Missing Link Trust

Last updated

Missing Link Trust
Founded2014
FounderLeena Kejriwal
Type12A, 80G
FocusRaising awareness on sex trafficking
Location
  • 73 Bentinck Street, Kolkata-700001, India
Area served
India
Website Official website

Missing Link Trust is a nonprofit organization that uses art and educational campaigns to raise awareness and prevent child sex trafficking. Their work includes public sculpture installations, stencil campaigns, the interactive video game Missing: Game for a Cause, and the interactive online comic Web of Deceit - A missing and trafficking casefile. The organization was awarded the 2021 Stop Slavery Campaigns Award from the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Contents

Objective

NGO's collaborating with MISSING for the stencil project Missing girl stencil and rural awareness.jpg
NGO's collaborating with MISSING for the stencil project

The mission of the organization is "to combine art and technology in creating mass awareness amongst the public, through innovative ways, leading to prevention of sex trafficking." [1]

Missing is a four-part public awareness campaign. It tackles the first P of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking four P strategy on anti-trafficking, prevention through advocacy and awareness. [2]

Operations

Missing has operations in 6 countries Including India, United States, UK, Germany, Sudan, Tanzania. Missing has worked with NGOs and organizations including the Rotary Teach Programme, Yes Foundation, Rotaractors, iPartner India, Women and Child Development Ministry, iVolunteer, Association for the Promotion of Social Change (APSA), Jamghat, Nedan Foundation, Paint Our World, Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES), Prerana, RAHAT, STOP, Udayan Care, and Vatsalya.

History

As a photographer, Leena Kejriwal became motivated to raise awareness about the prevalence of sex trafficking in India. [3] When she first started working with NGOs like Hamari Muskan and New Light as an artist, she created complicated installations within gallery spaces on the subject. Kejriwal began working in Kalighat with Rotary International as a volunteer in 2007 and wrote the book Kolkata Repossessing the City, which later developed into art exhibitions. [4] After gallery exhibitions did not reach a wide audience, Kejriwal decided to develop public art installations to raise awareness. [5] [3] Kejriwal founded the Missing Link organization in 2014. [6]

Public art installations

Black silhouettes of young girls placed against the urban skyline Missing Silhouettes on the urban skyline- june 2017.jpg
Black silhouettes of young girls placed against the urban skyline

In January 2014, the installation M.I.S.S.I.N.G. was shown outdoors at the India Art Fair, consisting of three female figures cut from steel and painted black to reflect the gender gap in India, described by Kejriwal as "like sharp, black holes cut out of the sky. Holes into which millions of girls disappear from the face of this earth." [7]

The Missing Stencil Stencil project by Missing girls -2017.jpg
The Missing Stencil

In 2015, the M.I.S.S.I.N.G. project expanded into a nationwide public art installation, with stencils used to spraypaint black silhouettes of girls in cities including Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai to raise awareness about the estimated tens of thousands of girls that disappear each year and over a million children working in the sex industry in India. [8] Kejriwal used crowdfunding to help raise money to expand the project. [5] [9] The NGOs Apne Aap and Hamari Muskan collaborated in the stencil campaign in West Bengal. [10]

The organization launched a website, Savemissinggirls.com, with downloadable stencil kits featuring silhouettes of girls and an emergency government helpline number (1098) for children. [3]

The sculpture project expanded with support from Sangita Jindal and the JSW Foundation, and a smartphone app was created to provide viewers with more information and links to NGOs working to prevent child trafficking. [11] In 2018, the project included sculptures throughout Kolkata. [12]

There are more than 5000 project stencils across villages and cities in India. [13] Missing's stencil projects are in 17 cities, including Anupshahr, Bengaluru, Berlin, Chennai, Delhi, Dodoma, Goa, Jaipur, Kishanganj, Khartoum, Kokrajjar, Kolkata, Los Angeles, London, Mumbai, Pune and Salt Lake City.

In 2021, filmmaker Miriam Chandy Menacherry released a documentary titled From the Shadows that features survivors of child trafficking. [14] Menacherry began work on the film five years prior, after seeing the #missing stencil art and finding Kejriwal. [15]

Missing: Game for a Cause

A screenshot of the Missing Game Missing game for a cause screenshot - June 2017.png
A screenshot of the Missing Game

In 2016, Missing: Game for a Cause was distributed as a free interactive game for mobile and PC to raise awareness about the experiences of child victims of sex trafficking. [3] [16] Kejriwal developed the game with Flying Robot Studios in Kolkata, India. [16] By 2017, the team was developing a role-playing game version, Missing: The Complete Saga, and raising money on Kickstarter to expand the development team. [16] The team raised $50,795 on Kickstarter to develop the game. [3]

The game is intended for a mature audience, and aims to expose the player to the dark world of human trafficking and raise awareness about it. The game developer Satyajit Chakraborty travelled with Kejriwal to different red light districts in Kolkata and to rural Bengal to better understand the issue. [13]

By 2021, MISSING: Game for a Cause had over a million downloads between 70 countries. [17]

