ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sunitha Krishnan - Anti-trafficking crusader
Sunitha Krishnan is galvanizing India’s battle against sexual slavery by uniting government, corporations and NGOs to end human trafficking.

Why you should listen

Each year, some two million women and children, many younger than 10 years old, are bought and sold around the globe. Impassioned by the silence surrounding the sex-trafficking epidemic, Sunitha Krishnan co-founded Prajwala, or "eternal flame," a group in Hyderabad that rescues women from brothels and educates their children to prevent second-generation prostitution. Prajwala runs 17 schools throughout Hyderabad for 5,000 children and has rescued more than 2,500 women from prostitution, 1,500 of whom Krishnan personally liberated. At its Asha Niketan center, Prajwala helps young victims prepare for a self-sufficient future.

Krishnan has sparked India's anti-trafficking movement by coordinating government, corporations and NGOs. She forged NGO-corporate partnerships with companies like Amul India, Taj Group of Hotels and Heritage Hospitals to find jobs for rehabilitated women. In collaboration with UN agencies and other NGOs, she established printing and furniture shops that have rehabilitated some 300 survivors. Krishnan works closely with the government to define anti-trafficking policy, and her recommendations for rehabilitating sex victims have been passed into state legislation.

More profile about the speaker
Sunitha Krishnan | Speaker | TED.com
TEDIndia 2009

