The Trap : Trafficking of Women in Nepal

The catalogue for the 8th edition of the Award is devoted to the enslavement of women and girls in Nepal. After three months of reporting in the field, between February and May 2017, Lizzie Sadin has brought back a deeply moving testimony on gender-based human trafficking and how rooted it is in Nepalese society. After a devastating earthquake that killed 9,000 people and displaced 650,000 others in 2015, the daily life of many Nepalese was shattered. Unemployment and the extremely precarious living conditions have given rise to more and more traffickers every day. To Lizzie Sadin, this trafficking, based on the sale and forced prostitution of women and girls by "friends" or even family members, is carried out not just for economic reasons, but also for cultural ones. There are an estimated 20,000 sexual workers in Kathmandu, who sell their services in cabin restaurants, dance bars, dohoris, and massage parlors. What Sadin witnessed, during her time in Nepal, is an organized trafficking system that preys on desperation and hope. In 2009, Fondation Carmignac established the Carmignac Photojournalism Award with the aim of funding and promoting an investigative photo report on human rights violations each year.