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Breaking the demand chain for sex from minors would render supply worthless, contributing to the elimination of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Using a novel sampling technique, this study reports on actual and potential adult customers of CSEC in two areas in Kathmandu (n = 466). Controlling for refusal conversion, age, education, and income, higher scores on a new Love-Fantasy Scale (LFS) were associated with increased odds of purchasing sex from young girls, as were patriarchal norms emphasizing the power of men. Further research is needed to design interventions that include aspects related to sexual fantasy for young girls to combat demand for CSEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately detecting human trafficking is particularly challenging due to its covert nature, difficulty in distinguishing trafficking from non-trafficking exploitative conditions, and varying operational definitions. Typically, detecting human trafficking requires resource-intensive efforts from resource-constrained anti-trafficking stakeholders. Such measures may need personnel training or machine learning-based identification technologies that suffer from detection errors. Repeated usage of such measures risks biasing detection efforts and reducing detection effectiveness. Such problems raise the question: "How should imperfect detection resources be allocated to most effectively identify human trafficking?" As an answer, we construct a class of resource allocation models that considers various optimal allocation scenarios. These scenarios range from optimal location selection for monitoring to optimal allocation of a finite set of imperfect resources, given error rates. We illustrate the applicability of these models across both human and technology-facilitated detection contexts at the India–Nepal border and in the global seafood industry. Insights from our models help inform operational strategies for allocating limited anti-human trafficking resources in a way that effectively preserves human rights and dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transit monitoring is a preventive approach used to identify possible cases of human trafficking before exploitation while an individual is in transit or before crossing a border. Transit monitoring is often conducted by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that train staff to identify and intercept suspicious activity. Love Justice International (LJI) is a well-established NGO that has been conducting transit monitoring for years along the Nepal-India border at multiple monitoring stations. In partnership with LJI, we developed a system that uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to help LJI decision makers evaluate the performance of these stations at intercepting potential human trafficking victims given the amount of resources (staff, etc.) available and make specific operational improvement recommendations. Our model consists of 91 decision-making units from seven stations over 13 quarters and considers three inputs, four outputs, and three homogeneity criteria. Using this model, we identified efficient stations, compared rankings of station performance, and recommended strategies to improve efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of DEA in the anti-human trafficking domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore how the diverse labour migration practices of people who challenge their state's restrictive policies produce a form of stigma that extends from people to the places where they reside. Drawing on the findings of Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted in Nepal, I demonstrate how people residing in one such place attempt to undo stigma by adopting diverse practices amidst restrictive anti‐trafficking and migration policies. I reveal a novel practice of prospective labour migrants negotiating and receiving money from their choicest mobility facilitators to assist their unauthorised labour migration. This exchange of money potentially criminalises prospective labour migrants, their family members, unlicensed and licensed recruitment agents, community leaders, anti‐traffickers, government officials, hotel owners, transport service providers, and airport immigration officials as traffickers. Underscoring the collateral damage of anti‐trafficking in Nepal, I assert that the exchange of money to facilitate unauthorised migration expands the remit of criminalisation of citizens as "traffickers". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since late 2021, a new development has been taking place in Nepal. Like many governments around the world, the Nepalese authorities are also fully invested in asking for the return of their looted art held in foreign collections. Yet the policy is no longer to keep these in the country's main museums, but rather to bring them back to the communities of origin, where they can fully take up their role as "living Gods". With this move - which fully prioritizes intangible heritage values over tangible - a unique process is taking place that allows for reflection on what the restitution of stolen objects could be all about. In this way the case of Nepal demonstrates that the trafficking of art and its placement in museums abroad, as well as its "typical" return to museums in the source countries, are strongly influenced by Western concepts of art and conservation, often ignoring the local values of this heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human trafficking is a critical public health issue particularly pervasive in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP), which share a border with Nepal. Many NGOs are participating in prevention, protection, prosecution, and capacity building initiatives. The aim of this study was to identify factors hindering and enhancing the efficacy of anti-trafficking programs in the region.Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal.Results: Thematic analysis revealed that the barriers hindering the anti-trafficking movement include police corruption, insufficient enforcement of national law, discrimination toward trafficking victims, inadequate funding, and lack of government involvement. Recommendations for overcoming these barriers were through empowering survivors and increasing cooperation, coordination, and communications between NGOs and the government.Conclusions: In mitigating these barriers and increasing survivor autonomy, anti-trafficking interventions have the opportunity to create individualized environments for those with an experience of trafficking to thrive. Ultimately, elevating community accountability, honoring individual autonomy, and recognizing the value of the persons with a lived experience of trafficking are critical as we continue to use a public health lens in the fight against human trafficking and for human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between human trafficking and geographies of stigma based on qualitative research in Nepal. It explains how geographies of stigma circumscribe the agency of those who return from having experienced trafficking, affecting their livelihoods and mobilities. It examines processes of spatial differentiation, territorialisation and scalar hierarchies in relation to the production and navigation of stigma. This paper explores the relationship between human trafficking and geographies of stigma. We introduce post‐trafficking contexts as important settings for understanding how geographical imaginaries underpin the everyday occurrence of stigma for those who have experienced human trafficking. We show how a focus on trafficking can speak back to some of the core migration literatures in Geography, highlighting new agendas with a particular focus on the how, where, and why of stigma. The paper draws on qualitative research in Nepal and interviews with 46 women who have experienced trafficking, to explain how geographies of stigma circumscribe the agency of returnees and affect their livelihoods and mobilities. It examines themes of spatial differentiation, territorialisation, and scalar processes in relation to the production and navigation of stigma. It shows how post‐trafficking is given meaning and expressed through spatial form and relations, which become manifest in scalar hierarchies of stigma. The argument highlights how these hierarchies are anchored through trafficking routes and destinations. It contrasts village and city settings as potential sites of return, bringing centre stage the role of the city in mediating returnees' experiences. The analysis indicates how the categories of migrant and trafficked women are co‐produced through bureaucratisation processes. The documents and identificatory practices at the heart of state and non‐state interventions help produce the terms of in/visibility and social recognition for migrant women who often want to remain hidden. At the same time, they also reproduce some of the practices and mechanisms that underpin trafficking, thereby shaping the rejection, harassment, and abuse that comes with geographies of stigma for returnee women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We undertook a reproductive health study on young formerly trafficked women in Nepal using a new research method – the Clay Embodiment Research Method – designed with their vulnerability and the cultural context in mind. Following a two-month period of participant observation, six formerly trafficked women participated in a series of seven themed (clay embodiment/three-dimensional body mapping) workshops and, afterward, a group interview using photoethnography. We discovered that these women are subject to cultural stigmas other than those related to sex trafficking, such as menstrual stigma, stigma related to pre-marital sex, stigma related to pregnancy before marriage and stigma for having a female child. These can have a deep impact across the entire reproductive lives of women. As a cultural force, the stigmatisation is generated by both men and women, and has roots that lie in Hinduism and the patriarchal value system in Nepal. Nepal is attempting to address some of these issues and we recommend a public health campaign to eliminate the practice of the menstruation and other stigmatising traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human trafficking – the trade of persons for the gain of others – is a pervasive societal issue. Ongoing trafficking recruitment calls for targeted prevention strategies for individuals and communities at risk. Awareness campaigns, arguably the most common form of trafficking prevention, are intended to alert individuals to the tactics used by traffickers and provide them with practical strategies to avoid deception and exploitation. However there is a shortage of technical solutions regarding the analysis, impact assessment, and evaluation of alternatives related to implementing awareness campaigns. We present a resource allocation model that can be used to determine the allocation of funds that maximizes increases in trafficking awareness among at-risk populations. We apply this model to determine the allocation of a limited budget among different types