Apne Aap Women Worldwide is an Indian organisation working in brothels, red-light districts and caste-ghettoes of formerly nomadic groups trapped in inter- generational prostitution in Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal. Based on the Gandhian principles of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Antyodaya (uplift of the Last) and Ambedkar’s notion of the Anataj – last born, it seeks to link the weakest, most marginalised Last Girl – the Antyajaa – to her basic needs like a safe space, school self-confidence, government issued identification documents and subsidies like low-cost food, housing, health care, legal protection as well as small friendship circles.
Apne Aap (self-empowerment in Hindi), has touched over 20,000 lives in Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal, put 66 traffickers in jail and played a key role in the passage of India’s first anti-trafficking law-Section 377 I.P.C. It was founded 14 years ago by journalist Ruchira Gupta and 22 prostituted women with the dream of a world where no woman could be bought or sold.
United for a world free from sexual exploitation!