narrator: today on "21st century," girls for sale in india. and canada's indigenous women, the missing and the dead. in india, a child is abducted every 8 minutes. most are girls. a third are never found. [man speaking hindi]

narrator: rescuing girls for sale. kolkata, one of the largest cities in india. it's 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 anti-trafficking activist. his mission is to rescue underage girls who've been kidnapped and then sold into prostitution, forced marriage, or domestic slavery.

today, he's on his way to meet the parents of a 17-year-old girl, norbanu, who disappeared almost a year ago. norbanu's 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. they're just as commonplace in the neighboring state of jharkhand, where aradhana singh is the head of the anti-trafficking unit. aradhana: [speaking hindi]

narrator: there are many traffickers involved in each step of transporting the girls from the village to big cities. and there's a financial transaction each time. aradhana: [speaking hindi] narrator: today, as aradhana singh is traveling through the area, a mother approaches her. [all speaking hindi] narrator: the mother reports that her 14-year-old daughter mariam vanished from her home over two weeks ago.

[all speaking hindi] mariam's story, like that of norbanu, mirrors the experience of thousands of othegirls. a family member tricked her into leaving the village with him. to prote her identity, we've changed her ne. meanwhile, back in kolkata, richi kant plots his next move to locate 17-year-old norbanu. he heads to the busy howrah station, where he believes norbanu may have passed through. as expected, the trail is cold. it's been a year now since norbanu vanished. most successful rescues take place soon after the abduction. richi is not sure what to do next. but in the other case, of

14-year-old mariam, aradhana singh has managed to track down the trafficker. she calls richi to see if he can help find her. aradhana: [speaking hindi] narrator: after speaking to aradhana,ichi headso the 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 mariam's mother and the relative who sold her daughter to a trafficker for a small payment. this relative has now agreed to cooperate with the police. richi and the police set up a trap to capture the local trafficker. the relative

offers him another girl for sale. [speaking hindi] narrator: the police team's 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. globally, human trafficking is a $32 billion industry. hoping

to find mariam, richi's team arrive at the trafficker's home. [all speaking hindi] narrator: there's a young girl in his bed. [all speakingindi] narrator: but it's not mariam. in the car, the police question the trafficker about mariam. [all speaking hindi]

narrator: the selling of young girls 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 solas child brides to the local men at bargain prices. the team have received new information on where mariam is being kept. but marriage in india is sacrosanct and snatching a girl from her marital home can have violent

consequences. [all speaking hindi] narrator: startled and afraid, mariam emerges from the room. [all speaking hindi] [mariam sobbing] narror: after 20 days of separation, mother and daughter are finally reunited. [both sobbing] [all speaking hindi]

narrator: the husbd of 14-year-old mariam is a 50-year-old man. mariam: [speaking hindi]

narrator: if convied, the husband will face 10 years in prison for purchasing mariam. mariam will be taken to the child welfare committee for a hearing before she can go back home. back in norbanu's village, her parents are still waiting for

her return, surrounded by her meager belongings. man: [speaking hindi] narrator: inndia, forvery mariam who's rescued, there are several norbanus who remain 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 been kild. we've all let her down. every level of

society has let this kid down. narrator: and the call to end violence against a country's native peoples. woman: i have a daughter. she's 21. and every time she goes out, is she gonna come home? you know, it's "call me. call me. let me know where you are." narrator: canada's missing indigenous women and girls. john: this is the red river. it's 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 15-year-old aboriginal girl of sagkeeng first nation, tina fontaine, who had been reported missing for 9 days. officer: the homicide unit entered what has become a long and complicated investigation. the murder of this child, and let's 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 friends of tina fontaine. the entire first nations and aboriginal communities across the country are reeling with this particularly poignant and tragic--tragic loss, but it comes on a compounded loss of so many missing and murdered over the years.

narrator: tina's 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 it's not a bad way. it's not the ugly part of what happened. it's beautiful memories of her. narrator: at the [indistinct] center in the north of winnipeg, sisters jeri lee pangman and kim 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 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 were--like, in our teens, like 12, 13. we used to bead at 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 we're just gonna leave it as caucasian because she'll get more attention, you know, instead of changing it to aboriginal. kim: the thing with a lot of indigenous families, it's not just one tragedy, it's multiple tragedies. i've heard of one family where there's 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, she was with my sister tina and they had said good-bye to each other at a 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 who's missing, you never really know, right. it's always the wondering, you know, phone rings, and it's like, is that the call to let you know. or doorbell rings and--you know, so you're always left constantly wondering. you're always left, you know, driving and driving past a field and thinking, you know, could she be in that field? it's very difficult.

it's not something that, um, you can move on and kind of heal because you have no answers. like, there's nothing. what can you find? like, we live in such a big country where there's 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, i'm very careful when i walk the street because people just--there's a lot of creepy people out there. jeri lee: i have a daughter and she's 21. and every time she goes out, is she gonna come home? like, you know? it's, "call me. call me. let me know where you are." or i'll call her. you know, i'm constantly worrying about her. and it's, um, it's scary.

bernadette: you know, my sister was an aboriginal person, she was a woman, she was someone who know--who 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 response we got with, you know, she'll turn up, she's an adult, she'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 taoli-corfuz 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 very encouraged by the response because it seems they're really

sincerely interested to pursue the case to address the case once and for all. narrator: she'll be working with 3 female canadian ministers appointed to the inquiry, which will address why aboriginal women and girls in this country are so at risk. trudeau: these 3 women have led the setting up of a truly national inquiry into this tragedy to provide justice for the victims, to provide healing for the families. woman: some have linked this violence to the long-term impacts of racism, sexism, colonialism, and the devastating impacts of residential schools on indigenous men, women, and communities. victoria: but i think the more important thing--this is what i stress with them. they include indigenous women who have really suffered from this problem because they will be the ones that can say what is--what can be done. narrator: 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 i'm informing the public that raymond joseph cormier has been charged with second degree murder 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. we've 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 what's happened to her. but the way the community pulled together, the entire community pulled together to conclude this investigation. we couldn't have done it without the people of winnipeg. bernadette: a 15-year-old's body wrapped in a garbage bag,

disposed of in the red river like she's garbage, you know, is just--i 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 be--you know, they now started to see themselv reflected in that and that it could happen to them and that, you know, i need to do something about it, i need to get involved. [rhythmic drumming and chanting] narrator: coming up on a future episode of "21st century"... man: isn't it incredible you have outlived yourself? 20 years ago, medical experts told your mother that due to spinal muscular atrophy you would not live past your fifth birthday. you fe guilty because you have left folks behind.ou have left millions of disabled 20-somethings scattered throughout the global south

behind. in some ways, they are like you--young, black, profoundly disabled. but in many ways, they are not like you. you live a life they can barely imagine. unlike you, they are locked up in the back rooms of grim nursing homes, made to disappear from public view and are neglected and ill-treated by society and the state. 8úxúñ;

announr>> eahtrek isade possle by e supporof shilonns. with locions throuout the western ited stes. serving over50 destitions worldwe. americ airlineis a pro sponsoof thenrthtrekro sees. joni >> southeast asia and her many waterways have long held a certain fascination for the west and perhaps nowhere more than thailand.