Narrator rescuing girls for sale. Kolkata, one of the largest cities in india. Its home to one of the biggest red light districts in asia. Over 60,000 prostitutes work here. Many of them children trafficked against their will. Richi kant is an antitrafficking activist. His mission is to rescue underage girls whove been kidnapped and then sold into prostitution, forced marriage, or domestic slavery. Today, hes on his way to meet the parents of a 17yearold girl, norbanu, who disappeared almost a year ago. Norbanunus parents live on less than 50 cents a day. For them, this may be the only hope of finding their daughter. [all speaking hindi] although richi is hopeful, the reality is that around 1 3 of trafficked children are never traced. Stories of trafficked girls are not unique to this state, bengal. Theyre just as commonplace in the neighboring state of jharkhand, where aradadhana singh is the head of the antitraffickiking unit. Aradhana [speaking hindi] narrator there are many traffickers involved in n each step of transportiting the girls from m the village to big citie. And theres a financial transaction each time. Aaradhana [speaking hindi] narrator today, as Aradhana Singh is traveling through the area, a mother approaches her. [all speaking hihindi] narrator the mothther reports that her 14yearold daughter m mariam vanished from her r home over to weeks ago. [all speaking hindi] mariams story, likeke that of nororbanu, mirrors the e experie of thousanands of other girl a a family y member tricked h her io leaviving the village with him. O protect her idedentity, weve changnged her name. Meanwhile, back in kolkata, richchi kant plots his n next me to locate 17yearold norbanu. He heads to the busy howrah station, where he believes norbanu may have passed through. As expected, the trail is cold. Its been a year now since norbanu vanished. Most successful rescues take place soon after the abduction. Richi is not sure what to do next. Bubut in the otother case, of 14yearold mamariam, Aradhana Singh has managed to track down the trafficker. She calls richi to s see if he n helplp find her. Aradhana [speaking hindi] narrator after speaking to aradhana, richi heads to th state of haryana, about 150 kilometers away, where mariam is believed to be located. Richi meets up with the local police team. Joining them is mariams mother and the relative who sold her daughter r to a trafficker for a smsmall payment. This relative s now agreed to cooperate with the police. Richi and the police set up a trap to capture the local trtrafficker. The relative offers him another r girl for sale. [speaking hindi] narrator the police teams cyber cell tracks the call. They now have his location. According to the United Nations office on drugs and crime, over 150,000 people are trafficked within south asia every year. Globobally, Human Trafficking is a 32 billion industry. Hoping to find mariam, richis team arrive at the traffickers home. [all speaking hindi] narrrator theres a young girl in his bed. [alall speaking hindi] narrarator but its nonot mari. In the car, the policece questin the traffickerer about mariam. [all speaking hindi] narratoror the selling of young girls a as brides is common in some states like punjab and haryana. A major factor is the extremely low sex ratio of females to males. Young girls are brought here and sold as chihild bridides to the local lt bargain prices. The team m have received new information on where mariam is being kept. But marriage in india is sacrosanct and snatching a girl from m her marital home can have violent consequences. [all speaking hindi] narrator ststartled and afraid, mariam emerges from the room. [all speaking hindi] [mariam sobbing] narrator after 20 days of separation, mother r and daughtr are finally reunited. [both sobbing] [all speaking hindi] nanarrator the huand of 14yearold mariam is a 50yearolold man. Mariam [speaking hindi] narratator if convicted, thee husband will face 10 years in prprison for purchasining maria. Mariam will be taken to the Child Welfare committee for a hearing before she can go back home. Back in norbanus village, her parents are still waiting for her return, surrounded by her meager belongingsgs. Man [speaeaking hindi] narrator i india, for every mariam whos rescued, there a ae sseveral norbanus who remamain missing. And far too many parents and children continue to feel that pain. Narrator a murder that shocked the community. John this little girl should not have e been killed. Weve al let her down. Every level of society has let this kid down. Narrator and the call to end violence against a countrys native peoples. Woman i have a daughter. Shes 21. And every time she goes out, is she gonna come home . You know, itss call m me. Call m. Let me know where you are. Narrator canadas missing Indigenous Women and girls. John this is the red river. Its one of the main rivers that flows right through north america. This is the alexander docks in winnipeg. So in early august 2014, august 8, sunday afternoon, there was a gentleman here walking with his kids and he spotted what he believed to be a body just probably about 50 meters north of the fence here and maybe 10 meters out into the water. And, uh, he saw what he believed to be a human arm. And he alerted the police that were in the area. And what they recovered was a body of a female wrapped in a bed sheet, a duvet cover, and had been weighed down. Narrator the remains were of a 15yearold aboriginal girl of sagkeeng first nation, tina fontaine, who had been reported missing for 9 days. Officer ththe homicide unitit entereded whwhat has become a long a and complicated investigation. The murder of this child, and lets not forget she was a child, has shocked and outraged our community. And i think that outrage has resonated across our nation. [rhythmic drumming] [all chanting] narrator her death sparked a march through the city streets and renewed calls for a National Inquiry to provide answers. Trudeau first of all, our hearts go out to family and fririends of tina fontainine. Te entirire First Nations and aboriginal communities across t the country arere reeling with this particularly ppoignant and trtragictragic loss, but it comes on a ccompounded l loss of so many missing and murdered over the years. Narrator tinas family is not the only one to struggle with loss through violence. Jeri lee it takes your mind off everything. And i mean, i think of my sister every time i bead. But its not a bad way. Its not the ugly part of what happened. Its beautiful