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Rescue Foundation of India wins human
rights award
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou, center, and
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, left, yesterday congratulate Rescue
Foundation of India president Triveni Balkrishna Acharya, as Ma presents her
with the 2010 Taiwan Foundation for Democracy Asia Democracy and Human Rights
Award in Taipei.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Fighting against human trafficking, particularly of women and children, is the
most urgent and important way to improve human rights and safeguard democracy,
the president of the Rescue Foundation of India said in Taipei yesterday.
“When we talk about democracy, the helplessness of women and their status —
equivalent to slavery — bothers us very much. Human traffickers sell girls and
women in open markets … Men who are overcome by sex rape these girls two dozen
times a day. At that time our soul shivers,” said Triveni Balkrishna Acharya,
the winner of the 2010 Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) Asia Democracy and
Human Rights Award, in her speech at the award ceremony yesterday.
The Rescue Foundation was the fifth recipient of the annual award given by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs-affiliated TFD. It established the award to honor
individuals or organizations that have demonstrated commitment and leadership to
advancing democracy and human rights in Asia.
Established in 2000, the Mumbai-based foundation mainly works for the rescue,
rehabilitation, repatriation and reintegration of women and girls who were
trafficked from different parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh and sold into
forced prostitution.
“The girls undergo such inhuman, physical and mental torture and brainwashing in
the brothels that we cannot even believe that one human being could cause such
pain to another for money,” Acharya said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as TFD chairman, praised
Acharya and the Rescue Foundation for their achievements in rescuing about 300
girls annually from brothels and providing them with medical care and
professional training to help them return to normal life.
Wang said he was especially moved by a letter of recommendation praising Acharya
for the award in the nomination process, written by a 17-year-old girl on her
own initiative, in which she said that she would not have been able to regain
her life without the help of the foundation.
The foundation was chosen from a pool of 25 nominations after a two-stage review
process.
Saying that human rights is a universal value across national borders, President
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the contributions made by Acharya were highly recognized
as she devoted herself to rescuing human trafficking victims in every corner of
South Asia.
“I hope that the trophy will make thousands of women activists more committed to
the task and boost their morale. Taiwan and the TFD will continue to offer them
support,” Ma said in his speech.
A symposium titled the “The Dark Corner — Current Situation of International
Human Trafficking” was held following the award ceremony. Sandy Yeh (葉毓蘭), an
associate professor in the Department of Foreign Affairs Police at the Central
Police University, told the symposium that despite progress by the Taiwan
government in recent years in establishing a comprehensive mechanism against
human trafficking, there is still a long way to go to partner with other
countries and international non-government organizations to stem the crime.
“There is always a girl to be rescued if there is no systematic change,” added
Justine Wang (王鴻英), director of the Human Trafficking Department of Taipei
Women’s Rescue Foundation.
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