of prevention programs in at-risk populations in Nepal. For each awareness campaign, we estimate a production function that relates the amount invested to the associated change in awareness. When allocating limited resources, decision makers must balance competing interests, and we illustrate the impact of three allocation policies on trafficking awareness. The model presented in this article is a first attempt to help decision makers evaluate how to allocate funds in the context of trafficking awareness. • Contribute to the nexus of anti–human trafficking and OR literature. • Propose a way to address data challenges in the application of analytic approaches for anti-trafficking interventions. • Develop an analytical approach for optimizing pre-trafficking interventions within a limited budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trafficking, sexual exploitation, and violence are substantial issues for women living in the patriarchal societies of the Global South. McCormick foregrounds these issues in India and Nepal in her Sold (2006), as Khan does in Pakistan in his No Honour (2021). This article argues that South Asian patriarchal societies, including Nepal and Pakistan, are sexually saturated, rooted in gender inequality, and treat the female gender as the lesser and oppressed, a commodity and an object to be traded and sold for domiciliary purposes. Masculine privileges are threaded through South Asian patriarchal cultures in the form of male-designed doctrines. Contesting the patriarchal notion that prostituted women are objects, this article establishes them as subjects since both protagonists of the selected novels challenge patriarchal norms to become autonomous. Kathleen Barry's concepts on the close ties between trafficking and prostitution are used to capture the engagements of the two selected novels with the designated problems of women's trade and prostitution through textual analysis. This article concludes that sexism, masculinized privileges, and gendered misogyny are insidious forces at work that perpetuate the bleak social realities of women's trade and prostitution in patriarchal societies and can be overcome through women's empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While human trafficking often conjures up images of victims being taken by force, in reality, a minority of today’s slave population are physically abducted. Rather, a significant share of human trafficking victims are “pushed” (e.g., trying to escape crisis conditions) or “pulled” (e.g., pursuing the prospect of economic opportunities) into situations of high risk. This study focuses on those who are “pulled” into risky scenarios, assessing when individuals make decisions that may put themselves at risk. I assume that individuals are boundedly rational, and propose an aspiration-based model of decision-making, which predicts that increased salience in relative deprivation can lead individuals to be more risk-seeking, putting themselves and their children at greater risk for exploitation. Using both an original survey experiment and nationally-representative data in Nepal, I find that consistent with the theoretical model, perceptions of relative deprivation induce more risk-seeking behavior. This result speaks to the interaction between inequality and risk tolerance, and how economic and social forces that alter perceived relative deprivation can increase vulnerability to exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a bi-level network interdiction model to increase the effectiveness of attempting to disrupt a human trafficking network under a resource constrained environment. To model the behavior of the trafficker, we present a new interpretation of the traditional maximum flow network problem in which the arc capacity parameter serves as a proxy for the trafficker's desirability to travel along segments of the network. The objective for the anti-human trafficking stakeholder is to invest resources in detection and intervention efforts throughout the network in a manner that minimizes the trafficker's expected maximum desirability of operating on the network. Interdictions are binary, and their effects are stochastic (i.e., there is a positive probability that a disruption attempt is unsuccessful). We present a multi-stage version of the model, which incorporates the effect of interdictions becoming more or less successful over time. Using a genetic algorithm that uses a pseudo-utility ratio for the repair operation, we solve multiple problem instances for a case study of the road network in the Eastern Development Region of Nepal and multiple grid networks. We then discuss observations regarding the impact of probabilistic interdiction success and the implications it has for optimal policies to disrupt a human trafficking network with limited resources. • Combines human trafficking expertise with network interdiction models. • Network interdiction model with decision-dependent uncertainty and multiple stages. • Computational studies demonstrate the genetic algorithm's performance. • Provides two-stage policy insights for multi-stage decision-dependent probabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues in international sex trafficking as of January 2016, mainly based on data from the U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report. Also cited are the definition of human trafficking by the United Nations (UN) Protocol on Trafficking, the purposes of trafficking like forced labor, organ donation, and sexual exploitation, and the coercive tactics of traffickers such as abduction, and physical or sexual violence.

