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	Acting to rescue the victims of human trafficking by Triveni Balkrishna Acharya The Rescue Foundation India, Nepal & Bangladesh   The Resue Foundation is a non-profit NGO working for rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation of victims for human trafficking from different parts of India, Nepal & Bangladesh and sold for forced prostitution.   The organisation works to ensure that women"s human rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled.   Human Trafficking   It is well known that trafficking of girls & children from Nepal and Bangladesh to India and from the villages and interiors of various parts in India to a city like Mumbai has become a major problem.   Rescuing these girls from brothels where they are subjected to mental & physical torture to force them to prostitution is a task requiring great courage.   " Due to our experience over the last eight years, we have become experienced in rescuing, rehabilitating and repatriating these girls".   We are involved in rescuing victims of human trafficking who are sexually abused and are subjected to severe mental and physical torture to force these girls to prostitute.   This is the most neglected field of work in India. Due to a widespread, deep rooted social stigma in our country, there are very few NGOs attempting to rescue girls from brothels. We are the biggest NGO in India involved in this endeavor. We are also the only NGO in India who assists the victims for rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation.   There are no official statistics available for the victims of human trafficking but the practical observation indicates that there are thousands of girls trafficked from Nepal, Bangladesh and other parts of India into forced prostitution.   Every year between thousands of Nepali girls are trafficked into the red light districts in Indian Cities. Many of the girls are barely 9 or 10 years old. Between 200,000, to over 250,000 Nepali women & girls are already in Indian brothels. They are locked up for days, starved, beaten, burned with cigarettes and mass raped until they learn how to service up to 25 clients a day.   Trafficking in women, girls and children is easy along the 1740 mile long open border between India & Nepal. Trafficking in Nepalese girls is less risky than smuggling narcotics and electronic equipments or arms into India. Traffickers ferry girls without the hassle of paper work or threats of police checks. Bought for as little as Nepali Rupees 5,000, girls have been known to fetch up to Indian Rupees 100,000 in later transactions. Girls may not leave the brothels until they have repaid their debt, at which time they are sick, with HIV&/or Tuberculosis and often have children of their own.   Our frequent raids over the years have resulted in the arrests of brothel keepers & traffickers responsible for promoting trafficking in persons & for maltreating the girls. Moreover the shameful situation of forcing children into prostitution is also curbed by our forceful interventions. Visit the related web page
	Leading rights defender named as UN expert to combat torture by Juan Méndez UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment   4 November 2010   Human rights defender Juan Méndez of Argentina has taken over as the new United Nations independent expert on the scourge, vowing to help victims of torture.   “By insisting on the absolute prohibition of torture and of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international law, I hope to make an effective contribution to the enforcement and progressive development of international norms in this area,” said the new Special Rapporteur on the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the world, who replaces Manfred Nowak of Austria.   Mr. Méndez has dedicated his long legal career to defending human rights and has a distinguished record of advocacy.   As a result of representing political prisoners, he was subjected to torture during an 18-month-long detention by the Argentinean military dictatorship. During this time, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Amnesty International adopted him as a ''Prisoner of Conscience.''   In 1977, he was expelled from his home country and moved to the United States, where he has worked in different capacities, including as legal counsel for Human Rights Watch, President of the International Center for Transnational Justice (ICTJ) and Scholar-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation in New York.   Mr. Méndez also served as the UN''s first-ever Special Adviser on genocide prevention, with a mandate to collect existing information on serious violations of human rights that could lead to genocide and to bring potential genocidal situations to the attention of the Security Council. He served in that position from 2004 to 2007. Visit the related web page
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