Sunitha Krishnan: The fight against sex slavery

Filmed:
4,294,386 views

Sunitha Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery, a multimilion-dollar global market. In this courageous talk, she tells three powerful stories, as well as her own, and calls for a more humane approach to helping these young victims rebuild their lives.
- Anti-trafficking crusader
Sunitha Krishnan is galvanizing India’s battle against sexual slavery by uniting government, corporations and NGOs to end human trafficking. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I'm talking to you about
0
1000
2000
00:18
the worst form of human rights violation,
1
3000
4000
00:22
the third-largest organized crime,
2
7000
4000
00:26
a $10 billion industry.
3
11000
3000
00:29
I'm talking to you about modern-day slavery.
4
14000
5000
00:34
I'd like to tell you the story
5
19000
2000
00:36
of these three children,
6
21000
2000
00:38
Pranitha, Shaheen and Anjali.
7
23000
3000
00:41
Pranitha's mother was a woman in prostitution,
8
26000
5000
00:46
a prostituted person.
9
31000
2000
00:48
She got infected with HIV,
10
33000
3000
00:51
and towards the end of her life,
11
36000
2000
00:53
when she was in the final stages of AIDS,
12
38000
3000
00:56
she could not prostitute,
13
41000
3000
00:59
so she sold four-year-old Pranitha to a broker.
14
44000
7000
01:06
By the time we got the information, we reached there,
15
51000
3000
01:09
Pranitha was already raped by three men.
16
54000
5000
01:14
Shaheen's background I don't even know.
17
59000
3000
01:17
We found her in a railway track,
18
62000
5000
01:22
raped by many, many men, I don't know many.
19
67000
3000
01:25
But the indications of that on her body was
20
70000
3000
01:28
that her intestine was outside her body.
21
73000
4000
01:32
And when we took her to the hospital
22
77000
2000
01:34
she needed 32 stitches to put back her intestine into her body.
23
79000
5000
01:39
We still don't know who her parents are, who she is.
24
84000
3000
01:42
All that we know that hundreds of men
25
87000
2000
01:44
had used her brutally.
26
89000
4000
01:48
Anjali's father, a drunkard,
27
93000
4000
01:52
sold his child for pornography.
28
97000
4000
01:56
You're seeing here images of
29
101000
2000
01:58
three years, four-year-olds, and five-year-old children
30
103000
5000
02:03
who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.
31
108000
6000
02:09
In this country, and across the globe,
32
114000
3000
02:12
hundreds and thousands of children,
33
117000
2000
02:14
as young as three, as young as four,
34
119000
3000
02:17
are sold into sexual slavery.
35
122000
3000
02:20
But that's not the only purpose that human beings are sold for.
36
125000
3000
02:23
They are sold in the name of adoption.
37
128000
2000
02:25
They are sold in the name of organ trade.
38
130000
3000
02:28
They are sold in the name of forced labor,
39
133000
2000
02:30
camel jockeying, anything, everything.
40
135000
4000
02:34
I work on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation.
41
139000
3000
02:37
And I tell you stories from there.
42
142000
2000
02:39
My own journey to work with these children
43
144000
4000
02:43
started as a teenager.
44
148000
2000
02:45
I was 15 when I was gang-raped by eight men.
45
150000
6000
02:51
I don't remember the rape part of it so much
46
156000
4000
02:55
as much as the anger part of it.
47
160000
6000
03:01
Yes, there were eight men who defiled me, raped me,
48
166000
3000
03:04
but that didn't go into my consciousness.
49
169000
2000
03:06
I never felt like a victim, then or now.
50
171000
3000
03:09
But what lingered from then till now -- I am 40 today --
51
174000
5000
03:14
is this huge outrageous anger.
52
179000
4000
03:18
Two years, I was ostracized, I was stigmatized, I was isolated,
53
183000
6000
03:24
because I was a victim.
54
189000
3000
03:27
And that's what we do to all traffic survivors.
55
192000
4000
03:31
We, as a society, we have PhDs
56
196000
4000
03:35
in victimizing a victim.
57
200000
3000
03:38
Right from the age of 15,
58
203000
3000
03:41
when I started looking around me,
59
206000
2000
03:43
I started seeing hundreds and thousands of women and children
60
208000
4000
03:47
who are left in sexual slavery-like practices,
61
212000
4000
03:51
but have absolutely no respite,
62
216000
3000
03:54
because we don't allow them to come in.
63
219000
4000
03:58
Where does their journey begin?
64
223000
2000
04:00
Most of them come from very optionless families,
65
225000
4000
04:04
not just poor.
66
229000
2000
04:06
You have even the middle class sometimes getting trafficked.
67
231000
3000
04:09
I had this I.S. officer's daughter,
68
234000
3000
04:12
who is 14 years old, studying in ninth standard,
69
237000
5000
04:17
who was raped chatting with one individual,
70
242000
4000
04:21
and ran away from home because she wanted to become a heroine,
71
246000
3000
04:24
who was trafficked.
72
249000
2000
04:26
I have hundreds and thousands of stories of very very well-to-do families,
73
251000
5000
04:31
and children from well-to-do families,
74
256000
2000
04:33
who are getting trafficked.
75
258000
2000
