Location: INDIA, BANGLADESH, NEPAL

Combating sex trafficking of teenage girls in India trough photography

India is home to more than 400 million children below the age of 18 years and thousands of children go missing every year. The situation is similar in Bangladesh which shares a long, porous border with India. The government estimates 50,000 girls are trafficked to India every year.

The publication of the book We Cry in Silence is part of the initiative by Indian photojournalist Smita Sharma, in partnership with the FotoEvidence Association, and it is designed to expose evidence of sex and domestic trafficking. The project educates teenage girls and the public about the methods traffickers use to lure and abduct girls from Bangladesh, Nepal and India. The Initiative is organized around Sharma’s seven years of investigation and photographs and includes book publication of We Cry in Silence, traveling exhibits and community events and a newspaper quality zine for free distribution in the trafficking areas.

ABOUT SMITA  SHARMA

Smita Sharma is a TED Fellow and an IWMF Reporting Fellow. Her work on sex trafficking “We Cry in Silence”, published in National Geographic Magazine, received the Amnesty International Media award for Photojournalism in 2021 and the Fetisov Journalism Awards 2022 in the “Outstanding Investigative Category”. Her work has been exhibited and shown globally including at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Smita Sharma è una TED Fellow e IWMF Reporting Fellow. Il suo lavoro “We Cry in Silence” sul traffico sessuale , pubblicato su National Geographic Magazine, ha ricevuto il premio Amnesty International Media per il fotogiornalismo nel 2021 e il Fetisov Journalism Awards 2022 nella categoria “Outstanding Investigative”. Il suo lavoro è stato esposto e mostrato in tutto il mondo, anche presso la sede delle Nazioni Unite a New York.