Background: Despite further recent research into the consequences associated with human sex trafficking, scant evidence associated with the mental health outcomes among victims of sex trafficking remains, including within Nepal where trafficking continues to be a growing problem. Aim: To investigate the prevalence and explanatory factors of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among female survivors being housed and supported by two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Nepal. Methods: A total of 66 female sex trafficking survivors being housed by two NGOs were purposively sampled. Anxiety and depression symptomatology were measured using the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist–25 instrument and PTSD symptomatology was measured using the PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version. Results: In all, 87%, 85.5% and 29.7% of the sample scored above anxiety, depression and PTSD thresholds, respectively. HIV-positive status and length of workday during trafficking period significantly associated with at least one outcome measure. Conclusion: The results contribute further evidence of how damaging sex trafficking can be to victims, particularly in terms of being at risk of clinical depression and/or anxiety. Continued efforts to prevent trafficking from occurring as well as effective, timely intervention for survivors are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the relationship between gender, sexuality and citizenship embedded in models of citizenship in the Global South, specifically in South Asia, and the meanings associated with having - or not having - citizenship. It does this through an examination of women's access to citizenship in Nepal in the context of the construction of the emergent nation state in the 'new' Nepal 'post-conflict'. Our analysis explores gendered and sexualized constructions of citizenship in this context through a specific focus on women who have experienced trafficking, and are beginning to organize around rights to sustainable livelihoods and actively lobby for changes in citizenship rules which discriminate against women. Building from this, in the final section we consider important implications of this analysis of post-trafficking experiences for debates about gender, sexuality and citizenship more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sex trafficking has been a long-standing concern in Nepal. Very little has been achieved, however, in terms of actual reduction in the number of victims despite numerous anti-sex trafficking programs. This situation may be attributable to a lack of empirical evidence upon which to formulate anti-sexual trafficking interventions. This study aimed to assess sex trafficking-related knowledge, awareness and attitudes, and factors associated with sex trafficking awareness and attitudes towards the victims of sex trafficking and/or anti-sex trafficking campaigns among adolescent female students in Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between August–September 2013 among 292 adolescent female students (>10 years old) using systematic random sampling from three high schools in Sindhupalchowk district, Nepal. As an initial step, descriptive analyses were employed to characterize the data and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to explore factors associated with sex trafficking awareness and related attitudes. Results: Seventy-six percent of sampled students reported that they were aware of sex trafficking and 94.6% indicated media (i.e., radio or television) as the primary sources of their knowledge. Fifty-one percent mentioned relatives/friends as mediators of sex trafficking, 60.4% reported promise for better jobs as the primary attraction behind sex trafficking, and 48.6% mentioned adolescent females as the most vulnerable group for sex trafficking. Over half (56.8%) of the respondents had positive attitudes towards the victims of sex trafficking and/or anti-sex trafficking campaigns. Age (OR = 3.38, 95% CI:2.51–4.55), parents’ occupation (OR = 3.89, 95% CI:1.58–9.58), and having a radio/TV at home (OR = 6.67, 95% CI:3.99–9.54) were significantly associated with awareness, whereas being younger (OR = 0.67, 95% CI:0.55–0.79) and having joint-family (OR = 2.67, 95% CI:1.49–4.80) were significantly associated with having a positive attitudes towards the victims of sex trafficking and/or anti-sex trafficking campaigns. Conclusion: Findings presented have important implications for anti-trafficking programs, in particular those designed to educate the adolescent females who are at most-risk of sex trafficking. Educational programs need to include specific interventions to improve knowledge and attitudes towards sex trafficking among adolescent females in Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how a new agenda on post-trafficking is gaining momentum through academic and activist anti-trafficking collaborations focused on co-producing knowledge with women who have returned from trafficking situations. Co-production of this nature is important as the issues raised by post-trafficking scenarios are largely ignored in anti-trafficking strategies, and the stigmatisation and poverty which women in these circumstances encounter means they rarely have a voice in policy-making. Drawing on research in Nepal, we present four types of co-produced data around transforming citizenship post-trafficking, and reflect on the strategies for generating and using them for advocacy purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an empirically informed conceptualisation of trafficking borders as spaces of restriction and negotiation, contingently produced, encountered, and escaped along the mobility routes of the targets of trafficking discourse. The concept of trafficking borders advances critical literature that considers anti-trafficking measures a vehicle of state-authorised bordering practices by demonstrating social and political spaces where the trafficking discourse coalesces several discourses, institutions, and practices as borders. The article draws on participatory action research conducted in Nepal to demonstrate the presence of borders in spaces such as households, communities, government offices, Indo-Nepal state borders, emigration detention and deportation centres, and airports. These spaces contribute to the critical understanding of locations