In 1991, WOREC was established by a group of women’s right activists to respond to the needs of a woman who had experienced extreme abuse and violence as a trafficked person. In the early 1990s, Dr. Renu Adhikari Rajbhandari, founding Chairperson of WOREC was working as a medical doctor with the Government of Nepal. In the course of her work, she met a girl in the Nuwakot police station, who returned from Mumbai after being trafficked there for six years. As a medical officer working with National AIDS and STD control program, Dr. Renu visited Nuwakot for blood sample of the girl to find her HIV status. But interaction with the girl revealed the reality of her life; her heartbreaking story throwing a challenge to all institutions of society and state which are supposed to protect vulnerable persons like the girl.
Dr Renu was speechless after she had conversation with and ultimately became the inspiration to start WOREC. The girl’s body was full of blue marks, and her vagina was wounded as brothel owner used to hit her with a bunch of keys. Analysis of this case from a feminist perspective reveals the layers of marginalization of that girl of being poor, a Dalit, a child of a disabled woman from a village, and most importantly a child born outside the institution of marriage, as the root causes of trafficking. The absence of support mechanisms was making such young women even more vulnerable. The police was also stigmatizing her for being a returnee from Mumbai, with all the stigma attached to victims of trafficking. This holistic analysis was later reflected in WOREC’s program to support such women and advocate for rights of all women.
Read the first annual report of WOREC published in 1992 AD.
