The Justice Hub Project, aka Nyay Kendra, was begun to fight human trafficking. Working out of Duncan Hospital in cooperation with the public justice system and non-governmental organizations, the Justice Hub works to combat trafficking, provide services for victims, and increase public access to justice and social welfare programs.

Their goals are fourfold:

• Rescue victims of all kinds of trafficking
• Provide survivors with housing, medical care, counseling, education, and government benefits
• Raise community awareness on prevention and aftercare
• Meet with government officials and law enforcement to improve protocols for prosecuting perpetrators, providing aftercare and rehabilitation for survivors, and applying for government benefits.

In the past six months, the team has conducted four interventions to rescue 30 victims total from commercial sexual exploitation (2), bonded labor (20), and child labor (8). They have also cared for 32 survivors by providing housing, counseling, and medical support, and by seeking government benefits for the victims (between $36 and $300) from different grants. The team conducted four community awareness sessions in the last six months to teach about legal rights and the prevention of human trafficking. And they also held 20 advocacy meetings with key public stakeholders within government and law enforcement.

As a result of these meetings, for example, Mona and Laxmi, sexual trauma survivors, saw successful convictions and sentencing to 20 years in prison for the four people who exploited them. The two young women also received $6,000 each in victim compensation from the court.