Ruchira Gupta of Apne Aap speaks at the UN General Assembly Sept 27 2017
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I give the floor to the representative of Apne Aap International
Thank you madam chair, my name is Ruchira Gupta
And I'm from Apne Aap Women Worldwide an organization that works against sex-trafficking in India
We represent more than 20,000 girls and women
who are victims of sex-trafficking and prostitution
They are the poorest of the poor. They are poor, female, low caste.
On top of that, when they were trafficked into prostitution they were teenagers.
Many of the girls I work with are still teenagers.
And I applaud the leadership of the UNODC and all those present here today.
For taking the lead to create and reinforce the global plan of action to combat trafficking.
It is much needed by the girls who I work with in remote villages, in India.
Who are pimped everyday, ten times a night, just for 50 cents or 30 cents for each rape.
I am here to also mention and spotlight the need to emphasize on the vulnerability
of the girls who are trafficked. I call them The Last Girls because as Mahatma Gandhi said
who died a hundred and fifty years ago that- who died- who was born
who was born a hundred and fifty years ago that whenever we embark on any action
we must think of the most vulnerable and weakest human being we know
and think about the impact of our actions on that person.
So I ask all of you present today to think of the most vulnerable human being
as that last girl. The 13 year old in a brothel, who has no access to food,
clothing, shelter, except what the brothel keeper gives her
And definitely no access to justice.
Her trafficking- her prostitution is no choice, and therefore we need to invest
to reduce her vulnerabilities so that she can exit out of prostitution just as South African
survivor, Grizelda Grootboom said today. We also need to make sure that we
understand what the nature of exploitation is when we define the purpose of trafficking
Anything which is physically or mentally harmful is exploitation
and let us not let any semantics take us away from that. Very often, the UN
has been debating that if it is choice it is not exploitation, and therefore we should call it sex work
but if it is physically and mentally harmful it is exploitation. And therefore,
I ask us to emphasize in agenda 2030 the target 5.2, which recognizes
the sexual exploitation and prostitution, and the sexual violence done to women
and girls, and asks of all countries to combat that. I understand
that partnerships are essential to combat this, partnerships across UNICEF,
UNSCR, UNAIDS, and other UN agencies, but also we must look at
best practices that already exist, as solutions to combat trafficking and
therefore I point to the Nordic model which has been created by Sweden
followed by Norway and now adopted by France and Ireland as a way to
go forward, in which women and girls who are victims of trafficking are decriminalized
and those who buy and sell them are criminalized. I ask that we'll remember to address
the demand for human trafficking as the best way of preventing trafficking
because it acts as a deterrent, as all the evaluations of the Nordic model has shown.
I also ask and appeal to member states and the UN to talk to my country, India
where there are two laws, which are very, very problematic and will have a very
dangerous impact on the Last Girl. One is that in September, a law has legalized child labor
in my country, but in many sectors like family-based enterprises and audio-visual entertainment
as well as removed the list of hazardous industries. And the second thing,
is to make sure that trafficking is always linked for the purposes of sexual exploitation
as much as for labor exploitation. Thank you.