Priti Patkar is an Indian social worker and human rights activist. She is the co-founder and director of the organisation Prerana that has done pioneering work in the red-light districts of Mumbai, India to protect children vulnerable to

commercial sexual exploitation Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appea ...

and

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

Personal life

Priti Patkar was born in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Her father was a government servant and her mother ran a daycare program. She is a Gold Medalist from The Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai where she completed a Masters in Social Work. She is married to social activist

Pravin Patkar Pravin Patkar is an Indian academic and human rights activist. He co-founded Prerana, an NGO working for child protection & anti- human trafficking. In 1999, he founded Asia's first Anti-Human Trafficking Resource Centre supported by the US G ...

Activism

Priti Patkar has been working for the protection and rescue of children and women victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation for over 30 years. She founded Prerana in 1986, after a research visit for her Masters in Social Work to the Kamathipura Red Light Area – where she witnessed three generations of women soliciting customers on the same street. She is accredited with several path-breaking social interventions for the protection and dignity of children and women victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Patkar has to her credit the largest number of legal interventions and writ petitions in India to protect the rights and dignity of child and female victims of child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Selected awards

* Hirakani Puraskar, 2013 (Doordarshan – Sahyadri) * An award from the Government of Maharashtra where she was felicitated by the Chief Minister – Shri Prithviraj Chawan in March 2013. *Human Rights Award at the 2014 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards *

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian hono ...

, 2015. This award is given by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to institutions and individuals who have made exceptional contributions towards the empowerment of women specifically belonging to vulnerable and marginalized sectors of society. *Sofy India Women Award 2016

Research

Patkar has 7 books and several research reports to her name – published or released by The National Commission for Women, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID/FHI. Others have been sponsored by Groupe Development (France), Concern India Foundation, USAID, and more. Through Prerana, she has also been systematically mapping the decline of the Kamathipura Red Light Area since 2010.

References

External links

How Prerana’s Priti Patkar has changed the lives of sex workers' children
– 2014 Guardian newspaper article
Prerana Anti-Trafficking, Mumbai
– official website
Prerana - Lighting the Lamp of Self Esteem for the Children of Sex Workers
– article at The Better India website
Priti Patkar
– archived profile from the Ashoka website

– archived from IBN Live {{DEFAULTSORT:Patkar, Priti Social workers Indian women activists Living people Scientists from Mumbai Indian women educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists Women educators from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian women scientists Activists from Maharashtra Women scientists from Maharashtra Social workers from Maharashtra Educators from Maharashtra Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century women educators