Anti-Trafficking

Trafficking of minor girls is a persistent problem in the Old City of Hyderabad, India, where the organisation is located. Most of the girls are illiterate and hail from economically vulnerable backgrounds. The social stigma attached to the female child, push them into child marriages. These girls undergo severe psychological and physical trauma in their marital lives and are often denied support from their natal homes, for redressal of grievances.

While this being a general scenario in the Old City, Shaheen has identified cases where minor girls and young women are forcefully sold into manual and sex labour (known as khadima in Urdu), both in India and to the Gulf. These girls return from the places of slavery with devastating life stories of abuse and torture. The neighbourhood from where these girls are being trafficked has experienced communal unrest in the past decades. This communal tension, lack of education and poor economic background put the female children and young women in a vulnerable situation making them more prone to trafficking.