Our Programmes Lead, Srinidhi Raghavan was invited to speak at a webinar titled “Accessing Justice: Exploitation and Trafficking in Women with Disabilities”, hosted by Enable Education. The session was held on 28th July, 2025 and attended by 26 participants. Samarth Pathak, Communications & Advocacy Lead (South Asia) and Regional Focal Point (Education and Youth), UNODC, served as the Chief Guest and the session was moderated by Aarushi Gambhir, the Founder of Enable Education and Disability Inclusion Strategist.
Srinidhi established at the beginning of the session that women and girls with disabilities face unique vulnerabilities to sexual exploitation and trafficking due to a combination of factors, which are often neglected in policy, research, and practice. Through examples of court cases from around the world, Srinidhi detailed some of these experiences of exploitation including forced begging, sexual exploitation and prostitution, forced labour and servitude, forced marriage and criminality. The issue is further compounded by a lack of comprehensive data on the experiences of persons with disabilities in human trafficking, which contributes to their invisibility and hinders effective policy-making, effective policy-making, prevention efforts, and remedial action.
She emphasised the need for interventions – bridging the gap in evidence by collecting reliable data, which would serve as a foundation for targeted and effective policymaking; a strong and responsive support system: trained professionals, accessible infrastructure, and resource availability to address the unique needs of victims; and a collaborative effort across various ministerial departments to harmonise and implement disability laws in a cohesive and integrated manner.
