This presentation will bring awareness about international sex trafficking in Nepal and India, review proven effective methods of rescue, and make a suggestion to other international organizations about border monitoring.

Nepal is a source, transit and destination country for trafficking and is in the top ten for having the most vulnerable people in the world. Nepal is one of the poorest countries with over ¼ of people living below the poverty line, 23% of the population being undernourished,only 53.1% of adult women being literate  and only 15% of rural households having electricity. The border between India and Nepal is one of the busiest slave trafficking border routes in the world for trafficking men, women and children. This is due to its open border policy and 1,000 miles shared border between the two countries. It is estimated that over 12,000- 15,000 girls are trafficked each year between the countries, and that over 200,000 Nepalese girls, under the age of 10 are enslaved in Indian brothels.

Therefore, severe methods of rescue are needed for this country. Free for Life International works by partnering with organizations to set up border monitoring stations between Nepal and India (and Tibet). Our data shows that this method of rescue works better than anything we have used in the past, as it not only identifies trafficking victims and traffickers, but also potentially at risk individuals. Through this method over 600 victims have been rescued and over 10,000 girls have been interviewed.  Border monitoring stations provide a system of data collection as well as, once a trafficker is found, they go into a larger trafficking database. We have used this database to arrest and prosecute over 70 traffickers. Moreover, our border monitoring stations have allowed an accessibility of local knowledge to underground brothels that large scale raids have been conducted through. I suggest that border monitoring be used as a more common method of rescue and repatriation on an international level.