Research Critique: Lecture
On June 1, 2017 Stanly Kizhakeparambil Varghese from Odanadi gave a lecture on sex trafficking at the Public Health Research Institute of India (PHRII). During this lecture Mr. Stanley went into detail on the acts, mean, and purpose of sex trafficking in India while touching on the impact and series of issues that these actions have on people. Sex trafficking can be defined as being forced or coerced into sex work (Silverman, Raj, Cheng, Decker, Coleman, Bridden, & Samet, 2011). It is estimated that 80% of trafficked persons end in forced prostitution according to Joffres, Mills, Joffres, Khanna, Walia, and Grund, D (2008).
Mr. Stanly has rescued over 4,200 women and children from the sex trafficking industry for the past 26 years. He was introduced to the industry by chance at his previous employer as a reporter. He came across a lady named Radhamma while interviewing somebody nearby. He soon came to learn that Radhamma was a child bride that was sold to a brothel by her husband. Mr. Stanly and his co-worker, Mr. Parashuram, felt compelled to help her, they could not foresee that there helping hands for one lady would detour their career. Mr. Stanly and Mr. Parashuram have built Odanadi, a center and community for rehabilitation, rescue, awareness, and training programs. They chose the name Odanadi, meaning soulmate, to represent what they aspire for the community to be.
While at PHRII Mr. Stanly described the modern day slavery that is happening in the form of human trafficking in India. Women and children are being promised well payed jobs in different cities of India, they are sacrificing being away from their families in hopes of a better opportunity only to find out that they will be modern sex slaves. According to Silverman, Decker, Gupta, Maheshwari, Patel, Willis, and Raj (2007) traffickers most commonly lure victims via promises of economic opportunity. Once in the industry it is extremely difficult to extricate, leaving women settling for their new found life. Mr. Stanley has taken this responsibility upon himself to rescue women and integrate them back into society via rehabilitation groups, homes, child care, and countless other consolidation services.
Human trafficking affects the physical health in many ways including, but not limited to, changes in eating and/or sleeping patterns, increased startle response, and cancer and tuberculosis (Varghese, 2017). Sexual health is also a large problem including unsafe and unlimited sexual encounters, concerns about pregnancy or contracting sexually transmitted infections (STI) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and re-productivity issues. Female sex workers (FSWs) remain at greatest risk for HIV infection in India, with prostitution viewed as the primary means of infection (Silverman et. al., 2011).
This lecture impinged me deeply, hearing the stories of women that were so helpless made me realize that one of these women could be my mom, friend, or myself. According to Silverman et. al. (2011) victims are most often trafficked from public settings such as markets, train stations, and public transportation. As a young woman I go to markets and use public transportation on a daily basis, these statistics make me apprehensive that I could be a victim of trafficking and make me sympathize for the women who have been abducted.
During the Global Health Program we have visited several tribal villages that may have been victims of procurers. In India these pimps lure women and children from tribal villages offering new opportunities as stated previously. It is something to look out for while visiting these tribes and is also a perspicacious question to ask the village leaders in order to get a sense of how many villages are affected. Poverty and gender-based mistreatment of females amongst families heightens the risk of sex trafficking according to Silverman et. al. (2007).
As a student aspiring in doing research I have the power of analyzing these issues and bringing them to light in hopes of displaying to the government that they need to improve the regulations. Mr. Stanley has had great success in helping an immense number of people by being altruistic.
References
Joffres, C., Mills, E., Joffres, M., Khanna, T., Walia, H., & Grund, D. (2008). Sexual slavery without borders: trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in India. International Journal for Equity in Health, 7(1), 22.
Silverman, J. G., Decker, M. R., Gupta, J., Maheshwari, A., Patel, V., Willis, B. M., & Raj, A. (2007). Experiences of sex trafficking victims in Mumbai, India. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 97(3), 221-226.
Silverman, J. G., Raj, A., Cheng, D. M., Decker, M. R., Coleman, S., Bridden, C., ... & Samet, J. H. (2011). Sex trafficking and initiation-related violence, alcohol use, and HIV risk among HIV-infected female sex workers in Mumbai, India. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 204(suppl 5), S1229-S1234.
Varghese S. K. (2017, June 1). HIV, human trafficking and sex work: Hidden health hazards, continuing social stigma, and a growing public health challenge. Public Health Research Institute of India.