sunitha
Sunitha Krishnan,
Prajwala
(2006 AWARD RECIPIENT)
"Through her organization Prajwala - "an eternal flame" - Sunitha and her team are raising awareness about human trafficking in India, rescuing and supporting trafficked women and children, and ultimately working to end human trafficking itself."
Sunitha Krishnan's personal-turned-professional story begins at age 15, as a victim of sexual violence. Uncomfortable being made to feel like a criminal, blamed, shamed, and shunned for something out of her control, Sunitha concluded, "I chose not to be a victim." Redefining herself as a "survivor," Sunitha has committed her professional life - starting at age 16 - to helping other women and children avoid this same fate.
Widespread trafficking of women and children for sex - and for adoption, labor, service, and organ trade - is a bleak reality in India and around the world. Infants, especially baby girls just days old are sold in the name of adoption. Children three or four years old are trafficked for labor, organs, and sports such as camel jockeying. And girls of all ages, particularly from rural communities, are sold or coerced into commercial sexual exploitation. Most come from optionless families, the girls or their families enticed by promises of jobs, marriage, love, film roles, or dowry. Instead they become the victims of an underground network of criminal gangs, corrupt officials, and a culture of impunity. These barriers obstruct society's view of the scale and intricacies of trafficking, making it difficult both to determine the impact trafficking has on women and their families and to design the coordinated, consistent programs needed to combat the problem.
Through her organization Prajwala - "an eternal flame" - Sunitha and her team are raising awareness about human trafficking in India, rescuing and supporting trafficked women and children, and ultimately working to end human trafficking itself. Sunitha is integrating India's citizen sector, government, and business sector to jointly arrange protective and rehabilitative services for women who have been trafficked for commercial sex exploitation.
Early in her career, Sunitha recognized that the state alone had both the money and authority to liberate, house, and protect women on a larger scale. Yet she also understood that money and authority alone were simply not enough. On the other hand, she realized that the citizen sector had the drive, insight, and creativity essential to help the state put its money and authority to use. Neither sector, however, could count on the structure and authority needed to address the complex and widespread problem of human trafficking. The absence of a national policy on rescue and rehabilitation resulted in all kinds of ad hoc and disjointed programs led by state governments, in which each department essentially operated independently, leaving the fate of abused women back in the hands of those who took the greatest interest in their futures - the traffickers. Sunitha stressed that without additional supports, beyond what the government was currently providing, half or more of the girls being "rescued" were re-trafficked. Hence Sunitha's visionary idea: merge the two sectors and create a comprehensive and rehabilitation policy. Through effective lobbying, Sunitha, Prajwala, and other anti-trafficking partners drafted policy to guide "State intervention in anti-trafficking" in Andra Pradesh, ultimately approved and implemented as G.O 1/3 on January 1, 2003, with components ranging from prevention to rescue to education, housing, and health.
Prajwala has coalesced an association of over 15 citizen groups in Andra Pradesh - where Sunitha's work began - who are now linked to groups in Karnataka, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi. All are taking cues from Sunitha's strategies for rescue and rehabilitation to date, replicating Prajwala's work and defining policy in their own states. Prajwala and the other organizations in their network meanwhile are engaged in an extended Supreme Court battle to further define anti-trafficking policy nationwide, including new Victim Protection Protocols.
Legislation, however, does not always imply enforcement, and political action is not the only way to address human trafficking. Led by a staff of 146 - 65% survivors themselves - Prajwala's multi-pronged approach intervenes in all aspects of the human trafficking chain: Awareness, Prevention, Rescue, Health and Education, and Rehabilitation and Reintegration. And through Prajwala, Sunitha leads by example, from raiding brothels to rescue women and children from basements, closed rooms, floorboards, and ceilings to developing a holistic "package" for rescued women, focusing on trauma care, mental health, and economic rehabilitation, including an innovative series of win-win corporate and government partnerships.
Sunitha doesn't dwell on herself, though, neither the experiences that pushed her to this field of work, nor the fact that she has been beaten up 14 times, leaving one eardrum permanently injured. Even her impressive accomplishments are understated in her presentations. Her focus is on the 2 million women and children trafficked annually, the ones who she hasn't yet been able to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate. Sunitha puts a face to the "anamika," the nameless women, girls, and boys, yet she knows that a face is not enough. She knows she must continue improving public policy - beyond Andra Pradesh, beyond India - and ensuring the legislation is enforced. And she knows she must continue working with government, business, and citizen sector organizations building on the successful foundation she has established in order to rescue more victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation and turn them into survivors who, like herself, will join the fight to end human trafficking.
ORGANIZATION
Prajwala is an anti-trafficking organization working for the welfare of women and children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. As prostitution is a form of sexual slavery, Prajwala believes in preventing women and children from entering this trade. Prajwala works with the conviction that, to break the walls of learnt helplessness that a victim of sexual exploitation develops, a multi pronged approach is necessary
For more information, visit www.prajwalaindia.org
submitted nomination
- forthcoming
relevant articles
For more on Prajwala, visit the Prajwala webpage:
http://www.prajwalaindia.org/
Sunitha was selected an Ashoka-AIF Fellow in 2002. To see Sunitha's profile, written at the time of her selection, visit:
http://www.ashoka.org/fellows/viewprofile3.cfm?reid=97438
To Donate to Prajwala via Global Giving, visit:
http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/1300/proj1229p.html
CONTACT
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