Trafficking into the brothels of India and domestic and sexual slavery in the Middle East is a historic trade, with between 5,000 and 12,000 girls aged from as young as 7 years old disappearing from Nepal every year. An estimated 200,000 girls from Nepal are working in brothels in India. The average lifespan of a girl working in prostitution in India is just 34 years.

The United Nations cites human trafficking as the third largest international criminal industry, with traffickers making an estimate US $32 billion annually.

Neither the governments of Nepal nor the recipient countries have acted with determination to stop this evil trade. Despite having anti-trafficking and corruption laws in place in both Nepal and India, the crime continues to flourish. There are, however, gaps in the law, but neither India nor Nepal have ratified the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 (UNTOC) with its comprehensive protocols that could close those gaps.