04:35
These people are deceived, forced.
76
260000
4000
04:39
99.9 percent of them
77
264000
2000
04:41
resist being inducted into prostitution.
78
266000
4000
04:45
Some pay the price for it.
79
270000
3000
04:48
They're killed; we don't even hear about them.
80
273000
4000
04:52
They are voiceless, [unclear],
81
277000
2000
04:54
nameless people.
82
279000
2000
04:56
But the rest, who succumb into it,
83
281000
4000
05:00
go through everyday torture.
84
285000
4000
05:04
Because the men who come to them are not men who want to make you your girlfriends,
85
289000
3000
05:07
or who want to have a family with you.
86
292000
4000
05:11
These are men who buy you for an hour, for a day,
87
296000
3000
05:14
and use you, throw you.
88
299000
3000
05:17
Each of the girls that I have rescued --
89
302000
2000
05:19
I have rescued more than 3,200 girls --
90
304000
3000
05:22
each of them tell me one story in common ...
91
307000
3000
05:25
(Applause)
92
310000
2000
05:27
one story about one man, at least,
93
312000
3000
05:30
putting chili powder in her vagina,
94
315000
3000
05:33
one man taking a cigarette and burning her,
95
318000
3000
05:36
one man whipping her.
96
321000
2000
05:38
We are living among those men: they're our brothers, fathers,
97
323000
3000
05:41
uncles, cousins, all around us.
98
326000
3000
05:44
And we are silent about them.
99
329000
2000
05:46
We think it is easy money.
100
331000
2000
05:48
We think it is shortcut.
101
333000
2000
05:50
We think the person likes to do what she's doing.
102
335000
4000
05:54
But the extra bonuses that she gets
103
339000
3000
05:57
is various infections, sexually transmitted infections,
104
342000
3000
06:00
HIV, AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, you name it,
105
345000
3000
06:03
substance abuse, drugs, everything under the sun.
106
348000
4000
06:07
And one day she gives up on you and me,
107
352000
2000
06:09
because we have no options for her.
108
354000
3000
06:12
And therefore she starts normalizing this exploitation.
109
357000
3000
06:15
She believes, "Yes, this is it, this is what my destiny is about."
110
360000
5000
06:20
And this is normal, to get raped by 100 men a day.
111
365000
4000
06:24
And it's abnormal to live in a shelter.
112
369000
3000
06:27
It's abnormal to get rehabilitated.
113
372000
3000
06:30
It's in that context that I work.
114
375000
2000
06:32
It's in that context that I rescue children.
115
377000
4000
06:36
I've rescued children as young as three years,
116
381000
2000
06:38
and I've rescued women as old as 40 years.
117
383000
6000
06:44
When I rescued them, one of the biggest challenges I had
118
389000
3000
06:47
was where do I begin.
119
392000
4000
06:51
Because I had lots of them
120
396000
4000
06:55
who were already HIV infected.
121
400000
4000
06:59
One third of the people I rescue
122
404000
2000
07:01
are HIV positive.
123
406000
3000
07:04
And therefore my challenge was to
124
409000
3000
07:07
understand how can I get out
125
412000
3000
07:10
the power from this pain.
126
415000
3000
07:13
And for me, I was my greatest experience.
127
418000
4000
07:17
Understanding my own self,
128
422000
3000
07:20
understanding my own pain,
129
425000
2000
07:22
my own isolation,
130
427000
3000
07:25
was my greatest teacher.
131
430000
2000
07:27
Because what we did with these girls
132
432000
2000
07:29
is to understand their potential.
133
434000
3000
07:32
You see a girl here who is trained as a welder.
134
437000
5000
07:37
She works for a very big company,
135
442000
3000
07:40
a workshop in Hyderabad,
136
445000
2000
07:42
making furnitures.
137
447000
2000
07:44
She earns around 12,000 rupees.
138
449000
3000
07:47
She is an illiterate girl,
139
452000
2000
07:49
trained, skilled as a welder.
140
454000
3000
07:52
Why welding and why not computers?
141
457000
5000
07:57
We felt, one of the things that these girls had
142
462000
5000
08:02
is immense amount of courage.
143
467000
4000
08:06
They did not have any pardas inside their body,
144
471000
4000
08:10
hijabs inside themselves;
145
475000
3000
08:13
they've crossed the barrier of it.
146
478000
2000
08:15
And therefore they could fight in a male-dominated world,
147
480000
4000
08:19
very easily, and not feel very shy about it.
148
484000
4000
08:23
We have trained girls as carpenters,
149
488000
3000
08:26
as masons,
150
491000
2000
08:28
as security guards, as cab drivers.
151
493000
3000
08:31
And each one of them are excelling
152
496000
4000
08:35
in their chosen field,
153
500000
2000
08:37
gaining confidence, restoring dignity,
154
502000
4000
08:41
and building hopes in their own lives.
155
506000
3000
08:44
These girls are also working in big construction companies
156
509000
4000
08:48
like Ram-ki construction, as masons, full-time masons.
157
513000
6000
08:54
What has been my challenge?
158
519000
4000
08:58
My challenge has not been the traffickers who beat me up.
159
523000
5000
09:03
I've been beaten up more than 14 times in my life.
160
528000
4000
09:07
I can't hear from my right ear.
161
532000
4000
09:11
I've lost a staff of mine who was murdered
162
536000
2000
09:13
