Ending Human Trafficking One Story at a Time
Human trafficking remains a significant problem globally, and women and girls pay the highest price. India is no exception; according to estimates, human trafficking affects between 20 and 65 million people in the country. Indian women and girls are trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, and girls are also lured into forced labor as domestic servants. While laws that criminalize these practices exist, enforcement and prosecution are inadequate.
Recognizing the important role that storytelling and the performing arts can play in shifting the underlying social norms that continue to devalue girls and young women and encourage trafficking, the U.S. Department of State's American Center Kolkata, Indian NGO Shakti Vahini, U.S.-based Theater Alliance, and Silence Speaks initiated Ending Human Trafficking in India, One Story at a Time. In March 2019, we led a five-day intensive workshop that supported young women impacted by human trafficking in sharing personal stories from their lives, and, with the help of previously-trained mentors in performative and digital storytelling, transforming their experiences into art. The stories produced show not only the harsh realities of trafficking in India, but how people are taking action against it, and how women are rebuilding their lives in its aftermath. Shakti Vahini is sharing them extensively at skill-building trainings for law enforcement, criminal justice, and social services organizations; to date, they have been seen by more than 1,000 people in local community settings in India.
