Twin earthquakes in Nepal made it easier for traffickers to sell women into slavery

‘Many girls are being trafficked to Malaysia, Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and even China, where they are being sold off into potentially lifelong servitude for $10,000 to $13,000’

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Kabita Tamang, 23, was convinced after the quakes by a distant relative to fly to Kurdistan, which she mistakenly believed was a prosperous European nation. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 3:38pm, 25 Apr 2017Updated: 1:10pm, 10 Oct 2017

Sluggish reconstruction and the slow pace of economic recovery since deadly twin quakes two years ago have left millions in Nepal still roofless and jobless, making many of them easy targets for traffickers, anti-trafficking groups in Nepal say.

Maiti Nepal, the largest such group with a country-wide network and presence in India, the main destination of those trafficked from Nepal, intercepted 5,726 people while they were being trafficked via various Nepal-India border crossings in 2016, up 156 per cent from 2,237 interceptions the year before. Some were reported to be children as young as 10.

The first quake with a magnitude of 7.8 struck on April 25, 2015, the biggest to rattle Nepal in eight decades. It was followed by a magnitude 7.3 temblor on May 12. The quakes left nearly 9,000 dead, over 22,000 injured, and over a million houses and archaeological structures damaged or in ruins.

“The quakes caused enormous financial pressure on hundreds of thousands of affected families, leaving girls particularly vulnerable to trafficking. The situation is quite alarming,” said Sunita Danuwar, executive director of Shakti Samuha, an anti-trafficking group run by trafficking survivors like Danuwar.

“With so many villages in ruins in the already poverty-stricken hill districts like Sindhupalchowk, Rasuwa, and Nuwakot, it has become so easy for traffickers to find their prey.”