Too Many Names But No Identity – The Reality Of Children In Red-Light Areas

For victims of commercial sexual exploitation, loss of identity goes way beyond a layman’s understanding. When a victim is exploited sexually, especially in a commercial context, she is often given different names, to hide and change her identity when she is frequently sold from one brothel-keeper to another. Name being an important parameter of identity of a person, this is done for a variety of reasons — the fear of law and enforcement being prominent among them.

Without an identity and residential proof, such victims are often left out of the social welfare programs and do not benefit from state or Centre’s welfare and development schemes. Their children grow as stateless children and face great difficulties even if helped by civil society organizations to acquire an education and vocational training. These children end up getting too many names, but no identity.

Read here.