducted a Safe Village Program in Jaavni’s village back on 24 March, 2017. The call about Jaavni’s child marriage came in 2 months later. These stories encourage us that our grassroots education is effective and long lasting in creating change in the villages it reaches.

Operation Red Alert

This post was authored by the Operation Red Alert communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed, and full of hope.

Share this story

Donate to Operation Red Alert

Your donations make it possible for us to give families the choice to keep their girls safe from exploitation and violence. Help us educate more families, bring awareness to India and run its first national anti-sex trafficking helpline.

DONATE NOW
I WANT TO DONATE

Sumaiya’s Story

Posted on by admin_redalert
  • CATEGORY: OPERATION RED ALERT

Sumaiya’s Story

One day when no one was at home, Sumaiya ran away from her house to the school. She cried and convinced her headmaster to stop this marriage with an unknown man. The headmaster immediately called local Block Development Officer [BDO] and childline. Childline team came to Sumaiya’s home and educated them on the consequences of early child marriage.

SUMAIYA’s STORY

Sumaiya is a 15-year-old who is in her fourth grade in school. She is the youngest of four sisters. Each of her sisters dropped out of school and are heavily involved in domestic labor and household work. Sumaiya comes from a poor Muslim family with parents who are daily wage laborers. Sumaiya’s dream is to be a school teacher.

When HASUS, our Implementing Partner conducted a Safe Village Program in her school, Sumaiya was very attentive in listening to the team. As part of our Safe Village program in school, we also educate adolescent girls on the dangers of early child marriage and explain the physical and mental consequences of it, and how it may lead to sex trafficking.

One day, Sumaiya was informed by her dad that she was going to have an arranged marriage. Sumaiya was in shock and tried really hard to convince her mother that she would like to continue her studies. Her parents were adamant that she marry this unknown man from Mumbai. According to her Father, Sumaiya would be really happy with this handsome man as he earns a good income. Sumaiya was told not to go to school from that day on.

One day when no one was at home, Sumaiya ran away from her house to the school. She cried and convinced her headmaster to stop this marriage with an unknown man. The headmaster immediately called local Block Development Officer [BDO] and childline. Childline team came to Sumaiya’s home and educated them on the consequences of early child marriage.

Childline along with ORA partner HASUS motivated Sumaiya’s family to work for their daughter’s safety and long term happiness.

Now Sumaiya is back in school with her friends. She and her friends decided to stand against child marriage and continue their education in their school – to be Guardian Girls for each other.

It is our vision to see all girls in the village be “guardian girls” for each other, who know that they are VALUABLE, DETERMINED and are on a MISSION.

It is Operation Red Alert’s most critical mission that every girl would know why they should be a guardian girl, what really happens when someone from the city approaches their family and promises a better life, who traffickers are, and how to be on RED ALERT!

My Choices Foundation

This post was authored by the My Choices Foundation communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed on the cause, and hopeful that transformation is possible one story at a time.

Share this story

Donate to Operation Red Alert

Your donations make it possible for us to give families the choice to keep their girls safe from exploitation and violence. Help us educate more families, bring awareness to India and run its first national anti-sex trafficking helpline.

DONATE NOW
I WANT TO DONATE

CVC Strengthening Makes a Difference

Posted on by admin_redalert
  • CATEGORY: OPERATION RED ALERT

CVC Strengthening Makes a Difference

A core mission of our SVPs is to strengthen the local CVC so that it can play its part in preventing trafficking. This story shows how it’s happening!

CVC Strengthening Makes a Difference

A core mission of our SVPs is to strengthen the local CVC so that it can play its part in preventing trafficking. This story shows how it’s happening!

*Radhika is just 14 years old, but she fell in love with 19 year old *Hamad from the neighboring village. They would see each other occasionally when Hamad came to Radhika’s village to visit his uncle. Assuming that their parents would never be for their marriage, the two decided to elope and ran away together.

Radhika’s village is in the North 24 Parganas of West Bengal. Nearly a year before Radhika went missing, Operation Red Alert had conducted a Safe Village Program in her village. One of the core missions of each SVP is to establish a Community Vigilance Committee (CVC) or strengthen an existing CVC. CVCs exist in villages across the country, having been put together by government programs, but are rarely equipped with up to date training and resources that help them serve their village. However, these Committees have great potential to promote awareness, monitor safety, monitor local police action, and engage NGO services for their communities. Our training equips them with awareness of a range of issues, most importantly trafficking, and the mechanisms through which they can be redressed. In Radhika’s village, Operation Red Alert Implementing Partner ASHA founded the CVC in the village. It is made up of government appointed people who are often over burdened with government schemes. If a village does not have a CVC, we establish a committee which consists socially-driven people who are passionate to help keep their village safe.

When Radhika went missing, her parents were distraught. Her father is a wage laborer, and her family very poor. Daily survival is already a stress for them, and Radhika’s disappearance was more than they could bear on their own. They turned to the CVC for help.

The CVC informed Implementing Partner ASHA about the case, and jointly worked towards compiling the facts of the case. Because both Radhika and Hamad are below the legal age of marriage according to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, they immediately took the case to the police to file an FIR (first information report). However, the police hesitated to take action, despite the legal requirements for an FIR to be filed, and that all efforts to find the youngsters had been unsuccessful. The police are over burdened with cases, and when they assume that a girl has run away with a known person rather than being taken, they do not file the FIR. The CVC insisted that this case be treated with urgency according to the law because it involves a minor, and the police finally filed the FIR.

Information of the filing of the FIR spread throughout the villages, and through word of mouth Hamad’s parents found out. They knew that their son would be in trouble if Radhika wasn’t returned safely home. Hamad’s family were able to inform him of the FIR and encourage him to bring Radhika home.

On November 6th, withing 24 hours of going missing, Radhika and Hamad were returned to their homes, and appeared before the court of the Magistrate at on November 8th to give their testimonies. Radhika gave her statement that she left with Hamad of her own will, having not been coerced or hurt. On the basis of her statement, neither the parents or Hamad were accused of a crime.

Radhika is now safely back home, and her local CVC is keeping an eye on her to make sure she stays in school. The CVC is also looking out for other girls like Radhika, who might be at risk of child marriage and trafficking. While Radhika was returned home unhurt, the reality is usually a lot darker for girls who leave with men promising love and marriage. It is the most common trick traffickers use to lure girls. 47% of all brides in India are minors. Girls who get married below 18 are at extreme risk of domestic abuse as well as health risks associated with child bearing. Every 10 minutes a girl is trafficked in sexual slavery.

The horrors of child marriage and sexual trafficking can be stopped by local CVCs who are by definition “vigilant” for their own communities safety. In Radhika’s village, the CVC was able to hold the local police to the standard of the law because of the training of they received in the SVP program conducted by ASHA.

We could not be more proud of the work our Implementing Partner ASHA is doing in West Bengal, and of the CVC who helped rescue Radhika so that she can stay in school and get married when she is physically and legally ready.

*Radhika Rescued by ASHA

*All names have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of the minors and their families.

Operation Red Alert

This post was authored by the Operation Red Alert communications team. Our mission is to keep you informed, and full of hope.

Share this story

Donate to Operation Red Alert

Your donations make it possible for us to give families the choice to keep their girls safe from exploitation and violence. Help us educate more families, bring awareness to India and run its first national anti-sex trafficking helpline.

DONATE NOW
I WANT TO DONATE