Three Videos That Show the Real Face of Child Trafficking & Prostitution in India

Every year, around 15 lakh children in India are trafficked and abused for commercial sexual exploitation. Whichever way one looks at it, it is a daunting figure that works out to 3 children being victimized, traumatized and exploited every minute, each day, every day.

These children are some of the most vulnerable individuals in our country. They are forced to live beyond the margins of our society. They are denied basic rights, dignity, choices and a voice of their own.

Their stories and struggles are invisible to the mainstream. Ignored by the mainstream, these children remain lost and inextricably caught in a vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse.

Between 2004 and 2006, Prerana in association with the ad film conglomerate Leo Burnett India, Mumbai released a series of powerful Public Service Announcement videos that highlighted the grim realities behind childhoods lived in the Red Light Areas in India. In under a minute and half, these PSAs narrate the kind of stories that damn thousands of innocent lives everyday.

These are stories that need to be heard. These are realities that need to be woken up to.

“Home Work” – Prerana PSA

A young School girl bids her classmates goodnight. But she does not go back to doing her school homework. She dresses up for the night as she is a child prostitute.

“Photo Shoot” – Prerana PSA

Children in rural India are lured to the big cities with the prospects of a better more glamorous life but are instead are sold into the flesh trade. This film aims to educate and warn these young girls of exactly what could happen to them in the big city if they are not careful.

“Tip” – Prerana PSA

Child prostitution is a taboo topic in Indian society. Organisations which rescue child prostitutes are hard pressed for money to rehabilitate & counsel these children. So the children often return to prostitution out of sheer trauma & because they dont know any other way to earn a living.