Australian Media

ABC Radio Life Matters: Anuradha Koirala: Combatting Sex Trafficking

For 62-year-old Anuradha Koirala it was her own experience of violence that led her to help some of the estimated 15,000 women and children kidnapped and lured from Nepal.

They and their families are tricked by promises of work in India. Anuradha is the founder and executive director of Maiti Nepal, a home where girls rescued from sex trafficking come to be rehabilitated.

She’s a former English teacher and minister for women and children in the Nepalese government, and is in Australia to campaign for more awareness of the problem of young women and girls being trafficked for sex out of Nepal into India.

RTR Radio: CNN Hero of the Year 2010 on RTR

The UN estimates that annually up to 15,000 women and girls from Nepal – some as young as 6 – are kidnapped – sold by destitute family members or tricked by the promise of employment and transported to the infamous brothel ‘Cages’ of Mumbai and brothels across India, Asia and the Middle East.

Anuradha Koirala is the Founder and Executive Director of the organisation, Maiti Nepal. A former English teacher and Minister for Women and Children in the Nepalese government, she resigned her Ministerial post in protest over the lack of action on child trafficking and opened the doors of her own home to survivors.

WA Today.com.au

One woman is leading the fight against the scourge of child sexual slavery, writes Courtney Trenwith.

Every day some 50 girls are pulled off buses at the Nepal-India border and saved – at the last minute – from a life of the worst kind of slavery.

At least twice as many more are not.

Taken over the border, they become trapped as victims in the heinous sex trafficking industry.
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/the-appalling-side-of-nepal-sparks-a-womans-crusade-20110523-1ezgj.html#ixzz1N9itZqKX

The West Australian: Putting a stop to Trade in Women.

Anuradha Koirala cuts a diminutive figure on the grounds of Perth’s Sikh Temple but the petite woman in the sari has had a big impact on the lives of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable women.

As the founder and chairwoman of Maiti Nepal, an organisation dedicated to stopping human trafficking and the illegal sex trade, Ms Koirala has prevented an estimated 12,000 people from being sold into slavery.

“The three largest crimes in the world are drugs, arms and women trafficking. Globally it’s a big crime and in Nepal it’s the biggest social crime,” Ms Koirala said.