Odanadi-UK | Odanadi Projects and Activities

Odanadi Projects and Activities

Odanadi provide a wide range of rescue, rehabilitation and support services which are intended to provide an holistic approach to prevent and tackle human trafficking. Many of its activities have been identified as best practice.

Rescue:

Odanadi has rescued, supported and rehabilitated 1600 women and children. They have exposed 38 networks (one of which was international) resulting in the arrest of 117 people and 14 convictions (for human trafficking; procuring minors for prostitution, and; sexually exploiting minors).

Read: The Profile of a Human Trafficker

Choodamani was a university educated, female brothel owner and head of a state wide trafficking ring. She operated for 12 years before finally being exposed by Odanadi in 2002 and subsequently prosecuted.

Choodamani's usual method was to recruit pre-pubescent girls from remote tribal villages. Upon returning with them to the city, she would train them to behave like higher class convent girls, dress them up in expensive clothes, buy them cosmetics, given them alcohol. Also, shockingly, she would administer hormone injections to accelerate puberty.

Choodamani, being the first owner of the girls, was able to make the most money. The younger they are, the more money they can make for their 'owners', particularly when they are virgins. Choodamani would hold the girls hostage in a high class brothel for two months and offer them to the high-class clientèle of businessmen, politicians and lawyers, charging between 5,000 – 10,000rs per customer, approx £60 - £100.

Once their value had reduced, Choodamani would sell them on to cheaper brothels. She was exposed by Odanadi trying to sell two of the girls she 'owned' on.

An Odanadi volunteer posed as a customer wanting to buy two girls. They arranged to meet at a prearranged time and place, but when Choodamani got into the volunteer’s car with the two girls – Sheela and Madhu – the volunteer intentionally disagreed with her about the price, causing Choodamani to storm out of the car. At this point she was apprehended and arrested by the police.

The two girls – Sheela and Madhu – were rescued by Odanadi. Madhu stayed with them and was successfully reintegrated with her family.

During the trial it was discovered that Choodamani had been a prostitute whilst at university and had subsequently graduated to become brothel madam. This is apparently quite a common route to becoming a human trafficker.

Odanadi exposed another human trafficker who was head of a massive trafficking international ring. He was running numerous brothels with up to 50 other people. They would lure girls to work in these brothels by inviting them for job interviews. To make these invitations credible, the trafficker, an employee in the government textiles department, would use his official government seal to stamp the letters. Odanadi was instrumental in exposing his trafficking ring. Following conviction, he was sentenced to 10 years.

Prevention:

They have established village councils in 20 villages in order to raise awareness of the issues and increase vigilance. They have recently set up a legal literacy programme to work through these village councils and raise awareness of legal rights. (Legal literacy was identified as a key priority by the 'Integrated Plan of Action to Prevent and Combat Human Trafficking' produced in 2006 by the Ministry of Women and Children, Government of India.) They also set up the Vimochana Mahila Sangha (a collective of women's associations) as an umbrella organisation for smaller self-help groups. The membership currently stands at 1200. Through these collectives, Odanadi gathers information about brothels and traffickers. Odanadi also delivers the Karnataka 'Swadhar' a national programme to prevent trafficking and provide rehabilitation to those affected. This work targeting rural communities has been identified as a priority by the 2005 UNIFEM Report on Trafficking in Women and Children.

Advocacy:

They raise awareness through an ongoing programme of social events and meetings with different stakeholder groups (e.g. officials, judges).

Training: They provide training for NGOs, police, judiciary & other stakeholders on the psycho-social aspects of Commercially Exploited Sex Workers covering issues such as intervention, rehabilitation, the law and how to improve intelligence gathering about traffickers.

Rehabilitation:

They provide rehabilitation for the women and children in their care, offering safe housing in the Madilu Rehabilitation Centre in Mysore, which currently houses 65 women and 13 children, 6 of whom are HIV positive. Food, education & vocational training are provided at the centre, as well as psycho-social interventions / clinical psychiatric help and counselling. Odanadi is at the forefront of the development of psycho-social therapies which can be used in this field, for example, the use of traditional arts as therapeutic tools.

Social Enterprise:

Odanadi helped to set up 'Maanavi Mahila Sangha' as a model of economic sustainability for women who have been rehabilitated and is intended to lead to successful reintegration with mainstream society. The society is registered under the Karnataka Societies' Registration Act 1960. It operates the first all-woman taxi service in Mysore City.

Contact us

info@odanadi-uk.org

Odanadi UK - Stop human trafficking in India