Baniashanta: One of the Worst Places on Earth

AT OUR MAY 7TH BENEFIT FUNDRAISER IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, I WILL BE SPEAKING ABOUT OUR PLANS TO WORK IN BANGLADESH ON ISSUES OF CHILD PROSTITUTION AND SEX TRAFFICKING.  HERE IS A REPRINT OF AN EARLIER ARTICLE ABOUT THESE ISSUES. 

BANIASHANTA. Some places are almost too sad for words, and the Banishanta brothel area in southwestern Bangladesh is one of those terrible places.  Situated on the muddy banks of the River Posur near Mongla, Bangladesh's busiest seaport, the brothel is a row of shacks which house at least 200 Bangladeshi women and the children born to them in prostitution.  These women, and likely many young girls, sell their services to dockworkers, sailors and hordes of other men who stream to Banishanta for sex on the cheap.  In the most densely populated and one of the poorest countries on earth, this is what semi-legalized prostitution has come to: scores of young women living in meager shacks on a polluted riverbank, reduced to selling themselves day and night for a few dollars to a never-ending stream of lustful men.  Sadly, Banishanta is not the only place like this on earth.  But in an age where life is cheap and sex is a commodity, Banishanta, and places like it, are the inevitable result.  

 THE MUDDY SHACKS OF THE BANIASHANTA BROTHEL

In December I visited Bangladesh on an exploratory trip for Speak Up to connect with a group of organizations who are playing a part in bringing justice to the most vulnerable and exploited people in the country, particularly girls born into brothels or trafficked into prostitution. 

The issue of young girls being held in prostitution is an immense, disturbing problem in many places, perhaps nowhere more so than in Bangladesh and India, so I'm filled with joy and anticipation to consider Speak Up's future plans in south Asia.  A recent Speak Up Board meeting gave me the green light to explore planting a future Speak Up site in Bangladesh, a place where we would join the fight against trafficking and child-prostitution through practical casework, investigations and training of Bangladeshi lawyers and students. Stay tuned in 2011 as these plans develop. I've seen a lot of the world, and there is nothing more disturbing to me than the reality of young girls being born into brothels or trafficked and raped for profit. Yet this is the world we live in, a world where at this very minute Nepali and Bangladeshi and Vietnamese girls, and many, many more, are suffering the most horrific of fates. We can do something about this evil, and we can choose to fight. And that is what we at Speak Up intend to do with your help.

The reality today is that Speak Up is too small to make a broad impact. We've helped a few Uzbek and Thai women leave their traffickers, and through generous friends we've raised some money to help women and girls at risk in both Bangladesh and Tajikistan. We also have a handful of Thai law students becoming more interested in these issues, a few of whom may soon become our first Thai staff team. This is our small but important start. We want to train an international army of advocates for the poor, brave men and women who will work in slums and brothels and help bring freedom and justice to girls caught in terrible exploitation. Right now we are so small, and the need is so overwhelming. Please help us to do more to expand our presence to the worst places on earth.  Thanks. 

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