With the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown impacting sex workers harshly, the collective, including leaders of Vimukthi and ILFAT (Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking), has sought help from the government to provide alternate sources of livelihood, ration cards and monetary compensation.

The reason for the massive failure of implementation the several well meaning directives was the lack of a system in place.

Offering a glimpse into the atrocities committed against women, she tells us, “Traffickers are coming inside the homes and scaring the women, telling them that if they step out of their homes, acid will be thrown on them, and their houses will be burnt down. Harassment has increased since the lockdown began.”

Bhanu Priya, 25, a sex worker, managed to earn Rs 5,000 a month. The money allowed her to pay for food and rent and also raise her four-year-old son. For nearly two months, however, Priya has had no work or money. With the coronavirus pandemic forcing the country into lockdown, the business has dried up. With no ration card, transport and no savings, Priya is now at the end of her tether. "If this goes on, my son and I will die of starvation," she said.

The Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT) was formed to end all forms of human trafficking in the country. Four women survivors tell us their stories and their work with the platform.

As scattered groups across the country come together under one forum, bringing the trafficker into the dock will be the most critical challenge

With the intent to end all forms of human trafficking, over 2,500 survivors have come together to form the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT).

Around 2,500 survivors of all forms of human trafficking have come together in the last few months to form their own platform and develop

In 2016, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, issued an order directing all health service providers