imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Women human rights defenders to :Category:Women human rights activists per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2021 March 10#Category:Women human rights defenders

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Moving Category:Women human rights defenders to Category:Women human rights activists per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2021 March 10#Category:Women human rights defenders

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{{orphan|date=August 2019}}

{{short description|Human rights activist from India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Naseema Khatoon
| image = Naseema Khatoon at TEDxGEC 2019.jpg
| caption = Naseema Khatoon in 2019
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Chaturbhuj Sthan]], [[Muzaffarpur]], [[Bihar]], [[India]]
| death_date =
| residence =
| death_place =
| education =
| occupation = Human rights activist
| years_active =
| agent =
| salary =
| title =
| spouse =
| birthname =
| alias =
| gender =
| status =
| networth =
| credits = Parcham
| children = 1
}}

'''Naseema Khatoon''' is a human rights activist hailing from [[Muzaffarpur]], [[Bihar]], [[India]]. She is the founder of Parcham, an [[NGO]] that works towards the rehabilitation of sex workers and their families.<ref name="Pioneer2013">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2013/sunday-edition/against-all-odds.html|title=Against all odds|last=Singh|first=Manjari|website=The Pioneer|date=Mar 31, 2013|language=en|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref>

==Early life==
Naseema Khatoon was born in [[Chaturbhuj Sthan]], [[Muzaffarpur]] in Bihar. Her father owned a tea stall, and was adopted by a [[sex worker]]. It was this adopted grandmother who raised Naseema as a child. Growing up in a [[red-light district]], Khatoon's childhood was full of poverty, lack of education and hiding during police raids. Her only solace was that she and her siblings were not pushed into sex work. Things improved for her in 1995, when IAS officer Rajbala Verma decided to come up with alternate programmes for sex workers and their families. Naseema enrolled in one such programme, called "Better Life Option", earning up to ₹500 a month for [[crochet]] work. However, she faced much backlash for this from her neighbours, much to the anger of her father, who sent her to her maternal grandmother's house in [[Sitamarhi]]'s Boha Tola. However, the coordinator of the NGO convinced her father, and she was given the opportunity to go to [[Mumbai]] to complete her basic education under the NGO.<ref name="Pioneer2013" />

==Parcham==
In 2001, Naseema returned to Muzaffarpur to find that the situation of the sex workers was still the same. She decided to form Parcham, an NGO dedicated to rehabilitate both sex workers and their families. She began by organizing street plays to educate the workers about their rights, and gradually moved towards their education. She managed to Soon, she helped start small industries of making bindis, candles, incense and matchsticks in the brothel, with the help of loans from local banks. With her efforts, the number of young girls joining as sex workers has reduced significantly.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2011/06/201162081055517275.html |title=Daughters of the brothel |website=Al Jazeera |last=Singh |first=Gautam |date=June 29, 2011 |access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref>

In 2008, the brothels of Boha Tola in Sitamarhi were raided and burnt down. Naseema and Parcham came to the rescue of the sex workers and their families, fighting for their rights.<ref name="Pioneer2013" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/hindi/regionalnews/story/2008/04/080424_bihar_sexworkers.shtml|title=सीतामढ़ी में महिला यौनकर्मियों का आंदोलन|website=BBCHindi.com|language=hi|trans-title=Protest by female sex workers in Sitamarhi|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref> With her work, she managed to attract the local government's attention to the problems faced by the residents of brothels. In then Bihar [[Chief Minister]] [[Nitish Kumar]]'s "Vikas Yatra" in Sitamarhi in 2008, she personally attracted his attention to the incident at Boha Tola, and he requested her to compile the data of all sex workers in Bihar. A year later, her suggestions for conducting surveys in the red-light areas were accepted by Bihar's Women Development Corporation (WDC). She also managed to open a study centre of [[IGNOU]] at her residence at Shukla Road in Chaturbhuj Sthan, and even convinced [[LIC India]] to start an insurance scheme called Jeevan Madhur for the sex workers, with a minimal premium of ₹25 weekly.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/sex-workers-daughter-brings-safety-education-insurance-to-redlight-area/|title=Sex worker's daughter brings safety,education,insurance to red-light area|date=Dec 9, 2009|website=The Indian Express|last=Singh|first=Santosh|language=en-IN|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref>

In 2004, under the banner of Parcham, Khatoon helped start ''Jugnu'' ({{trans|glowworm}}) as a five-page newspaper about the sex workers. It is handwritten, edited and photocopied completely by the children of the sex workers. Jugnu is now a 32-page monthly magazine that covers stories such as rape and interviews sex workers across the state of Bihar and sells about a thousand copies.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/they-write-the-wrongs-353 |title=They write the wrongs |website=DownToEarth |date=June 7, 2015 |last=Kumar Gupta |first=Alok |language=en|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-daughters-of-sex-workers-produce-magazine-in-bihar-1394055|title=Daughters of sex workers produce magazine in Bihar|date=June 9, 2010|website=DNA India|language=en|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref> Other highlights of the magazine include paintings and featured letters in the author's own handwriting. The magazine is headquartered at Hafizee Chowk, Sukla Road in Muzaffarpur.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Monthly-magazine-by-daughters-of-sex-workers/articleshow/3600962.cms|title=Monthly magazine by daughters of sex workers|date=Oct 16, 2008 |first=Pranava |last=Chaudhary |website=The Times of India|language=en|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref>

In 2012, Naseema was involved in the call for justice for a minor gang rape victim in Sikar, near Delhi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/12/rape-victim-india-forgot-20131217674899211.html|title=The rape victim that India forgot|last=Akhtar|first=Shahnawaz|website=Al Jazeera|date=Dec 17, 2013|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Naseema met a fellow social activist at a conference in 2003 and married him in 2008. He is from [[Jaipur]], [[Rajasthan]]. Together, they both have one child, a boy.<ref name="Pioneer2013" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|QpXr2SW71So|Daughters of the Brothel (Al Jazeera)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatoon, Naseema}}
[[Category:Indian human rights activists]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Women human rights activists]]
[[Category:People from Muzaffarpur]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Naseema Khatoon - Revision history

imported>JJMC89 bot III: Moving :Category:Women human rights defenders to :Category:Women human rights activists per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2021 March 10#Category:Women human rights defenders