Web of Deceit - A missing and trafficking casefile

Missing Link Trust worked jointly with International Justice Mission to develop a mobile app for Android devices titled "Web of Deceit - A missing and trafficking casefile" that was released in 2021. [18] The app is an interactive comic designed to educate people about human trafficking and resources to get help. [18] The comic features a young woman as the main character and includes information about legal rights. [19]

Educational campaigns

Educating the students about Human trafficking Rural awaraness campaign organized by missing - June 2018.jpg
Educating the students about Human trafficking
Leena Kejriwal with the students at a school during the rural awareness campaign Leena kejriwal with the students at Kutoli.jpg
Leena Kejriwal with the students at a school during the rural awareness campaign

The organization also conducts educational campaigns across India that include programs for schools. [20] In 2017, the organization conducted the "MISSING on a Journey" campaign, which included presentations at schools, street theatre, and public stencils in Ranchi, Lucknow, Agra, Jaipur, and New Delhi. [21]

The organization has also worked with experts to develop the Missing Awareness and Safety School program (MASSp), for children ages 13 to 17. [22]

Livelihood Project

A survivor working with MISSING on the livelihood project Nayantara a survivor on whom part of the missing story is based.jpg
A survivor working with MISSING on the livelihood project

By 2018, the work of the organization expanded to include mentoring of young girls in West Bengal, [3] as well as financial support for the development of new skills. [11] The organization began a livelihood programme in rural Bengal for survivors of trafficking and vulnerable girls in high-trafficking areas, with mentoring for tailoring, computer programming, videography and in poultry farming.

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking</span> Trade of sexual slaves

Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

Sonagachi is a neighbourhood in Kolkata, India, located in North Kolkata near the intersection of Jatindra Mohan Avenue with Beadon Street and Sovabazar, about one kilometer north of the Marble Palace area. Sonagachi is among the largest red-light districts in Asia and the world with several hundred multi-storey brothels residing more than 16,000 commercial sex workers.

The All Bengal Women's Union was started in the 1932, when a group of women in West Bengal formed a cadre of like-minded women to help their helpless, exploited and victimized fellow women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child Rights and You</span> Child rights organisation in India

Child Rights and You (CRY) is an Indian non-governmental organization (NGO) that works towards ensuring children's rights.

Prostitution in Kolkata is present in different forms and Kolkata's sex industry is one of the largest in Asia. Prostitution may be brothel-based or non-brothel based as in the case of call girls. India is regarded as having one of the largest commercial sex trades globally. Kolkata has many red-light districts, out of which Sonagachi is the largest red-light district in Asia with more than 50,000 commercial sex workers.

STOP THE TRAFFIK was founded in 2006 by Steve Chalke MBE as a campaign coalition which aims to bring an end to human trafficking worldwide. Initially STOP THE TRAFFIK was set up as a two-year campaign to coincide with the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. The campaign intended to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the 21st century</span> Contemporary slavery, also known as modern slavery or neo-slavery

Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million to 49.6 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used. The estimated number of enslaved people is debated, as there is no universally agreed definition of modern slavery; those in slavery are often difficult to identify, and adequate statistics are often not available.

Blue Dragon Children's Foundation is a non-governmental organization based in Hanoi, Vietnam. The organization rescues children from crises including sex trafficking, forced labor, and slavery and then provides access to shelter, education and employment. More recently, Blue Dragon has been actively working to end human trafficking through a range of programs operating in Vietnam's most vulnerable communities.

Uzbekistan is a source country for women and girls who are trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), Kazakhstan, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Costa Rica for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Men are trafficked to Kazakhstan and Russia for purposes of forced labor in the construction, cotton and tobacco industries. Men and women are also trafficked internally for the purposes of domestic servitude, forced labor in the agricultural and construction industries, and for commercial sexual exploitation. Many school-age children are forced to work in the cotton harvest each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking</span> Trade of humans for exploitation

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.

Ruchira Gupta is a journalist and activist. She is the founder of Apne Aap, a non-governmental organisation that works for women's rights and the eradication of sex trafficking.

Afghanistan is one of the source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and forced prostitution. Trafficking within Afghanistan is more prevalent than transnational trafficking, and the majority of victims are children. In 2005 the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported 150 child trafficking cases to other states. Afghan boys and girls are trafficked within the country and into Iran, Pakistan and India as well as Persian gulf Arab states, where they live as slaves and are forced to prostitution and forced labor in brick kilns, carpet-making factories, and domestic service. In some cases the boys and girls were used for organ trafficking. Forced begging is a growing problem in Afghanistan; Mafia groups organize professional begging rings. Afghan boys are subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor in the drug smuggling industry in Pakistan and Iran. Afghan women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution, arranged and forced marriages—including those in which husbands force their wives into prostitution—and involuntary domestic servitude in Pakistan and Iran, and possibly India. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) report that over the past year, increasing numbers of boys were trafficked internally. Some families knowingly sell their children for forced prostitution, including for bacha bazi - a practice combining sexual slavery and child prostitution, through which wealthy men use harems of young boys for social and sexual entertainment. Other families send their children with brokers to gain employment. Many of these children end up in forced labor, particularly in Pakistani carpet factories. NGOs indicate that families sometimes make cost-benefit analyses regarding how much debt they can incur based on their tradable family members.