while on a rescue.
163
538000
3000
09:16
My biggest challenge
164
541000
2000
09:18
is society.
165
543000
2000
09:20
It's you and me.
166
545000
3000
09:23
My biggest challenge is your blocks to accept these victims
167
548000
4000
09:27
as our own.
168
552000
3000
09:30
A very supportive friend of mine,
169
555000
3000
09:33
a well-wisher of mine,
170
558000
3000
09:36
used to give me every month, 2,000 rupees for vegetables.
171
561000
4000
09:40
When her mother fell sick she said,
172
565000
2000
09:42
"Sunitha, you have so much of contacts.
173
567000
2000
09:44
Can you get somebody in my house to work,
174
569000
3000
09:47
so that she can look after my mother?"
175
572000
2000
09:49
And there is a long pause.
176
574000
2000
09:51
And then she says, "Not one of our girls."
177
576000
4000
09:55
It's very fashionable to talk about human trafficking,
178
580000
3000
09:58
in this fantastic A-C hall.
179
583000
3000
10:01
It's very nice for discussion, discourse,
180
586000
4000
10:05
making films and everything.
181
590000
2000
10:07
But it is not nice to bring them to our homes.
182
592000
4000
10:11
It's not nice to give them employment in our factories, our companies.
183
596000
6000
10:17
It's not nice for our children to study with their children.
184
602000
4000
10:21
There it ends.
185
606000
2000
10:23
That's my biggest challenge.
186
608000
2000
10:25
If I'm here today, I'm here not only as Sunitha Krishnan.
187
610000
4000
10:29
I'm here as a voice of the victims and survivors of human trafficking.
188
614000
5000
10:34
They need your compassion.
189
619000
3000
10:37
They need your empathy.
190
622000
2000
10:39
They need, much more than anything else,
191
624000
2000
10:41
your acceptance.
192
626000
4000
10:45
Many times when I talk to people,
193
630000
2000
10:47
I keep telling them one thing:
194
632000
2000
10:49
don't tell me hundred ways
195
634000
3000
10:52
how you cannot respond to this problem.
196
637000
3000
10:55
Can you ply your mind for that one way
197
640000
3000
10:58
that you can respond to the problem?
198
643000
3000
11:01
And that's what I'm here for,
199
646000
2000
11:03
asking for your support,
200
648000
2000
11:05
demanding for your support,
201
650000
2000
11:07
requesting for your support.
202
652000
2000
11:09
Can you break your culture of silence?
203
654000
3000
11:12
Can you speak to at least two persons about this story?
204
657000
4000
11:16
Tell them this story. Convince them to tell the story to another two persons.
205
661000
5000
11:21
I'm not asking you all to become Mahatma Gandhis
206
666000
2000
11:23
or Martin Luther Kings, or Medha Patkars,
207
668000
2000
11:25
or something like that.
208
670000
2000
11:27
I'm asking you, in your limited world,
209
672000
3000
11:30
can you open your minds? Can you open your hearts?
210
675000
3000
11:33
Can you just encompass these people too?
211
678000
4000
11:37
Because they are also a part of us.
212
682000
3000
11:40
They are also part of this world.
213
685000
2000
11:42
I'm asking you, for these children,
214
687000
4000
11:46
whose faces you see, they're no more.
215
691000
2000
11:48
They died of AIDS last year.
216
693000
3000
11:51
I'm asking you to help them,
217
696000
4000
11:55
accept as human beings --
218
700000
3000
11:58
not as philanthropy, not as charity,
219
703000
3000
12:01
but as human beings who deserve all our support.
220
706000
4000
12:05
I'm asking you this because no child, no human being,
221
710000
4000
12:09
deserves what these children have gone through.
222
714000
3000
12:12
Thank you.
223
717000
2000
12:14
(Applause)
224
719000
21000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sunitha Krishnan - Anti-trafficking crusader
Sunitha Krishnan is galvanizing India’s battle against sexual slavery by uniting government, corporations and NGOs to end human trafficking.

Why you should listen

Each year, some two million women and children, many younger than 10 years old, are bought and sold around the globe. Impassioned by the silence surrounding the sex-trafficking epidemic, Sunitha Krishnan co-founded Prajwala, or "eternal flame," a group in Hyderabad that rescues women from brothels and educates their children to prevent second-generation prostitution. Prajwala runs 17 schools throughout Hyderabad for 5,000 children and has rescued more than 2,500 women from prostitution, 1,500 of whom Krishnan personally liberated. At its Asha Niketan center, Prajwala helps young victims prepare for a self-sufficient future.

Krishnan has sparked India's anti-trafficking movement by coordinating government, corporations and NGOs. She forged NGO-corporate partnerships with companies like Amul India, Taj Group of Hotels and Heritage Hospitals to find jobs for rehabilitated women. In collaboration with UN agencies and other NGOs, she established printing and furniture shops that have rehabilitated some 300 survivors. Krishnan works closely with the government to define anti-trafficking policy, and her recommendations for rehabilitating sex victims have been passed into state legislation.

More profile about the speaker
Sunitha Krishnan | Speaker | TED.com