Layers of silence : links between women's vulnerability, trafficking and HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh, India and Nepal

Both trafficking and HIV/AIDS occur in South Asia in a climate of denial and silence at all levels. There is a prevailing silence about violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, and silence about their circumstances, including the abuse and exploitation they often face in their living and working environments in the process of earning a living. This silence manifests itself in a denial in families and communities and in society at large that trafficking of women and girls is taking place. At the same time, there is silence and unwillingness to acknowledge that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a major development challenge and that HIV positive people are in our midst in increasing numbers and need our care and concern, as well as protection of their rights. There is silence and lack of societal acknowledgment of behaviours that make people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, and about sex itself, which makes it difficult to address HIV prevention or talk about trafficking into prostitution. This silence is aiding and abetting the epidemic, allowing it to spread, and at the same time perpetuating trafficking. Voices are being raised across the region to break these layers of silence, and initiatives are being taken to address both HIV/AIDS and trafficking. Womengroups are raising their voices to protest violence against women. There is a PeopleForum which addresses trafficking. The commitment from governments is reflected in the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating the Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution, which has recently been signed. There are national programmes on HIV/AIDS, and government and civil society organisations are increasingly active in prevention and care and support. However, these voices are not being raised in unison. The effectiveness of responses will be maximised by combined efforts linked with wider programmes addressing the underlying issues of poverty, structural inequalities and womenposition in society. Discussion and analysis in this paper are based on the cumulative field experience, information and data from five NGOs working to address trafficking and HIV/AIDS in South Asia. These NGOs are all partners of the UNDP HIV and Development Programme in South Asia, and have implemented pilot projects on the prevention of trafficking and HIV/AIDS, including rescue, rehabilitation, and repatriation, with the active involvement of sex worker organisations. All the pilot projects collect and compile information from girls and women who have been trafficked, as well as from source areas.