where anti-trafficking measures curtail the rights, mobility, and choices of prospective migrant workers. Prioritising research participants' experiences of encounters with trafficking borders, the article underscores that borders are the central experience of migrant workers which they must escape to actualise their labour migration projects. The conceptualisation further attempts to position the emigration regime as an important site of theorisation and activism and demands a thorough consideration of the diverse struggles of the labour migrants before they arrive at their labour relations in the immigration regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is very limited evidence on the health consequences of human trafficking. This systematic review reports on studies investigating the prevalence and risk of violence while trafficked and the prevalence and risk of physical, mental, and sexual health problems, including HIV, among trafficked people. Methods and Findings: We conducted a systematic review comprising a search of Medline, PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and Web of Science, hand searches of reference lists of included articles, citation tracking, and expert recommendations. We included peer-reviewed papers reporting on the prevalence or risk of violence while trafficked and/or on the prevalence or risk of any measure of physical, mental, or sexual health among trafficked people. Two reviewers independently screened papers for eligibility and appraised the quality of included studies. The search identified 19 eligible studies, all of which reported on trafficked women and girls only and focused primarily on trafficking for sexual exploitation. The review suggests a high prevalence of violence and of mental distress among women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation. The random effects pooled prevalence of diagnosed HIV was 31.9% (95% CI 21.3%-42.4%) in studies of women accessing posttrafficking support in India and Nepal, but the estimate was associated with high heterogeneity (I² = 83.7%). Infection prevalence may be related as much to prevalence rates in women's areas of origin or exploitation as to the characteristics of their experience. Findings are limited by the methodological weaknesses of primary studies and their poor comparability and generalisability. Conclusions: Although limited, existing evidence suggests that trafficking for sexual exploitation is associated with violence and a range of serious health problems. Further research is needed on the health of trafficked men, individuals trafficked for other forms of exploitation, and effective health intervention approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trafficking for sexual purposes is widely recognized as a violation of human rights. Trafficking of women and girls within Nepal and from Nepal to India’s red light districts is thought to be extremely common. There is sharp debate within the anti-trafficking community, both within Nepal and globally, about why trafficking occurs and how to prevent it. I argue that this disagreement is rooted in two distinct underlying frameworks employed by anti-trafficking advocates to understand trafficking, which I identify as the “Prostitution Framework” and the “Labour Exploitation Framework”. This article introduces these frameworks and investigates where the anti-trafficking community in Nepal is situated. I find that this community is primarily rooted within the Prostitution Framework, and that this position has implications for how anti-trafficking programming is conducted. Recent changes in Nepal have begun to expose some of the shortcomings of this framework, and I conclude that there are strong reasons that anti-trafficking advocates in Nepal should examine their assumptions, as perhaps programmes situated within the Labour Framework may be more appropriate. More empirical research is required in order to demonstrate whether programming informed by the Labour Exploitation Framework would be more successful at preventing trafficking and limiting the harm that women experience in the sex industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent global trend of international migration has emerged as feminisation of migration. Specific gender related issues become evident when female migrants suffer human abuses because of their dual vulnerability as migrant as well as woman. Trafficking cannot be separated from globalization and livelihood issue. It is very difficult to explain with reliable data that trafficking of women and children takes place along the path of illegal migration. Documented female Nepali migrants show increasing trend for India and follow a decreasing trend for West Bengal. Sex ratios of Nepali migrants expressed as [(F/M)*1000] register gradual increasing trend in India (except a fall in 2001) and West Bengal ensuring feminization of migrants in the migration process. Though documented migration reveals definite trend, quantification of undocumented or illegal migration caused by trafficking is very difficult as there is no systematic long-term data. The important factors that are conducive to trafficking in Nepal are the open border between India and Nepal, poverty, historical oppression, organised net work, profit accrued to traffickers, demand for fair skinned, delicate featured girls, inadequate political commitment to address trafficking and failure of police and judiciary to enforce existing laws. It is recommended that a 'middle path' of a regulated open border, bipartite agreement between India and Nepal, mapping of migration routes to understand direction and flow of people, identification of source and destination area to provide clues to the areas to be targeted for awareness building should be adopted as a policy to control trafficking and illegal migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a qualitative descriptive methodology, this study explored the experiences of Nepalese women trafficked into prostitution in India. The study found that poverty and lack of awareness about being at risk for trafficking are the major precursors for their trafficking experience. Abduction, fake marriages and the seduction of a better job were the major approaches adopted by pimps to traffic the women. The study also showed that after returning from the Indian brothel(s), they were rejected by their family and community. Such