Prostitution fears over Commonwealth Games [October 03 2010]

Thousands of women from Indias north-east have been hired by escort agencies for the Commonwealth Games, a rights group has said. Impulse NGO Network says it fears the girls will be pushed into prostitution. The group said nearly 40,000 women were hired from seven states with promises of "lucrative" pay. Authorities said they were unable to confirm the number. Escort services advertise in newspapers and are suspected to be fronts for prostitution. Campaigners say major Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay) and Calcutta, have thriving red-light districts where girls are brought year-round from all parts of India as well as other South Asian countries. Hasina Kharbih, chairperson of Impulse NGO Network, a rights group that rescues women trafficked from north-eastern states, said they had closely monitored the large-scale hiring of women from the north-east for the Commonwealth Games. "We are indeed very worried for our girls because so many of them have been recruited for escort services. They havebeen lured by good money and future jobs," said Ms Kharbih.