LOVE JUSTICE
We believe in a world where human life is valued . . .
It’s hard to believe that 40.3 million people live in modern day slavery due to human trafficking. Many young girls are lured by force, deception, the promise of marriage, a good job, or money only to be sold, raped, tortured, or imprisoned. They are kept enslaved through fear, debt bondage, and violence.
It is the work of Love Justice International to intervene as the crime of trafficking occurs before they have been exploited or enslaved by placing trained monitors at transit points and borders. Love Justice carefully trains each one of their staff members to look for signs or what they refer to as “red flags” of potential trafficking. Red flags may include someone looking lost, disoriented, young and travelling alone, nervous, or showing signs of abuse.
The goal of Love Justice is to intercept and provide safety to the potential victim by providing education, re-uniting them with their family if it is deemed safe, or providing them shelter in a safe home. In many cases, Love Justice is also able to help in the prosecution and arrest of traffickers.
To date, Love Justice has 47 different monitoring stations around the globe. Hope for the Nations works with Love Justice specifically at the Nepalgunj Station in Nepal. Nepalgunj is a city located in the southwest part of Nepal that lies next to the Indian border. Since 2010, there have been several hundred who have been intercepted through the transit and border monitoring efforts.
Here is the story of one young girl that was intercepted and spared from a life of slavery:
Dayita*, a 14-year-old female, lives with her grandparents in a rural village because her parents are working in India. Kriti*, a 45-year-old female neighbor, is one of Dayita’s friends, so when she suggested they travel together to Nepalgunj for medical treatments and shopping, Dayita agreed. Kriti lied to Dayita’s grandfather about their plans and told him that she was taking Dayita to stay the night at her house, but instead, she and Dayita traveled by bus to Kohalpur.
Shortly after they arrived in Kohalpur, Kriti forced Dayita to get on a motorbike with an Indian male. She assured Dayita that the man would take her to the hospital in Nepalgunj, and she promised that she would follow behind in a bus and meet Dayita at the hospital. Once they arrived in Nepalgunj, the Indian man took Dayita to a hotel where he tried to rape her. When she resisted, he seemed surprised and asked her why she was resisting when she had already agreed to marry him. He claimed she had sent him photos of herself and that they had been chatting with each other through social media. Dayita then realized that Kriti had sent her picture to this stranger and had been chatting with him on social media, pretending to be her.
When she tried to run away from the hotel, the man stopped her and reassured her that he would take her back to Kriti. Dayita trusted him and got on his motorbike, but instead of taking her back to Kohalpur, the man took her to Rupaidiha. In the meantime, the motorbike they were riding on started to have engine problems. Dayita took this opportunity to run away from him, and she boarded a bus to return to Kohalpur.
One of our staff members was traveling to Kohalpur on the same bus, and he noticed that Dayita was traveling alone and seemed very nervous. He approached her and asked a few questions, and after talking with her, he soon realized that she needed help. When they arrived in Kohalpur, he immediately took Dayita to meet with a female staff member. After hearing her story, our team escorted her to a shelter for safety and then informed her family of the situation. Dayita’s grandfather came to the shelter to take her back to their home.
Learn more and support the work at Love Justice: https://www.hopeforthenations.com/agents/love-justice-international/
*Names changed for the privacy and security of those involved.