rejections occurred as family and community perceived these young women as at high risk for HIV infection. Strategies should be put in place to assist the women to reintegrate into their family and community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trafficking in girls and women for sexual exploitation has a long history in Nepal. Its magnitude, processes and factors leading to trafficking have changed with the growing phenomena of urbanization, Nepal's entry in the world labour market for carpet industry, armed conflict and the emergence of foreign labour market opportunities for Nepali youth especially after 2000. Utilising secondary data from different sources and narratives of the trafficking survivors, this article aims to critically review the contemporary trafficking situation in Nepal and Government's and civil society's efforts to combat trafficking and identify the new areas of concerns and gaps to combat trafficking in girls and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been little systematic research on therapy, rehabilitation, and social reintegration of women formerly trafficked into prostitution. This study examines characteristics and outcomes of Nepali sex trafficking survivors. Twenty case files of survivors rehabilitated in the shelter of an antitrafficking NGO were randomly selected. All individuals in the sample suffered somatic and behavioral sequelae. Three quarters of the survivors eventually returned to their villages to live. These results suggest that current rehabilitation and reintegration programs are producing positive results. However, there is need for more systematic diagnosis, record keeping, and outcome studies as well as education to reduce stigma and promote safe migration practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many girls involved in sex work in Asia do so because they are compelled by economic circumstances and social inequality. Some enter sex work voluntarily, others do so by force or deception, sometimes involving migration across international borders. Nepalese girls involved in sex work via trafficking are the focus of this article, which aims at increasing our understanding of the context of sex trafficking, the methods and means of trafficking, living conditions in brothels and survival strategies among trafficked girls. Girls trafficked from Nepal to India are typically unmarried, illiterate and very young. Key routes to sex trafficking include employment-induced migration to urban areas, deception (through false marriage or visits) and abduction. Past initiatives towards their needs have adopted a welfare approach; such initiatives alone are inadequate as they ignore the importance of empowerment of women in the migration process and skill development in community re-integration. Anti-trafficking interventions need to be considered at (i) community level before movement begins; (ii) urban centres which are both source and transitory centres for trafficking; (iii) trafficking level when girls are highly mobile and in brothels; and (iv) return from trafficking as girls to move back into the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Little is known about the mental health status of trafficked women, even though international conventions require that it be considered. This study, therefore, aims at exploring the mental health status, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of female survivors of human trafficking who are currently supported by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, through comparison between those who were forced to work as sex workers and those who worked in other areas such as domestic and circus work (non-sex workers group). The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) was administered to assess anxiety and depression, and the PTSD Checklist Civilian Version (PCL-C) was used to evaluate PTSD. Both the sex workers'' and the non-sex workers'' groups had a high proportion of cases with anxiety, depression, and PTSD. The sex workers group tended to have more anxiety symptoms (97.7%) than the non-sex workers group (87.5%). Regarding depression, all the constituents of the sex workers group scored over the cut-off point (100%), and the group showed a significantly higher prevalence than the non-sex workers (80.8%). The proportion of those who are above the cut-off for PTSD was higher in the sex workers group (29.6%) than in the non-sex workers group (7.5%). There was a higher rate of HIV infection in the sex workers group (29.6%) than in the non-sex workers group (0%). The findings suggest that programs to address human trafficking should include interventions (such as psychosocial support) to improve survivors'' mental health status, paying attention to the category of work performed during the trafficking period. In particular, the current efforts of the United Nations and various NGOs that help survivors of human trafficking need to more explicitly focus on mental health and psychosocial support. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article presents the results of a study on HIV prevalence and predictors of infection in sex-trafficked Nepalese girls and women. Sex trafficking of girls and women is widespread in South Asia and is recognized as a violent gender-based crime and a human rights violation. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among repatriated sex-trafficked women from Nepal and to identify trafficking-related predictors of infection. The study showed that girls under the age of 15 years were at a higher risk for HIV infection than were the older girls and young women although all were found to have an increased risk.

The article focuses on the impacts of the armed conflicts between the Maoists and the Nepali government on women. The war started in 1996 when the newly-introduced democratic politics failed to meet the hopes of many citizens, causing the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) to launch an uprising against the monarchy. The author stresses the gender-specific violence that the conflicts bore to women, who largely represented the Maoist. These violence include economic hardship, physical violence, women trafficking, and displacement. She points out the need for international intervention to develop peace talks between the parties, as well as various development projects focused on poverty and women's health.

