Of the estimated 2.5 million children in sex slavery in India:

• 92% are forced into prostitution.
• 90% are uneducated and vulnerable.
  
• 40% of them are under 18.
• 12% are sold by their fathers. And mothers.

Almost every minute of the day, a child or woman is being tricked, kidnapped or sold into a brothel in India.

At Barclays Bank, London we recently invited Lily Against Human Trafficking to take part in the panel discussion, 'Burst the Bubble' to talk about the grave situation of #humantrafficking faced by hundreds of vulnerable girls and young women all over the world and especially in India.

We were very fortunate to have Shelia with us, a young survivor from Mumbai, who spoke about her traumatic experience of being pushed into sex work at a very young age and how she then went on to transform her life, wishing now to start her own business. Her biggest worry now was that her younger sister would be sold in the same way as she was.

I was so inspired and moved by Sheila's courage and horrified by what she had to go through, that I felt determined to do something for her and others, who like Sheila, have been coerced into a life of sex work, having no financial support to be able to set themselves free.

I wish to raise funds for Lily Against Human Trafficking - a charity that is named after a 4-year old girl who was sold into prostitution by her own mother for just £50. She was discovered in a Delhi brothel, hidden in a water tank; so much misery was condensed in such a small girl that our imagination fails to grasp it. 

One sex slave can bring in a profit of about $30,000 annually to the brothel, and costs just $2000 to maintain. Globally, human trafficking is valued at $32 billion annually and is fast growing. There are an estimated 2 million children in brothels in India alone, burning in the heat of violence, injustice and slavery.

LILY supports grassroots NGOs in London and in India who work to prevent trafficking of children in the first place. But if the worst has happened, they lead dangerous rescues into brothels that quickly turn violent. The long process of healing traumatised girls requires years of patient medical care, psychological counselling, education, skills training and employment.

The destiny of these girls is tied up with our destiny. Their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. They too are part of our world. In a world driven by violence and strife, Gandhi’s message of peace and non-violence is the key to human survival in the 21st century. He said: “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”

Yours truly,

Gantavya

Funds raised will be deployed and monitored by the Governing Board of Trustees of Lily Against Human Trafficking in conjunction with iPartner India, a registered charity in the UK which has 10 years of experience working with local Indian NGOs, having raised over £9m and transforming the lives of 900,000 people.