Rescue from coercion and trafficking

Worldwide, approximately 40 million people fall victim to human trafficking and forced prostitution. People of all ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds are affected. After drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking is the third-largest source of revenue for organized crime. Children who are orphaned or homeless, or whose families live on the margins of society, are hit particularly hard. Poverty, illness, and a lack of education form the structural breeding ground from which numerous hardships arise for many families. Child labor, child marriage, or child prostitution are sometimes the “last straws” that families cling to. Furthermore, highly organized trafficking rings—whether by approaching victims directly or via the internet—lure children and adolescents away from their families with false promises, sell them as cheap labor, or force them into prostitution.

Our non-governmental, local partner organization, the Rescue Foundation in Mumbai, has been fighting human trafficking and forced prostitution in India since 1997. It systematically searches for underage victims in the red-light districts of major cities. Together with local authorities and the police targeted raids and rescue operations are carried out.

The Rescue Foundation deploys specialized rescue units—so-called “mobile teams”—that operate throughout India, but particularly in remote regions of the states of Bihar, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Jharkhand. A key focus of these task forces is the rescue of children and young women from so-called “orchestras.” These are dance groups in which mostly underage girls perform at large events and festivals and are subsequently sold to the highest bidder among the guests in attendance.

After a successful rescue and the filing of a police report, the freed girls are transferred, on the court’s orders, to the Rescue Foundation at one of its shelters in Mumbai, Pune, Boisar, or Delhi.

In 2025 alone, these mobile teams carried out 51 rescue operations, during which 275 women and children were freed.
At the shelters, the girls receive medical, psychological, and legal support and are prepared for independent living through the Rescue Foundation’s diverse school and training programs.

The Dr. Birk Foundation, in cooperation with its German partner, BONO Direkthilfe e.V., supports the work of the mobile rescue teams as well as follow-up measures for the education and reintegration of the girls and young women.