I am being Forced to have Sex with Strangers

Imagine you are 16, currently attending high school, and dreaming of future study plans. You spend your weekends hanging with family and gossiping with friends about your latest crush. Now imagine having all of this ripped away from you. Imagine being separated from your family, being deprived of your education, and being taken away from the only life you’ve ever known. This is the reality of thousands of girls who are forced into marriage every year. 

This practice does not just occur in developing nations, but happens in our own backyard. In 2015-2016 financial year alone the AFP investigated 69 cases of child marriage here in Australia. And this is only the cases that were reported. In Britain it is estimated that between 1500 and 5000 forced marriages occur every year. In an attempt to curb this horrific practice, a UK-based not-for profit named ‘Karma Nirvana’ have taken the innovative approach of helping at-risk girls to notify authorities and escape from their exploiter. Karma Nirvana’s advice is simple and accessible: all the girls need is a spoon. 

They advise girls who are being forced into marriages or who are facing trafficking situations to place a metal spoon in their underwear. When the women goes through airport security and the metal is detected the girl will be escorted to a private area for the source of the metal to be investigated. This provides them an opportunity to be disclose what is happening and potentially prevent their own trafficking.

Human trafficking violates human dignity and we need to do all we can to prevent it. We applaud Karma Nirvana for their innovative approach, and hope to see a world where spoons no longer need to be placed in underwear because the control of girls and women in forced marriages and human sexual trafficking no longer exists.