memories of her. Narrator at the [indistinct] center in the north of winnipeg, sisters jeri lee pangman anand m mcpherson have a thursday evening ritual. Kim one bead at a time. We always make jokes about beading, you know, like bead it, like michael jackson, you know. Bead it or one bead at a time, like one day at a time. Just really nerdy y jokes. Narrator jeri lee and kim are just two among dozens of women who come to the center each week, which offers support to indigenous families affected by violence, homicide, or who have missing family members. Kim cause we used to be when we werelike, in our teens, like 12, 13. We e used to bead t home, right. Jeri lee and same with our sister jennifer. Narrator jennifer, a mother of two, was murdered in British Columbia at the age of 41. Many families feel that not enough is done to support aboriginal communities facing these crimes. Jeri lee when our sister went missing, there was an actual error on her identity. They actually mistakenly put caucasian. We decided were just gonna leave it as caucasian because shell get more attention, you know, instead of changing it to aboriginal. Kim m the thingng with a lot of indigenenous families, its not just onone tragedy, its multipe tragedies. Ive heard of one family where theres been 4 or 5 women that have gone missing or have been murdered. Narrator in a quiet street of this neighborhood, there is no peace. Bernadette smith has been searching for her half sister claudette for more than 7 years. Bernadette on july 24, shshe ws with my sister tinana and theyd said goodbye to eacach other aa crosswalk on south warken and charles. My sister went one way, my other sister went the other way, and that was the last time anyone seen claudette from our family. With someone whos missingng, you never reallyly k, right. Itits always the wondering, you know, phone rings, and its like, is that the call to let you know. Or doorbell rings andyou know, so youre alwayays left constantly wondering. Youre always left, you know, driving and driving past a field and thinking, you know, could she be in that field . Its very difficult. Its not something that, um, you can momove on and kind of heal because you have no answers. Like, theres nothing. What can you find . Like, we live in such a big country where theres so much field. Narrator manitoba has the highest population of Aboriginal People among the provinces. And many are extremely concerned for their safety. Kim well, even as an adult woman, im very careful when i walk the s street because people justtheres a lot of creepy people out there. Jeri lee i have a daughter and shes 21. And every time she goes out, is she gonna come home . Like, you know . Its, call me. Call me. Let me know where you are. Or ill call her. You know, im constantly worrying about her. And its, um, its scary. Bernadette you know, my sister was an aboriginal person, she was a woman, she was someone who knowwho had a known drug addiction, and she also had a criminal record. So we felt all of those things played a role, you know, the police not taking action right away and the respsponse we got with, you kno, shell tururn up, shes an adul, shes s out there somewhere. Narrator there are 1,183 police recorded incidents of murdered and missing aboriginal women and girls in canada since 1980, a figure so high that this monument was commissioned in winnipeg to honor their memory. Victoria taolicorfuz is an independent expert from the philippines tasked by the United Nations to develop a National Inquiry with the canadian government. Victoria well, i was veryy encouraged by y the respsponse because it seems theyre reallyy ssincerely intererested to purse the case to address the case once and foror all. Narrator shell be working with 3 female canadian ministers appointed to the inquiry, which will address w why aboriginal women and girls in this country are so at risk. Trudeau these 3 women have led the e setting up of a truly National Inquiry into this tragedy to providede justice for the victims, to provide healing foror the families. Woman n some hahave linkeked ts violence to the longterm impacts of racism, sexism,m, colonialalism, and the devastatg impacts of residential schools on indigenous men, women, and communities. Victoria but i think the more important thingthis is what i stress w with them. They include indigenous womemen who have reay suffered from this problem because they will be the ones thahat can say what iswhat can be done. Narrarator women like those in winnipeg. And with the inquiry underway, new evidence provided by the members of the Winnipeg Community led to an arrest. Officer today im informing the public that Raymond Joseph cormier has been charged with Second Degree murder r in the death of tina fontaine. Narrator cormier, 55 years old, had been traced by Winnipeg Police to vancouver and has a preliminary trial hearing scheduled for may 2017. John this was wrong. This little girl should not have been killed. Weve all let her down. Every level of society has let this kid down. She had so much potential like every other kid in the world. And this is whats happened to her. But the way the community pulled together, the entire community pulled together to conclude this investigation. We couldnt have done it without the people of winnipeg. Bernadette a 15yearolds body wrapped in a garbage bag, disposed of in the red river like shes garbage, you know, is justi think it woke our country up. You know, i think people started to see that that could be their daughter, right, that that could be their sister, that could beyou know, they now startrted to see themselves reflected in ththat and that t t could happen to them and that, you know,w, i need to do somethg about it, i need to get involved. [rhythmic drumming and chanting] narrator coming up on a future episode of 21st century. Mman isnt it incredidible you have outlived yourself . 20 years ago, medical expxperts told your mother that due to spinal Muscular Atrophy you would not live past your fifth birthday. You u el guilty y because yoyoue left folks behind. You have left millions of disabled 20somethings scattered throughout the global south behind. In some ways, they are like youyoung, black, profoundly disabled. But in many ways, they are not like you. You lilive a lilife they can barelyy imagine. Unlike you, thehey are locked up in the back rooms of grim nursing homes, made to disappear from public view and are neglected and illtreated by society and the state. 8uxuau music [quiet, whispering]