Human trafficking in Nepal is a growing criminal industry affecting multiple other countries beyond Nepal, primarily across Asia and the Middle East. Nepal is mainly a source country for men, women and children subjected to the forced labor and sex trafficking. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in Costa Rica</span> Trade of people in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for goods and products, a great location for trade in the seas. Costa Rica is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea making it a source of imports and exports. Costa Rica is approximately 19,653 square miles of land, making it smaller than West Virginia. To a lesser but increasing extent, Costa Rica is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to conditions of forced labor, particularly in the agriculture, construction, fishing, and domestic service sectors. The economy greatly depends on the exportation of bananas and coffee, making high demands of agriculture work. Costa Rican women and children are forced into commercial sexual exploitation due to high rates of poverty and violence. Women and girls from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, and Panama have been identified in as victims of forced prostitution. Child sex tourism is a serious problem, particularly in the provinces of Guanacaste, Limón, Puntarenas, and San José. Child sex tourists arrive mostly from the United States and Europe. Young men from Nicaragua, Vietnam, China and other Asian countries are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Costa Rica. Adults have been identified using trafficked women and children to transport and sell drugs. Neighboring countries and cities are victims as well to forced labor many times trafficked to Costa Rica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in Europe</span>

Sex trafficking is defined as the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or forced into exploitative and slavery-like conditions and is commonly associated with organized crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ABC Nepal</span> Nepalese womens rights organization

Agroforestry, Basic Health, and Cooperative Nepal is a nonprofit, non governmental organisation working in Nepal that focuses on women's rights and works against human trafficking in Nepal. Created in 1987, ABC Nepal was among the first Non Governmental Organisations established in Nepal. It was registered soon after the introduction of Nepalese multiparty democracy in 1991. The president of the organisation is Durga Ghimire.

<i>Not My Life</i> 2011 film by Robert Bilheimer

Not My Life is a 2011 American independent documentary film about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. The film was written, produced, and directed by Robert Bilheimer, who had been asked to make the film by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bilheimer planned Not My Life as the second installment in a trilogy, the first being A Closer Walk and the third being the unproduced Take Me Home. The title Not My Life came from a June 2009 interview with Molly Melching, founder of Tostan, who said that many people deny the reality of contemporary slavery because it is an uncomfortable truth, saying, "No, this is not my life."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in New York</span>

Human trafficking in New York is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor. It occurs in the state of New York and is widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery. It includes, "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

References

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  2. "Missing: The Shadows of India's Girls & Women Lost to Prostitution". W4.org. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ramani, Priya (22 June 2018). "The row, row, row theory of life". Mint . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
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  6. "Hewlett Packard Enterprise takes top prize at Stop Slavery Award". Thomson Reuters Foundation . 25 February 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  7. "India's 'missing' women cast shadow over national art fair". The Guardian . AFP. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  8. Bachman, Jessica (1 August 2015). "India's Missing art project offers stark reminder of girls taken into sexual slavery – in pictures". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  9. Langa, Prerana (21 January 2017). "Approaches for NGO Funding". The CSR Journal. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  10. Ghose, Chandreyee (10 May 2015). "Girls paint town black with a cause". The Telegraph . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  11. 1 2 Ghosh, Durba (22 January 2016). "Girls without a face". Bangalore Mirror . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  12. "#ThoseMissingGirls". BBC Three. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  13. 1 2 3 Purchese, Robert (24 January 2022). "Missing: The story behind the Indian game tackling sex trafficking". Eurogamer . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  14. Shyam, Radhika D (4 July 2021). "Scream from the shadows". Deccan Herald . Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  15. Edex Live (26 May 2021). "From the Shadows: Miriam Chandy's docu on trafficking victims and their pursuit for justice is compelling". The New Indian Express . Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  16. 1 2 3 Takahashi, Dean (25 August 2017). "Missing: The Complete Saga puts spotlight on child sex trafficking". VentureBeat . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  17. 1 2 "Hewlett Packard Enterprise, ARMEDANGELS and Missing Link Trust amongst winners of the Stop Slavery Award". Thomson Reuters Foundation . 25 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  18. 1 2 Ghosh, Dwaipayan (30 January 2021). "Now, superhero comics inspire people to fight human trafficking". Times of India . Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  19. Chaudhuri, Monalisa (22 January 2021). "Trafficking story in comic strip to spread awareness". The Telegraph . Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  20. Kirpal, Neha (17 March 2020). "She's Out to Save India's Missing Girls Using Art and a Digital Game". eShe. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  21. Khandelwal, Tara (14 November 2017). "Artist Leena Kejriwal On 'Missing': Video Game For A Cause". SheThePeople . Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  22. "Missing Awareness and Safety School program (MASSp)". Missing Link Trust. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2022.