Priti Patkar

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Priti Patkar
Priti Patkar.jpg
Priti Patkar
Born
Mumbai
Other namesPriti tai, Preeti Patkar
Alma mater Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work
Known forher work with women and children in red light districts of Mumbai. She conceptualised and founded world's first night care center for children of women working in red light districts.

Priti Patkar is an esteemed social worker and human rights activist from India. She holds the position of co-founder and director at Prerana, an organization that has been a trailblazer in addressing issues within the red-light districts of Mumbai, India. Priti Patkar's efforts primarily focus on safeguarding children who are at risk of falling victim to commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Contents

Personal life

Priti Patkar was born in Mumbai. Her father was a government servant and her mother ran a daycare program. [1] She is a Gold Medalist from The Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai where she completed a Masters in Social Work. [2] She is married to social activist Pravin Patkar. [3]

Activism

Priti Patkar has been working for the protection and rescue of children and women victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation for over 30 years. [4] She founded Prerana in 1986, after a research visit for her Masters in Social Work to the Kamathipura Red Light Area – where she witnessed three generations of women soliciting customers on the same street. [5]

She is accredited with several path-breaking social interventions for the protection and dignity of children and women victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. [6]

Patkar has to her credit the largest number of legal interventions and writ petitions in India to protect the rights and dignity of child and female victims of child sexual exploitation and trafficking. [7]

Selected awards

Research

Patkar has 7 books and several research reports to her name – published or released by The National Commission for Women, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID/FHI. Others have been sponsored by Groupe Development (France), Concern India Foundation, USAID, and more. [13] Through Prerana, she has also been systematically mapping the decline of the Kamathipura Red Light Area since 2010. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex tourism</span> Travel to engage in sexual activity

Sex tourism refers to the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly operates in countries where sex work is legal. The World Tourism Organization of the United Nations has acknowledged this industry is organised both within and outside the structured laws and networks created by them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual slavery</span> Slavery with the intention of using the slaves for sex

Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a servile status and sex trafficking persons, such as the sexual trafficking of children.

Kamathipura is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, India known for prostitution. It was first settled after 1795 with the construction of causeways that connected the erstwhile seven islands of Mumbai. Initially known as Lal Bazaar, it got its name from the Kamathis (workers) of other areas of the country, who were labourers on construction sites. Due to tough police crackdowns, in the late 1990s with the rise of AIDS and government's redevelopment policy that helped sex workers to move out of the profession and subsequently out of Kamathipura, the number of sex workers in the area has dwindled. In 1992, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recorded there were 45,000 sex workers here which was reduced to 1,600 in 2009 and 500 in 2018. Many sex workers have migrated to other areas in Maharashtra with real estate developers taking over the high-priced real estate. In 2018 the Maharashtra government sought tenders to demolish and redevelop the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child prostitution</span> Prostitution involving a child

Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.

<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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medha Patkar</span> Indian social activist

Medha Patkar is a politician and activist working on certain political and social issues raised by tribals, dalits, farmers, labourers and women facing injustice in India. She is an alumnus of TISS, a premier institute of social science research in India..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in India</span>

Prostitution is legal in India, but a number of related activities including soliciting, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, prostitution in a hotel, child prostitution, pimping and pandering are illegal. There are, however, many brothels illegally operating in Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Chennai. UNAIDS estimate there were 657,829 prostitutes in the country as of 2016. Other unofficial estimates have calculated India has roughly 3–10 million prostitutes. India is widely regarded as having one of the world's largest commercial sex industry. It has emerged as a global hub of sex tourism, attracting sex tourists from wealthy countries. The sex industry in India is a multi-billion dollar one, and one of the fastest growing.

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">Prajwala</span> Organization against prostitution and sex trafficking.

Prajwala is a non-governmental organization based in Hyderabad, India, devoted exclusively to eradicating prostitution and sex trafficking. Founded in 1996 by Ms. Sunitha Krishnan and Brother Jose Vetticatil, the organization actively works in the areas of prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, re-integration, and advocacy to combat trafficking in every dimension and restore dignity to victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

Prostitution in Guatemala is legal but procuring is prohibited. There is an offence of “aggravated procuring” where a minor is involved. Keeping a brothel is not prohibited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Bangladesh</span> Sex work and its regulation in Bangladesh

Prostitution is legal and regulated in Bangladesh. Prostitutes must register and state an affidavit stating that they are entering prostitution of their own free choice and that they are unable to find any other work. Bangladeshi prostitutes often suffer poor social conditions and are frequently socially degraded.

<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. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. It is distinct from people smuggling, which is characterized by the consent of the person being smuggled.

Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remains a significant problem. People are frequently illegally trafficked through India for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour has been completed, NGOs estimate this problem affects 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children are trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys are trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunitha Krishnan</span> Indian social activist

Sunitha Krishnan is an Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, a non-governmental organization that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-trafficked victims into society. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prerana</span> Indian non-governmental organization

Prerana is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works in the red-light districts of Mumbai, India to protect children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking. It was established in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pravin Patkar</span> Indian academic, social scientist, writer and human rights activist

Pravin Patkar is an Indian academic and human rights activist. He co-founded Prerana, an NGO working for child protection & anti-human trafficking. In 1999, he founded Asia's first Anti-Human Trafficking Resource Centre supported by the US Government. He has served as an expert on several national and international agencies working in the anti-human trafficking sector. He has been in the teaching profession for over 40 years in both formal and non-formal education sectors. He has written books, published articles and created PSAs to prevent organized violence against women & children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing Link Trust</span> Indian public awareness campaign

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prostitution in Mumbai</span>

Mumbai, is a city in India which contains the neighborhood of Kamathipura, one of the largest red-light districts in Asia. India is regarded as having one of the largest commercial sex trades globally. These neighborhoods are so large and popular that Mumbai has been called the "ultimate destination" for sex tourism. The red-light districts or lal bazaars in Mumbai are inhabited by thousands of sex workers including women, men, children, and transgender people.

Sex trafficking in the Philippines is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Republic of the Philippines. The Philippines is a country of origin and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit for sexually trafficked persons.

References

  1. ↑ "Priti Patkar Profile". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Unsung heroes". Archived from the original on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Priti & Pravin Patkar". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Saving children". www.theweekendleader.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  5. ↑ Mumbai, Arunima Rajan in (26 November 2014). "How Prerana's Priti Patkar has changed the lives of sex workers' children". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Woman of substance". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Woman of Might". Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Grace Pinto, MD of Ryan Group conferred Sunsilk Doordarshan – Sahyadri Hirkani Award". Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Priti Patkar Awards". Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Vital Voices Honored at Kennedy Center | The Georgetown Dish". www.thegeorgetowndish.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  11. ↑ "President Pranab Mukherjee presented 2015 Nari Shakti awards". Jagranjosh.com. 9 March 2016. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  12. ↑ "Zee honours achievers with Sofy Indian Women Awards | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  13. ↑ "Priti Patkar Books". Archived from the original on 3 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kamathipura: bought and sold – Livemint". www.livemint.com. Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
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