Lived Experiences of Sex Trafficking Survivors in State Shelter Homes

Trafficking of women is recognized as one of the major forms of violence against women that has been documented extensively in recent years. While the initial efforts of women’s studies scholarship focused on causes of violence, raising awareness, and campaigns for legislative changes, subsequent efforts were directed towards understanding provision for various services that women need including shelter homes and re-integration in case of sex trafficking. The ‘Ujjawala’ scheme was introduced in 2007 by the Government of India to ensure the rescue of trafficked women and rehabilitation and repatriation of the survivors in shelter homes supervised by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare. This book aims is an attempt to evaluate the access to entitlements in the registered shelter homes from their own perspectives. The research employs a qualitative data collection method comprising in-depth interviews with sex trafficking survivors in shelter homes registered under Ujjawala scheme in the city of Hyderabad. Another set of in dept interviews were carried out with the police. The findings of the study provided a mixture satisfaction and discontent among inhabitants.