Information from www.serve-nepal.org:

• Trafficking in human beings is now the fastest-growing business of organized crime. (United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, 2002)

• Globally, the United Nations estimates that trafficking is a 5-7 billion U.S. dollar operation annually. (New U.N. Trafficking Protocol, 2002)

• An estimated one million children (mainly girls) are coerced into the commercial sex trade every year. (http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr97.htm)

• The largest number of victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking come from Asia, with over 225,000 victims each year from Southeast Asia and over 150,000 from South Asia. (U.S. State Department, Congressional Research Service Report 98-649 C)

• From Nepal an estimated 5,000 - 12,000 girls are tricked, trafficked and sold to brothels in India, the Middle East and South East Asia every year. (“Resisting Trafficking in Women: Auditing Testimonies and Restoration Approaches”; Kathmandu: Himalayan Human Rights Monitors, 2003.) You don’t need that much detail in your sourcing for this website, as we aren’t providing such detail in the previous sources.

• Over 20% of sexually trafficked Nepali women and children are girls under than 16 years of age. (http://www.cwin-nepal.org/press_room/factsheet/index.htm)

• The majority of girls trafficked are told that they will receive good employment and income earning opportunities. Fake marriages are the second leading means of trafficking. (“Trafficking in Girls with Special Reference to Prostitution: A Rapid Assessment”; ILO, Geneva, November 2001)

• Over 60% of the prostituted girls/women working in Kamatipura, the biggest red light district in Mumbai of where the majority of Nepalese are trafficked, are suspected to be HIV positive.
(“Sex Slaves”; Virago Press London, 2000)