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Freedom Firm

2020-05-29T10:59:22Z

163.53.25.233:

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{{Infobox Institute
|name= Freedom Firm
|image_name= Freedom-Firm-Logo.gif
|location= India
|established=2006
|website= {{URL|http://www.freedom.firm.in}}
}}

'''Freedom Firm''' is a non-profit human rights organisation based in [[India]]. Created in 2006 by a small group with the mission of rescuing [[sex slavery|sex trafficked]] girls, restoring their identity and seeking justice against those responsible.

Former [[International Justice Mission]] Director in [[Mumbai]] for 5 years, attorney Greg Malstead and wife Mala decided to take that experience and apply it to other areas of high trafficking in India thus creating Freedom Firm. With a base of operations in South India and a staff of 24, Freedom Firm rescues girls throughout India and continues to bring justice to areas where little work is being done.

==Human trafficking in Southeast Asia==
According to the Trafficking in Persons report of 2009 India is on the Tier 2 Watch List for the sixth straight year.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081112094545/http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/index.htm United States Department of State] Trafficking in Persons Report Index</ref> The Tier 2 Watch List is designated by the following characteristics: the number of victims is “very significant or is significantly increasing; or there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year;”<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090619125438/http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/123360.pdf United States Department of State] Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 Introduction, pages 11-13</ref> yet the country has made significant commitments for future compliance with the minimum standards set forth by the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, TVPA.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030414193015/http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/10492.pdf United States Department of State] Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000</ref>

Despite straightforward penalties for trafficking proscribed by the [[Indian Penal Code]], as well as the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act of 1956<ref>http://wcd.nic.in/ITPABill.htm, originally drafted in 1956, the ITPA has seen many amendments</ref> and the passage of the Child Labor Act of 1986, [[corruption in India]] has presented a frequent roadblock. “Insufficient or inadequate laws, poor enforcement, ineffective penalties, minimal chance of prosecution ... corruption and complacency, invisibility of the issue, the failure of governments to implement policies and provide adequate services for victims – all play a role in perpetuating trafficking.”<ref>http://nhrc.nic.in/Documents/ReportonTrafficking.pdf, “A Report on Trafficking in Women and Children in India," page 23</ref> Even further complicated by the economic niche traffickers fill, US$32 billion worldwide.<ref>http://www.ijm.org/statistics&factsheets/viewcategory, sex trafficking factsheet</ref>

As such, the issue is pervasive and ingrained in many Indian socio-economic infrastructures. The scenario worsens, however, when taking into account that [[HIV/AIDS in India|India has the third largest]] [[HIV]]/[[AIDS]] population in the world. In a recent study of Nepalese girls trafficked into India, then later rescued, 38 percent tested positive for HIV. “Girls trafficked prior to age 15 years had an increased risk for HIV, with 60.6 percent infected.”<ref>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2007-releases/press07312007.html, A study by Harvard School of Public Health, see also: http://ymtdl.med.yale.edu/theses/available/etd-06282006-114419/restricted/amthesis1.pdf, By Ayonija Maheshwari 2006</ref>

==Rescue, restoration and justice==

===Rescue===
Targeting towns and cities like [[Pune]], where little work has been done, enables Freedom Firm to critically mitigate the trafficking of individuals from what has become a major human trafficking hub.<ref>http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=252458</ref> Despite being the [[List of most populous cities in India|eighth largest city]] in India, with the third largest red light district,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/business-shrinking-budhwar-peth-sex-workers-turn-to-parttime-jobs/481067|title=Business shrinking, Budhwar Peth sex workers turn to part-time jobs - Indian Express|website=archive.indianexpress.com|access-date=2019-06-05}}</ref> the city of Pune did not attain its first sex trafficking conviction until 2008.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090621002408/http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/123136.htm United States Department of State] http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=2&contentid=200906272009062704522290695ee3b91</ref>

Undercover investigators monitoring red light areas in [[Maharashtra]] and [[Karnataka]] identify minor-aged girls and their traffickers and brothel keepers, document the crime and submit the information to local authorities; who then make the corresponding arrests and transfer the underage girls, and any adult women who want to leave, to a government facility.

While in the government facility from anywhere between 6 months to 3 years Freedom Firm workers provide counseling, medical care and education. The relationships established by this contact lays the foundation for future rehabilitation and reintegration efforts.

