Port Macquarie charity Every Daughter Matters helps stop Nepali girls being trafficked to India

At 18 years old, Priya* was barely earning enough to eat, lugging bricks in a construction site for a wage in a Nepalese town, Butwal.

That was until a woman approached her at a job site and promised her a better life and a well-paying job in India.

After several meetings with that woman, Priya tried to cross the border solo in 2021 to meet her on the other side and begin her new life.

But when she attempted to travel into the neighbouring country, she was stopped by anti-trafficking workers.

"I got angry," Priya said.

"I had a dream of travelling to India and earning more."

Priya – who used a different name to protect her identity – was intercepted by workers from Every Daughter Matters (EDM), a charity based in the regional Australian town of Port Macquarie where CEO Ross Nancarrow lives.

EDM partnered with Nepalese organisation, Aashish Social Service Nepal (ASSN), a registered Nepali non-government organisation.

Mr Nancarrow said the counsellors "literally walk out and stop traffic and ask questions" of young women looking to cross the border.

He said if they notice red flags — like in Priya's case, where a young woman was travelling with no money, no citizenship papers or contacts in India — they identify them as being at risk of trafficking.

The organisation took Priya to a safe house where she received counselling.

At first, Priya was agitated and confused — but after three days of trying to phone the woman who would meet her across the border, and being unable to reach her, she realised the danger she was in.

Disappearing women 

Priya could have been one of thousands of Nepali women and children who go missing every year across the 1,758km open border with India. 

The 2024 Nepali Police Report found more than half of the 46,000 people reported missing over the past three years were still unaccounted for. 

Of those, 18,430 were women, compared with 9,317 men.

It was this reality that spurred Ross Nancarrow into action. 

He was working in disaster recovery in Nepal when he learnt about the issue and set up EDM in 2020. 

"We talk about the faces that keep us awake at night," he said.

"Twelve, 13-year-old girls found in horrific situations where they're being sexually abused and raped …and fearing for their lives."

The charity established 13 surveillance booths along the Indian border, and hired Nepali staff to intercept 140 girls per month on average.

When the women intercepted are unable to return home, some will be offered a limited place in EDM's skills training program.

Priya completed a diploma in counselling and is now employed by EDM to intercept women like herself at the border.

"In a day we would stop 10-15 young girls, and make them aware of the situation that they could be in," Priya said.

"I feel motivated to work at a border making young girls aware about being trafficked and I am happy to be able to help and make difference."

Priya won a counsellor of the year award for her work.

'Clear spike' in trafficking

Mr Nancarrow said the situation had worsened over the last five years.

"COVID brought more desperation to an already impoverished country and we saw a clear spike in trafficking as a result of that," Mr Nancarrow said.

Mr Nancarrow said they were seeing more organised crime groups.

He said traffickers used social media to groom women over long periods with promises of a well-paying job, dance competitions with prize money, or a love marriage, often escaping a forced marriage or poverty. 

"The girls that are trafficked are sold for one of three things: organ trafficking, the sex industry, or slave labour," he said.

Associate Professor at Griffiths University Kate Van Doore was an international child rights lawyer and studies human trafficking and modern slavery.

She said trafficking on the Nepal-India border had increased due to several factors, including a long-standing government ban on female labour migration that was aimed at reducing trafficking but instead was pushing it underground.

"In a country like Nepal you still have economic precarity — so something like COVID exacerbates all of that," Dr Van Doore said.

She pointed out the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children was established in 2003 — but Nepal adopted it five years ago.

"They've been quite late to the game… and they still have not actually embedded it into their local law," she said.

She said Nepal's lack of resources left the prevention, prosecution, and protection activities to non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Prevention is key

Mr Nancarrow said interception costs were about 10 times cheaper than conducting a rescue, which could total upward of $18,000 AUD with little success.

"Interception is our most powerful weapon against human trafficking because it is before the damage is done," he said.

Dr Van Doore said a multi-pronged approach was needed, involving targeted interception, rescue, protection and connecting women back to society.

"Encouraging self-determination so people can follow their own education pathway or work experience … and reintegration as soon as possible is really necessary," she said.

EDM works closely with police and Interpol to arrest and prosecute traffickers, but Mr Nancarrow said traffickers often paid the family to drop the charges.