Five Bevco liquor outlets in the city garnered attention for all the right reasons on Sunday.
The outlets became the focal points of the all-new campaign against sex trafficking, ‘Men Against Demands’ (MAD). The campaign aims at encouraging men to become partners in the fight against sex trafficking by abolishing its demand.
“The Bevco outlets are places were a lot of men come together. Nowhere in the country have I seen such long queues before the liquor outlets and hence we thought that it would be an ideal place to launch a campaign that targets men,” said Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of Prajwala, an Andhra Pradesh-based NGO that looks into the prevention of sex trafficking and the rehabilitation of trafficked women and girls. “If men could come up, join hands and say that we will not exploit young children or women, we can put an end to the vicious circle. This campaign aims at bringing together men who will not demand sex trafficking and who will prevent it,” said Sunitha.
The campaign, launched with the support of volunteers from the Rajagiri College of Science, saw the men gathered near the outlets put down their signatures.
In the next 15-20 days, the campaign will be taken to various districts of the state.