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Human rights organisations based in India]]
[[Category:2006 establishments in India]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 2006]]

Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy

2020-05-29T10:53:47Z

163.53.25.233:

{{refimprove|date = October 2009}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy
| logo =
| type = [[Non-profit organization|Non-profit]]
| founded =
| location =
| key_people =
| fields =
| homepage =
}}

The '''Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy''' (FFDA) is an [[India]]n [[human rights]] monitoring organization founded in 1995 that fights to promote and protect human rights in India by working with the victims of human rights violations and their organizations. It educates the victims and their communities, and facilitates and builds the capacity of organizations of victims to take collective action on their own. It addresses the issues of displacement and forced eviction, violence against women and children, exploitation, torture, abuse and discrimination against [[Dalit]]s (untouchable and low [[caste]] poor), and attacks on minorities and [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] communities.

Based on learning and work experiences, FFDA integrated democracy monitoring into its core activity as the basic path to rights for the above-mentioned target group; participating in decision making and asking for accountability and [[good governance]] of the state in particular. It focuses on having a right to:
*Social and political participation
*A sustainable livelihood
*Education, particularly access for girls and tribal children
*Life and security
*Identity

FFDA investigates, reports on, and campaigns against human rights abuses. Tribal and Dalit people, especially women and children, are its priority. FFDA was led by Subash Mohapatra.

== Aims and beliefs==
FFDA dreams of a humane society where there will be freedom, justice, peace, and inherent dignity for all people. In India, FFDA's goal is a just social and humane order without class and [[caste]]-dominated economic, social, cultural, civil, and political structures.

FFDA's goals are:

# Promotion, protection, and respect for human rights in the fight against political, institutional, and social oppression in India.
# Promotion and strengthening of the people’s organizations.
# Protection of human rights of deprived communities, especially indigenous tribes, women, children, [[Dalit]]s and other victims of human rights violations.
# Human rights institution building.
# Promotion and protection of democracy as the basic part of accountability and transparency of the state.

==Successes==
===Prevention of child marriages===
[[Child marriage]]s persist in rural India, although prohibited by Indian legislation since 1929. Such traditional marriages continue to be organised in massive numbers, principally in the poorest of families. Today, 33% of girls in India are married before they reach the age of 15. Another third are already married by 18, the legal age limit for marriage. It is a traditional ritual that affects primarily girls: apart from the fact that they are not physically equipped to give birth, forcing a child between the ages of 11 and 15 to marry condemns her to a life of illiteracy, economic dependency and psychological and physical incapacity.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} In 2003, FFDA filed a public interest litigation before Supreme Court of India seeking a ban on child marriages in India. The apex court directed to enact a new preventative law.
<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/1763 |title=Child marriages persist in rural India |newspaper=[[Asian Tribune]] |date=29 August 2006}}</ref>

===Tribal people fight for land rights===
In 2000, 26 families got their land back (225 acres).{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} 47 other land cases are pending.

In 2001, a steel company funded by the [[International Monetary Fund]] displaced 3000 tribal people from their land. 250 people were then employed by the company. The tribal women went to the forest to collect leaves and roots to eat. Foresters and police forced the women to leave. When the women protested, the police and foresters kidnapped, raped and beat them in a government office.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} FFDA is helping the women to publicise the atrocities and take legal action.

===Organising against genetically modified food and environmental destruction===
FFDA is exposing how [[genetically modified]] (GM) food makes people ill. In 1999, 30,000 people died in a [[cyclone]] in [[Orissa, India|Orissa]]. [[CARE International]] and [[Catholic Relief Services]] gave GM bulgur wheat to survivors. After six months, thousands of people became ill from the wheat.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} FFDA picketed CARE International offices. After a long battle, the Indian government in the last week of February 2003 banned the GM food supplies by overseas organizations.

FFDA publicises the consequences of the mining industry’s destruction of the hills in Orissa.


===First lesbian marriage in India===
Mr Mohapatra, the team leader of FFDA, provided legal expertise for and was a witness at the first official [[lesbian]] marriage anywhere in India of two young tribal women in [[Chhattisgarh]].

==External links==
* [https://www.facebook.com/ffdassociation]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forum For Fact-Finding Documentation And Advocacy}}
[[Category:Human rights organisations based in India]]