US ambassador to India Richard Verma and US permanent representative to the United Nations Samantha Power on Thursday accompanied the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal on a visit to Delhi’s red light area, G.B. Road, which houses more than 4,000 sex workers.
“Mr Verma and Ms Power wanted to visit G.B. Road and had requested the DCW chairperson to accompany them on the visit and explain to them the ground realities of the red light area.
“Agreeing to the request, Ms Maliwal had a half-hour meeting with them and subsequently accompanied them to G.B. Road for the visit wherein they met with sex workers in a brothel. Rishikant from NGO Shakti Vahini facilitated the visit,” said a senior official from the DCW.
In the meeting, the ambassadors were informed of the several issues concerning the red light area, including the various challenges faced by the government, the police and NGOs. The sex workers raised several issues faced by them.
“The delegation was shocked to realise that all women present had been trafficked at one point of time and that every other day women and girls are being rescued by the DCW and NGOs. The sex workers raised issues of continuous harassment by the local police and inhuman conditions of the brothels,” said the official.
According to the officials, the ambassadors were extremely happy with the initiatives taken by the DCW and were very appreciative of the hardwork and the initiatives undertaken regarding improving the condom supply, improving health care facilities, rehabilitation efforts and the efforts made to improve the situation of Nari Niketan.
