Prosecution

Prosecution
Without the threat of holding traffickers accountable for their actions through legal prosecution, organizations have little hope of effecting change on a meaningful scale.  Human trafficking in Nepal carries a 30 year prison sentence, but unfortunately because of police corruption, ineffective legal processes, and the power and influence of the trafficking industry, the prosecution of traffickers is relatively rare. 

In 2010 THI began working with local legal partners to train our border monitoring staff as paralegals in order to increase their ability to effectively gather evidence and open cases that will lead to the prosecution of more traffickers.  With special attention to obvious safety concerns, we keep presumed victims in local safe homes where we work to build cases against alleged traffickers.

While the percentage of traffickers arrested for each girl rescued at the border remains quite small, we are seeing a significant increase as our processes improve. 

Witness Protection Home
In order to keep trafficking victims safe from retribution during trafficking cases in which they are required to testify, Tiny Hands plans to open a witness protection home in an undisclosed location in Nepal under the care of capable, loving, house parents.  Victims will be offered emotional and spiritual counseling and have the opportunity to participate in our Women’s Empowerment Center curriculum of basic adult literacy, small business training, and specific job training as they await their opportunity to testify against their trafficker.