Christian charity India Partners has been working to help girls under 18 who have been the victims of trafficking. As well as being forced into slavery, most are victims of threats, coercion and abuse.

The US State Department has said that half a million women are trafficked in India. Of the 150,000 women trafficked in south Asia, most work as prostitutes in India.

Brent Hample of India Partners said, "We are praying and working with other organisations to help rescue these girls from the brothels and from the prostitution trade and to free them into safe homes and into vocational training so they can get a new start in their lives," reports Mission Network News (MNN).

India Partners gives funding to partner ministries in India who work directly with the victims of trafficking.

"A lot of it is education, vocational training, rescue and of course, ministry--sharing with them the love of Jesus Christ and showing that there is hope, that they can have encouragement and that God loves them," says Hample.

In the last few years, 50 to 100 girls have been rescued by India Partners and taught new life skills like reading, writing and sewing in a safe home.

Hample spoke of the difficulties of helping the victims. "They've been so brainwashed, so to speak, by the prostitution industry, that they don't know how to have healthy, positive, godly relationships with people," he said.

"It's starting from scratch for some of them, teaching them how to interact, how to conduct themselves in appropriate manners. Some girls do come to know Christ," reports MNN.

Hample encouraged people to support the work of rescuing trafficked girls by getting educated, praying and donting funds.