Week 1: An Introduction
Welcome to Hamro Samman
On Wednesday morning, I found my way to the Hamro Samman headquarters, tucked away in a quiet residential area of Kathmandu. Starting a new job is always a little intimidating, but this time was different; I was fighting off jet lag, having just arrived in an unfamiliar country less than 24 hours before my first day.
As I stepped into the office, a co-worker quickly spotted me. After an exchange of “Namaste,” I was soon whisked around the office to meet the Hamro Samman team. In less than an hour, an unprompted cup of coffee and a bottle of clean drinking water arrived at my desk, serving as the first in a series of hospitable acts I experienced throughout my first week of work.
“Hamro Samman” is Nepali for “Our Respect,” a fitting name for a project aimed at eradicating serious forms of exploitation. Supported by USAID and overseen by Winrock International, Hamro Samman is a five-year project with a “4Ps” framework: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Partnership. By combining government, civil society organization, and private sector efforts, Hamro Samman combats human trafficking in Nepal, primarily within foreign labor migration and the adult entertainment industry.
Human trafficking is undoubtedly a global problem, but Nepal faces its own unique challenges. Still recovering from the effects of a ten-year civil war, Nepal ratified a new Constitution in 2015, adopting federalism in place of the previously centralized government. With the country newly divided into seven sovereign provinces, questions on the division of power between the national and subnational levels of government remain; as a result, advocating for robust counter trafficking-in-persons legislation can be difficult, with much of the process focused on determining who has the authority to enforce a certain provision. Additionally, the April 2015 earthquake devastated much of Nepal, leaving many vulnerable and creating a ripe environment for exploitation.
This summer, I am joining the Hamro Samman team in their second year of operation. As an intern, I will be working with the Law and Governance Manager, Ramesh, performing legislative research on a myriad of issues relating to human trafficking and drafting amendments to current legislation consistent with Nepal’s changing political landscape.
A Survivor-Centered Approach
After meeting most of the team, Ramesh sent me some current legislation to skim through before joining him and the Chief of Party, Carolyn, in a meeting on a proposed amendment to the Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act. As Ramesh and Carolyn debriefed me on the challenges faced so far in amending the Act, I noticed a theme throughout the conversation: What does it mean to be truly survivor-centered?
Nepal’s progress in the fight against human trafficking impresses me in a number of ways. Currently, the Government of Nepal is considering ratifying the Palermo Protocol, which would be a huge step in bringing the country closer to adopting international best practices in countering trafficking. At the subnational level, seeing local officials and advocates make reducing the prevalence of trafficking in their communities a priority is inspiring.
Despite the incredible progress made, ensuring the rights of trafficking survivors is hard in a new political framework. There’s no question that advocating for improved support services is a must, like providing access to rehabilitation centers or reuniting families; yet past efforts to support survivors has sometimes crossed into an infringement of other rights, like preventing survivors from choosing to leave shelters or opting out of reconciliation.
Additionally, zealous advocacy has sometimes resulted in a failure to preserve the rights of the accused. Once charged with trafficking, the defendant may never learn the identity of the person bringing forth the allegations. Without the presumption of innocence, the accused may carry the burden of proving there was no exploitation, perhaps in a closed proceeding without any significant accountability to ensure due process.
Surely preserving the rights of others matters when advocating for a survivor-centered approach to countering trafficking. Like Hamro Samman’s name suggests, the practice of human trafficking, in all its forms, must be eradicated because it disrespects the value of life and autonomy; however, there are no true winners in a system that introduces other forms of injustice as a means of restoration.
I expect this internship to challenge the way I think about advocating for survivors and the policies that best serve communities and industries seeking to eradicate trafficking. And I am grateful to work alongside such a warm and inspiring group of advocates, who have eased the qualms of solo travel with many shared meals and invitations into their homes and families in such a short amount of time.