About Ruchira Gupta

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Founder President of Apne Aap Women Worldwide in 2002

· Worked for 25 years for women’s and girls’ rights, especially the ending of their sex trafficking

· Worked in the United Nations in various capacities for over ten years in Nepal, Thailand, Philippines, Kosovo, USA, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and Iran

· Highlighted the link between trafficking and prostitution and to lobby with policy makers on shifting the blame from the victim to the perpetrator

· Testified in the United States Senate before the passage of Trafficking Victims Protection Act, 2000

· Lobbied with the United Nations during the formulations for the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

· Resulted in the first UN instrument to address demand in the context of trafficking in Article 9, of the Protocol

· Addressed the UN General Assembly twice on the subject