Mumbai
An estimated 1.2 million children are in forced prostitution in India right now. Over the past decade, our partner International Justice Mission (IJM) has worked with local Indian authorities to rescue more than 700 sex trafficking victims. But the fight for these children does not end there. Victims’ safety may not be fully secure for months after a rescue. Survivors need hope to overcome their trauma and the lies their traffickers have perpetuated if they are to endure the long and challenging road to reintegration.
Winning the battle for hope begins with improving the quantity and quality of aftercare homes where survivors go soon after rescue. The majority of aftercare providers in Mumbai and Kolkata are currently underfunded, undertrained, understaffed, overburdened and overwhelmed. At best, most aftercare homes can do little more than stabilize the girls. Yet, to have full and meaningful lives, trafficking survivors need emotional and physical healing, as well as education, economic self-sufficiency, social support, and a new world view.
By investing in aftercare in India, we’re working to bring about transformation of the response to sex trafficking in Mumbai and Kolkata. We will accomplish this by increasing the quantity and quality of aftercare “beds” for recently rescued survivors, creating opportunities for their sustainable economic self-sufficiency, developing a long-term social support structure for reintegrated survivors that engages the local Indian Church, and supporting the work of the Mumbai and Kolkata field offices of IJM.