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Sex trafficking may play a major role in spread of HIV across South Asia. We investigated co-infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases among 246 sex-trafficked women and girls from Nepal. Those who were HIV positive were more likely than those who were HIV negative to be infected with syphilis and/or hepatitis B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventing modern slavery is of global interest, but evidence on interventions remains weak. This paper presents findings from a 5-year theory-based evaluation of an empowerment and knowledge-building intervention to prevent the exploitation of South Asian female migrant workers. The evaluation used realist evaluation techniques to examine the intervention mechanisms, outcomes, and context. Findings from qualitative and quantitative data from Nepal, India, and Bangladesh indicate that the intervention mechanisms (trainings) were not well-targeted, not delivered by appropriate trainers, and did not address participants' expectations or concerns. The outcomes of empowerment and migration knowledge were not achieved due to poor integration of context-related factors, flawed assumptions about the power inequalities, including barriers preventing women from asserting their rights. Ultimately, interventions to prevent exploitation of migrant workers should be developed based on strong evidence about the social, political, and economic realities of their migration context, especially in destination settings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Zimmerman, Mak, Pocock and Kiss.)

This article is concerned with returning to sexual stigma in two key respects. First, it prompts a return to the conceptual understanding of sexual stigma and makes an important contribution to critiques of the individualized frameworks that have dominated much of the literature on stigma to date, through a critical analysis of sexual stigma as a collective process at different scales and locations. Second, using empirical data from a qualitative study of post-trafficking experiences of women in Nepal as a case study to develop theoretical understandings of the production of stigma, it explores modalities of sexualized stigma encountered on return from trafficking situations. Within the trafficking literature there has been very little attention to what happens after trafficking. This article addresses this gap in focusing on lives post-trafficking and, in addition, contributes to the limited research on trafficking in Nepal., (© London School of Economics and Political Science 2019.)

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article related to illegal organ and human trafficking in Nepal, published in a February 27, 2016 issue.

The article focuses on the challenges in combating human trafficking in Nepal. It is estimated that up to seven thousand Nepalese girls are trafficked to India every year, primarily for prostitution. Due to the trade relationship between Nepal and India, traffickers can easily transport victims from Nepal to India. Although both Nepal and India are signatories to regional and international anti-trafficking conventions they have not initiated bilateral discussions to combat trafficking.

Objectives: Growing numbers of people are migrating outside their country for work, and many experience precarious conditions, which have been linked to poor physical and mental health. While international dialogue on human trafficking, forced labour and slavery increases, prevalence data of such experiences remain limited., Methods: Men from Dolakha, Nepal, who had ever migrated outside of Nepal for work were interviewed on their experiences, from predeparture to return (n=194). Forced labour was assessed among those who returned within the past 10 years (n=140) using the International Labour Organization's forced labour dimensions: (1) unfree recruitment ; (2) work and life under duress ; and (3) impossibility to leave employer . Forced labour is positive if any one of the dimensions is positive., Results: Participants had worked in India (34%), Malaysia (34%) and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (29%), working in factories (29%), as labourers/porters (15%) or in skilled employment (12%). Among more recent returnees (n=140), 44% experienced unfree recruitment , 71% work and life under duress and 14% impossibility to leave employer . Overall, 73% experienced forced labour during their most recent labour migration.Forced labour was more prevalent among those who had taken loans for their migration (PR 1.23) and slightly less prevalent among those who had migrated more than once (PR 0.87); however the proportion of those who experienced forced labour was still high (67%). Age, destination and duration of stay were associated with only certain dimensions of forced labour., Conclusion: Forced labour experiences were common during recruitment and at destination. Migrant workers need better advice on assessing agencies and brokers, and on accessing services at destinations. As labour migration from Nepal is not likely to reduce in the near future, interventions and policies at both source and destinations need to better address the challenges migrants face so they can achieve safer outcomes., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

The successful reintegration of sexual trafficking survivors into Nepalese society is challenging. This paper aims to explore the trafficking process, abuses faced during sexual slavery,and the challenges faced by women and girl survivors for successful reintegration. This exploratory study used qualitative methods to identify that poverty, illiteracy, lack of opportunities, and varied social stigma initiate the victimization process, and continuity of this vicious circle increases the risk for (re)entrapment. The reasons for sexual trafficking have also become the reasons for restricting survivors from opportunities for growth and mainstreaming. Non-existent support systems, detachment from familial ties, being outcast by society, and an uncertain livelihood make reintegration difficult for survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]